hi greg, its better to show liftig footage , even random lifting footage, even random footage while you talk. dont worry youre a handsome man but it makes the videos bout 350% easier to view
I think the strongest point is definitely the overuse injuries. When I only squat and deadlift for my leg training, I find that although I grow and gain strength faster than if I do if use less potent variants,I do get sore knees in the long run. Even with great technique 10-15 sets of hard squats per week will catch up to you eventually
I disagree with most people here, I prefer having consistent videos that are easy to film and publish than having you spend a whole week filming and editing workout footage to use on top of these.
I subscribed to this channel a while ago and haven't seen new content in a while. That being said, it was worth the wait. The content you've been putting out lately has been excellent and very helpful. I hope you'll still have time to keep putting out videos somewhat regularly for the future. Thanks again!
Such emotive eyes, Greg. Seriously though, I don't mind the current format, since I listen to these mostly while I do other stuff. You speak clearly and there is a logical flow to the explanation and I think that's what counts the most.
Hey greg, you've always advocated for learning to do your own programming. I could have sworn you had an article on strengtheory about this (besides the general comprehensive guide to training for beginners/intermediates/advanced), but I can't find it. Perhaps a topic for the next video?
There is a theory that the Soviets had that says (Bondarchuk) that the body adapts to ALL stimuli's and I mean ALL! Variety (for most) is essential! There are many reasons-overuse syndrome,adaption (accommodation) to the exercise itself, load volume, intensity(% of 1rm),rest periods,exercise order, grip width,tempo etc.etc!
This video got me thinking. Say competition wasn't a factor at all in your programming and you didn't necessarily need to optimize for maximal strength in the big 3, what would your programming look like for general strength?
Far too many powerlifters are really good squaterss and deadlifters but are crappy benchers. Is this due to the overlap in the squat and deadlift that gives these lifts more volume than the bench? If so, are these powerlifters simply not getting enough upperbody volume?
For me it's because I have chronic shoulder impingement, so I already keep volume low. Would love more upper body volume if my shoulder could handle it.
My bench used to be my best lift by far, now I think it might be my worst. LOL! It's because I started training the bench too much like a power lifter instead of like a bodybuilder. You need a lot of overall upper body development to have a great bench, and I haven't been focusing on hypertrophy enough.
For me I'm naturally a better squatter and deadlifter and squatter than I am a bencher, I believe it's due to leverages, long arms are great for deadlifting but not very good for bench
I had the same problem. For the past 5 years I've been pinching my shoulder blades together on the bench, thinking it would protect my shoulders better. I discovered IT was the cause of the shoulder impingements that have brought my strength way down, not to mention caused a lot of pain. A couple of months ago I quit pinching my shoulder blades together and the impingements are completely gone. My bench has gone up 20-30lbs in the past 6-8 weeks. Constant pain to no pain, literally overnight. Although it does take a while for the nerves to start firing properly again.
Erik Carlson So scapular retraction was causing your impingement? How do you bench now? Please help, I went from being able to do 50 pushups a minute to half that now. Constant pain.
Your starting point should be a width that puts your arms roughy perpendicular to the ground when the bar touches your chest. Obviously this varies depending on how much you tuck or flair your elbow. However, from there it's trial and error depending on individual factors.
Excellent video. I've noticed some guys switching from a commercial gym to a garage gym have plateaued after 6-12 months. I think it's because they aren't getting the variance they once were and they aren't able to work some of their weak points as well. If you have a dominant muscle in a lift, it will always take over, causing even more imbalance.
