A Simple and Effective Deadlift Cycle

This is a deadlift training program that will put on 20-50kgs (44 to 100lbs) on your deadlift in 7 weeks. Make no mistake it is brutal and is only for people who have a solid 2 years of training under their belt and have a very good base of posterior chain strength and are unable to increase their deadlift for some time. A double bodyweight deadlift is a minimum except for unique cases where the raw squat is well over double bodyweight but the deadlift is not. If you are making progress in whatever system you are following, don't abandon it for this. Knowing these things read on.

There is a rebound cycle given as well which will also add another 10kgs or so. This cycle has been designed for he conventional deadlift. I have not tried it on anyone who uses the sumo style though you are free to try it out. I won't guarantee results though. All deadlifts in both cycles are done without belt or gear except during the singles week and the test day.

First some results-
1. Kratu Goel- added 58kgs or 125lbs to deadlift from 165kgs to 223kgs (365lbs to 490lbs). B.W 75kgs.
2. Prateek Verma- added 40kgs or 88lbs to the deadlift from 151kgs to 191. B.W 86kgs.
3. Abdul Najeeb- added 35kgs to the deadlift from 135kgs to 170kgs. B.W- 61kgs or 135lbs
4. Tejas Jaishankar- added 30kgs to the deadlift from 235kgs to 273kgs (517lbs to 600lbs). I went to 295 kgs (649lbs) on the rebound cycle. B.W 88kgs or 195lbs.

The cycle is divided into 3 parts-

Hypertrophy cycle-

The objective of this phase is to gain as much mass in the supportive muscles used. You will have to pick 2 big exercises for the deadlift, one which builds the bottom position and one that builds the top. Options I recommend are-
Bottom
1. RDLs while standing on a 20kg plate.
2. Snatch Grip deadlift from the floor.
3. Deadlifts standing on a 20kg plate.
4. RDLs from the ground.
5. Deadlift upto knees and pause for a second at the knees.
6. Behind the back deadlift

Top
1. Rack deadlifts from below the knee.
2. Snatch grip deadlifts off boxes from below the knee
3. Stutter deadlift (see previous post)
4. Zercher deadlifts from below the knee.

You will also need one squatting variation you know helps your deadlift. Options include-
1. Box Squat below Parallel
2. Zercher Squats
3. Full Squats with high bar placement.
4. Front Squats

You need to pick one unilateral leg exercise, one lower back exercise, one hamstring and glute exercise, two abdominal exercises and a loaded carry you think helps your deadlift. I recommend the farmer's walk, the goblet walk or the one arm carry.

You need to pick one overhead exercise, one bench pressing variation, and one asistance exercise for each.

You need to pick one free weight row and one machine based row. You need to pick a variation of pull ups you like for weighted pulls and a variation you like for unweighted pull ups. You need one exercise for the posterior delts and two exercises for the grip.

Your schedule for week 1, 2 and 3 will be as follows-
Day 1- Deadlift
Day 2- Upper body Pressing
Day 3- Off
Day 4- Deadlift
Day 5. Upper Body Pulling
Day 6 and 7- Off

In all exercises in which percentages are not defined you have to strive to use the most weight/ hardest variation you can use for the given rep range and you have to attempt to improve upon it the next workout. You have to push the intensity while sticking to the rep ranges given.

All numbers are sets X reps.

Deadlift Day 1-

I am showing the exercises I used in my cycle. You can choose whatever exercise you want from the options given previously. The sets reps and ramping method are not up for debate however. 90s rest for all sets and exercises.

1. RDLs while standing on a 20kg plate (no belt or gear)
Week 1-Work up to max set of 6 reps (it was 165kgs in my cycle)
Week 2- Perform 2X6 with last time's best weight.
Week 3- Perform 3X6 with the same weight.

Start from 100 lbs and add 10 lbs at a time (if your deadlift max is under 350) or 20 lbs at a time (if it is over 350 lbs), performing 6 repetitions ever single set. Keep increasing the weight until you know that you cannot perform 6 reps in the next weight jump. Its okay for your form to breakdown within reasonable measure.

