Upper Body-Focused Programming

[Spleen]

6'3, 20, 235lbs

Squat: 380 x 5 x 3
Bench: 195 x 5 x 3
Deadlift: 410 x 5 x 1
Press: 140 x 4 x 3

Eating 4000-5000 calories a day with at least 250g of protein. Sleeping well, resting 5-7 minutes between sets.


If you've seen any of my previous posts, you'll know that I've had a particularly hard time with the upper body lifts. My bench and press are leagues behind my squat and deadlift, especially for my bodyweight. On top of that, I can only do 1 bodyweight chin-up. With that being said, I've decided that I need to switch up my programming. Not only is my bench and press continuing to not go up, but my squat and deadlift progress is starting to slow down very quickly. Using the principles in this article, I've put together the following program:


Monday
Bench 5x5 @ 90% 5RM
Squat 5x5 @ 90% 5RM
Banded Chin-Up 3xFailure

Wednesday
Strict Press 5x5 @ 90% 5RM
Pause Squat 5x3 @ 80% 5RM
Deadlift 1x5, new 5RM

Friday
Bench 5x1, new 5RM
Press 1x7 @ 2-5 lbs more than 5RM
Banded Chin-Up 3xFailure


I've put the upper body lifts as the first things I do in each workout so as to not have the considerably heavier squat work take away from them, as I've found that to be an issue in the past. My one concern is squat intensity. As you can tell, I don't have an intensity day for squats. A part of me thinks this is okay, as I'm fine with letting my progress on squat slow down a bit so I can focus more energy into my bench, press and chins. On the other hand, however, I'm afraid this is a very bad move that can really hurt my squat numbers in the long run. If I was to include that intensity day, I'd probably replace the chins on Friday with a new squat 5RM.

So, given my goals, is this a good idea? Should I include a squat intensity day? And if I should, how?

[Mark Rippetoe]

5-7 minutes is not enough rest between sets. First Three Questions, blah blah blah

[heinz83]

Friday looks like a good day to squat intensely.

[asm44]

My thoughts:

- Squat 5x5 @90% is too much. Use a lower percentage and maybe only 4 sets to start.

- Get rid of pause squat.

- You should definitely intensity squat.

I'd favor this set-up more:

Day 1
- intensity press - Singles
- volume bench
- volume squat

Day 2
- intensity press
- volume press
- chins

Day 3
- intensity squat
- intensity bench
- deadlift

Your banded chins can be thrown in anywhere and thinking that you need to replace them with a squat is kinda silly.

I think 2 intensity press days are nice to have, and for the press recovery is usually a non-issue. For the 2nd day you can do 2-3 triples. Or some doubles. Or the 5RM. Lower reps are probably better, but if you're gonna follow it with a 5x5 strict, you don't want to take forever so doing a single 5RM can work well for that.

You can't (well you can) deadlift on Day 2 and then intensity squat on Day 3. Better to group those together and give yourself a week off between those intensity lower body days. If you deadlift heavy 2 days before you squat heavy, you won't be recovered.

[That_guy_Over_there]

Given your height and weight I suspect you can do more chinups than you think. Same with bench. You're doing what I am and I'm 46 5'11" 170lbs.

Look around youtube for some technique videos. On bench make sure you are squeezing your shoulder blades and keeping all of your upper back and body tight. For the chins focus on pulling shoulder blades together and pulling you elbows down, not curling up.

I also think negatives and high volume singles is better than bands. Bands put you in a strange position and I think hold you back.

[Matt James]

Maybe consider a 4-day split.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I also think negatives and high volume singles is better than bands. Bands put you in a strange position and I think hold you back.

I agree. A lat machine works better than bands.

[That_guy_Over_there]

I agree. A lat machine works better than bands.

I didn't even think of machines.

[Spleen]

My thoughts:

- Squat 5x5 @90% is too much. Use a lower percentage and maybe only 4 sets to start.

- Get rid of pause squat.

- You should definitely intensity squat.

I'd favor this set-up more:

Day 1
- intensity press - Singles
- volume bench
- volume squat

Day 2
- intensity press
- volume press
- chins

Day 3
- intensity squat
- intensity bench
- deadlift

Your banded chins can be thrown in anywhere and thinking that you need to replace them with a squat is kinda silly.

I think 2 intensity press days are nice to have, and for the press recovery is usually a non-issue. For the 2nd day you can do 2-3 triples. Or some doubles. Or the 5RM. Lower reps are probably better, but if you're gonna follow it with a 5x5 strict, you don't want to take forever so doing a single 5RM can work well for that.

You can't (well you can) deadlift on Day 2 and then intensity squat on Day 3. Better to group those together and give yourself a week off between those intensity lower body days. If you deadlift heavy 2 days before you squat heavy, you won't be recovered.

I see. So, something like this?

Day 1
Press 7x1 @ 2-5 lbs more than 5RM
Bench 5x5 @ 90% 5RM
Squat 5x5 @ 80% 5RM

Day 2
Press 1x5, new 5RM
Strict Press 5x5 @ 90% 5RM
Banded Chin-Up 3xFailure

Day 3
Squat 1x5, new 5RM
Bench 1x5, new 5RM
Deadlift 1x5, new 5RM


I can definitely see why this is favorable. My only question is about the press volume right after the intensity on Day 2. Is 90% too much?

Given your height and weight I suspect you can do more chinups than you think. Same with bench. You're doing what I am and I'm 46 5'11" 170lbs.

Look around youtube for some technique videos. On bench make sure you are squeezing your shoulder blades and keeping all of your upper back and body tight. For the chins focus on pulling shoulder blades together and pulling you elbows down, not curling up.

I also think negatives and high volume singles is better than bands. Bands put you in a strange position and I think hold you back.

On bench, I do find myself struggling to keep upper back tightness, especially after heavy squats. I’ve been plagued with shoulder mobility issues for quite some time. My right shoulder has considerably less external rotation than my left.

For chins, I’ll try incorporating high volume singles. I find negatives to not be very helpful anymore. I became very proficient at negatives long before I got my first bodyweight chin-up.

[asm44]

I see. So, something like this?

Try it and see. I'd do the 5x5 squat before the other lifts to get it over with, just my preference.

There's a reason that programs beyond the novice phase are templates. The intermediate lifter needs to start figuring out what works and doesn't work for them.