Not an expert but to me I would sub out every other deadlift with a lighter pull
Hey all,
About 5-6 years ago I did the NLP per the book (with the exception of cleans) and got my PR's to 495 Deadlift, 405 Squat, 315 Bench, 225 Press
Why? Because I am OCD and I like my numbers to make sense, which for me was one pair 45's apart.
I am 5'5 and fluctuate from 265-280 and would like to lean out. My arms and calves are 20' Thighs 32', Chest 55' Waist 40' It's that last one that bothers me. I'm as wide as I am tall.
I have found that at age 45, I can no longer handle 2 or 3 lifts per session so I've started splitting my days up as such...
Mon Press
Tue Squat
Wed Bench
Thu Deadlift
Fri Press
Sat Squat
Sun REST
Mon Bench
Tue Deadlift
Wed Press
Thu Squat
Fri Bench
Sat Deadlift
Sun REST
On some bench days I will do a couple sets of rows, on some press days I will do a couple sets of pulldowns.
When I'm having a bad week or feel burned out I will drop the last 2 days in the rotation. Or I will just insert a rest day when it just feels right. Is there some reason this is only mentioned on page 158 of PPfSS? I personally feel I recover better from one lift a day.
Last week I did
Mon Press,
Tue Squat,
Thur Bench,
Sat Deads
I've also thought about adding reps when I hit personal milestones of 495,405,315,225,135. Could one keep the weight as is but do extra reps for several weeks?
Say I bench 315 at 3x5 today, next time 6,5,5 then, 6,6,5 then 6,6,6 then 7,6,6... 7,7,6 and work my way up to 3x10 or 3x12 or to where form breaks down.
Over a couple months there should be some considerable muscle gain right? Then, I could go back down to 3x5 bench with 315 and start adding 5 lbs per session again?
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Not an expert but to me I would sub out every other deadlift with a lighter pull
Check out gotlander in the Intermediate section. He is on one hell of a PR run the past six months.
I have been doing one big lift per day on a four day schedule since the beginning of the year. The goal was not to advance, but to maintain strength while I cut my weight fairly aggressively. Going into the third and final month, it hasn't been terrible. I started having done a few weeks of Texas Method (3 day) prior. The weights for my one big set of 5 on each main lift for the week was selected at a midpoint between my last TM intensity weight and my last volume weight for the lift. Deadlift weight was picked a little differently, I went with the heaviest weight I could deadlift double-overhand style. There has been a little bit of creep over the months as the lifts have definitely slowly gotten harder while staying at the same weight, but I am still pleased with the results. I've only had to decrease my squat by 5 pounds recently, for safety's sake since I have no safeties for my squat setup in my basement.
I have also been doing some assistance stuff after the big lifts each day, but I don't think that has done much to help. I think it's been the intense, low volume work on the big lifts that are keeping things moving.