[quote]Evolv wrote:
Hey man your training looks good. I can tell you work very hard and are not afraid to put in the work. Videos are very inspiring!
I think your training looks fine the way you have it structured, just have some form progression in mind of course.
To touch on what you wrote in my log on your goals. If my goal was to just get strong at the bench, squat, oh press and deadlift and nothing else mattered I would do nothing but those exercises with the exception of rows and abs-- but literally nothing else.
I personally like to add other stuff in my training to help me basically look better and be more well rounded physique wise. So that does impact my strength building, I feel, because it takes away time and energy that could be spent practicing and building those lifts. I don’t care what anyone says, the guys who squats 5 days a week will be a better squatter than the guy who squats 1 or 2 days per week and does a bunch of other stuff to “help build his squat.” That is my experience at least…
In the past when I have focused on nothing but the three main movements I get very good at them. Like an Olympic lifter, practice what you want to do every single day and you will be a master at it. Accessory/assistance lifts are overrated in my opinion in terms of building a bigger squat, deadlift, or bench. But there is a trade off for that. So you just have to choose what is important to you and also how you want to spend your time. Something to keep in mind when you write your own programming. Remember, everybody has their own way and philosophy of course. Just sharing some thoughts.
Keep up the hard work!!![/quote]
Thanks a lot, dude. You’re insight is really appreciated.
My goal is to get strong. I decided to add in the assistance work to achieve a little bit of balance and, being completely transparent, to look better aesthetically. But don’t get me wrong, strength is the goal. I also love training and, (sometimes to my own detriment) like my sessions to last over an hour. Lifting has become my outlet, and I have recently become very busy with my job so whenever I get to go lift I like to maximize my time.
As far as progression goes, I have split up my lifts into two categories; main, compound lifts (bench, pull-ups, back squats, deadlifts, overhead press), and secondary lifts (front squats, RDL’s, row’s, etc…). The main lifts take priority as I do them first. I had originally been doing 5x5 for these lifts, but just recently tweaked it to where I am doing 3x5 heavy and then dropping down in weight and knocking out 3x10 with a :60sec rest. I find this to be a good compromise between maximal strength and hypertrophy. Only been doing it for about a week, so I will give it some time and then reevaluate.
For the secondary lifts, I have a certain rep range I’m trying to fall into for each set, either 6-8 or 8-10. I found the weight that would allow me to hit the low end of the range for each exercise for all prescribed sets, and I stay at that weight until I can hit the top end of the rep range for every set. This is my first time trying this method, and I like it so far.
If or when I begin to stall on an assistance lift, I will probably try something new. I’m not too concerned with progressing on the secondary stuff, mostly because I’m taking more incomplete rest periods and using them more as “pump work” (can’t believe I just used that term, haha).
Thanks again for taking the time to help me out. I can’t say enough good things about the help and feedback I’ve received on these forums.
