Walleye's Training Log

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

I’m currently training with Ron Madison who holds 3 world records in the bench. It’s been a great experience so far. I’m starting a training log so that if anyone is curious they can peak in and ask questions.

Ron competes this October at the worlds in Europe. So we are starting his finishing phase next week which will last until September.

While I don’t have all the information yet his program is designed to last 8 months with him peaking 7-10 days before the meet.

Anyhow, he begins his phase with high rep training 30-40 reps and he’ll train this for about 1-2 months.

2-3 sets 30-40 reps Bench
2-3 sets 30-40 reps Flyes
2-3 sets 30-40 reps shoulders
2-3 sets 30-40 reps tris
2 sets 30-40 reps Bis

That’s 2 times a week

Leg days are different

2 sets 30-40 rep squats
2 sets max reps glute ham raises
1 set max leg rause from side to side. I don’t know what they call this exercise. Think of a russian twist with your legs moving side to side and twisting the lower trunk.
1 set max sit ups on the glute ham machine
1 set max russian twists.
2 sets 30-40 rep calf raises
2 sets lat pull downs 30-40 reps

Leg day 2

Basically the same as day one except squats are omitted for dead lifts.

Next week I’ll post our second phase.

BTW, my current max on bench is 315. He thinks 405 by October would be a good goal and then 600 lb bench by next year.

Ron says it is very hard to convince people of this high rep training but it works… I felt like my skin was going to split from the pump!

walleye

2

Damn…

I thought my routine right now with 5 sets or so of 10-12 with short rest was high volume. Good lord.

How long is the rest between sets.

I imagine the 30-40 squats/deads is a real eye opener. BREATH. LOL

Keep it up. This should be interesting

Phill

3

Did he give you any explanation as to why it works? I am open to pretty much any training program as long as it works for whoever is doing it, but that 30-40 rep shit looks pretty strange to me (Is it for hypertrophy?). Anyway, I have heard of olympic track athletes using high reps (in the hundreds) for a short periods of time in old fahoined periodization programs, so maybe that is what this is based on. I’ll be interested to hear the results (that high rep stuff might do wonders for my joints)…

4

Yeah,

you really feel like you are going to pass out after the squats and deads. At one time my heart jumped out of my chest just to take a break!

Seriously though, although I haven’t timed our rest between sets it’s probably around 2-3 minutes, but one thing he does is that we’ll train for about 25 minutes and then we’ll take about a 5 minute break and then finish the rest up…

When I got done doing deads I just had to sit. I was spent!

Next week will be different still. I’ll keep you posted.

5

floobadog,

What happens in these high rep sessions is that it forces other muscles to work. Like in the bench. I felt a better pump in my arms this time than my chest. Hence it took a long time for my chest to fatigue so my body activated my tris to keep getting the weight up.

It’s all about activating dormant muscles. They have to be shocked into action, when all your other muscles fail…

Again, you do this only for a season like a month or so. I think it is more of a priming stage for further gains.

walleye

6

Sweet man, I think I may rip this off in its entirety being as how My doctor said if I want to keep going to the gym I have to do at least 30 reps per set (thus making the weight lighter) because of an injury. and hey, this sounds good…

-dave

7

How much are you talking about on these reps… 60% of 1RM? Or is it even less.

8

I don’t know the specific 1RM percentage. Just pick a weight that you can think you can get 30-40 reps out of. Let’s see today I did 40 reps my first set and I could only do 25 my second. I used 135 on the bench and my max is probably around 315. Go 30-40% and see how it goes.

You won’t believe the deep soreness you get. This program will get you strong! Ron told me that in a few weeks we won’t even be doing bench press. We’ll be doing explosive push ups, plyometrics, and a bunch of exercises that I’ve never done before… Then when we pick up the bench at the end he said you won’t believe how strong you got.

walleye

9

Sounds interesting! I like high rep stuff like that or what Big Martin calls bullet proofing, I think it can protect you against injury. I also think band exercises are good for this type.

