Hey everyone and coach,
I followed the new 1A program using omni contraction system and wanted to give a quick feedback on the program. Please note that english is a second language so it’s not going to be perfect.
Unfortunatly, due to going on vacation this friday, I couldn’t do the last block of the program. I however ran a quick strength test.
To begin with, I come back from a ligament sprain in lower back so I have to say that I was not 100% confident in my ability to follow the program to the end. It went well except that I have to be especially carefull on RDL, not using any big weight.
The split is pretty good, allowing to recover between trainings in which set’s intensity is really high.
The training session were longer than the low volume let us expect because it imply a lot of loading/onloading ect. Please note that I was able to follow it to the T (exept for saturday’s training) despite training in my home gym, which is really great. The training rythm is quite slow but for a lazy 1A, it was perfect. At least, it suited me well and I enjoyed it. I like to take my time between intense sets.
Excentric session were the hardest for me. 5x10 sec excentric were killing me and I was incredibly weak on those. However, after 3 blocks, I added 30k on excentric squat WHILE improving my range of motion that was really poor after my injury. I can go almost ATG again. I added 20kg on bench excentric. I made more or less the same progress on isometric. It felt really good to add weight on this type of work when you really feel like crap initially. The low weight makes you humble since you KNOW you are weak on it. Looking 2.5 month back, the improvement is huge. It gave me a lot more stability and improved technique during “normal lifting”.
The use of excentric&isometric work pushed me to work on technic, proper bracing, mobility and is for me the biggest addition from last 1A or 2A program or from natural strenght training.
My back squat that was really poor after almost 1 year without practicing it went from 1x130 to 5x140 in just 3 3weeks long blocks. We have to be aware that I for sure recovered some lost muscles but the recovery rythm was trully unexpected and I was doing trap bar deadlift during the last 6 month or so. So quads/gluts were still used. My PR is 1x155, no clue if I would equal it right now but I’m not far despite coming back from a heavy injury that kept me away from squat from jun 2020 to april 2021.
For deadlift, I use mostly trap bar deadlift to prevent further lower back injury. Since I don’t compete, I also think that it is really smarter to use it rather than the barbell one. And there’s no one to impress in my garage gym. The improvement here has been absolutely crazy as I went from 4x215kg to 8x215kg. my PR was 225 kg and I was able to do 3x230kg and 1x240kg, pretty easily. Pretty sure I had 250kg in me this day. I never thought I would be able to make such progress that fast or even reach those weight.
For bench press however, progress have been more shy but this is an exercise on which I’ve focused a lot during last year so 1) I put less effort into it during this program 2) it is less “important” in the program since it’s work on the latest. I’d say that I went from 7x100 to 10x100 and from 3x110 to 5x110. It is still good but compare to the astonishing progress I made on deadlift, it’s a bit less impressive.
I was aiming to keep my body weight undercontrol and I went from 86kg BW to 83BW but body composition improved a lot. I recovered a lot of muscle on legs and even got more muscular than before the injury, I think.
So however, I recovered what I had lost during last year on squat in only 2 month. I added 20 kg +/- on my trap bar deadlift and gained 2 reps on my 3RM on bench. I also greatly improved my body composition which still feels good. From a psychological/neural point of view, it felt great. Training are hard but you can always recover from it. I didn’t crash, I didn’t feel bad or tired. Last 1A training had me really tired after some session, with hangover the day after. It did not happen with that one.
The frustrating part now : I feel like I won’t make a lot of progress on bench since I’m always a bit tired when I reach it. It didn’t stop me from good performance, but it feel like it’s not a priority at all. I don’t mind that much since I want to improve my crappy back squat and get closer to 300kg on trap bar deadlift. But it’s a bit left behind. Second frustration, there’s no press in the program. I like doing it and I was once poor at it. I’m afraid that shoulder strenght might lack behind ? It’s a weak point for my bench press so I like to get it done.
I went hard on back sets so biceps/upper back strength is not a worry at all.
I have one question now : Saturday training is the only in which there’s machine which I don’t have. I mostly used it as a “weak point” day with substitution exercise. What would you use if you were someone in a homegym without this machines ?
Overall, the greatest of Thib’s program I used so far, and the best progress I made especially at 28 years old after 9 year of lifting, it was kinda unexpected. I’ll do it again after my vacation, we’ll see what I can do after following the 4 blocks this time !