Dan John Prime Time: Monday

Dan, lately I have found that w/ any type of heavy routine(I am currently doing Bill Starr type 5x5) I burn out at week 4 without fail. What I mean is my shoulders, hams, and lats dont recover before the next workout and the aches just start compounding.

Would you reccomend that I take the 5th week off or should I just cut my volume? Is their anything else I can do to help get over these humps? I am controlling volume and I am not training to failure. I am also bulking so my calorie intake is sufficient.

G’day Dan,

I just have few quick questions for you:

  1. How would I determine the best hand positions to grip the bar when performing snatches? Do I go as wide as I can, is there some sort of “rule” or do I just experiment with different positions and find which one suits my body the best? I have a hunch that you would say the last option but I’m just checking! Height wise I’m about 5’11" if that helps at all.

  2. I know that in a post above you mentioned that you do Tabatas only once per month and well away from competitions. I don’t have any competitions to worry about at the moment and am willing to give them a go more frequently to try and increase my fat loss a little bit. Should the Tabatas be a separate workout on their own or can they be thrown in at the end of a workout, even if that workout included squats? If I can set up my home gym soon I can do them on a separate day, but for the next two months I’m limited to about 3 days per week at the gym.

Cheers,

Ben

Your body is clearly telling you to take some time off. I usually argue that you should work three weeks…in a serious program…then take a week “off.” Now, for me, a week off might be a Highland Game on a Saturday and a couple of throwing sessions, but I won’t lift necessarily…

Tabatas: okay, here is the challenge…do them once a week (Front Squats) and move up to twice a week. The deal? You have to do 64 reps in each workout (so, you have to get 8 sets of 8…or a bunch of 10’s then 6’s…)AND you have to increase…even just a little…each session. I want a full report.

At 5’11", you should be fairly close to the collars. I have moved in a little over the past year, but you should try collar to collar, then a finger in at a time until it feels right for your snatch grip.

BPC, I won’t give any medical advice…but most military guys I know have no “middle” in the weight room. They bench five days a week, that kind of thing.

I have found that most of my injuries have actually led to some real insights about life and training. In fact, I have noticed I also only seem to learn from bad relationships…

Hmmm…

DJ I’m busting my ass trying to find the best 5X5 for strength/hypertrohpy training? if you could sigle one out? I know it’s, I’m likeing the wave loading from 5 reps on down but to me thats just wave-loading not 5X5 since I’m not getting 5 reps

What’s a good way to organize one’s training over the course of a year? Should they alternate accumulation/intensification months, or is this too much like linear periodization? I asked CW a similar question on his thread, but I wanted your opinion as well.

BTW, I don’t train for any sport. I just love to train.

The John Powell variation does wonders. Try that. It builds up slow and over time.

I have an article on my site called “The Four Seasons of Training.” See danjohn.org and go to “Old Stuff.” I address exactly this issue of “year round.” Read it and post back here and we can talk…

Well?

[quote]Danny John wrote:
Well?[/quote]

Well…

I just finished a cycle of one-lift-a-day.

Looked easy.

Wasn’t.

Week 2 was actually harder than week 1. I didn’t expect that.

PR doubles on all lifts at the end of week 3.

Thanks.

Due to family/work comittments and MA training I am going back to a twice a week program of 5x5, inspired by your last article, with big, basic exercises. Deadlifts, squats, rows, OH pressing, chins, dips.

A question:

Do you do any periods of higher rep training, you know the ubiquitous 3 sets of 10? or even sets of 15-20

Another question:

I know you look at things from a performance perspective and I love the body as one piece concept, but do you have any tips for parts of that one piece that are visually lacking, such as calves?

Calves? Yes, pick parents with good calves…that seems to be really important.

I found your post interesting…you had some success with the One Lift a Day and jumped ship. Give it another month…the second month is when most people “ratchet in” or “dial in” the right weights and sets.

Overall, if you want to fix a bad area, I can’t think of better advice than Tom Platz’s:

Squat really heavy for a lot of reps. My huge jump as an athlete happened when I took his advice. Now, this isn’t a lifetime idea, but a season (three months) of serious high rep squatting will do wonders for any bodypart. Two days a week, squat massive. Three days a week, work that weak part. Eat. Sleep.

It seems to work.

I saw this 40 day plan mentioned, but I didn’t see the source material referenced. Where do I find that article?

From what I gather, you just repeat a brief workout 40 days in a row.

I’m starting to obsess with the idea of improving my strict military press and my squat. I wonder what 40 days in a row of a squat variation and an overhead press variation would result in.

I feel like I’d need to do some pulling somewhere in there to maintain existing muscles.

Thoughts?

[quote]Danny John wrote:
The John Powell variation does wonders. Try that. It builds up slow and over time.

I have an article on my site called “The Four Seasons of Training.” See danjohn.org and go to “Old Stuff.” I address exactly this issue of “year round.” Read it and post back here and we can talk…[/quote]

I just read the “Four Seasons” article and I’m still waiting for my brain to stop hurting. Seriously, I realize I have allowed myself to become so dependent upon spreadsheets and perfect routines that it begins to sound like work. Now, I can honestly say that I’ve never even come close to losing the passion for working out that I had in the beginning, but I’ve also not made any kind of effort to retain it.

