Hey guys, just have a few random questions. Answer one or all - whatever you think is worth knowing.
High pulls multiple (4-7) days a week? Not extremely heavy, just practice to get better at the movement.
Rows 4 days a week? Either barbell, Pendlay, or Kroc. My opinion is the grip and upper back cannot be too strong, so as long as my lower back is taken care of and recovery is prioritized, what do you think?
Best forms of indoor conditioning?
Best ways to improve pushup, dip, pull/chin up numbers?
Best assistance exercises to do after: 1) front squat 2) back squat 3) deadlift 4) overhead press? Not looking to “bodybuild” but to improve strength. (Sets/reps recommendations if you give an exercise)
Healthiest foods to get at your average Chinese restaurant?
Best supplements?
Best ways to improve sprinting speed? Any sprinting form tips/techniques?
Thanks guys. I’ve read articles on most of these here on T-Nation, and have talked to coaches, trainers, etc. but I’m just looking for people’s opinions.
you could, but should you? I know the top O-lifter guys do their comp lifts 4 billion times a week but for mere mortals I think twice weekly is plenty. Also, if you have to do high pulls 7 days a week to master the technique then there is something wrong with you.[quote=“jshaving, post:1, topic:227345”]
Rows 4 days a week? Either barbell, Pendlay, or Kroc. My opinion is the grip and upper back cannot be too strong, so as long as my lower back is taken care of and recovery is prioritized, what do you think?
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too strong, no. Overtrained, yes. There are lots of other important parts of your body to strengthen, y’know.
This is a list that could literally number in the hundreds. Choose the one you like best and do that. If you don’t know which you like the best, then try them all until you find one you like.
Get strong and don’t be fat.
depends on your individuals strengths and weaknesses. All the major leg lifts (squats, deads, lunges, etc) will have carryover to each other. Leg extensions and curls maybe not so much. Stronger shoulders from a variety of presses and raises will help the OHP.
If you are not purely interested in developing high pull strength then no, also, for technique fewer sessions should be enough.
If you are interested in developing maximum high pull power you should do the move at least 4 times a week with max. 2 other movements (that have only a little impact on your recovery ability)
Upper back can take one hell of a beating without you getting overtrained, I have trained back for 4-5 times a week in the past with great results. I would suggest doing grip work maximum of twice per week, as it takes longer to recover from it. (use straps for your rows if you are going to do also grip- specific work, if not, ramp up to a max set without straps and then throw the straps on. Also, use a belt)
Scott Abel has some great metabolic circuits
For example, the quad blast: (no weights needed)
25 squats
12 alternating lunges per leg
12 alternating jump lunges per leg
15 jump squats
also, consider checking out some crossfit wods, you might find something similar there.
Take your current max reps with your bodyweight
Say, you can do 10 chinups
Divide that by two, you get 5
Now, perform 10 sets of 5 for the chinup 2-3 times a week (some people may go up to 4 times per week) and try to add a rep to each set every time you train.
so session one may be 10x5
session two 10x6
session three 5x7, 5x6
and so on.
When it is impossible to do more reps in those ten sets, reduce the amount of sets to seven and continue adding reps.
You must not get fewer reps than last time, ever. Even if the last two reps look a bit ugly, do them.
If you can do 35 ugly chinups, you sure as hell can do 15 clean ones. (If not, your understanding of ugly reps is something totally different than mine)
1 Front squat:
Paused front squat
1 1/4 front squat
For both of these, stay under 6 reps, you can occasionally go to 8 reps. (If you have a harness I’m terribly jealous and would suggest also sets over 10 reps)
2
Paused back squat
Front squat
Again, under 6 reps
3
Deficit deadlift
Snatch - grip deadlift
Under six reps, again
Kroc row
15-30 reps
4
Push press
High incline press with dumbbells or barbell
Surprise, under six reps
Face pull
Band pull - apart
11-20 reps
Set - wise go with what suits your current goal, if you are building strength go with 3-5 sets, if you are tapering in order to test your strength go with 1-2 sets
Red meat and vegetables from the food box your are carrying with you
Fish oil, intra-workout carbs and amino acids
According to mr. Poliquin, reverse hypers make you sprint faster. Supplement with squats, deadlifts and actual sprinting.
