Increasing weekly workout intensity

[j.d.]

Hello pals,

Before any of you pounce on me like a pack of rabid hounds telling me not to fuck with the program, I just want to remark that I am simply seeking advice on this due to the endless amount of free time I have for the next 2.5 months.

Basically, I am desperate to hit up the gym more than the 3 times a week that the SS program calls for as I will only be starting my new job in January. I have already somewhat increased the workout intensity by doing it every other day and yet I still find myself staring out the window at the gym across the street on rest days wishing I could be in there at least doing SOMETHING. Following this strength program keeps me excited and disciplined and yet on days off, which are much too frequent, I find myself with no responsibilities other than making sure I'm eating obscene amounts of grub. I've been on SS since May and I've made some pleasant strength gains.

So my question is whether it would be sound to simply reconfigure the program to perhaps a 2-day lift/1-day off schedule, maybe strictly devoting the main lifts to the first day and assistance exercises to the second. Or maybe even look at a 3-day/1-day schedule??

Has anyone had experience with this??

[yorick]

j.d.,

Many people with a lot of free time feel your pain. Many of us would rather be in the gym more days per week. The thing is, you're at risk for messing up your linear progression if you try to do SS in a way that isn't outlined in the book. Most people that aren't on steroids aren't going to recover from much more than 3 days a week on SS once the weights start getting heavy.

There are other programs that allow for working out more days per week. If you are still convinced that you don't want to do SS as outlined, it would be worth looking at a pre-designed program that allows for more days per week.

[Tamara Reynolds]

If you are willing to take a risk, you could play around with some programming with heavy singles, all for a daily max.

Squat six days a week.
Deadlift once a week.
Press twice a week.
Bench once a week.
Power clean twice a week.

So, maybe:
Monday - Squat, power clean
Tuesday - Squat, press
Wednesday - Squat, deadlift
Thursday - Squat, bench
Friday - Squat, power clean
Saturday - Squat, press
Sunday - Rest

If you want to make it even more interesting, you could front squat on Tuesday and Friday instead of squatting.

The trick is that you are just aiming for a heavy single, and you don't want to take a lot of reps to get there. So, let's say I was going to squat 200 lbs for my single for the day. I might go 5x45, 1x135, 1x155, 1x170, 1x185, 1x200. Then, I might have a day that week where I only squatted to 185, but I would probably have a day when I squatted to 220. It's self-regulating. When you feel like shit, your numbers aren't as high. When you feel great, it's PR time.

Read Moser's article on Bulgarian programming if you think you want to play around with it.

[IndividualThoughtPatterns]

Do what TBone proposed! The only problem I see is with max DL every week on top of all the squatting and cleaning. :-). Also try push press on 'press day'.

And your body will do all the periodisation tricks. :-P

[Cambero]

I was going to advise, a day off a day on, but TBone's plan is more what you are looking for. If you are a tru novice, I would not recommend mixing push press into the program. Until you have truly learned correct form on press.

[Les Hahn]

You could also do a 4 day split routine. You could even do linear progression on it. It would look something like this:

Monday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Tuesday: Squat, Powerclean, + assistance work
Thursday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Friday: Squat, DL, +assistance work

This routine gives you more of chance to work on your bench, since you don't have to squat before it. It also has you moving up 2x per week in LP, so there might be less stalls. You can also add 1-2 assistance exercises each day (if you feel like you want to).

[j.d.]

The trick is that you are just aiming for a heavy single, and you don't want to take a lot of reps to get there. So, let's say I was going to squat 200 lbs for my single for the day. I might go 5x45, 1x135, 1x155, 1x170, 1x185, 1x200. Then, I might have a day that week where I only squatted to 185, but I would probably have a day when I squatted to 220. It's self-regulating. When you feel like shit, your numbers aren't as high. When you feel great, it's PR time.

Hmmm...I see...but won't this inevitably introduce the risk of rushed weight progression, especially for the squats?? Or should I just continue with a 15lb weekly increase (i.e. 5lb per workout) like I used to, but spread it out accross 5/6 days??

I read the Bulgarian method article, but that just seems too hardcore, it's a WHOLE day of lifting, EVERYDAY. But since I'm no professional powerlifter, I may very well tone it down like what you advised...

[j.d.]

You could also do a 4 day split routine. You could even do linear progression on it. It would look something like this:

Monday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Tuesday: Squat, Powerclean, + assistance work
Thursday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Friday: Squat, DL, +assistance work

This routine gives you more of chance to work on your bench, since you don't have to squat before it. It also has you moving up 2x per week in LP, so there might be less stalls. You can also add 1-2 assistance exercises each day (if you feel like you want to).

Ahhhh...this sounds tasty and kü...

[Tamara Reynolds]

Hmmm...I see...but won't this inevitably introduce the risk of rushed weight progression, especially for the squats?? Or should I just continue with a 15lb weekly increase (i.e. 5lb per workout) like I used to, but spread it out accross 5/6 days??

I read the Bulgarian method article, but that just seems too hardcore, it's a WHOLE day of lifting, EVERYDAY. But since I'm no professional powerlifter, I may very well tone it down like what you advised...

Take a look at my log to see what I mean about squats. I am doing Bulgarian programming but with only ONE workout per day instead of two, although I have had a few days of double workouts. I usually front squat and squat every day, although sometimes it's front squatting twice in one day or squatting twice in one day instead. My squat max is 103 kg, my front squat max is 82 kg (new PR as of yesterday). Part of it is figuring out what you know you can hit day in and day out, no matter how shitty you feel. So, at this point, I know that I can squat to 90 kg and front squat to 75 kg pretty much every day. I may have days that are less than that, but I will definitely have days that are more than that. Also, I do some doubles, and you could stick to singles.

If you are just doing what I proposed, it will actually take you less time per training session than an SS workout would. It's not going to be something insane like the Bulgarian weightlifting program because you are just doing the slow lifts.

Also, I agree with what IndividualThoughtPatterns said about deads. It may depend on how well you recover from deads. I don't recover very well from them at all. I'm not pulling deads right now, but a true heavy single would fuck me up for a few days. You could deadlift every other week or stick to a single or double at a lower percentage of your absolute max.

[yorick]

You could also do a 4 day split routine. You could even do linear progression on it. It would look something like this:

Monday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Tuesday: Squat, Powerclean, + assistance work
Thursday: Bench, OHP, + assistance work
Friday: Squat, DL, +assistance work

This routine gives you more of chance to work on your bench, since you don't have to squat before it. It also has you moving up 2x per week in LP, so there might be less stalls. You can also add 1-2 assistance exercises each day (if you feel like you want to).

I really like this option. After I reread his post and realized that j.d. has been on SS since May, I almost suggested 5/3/1, but I think this would be a really great program to allow some good gains without making things too complicated or slow.