Moving on to Dynamic effort for the press and bench

[Aslin]

Hey Rip.

It has been fantastic and after spending a good few years doing the Texas Method I managed to get a triple at 600lbs for the squat, which I was very proud of.

My query is this: When one is using Dynamic effort as the stressor instead of a single triple or something for both the press and bench, how would that program out across multiple weeks? Would I DE bench AND press every week, or alternate them like one does for an intensity workout? I'm just not sure if DE once every two weeks for a lift would be enough.

At the moment I'm just about to move into DE work for my bench, and I currently DE press every week, regardless if I have an intensity bench or not. I always do a poor job DE pressing on the days it falls after a heavy bench, so this is why I'm unsure whether it's better to DE press and bench every week, or to alternate?

Honestly Rip I have Practical Programming 3rd ed here in front of me and I can't see an answer to this query. I'm sorry if I've missed it on the forum.

Thank you.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Most people doing a DE stressor at the late intermediate level are competitors. So the exercise DEed every week would usually be the bench.

[Aslin]

Ok thanks Rip. I will see what works for me unless there's anyone who can chime in to help. Thanks again.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Definitely don't need to do both bench and press for speed every week. I'd figure out a way to get one lift in for speed, one for heavy neural work (1-3) and the other lift done for 5s so you still get some exposure to that rep range with your pressing work.

[Aslin]

Definitely don't need to do both bench and press for speed every week. I'd figure out a way to get one lift in for speed, one for heavy neural work (1-3) and the other lift done for 5s so you still get some exposure to that rep range with your pressing work.

Thanks for the info.

I have been DE pressing for a good few months now and my numbers have been going up nicely. This was after playing around with Volume and intensity of the standard TM programming. I still do the volume for the press, currently 8 sets of three every fortnight.

I have played around with the bench and reset multiple times also. I seem to get stuck around 300lbs x 3 for my intensity workout, and 280 for my 5x5 volume. I am thinking of switching up the volume to 8 sets of three, same as my press. I'm still thinking of how to program back in intensity for the press and alternating it with DE and mirroring something similar for the bench. I'm thinking:


Mon - Bench/press Volume

Wed - Press/Bench 3x5 lighter weight

Fri - Press/bench DE, followed by a heavy triple of the other lift. Maybe doing the heavy work post the speed work will be easier.


Does that look good or have I misunderstood your advice Andy?

Perhaps I could take out my light work on a Wednesday and do the Dynamic Effort in its place. For instance speed pressing after benching for volume on Monday. I don't know if I'll be recovered enough for that though.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Try something like:

Mon: Press Singles across or 3 x 2-3
Weds: Bench 3-5 x 5
Fri - Press DE

Mon: Bench singles across or 3 x 2-3
Weds: Press 3-5 x 5
Fri - Bench DE

Now you get to play with all the toys

[Aslin]

Try something like:

Mon: Press Singles across or 3 x 2-3
Weds: Bench 3-5 x 5
Fri - Press DE

Mon: Bench singles across or 3 x 2-3
Weds: Press 3-5 x 5
Fri - Bench DE

Now you get to play with all the toys

*rubs hands* Thanks! Quick question - Wednesday's 5x5 is meant to be hard like volume for the TM? Just checking as I'm so used to going light on Wednesdays! Thanks!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Yeah, I think you can probably go heavy on Wednesday. You'll have to tweak volume as you go to see how things work. I'm not saying this WILL work for you, but there is no good reason it can't. And if you are wanting to include a little bit of everything on a 3-day per week plan this makes the most sense. I use a template like this with some lifters with squats that tends to work well:

Mon: Heavy Squat 1-5 rep range
Weds: Front Squat 3s
Fri: DE Box Squat 2s @ 60-70%

[Aslin]

Yeah, I think you can probably go heavy on Wednesday. You'll have to tweak volume as you go to see how things work. I'm not saying this WILL work for you, but there is no good reason it can't. And if you are wanting to include a little bit of everything on a 3-day per week plan this makes the most sense. I use a template like this with some lifters with squats that tends to work well:

Mon: Heavy Squat 1-5 rep range
Weds: Front Squat 3s
Fri: DE Box Squat 2s @ 60-70%

Ok great. I will give it a try and see how things go. Might wait until I stall out with my current programming as my press is going up nicely with what I'm doing now. I would imagine it would be varying the dose on the Wednesday volume to maintain progression with the neurological work the following Monday. I have found with my current program I am pretty good at making a prediction with how much to do in terms of volume so I don't over train. Many thanks.