High Frequency BB Program Questions

Coaching Lab & Plans Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
#1

Hey Coach,

Week 1 Day 1 (Concentric Emphasis) are these 3x8 normal reps, all to failure ?

Week 1 Day 4 (Pre Fatigue) are both A1 and A2 etc to failure also ?

Swap ALL Back Sqauts to Front/Frankenstein/Zercher ? (My Back squats are all glutes) Which one would you recommend?

Deadlift - Any Style (When not allocated) ? (Personally I feel i get more from your upper back deadlift than any other)

I would like to improve cardio vascular fitness, while doing this program - any tips to achieve this without affecting weight training recovery ?

Thanks as always CT

#2

Only on isolation/machine exercises, not on big compound movements… RPE of 8-9

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#3

Isolation/machine to failure, compound to RPE of 8-9 (1-2 reps short of failure)

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#4

No because these other types of squats will be present to some extent… try elevating the heels by about 1 to 1 1/2 inch (ideally using an incline not plates under your heels)

#5

Any style means sumo or conventional. The upper back deadlift is an assistance movement, not a main lift

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#6

Very short bouts of intense activity at the end of the workouts … these should last around 8-12 minutes… farmers walks, prowler pushing, zercher carries, KB swings, assault bike, row, etc.

Some examples:

Loaded carries (farmer/zercher/prowler, etc.) 1 min on / / min off
Assault bike: 10 x 10 sec all-out with 90 sec of rest
Bike sprints: 8 x 30 sec all-out with 2 min of rest
KB swings tabata (20 sec on/10 sec off x 8 intervals)

On days off steady state cardio (30-40 min at 120-125 heart rate) OR WALKING dragging a sled with 1/2 bodyweight for 15-20 min

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#7

I already wear Olympic lifting shoes. Still all glutes! Any other suggestions?

#8

More elevation!

Safety squat bar… you can use the Zercher or Frankenstein in phases where these are not programmed.

You can also use back squats with a very narrow stance only going down to about 90 degrees focusing on keeping torso as upright as possible

#9

Ok, I will try more
Thank you for your replies, on non training days with steady state cardio would you adjust carb intake ?
Any issues with doing this off bcaas only ?

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#10

No, that’s all I take (if I even take anything) before steady state cardio

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#11

Hey Ct, these with even more elevation than my oly lifting shoes have been working well. I also find a slightly wider than shoulder stance with the same elevation hits my quads well also. Which stance is better to take into the 2nd phase of the program ?

Also - you say abs and calves are fine on days between the full body days, if I wanted to just train Biceps instead, how many sets of Biceps would you allow and what intensification methods would you recommend to accomodate the program. (My Biceps are lagging and there is no direct work for them in the first stage)

#12

Adding biceps is more iffy that adding calves and abs because they have a greater impact on performance on the other lifts. I actually prefer to add 1 or 2 biceps exercises for roughly 3 sets at the end of the workouts instead of training them on off days

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#13

Understood! What are your thoughts on the squat stance heading into phase two, close feet or wider stance ? (To target quads more, both require more elevation)

#14

For quads a narrow stance is better. Wider stance is a more complete overall lift

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#15

Hey Coach, second week of phase 2 and i failed to increase my 1RM on all 3 lifts, i thought the frequency of the first week would be enough to improve the skill to increase even slightly, any thoughts ?

#16

Dude, 1RM strength is highly variable an cn fluctuate a lot from day to day. Maybe you were more fatigued, maybe your nutrition is not optimal, could be many factors