Old-School Power Rack Training

 

Use the Power Rack for Massive Gains in Size and Strength

     In my last essay on “The Big 4,” one of the programs that I outlined was a power rack program inspired by Brooks Kubik’s “Dinosaur Training.”  I read that book sometime (I think) in ‘96, although it could have been ‘97.  The book was instrumental in my switch from training like a bodybuilder to training like a lifter.  In ‘98, I bought a power rack, an Olympic barbell set, and started training in my garage.  I have rarely stepped foot in a commercial gym since.

     Although I found that some of the programs in that book didn’t work well for me, I wholeheartedly embraced the ideas Kubik espoused regarding power rack training.  And though I eventually went on to experiment, and often utilize, the training methods of Westside Barbell, and then the much more voluminous methods of lifting that came out of the countries of the former Soviet republic, it was old-school power rack training that first allowed me to make a lot of gains in strength.

     One of the main benefits of the power rack is that it allows you to start your lift from any point in the movement.  If you struggle, for instance, “coming out of the hole” in the squat, then you should do bottom-position squats.  Same goes for the bench press.  Another benefit is that you can train heavy without the use of spotters or training partners.  If you train at home, then it’s a must.

     What follows are several programs—from beginner to advanced—that are similar to the ones that I utilized back then.  They worked for me then and they can work for you now.

Basic Two-Days-Per Week Program

     Although I call this program “basic,” it’s good for anyone starting out in power rack training no matter your level of strength fitness.  It’s even good if you’re an advanced lifter who has been doing high-volume or high-frequency programs for an extended period of time and you need to get “back to the basics.”

     The most popular days to train for most lifters are Mondays and Thursdays, although I always preferred Sundays and Wednesdays.  Whatever days you choose, just make sure that you take two days off after the first workout, and three days off after the second.

Day One

1. Bottom-position squats - 5 progressively heavier singles, working up to a heavy, but not outright maximum, poundage.

2. Barbell Squats (conventional style) - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, working up to a heavy, but not all-out, set of 5 reps.

3. Bottom-position barbell overhead presses - 5 progressively heavier singles, performed the same manner as the bottom-position squats.  For this movement, set the pins in the rack so that the bar starts around chin level.  You can do these seated or standing.

4. Barbell curls - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, working up to hard but not all-out set.  If you have access to one, use a thick bar.

5. Weighted sit-ups - 1 or 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

Day Two

1. Deadlifts (conventional or sumo) - 5 progressively heavier singles.  Perform these in the same manner as the singles from Day One.

2. Rack pulls - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Set the pins in the rack so that you start just below knee level.

3. Bottom-position bench presses - 5 progressively heavier singles, once again working up to a near, but not all-out, max.

4. Bench presses (conventional style) - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.

5. Weighted Chins - 3 to 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  The number of sets here will depend upon your strength level.  As you get stronger, add sets.

6. Ab wheel - 1 or 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

Basic Three-Days-Per Week Program

     After you have spent some time on the first program, you can move on to this 3-days-per-week program.  This one also adds in some loaded carries.  The addition of these movements alone will help you to continue to progress.

Day One

1. Bottom-position squats - 3 sets of 5 reps, followed by 5 sets of 5/4/3/2/1.  The first 3 sets of 5 are progressively heavier warm-up sets.  After that, perform 5 “countdown” sets.  Do a set of 5 that is tough but not all-out.  Add some weight (the weight added will depend on your strength levels—somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds should be about right), and do a set of 4.  Add more weight and do a set of 3, and so on and so forth.

2. Barbell squats (conventional style) - 3 sets of 5 reps.  Once you are finished with the bottom-position squats, do 3 straight sets of 5 reps in the conventional style.  Once again, these should be hard, but you should be able to get all 5 reps on each set.

3. Barbell Curls - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  The last set should be very tough; it might be the only set that you reach failure on.  Try to increase the amount of weight you use on your last set at each session

4. Sandbag carries - 1 or 2 sets all-out.

5. Ab wheel - 1 or 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

Day Two

1. Bottom-position bench presses - 3 sets of 5 reps, followed by 5 sets of 5/4/3/2/1.  Perform these in the same manner as the bottom-position squats from Day One.