Glad you decided to post your log, can’t wait to see the training protocals! I am always interested in other strength methods that I can adapt to my WS training.

We should probably get a separate log forum going on this site.

10

sweet stuff. Keep the good info coming. always cool to see a different point of view. i might give it a shot in a break in between WS cycles.

11

Wow, Here’s this week’s log

Bench

2 warm up sets
2 sets of bench 15-18 reps
2 sets of flyes 15-18 reps
1 set side shoulder raises 15-18 reps
1 set front shoulder raises 15-18 reps
Note: the shoulder raises end up each time with both arms above the head. Or your hands straight up in the air.

2 sets lat cable pull 15-18 reps
2 sets close grip bench 15-18 reps
2 sets close grip cable curls 15-18 reps

As a side note my strength has already come up quite a bit. last week on the 30-40 reps for bench I could only do 135.

This week I did 25 reps my first set at 185 lbs… I probably should have put on 225 and I could have squeeked out 15-18 reps.

This may not sound like much to you guys but only 3 weeks ago I was doing 255 for 6 reps! I’ll let you know on Friday but I’m gunning for 2 sets of 18 with 225!

walleye

12

Good work man, keep it up and keep us posted…

Quite interesting!!!

Phill

13

This week we dropped the reps to 15-18. I cannot believe the difference. I’m now benching 225 for 17 and 13 reps! That’s a huge increase for me…

My deads are coming up nicely too.

One thing that we do is keep the core exercises the same everyweek. These exercises are bench, deads, squats, lower trunk twists, russian twists, sit ups, glute ham raises and step ups.

On the smaller muscle groups like tris, delts, bi’s, and calves we train a rotation of 3 different exercises per muscle group. This helps becaus every workout session you hit the muscle in a different way. Here’s what we do.

Calves: seated calf raise, standing calf raise, and donkey calf raise

Tris: push downs, skull crushers with your elbows at a 45 degree angle to the floor, and close grip bench.

Delts: military press palms facing toward each other, front and side arm raises.

Bi’s: seated incline curls, wide grip curls, close grip curls, low cable pulley curls.

Lats: pull downs, bent over rows to your chest so that it is the opposite of the bench movement, seated rows, and others.

I’m hoping to let you all know what my new max will be in october.

walleye

14

I am interested to learn more about this type of training…

What kind of form do you use for bench, squat, dead as compared to WS form?

Is the form any different for competition as opposed to high rep work? For bench it seems like it would be hard to keep shoulders pinched back and stay tight for 30-40 reps.

Is the high rep work done in a speed manner, very fast, or more controlled and slow? Or both?

What is the rationale behind this type of training? I am asking because I might like to incorporate some of this into my WS and want to know the why of it besides the fact the a guy hold bench records. If there is a reasoning behind it.

Thanks alot! And thanks for posting your log!

15

Snippdawg

Remember that I’m not the expert on this type of training. Ron Madison has access to Dr. Yessis (who charges about $1000 per hour) and another guy I forget his name. Anyhow, I’ll try to explain why it works from what Ron told me.

To quote you:

I am interested to learn more about this type of training…

What kind of form do you use for bench, squat, dead as compared to WS form?

I’M NOT SURE WHAT WS FORM IS. HE PAYS PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE FORM ON THE BENCH ASA THAT IS WHAT HIS 3 WORLD RECORDS ARE IN. BENCH, FEET PLANTED UNDERNEATH YOU, LEGS FLEXED, AND ARMS OUT WIDE ENOUGH ON THE BAR SO THAT ON THE DESCENDING MOVEMENT YOUR ARMS FORM A 90 DEGREE ANGLE WHEN YOUR UPPER ARMS ARE PARELLEL TO THE FLOOR. I HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE TO YOU.

SQUAT PUT THE BAR AS LOW ON YOUR BACK AS YOU CAN AND PULL THE BAR DOWN SO THAT IT IS JUST LIKE A LEG PRESS WITH LITTLE LOWER BACK STRENGTH REQUIRED.

