T Nation

Exercise Variations

Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
#1

Hi Coach. I’m wanting to play around a bit with exercise variations of the main lift for improved strength and hypertrophy. What do you think about doing all of my main staple lifts on one day (such as traditional squats, bench ect), and then have a separate day working these same movement patterns, but switching between 4-5 different exercises each session. For example:

Monday: Chest/Tris/Shoulders (Barbell Bench press & Barbell overhead press plus accessories)
Tuesday: Legs (Babell back squat plus accessories)
Wednesday: Back/Biceps (Barbell row plus accessories)
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Chest/Tris/Shoulders (Bench press variation & overhead press variation plus accessories)
Saturday: Legs (Squat variation plus accessories)
Sunday: Back/Biceps (row variation plus accessories)

For the variation days I was thinking about doing something like this:

Week 1) Neutral Grip Dumbbell floor press
Week 2) Dumbbell Incline press
Week 3) Close grip barbell press
Week 4) Parallel Bar Dips

(Repeat cycle over again from week 1 and try to hit weight or rep PR’s)

#2

I think it’s decent mostly because you are keeping the main lift in there. I’m not fond of changes that are too frequent though, so it’s not something I would do personally but if you train hard it will likely work.

#3

Looks good my only concern would over training low back , on one of row days make sure back is braced example one arm row, and legday try leg press or hacks low back easy to over train, ive seen some elite deadlifters try to pull twice a week and.injure .i love macro cycles, example do stl deadlift for 4 weeks then go to trap deadlifts for 4 weeks, with pr goal . As for overheads say one arm dumbell press, behind neck jerk, log press . Breaking prs does wonders for confidence. Im not trying to name drop but Kaz told me long time ago if i do same exercises try changing order of exercises example do your accessories movements before main movements on leg day do your leg curls, leg ex, hypers, before squats. Man i wish i could train that much, you must be young and have that high test gh. Good luck!

#4

Yea that’s kind of what I was thinking as far as the low back thing goes; I’ve experienced some issues with that before so I’ll definitely keep that in mind. And yes, just turned 20 haha!