2. Sumo Deadlift- 3X6 with 65% of Max (exercise cannot be changed)

3. Full Squat with knee wraps but no belt- 65% of max- 5X6

4. Hanging Leg raises- 3 sets of 10-15

5. Ham- Glute Curls- 5 sets of 4-6

6. 45 degree hypers- 5 sets of 12-15

7. Pistol Squats- 5 sets of 12-15

8. Roman Chair Sit Ups- 5 sets of 8-10

9. One arm carries- 5 sets of 20m

Upper Body Pressing-

1. Mild Incline Bench Press-
Week 1- 5 sets of 6 with 75% of Max.
Week 2- 5 sets of 5 with 80% of Max.
Week 3- 5 sets of 4 with 83% of Max.

2. Military Press-
Week 1- 5 sets of 5 with 72% of Max
Week 2- 6 sets of 4 with 75% of Max
Week 3- 7 sets of 3 with 80% of Max

3. Weighted Push Up- 5 Sets of 8-10

4. Dumbell Military Press- 5 sets of 10-12

Deadlift Day 4-

1. Snatch Grip Deadlifts from below the knee (no belt or gear)
Week 1-Work up to max set of 6 reps (it was 215kgs in my cycle)
Week 2- Perform 2X6 with last time's best weight.
Week 3- Perform 3X6 with the same weight.

2. Ham- Glute Curls- 5 sets of 4-63.

3. Hanging Leg raises- 3 sets of 10-15

4. Pistol Squats- 5 sets of 12-15

5. 45 degree hypers- 5 sets of 12-15

6. Roman Chair Sit Ups- 5 sets of 8-10

7. Full Squat with knee wraps but no belt- 60% of max- 5X6

8. One arm carries- 5 sets of 20m

Upper Body Pulling Day 5-

1. Weighted Close grip Chin Ups
Week 1-Work up to max set of 6 reps (it was 44kgs in my cycle)
Week 2- Perform 2X6 with last time's best weight.
Week 3- Perform 3X6 with the same weight.

2. One arm Dumbell Rows- 5 sets of 8-12

3. T bar Rows- 7 sets of 10-12

4. Medium Overhand grip pull ups- 3 sets of as many reps as possible.

5. Posterior delt fly with dumbells- 5 X 12-15

6. Pinch Grip Walking with 20kg plates- 5 sets of as much distance as possible

7. One arm deadhang from a chinning bar for time- 5 sets of as much time as possible.

Basic Strength Cycle

In this phase you will perform the convention deadlift only.

You will pick one bench press variation, one overhead press variation, one row variation, one chin up variation, two abdominal exercises and a bodyweight squat variation.

You schedule for weeks 4, 5 and 6 will be-
Day 1- Deadlift + Bench Press Variation+ Abdominal Variation
Day 2- Deadlift + Row Variation
Day 3- Deadlift + Military press Variation + Second Abdominal Variation
Day 4- Deadlift + Chin Up Variation
Day 5- Deadlift + Bodyweight Squat variation

You Deadlifting schedule for the 3 weeks will be as follows. I have given the weights I ended up using as well.

For the figure of the max you should just use the best weight weight you have hit in the recent past before doing the program. It should be a weight you know you can do. To be Conservative you can use a slightly lower figure (about 10kgs lesser) for calculating the weights for the cycle. I used 235kgs.

The Deadlift cycle is-
Week 1 (4 in the full cycle)
Day 1- 60% X 4X6 (141kgs)
Day 2- 65% X 4X5 (153kgs)
Day 3- 70% X 5X4 (165kgs)
Day 4- 75% X 6X3 (177kgs)
Day 5- 80% X 7X2 (189kgs)
Week 2 (5 in the full cycle)
Day 1- 65% X 2X6, 2X5 (153kgs)
Day 2- 70% X 2X5, 2X4 (165kgs)
Day 3- 75% X 3X4, 2X3 (177kgs)
Day 4- 80% X 4X3, 2X2 (189kgs)
Day 5- 85% X 6X2 (201kgs)
Week 3 (6 in the full cycle)
Day 1- 70% X 4X5 (165kgs)
Day 2- 75% X 4X4 (177kgs)
Day 3- 80% X 5X3 (189kgs)
Day 4- 85% X 6X2 (201kgs)
Day 5- 90% X 5X2 (213kgs)

For the pressing exercises simply do 5X5 with 70% on week 1, 4X6 with 70% on week 2, and 5X6 with 70% on week 3. For rows do 5 sets of 8-10 and chins 3 sets of as many reps as possible. For abdominal work do 5 sets of 10-15. For squats do 3X6 with 70% on week 1, 4X5 with 70% week 2, and 5X4 with 70% on week 3. Dont push yourself too hard on any of these exercises. Just get the work done and keep the groove in those exercises.