2. Bench presses (conventional) - 3 sets of 5 reps.  Same as squats from Day One.

3. Barbell overhead presses - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  You can perform these in the rack or out of it.  Only the last set should be all-out.

4. Sled drags - 1 or 2 sets all-out.

5. Weighted sit-ups - 1 or 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

Day Three

1. Deadlifts (sumo or conventional) - 3 sets of 5 reps, followed by 5 sets of 5/4/3/2/1.  Perform these in the same manner as the bottom-position squats from Day One and the bp bench presses from Day Two.

2. Rack pulls - 3 to 5 progressively heavier singles.  Once you are finished with the deadlifts, move into the rack, and start at the same weight you finished on your last set of pulls.  Depending on your strength, do 3 to 5 progressively heavier singles.  The beauty of this way of training is that it allows you to keep training heavier once you’ve “maxed out” on the regular deadlifts, building more neural strength, as well as strengthening your tendons and ligaments needed for heavy training.

3. Power cleans or power snatches - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  Select one of these two movements or alternate between them at each session.  As with the other movements done in this manner, only the last set should be all-out or close to it.

4. Weighted chins - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.

5. Farmer walks - 1 or 2 sets all-out.

6. Barbell rollouts - 1 or 2 sets of 8-10 reps.

Bill Starr-Style Heavy - Light - Medium Program

     If you were to use this essay as a means of continual progress, and followed the programs in the order that they are written, then, by this point in your training, you would need to start doing some more work.  Don’t get me wrong.  Some lifters can continue to do workouts similar to the first two for years on end and get good results, but I think that the majority of lifters will need to start doing more work at some point.  With that in mind, here’s a heavy - light - medium program based on my mentor Bill Starr.  (I never met Bill Starr in person, but I would be dishonest, or at least disingenuous, if I didn’t mention him as the biggest influence of my training life.  As I’ve written elsewhere: a whole heap of my writing is nothing more than a footnote to Starr.)

     If you are not familiar with Starr’s training methods—and I’m not going to go into detail here; this program assumes at least a “working” familiarity—start with this article.

Day One - Heavy

1. Bottom-position squats - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, followed by a few progressively heavier singles.  Perform the 5 sets of 5 in traditional Starr manner.  Once you reach your “limit” set of 5 reps, add weight and do a single.  Keep adding weight and doing singles until you reach a tough, but as with the other programs, not all-out single.

2. Bottom-position bench presses - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, followed by a few progressively heavier singles.  Do these the same as the squats.

3. Deadlifts (sumo or conventional) - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  

4. Weighted dips - 3 to 4 sets of 5 reps.  These are straight sets done with the same weight.  Select a weight where you could probably get 10 reps if you were doing one set to momentary muscular failure.

5. Weighted chins - 3 to 4 sets of 5 reps.  Perform these the same as the dips.

6. Thick-bar barbell curls - 5 sets of 3 reps.  These are progressively heavier triples.

7. Barbell rollouts - 1 to 3 sets of 6-8 reps.

8. Sandbag carries - 1 or 2 sets all-out.

Day Two - Light

1. Overhead squats - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.

2. Barbell overhead presses - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Do these in the rack with the pins set at around chin level.

3. Good morning squats - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  Do these in the rack with the pins set at the bottom of the movement, allowing you to rest the bar briefly on the pins before beginning the concentric portion of the lift.  If you’re not familiar with this movement, it should essentially mimic the form used when you do conventional deadlifts, but with the bar resting on your shoulders the same as a barbell squat.

4. Weighted sit-ups - 1 to 3 sets of 6-8 reps.

Day Three - Medium

1. Bottom-position squats - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Your last set should be done with no more than 90% of the weight lifted for your last set of 5 on Day One’s session.

2. Bottom-position incline bench presses - 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Set the pins in the rack so that you start with the bar almost on your neck.  Many lifters make the mistake of starting with the bar too low on their chest, making it too similar to regular bench presses.  They do this because starting with the bar high makes it harder.  Good.  Always select harder variations over easier ones.

