The Big and Strong Series - Legs and Back

 

The High-Set, Low-Rep Training Manifesto

Part 1: Training the Legs and Back

     In several of my recent essays and articles, I have discussed various HFT methods, most of them using higher volume.  Starting with this article, I’m now going to turn my attention to a series of essays on (what I believe to be) the most effective method for attaining a combination of muscle mass and serious strength: workouts that combine high sets with (relatively) low reps.  I’m going to do a series for one primary reason—different lifts/muscle groups should be trained in different ways.  I will cover legs and back (this one), shoulders (overhead press training), chest and lats, and arm training.  Each of those are best developed when trained a little bit different from one another.  So, we will have 4 parts, with, perhaps, some additional essays on how to bring the 4 together into a cohesive, holistic strength program or on anything else that comes up through questions readers have.

     You will notice that I have divided “back” from “lats.”  I could have also entitled this part “squats and pulls.”  You should train your “pulling” lifts (deadlift variations, assorted quick lifts) in a different manner from the exercises that work your latissimus dorsi (lats) muscles.  Whether you train your squatting movements and your pulling exercises in the same workout or in separate sessions, they should still be trained rather similarly.

     The premise of this entire series is that, if you want to build muscles that are really strong and powerful, you should use multiple sets (typically between 8 and 12) on one lift for low reps (usually no more than 5 reps, though occasionally going higher depending on the lift/muscle).  The difference will be in the number of sets, the number of exercises utilized, and the frequency of the training.

     Here are the “standard rules” that will be applied for the training this series will cover:

1. You must lift heavy.

2. You must limit your reps to no more than 5 (usually).

3. You must avoid muscular failure.

4. You must cycle your loads.

5. You must stay tight.  Tension is power.

6. You must treat your strength as a skill and "practice" rather than a “workout” that exhausts or fatigues you.

7. You must do fewer lifts for more sets (compared to the general training public).

     If you are familiar with them, you will notice that these rules are essentially no different than Pavel’s “Russian rules” from his book Beyond Bodybuilding.  I never want to be accused of plagiarism, but I also admit to readily stealing good ideas.  That’s what your best strength coaches do.  After all, there really is nothing new under the strength-building, hypertrophy-gaining sun.  (Years ago, there was an “author” at bodybuilding.com whose articles were almost word-for-word rip-offs of my many articles for IronMan magazine.  I contacted the website and they removed them, but it was surprisingly gut-wrenching—like a thief that had stolen some of my prized possessions—so I always give credit where credit is due.)

     “How” you go about applying each of the above rules to the different lifts will be the subject of this series.

     The training principles I will discuss here for squats/pulls are really nothing new.  They were used by old-school weightlifters like (the little known) Dezso Ban, Norbert Schemansky, Doug Hepburn, and Tommy Kono, and by old-time bodybuilding greats such as Marvin Eder and John Grimek.  If you want to read the precise way that Eder trained for weightlifting meets, then check out my (rather long) essay “Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods” that I wrote a little over a year ago.

     Now, on to the “meat” of this essay.

     The key to building a combination of strength, power, and muscle mass with this training is to use multiple sets of low reps on only a few lifts, repeated as often as possible.  Or, to use Zatsiorsky’s famous phrase: train as heavy as possible, as often as possible, while being as fresh as possible.  How heavy, how often, and how fresh is what we will turn toward next.

     Squats and quick lifts can be trained more frequently than other lifts (with the exception of overhead movements).  You should, depending on the program that you utilize, train them between 2 and 4 times per week using the methods discussed here.  This is not to say that you can’t train either less or more than that, but those programs would be outside of what is being written about in this essay.  For example, there are valid powerlifting programs that have you squatting only once per week, and, on the flip side, there are easy strength programs (or even Bulgarian methods) where you train as many as 7x weekly.

     If you are, right now, training with a low-frequency method, don’t just jump right into using these methods.  You need to build up to them.  If that’s your current situation, then, before you use any of the program suggestions below, do a couple weeks of “break-in” workouts.  A good way to do that would be to train your squats and, say, power cleans 3x per week using 3 sets of 5 reps at each workout.  Work up to no more than 80% of your 5-rep max for all 3 sets.  2 weeks of that, or something very similar, would have your body prepared for what would follow.

