Tested and results producing programs?

[kasper2133]

Theres the 5x5 program that have been tested on many people, and proved to be a good allround program for most, that will bring results.

Are there more basic and tested programs, there stands outs for producing results like the 5x5?

[Grizzly]

This one was given to me by JohnSmith. I think it's application in the training of olympic wrestlers probably speaks volumes about its efficacy.

"mike stone is the head of strength and conditioning at the olympic training center at colorado springs, and oversees training for a lot of sports (plus his wife did power clean 165kilos (363lbs) a while backs) including wrestling and and i think the other contact sports. this is the split he uses with them, plus the strength coach for rulan gardner is an intern of mine now and this is similar to what he was doing before the last olympics...

monday morning, pressing monday evening, squatting

tuesday, rest

wednesday morning, pulling wednesday evening, pulling

thursday morning, pressing thursday evening, squatting

friday, rest

saturday morning, pulling saturday evening, pulling

thats the basic plan... the exercises can be different at different times, however, this is a plan that he has used before...

monday pressing- push press/military... done like this, take a weight you can press 3 or 4 times, push press the first one, then press it 3 times, then push press it another 3-5 times or untill failure. this can be done 2 or 3 sets, then its on to 3-4 sets of incline benches and then shoulder prehab stuff

monfsy squatting- back squat for 5 sets of 5, sets across

wednesday pulling AM- stiff leg deadlifts or romanian deadlifts, 3 or 4 sets of 10, then power shrugs for 3 or 4 sets of 10

wwednesday pulling evening- power cleans, 4 or 5 sets of 3, then clean pulls 4 or 5 sets of 5

thursday pressing- bench press, 5 sets of 5, then military press, 5 sets of 3

thursday squatting, front squat 5 or 6 sets of 3, sets across, then MAYBE a set of 20 on back squat for conditioning, not to heavy

sat morning pulling- snatch grip romanian deadlifts, 3 sets of 10, barbell rows, 5 sets of 5

sat evening pulling- hang power cleans, 5 or 6 sets of 3 working up, snatch pulls working up in sets of 2 to max on snatch deadlifts ( in other words start with snatch pulls, keep adding weight each set till eventually it becomes a max snatch deadlift)

now, you will have to ramp up for 2-3 weeks, then back off... also its best to change the exercises a bit each 3 or 4 week cycle, for instance on sat night pulling a fav is to start with power cleans, keep adding weight till its a clean pull, keep adding weight till eventually you are deadlifting up to max... same idea as before, just a bit different.

by the way, this is for someone who is not worried about gaining weight... if you are trying to stay in a weight class, this would not be for you. im sure youll also have to work with the volume a bit... may be too much or two little. especially needs changes if you only train once a day... but im sure you can see how to keep the idea the same but still adapt it"

[Grizzly]

I don't know if this counts, but the following is a program that I developed. I had a bit of a focus on athletic improvement, hence the explosive, olympic style movements, but it should work superbly well for strength/muscle mass gain. A few people were nice enough to be my guinea pigs and test out the program on other people besides myself and they all said they got good gains. Take that for what it's worth.

Mon-

Squats- 5X5
Incline- 3 or 4X6
Military- 3 or 4X3

Wed-

Cleans- 5 or 6X3
Hang cleans- 2X10
RDL- 3X10
Power shrugs- 3X10

Thurs-

Squats- (repeat Monday)
Bench- 5X5
Military- 3X8

Sat-

Hang cleans- 5 or 6X3
Rows- 5X5
Deadlifts- 3X3
RDL- 3X10

[Madcow2]

The best thing about the 5x5 outside of the results is that it provides a very transparent view of the loading and unloading periods. This is common to all good programs. You can basically build your own from the general template. The choices of the exercises are entirely up to you but obviously you want primarily the ones that produce results (freeweight/compounds), any assitance work should be targetted to a specific area, and you want to hit the core lifts with a solid frequency. The biggest issue in program design for an individual is that tolerances and capacities vary widely. You really need to get a feel for your tolerance and work capacity. This is why the 5x5 is also very helpful. Personally I think the 4:1:4 week time allocation could and probably should be condensed by someone who really knows exactly where to set their weights and knows exactly how much volume they can handle. This comes with experience and a training journal unless you are lucky enough to have a coach handling this for you. And by experience I mean a lot more than just running the 5x5 once or twice. The 4:1:4 breakup is what will work best for the general population.

