Saturday 4/7
Bikram Yoga (90 Minutes)
Today’s beverage: Murphy’s Irish Stout. Never had this before. Smooth, creamy, but like the last Irish Stout that I tried, it’s a little watery and very mild in flavor, if I’m being honest.
@ActivitiesGuy, I’ve asked you before but I think you missed it (or ignored me; no big deal), but do you think the Daily Dose program that you ran for deadlifts can be applied to squats and other lifts?
After being educated on the CrossFit thing I’m thinking about trying it out someday but my goals are still to squat 4 plates and pull 5 plates again. If I achieve that then I don’t want it to be a one time thing if I change my focus.
My biggest failure to date is getting away from a specific lift after focusing on it for awhile and getting worn out. I’ll hit my goal, finish the program, or start to have too many aches and pains so I’ll switch to a different variation and inevitably I end up losing my progress.
I’ve been wondering if I did a Daily Dose type program for the big three would help me maintain whatever strength levels I have when the time comes.
What are your thoughts?
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Hey man - sorry, certainly didn’t mean to ignore you. Frankly my job has gotten a little crazy lately and I haven’t been able to spend as much time on here in training discussions as I would like other than just popping in to log my workouts.
Re: the Daily Dose, I don’t know that the same approach would work as well with other lifts. There are proponents of daily squats but a few others have suggested (sensibly) that a better approach might be something like “four days a week” squats working up to a modestly heavy single or double each time.
If you’re thinking of going the CrossFit route, good CrossFit boxes will have some sort of sensible strength programming alongside their metcon work and body weight skills. I think “Daily Dose Deadlift” with a couple metcons a week could work well, though, if that’s a route you’re willing to go. Half a dozen deadlift singles at 405 done four or five days a week, a heavier day once every week or two, and then some metcons would make you a badass.
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I can tell you haven’t been as active…EXCEPT for the thread with the ARX guy! 
Thanks for the feedback. I know CrossFit throws in some strength work but I think I’d be hitting an actual squat or deadlift workout a couple times a month at best. I know there’s lots of pulling and pushing on other workouts, but I seem to be very specific. If I don’t do the exact lift then my performance suffers. I pushed my squat up to 365 lbs and then switched to front squat for a while. After getting back to squats I sucked at them again. 315 seemed to be my max, if that. Then again, heading down the road to hip surgery could’ve been the culprit.
With my traditional goals of 3/4/5 plates I want to keep those specific lifts in the mix somehow to make sure they’re getting attention. It almost sounds like the 5/3/1 Training Maximally approach would work too. It’s basically doing sets of 3-5 and then 1-3 reps up to your TM. If you feel good and want to keep going to 105% or 110% or higher then you can.
I’d like to think throwing in one session per week of doing that on squat, dead, and bench (or even spreading it over two weeks) should at least keep what I have. I’m pretty sure that’s even one of the deload protocols.
Do you feel that increasing your strength on deads and squats has had a carryover effect to your upper body by just making you stronger all over?
So there are definitely people smarter than me that have spent more time studying and writing how to mix strength and CrossFit (Thibadeau obviously has been in the weeds with this). I’d follow their advice over mine, but if you’re looking for a very simple and no-thought-required approach what I laid out above will work to some degree.
Re: the latter question, absolutely there has been carryover. Any time I haul the 88 pound kettlebell out of the corner for some pressing action, it’s no problem, even though I’ve only been pressing every few weeks at most. Would I have a stronger press if I actually worked on it? Absolutely, yes. But even just heavy deadlifts seem to have build a degree of overall mass that creates some moderate degree of upper body strength.
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I don’t think one can focus on strength and CrossFit. It violates the definition of CrossFit. I think it also creates two approaches with conflicting demands on the body.
I’m more concerned with maintenance. I’d like to change my focus but I don’t want to lose what I’ve achieved to that point. Your high frequency approach seems like a plausible way to achieve that. I’m not sure if it’s the Daily Dose or just working the movement several days a week with the occasional heavy single.
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I see what you’re saying re: definition of CrossFit but I’d be careful not to interpret “can’t focus on strength” as “can’t get strong” - the CrossFit gym that I trained at, which was not a particularly special or noteworthy place in the CrossFit world, had a dozen guys clean & jerking 250+ and snatching 200+ (although their limit strength on squats and deadlifts was not great; but they did have at least a dozen guys pulling between 400-500, mostly guys that weighed somewhat between 180 and 210).
The dudes at the games are jacked. No one gets to the games without snatching 250 and clean & jerking 300. I doubt any games competitor in the last couple years has less than a 500-ish deadlift. Even at the lower levels, guys get plenty strong. Participating and competing in CrossFit absolutely does not preclude the gaining of strength, although it will be more difficult to build high-end limit strength than if you focused on that goal exclusively.
