I’ve done the single leg glute bridges with just my bw in between deadlifts and man it REALLY wakes up my glutes/hams!
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I’m seriously considering running this. I’ll let it stew for a while and see where i land.
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Do it man! In 6 months you should have added 30lbs (upper) and 60lbs (lower) to your working sets and possible more. I think a pure beginner could add 120lbs to a lower lift and 60lbs to an upper lift in one year and that’s with working sets. That’s not even peaking, just your baseline strength for sure!
Hey man, I’ve been tossing around the idea of switching programs. Been running 5/3/1 FSL with PR sets for the past 8-9 months or so. Looking to change it up a bit as I have sort of plateaued (I think?) On bench and ohp. They’ve been pretty much stagnant for a while now. This program sounds interesting and I have a few questions.
How to find initial starting weight? Work up to a 6RM and go from there?
I work out at home, so no dumbbells… not sure how to work GHR, back extension etc. or if there is anything you’d recommend that would be a suitable replacement exercise?
Thanks for posting this btw, really awesome.
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Nope these are using straight sets.
I would pick a weight you can handle for the first 2-4 weeks that are easy. Just like 531 you want to start light. I’d pick something you can for 4x8 without struggling at all. That will be your baseline and you build from there. The first 2-4 weeks might feel easy but remember with all the supersetting and short rest periods you are doing a lot of work in a short time. Let your body adjust to the pace. The weights might feel light, but if you haven’t been conditioning prepare for your lungs to open up lol.
What are your FSL weights currently? I’d probably start with that or a little bit higher.
For the workout setup, what is all the equipment you have at home?
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Nutty thanks for posting this, I might try to run it.
This is an interesting coincidence for me, I’m on the second week of a double progression program. I’m basing my set/rep ranges mostly off this thread, which was presumably when you were designing this program (I searched double progression on the forums):
https://forums.t-nation.com/t/double-progression-sets-reps/257155
So you’ve already helped me out. My bastardized version has been full body, but my work schedule is changing so that I will probably train on consecutive days and take a few days off, so I’ve been pondering an upper lower split.
I’m not going to lie, I’m intimidated by those super sets and short rests. I have to think about whether I can handle that right now. Also I’d have to make some changes to work around some injuries and the equipment available in my very basic home gym.
I’ve been meaning to start a training log. If my program ends up resembling this I will have to give you a shout out.
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That post on CTs was just to make sure I didn’t give bad advice lol. It was close enough for me.
You can definitely handle it man! Just start a bit lighter. It will take your body 2-4 weeks to get use to the programming, but once you do, the short rests and the supersets will be no big deal.
FSL sets depends on the week, so on 5’s week the fsl 5x5 would be at 65% TM, 3’s week is 70% and 1’s is 75%. So I know for a fact I can hit 5x5 at those percentages on all of the lifts.
Right now all I have is-
2 barbells
Squat rack, which is also used for bench
Adjustable folding bench (flat/incline)
Pull up bar (the one you put in a doorway)
Stationary exercise bike
I have tried finding a way to do back extensions with my bench and squat rack before because I really liked doing them when I went to a gym a while ago but couldn’t find anything that worked.
Jeff Cavalier disapproves. Lol
On a more serious note, I think those should be kept if the person running it is also in a sport with a lot of overhead arm movement
I rarely do band pull aparts and face pulls but I don’t have weak rear delts lol. I think all the cleaning, rowing, pull-ups, front squats and deadlifts do more than enough lol.
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Awesome man! That’s plenty! 2 barbells make this easy lol. I would start with your 75% as your week 1 working weights and build from there personally.
If I were you this is how I would do set it up.
