Squats + Dips + Chin Ups Enough?

I don’t get why you would want to limit yourself to just this. I understand just doing barbell compounds and body weight, (in the even you only have a squat stand, a bar, and weight) but I always think articles like this are made for people who do too much and have no clue what they’re doing. Kind of like when wendler started triumvirate style assistance. He just wanted you to think more critically and not focus on minutia. Just do your main work, hit some accessory work, and leave. It’ll work, sure, but I don’t get why you’d do it for a long period of time.

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I agree with a lot of what you have said here, but saying all that I think its not a bad thing to strive for “maximum results with the least amount of work”.

Most of us don’t make money from lifting and have busy lives to contend with. Recently I have been playing around with ideas to get the maximum results from minimum work.

For example if you could choose one of the two following scenarios to fit in with your current lifestyle , I think most would choose option B:

Option A: 12 hours of gym and food prep etc, giving you 90% of a “particular result”.

vs.

Option B: 8 hours of gym and food prep etc, to achieve 80% of a particular result.

nb: Im not saying that these hours correspond to the results achieved, but I am using this as an a example of how I am looking at training at the moment.

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I totally agree with you, Birdy, but I think we’re talking about different things. I probably wasn’t clear enough.

Wanting your training to be as time efficient as possible is something I think we all strive for, but what I find with people looking for as minimalist an approach as this is they’re really just trying to find an excuse to do very little, and so don’t really have the mindset to do shit like this long term.

I don’t know the dude the OP is talking about, so I could very easily be wrong, but it has always been my experience that the “only” guys don’t stick with it. Like, I only need to do squats, dips and chins; I only need to cut carbs; etc.

Don’t get me wrong - I would love to be able to come into the gym to just do 3 exercises and that get me where I want to go, but it won’t, so I don’t.

How many guys off the street can do 10 perfect form dips and chins? Not many

How many can do a selection of random exercises with weights they felt comfortable with? Pretty much all of them.

To get the best out of the chin and dips program mentioned you would need to be proficient at chin and dips. Those who are not would very likely get frustrated and quit before they could get any benefit.

I would say though that if you did chins dips and squats only but applied good form, progression and could get past the boredom you would build a great physique.

I’d say, it depends on the goal and expectations.
If you program it with some brain and incorporate some kind of progressive overload, it can work for “a long time” (< for most people’s standard) and give results, I think.
Aim for a full body routine, 3/week, squat / dip / chin every day rotating with volume and intensity, pushing each day one exercise, keeping another “medium” and the third one toned down.
For chins and dips, ideally he should manage to get to the point where he can do them weighted for less volume once a week, then bodyweight with higher reps the other two times a week, to pack volume.

It’s not the kind of thing that will turn him into a fitness model or prepare him for a powerlifting meet, but for the average person with the generic goal in mind (being more fit, staying healthy, burning some fat and such) it’s something that can work for months or years if he likes it, especially if he starts out of shape and doesn’t workout like an asshole trying to kill himself.
It’s three exercises, hope he takes the minimal time required to learn technique and do them safely. If he’s training at home he can easily add in leg raises, kettlebell swings and band pull aparts (ideally, supersetting them with main work) once he has a solid base.

So just for reference my co-worker is in pretty good shape. He’s not huge, but he definitely has that athletic look. Tight shirts that abs poke thru type athletic lol.

The only reason I think it would work is if you look at some of those groups such as Bar Stars or whatever they all seem to have developed really muscular upper bodies with just dips, chins/pulls, push ups and all their variations. Usually what those guys are missing are legs lol. But high bar back squats take care of that in a hurry.

Overhead instead of dips, or just add overhead work.

Or if someone was wanting to program those 3 exercises as their heavy work, and maybe add in conditioning or lighter movements that includes other muscle groups.

If someone pushed a big weights for 8-20 reps in dips, chins, and squats, they would probably be quite strong and have a impressive physique.

This. With overhead work, and maybe one single leg exercise, you’d probably be good to go.

The guy in this video is SUCH a tool!

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You’ve met him? Was it at a seminar, or were you out to train with him or something?

For folks wondering why a routine like this ever came about, it’s worth noting that “Squat-dip-chin” was a popular Ironmind program, which coincided with them selling their “Vulcan rack” system, which was a set of squat stands that converted into dip bars and a chinning station.

I own a set of those stands, and they are really awesome btw.

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No but I’ve watched a lot of his videos when I was a little younger!

I’m not saying I disagree with his information so much as he really just reiterates basic shit that anyone could google up in fifteen minutes, I really don’t understand why he has a big following.

IF you like informational youtube vids about bodybuilding, I HIGHLY recommend Ben Pakulski, he is an actual IFBB pro and his channel is called MI40!

He has a lot of GREAT info about training, and his tips about muscle contraction, muscle activation, shortening and lengthening muscles and other things to that effect have had a HUGE impact on my training! I really recommend his videos!

EDIT: sorry if I sounded harsh calling him a tool, I just don’t like him and don’t find his information very worthwhile!

Elliot isn’t a bodybuilding coach or a bodybuilder. You talk to Ben about strongman, he probably doesn’t know as much as Hulse. Think before you speak. Elliot is a smart ass dude with a TON of knowledge and has a massive following for a reason.

If anything you’re a tool for a calling him a tool, ya tool

Surely not enough data to be able to evaluate the qualities of a human, no?

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Like I said in my last post, maybe I Was a bit hasty/harsh calling him a tool, I just don’t find that his information is very interesting or great at all, and I can’t stand his delivery in his videos!
I actually remember disagreeing with a lot of his philosophies, but again, I apologise for calling him a tool, that was a bit overboard, I just don’t find his videos worthwhile or very informational, especially compared to a lot of the other guys out there!

His recent transformation is weird I agree.

But all the workouts and tutorials about strength are amazing and spot on.

After all the talk of Elliot, please, everybody watch the question part of this. Shit had me rollin

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Don’t know about his knowledge, some stuff I remember is solid, but he did go quite batshit crazy a couple times in his videos. His feud with Elgintensity was incredibly funny, like a modern day 80’s wrestling feud.
Kinda pointless imho to go through 5-10 minutes of ramblings just to get a small piece of useful info. There are guys like Alan Thrall and Candito who are much more straightforward and to the point.

Not fond of it for someone past a beginner phase in training. And I mean a rank beginner who can benefit from an unchanging routine for all three days per week of full body training with those exercise. If one were to tack on a lateral raise or overhead press, row, ab/core exercises, and a hip-hinge or deadlift variation somewhere in the weekly programming, then it’s fine. But then again that takes away the whole attraction of just doing three exercises per week, whatever the frequency.

I believe lack of rowing, a vertical push or lateral raise, and a hip hinge exercise is a recipe for injury and one clunky looking physique. But like others said, one can do worse.

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