Adding to SS

[SamGriffin]

I found myself with a lot of spare time and energy on my hands, and decided to start training again after a 4 year break. I´ve been doing SS on a ''one-on one-off schedule'' for 4 weeks. I walk 2km before breakfast and 2-5km in the evening. Everything is fine but I´d prefer to go to the gym more than every other day, do more in the way of varied cardio/GPP and I feel I could benefit from more practice with the lifts. I have access to weightlifting coaching M-F if I so choose. Options? Thoughts?

Current stats: 35/m/5'9''/160lbs/~25% bf

Brainstorming options here:

1)Keep SS and add more activity on off days such as:
-HIIT
-prowler
-swimming
-easy sets of chin ups
-light weightlifting practice

2)Split my workouts into A) Bench,Press B)Squats and pulling exercises. Train everyday (possibly sundays off), possibly join weightlifting club at end of workout B for snatch and cleans. Add some GPP/cardio in there.

[Satch12879]

Recovery may/will become compromised.

Where are your lift at?

[Robert Santana]

I found myself with a lot of spare time and energy on my hands, and decided to start training again after a 4 year break. I´ve been doing SS on a ''one-on one-off schedule'' for 4 weeks. I walk 2km before breakfast and 2-5km in the evening. Everything is fine but I´d prefer to go to the gym more than every other day, do more in the way of varied cardio/GPP and I feel I could benefit from more practice with the lifts. I have access to weightlifting coaching M-F if I so choose. Options? Thoughts?

Current stats: 35/m/5'9''/160lbs/~25% bf


Brainstorming options here:

1)Keep SS and add more activity on off days such as:
-HIIT
-prowler
-swimming
-easy sets of chin ups
-light weightlifting practice

2)Split my workouts into A) Bench,Press B)Squats and pulling exercises. Train everyday (possibly sundays off), possibly join weightlifting club at end of workout B for snatch and cleans. Add some GPP/cardio in there.

What are your goals?

[tfranc]

As someone who has tried to do this in the past, I strongly advise against it. Eat and rest on your recovery days. I would get my lifts up during your novice phase, which won't take long, and then add in other stuff as an intermediate. It will work better to do it that way. As the weight goes up during your novice phase, recovery will become more and more important

[Mark Samuel]

It's impossible to say how much cardio/gpp on off days would effect gains during the novice phase because it depends on how intense it is (how much it effects recovery, basically). I think if you want to do some heavy cardio or GPP work organise it like this:

M Lift
Tu Rest
W Lift
Th Rest
F Lift
Sa Cardio/GPP work
Su Rest

On those 3 rest days if you find yourself twiddling your thumbs then pick up another, less strenuous hobby. Spend the time becoming a killer chef, then eat whatever you cook to aid recovery: 2 birds, 1 stone.

[Coconut Chris]

It's impossible to say how much cardio/gpp on off days would effect gains during the novice phase because it depends on how intense it is (how much it effects recovery, basically). I think if you want to do some heavy cardio or GPP work organise it like this:

M Lift
Tu Rest
W Lift
Th Rest
F Lift
Sa Cardio/GPP work
Su Rest

On those 3 rest days if you find yourself twiddling your thumbs then pick up another, less strenuous hobby. Spend the time becoming a killer chef, then eat whatever you cook to aid recovery: 2 birds, 1 stone.

I pretty much agree with this. Conditioning is easily obtained and easily lost, so establishing a baseline level of strength is more important than conditioning as a novice. Anything that detracts from your novice progression should be avoided, first and foremost for simplicity. If you add a bunch of extra work early, you won't be able to discern the true ending of novice phase from an artificial inability to recover. Besides, you will clean 225 lbs much faster if you work from a base of a 315 x 5 squat than a 225 x 5 squat.

I would wait on weightlifting until you have reset your squats once, then proceed if your deadlift form is solid. Until then, sit back and relax (and lift 3 days / week). On your off days, extra chin-ups are pretty harmless at 160 lbs, or light cardio 1x or 2x a week, light enough that you can eat enough excess calories for whatever you burn off, on top of whatever you would have eaten for the day.

[Frankie]

The SS dogma and fat acceptance crowd around here will tell you that doing anything other than reaching for a remote on a non training day will instantly cause you to pass out from exhaustion and annihilate your gainz. I have done both your options 1 and 2 and found they can work fine but everyone is different. I would suggest at least keeping the SS template AS IS for at least a few months until you are smart enough to gauge and manipulate your fatigue rather than charging in head first like an over eager noob and self destruct like 90% of the population.

[Gerhard]

anything other than reaching for a remote on a non training day will instantly cause you to pass out from exhaustion and annihilate your gainz.

This needs to be on a "Rest Day" themed T-Shirt.

[SamGriffin]

The SS dogma and fat acceptance crowd around here will tell you that doing anything other than reaching for a remote on a non training day will instantly cause you to pass out from exhaustion and annihilate your gainz. I have done both your options 1 and 2 and found they can work fine but everyone is different. I would suggest at least keeping the SS template AS IS for at least a few months until you are smart enough to gauge and manipulate your fatigue rather than charging in head first like an over eager noob and self destruct like 90% of the population.

I always found gentle cardio and broomstick/empty barbell practice on off days to be superior for recovery as opposed to just sitting on my ass, even when my day job involved strenuous manual labor.

I did SS for 18 months and TM for a few more months. For me I feel one of the weaknesses of the program was not getting enough work/practice on the Bench, Press, explosive lifts.

Option B would satisfy my desire to go to the gym most days and let me bench and press 3-4 times a week.

How would the overall stress effect be with shorter workouts and few complete rest days?

[Robert Santana]

I always found gentle cardio and broomstick/empty barbell practice on off days to be superior for recovery as opposed to just sitting on my ass, even when my day job involved strenuous manual labor.

I did SS for 18 months and TM for a few more months. For me I feel one of the weaknesses of the program was not getting enough work/practice on the Bench, Press, explosive lifts.

Option B would satisfy my desire to go to the gym most days and let me bench and press 3-4 times a week.

How would the overall stress effect be with shorter workouts and few complete rest days?

Explain to me how you "ran SS for 18 months"