[kasper2133]

Originally Posted by Madcow2

The best thing about the 5x5 outside of the results is that it provides a very transparent view of the loading and unloading periods. This is common to all good programs. You can basically build your own from the general template. The choices of the exercises are entirely up to you but obviously you want primarily the ones that produce results (freeweight/compounds), any assitance work should be targetted to a specific area, and you want to hit the core lifts with a solid frequency. The biggest issue in program design for an individual is that tolerances and capacities vary widely. You really need to get a feel for your tolerance and work capacity. This is why the 5x5 is also very helpful. Personally I think the 4:1:4 week time allocation could and probably should be condensed by someone who really knows exactly where to set their weights and knows exactly how much volume they can handle. This comes with experience and a training journal unless you are lucky enough to have a coach handling this for you. And by experience I mean a lot more than just running the 5x5 once or twice. The 4:1:4 breakup is what will work best for the general population.

What do you mean by 4:1:4?

[Madcow2]

4 weeks of 5x5, 1 week deloading, 4 weeks of 3x3

-Incidentally, I read that other thread. I highly caution you to not try changing the weekly pattern in the 5x5. A very small group stands to benefit from this alteration and with all respect, you aren't anywhere near that level. For the record, I use the standard pattern.

[kasper2133]

Okay. In the normal 5x5 setup theres no deload week between 5x5 and 3x3. How would you train on the deload week? Also, would it be a good idea to do another deload week after the 3x3, before starting over at 5x5?

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by kasper2133

Okay. In the normal 5x5 setup theres no deload week between 5x5 and 3x3. How would you train on the deload week? Also, would it be a good idea to do another deload week after the 3x3, before starting over at 5x5?

The "deload week" (the whole 3x3 period is actually a deloading/peaking/recovery phase) is just 3x3 with the same weights you used during the last week of the 5x5.

[Freddy]

Just in case my last post was incomplete, I'll post an example of a complete 5x5 cycle for squats. These numbers will represent Mondays workout, the most important. Remember that Wednesday is about 60-80% of Monday, and that Friday is probably 20-40 pounds heavier than Friday (though again, this will vary between lifters). Remember, once you get to the 3x3, you drop down to 2 workouts a week (get rid of Friday's workout). These numbers assume that your previous best 5 sets of 5 was done with 255 pounds.

Week 1: 5x5x 245
Week 2: 5x5x 250
Week 3: 5x5x 260
Week 4: 5x5x 265
Week 5: 3x3x 265
Week 6: 3x3x 275
Week 7: 3x3x 280
Week 8: 3x3x 285
Week 9: 3x3x 290

This is a rough approximation of course, thats why its helpful to post your workouts or email them to someone who knows whats up.

[Madcow2]

Thanks, that's exactly what I meant. For whatever reason I view that one week as totally separate even though the purpose of the 2nd phase is all deloading. It probably has to do with how happy I am to slash the volume and not having to worry about ramping up the 3x3 weights for the final weeks. It's like an intermission in a long movie when you finished the 80oz. soda during the previews - great feeling.

[GeaR_and_SauCe]

4:1:4 is interesting. After the 9th week you would go back to the loading phase, right?

[Madcow2]

4:1:4 = the weekly schedule of the 5x5, I simply break out the one week as separate but you would be correct in referring to it as 4:5 also except that week 5 is a 3x3 week and the weights are held constant to the final week of the 5x5. It should be exactly what you are doing, just symantics. And yes, you can go right back to the beginning as volume has been kept fairly low and intensity has increased but not enough to offset a gradual recovery over the period (i.e. deloading).

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Madcow2

Thanks, that's exactly what I meant. For whatever reason I view that one week as totally separate even though the purpose of the 2nd phase is all deloading. It probably has to do with how happy I am to slash the volume and not having to worry about ramping up the 3x3 weights for the final weeks. It's like an intermission in a long movie when you finished the 80oz. soda during the previews - great feeling.

Yeah, I know. It was for everyone else...so they'd know what we're talking about. I find its better to give people actual numbers that they can work with.