Singles Week- Week 7

In this week you will use a belt and knee wraps. If you are an equipped powerlifter you will use your full equipment. No exercise other than deadlifts will be done this week. I used a belt and knee warps only.

Day 1- 87% X 8X1 (205kgs)
Day 2- 95% X 6X1 (225kgs)
Day 3- 100% X 5X1 (235kgs)
Day 4- 95% X 4X1 (225kgs)
Day 5- 105% X 3X1 (245kgs)

You will take day 6 and 7 off and test on day 8 or compete in a meet on this day. You will have to arrange the starting date of the schedule accordingly if you wish to do so. Go for a deadlift only meet.

Test day- Attempt 1 105% (245kgs)
Attempt 2 110% (255kgs)
Attempt 3 anything you feel you can do. I did 265kgs.

Take the rest of the week off.

Rebound Cycle

This will last 16 weeks. Start this the week after the test week. The purpose here is to consolidate your gains and ensure you can fall back into the groove of regular training without losing your strength. You will deadlift once a week. Arrange the rest of the schedule and assistance exercises as you wish. You will hit a new PR here as well. All percentages are based on the new Max minus 10kgs. I used 255kgs. You will go back to no equipment.

You should use this phase to bring up your bench and military press and your squat. Focus more on small exercises like dumbell work and bodyweight work at this time. Do a  lot of small exercises that help your deadlift like hypers, ham glute raises, ab rollouts and walking lunges.

Week 1- 5X6 with 65%. (166kgs for me)
Week 2- 5X4 with 75% (192 for me)
Week 3- 6X5 with 70%. (179)
Week 4- 6X3 with 80% (204)
Week 5- 5X4 with 75% (192)
Week 6- 6X2 with 85% (217)
Week 7- 6X3 with 80% (204)
Week 8- 6X2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1 with 90% (231kgs)
Week 9- 5X2 with 90% (231kgs)
Week 10- 5X2 with 90% + 4kgs (235kgs)
Week 11- 5X2 with 90% + 8kgs (239kgs)
Week 12- 5X2 with 90% + 12kgs (243kgs)
Week 13- 5X3 with 90% (235kgs)
Week 14- 4X2 with 90%+ 16kgs (247kgs)
Week 15- 5X3 with 90% (235kgs)
Week 16- 3X2 with 100% (255kgs)

The Corrective Deadlift

I recently managed my first 650 pound deadlift, which was a huge achievement for me. One of my long term goals is to deadlift 800 lbs at whatever body weight it takes and getting to 650 is one hell of a step closer. It has taken me 2 years to go from 500 lbs to 650, which I suppose is not bad, but a lot of it came in the last 5 months, after I started using this deadlift variation I invented.

Basically I found I had 2 problems in my deadlift-
1. The bar was drifting away from me around the knees.
2. My upper back would round at the same point. While I maintain a somewhat rounded upper back, this much rounding just does not feel natural to me and I cant pull well this way.

I tried all the rows in the world, right from dumbell rows to T bar rows. Finally I decided maybe the best way to solve this issue would be to use the deadlift itself. So I started doing partial deadlifts from below the knee. While I found this made the weights seem lighter it did not do much for my full deadlift.

That is when I started experimenting with the snatch grip deadlift from below the knees and I started making gains again. Just 1 set of as many reps as possible, going as high as 30, once a week. Deadlifts from below the knee with a collar to collar grip. My record was 175kgs for 18 reps. But soon my gains slowed down here as well. But for anyone having a general tendency to shoot the hips up or have a weak upper back this variation will do wonders.

This is when I invented the corrective deadlift. I reasoned that the reason why the normal deadlift from below the knee did not originally work for me was that my position when deadlifting from here did not resemble what my position would have been if I had lifted it off the ground.

