Hi all,
I was looking to make a 5-3-1 full-body program without the barbell pressing movements. Reason being, they wreak havoc on my elbows but curiously their DB variants are alright. I don’t care about totals and the presses don’t have a ton of carry-over to my sport. For this reason, I’ve instead chosen to focus on the deadlift, clean, and squat.
I am looking for some help with the below and would be grateful on any input and suggestions:
Day 1
Deadlift, 5’s Pro
Squat, FSL 3x5
DB bench press, 3x10 (How to program? 45% of TM?)
Chins
Day 2
Clean, 3’s Pro
DB SOHP (same as above)
DB rows
Day 3
Squat, 5’s Pro
Deadlift, FSL 3x5
DB bench press (same as above?)
Thanks all
dude there’s no reason to program db exercises on my opinion . just pick a weight ram it home…or, pyramid up to a top set, etc. just my opinion
Every Sunday, I spend 10-15 minutes on each arm with a foam roller, lacrosse ball and beastie ball (sometimes compression bands) mashing up my forearms and bottom part of my triceps.
Along with ditching even remotely heavy triceps pulldowns or extensions, it makes an enormous difference to my elbow health.
Sort out the cause.
Option 1: address the problem of your elbows and use a barbell.
Option 2: use DB’s and just do them. I don’t program DB pressing - we just use a total rep count for the day. In general, this is how we program all assistance movements. In general, The less stressful the movement, the more reps you can do.
I have a long history of shoulder, elbow and wrist issues. When I have a flare-up, swapping BB for DB pressing and ditching pull-ups works like a charm. I keep it simple and just do sets of 10, increasing the weight until I can’t get 10. I do full-body 3x per week. I’ll do DB work all three days for a few weeks, then throw BB work back in one day a week. My DB work looks like this right now:
OHP - 20 x 20
OHP - 40 x 10
OHP - 50 x 10
OHP - 60 x 10
OHP - 70 x 10
OHP - 80 x 4
Inc Press - 80 x 10
Inc Press - 90 x 10
Inc Press - 100 x 9
Bench - 100 x 9
I’m doing that 2x per week. The 3rd day is barbell, but a similar progression to keep weight light. I do all three movements for the day in a circuit with just enough rest get the work done, again forcing me to keep the weight light.
OHP - Bar x 20
OHP - 65 x 10
OHP - 95 x 10
OHP - 115 x 10
OHP - 135 x 10
OHP - 155 x 9
Bench - 155 x 10
Bench - 205 x 10
Bench - 245 x 8
I don’t worry too much about the weight used, I just keep trying to hit an extra rep until I get 10. Hitting 275 x 5 with this progression meant an easy 335 single in the past. It’s a really nice break from going heavy at 40 years old and history of issues.