     One of the best methods to start with is 8 sets of 3-5 reps on your squats and 8 sets of 2-3 reps on pulls.  You could train the lifts in the same session or break it up and train them on separate days.  I’ve had success training both ways, and so have lifters that I’ve worked with.  What you decide will be completely up to how well you respond.  I think there are benefits to both methods.  If you’re a powerlifter, I think it’s good to combine them together in the same workout.  When I used to compete, I noticed that most lifters who struggled at the end of meets, when it was time to finish the competition off with the deadlift, often did so because they were the ones who, in their own training, didn’t train the competitive lifts together.  It’s not necessary to train all 3 powerlifts in the same workout (though that certainly works), but training at least 2 of the lifts at the same time makes it much easier to do all 3 come meet time.  So, if you are a powerlifter, if you don’t train the squat and pulls together, you need to at least train your bench press along with one of those lifts.  (Part 2 will cover the bench press.)

     Start by training your squats and pulls 2 or 3 times in a week.  For squats, after warm-ups, load the bar with approximately 90% of your 5-rep max.  You now have a few choices.  One, you can just do 5-rep sets until they start to feel slow.  At that point, you can drop down to 3-rep sets, and do however many sets you have left until you reach 8 sets.  So, at the first workout, you might do 3 or 4 sets of 5 reps, then finish off with 6 or 7 sets of 3 reps.  Stick with that weight at each workout until you manage 8 sets of 5 reps.  At that point, you can add weight and repeat or just stick with the same weight until 5-rep sets seem easy and then, and only then, do you add weight and start all over again.  You can also be more systematic about it.  Here’s a 2nd option: at the 1st workout, do 2 sets of 5 reps and 6 sets of 3 reps.  At each workout, increase the number of 5-rep sets by 1 set and reduce the 3-rep sets by 1.  Once you are doing 8 sets of 5 reps on all of your sets, add weight and repeat.  Either option works well.  Ultimately, to be successful with this training, or any training, really, you need to decide if you work best with the “precise” method, knowing exactly what weights/sets/reps you will be using at each workout, or if you do better with the “instinctive” method of lifting.

     A 3rd option—this works well for 3 days per week training—is to start with a weight that is only around 80% of your 5-rep max.  Do 8 sets of 5 reps at each workout until the sets feel easy.  It might take 2 or 3 weeks straight, but whenever they do feel “easy,” add weight and repeat.

     For squats, you can do squats and nothing but squats, though you don’t have to.  You might do 2 or 3 workouts in a row of back squats and then throw in a workout of front squats just to change things up.  Bottom-position squats are another good option when you need/want a change of pace.

     When it comes to pulls, although you can deadlift frequently, I’ve never been a big fan of it.  I think you can develop a massive deadlift without deadlifting frequently assuming you’re doing plenty of squats and other pulls in your routine.  I think one of the best methods is to do some sort of clean, snatch, or high pull at most workouts, and then throw a deadlift in on occasion.  You can just deadlift when you feel as if your body’s ready for it, or you can be more systematic again and deadlift 1 out of every 3 or 4 workouts.  No matter what, I think once per week of deadlifting is plenty.  If you do pulls on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then you can deadlift on Monday, when you’re fresh and then do cleans or snatches on the Wednesday and Friday sessions.  If you train your pulls only 2x per week, then deadlift every 3rd workout or once every 2 weeks.  No matter what you do at each pull workout, you can use the same methodology above for 8 sets of 3-5 reps but drop the reps down to 2-3.  At first, even with 2-rep sets, you might want to still only utilize 90% of your 5-rep max.  As you adapt to the training, you can increase the weights so that you will be using 90% of your 3-rep max.  Of course, on all of the movements, once you get stronger, your 90% of whatever-rep-range will change.  At that point, don’t worry about what % you’re training at.  You will know what weights to use by how you feel once you start training.

     Also, as you adapt, you will want to use some different set/rep ranges.  Now, please understand that this is not a necessity for some lifters.  There are lifters out there who get fantastic results by only making minor changes to their programs year-round, and some that I have known have done exactly that for decades.  They just cycle their training loads and occasionally throw in some supplementary exercises.  But most lifters, myself included, need more changes.  Even if our bodies don’t need them, our minds most certainly do in order to stay engaged and interested in our training.