Thus the corrective deadlift was created. Actually I need a better name so if anyone has any ideas please tell me. It is performed as follows-

1. Set up with the bar on the floor just like a conventional deadlift. No belts or gear of any kind. Chalk is a must.
2. Deadlift the bar to just below the kneecaps and pause for 1 full second. Lower it back to the ground.
3. Immediately deadlift the bar again and pause exactly at the kneecaps for 1 full second. Resume pulling and lockout the hips.
4. Push the hips back and lower the bar 1 full inch below your kneecaps. Pause for 1 second. Lockout the hips again.
5. Lower the bar to the ground and immediately deadlift the bar again doing 1 full normal deadlift.

This whole sequence constitutes 1 repetition. There is no point doing more than 3 reps a set with this method. I can guarantee that this variation will do wonders for your conventional deadlift though I cannot say the same for the sumo deadlift.

The reason it works is because you hold the hardest part of the deadlift (leverage wise) both while coming up and down, and you overcome inertia at that point and continue moving up. The partial at the bottom with the pause teaches you to get the bar to the correct position, the partial at the top overcoming inertia while in the correct position teaches you to push your hips through. The deadlift at the end recaps it all.

This variation builds the groove and strength required to deadlift well. It is specially awesome for upper spine and lat strength. You will really feel your wings expanding with this one.

I deadlifted once a week. I simply worked to the heaviest weight I could handle for 3 reps in week 1 of my cycle, then the best double I could do in week 2 and a max single in week 3. Week 4 I take as a deload week. Next cycle I tried to break my records. I also did a lot of ham glute raises, bridges and heavy kettlebell swings to develop the musculature of the posterior chain. I squatted heavy once a week and did plenty of pistol squats and leg raises as well. I worked weighted chin ups 2 times a week and did a lot of grip work. I also did 1 arm deadlifts for a best set of 5 twice a month. My best in this lift so far has been 151kgs for 5 reps per hand.

I did zercher squats as well, once a month. My best was 161kgs for 4 reps. I performed them as if I was deadlifting.

Perhaps this exercise can be valuable for you. In any case I am making all my guys do it to clean up their technique.

This deadlift was done in a strongman contest not in a powerlifting meet for those who are curious about it.

And just for novelty sake (and the fact that I want to write this down somewhere where I can keep looking at it) here are my record- old, current and targets.
1. Deadlift- Old (2 years ago) 500lbs, current 650, target 800.
2. Bench Press- Old 275, current 315, target 400.
3. Military press- Old- 195, current 240, target 315.
4. Weighted Chin up- Old- 65kgs, current 71kgs, target 86kgs. Also get my first triple in the one arm chin.
5. Squat- Old- 315, Current 475, target 600. Also a set of 50 pistols per leg.
6. 100m dash- Old- 11.3, Current 11.06, target 10.6

Creating Training Programs Part 2

First of all I would like to apologize for the extreme gap between this and the last post. I have been shifting to a new gym and have had several projects on the line. I will put up a separate post about all that.

Now if you have read part 1 of this series, you will understand the various kinds of plans, how to make a basic plan and training principles, components of a training program and how to balance things. You will have also seen the raw beginner program I gave.

Today, we will talk about exercise tools, exercise selection, the principle of specificity and the principle of accommodation. We will talk about the two factor model of training. We will also cover a basic beginner training model.

Two Factor Model
Now in training we get some benefits from each workout. These benefits are adaptations which last for a certain duration of time and they go away if the adaptations are not worked on within a certain amount of time, which depends upon the stress created by the workout and your adaptive ability etc.

Now from the same workouts you get certain fatigue. This is cost of the workout. This fatigue also lasts a certain amount of time dependent on various factors. On a very simple and logical level the gains your acquire from any workout is simply:

Benefits (adaptations) - Costs (Fatigue)

Therefore the less the fatigue caused by a certain workout for the same adaptations, the better the gains.

However there is a second point to consider. The duration of adaptations and fatigue. You have to repeat the stimuli before the previous adaptation fizzles out, but you also have to recover between workouts. You have to prevent fatigue from compounding. What does this mean?

Lets say the adaptations from a workout last 72 hours and your fatigue only lasts 24 hours. You workout every 48 hours. This is good as the adaptations compound but the fatigue does not. However let us say the fatigue lasts 48 hours. This means not only do your adaptations compound, but so does your fatigue. and remember that workouts are not your only source of fatigue- your daily life is as well. So fatigue will tend to compound more than adaptations.