DAY 1
Deadlift (ss: Hanging Leg Raises or Ab Wheel)
Front Squat (ss: Chin-Ups)
Good Morning (ss: BB Lunges)
Bike Sprints for 10-15 Min
DAY 2
OH Press (ss: Pendlay Row)
Incline Press (ss: Bent Over Row)
Push Ups (ss: One Handed BB Row, BB Curls)
Bike Sprints 10-15 min
DAY 3
Back Squat (ss: Hanging Leg Raises or Ab Wheel)
Pause Squat (ss: Chin-Ups)
RDL (ss: BW Walking Lunges)
Bike Sprints 10-15 min
DAY 4
Bench Press (ss: Bent Over Row)
Landmine OH Press (ss: Pendlay Row)
Dips - (ss: Rear Delt Flys using plates, BB Curls) → For dips just put the 2 barbells next to each other on some chairs or get 2 sawhorses and you can do it. If not just do more push ups.
Bike Sprints 10-15 min
What’s the term for when you do a super set, but rest between exercises? I.e., A1… rest… A2… rest… A1…
It’s probably the only part of lifting lingo that never sticks with me because people use super set colloquially to describe both things.
I have no idea, but usually it looks like this:
Squat
Abs
Rest
Squat
Abs
Rest
So I guess it would be A1A2 rest lol.
Exactly, but I’m positive there is a term to differentiate the two. @Chris_Colucci, as the scholar that you are you might know this?
Scholar. Funny.
Alternating sets is the term generally used for “do a set of A, rest, do a set of B, rest, repeat”, but “supersets, resting between each exercise” would be a more wordy way to describe the same thing.
That’s definitely the default most common way of using “supersets”.
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Awesome man thank you, I’ve never heard of double progression and it sounds great. PR sets are awesome but doing them over and over again really seem to burn me out. I was going to switch to 5’s pro but I think after my vacation in a couple weeks I’ll give this a shot for a few months and see how I do.
My conditioning definitely leaves something to be desired so I’ll have to find a way to not let it effect the main work with the super sets before I adapt to them a bit.
Really excited to make a change. Thank you again
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The problem with this is that most beginners have a hard time deadlifting with a neutral spine as it is. Fatiguing their abs between sets isn’t going to help, and worse if they do something like situps or crunches that involves more spinal flexion. Its basically a recipe for disaster. Ab wheel between sets of squats would not be quite as bad, but again, how well can you brace with fatigued abs?
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You know personally I feel like abs between sets of squats/deadlifts actually “activates” them more. I can actually feel my core bracing harder during each set and feel stronger each consecutive set. I mean if you were to do weighted or aim for like 20+ reps per set I think it wouldn’t work. But if you shoot for 5-15 between each set I think it works well. I like the hanging leg raises because I feel that decompression between sets of squats/deads makes my back feel better.
I also think because of the fatigue it limits them on how much they lift, so they are actually working on technique before tonnage.
I mean if you can’t do 10 leg raises or 10 ab roll outs then personally you shouldn’t be even deadlifting or squatting to begin with lol. For the abs between sets of deadlifts and squats I always suggest hanging leg raises or ab wheel because they are self limiting. If you are really weak you will not be able to many if any at all.
I do agree though for some beginners it would be bad, but I think for most people it actually will be more beneficial long term for them.
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For sure man! But that’s why in 5/3/1 there are leaders and anchors. You shouldn’t be doing PR sets every single week for months on end lol.
Your body will adapt. Let’s say you squat 225 for 5x6. But because of the fatigue and pace of the program you can only do 185 @ 5x6. That is ok man. Within a few weeks you’ll be right back up to 225 so don’t stress over the numbers so much.
I would say you need to stick to this for 6-8 months minimum to REALLY benefit. Probably really a full year. Double progression is meant for long term progression. It allows your ligament, joints, tendons, bones, muscles all get use to the load over the course of time. It’s not the end all be all of programming but it’s straight forward and you are able to see visually even the tiniest bit of progress.
Have fun man! Let me know if you have any other questions!
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Lots of interest in this. T-nation “boot camp”?? A bunch of folks run it together through end of year and keep a thread?
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