     One of the best ways to build massive strength on a lift is through doing multiple sets of singles.  I, and others, have often referred to it as the “Hepburn method,” as it was used by the great Canadian strongman, powerlifter, and weightlifter Doug Hepburn.  But others, such as Jeff Maddy, who was one of the first men to bench press over 700 pounds in competition, also used it.  In fact, Maddy did high-set singles and nothing else for his lifts.  Pat Casey also liked this method, or one very similar, on his squats, though he didn’t use it as much for his other lifts.  After warmups, load the bar with 90% of your 1-rep maximum.  Decide on a max number of singles that you will do with that weight.  It might be 5 singles, 8 singles, or as many as 12 singles.  Whatever number you select, stop your workout once you hit that number.  At the next session, add weight and repeat.  Whenever you miss a lift, stop doing singles and stick with that weight at the next workout and repeat until you do get all of your singles.  Depending on the # of singles that you do, you may also want to do some back-off sets of higher reps—higher reps in this case being 3 to 5.  If you only do 5 singles at a session, drop down in weight and do 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps.  If you do 8 or more singles, whether or not you use any back-off sets should depend entirely upon how well-conditioned you are to handling high workloads.

     If you do a workout that includes multiple singles at 90% or more of your max, you probably don’t want to train that lift more than 2x per week.  If you do want to train your lift 3 to 4 times in that week and you want to use the Hepburn method, then only do one workout using multiple singles and use lighter loads at the other sessions.  This is where it’s important to understand how you respond to load cycling and to varying workloads.  For instance, you might do multiple singles on your squats and power cleans on Monday, then on Wednesday, do 8 sets of 5 reps with (around) 75% of your 5-rep max for your squats and power snatches with 8 sets of 2 reps at 75% of your 5-rep max.  On Friday, do 8 sets of 3 reps with 90% of your 5-rep max on both squats and power cleans.  Those percentages are just suggestions.  If you are unsure if those numbers would work for you, then you need to use a different program right now.  These kinds of workouts are, in the words of Bradley Steiner, for the “mature muscle man” who knows his body well.

     The 2nd option for high-set singles is to train 3 to 4 times per week but use a load lighter than 90% of your 1-rep max.  Start with approximately 80% of your max single.  That’s not set in stone, mind you.  Like most suggestions in this essay, it’s just that, a suggestion.  I will say this, however: when in doubt, do less not more.  Whatever weight you choose, start the week off, on Monday, with 8 singles at that weight.  On Tuesday, return to the gym and do 5 singles with it.  On Thursday, do 8 singles again.  And on Saturday, do 5 once again.  Stick with that weight for at least another week, following the same training pattern, and only increase weight once the weight feels naturally light.  Let’s say you have a max squat of 405 pounds.  In this case, a few weeks of workouts would look like this:

Week One:

Monday - 325x8x1

Tuesday - 325x5x1

Thursday - 325x8x1

Saturday - 325x5x1

Week Two:

Repeat Week One sessions.

Week Three:

Monday - 335x8x1

Tuesday - 335x5x1

Thursday - 335x8x1

Saturday - 335x5x1

     In the 4th week, do the same workouts as week three, then increase your poundage to 345 in week five.  Stay with this program for 8 weeks.  After that, take a de-load week.  Reduce down to 50-75% of the weights used during week eight and only do a couple of workouts.  After that, return to the gym the following week and test your 1-rep max.  At least, try a near max.  That way, you will know if the program is working for you.  Most lifters are usually (pleasantly) surprised with how strong they have gotten.

     You could also follow that schedule, but add 1 single to each workout from week to week.  So, on the 2nd week, you do 9 and 6 singles.  The 3rd week, you do 10 and 7 singles.  On the 4th week, it’s 11 and 8.  Only at that point do you add weight, once your “light” days have now reached the same number of singles as your “heavy” days that you began with.  In this case, our same hypothetical squatter might have several weeks of workouts that look like this:

Week One:

Monday - 325x8x1

Tuesday - 325x5x1

Thursday - 325x8x1

Saturday - 325x5x1

Week Two:

Monday - 325x9x1

Tuesday - 325x6x1

Thursday - 325x9x1

Saturday - 325x6x1

Week Three:

Monday - 325x10x1

Tuesday - 325x7x1

Thursday - 325x10x1

Saturday - 325x7x1

Week Four:

Monday - 325x11x1

Tuesday - 325x8x1

Thursday - 325x11x1

Saturday - 325x8x1

     Add weight and repeat the same cycle for another 4 weeks.  After that, if you want to test your strength, follow the same recommendations given above.