Therefore this brings into play the principles of

1. Energy Conservation- Switching between antagonist movements, taking active rests between sets, performing breathing exercises before and after the workout. resting more in general and engaging in relaxing activities and avoiding stress.
2. Training Economy- You have to use the least amount of volume and exercises possible to get the adaptations you want. You have to learn how to make efficient training programs and learn how to get more from less.
3. Optimum training frequency, volume, intensity and tonnage- You have to figure out the combinations you respond to, because this will determine how you adapt (or don't). For example- high frequency low volume medium intensity training works. Low frequency high volume medium Intensity works. But high frequency and high volume medium intensity does not work.

Principle of Specificity
Many of the factors controlling the increases in strength are neural in nature. Because of this gains in strength are highly specific. Specific to the movement performed that is. What this means is if you get good at one variety of squatting, it will probably help your other squats in some way, but how much and how is very dependent on the circumstances, but leg pressing will not help your squatting. As an example of this, close stance raw squats will help your geared squats by giving you strength in the bottom but this improvement is probably negligible. On the other hand box squats will really help your geared squats. But leg pressing won't do squat for your squat.

Now admittedly there are ways around this and a lot of it is dependent upon performance. For example many lifters find their deadlift goes up by leg  pressing. This makes little sense since the movements are so different, but upon closer inspection the guys who find this carry over leg press the weight exctly how they push with the legs during the start of the deadlift. In fact if you ask them they probably think of the same cues like push through the floor/plate, back arched etc. To sum up this line of thought Louie Simmons once said (I dont remember where) that it is not enough to do good mornings but one must see a deadlift in his head for it to be of any use to the deadlift.

There is also a "coordinate your strength" school of though which features people like Paul Anderson and Valentine Dikul. Basically if you train the assistance lift and the primary lift in close proximity, the strength from one will carry over better to the other.

The ultimate take away point from all this is- if you want to get good at something you have to train that specifically and for a long period of time.

Principle of Accommodation

When you do the same thing over and over again, the nervous system gets "bored" and stops responding to it. Adaptations stop and a plateau is reached unless something is done about it.

Balancing the principles of accommodation and specificity is probably the greatest problem of all training. Change too much and you will not gain anything useful, don't change anything and you will get stuck.

Ultimately you have to do things that are similar to what you are currently doing, but different enough to prevent accommodation. This is the art of strength training.

Accommodation can be prevented by varying the reps, sets, rest intervals, frequency of training, loads used and exercises.

In this context I have attached a copy of preplin's table- which is a summation of soviet research on the optimum sets and reps at various intensity levels. You can use it to vary sets, reps and loads with proven results. Please bear in mind that it was made for the clean and jerk, snatch, squats and press so you will have to adjust it a bit for other exercises.

Exercise Tools

There are various tools that have been used through history to develop strength. Right from things like anvils and logs to rocks and carts have been productively used in the quest for strength. It is important that the correct tools be used for the correct purposes in order to get best results. Of course a large consideration is the availability and logistical convenience of the tools as well. Due to this I have covered only those exercise tools which can be used by most people.

1. Barbells
This are the most basic piece of equipment available in any gym in the planet. The greatest advantage of the barbell is that you can load enormous amounts of weight on it and make increments of whatever degree you want. Due to this the systemic effect that the barbell causes on the entire body is incredible.  In my opinion the barbell is the greatest maximal effort training tool known to man, bar none. It is versatile, can be used to produce all the useful compound movements and can be programmed very easily due to easy adjustments in load.

I however think the barbell is a terrible repetition effort tool, for the same reasons it is a great maximal effort tool- it causes too much systemic strain. In repetition effort work you want to target certain movements and practice it. Using a barbell for this will invariably beat you up, as not only is the load placed on the working muscles and joints, but on the spine as well. Plus many motions are open chain kinetic motions. While this is a good thing for heavy lifting I find that it is too strenuous to do this for repetitions. Only the genetically gifted can barbell squat, deadlift and bench press with high frequency, volume and intensity and get away with it. That is why periodization exists- you cannot train all out all the time with the barbell.

