Stick With Basic Exercises and Methods

 

When you are starting out training you shouldn’t do anything special for at least the first 18 months, maybe even 24 months. Use basic dumbbell and barbell movements, standard set, rep, and rest schemes, and focus on perfecting your technique. You will make gains like this and it gives you somewhere to go later on down the track.

Too often I see trainers getting their clients to use chains and bands, do a heap of plyo work, use all types of specialty bars, basically anything they think looks cool for their social media. This is the wrong approach in my opinion.

We have, and do use all these tools as well but not with anyone who can barely even perform the movement correctly with the bar alone. You have to deserve the method / technique / tool. You use these tools as ways to try and further challenge the movement. If you can’t perform it correctly then no bands for you, it will only confuse your body more.

The same goes for plyometrics. They are overused first of all, and secondly, a lot of the people need to develop their strength levels before performing them. You see them collapse and spend way too much time on the ground most of the time.

“The method that gets you to bench 90kg won’t be the method that get’s you to bench 180kg” – Charles Poliquin.

We often like to look at what the best in the world are doing and try to follow their lead. This makes sense, I do it all the time. But you have to put things in perspective and know where you are currently at. Following a professional athlete’s program isn’t going to serve you well if you are a beginner. It took them many years to build up to the type of training they are doing now, they didn’t begin there. So, take the principles but don’t follow everything to the letter. Again, you have to earn the right to do more advanced things.

Even if you do these advanced types of methods early on and get good results, where do you go to once you hit a plateau? Save them for when you need them and it will help you continually progress.

Progressing with the 5,4,3,2,1 Method

July 14, 2019

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Nathan Waters - Total Health Performance

In this phase of training I have been using the 5,4,3,2,1 method with Toby and he is responding very well to it. It is a method that teaches your body how to perform lower reps more efficiently. Toby is good at repeating efforts but would struggle to recruit the higher threshold muscles once the reps got lower. So, over the past few cycles I have gradually reduced his average rep range to get his cns used to performing some lower rep work and thought the 5,4,3,2,1 method would be a good way to finish off his cycle before he leaves for his holiday this coming Tuesday.

Another good thing about the 5,4,3,2,1 method is that the descending reps make the workout feel a lot easier psychologically and you feel as though you are getting much stronger each set, which is very motivating. 

It is also a very simple method to implement. You perform a 5RM and then add weight each set whilst dropping the reps by one. It is recommended you add 2-3% on each set, whilst dropping that rep, but what you will find early on is that you can probably add a bit more until you really start to get to true max lifts for the given reps. Toby jumped 5% on a lot of his lifts but he has only done 2 workouts of each so far. I would expect these jumps to now begin to fall into that 2-3% range. 

An example workout for Toby is as follows:

A1. Back Squat Heels Elevated, 5,4,3,2,1, 4010, 120 seconds rest

A2. Standing Leg Curl Toes In, 5 x 3-5, 4010, 120 seconds rest

B1. Deadlift, 5,4,3,2,1, 4110, 120 seconds rest

B2. DB Lunges, 5 x 3-5, 20X0, 120 seconds rest

Here is a video of Toby hitting a 180kg deadlift for a single, which happens to be a current PB for him. It is a good effort considering it is after performing back squats and leg curls prior to it in his workout.

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Toby Huxley

Deadlift

grip strength

Strength

strength training

program design

CNS

You Don't Have to Grind Reps to Get Stronger

October 3, 2017

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Nathan Waters - Total Health Performance

When trying to increase the amount of load on a given lift many people try to max out every single session or go to a near max every session. This is a common mistake that more often than not leads to you hitting a plateau. This could be due to burning out of the nervous system or a change in lifting technique, among many other things. I mention these two as it is what I see most regularly. The change in technique is a bigger factor for most of the people I coach or see in the gym. 

I am not against grinding out reps here and there. I think it is something you do need to learn how to do but it shouldn't be something you do every single set of every single workout. When grinding through a sticking point your technique should not change. If you take the bench press as an example, you will see people tilting the bar from side to side, worming around underneath the bar, or kicking their legs out in air. This will ruin your lift, not improve it. Strength training is a skill. You are teaching the body what movement pattern you want to produce each lift. Don't ingrain poor habits and poor recruitment patterns by being sloppy trying to lift a load that is currently too heavy for you. You will also dramatically increase your risk of injury.

Each rep of the set should look exactly the same. This is something I learnt from Charles Poliquin a long time ago. So if your first rep of the set was perfect technique then your last rep should look the same. Sure the bar speed may slow down a bit but you should not have to change your technique to lift the load. If it is the back squat, and you start with your torso fairly upright and use good leg drive out of the bottom on the first rep but then towards the end of the set start shooting your arse up first and start to stripper the load then it is time to call that set. 

There is a definite benefit to taking a lighter load and making sure you smoke all reps in the set with solid technique. It will improve your bar speed and help re-enforce good technique. Your ego may take a hit for the first few weeks but you will surpass where you could have gotten to by just grinding away each day. Also, it isn't a huge drop in weight. I'm not talking about going to 50 or 60% of maximum or anything like that. For some people it may be as little as 5-10% less than they are currently doing. I don't use percentages in training so it is just a load where I can keep perfect technique. If bar speed slows down from one rep to the next and if going for another I feel like I may need to change technique to get the rep, I call the set there. Probably leaving 1 rep in the tank, if not 2.

Here is Marcus Moore back squatting 97.5 kg x 3 reps. He had followed a cycle where he was not allowed to grind reps, as in the previous cycle I felt he had a few too many. He started this cycle at 92.5 kg x 2 for 5 sets and by the end of the 4 weeks took it to 97.5 kg x 3 for 5 sets. It is not a PB but it has set him up to smash his old best in the next couple of weeks. 

Tags:

Back squat

junior development

Strength training

strength

TeamTHP

Charles Poliquin

Perfect reps

Marcus Moore

technique