Let’s Talk Details
1. The Plan
2. Your Job
3. Videos
#1
The Plan
Key Exercises
Overhead Press (Key)
Deep Leg Press (Key)
Push Press (Key)
Close-Grip Barbell Flat Bench (Key)
Barbell Back Squat (Key)
Barbell Back Squat (Pause) (Key)
Add sets to these key exercises first when you are planning your workout. The accessory movements are not as important for you to add sets to because they can add extra fatigue too fast.
It is imperative that you focus on developing your form with these exercises to maximize the stimulus and have the best progressions week to week possible. Form is foundational to everything else.
View more cues on the movements in the section “Videos” to further improve your form. Cues are the secret to getting your body to move the way you want it to.
Visualize your form often. When you get to the gym, the only thing that changes is the weight because your form should look just like how you practiced on every single rep
Here are some more tips for your key lifts:
Overhead Press – Make sure that you are not using your chest with your elbows flared out and leaning back so much that it turns into an incline press. Try to emphasize your shoulders by tucking the elbows in on the way done and flaring them out at the top. The longer the range of motion can be on each rep the better, which means that you should lock out at the top and try to touch your clavicle at the bottom of your movement.
Deep Leg Press – Cutting the range of motion short ends up with more time putting plates on the leg press than stimulating the muscle. Focus on getting the leg press deep with heeled shoes and warmed up hips and ankles. A close stance can look almost like a compound leg extension for the quads. A wider stance can be a great stretch on the adductors and glutes when the knees come out and move towards your shoulders. It is your choice which stance you want to focus on. I like to use the same stance as my squat on the leg press platform.
Push Press – A jerk is more supported by the body by resting the bar on the clavicle while a push press is supported by the shoulders as it is held. I personally think the greatest shoulder strength carries over from a push press rather than the jerk. Keep the elbows in front of you and under the bar.
Close-grip Barbell Flat Bench – The triceps can be hit hard from this exercise, but it depends on how you do it. If you do pump reps without locking out, it defeats the purpose. I personally like to lock out fully and squeeze the triceps on each rep while keeping the elbows tucked with the arm making about a 30* with my body when looking at the position from overhead. If you have bad elbows, do a soft lockout where you do not fully lockout.
Barbell Back Squat – Always try to keep the bar over the middle of the foot (where your shoelaces are). This makes sure the bar is supported by your center of gravity. As you drop down into the squat, the hips go back, the knees come forward, and the back stays as upright as possible.
Barbell Back Squat (Pause) – Stop all movement at the bottom of the squat, but keep all of the tension before you squat back up. Keep the chest up, legs tight, abs braced. It makes a lot of sense to get a big breath of air at the top of the movement and hold it at the bottom to keep the tension in the musculature of the core. As you improve your pause squat, your squat will get much stronger at the bottom.
#2
Your Job
Stay in a Good Spot this Block
You want to add just enough sets and weight to feel like you worked out, but it is not quite a challenge yet. You want a solid workout where you leave feeling accomplished.
Plan your workout and write down the weight, sets, and rep range in the Workout Plan PDF to get you ready for Week 2.
Rep Range
• Key Lifts: 6-8 Reps
• Accessory Lifts: 8-12 Reps
The rep range will be the same. The only difference is that you may not be at the top of the rep range this week. This means you should still strive to hit 8 reps on key lifts and 12 reps on accessory lifts.
Weight
• 3 RIR
• 60-70% of 1RM
• Weight Feels: Just Enough
I encourage you to pick a single weight for your working sets for each exercise. As you add more sets, you will notice that on the last set, your reps are most likely to be the lowest.
As long as your last set is still in the rep range, this performance drop is okay and expected as your muscles get depleted. Make sure you choose a weight that allows you to be at the top of the rep range for most (if not all) of your working sets. RIR 3 is the goal for each of your sets, however, it is possible that your last set may get closer to RIR 2.
Stay away from RIR 1! You do not want to build fatigue too fast. It is better to have the reps drop and stay in the rep range. Achieving RIR 3 takes priority over staying at the top of the rep range.
Sets
• Key Lifts: 2-3 Sets
• Accessory Lifts: 2-3 Sets
Try to do the fewest amount of sets you need to get a good pump in the muscle. However, if you need more to feel a pump then this is the week to do a little more.
Do enough sets where you struggle to maintain RIR 3 on your last set of each key lift. This is a great way to measure your effort to make sure that you are not going too hard too early but also that you are not taking it too easy.
Week 2 is the Goldie Lochs week. We want just enough but not too much volume.
Rest
• Key Lifts: 90s-180s
• Accessory Lifts: 60s-90s
It is important to rest a little longer when the weights are heavier. If you struggle to maintain RIR 3 on your sets, you may need to rest a little longer between sets.
However, whenever your rest is shorter it does have the advantage of giving you a better pump and it prevents you from lifting too heavy, so you can do more sets in the same time span without giving excessive fatigue.
Above all else. make sure your rest periods are not too short where it compromises your form!
Example
Fill out the table with your expected weights and sets before you go workout, so you have a clear mission. Then adjust based on actual performance.
Here’s how I would fill it out for a workout:
#3
Videos