On the other hand no one got truly huge without significant volume on the basic barbell lifts, so you will have to consider how to use your barbell volume efficiently. You have to learn how to use the most basic exercises and get the most out of them with barbell training rather than doing mindless sets and reps and beating your body up for no particular reason.

If you want my advice if you pick up a barbell never cross 7 reps, I find volume is the issue with barbell training, not intensity.  Load away as long you know how to program things. If you keep the volume per session low, you can train very heavy with fair frequency. If you really need more volume add sets not reps- preplin's table is a good guide of this. But be aware that the more volume you do on these lifts, the more back off and light sessions you will need.

I think the barbell is a great Dynamic tool as well, as loads can be regulated and it forces you to catch as well as throw during explosive movements.

2. Bodyweight
I think bodyweight is the greatest repetition tool known to man. You can do a great amount of volume with bodyweight work and really drive the body parts you are working into the ground without much systemic fatigue. This is because all bodyweight movements are closed chain kinetic motions and there is no spinal loading. I am not saying that is is impossible to overtrain using bodyweight, but it is certainly a lot harder. Imagine the kind of volumes gymnasts or military personall will regularly do with bodyweight movements and try to think what such routines would do to a man doing the same with a barbell. 100 pull ups a day for 15 days straight? The armstrong pull up routine? The 100 pistol squats a day 3 days a week program? The closest thing to this in the barbell world is the Smolov Squat program and this will leave most people crying for mercy in 3 weeks. Yet these programs are used as long term training routines by many bodyweight athletes without 50% of the side effects of the smolov. Again I am not saying this is a good way to train but the point is bodyweight work is a good way to perform higher volume training.

Anyone who has read this blog knows how bodyweight exercises can be made more progressive.

Bodyweight work is an absolutely terrible way to perform maximal Effort training for the same reasons it is a great repetition tool- closed chain kinetic movements and no spinal loading. Also you cant make jumps in small increments. For proper maximal effort training your body needs to feel the weight, your nervous system has to be extremely excited. You need to handle as much load as possible and use tools and exercises that allow you to do this. That is why if you keep doing good mornings and bulgarian split squats but no squats or deadlifts, no matter how much you train the split squat, your max strength in hip extension in general will not improve the way your weightlifting buddy's does. With a little practice a 500lb squatter will always split squat more than the 300lb squatter, but it does not work the other way.

Bodyweight is the best and the most basic dynamic effort tool in my opinion. It is what speed training means, to move yourself fast, and if you are not doing dynamic speed work you are leaving a lot on the table. Nothing too fancy just basic jumps and sprints will be enough to make a huge difference for most people.

3. Dumbells

I think dumbells are like bodyweight in the sense that they are great repetition tools but bad maximal effort ones. Also they are different from bodyweight work because they put more stress on the larger muscles, whereas in bodyweight work the load shifts to the extremities as you progress to harder variations. Because of this I feel dumbell and bodyweight work complement each other very nicely as repetition tools. Almost all my athletes use dumbells and bodyweight for repetition work, specially the ones involved in sports where extra size could be a disadvantage.

Dynamic work with dumbells is just stupid when kettlebells exist. If I have to justify this you have not been training very long.

4. Kettlebells

I think kettlebells are the best way to train for dynamic endurance, strength endurance, cardiovascular endurance and strength flexibility. If you have heavy enough kettlebells or something like the hungarian core blaster, it is an excellent dynamic effort training method as well, beating barbells.

5. Cable Machines

Great precision training tools. While I don't like isolation exercises, if you want to do them use cables. They give you a good constant resistance, don't beat up the joint and deliver a pump in record time. You can change the angle and setting to target exact areas of the muscle you want to feel. useful for the advanced bodybuilder, or someone who wants to look good and has paid his dues with the barbell, the chin up bar and dumbells.

6. Resistance Bands and chains

Useful for an advanced person trying to increase acceleration. Also very useful for rehabbing the joints and working out mobility issues, but people who say that you can get stronger just with resistance bands are lying (and I meet 5 of these idiots every day). Not something you cannot do without.

7. Sandbags, Logs, barrels, farmer's implements and other awkward objects

I truly believe that systematic awkward object lifting and carrying is the greatest secret to strength that we are not using. Logistically a great hassle but well worth it. They will build the skeletal strength of the body and forge ligaments of steel.

