The legendary Russian powerlifting coach
Boris Sheiko once remarked, “he who trains more—lifts more.” For the most part, I agree with that
statement, as many of the articles on this blog attest to, but you also have to
put things into the proper context in order to understand them. Sheiko’s statement is quite a loaded
thing for many lifters when they first
hear/read it. This is especially
true if you’ve spent the majority of your time—either on the Internet or in the
pages of a magazine—reading articles written by Western (particularly American)
writers/trainers. And it’s even
more true if you’ve gotten great results from heavy, infrequent training using a lot of the Western methods.
First, let’s look at an overview of training
in general, then I’ll discuss a little about my own personal success with
programs such as Sheiko and similar “Russian-style” programs for those of you
interested in actually using this stuff.
And if you already do train in
such a fashion, perhaps I can also offer a few tips, pointers, and whatnot to
make your training just a little bit more effective.
For training in general, in America it has
become common among lifters (powerlifters, in particular) to discuss four
distinct training “methods.” They
are:
- The “maximal effort” method
- The “dynamic effort” method
- The “repetition” method
- The “sub-maximal effort” method
Of the four, the primary ones actually
used in the West are the first three methods. This is most likely due to their use by the Westside Barbell
Club, in Columbus, Ohio, and—more specifically—what Louie Simmons has written
about the methods over the years in powerlifting magazines and various Internet
articles. Add to the fact that many American lifters have gotten phenomenal results from
such training, and you can understand the fascination with these methods, and
the reason why you hear/read about them so much.
(I’m not going to even begin to get into
the fact that for the majority of guys and girls at the average gym in America,
the only method that is even remotely used and/or understood is the
“repetition” method. To be honest,
I doubt many—or any—people who read this blog would dare step foot into a
Planet Fitness, or some other such den of unholy “fitness” vipers, so I see no
reason to get into an entirely counter-productive rant, even if ranting about
such things does make me feel relatively good.)
In many countries of the “East”—Russia
being the most famous simply because it produces the most lifters—the primary
method that is used is actually the “sub-maximal effort” method, with the
“repetition” method and “maximal effort” method being used sparingly, and the
“dynamic effort” method virtually being non-existent.
If you are going to put Sheiko’s maxim at
the start of this article to use—or, better still, if you are going to do what
the title of this article claims—then you must learn to effectively use the “sub-maximal” effort method in your
training.
Sub-maximal Effort’s Other Name
“There is a difference between lifting
more and actually getting stronger,” is what Arthur B. Jones (the powerlifter,
not to be confused with the proponent of H.I.T.) once quipped. Jones could bench 563 “raw” in the
242-pound class.[1]
“Getting stronger”, I guess you could
argue, is what the training of Westside Barbell and other “Western-minded”
strength approaches do via intra-muscular coordination while “lifting more” is
what the Russian-minded training does via inter-muscular coordination (“skill”
training). The latter has become
rather affectionately known in the West as “grease-the-groove” training—which
we’ll call GTG training for the remainder of this piece. I have discussed this kind of training
in the past when referring to high-volume, high-frequency, low-intensity
training—what I usually refer to here at Integral Strength as Russian-style
training. (Although I am kind of
pitting GTG against the higher-volume, higher-intensity, lower-frequency
training so popular in the West, this idea is slightly misleading on my part—as
some of you may have already surmised.
There is really another style of training that combines high-intensity
and high-frequency with low volume.
This 3rd form of training is typically referred to as the
“Bulgarian method” but I have written enough about it recently to refrain from
doing so here. And, besides,
you’ll notice that both the Bulgarian method and the GTG method often cross
paths and venture into the same training territory as there is a tendency for
some lifters to create an amalgam of both that combines high-frequency with
moderate volume and moderate intensity.
Both of them, however, make use of the “sub-maximal effort” method.[2])
Skill training—which GTG essentially is—is more effective than most American lifters give it
credit for. I think this is
because it’s too often seen as something for beginners, but not something that
advanced lifters should take part in, but Russian lifters have proved this to
be wrong. They have often
increased their skill, and, therefore, their strength, not just for years, but
for decades.
My Personal Experience
I admit being a fan of all-things
Russian. I attend a Russian
Orthodox Church every week. The
Russians that I know, and that I’ve met, are all wonderful people. And I have been enamored of
Russian-style workouts ever since I put one of Boris Sheiko’s programs to the
test over a decade ago. I have
never been as strong as when I used several of Sheiko’s training programs for a
couple of years.
One thing about Russian stuff is this:
it’s no-nonsense. Upon rising in the morning, you
pray. You don’t get all emotional
about it. You just do the prayers
each morning, and they eventually begin to do their work on you.
Same thing for evening prayers, and all
those prayer services you go to at the Church during the week.
And the same thing with the training. You show up, you do it, and then you go
home. You don’t put too much
effort into it, otherwise, that would just be counter-productive. And you don’t waste time on exercises
that don’t correlate to the lifts you’re trying to get stronger/better at—if
you’re a powerlifter, you primarily just do the powerlifts.
When I first started using a Sheiko
program, I was also relatively strong.
I had been competing in powerlifting for a number of years, and could
squat over 500 pounds and deadlift close
to 500. My best bench—in the gym,
at least—was 405. My best
competition bench was around 340.
(My bench being worse in competition than in the gym was due to my
biomechanics combined with all of the weight I would lose for a
competition. I would go from
around 190 down to the mid 170s for weigh-in. My squat and deadlift never suffered.
If anything, they got stronger as I got lighter. My bench press, however, would plummet.) By the time I had done a couple cycles
of Sheiko’s programs, I could squat and deadlift over 600 pounds, and I had added about 20 pounds to my
best competition bench press, all the while staying in the 181 pound class.
Based on my personal experience, here are
some things I would keep in mind when/if you want to embark on this kind of
training:
- At first, don’t try to “wing it.” Start off with a pre-designed program. One of Sheiko’s basic three-days-per-week routines should be plenty. After you do a couple of cycle of these pre-designed routines, feel free to get creative.
- Don’t use much, or any, “dynamic effort” in your training. While this kind of training can certainly be beneficial when used in the correct context—several of my programs on this blog, for instance, take advantage of it—it should be used very sparingly while employing GTG methodology. If unsure about how much effort to put into your repetitions, it’s probably best to use what Stephan Korte called the “energy saving method”: only put in as much energy for your lift as you need.
- The more frequently you can train, the better. In order to train daily—or close to it—this typically means that you should feel better when you end the workout than when you start.
- When designing your own program, keep track of your total workload that you use each week. For three weeks straight, increase the workload steadily. On the fourth week, take a “down” week to let your body recover. On the 5th week, go for your heaviest weights yet, then de-load on the 6th week, but once again start three weeks of “ramping” up with increased workloads.
- How heavy should you go on average? Probably the majority of your
sessions should be done in the 70-80% of your 1rep-max range. I think the difference may be with deadlifts. I’ve found I can increase my deadlifts—as long as I’m
squatting simultaneously—by using only 50-60% of my 1rep-max range.
[1] This quote,
and Jones’ stats, comes from the book “Power to the People Professional” by
Pavel Tsatsouline. The entire book
is a virtual treasure trove of information, and I highly recommend it.
[2] That’s
correct, the Bulgarian method makes use of the “sub-maximal effort” method as
opposed to the “maximal effort” method because none of the daily so-called
“maxes” are true maxes.