3. Power cleans - 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.

4. Weighted chins - 3 to 4 sets of 5 reps.  As with the Day One workout, perform straight sets on this exercise.  However, use only around 80% of the weight used on Day One (which might simply be your bodyweight).

5. Ab wheel - 1 to 3 sets of 6-8 reps.

6. Farmer walks - 1 to 2 sets all-out.

Big Sets, Low Reps

     Another benefit of power rack training is that it’s a great way to do multiple sets of low reps using heavy weights.  Let’s say you want to embark on a high-set singles squat program utilizing 10 to as many as 20 sets.  It’s a lot easier to do these in the bottom-position than it is to do them in a conventional manner where you have to walk out the weights from the rack each time.  Now, of course, you do want to walk out heavy weights at least occasionally so you can get accustomed to it (especially if you’re a competitive powerlifter), but it’s much more effective for most lifters—not to mention downright safer—to simply get under the bar and start each rep from the bottom position.  The same goes for bench presses and overhead presses.

     Here’s a program that takes advantage of that.

     This program has two training days, an upper body session and a lower body session.  The amount of days that you train depends on your level of strength fitness, as well as your individual recuperative abilities.  If you haven’t done this sort of training before, then start by simply training one day on and one day off.  Another good schedule when starting out would be to train 2-days on, followed by 2-days off.  If you know that you can handle more work, or once you’ve been following one of the above recommendations for any length of time, then you can switch over to a 2-on, 1-off, or you can simply train as many days in a row that you want before taking an off day (or two).

 Day One - Lower Body

1. Bottom-position squats - 5 to 10 singles.  Your first exercise will be performed “Hepburn style.”  Take your time working up to the singles by doing some ramp sets of 5s and then triples.  After that, select a weight where you believe you can get 5 to 6 singles, but probably not much more.  Stick with that weight until you fail to get a single or until you get 10 singles.  Once you can get 10 singles with that weight, increase the weight at the next session.

2. Rack pulls - 5 to 10 singles.  Same method as the bottom-position squats.

3. Barbell squats (conventional style) - 5 sets of 5 reps.  These are 5 straight sets performed with the same weight.  Select a weight where you know you can get 2 or 3 sets of 5, but you are unsure if you can do more.  Stick with that weight at each workout until you do get 5 sets of 5 reps.

4. Sumo deficit deadlifts - 5 to 7 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps.  I think this is the single best exercise that lifters never do.  It builds tremendous strength when you switch over to your regular deadlift style, be it sumo or conventional, and works your legs, your core, and the entirety of your back, from lower to upper sections.  Work up to one heavy, near-max triple.

5. Loaded carry of your choice - 1 to 3 tough sets.

Day Two - Upper Body

1. Bottom-position bench presses - 5 to 10 singles.  Perform these in the same manner as the bp squats and the rack pulls from Day One.

2. Barbell overhead presses - 5 to 10 singles.  Same as the other movements.

3. Midrange bench press lockouts - 10 sets of 3 reps.  For this exercise, set the pins in the power rack so that you’re starting the bench press at the midrange of the movement.  Select a weight where you think you could get 6 reps if you were to perform one all-out set.  Now perform 10 sets with that weight.  Increase the weight at the next session if you manage to get 3 reps on all sets.  You probably won’t.  Most lifters, assuming they didn’t select a weight that’s too light or too heavy, will get 5 or 6 sets of 3 reps, followed by a set or two of 2 reps, and maybe just 1 rep on the last set or two.  Once you can manage 10 sets of 3, increase the weight.

4. Barbell curls - 10 sets of 3 reps.  Utilize the same method as the bench press lockouts.

5. Heavy ab exercise of your choice - 1 to 3 tough sets.

     I hope these programs show you the importance of power rack training when it comes to building size and strength.  It really is one of the best tools in any lifter’s arsenal, and something that the average gym-goer rarely takes advantage of.  Don’t let that be you.  Use the power rack to take your strength to new heights.  It may be just what’s missing in your quest for strength, mass, and power.