In my gym we perform loaded carries twice a week and use awkward objects for it. We have a heavy barrel that goes up to 500lbs, farmer's implements, 2 sandbags weighing 50 and 70kgs and a big rock weighing 150kgs.

8. Other Isolation Machines

I honestly think that most of them are redundant if you have an adjustable cable stack and dumbells.

9. Specialty Machines and equipment

These are just stuff I think is useful- 45 degree and 90 degree hyper extensions, reverse hyper extensions, t-bar units, leg press, hack squat, ham glute raise, roman chair, incline sit up boards, hip belt squat and of course the all powerful power rack.

Exercise Selection

First of all lets talk about the stuff you have to find exercises for-
1. hip hinge- both maximal effort and repetition
2. Squat- Ditto
3. Pressing- Ditto
4. Pulling- Repetition though some heavy training wont hurt
5. Loaded Carries
6. Full body explosive extension
7. Abdominal and lower back work

If you are missing out on any one of those things, you are leaving a lot on the table. You may or may not select more exercises.

While selecting exercises the basic things you have to keep in your mind are-
1. Can I perform it safely and conveniently, either as it is or by modifying it?
2. Can I change the exercise repeatedly over time to prevent accommodation and overuse injuries?
3. Is my exercise selection balanced or does it fix my weaknesses?
4. Is my selection efficient and not repeating the same thing for no reason?

Basic Beginner Training Model

This is for someone who has completed the raw beginner training template in the previous post. The primary objective of this template is to get seriously strong- that is all. It should be used for not more than 16 weeks.

Three days per week. Each Cycle is 2 weeks long or 6 workouts.

Actual maxes do not need to be used, an estimate is sufficent. After each cycle is over, add 4kgs to the max of the deadlift and squat and 2-3kgs to the max of the bench press.

At this stage you may squat first and deadlift later or deadlift first and squat later. Just make sure the bench press is between them and base your max for the second lift on what you think you can do after being quite fatigued. Don't over estimate your maxes, it will be a painful mistake. As a rule do something much easier than what you think you can confidently do.

For example a particular trainee of mine started this program after 4 months of raw beginner training with an estimated deadlift max of 120kgs. The percentages used were all based off a training max of only 100kgs. At the end of 16 weeks when we tested his max single he performed a deadlift with 185kgs. At this time the training max we had used for the last cycle was only 156. While I did jump the training max by more than how much I ought to have, it was still a lot lesser than what he was capable of.

For the repetition ranges, just start with a weight you can do the bottom reps with for all sets. Keep adding reps till you get all 3 sets with the higher end. Increase the weight and repeat.

Day 1-

Warm up

Deadlift- 4X6 (setsXreps) with 65%
Bench Press- 5X6 with 65%
Squat- 4X6 with 65%

Weighted hyper Extensions- 3 sets of 10-15
Pull ups- ladders
Weighted Sit ups- 2 Sets of 10-15

Day 2

Deadlift- 3X4 with 85%
Bench Press- 4X4 with 85%
Squat- 3X4 with 85%

Dumbell Military Press- 3 sets of 10-15
Pull ups- 5 sets of as many reps as possible
Weighted Sit ups- 2 sets of 10-15

Day 3

Deadlift- 4X5 with 70%
Bench press- 4X6 with 70%
Squat- 4X5 with 70%

One legged squat progression- 3 sets
Pull ups- 2 sets of 7-10 with added weight
Weighted Situps- 2 sets of 10-15

Day 4

Deadlift- 4X2 (setsXreps) with 90%
Bench Press- 4X3 with 90%
Squat- 4X2 with 90%

Weighted hyper Extensions- 3 sets of 10-15
Pull ups- ladders
Weighted Sit ups- 2 Sets of 10-15

Day 5

Deadlift- 4X4 with 75%
Bench Press- 5X5 with 75%
Squat- 4X4 with 75%

Dumbell Military Press- 3 sets of 10-15
Pull ups- 5 sets of as many reps as possible
Weighted Sit ups- 2 sets of 10-15

Day 6

Deadlift- 4X1 with 95%
Bench press- 3X2 with 95%
Squat- 4X1 with 95%

One legged squat progression- 3 sets
Pull ups- 2 sets of 7-10 with added weight
Weighted Situps- 2 sets of 10-15