Since he didn't answer and it's a year later I guess I'll give it a shot. I'll do top 5 specific exercises and I would also say variations from there would be in this order as well. 1. Conv Deadlift 2. Hatfield Squat 3. Bent over row, pronated grip 4. Standing Over Head 5. Weighted pull up 6-10 6. Box Squat 7. Reverse Grip Bench 8. Trap Bar Jump 9. Hack Squat 10. Z press
Great videos, love hearing scientific literature being applied to lifting in a public setting. One good topic I think could be interesting is discussing how useful or useless leg extensions and likes of isolating resistance machines are for athletes, as opposed to bodybuilders? Be good to see literature or some anecdotal evidence for/against that isn't on bullshit forums
During a training cycle, we typically increase intensity and decrease volume. Which is the better way to decrease volume: keep the reps per set fixed and reduce the number of sets as intensity increases,, or keep the number of sets fixed, and reduce the number of reps per set while adding weight to the bar? For example, cycling through 5x5, 4x5, 3x5, 2x5 for four weeks, or, on the other hand, doing 3x8, 3x6, 3x4, 3x2. (Just making up numbers; I hope you get the general idea.) Has anyone studied this?
Old video, but surprised this wasn't mentioned. An important reason could be if you happen to limited in strength in one muscle group, but limited in volume by another muscle group. Say you are limited in the lbbs in the quads, but generating volume with lbbs is limited by your lower back; you might consider hbbs as well.
Greg, I don't mind the layout/footage in your videos mate. But I was just thinking, if so many people are requesting a change, perhaps feature Oswald as the star of the next :P
Is there a 'cost' to switching exercises? If not, mass oriented people would presumably be better off changing it up all the time. If exercise effectiveness is modelled by a natural decay curve (say) then wouldn't it make sense to switch before the exercise reaches the flat part of the curve?
When you do new excersizes, the first adaptations are mainly due to neurological adaptations. Only after some time the adaptations are muscular. So i wouldn't change multiple joint exercises every day. Also it would be hard to track progress.
What about changing the mechanics of the lift through variations to bring up weak points/stress certain muscles/focus on portions of the full ROM?? I thought for sure this would be one of the reasons you gave. As well as the psychological benefit of strategically varying exercise selection at different times of the year?
Does volume spread over multiple days equate to the same training response as equivalent volume done on one day? Follow up, if I were doing heavy 5x5s could I then do 3 days of 3x5s at the same weight and get a greater response?
Volume spread equates to more gainz, MPS occurs over ~36-48 hours depending on training age, every set of an exercise in one session yields diminishing returns e.g. The last set of a 5x5 will induce much less of a training response than the first set. So if we do a 5x5 once a week we are getting a great response for the first few sets and then we see a drop off in response as the sets progress, 48 hours later and MPS has stopped and now put muscle is no longer repairing. Alternatively, one could do a 2x5, 2x5, and a 1x5 spread out over the week on say Mon wed fri for example, we are maximising training economy now because we're circumventing the diminished returns effect from doing all 5 sets in a single workout and we are maximising MPS up time because ~48 hours post workout, we are hitting the muscles again. That is my understanding of it anyway, hopefully someone can correct me if I'm wrong
+Hm1998 harry just not enough total training volume to maximize growth potential.. even the best strength athletes found that they have to transition to a more volumized training phase to peak for there lifts
The one problem with this philosophy is that there's basically a, 'minimum effective dose', you could say, to quote Dr Mike Israetel. A minimum amount of work that you need to do to actually spur growth. 7 sets of squats once a week, lets say that DEFINITELY spurs growth. You're not growing after a few days but you know for a fact that it DID make you grow for a few days. Change that to 1 set a day for 7 days. If that one set is enough, if it fits the bill of being *just* enough work to promote new muscle adaption, then it's perfect. But if it doesn't meet that minimum effective dose, then you're short changing hypertrophy and relying on technique improvements to spur progress. IMO: Do a workload sufficient to spur growth and do that as often as possible. This could well be low enough that you could do it 3-4 times a week. I'm not a fan of bro splits either.
