Now I broke my plateu with this DUP programme and I feel like giving it another run… This time though I was going to use excercise selection to my advantage.
So I am altering the plans excersizes, Since I don’t have boards I’ll use the pins and plates below the bench to hoist me up to a 2", 4" Press and so on and so forth.
And if you’re wondering why I’m replacing the squat it’s because I am having trouble squatting parallel ever since I hit a 160kg PB my squat has been going higher and higher and my hamstrings are so tight I can barely touch my ankle let alone toes. (I am going to save for a deep tissue massage).
Workout 3 - Week 1
Pin Press 4" 90-95% 3x3
Smith Machine Box Squat 90-95% 3x3
Weighted Pull Up 3x3
Workout 1 - Week 2
Sled Drags
Bodyweight Circuit
(Now this is where I’m stuck Chris clearly put this here to build work capacity, but there’s no set/rep structure so I’m not sure what to do, do I work on time or reps and sets or is it to failure and what load do I use?).
I generally do foam rolling after and before workouts, I might start doing dynamic and static stretching, I may even have a weakness somewhere as I’ve noticed a slight bit of Lordosis so I think I’m going to have to do some routines to combat it, I train a lot on the big 3 and it tends to fuck you on imbalances like flip said on my training log.
That would be a good idea. I usually do 5min foam rolling and 10min of dynamic stretching/warm up lifts before and then 10min foam rolling and 10min static stretching after my lifts. Sometimes less, sometimes a little more depending on how im feeling, But it never takes more than 30-35min total. Worked out for me, I would say my mobility is well above average, but well below gymnast. Theres a ton of articles on here about different dynamic mobility routines so Im sure you can find something that will work for you.
I used to have issues with being able to squat to depth, what I do now is on non-squat days I stretch by sitting in a full squat for 30 seconds at a time, three times. If you still don’t feel comfortable at the bottom by the third time then 4-5x might be better until your flexibility improves. I don’t normally have issues with depth anymore but I still do this to maintain flexibility.
For your hamstrings, do the typical bend over and touch your toes stretch but do it with a neutral spine (as in no back rounding). You won’t be able to touch your toes but it will stretch your hamstrings without stretching your back. Back flexibility might be useful for some people but not powerlifters, stretching your back will increase the risk of back injury.
Why do you want to increase work capacity? If you are able to make progress with your current training then you don’t need to worry about increasing it. Doing more work isn’t better, doing an appropriate amount and getting better results is what you want.
To increase work capacity all you need to do is train with high volume for a mesocycle (I don’t know how you structure your training, but basically the time between two deloads or around a month) until you start to overreach. Then deload and repeat, either right after the deload or later in the future.
Like chris asked before why do you want to up your work capacity? Unless work capacity is a limiting factor (unlikely) then you should focus elsewhere.
For squat depth I recall that you posted something similar before. Are you physically incapable of hitting depth at all e.g. with 60kg or would you not be able to stand back up with a high % 1RM back up if you hit depth.
Did you ever end up trying the 5ct pause squat with 3 biscuits or maybe 100-120kg if you can’t manage 140? Its a good test. If the weight can’t push you down to depth then you have a legit mobility issue if it can then you’re just getting in some quarter squat action. A video would be nice too.
Chris made a great suggestion in doing daily long pause squats with bodyweight or maybe even up to 60kg. Specific (to the problematic movement) mobility work is good shit.
There’s more to work capacity, than just being able to do more work, such as doing the work you are currently doing more efficiently and being able to recover quicker between sets and from session to session. I haven’t read the program you posted, but I’m assuming the bodyweight circuit is a metcon type finisher? I like to set a stopwatch for 10 minutes or so and try to beat reps. You should also be doing your speed work with minimal rest between sets. You can also consider using your rest periods between your sets as active recovery. Instead of just sitting around on a bench waiting between sets, jump on the Airdyne at a very light pace or very light prehab movements.
No, maybe multiple sets of 8-10 with short-ish rest periods. Read/watch Mike Israetel 's and Chad Wesley Smith’s stuff on MRV, you want to slightly exceed your MRV by the end of the mesocycle. Whether or not you are into functional overreaching, this will force your body to adapt to higher training volumes. But again, do you really need to increase work capacity? It is only necessary if you can’t perform and recover from the volume that you require to get stronger, and you probably can.
This is another thing that you can do if you don’t like using high reps, or in addition to high rep training. For example, start off with 65%for 6 sets of 4 with 1 minute rest between sets. Next week, keep the same weight but do 7-8 sets. Add a set or two each week until you are at 8-12 sets (depending on training block length and your capabilities) then deload and either start back again with slightly heavier weights or move onto another phase of training. I would say that this is just about equally effective for increasing work capacity as high rep/high volume training but possibly less effective for building muscle, it depends on what your goals and preferences are.
I actually did the Hepburn singles routine, but reduced rest periods over cycles. I think I started at around 87.5% of 1rm and worked down to 60 sec rest, between sets. Some pretty potent and noticeable adaptations of the energy systems can take place, when you start playing with density.
I would have to agree, plus with the added benefit of less metabolic fatigue and more first, as well as cleaner reps. Even, when my focus is hypertrophy I prefer to stick to heavy’ish intensities and use amraps, clusters, rest-pause, etc. and keep sessions pretty dense.
Did you get stronger with the short rest between singles or was the training effect more for work capacity? Jim Williams used to do something like that for bench and was one of the best at the time, I never heard of anyone using it for sq or dl though.
I did get stronger. I think I added around 2.5% per lift over a couple of cycles of the singles routine, which is about normal for me if I’m doing the right things. It’s an extremely boring routine though and hard to stick with, imo. I did notice an increase in work capacity to preform that kind of anaerobic work. “Ready to go”, so to speak. I assume the ability to replenish ATP stores more quickly and efficiently.
