Yesterday i downloaded the free deep water from jon Andersen. I did the 10x10 OH press. I have good shoulder ROM so i did BTN presses with barbell. My shoulders are sore, but the biggest thing is my Traps are WRECKED. I cramped up on the last two sets.
One thing i do not understand is the intermediate program where you try to finish in 9 or 8 sets. So the first set do to take to failure or just try to add like 2 reps on each set? like 12, 12, 11, 11, 11…
There’s no prescription: get it done in fewer sets however you choose to do it.
I would stick with presses from the front rack personally. Will carry you better through the intermediate and advanced programs, as you will be called upon to clean and press in the latter while the push pressing benefits greatly from strict pressing, but that is just my experience.
The program is intense. Enjoy.
Thank you sir, i was hoping to pick your brain. I guess Tforums dont have PMs. I am not looking forward to the 10x10 deadlift, sound crippling.
Happy to chat on the topic anytime. Feel free to reach me on my training log as well.
The squats were far worse for me than the deadlifts. The deadlifts definitely hurt “in my soul”, and I’d feel just a general whole body fatigue from them, but the squats would have me walking like a wind up toy soldier 6 days after the workout, wearing off JUST in time for the deadlifts each time.
Thanks! ill follow along. I picked this routine because i saw your posts on how brutal it is, and ive been doing pretty low volume for the last 5-6 months, usually 5-6 work sets per muscle with intensity sets (drops, RP, partials)
tried the squat day. Went WAY too heavy. I started on the intermediate routine with strict 2 minute rest, which was also dumb. Sets went 12,10,9,8,6,5…the last 3 sets were extremely hard. i quit at 50 reps. Lower back pumps, lungs on fire, it was terrible. I did 3 sets of close stance hacks and 3 sets of leg curls to try and emulate the total volume of the 10 sets.
Next week ill drop the load by about 30lbs and try again.
Have you done the beginner routine all the way through?
Start at the beginner. It preps you for the intermediate.
It’s not beginner program as in “for beginners” and intermediate program as in “for intermediates”
The programming itself is a beginner program, and then it advances to intermediate and then it advances to advanced, at which point you can just start the whole process over again.
I was gonna say, being a beginner at lifting and a beginner at deep water seem like two very different things.
yea i learned that the hard way. Baptized by the fire lol
No better way to learn, IMO.
If it’s any condolence I’ve finished the first week, and have been consistently sore for the past 7 days. At which point I’ve learned to ignore it.
Oh boy, now I’m thinking about dipping a toe…into the deep water. But before jumping in, I’ve got at least two months till I make any changes to what I’m doing. Should have plenty of time to follow along with you all and learn by then!!
By no means is it complicated. Super straight forward in fact, it’s just a lot of mental fortitude it teaches you to develop.
No doubt, I’ve seen @T3hPwnisher referrals to how miserable it can be. Might be just the trick once I finish these two little progressions I’m working on.
Don’t do this
Don’t do this
Don’t do this.
Run the program all the way through as written the first time. It’s going to suck and it’s going to be hard, but everything is in there for a reason. Jon has been at this for a long time and wrote it the way he did because it has a built in progression he wants you to follow. This post may come off rude, but if you don’t think you can run the program as close as possible, it may not be the program for you.
I genuinely wish Jon would have wrote it as “Deep Water Phase 1, 2, 3” instead of beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is such a stigma around the word “beginner” that makes it seem as if you are inadequate at lifting if you do something labeled as such. I truly feel like more people would run it as written if this were changed.
No not rude.
I will run as written but my 5th set was 6 reps. It would of taken me 10 More sets to finish it without a load drop so either way the “run as written” plan was fucked.
This is solely due to you skipping the entire first 6 weeks of programming. You decrease rest periods every week of the first 6 weeks which makes the later weeks hard, but manageable. This is why I was saying everything is written for a reason. Also, if you start with a weight too heavy, you do more harm than help for yourself. You’d be far better off starting too light than too heavy.
Also, if you are confused on where to start weight wise, take whatever you think you can do for 10 and take off 40-50 pounds. Start there
Definitely going to do beginner next session, and yes I was figuring around 30lbs lighter on the bar.
I was reading the book on my phone at work like 3 hours prior to gym that day and I just skimmed and jumped in half cocked. I’ve fully read the ebook now.