Well, the "minimum effective dose" was proven both in mechanistic studies and in training studies to be very, very - i repeat: very low. Much lower than everyone thinks. So Mike Isreatel is wrong. In experienced lifters a single (!) set of 75%1RM was enough to activate MPS. And you have the ridiculously high frequency program in the Norwegian powerlifter study where they did ridiculously low training session volumes - and got stronger and grew a bit (albeit not significanlty) more than with less frequ and higher per session volume. So dont worry about session volume - worry about total volume.
+Erick Diaz that's the question: what is the minimum effective dose need to activate MPS pathways. if 5x5 is causing too hard DOMs that it effects training later and 1x5 is too minimal to trigger hypertrophy what is the range between that actually triggers the response? Because of its 2x5 then you could feasibly hit 2x5 3-4 times a week and never really be too wrecked to train.
I think a better question might be how to incorporate these exercises into my training without compromising my standard lifts. Example, I train either 4 or 6 days a week. I'll do some variant of U/L or P/P/L depending what I have going on that week. Volume, intensity, etc would otherwise be the same. Should I abandon my squat, deadlift, bench for 1-2 mesocycles substituting front squats, sumos, close grip? How would you accomplish this?
+SerratusBrah As in 2 out of 4 weeks? Substituting it for the major compound? It's interesting. I am actually toying with the idea of doing variations for my higher rep days. Example: I'm doing a PPLx2 split. 5x5 first half, 3x8 second half, and considering front squats, SLDLs, and DB press for my variations. But, I am ALWAYS concerned with not doing the movements that I care about twice a week. I am the poster child for analysis paralysis.
Just to give you an idea about how one could do this: I switch between variants and main lifts based on the mesocycle, however, I always keep both in my training regimen. Those exercises that I don't focus on that mesocycle just move to the light day that I have in the week. That way I still have the motor skill in my training, but I don't take too much volume away from my main focus. Also, subjectively I think some exercise variation on a light day makes more sense from a recovery point of view.
ClimbingCalisthenics This is the approach I was considering. I appreciate the input guys. As a follow up, do you choose intensity based on 1RM of the core movement? Or test 1RM for the variation? I've taken my 1RM from the core lifts, took 15% away, and made that my "variation 1RM."
Craig Owen I would use the 1 RM of the variation if you know it or have a good estimate. If you have a lot of exercises, testing can be quite prohibitive to say the least. I've done an entire mesocycle of 4 weeks recently basically constisting of working up to a 3 RM followed by a RM-test around my 10 RM for 4-5 different exercises each session. This way I have a wide base of different exercises where I can calculate the RM fairly precisely and I've gotten rid of some fatigue in that time too, as I trained with low frequency. I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing that too often though, as I the volume was fairly low, so I'm not sure if I really progressed a lot.
Hey Greg. Love the videos. But could you put your commentary over like a workout video? Like you still doing the same talk with a workout in the background
I think the first point, motor learning, applies more to beginners and intermediates. But powerlifting technique is so easy that it really isnt that much of a point anyways - and elite performers should have their technique honed in years ago. Think of much more complicated techniques like tennis: Elite tennis players only train their competition movements - they dont train single backhand when they are double backhand players and vice versa. There would even be detrimental effects I guess if they did. I would like to introduce a much more important point imo: Exercise variation is kind of an assistance movement to train different muscles or muscles differently strongly at certain ROMs. Greg, I like your written articles so much more, because they are thorougher, enlightening and durable for years - dont waste your time with this cheap Q&A thingy. If you dont have time for free content - just dont do anyone for a while, we are patient (providing you dont see youtube as a business component). Id rather see you put any minute of these vids put into another groundbreaking article instead. Several of which you have already given us on strengtheory. Im thinking of the relative strength series, the steroids series, the squat analysis - do that kind of quality please!
Is it good idea to keep the "competition lifts" omnipresent and add some different auxiliary movements as accessories or do you remove the lift entirely and focus on some variant for the time being in order to reduce staleness,risk of overuse injuries etc.?