Simply to get stronger. I’m not really trying to gain weight, but whether I gain, lose, or maintain, doesn’t matter. I haven’t changed my eating so if any changes happen it’ll be from training. I’m in high school. I’m not in track this year, but I think I’ll do it next year. Used to be really good in the 400 and 800, but I want to run the 100 and 200 next year. Those goals are further down the road though. Right now, like I said, I’m just trying to get stronger.
I’ve just heard and seen of the great results from high pulls so I wanted to start incorporating them. I occasionally power clean, but my form leaves some to be desired. I didn’t mean I’d do them 7 days a week…at the moment I’m only lifting 4 days a week anyway.
I think I will use straps for any rows using a barbell…not the Kroc rows though. Any other tips for grip training then? I love carries. Should I do anything besides those and Kroc rows for grip strength? Any sets/reps ideas?
Thanks for the tips on upping my numbers on the bodyweight movements. I haven’t been doing pushups for a while because of shoulder problems but Ill try it on pull/chin ups and dips.
Is it possible to do too many face pulls and band pull-aparts? I love them - they make my shoulders feel great. Can I overdo it on them?
Any good brands to shop from for those supplements? (I’m a broke 17 year old.) Or specific supps?
Sets/reps for reverse hypers? Was there an article you read where he said that? Do you have a link? What do you recommend for sprinting? Like how often, etc.
Carries are good, you could also try hanging from a pull-up bar, using fat bars (or fat gripz) and doing pinching exercises
Don’t forget to train your forearm extensors
Regarding sets and reps; keep the amount of sets on the low end but do a lot of reps (for grip endurance)
No problem[quote=“jshaving, post:6, topic:227345”]
Is it possible to do too many face pulls and band pull-aparts? I love them - they make my shoulders feel great. Can I overdo it on them?
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It’s possible to overdo anything, I would be especially careful with face pulls as they hit your external rotators alongside your delts. You could do face pulls twice a week and band pull-aparts between every set of pressing exercises (it may cause your strength to drop during the first couple of workouts, but after that you won’t want to live without them)
MyProtein is cheap-ish, if I see a good deal I usually order 10-20 pounds of both aminos and intra-workout carbs at once (maltodextrin is not really expensive without any deals but it’s always nice to save some money.)
Not the article I was talking about (and it’s not Poliquin’s article), but it’s something.
Even though bret is not talking about regular hypers here, I recall that Charles was an advocate of the regular variation.
For sets and reps: For rehab/prehab work (that you should be doing) do a couple of sets (2-4) of 8-15 with light weight/no weight, it really opens up your back.
For strength work, stick with the set/rep scheme but throw some weight on there. (The musclegroups that contribute to hip extension tend to be on the slow-twitch side)
For sprinting, try doing it twice a week (not directly before or after a lower body day, you could consider doing, for example, a squat workout in the morning and doing sprint training 4-6 hours after that. However, your nutrition must be pretty precise in order to pull this off)
If you feel you are burning out from sprinting twice a week you have two options:
1 Increase your calories
2 Drop your sprinting frequency to once a week, or once every five days
If you feel that twice a week is not enough, try doing it three times a week (I doubt that this will be the case)
For sprint/rest intervals you could try these:
(Time or distance sprinting/time or distance recovering)
1: 100 meter sprint/100 meter relaxed jog
2: 200 meter sprint/200 meter relaxed jog
these work if you want to get good at sprinting for a specific distance
If you want to get really good at sprinting for a short distance go with this:
Sprint until you lose 8-12% of your speed (so you stop when you actually realize you are slowing down, usually this is about 7-11 seconds in)
Rest for as long as you need (but don’t kid yourself, 5 minutes is overkill)
Repeat