As for the concept of the article, I feel as though I’ve allowed the various seasons to influence my training, just not to the extent you suggest. I guess what I’m taking from your articles and the philosophy contained therein is that our time spent in the gym is, or perhaps should be, more related to the rest of our life than we tend to allow.

There’s so much more I’d like to discuss with you, but I think I better go quit my job and cancel my vacation so I can spend the next couple of months reading everything on your website.

By the way, what’s your opinion on the Bill Starr 5x5 program attributed to Glenn Pendlay that was posted at the end of your recent article.

Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Dan,

I like what you say about building a fire and others coming to warm themselves.

I like what Nightingale says about spending a half hour a night reading up about your work and soon you will rise above the competion because most people wont do that.

Yesterday, I tried the kettle bell swings, except I just used a twenty five pound plate I had lying round in the back yard.

My hams were really sore today and I was wondering why.

Anyway. Do you use other things besides the kettle bells. You could use dumbells, you could also make a something too. Got any suggestions?

NExt question. What book of Pavels would you reccomend I read first?

Next question, can a non-believer benifit from reading scripture and taking it figuratevly?

(I was hard core athiest, but i think atheists cheat themselves from the good stuff in the scriptures because they insist on rejecting a literal reading of the text.

I think Bill Starr’s stuff is usually the best thing you can find…he seems to have a rare blend of insight, experience and passion.

John, hit the archives of Get Up, it came to me from Greg Watson and we explain it in painful detail. An issue or two ago, I have like a 12 page vomitorium of explanation…

Here we go:

"As for the concept of the article, I feel as though I’ve allowed the various seasons to influence my training, just not to the extent you suggest. I guess what I’m taking from your articles and the philosophy contained therein is that our time spent in the gym is, or perhaps should be, more related to the rest of our life than we tend to allow. "

Yes…exactly. This is what I try to teach in my classes to my students, in my gym, on the track and in my dining room.

You shouldn’t live one life here and another life there…you need to be one person. This is, by the way, the classic definition of “integrity.”

This was a good night…I enjoyed the discussion.

[quote]scrooge wrote:
Danny John wrote:
Well?

Well…

I just finished a cycle of one-lift-a-day.

Looked easy.

Wasn’t.

[/quote]

LOL! Dan, I’m guessing you liked hearing this answer…

John, you wrote:
I’m starting to obsess with the idea of improving my strict military press and my squat. I wonder what 40 days in a row of a squat variation and an overhead press variation would result in.

I feel like I’d need to do some pulling somewhere in there to maintain existing muscles.

Thoughts?

Military is perfect, a squat variation (or maybe an “internal” variation…Overheads for five days, fronts for five days, backs for five days, Jeffersons for five days, Zerchers…) are a great idea.

Now, add an ab exercise…a big movement, like swings, an O lift, a high pull, a kettlebell variation,…a ‘pull’ like a chin, row, pull up,

A total of five things. Push, pull, squat, ab, deadlift, “big.” (That’s six, but you can make the choice each ‘go round.’ I prefer the deadlift for the 40, but now I am thinking of an Overhead Squat cluster:

Overhead Squat for 8…add weight
POwer Snatch and overhead Squat for 5…add weight.
Squat Snatch for a double. Done. Move on)))

Dump little stuff for the 40 and really get all you can out of the daily workout.

[quote]Danny John wrote:
Tabatas: okay, here is the challenge…do them once a week (Front Squats) and move up to twice a week. The deal? You have to do 64 reps in each workout (so, you have to get 8 sets of 8…or a bunch of 10’s then 6’s…)AND you have to increase…even just a little…each session. I want a full report.

[/quote]

When I said more frequently I wasn’t thinking twice per week… maybe once per week max.

[quote]Danny John wrote:

At 5’11", you should be fairly close to the collars. I have moved in a little over the past year, but you should try collar to collar, then a finger in at a time until it feels right for your snatch grip. [/quote]

Thanks for this, I’ve been using a grip with the index fingers just outside the rings, but not right out to the collars with the outside of my hands. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.

[quote]Danny John wrote:
Calves? Yes, pick parents with good calves…that seems to be really important.[/quote]

bummer. didn’t happen.

[quote]
I found your post interesting…you had some success with the One Lift a Day and jumped ship. Give it another month…the second month is when most people “ratchet in” or “dial in” the right weights and sets. [/quote]

Yep, sounds stupid, I know. I should have more time for training on the OLAD than a typical program.

I currently only have 2 afternoons a week where I can get some weights in, the other afternoons are pretty much tied up for now. Weekends are reserved for spending mucho time with my daughter, who isn’t quite big enough to train with her dad just yet :slight_smile:

I will be returning to the OLAD when things settle down again.

[quote]Squat really heavy for a lot of reps. My huge jump as an athlete happened when I took his advice. Now, this isn’t a lifetime idea, but a season (three months) of serious high rep squatting will do wonders for any bodypart. Two days a week, squat massive. Three days a week, work that weak part. Eat. Sleep.

It seems to work. [/quote]

Great stuff. I wonder, why did I not expect something like that from you?

thanks again.