Thank you Greg for the informative video. Do you think that doing assistance exercises also help with fatigue management.? I.e a lighter load while still getting a viable stimulus for disruption of homeostasis. Especially with regards to the paused squat.
hey Greg , a question that might be interesting for a futur video: how long should a training cycle be depending on experience level and how much increase in volume should there be from a cycle to another , thanks.
Hi Greg! What do you think is better, autoregulating volume, autoregulating intensity, autoregulating frequency or a combination of those? I know this is a quite broad question, so maybe you could just talk about autoregulation and your stance on different schemes (for example going by RPE etc....).
Oh, just to clarify, for volume I'm using sets x reps / maxreps, so a set of 2 reps on a 4 RM would have the same volume as a set of 5 on a 10 RM (which is obviously less hard).
Is the Law of Accommodation negligible if one varies reps ranges and sets for say the main lifts, if a said person was just to do the main lifts alone.
Alright, I'll be the one to ask the obvious question. Greg, WTF did you do to your beard? j/k thanks for everything you do for the community here and especially reddit.
Really hitting home ive been getting away from the weights and really focusing on sprinting.i just wasnt getting what i wanted and i got a little fat lol.im gunna start doing purely olympic lifting when i start going again and so i guess the question is could i just do some sled sprints and step ups to maintain my speed or should i get some intervals and dynamic work in on the track if its still warm out haha?
hey greg, I want to increase the size of my shoulders (and increase my overhead press). should i stick to basics of muscle growth (time over tension, increased volume, hitting it twice a week, broad movements) or there another way.you talked about motor learning in this video. does my overhead press have to do with my weakness in that specific lift or is my overhead press dictated by the size of my shoulders? I know to increase the size of my shoulders I should do lateral raises and other accessory movements, but what if I focused on OHP, incline bench more than i did accessory movements? would that benefit me more?
When cutting, should you lift primarily in a "hypertrophy" rep range (8-12+), a strength-oriented rep range (3-6 ish) to preserve strength and mass (since you're not likely to gain muscle during a cut anyway), or just follow your normal program as if you were eating at or above maintenance?
Follow your normal program (if it ain't broke don't fix it) until you really start to notice the lack of calories is affecting your recovery significantly and workouts are feeling shitty. Then start cutting volume gradually, but keeping intensity. The very last thing you should drop is intensity.
Speaking from experience, vigorous PT is the way to go. After my knee surgery, I was squatting/hitting legs 3 times a week + stretching/mobility work daily. 10 months later and I'm back on the field as if nothing ever happened! Stick with it, you WILL see progress!!
That's a reason to not do the exact same workout(s) over and over and over again with the same weights. If you always bench 185 for 3 sets of 5, you will always bench 185 for 3 sets of 5. This is not a reason to change all of your movements every month; it's actually an entirely different topic, IMO
I feel like this law might not even be relevant and is said by people such as alpha destiny who have 0 scientific background. they think it makes them sound smart by adding scientific words to dumb concepts.
+bigbobabc123 Louie Simmons over at Westside barbell past the idea that the biological law of accommodation holds its place.. I completely agree that changing the screen as far as daily undulating periodization could be a tool but how often do we change the angle of each exercise is still the question and whether it has an effect
In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of periodized training for barbell sport athletes. Including any obvious +/- for athletes of different qualification
Basically any training that is planned out is periodized. Unless you're hitting random numbers everyday without any plan of progression, you're using a form of periodized training.
+Garrett Zajicek Planning is inherit with periodization but by no means is planning periodization. Consider this, Westside is NOT a periodized model of training but still involves planning. Periodization is long term cyclic structuring of quality specific training means and methods.
+Brandon Senn Whatever the Westside model is (which we don't really know for sure unless we were to actually train at Westside) is a form of conjugate periodization.
Mike Israetel talks about replacing the main movement with a variation with entire mesocycles to prevent staleness on the main movement and resensitize yourself to it for when you bring it back in. Do you disagree with this approach?
