Gary III: The Comeback

[K.Diesel]

Thanks for the explanation, Gary. It makes sense. From experience, I know that walking out a supermaximal weight, setting up, holding for 10 seconds, then putting it back is a lot more taxing than it may sound.

[Cmanuel]

Thanks for the explanation, Gary. It makes sense. From experience, I know that walking out a supermaximal weight, setting up, holding for 10 seconds, then putting it back is a lot more taxing than it may sound.

This is exactly what i was talking about in my log!

[Gary Gibson]

A plan...

Went for a walk tonight and ended up doing wind sprints in the alleys. I think I should sprint a little bit more and squat a lot less.

A few months ago I came upon this blog: http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2010/12...tting-and.html

Every Other Week Squatting and Deadlifting - By JPS
Every Other Week Squatting and Deadlifting
John Sanchez (a.k.a. Mr. Bigbutt)

Sanchez’ Rationale for Infrequent Training…

Do not perform a squat workout on one day and a deadlift workout on another day during the same week. Read this again. It is not a typo. This is the one thing that will save your adrenal glands, regain your manhood, and earn you some semblance of respect on the platform.

Squat one week and do deads the next. Continue to alternate. Once every 14 days is all most (natural) people need for good gains with either lift. If you're juicing, try staggering your squat and dead workouts every 5 days instead of every 7. This will mean you squat and deadlift only once every 10 days.

Do not yield to the temptation of throwing in a few "light" squats on your deadlift day. Do deadlifts only! This approach will preserve your knees for many more years to come. Likewise, do not perform extra "pulling" movements on your squat day. Keep your workouts simple and to the point. Eliminate any excess baggage.
The only assistance I recommend is heavy hamstring work.

Training only 2 days per week doesn't diminish the quality or frequency of your muscle growth stimulus. You are still hitting all pertinent muscle groups involved in the powerlifts once every seven days. If that seems like too long an interval for you, I suggest going to a once every 5 or 6 day routine. Even once every 4 days would work better than the popular twice every 7 days approach that most people adopt. Most conventional routines will have you squat, bench, and deadlift heavy once per week. With this approach you are working lower body heavy (squat/dead) twice in a 7-day period, although most you will usually only bench heavy and then go lighter the second time around.

With the twice every 7 day approach that some people use, the most significant shortcoming is impaired progress on the squat and dead due to incomplete muscular recovery. 72-96 hours is not always enough recovery time for lifters, especially non-druggies. Both of these lifts have many prime movers in common, yet a lot of people will give one lift 96 hours of recovery while the other only gets 72. Why not throw an extra day in there and give both lower body movements an equal 96 hours?

I actually developed this approach years ago when I was competing and quickly realized how much better I performed. I then got even braver and tried going from once every 4 days to once every 5. This approach worked even better for me. Today, I go once every 7 because all of my steroid-dealing cronies are either dead, in jail, or born again naturals.

Note: Sanchez was a 1980s powerlifter. He deadlifted 775 @ 220 back in 1985 “juiced to the gills” (his own words). He claims to currently be capable of a 700 raw pull “any day of the week” (again, his own words). He is retired and also says he is drug free since 1988. He deadlifts twice a month on alternating Saturdays.

I toyed around with the idea. What with my beat up knees, more recovery time seemed like a no-brainer. But I always got scared about squatting less leading to slower gains and more soreness.

Then I realized that frequency builds proficiency, not general strength. Practice makes you more coordinated in the movement, able to lift more weight because of neurological improvements. You can lift more weight in the movement you practice a lot, but those higher poundages won't show up in other endeavors using the same muscle. This is why I could go through Smolov and get a 10% jump in my squat, but not really feel stronger anywhere else. Some of those gains would be from increased mass, but most would be squat-specific because of the incredible volume and frequency.

Less frequent with more volume is what builds muscle. That muscle makes for much better use in other applications (like pulling, running and jumping).

Moving more weight doesn't mean you are generally stronger. If you got the heavier weights from practice, then you just got better at the movement. If you got it with a weight increase, then you are "truly" stronger in a general way. Of course these methods overlap, but you can definitely skew training toward one or the other.

I'm skewing things toward mass gain. And recovery for my poor knees. I'm taking Sanchez's advice and squatting OR pulling only once ever five to seven days. Further, sometimes I'll have three squat sessions in a row before pulling, sometimes only two squat sessions and sometimes I'll alternate doing one for one. I may even deadlift only for stretches here and there to allow my knees even more recovery time. The thing is to only do one or the other once per week, heavy and with enough volume to elicit growth.