DEADS GO BAREFOOT OR WRESTLING SHOES. GET MOST OF THE LIFT WITH YOUR LEGS AND FINISH OFF THE TOP WITH YOUR BACK. FEET SHOULDER WIDTH APART OR NARROWER.

Is the form any different for competition as opposed to high rep work? For bench it seems like it would be hard to keep shoulders pinched back and stay tight for 30-40 reps.

Is the high rep work done in a speed manner, very fast, or more controlled and slow? Or both?

What is the rationale behind this type of training? I am asking because I might like to incorporate some of this into my WS and want to know the why of it besides the fact the a guy hold bench records. If there is a reasoning behind it.

HIGH REP RATIONALE IS SO THAT YOUR MUSCLES ARE FORCED TO FIND THEIR WEAK POINTS. FOR EXAMPLE, MY TRIS WERE PUMPED BIGGER THAN MY CHEST AFTER THESE WORKOUTS. THIS WAS BECAUSE MY TRIS WERE THE WEAK POINTS. I’M SURE THERE’S A GOOD SCIENTIFIC EXPLAINATION BUT I’M JUST EXPLAINING WHAT IT DOES.

AS FOR REP SPEED IT IS DONE RELATIVELY QUICKLY BUT NOT EXPLOSIVE. THE GOAL IS TO PICK A PACE AND MAINTAIN THAT PACE THROUGHOUT YOUR SET. FORM IS IMPORTANT YOU’LL WANT TO CONCENTRATE ON IT BUT IT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO HIT ABOUT 40 REPS AND FAIL THAN IT IS TO HIT 40 REPS AND HAVE ABOUT 5 IN THE HOLE.

FINALLY, REMEMBER THAT THIS STAGE IS ONLY ABOUT 4 WEEKS LONG. IT’S DESIGNED TO GET THE LAZY MUSCLES OFF THEIR BUT SO THAT YOUR WHOLE BODY FUNCTIONS AS ONE UNIT.

Thanks alot! And thanks for posting your log!

THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AS WELL. I’M JUST IN A LUCKY POSITION TO TRAIN WITH RON. I’LL TRY TO EXPLAIN IT AS IT MAKES SENSE TO ME.

WALLEYE

16

walleye49-

Quick Q for ya - did you decide to follow a CC nutritional approach with this higher volume lifting plan, or are you gonna go w/a more traditional ‘consistant’ carb pattern? Just curious as I would think you would need a lot o’ instant energy to consistently perform such voluminous workouts… Good luck w/whatever approach you decide to take!

C-M

17

C-M,

I’m not sure what you mean… “did you decide to follow a CC nutritional approach with this higher volume lifting plan, or are you gonna go w/a more traditional ‘consistant’ carb pattern?”

Just curious as I would think you would need a lot o’ instant energy to consistently perform such voluminous workouts."

C-M, we are doing the 18-15 rep stage right now. It is fairly easy because the rest between sets is longer and the volume is less. For example for the bench we only do 2 sets of bench and 2 sets of flyes.

Anyhow, I’m still a fatty I have much fat to lose. I’m going to try the T-Dawg 2.0 for the next couple of weeks with this plan. 75 g of carbs will come during my workout and after. I’m hoping this will keep my gains coming and my fat loss going.

My goal is that by the end of one year my body weight will be 240. That will be one of the competition weights. I’m hoping to begin competing next year.

walleye

18

Further notes:

We do a lot of russian twists, sit ups (on the glute ham machine), and lower trunk twists… Building the core muscles in the abs is very important for strength and protection of injury.

We also do deadlifts to build the core. As Ron only competes in the bench press we usually don’t hit the legs too hard especially squats. We get each other through the workout though.

One note on variation: While we keep the core exercises constant (bench, deads, squats) we are always varying the exericises for the smaller muscle groups.