I think my squat might improve with all of the front squatting and overhead squatting. I might achieve numbers I wouldn’t achieve on my own with a traditional approach. I have no idea because I’ve never committed to a CrossFit gym. This is mostly paranoia from past experiences LOL
Sunday 4/8
Strongman Medley Like Thing
Deadlift 1x405
200-LB Sandbag Lift
Kettlebell Swing 10x88
Six rounds plus a seventh deadlift rep in 20 minutes. I try not to rush through this, but the goal is definitely to increase the amount of total work over time. If I hit my money goal in this next month, I’ll buy a pair of farmer’s handles and really turn one day a week into an “events” day with long medley/superset-like things. I guess this is just the way @Alpha trains all the time, so that’s probably a good example to follow.
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Monday 4/9
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
5x225
5x255
5x285
5x325
Tonight’s beer: “Even More Jesus” Stout (12% ABV) from Eviltwin Brewing. This is a favorite of mine, a heavy coffee stout that manages to avoid the bitterness of some other coffee stouts and porters. Big fan of this one.
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Tuesday 4/10
Spinning Bike (20 Minutes)
Attending a banquet this evening, so I did my cardio this AM before coming to work.
Wednesday 4/11
Back Squat
5x135
5x165
5x195
5x225
5x255
5x285
5x315
Beverage of the night: Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon. May have mentioned this in the past, but a few years ago for one of my friends’ bachelor party/weekends we went to Kentucky and visited a few of the famous bourbon distilleries. My favorites were Woodford Reserve and Four Roses,
so ever since I’ve always supported them when I am in the mood for spirits rather than wine or beer. Woodford’s Double Oaked Bourbon is my all time favorite, but Four Roses is a little less expensive and still quite a solid product.
Thursday 4/12
Deadlift
5x135
5x225
1x315
1x405
1x435
1x465
1x495
1x585
So I got to 495 (four bumper 45’s per side plus three bumper 15’s per side) and said “screw it” (meaning my usual 525, which is a comfortable 85-90 percent lift that’s as heavy as I’ll typically go on a weeknight). I slapped on my iron 45 on top of all that, taking the clip right to the very end of the bar. I started pulling and heard the clip fall off one end…and though “oh for the love of god, please don’t let the plate fall off” - which fortunately did not happen. Made the lift smoothly, albeit laughing a little at myself. I may need to pick up another pair of iron 45’s at some point for the rare occasions when I decide to push towards or above 600 in my garage.
Tonight’s beer is a Yuengling Black & Tan (blend of their porter and lager). I love this. Really cool how the porter gives it some richness while the lager mellows it out a little bit.
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You should just get some of those thick bands to wrap around your plates so they don’t fall off like the cool kids.
Bonus points if it hides the thickness of the plates so you can lie about your PR
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585 is impressive but I must admit I started reading that as if it was your squat workout. I was thinking “Holy F***! 525 is 85-90%?”
Nice work!
Lol, not quite.
Since I started doing fives on the squat a few weeks ago, I think I have made some gains, I’m just trying to stay slow & steady with it. I would love to hit 405 for five reps by the end of the year, but I’m content to build towards that in five-pound jumps.
I expect that such gains will also pay off handsomely for my deadlift as well.
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You should write an article for T-Nation about how you added X amount off pounds to your deadlift in _______ months/years. Your training is so simple and doesn’t seem to be caught up in the excitement of 8 x 8, or 5 x 5, or any other program that’s peddled like it’s the best thing since the invention of the barbell.
Regular people with minimal free time could get damn strong following your example.
And you might ask “JMaier31, why aren’t you doing it then?” Well, that’s because I have a bodybuilder inside of me that still controls at least half of what I do
While I appreciate the compliment, the idea that a website would publish an article from a dude that just does some moderately-strong deadlifts in his garage gym seems a bit fanciful. I do think my log illustrates that one can get more-than-regular-guy strong with very simple approach and barebones equipment, but the truth is “I just did a bunch of deadlifts. And some squats. I never calculated a percentage, and often did not go in with a plan other than the choice of what lift I wanted to do that day. I usually just worked up to something that felt good. Once in a while I did something else like swing a kettlebell or ride a bike or go for a run” does not sell nearly as much as discussions of whether you have more Type Z or Type D muscle fibers and how that illustrates that you might be a super-responder to paused reps with a 3-second tempo while chugging Plazma between sets and resting precisely 57 seconds.
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LOL! I can think of an article that isn’t far from that but for squats. I believe it’s the 100 Day Squat Challenge and it’s written by a “Dr”. I’m not sure if he’s an MD or a PhD kind of doctor. But he did give percentages… I bet you could go back and figure out your loads even though you didn’t plan them in advance.
Just sayin… Let’s get one of the little guys (metaphorically, not physically) published!!!
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You’re well spoken (written?) and have a lot to offer the “every man” type of lifter that T-Nation does attract with some articles, “Get Strong With (Minimal) ActivitiesGuy!” haha