I'll also be doing those heavy partials to pins on the squat days. They have already worked wonders for my knees. A lot of lingering knee pain and weakness have disappeared this week and the only thing I did different was those heavy knees-forward partials. It's like they "reminded" my knees how to tighten up and to be more resilient. The knees forward position doesn't hurt anymore. I can climb stairs without feeling any pain, too.

In lieu of extra squatting or pulling days during the week, I'll sprint and jump. Sprinting probably has done the most to make me feel nimble again. And I'm getting more fluid. Haven't had anyone around to time me, but I'm sure I'm moving a little faster than I was when I started a few weeks ago. Even if I'm not, I'm just glad it feels better each week.

So training breaks down to:

Sunday
a) High bar back squat + Partial squat to pins OR b) Deadlift
Leg Curls

Thursday
a) Bench press or b) Overhead press
a) Pull up or b) Chin Up
Sprints

Doing fewer things better. I hope.

[hbriem]

Well, maintaining a 300kg+ squat or deadlift isn't the same as building one.

My squat was stuck for a long, long time (on one weekly squat day) and didn't start moving again until I upped the frequency to twice weekly + front squat day. It was moving up briskly when I had the misfortune of breaking my leg.

[OCG]

It was moving up briskly when I had the misfortune of breaking my leg.

Wrestling bears in the name of Odin I hope.

[hbriem]

Almost. Walking home on ice after a night of revels, ahemm, quaffing ale.

[Gary Gibson]

Well, maintaining a 300kg+ squat or deadlift isn't the same as building one.

My squat was stuck for a long, long time (on one weekly squat day) and didn't start moving again until I upped the frequency to twice weekly + front squat day. It was moving up briskly when I had the misfortune of breaking my leg.

The thing mostly missing from barbell training is consideration of individual traits. Leverages, recovery, prior experience, etc. I'm at the point where lower frequency is probably a very good idea. My knees need more time to recover. I have tried for two years to squat frequently and one of both of my knees keep filling up. They aren't recovering between sessions and the damage is accumulating. Just the thought of only having to squat twice per month makes them feel better. This is just me. If I didn't have shit joints and a Kenyan runner's body, I'd squat much more, as much as would allow me to progress. But for now I will be squatting one week and deadlifting the next and sprinting more (which also takes a toll on the knees if done too much!) and see how it treats me.

[hbriem]

I'm certainly not saying that people shouldn't take individual circumstances into account as you have.

[Gary Gibson]

2011-10-24
Bench Press
45 x 10, 95 x 6, 135 x 5, 175 x 3, 195 x 2,
215 x 1, 225 x 1
235 x 1
195 x 5 x 3

Deadlift, conventional without belt, hook grip from 365
135 x 9
225 x 6
315 x 3
365 x 2
405 x 1
415 x 1
335 x 5, 355 x 5, 375 x 5, 395 x 3

Had very little left after deadlifts. Figured lats had had plenty so put the pull/chin ups off for another time. Skipped the knee prehab leg curls because I figured hams had had enough with the deadlifts, too. Maybe should do some calf work. Maybe should hang from a bar to spine decompress.

BD convinced me to go up ten pounds to 235 and hoozah I got it. My best bench in months. Volume sets were an achievement too. Deadlift wasn't quite as exhilarating on the single with a mere ten-pound jump, but I was shocked to shit on the volume sets! 90%+ of local PR for five and then 95%+ for a triple! Ten pounds away from tripling last week's max. They were all full stop, too.

Looks like the extra rest isn't hurting. Knees aren't perfect, but feel the best they have in a long time again. One could argue that the improvements are just due to dissipated fatigue, except that I just came back from a 10-week layoff less than a month ago and I haven't had a chance to accumulate much fatigue. I think I'm just getting stronger better with more rest. Not heavier though. Scale at the gym is still saying 177.8 in undies and socks.

[LeonidasfromSparta]

Gary I hope the new approach works for you, but I'd have to agree with Helgi here, I think its most appropriate when the poundages you are holding are in the elite category.
If I don't squat 2-3 time a week I regress pretty quickly (I experienced this with 5/3/1 tbh). On the other hand the other big lifts seem to be less frequency sensitive, so it might work.
Take all of this with a grain of salt as I don't have your experience (or your injuries).