Typically, calves we use 3 different variations. Tris we do 3-4 variations. Bi’s 3-4 different variations. Hams 2 variations glute ham and good mornings. Shoulders 2 variations.

So you see it’s a good method because your secondary muscles are getting hit a little bit different each time. While your body is getting more effecient with your core lifts.

Today is Deadlift day and that’s typically.

Lower Trunk Twists 1 set max
Sit ups 1 set max
Russian Twists 1 set max
Deads 3 warm up sets
One set max of 15-18 reps.
2 sets calves
2 sets glute ham or good mornings.

I guess what I’ve learned so far is that you have to train your whole body to have a good bench. According to Ron strong calves are about 10% of your dead lifts. And strong legs allow you to flex and pump most of the blood to your chest during you bench.

So take care of you core muscles. Lastly, we do not train with belts or wraps. They handicap you and your body is better off making its own muscles work to build the pressure than relying on equipment.

I’m also doing the T-Dawg diet now. Very strict Almost zero carbs on my non workout days and all my carbs during and after my workout. I’m not interested in getting bigger at this point I’m 300 lbs. My goal is 240 by next March. I’ll be ripped and strong!

Well that’s it for today’s log.

I’d be interested to here if anyone has tried the high reps training.

If you want to go on a mini cycle just to see how your bench, squats, or deads improve. Try this.

2 weeks 30-40 reps
2 weeks 25-30 reps
2 weeks 20-25 reps
2 weeks 15-18 reps
Then drop down and try your bench just for grins and max. I guarentee you’ll be stronger.

walleye

19

More theory

Ron and I worked out again today. I got to talk with him about what is coming up next…

The theory behind what we are doing is to make sure that all the muscles can work as a unit. That’s why we spend so much time training our core muscles. He said if you have a weak core you can’t effectively use all of your strength in performing your lifts. Believe it or not, you need the core to connect your leg muscles to your upper body during your bench press. So you have to train it all.

In up coming posts when we get closer to his competition I’ll be describing a lot of explosive type training exercises that are designed to help the bench. In fact we won’t be training the bench at all in the future. We’ll be doing exercises like pushups off a flat bench, push the bench away and land on the floor.

Another one he talked about is doing the bench press and throwing the bar up in the air and catching it on the way down. Or lifting a front shoulder dumbell raise and dropping the dumbell and catching it half way down.

So it will be different and very extreme. I’ll keep you posted. If you want your body to get stronger follow along with us and see what happens.

walleye

20

I haven’t given an update in a while. The reason has been that my dad went in for quadruple bypass surgery. Things are going well. He’s recovering nicely. Ok back to the training log…

This week we dropped down to 10-12 reps. The biggest improvement I’ve seen so far has been in my dead lifts. I did 405 yesterday 2 sets of 10!

Basically our lifting program hasn’t changed from what I’ve outlined before. We do core squats, deads, and bench. I’ve gotten stronger in everything. I think the biggest factor is doing so much ab work. The lower trunk twists, russian twists, and weighted situps has really helped. The other thing that has helped my strength has been the glute ham raise.

I started out and I could only do 3 reps per set and Last week I surge up to 5 reps. Ron does like 10-12 (bastard!).

Anyhow, I’ll post again when we change our reps and workouts.

On the lighter side,

We both hate doing squats.
We hate weighted step ups too.
We both hate doing bicep curls.
We love bench and deads.

We did 2 sets of heavy deads yesterday instead of doing those stinking step ups. We’ve been alternating between step ups and single leg presses. Let me tell you my legs are sore 3 days afterwards doing those single leg leg press.

The only reason we do biceps is to prevent injuries. So we are really not the average lifters in the gym who do curls till the cows come home.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I’m getting a lot bigger muscularly doing this type of high rep training. The whole reason I went into strength training is so that I wouldn’t get bigger. Crap I weigh 300 pounds now I’m trying to get to 240!

I’ve been rambling on a while now. I’ll post more when my workout changes.

walleye