     I will invariably receive an email from a reader, asking if he can apply the above to the deadlift.  Even though this hypothetical questioner knows I’m not a fan of high-frequency deadlifting, he reasons that I might agree it can be done when using such sub-maximal poundages.  He’s correct.  I might agree, but typically, I still don’t like it.  I usually reply that if you know you are the type of deadlifter that can handle it, then go ahead.  However, I think the issue with the deadlift is not “load” but, rather, one of “movement pattern.”  So, in brief, yes, you could get away, maybe, with the above for deadlifting, but I would prefer if you still just deadlift once per week and then replace it with quick lifts (or a deadlift variation that provides a greater range-of-motion) on the other days.  So, you might, after squatting, do 8 sets of singles on the deadlift on Monday.  On Tuesday, do 5 singles of power snatches.  On Thursday, do 8 singles of snatch-grip deadlifts.  Finally, on Saturday, do 5 singles of power cleans.

     I believe that the great deadlifters who do deadlift frequently are ones who don’t do any squatting or other pull work.  If you’re a deadlift-only competitor, for instance, you might be able to get away with applying the method above to only the deadlift.  Even then, I think you would be better off by throwing in different variations.  In addition to the snatch-grip deadlift, I’m a big fan of deficit deadlifts, whether done conventional or sumo style.

     Another option for frequent deadlifting is to use dumbbells and/or kettlebells, assuming you have access to ones that are heavy enough.  I often do thick-bar dumbbell deadlifts, both one-arm and two-arm, by adding Fat Gripz to the dumbbells.  If you don’t have a pair of them, Fat Gripz are one of the best purchases you will ever make.  (We’ll discuss thick-bar training a lot more when I get around to the “arms” part of this series.)  However you do them—thick bar or not—heavy dumbbell deadlifts allow you to train the movement much more frequently than the barbell counterpart.

     So far we have discussed workouts that use the same reps throughout a session or over the course of several.  Now, let’s look at ways you can use undulating rep ranges, whether in a single session or from workout-to-workout.

     One method with squats that I’ve always had success with is to start a program using 5-rep sets at the 1st workout, add weight at the 2nd and do sets of 4 reps, and then add more weight at the 3rd and do 3-rep sets.  At the 4th workout, you return to the weight used at the 2nd workout but do 5-rep sets and start the process over again.  You might do 8 to 10 sets at each rep range.  I think, to start with, 8 sets is probably ideal.  To use this method, select a weight at the 1st session that is approximately 85-90% of your 10-rep max.  Do 8 sets of 5 reps with that weight.  At the next session, add 10 pounds and do 8 sets of 4 reps.  At the 3rd workout, add 10 pounds again and do 8 sets of 3.  At the 4th workout, do 8 sets of 5 reps with what you utilized for 8 sets of 4 previously.  Do 2 cycles of this method, and then take a de-load workout.  Don’t do more than 2 squat sessions per week using this technique.  Here is what it might look like over several weeks:

Week One:

Monday - 8x5

Thursday - 8x4 (add 10 pounds from Monday’s workout)

Week Two:

Monday - 8x3 (add 10 pounds from Thursday’s workout)

Thursday - 8x5 (use the same weight that you used the previous Thursday)

Week Three:

Monday - 8x4 (add 10 pounds from Thursday’s workout)

Thursday - 8x3 (add 10 pounds from Monday’s workout)

Week Four:

Monday - 8x5 (easy session; use a weight lighter than what you utilized for 8 sets of 5 reps on the first Monday)

Thursday - 8x5 (start process over again with the weight used for 8x4 in the previous week 3)

     You can utilize the same method with any of the quick lifts, though I admit to preferring slightly lower reps (to prevent form degradation).  You could do 4,3,2 or 3,2,1 as preferable options.  And, yes, you can also use deadlifts following the same protocol, though my suggestions above apply here, too.

     Another good method is to do “countdown” cluster sets.  Start your working sets with a weight that is approximately 80% of your 5-rep max.  Do 5 sets, starting at 5 reps and dropping a rep with each subsequent set.  So, you do a set of 5, then a set of 4, then 3, 2, and 1 rep.  On the next cluster, go to 4 reps, then 3, 2, and 1.  At the next cluster, do 3, 2, and 1.  At the next, 2 and 1.  Finish off with 1 more rep.  At the following workout, do 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 twice, then do the remaining clusters the same as the workout before, but omit the last one.  Over 5 workouts, you will reach a point where you do 5 clusters of 5, 4 ,3, 2, and 1.  This is another method that is best performed just twice per week.  To give you a better understanding what this looks like “on paper,” here are a few weeks of workouts:

Week One:

Monday - 5x5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-2-1, 2-1, 1

Thursday - 5x5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-2-1, 2-1

Week Two:

Monday - 5x5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-2-1

Thursday - 5x5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1

Week Three:

Monday - 5x5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1

Thursday - Add 10 pounds to your squats and start back over with the 1st workout from Monday of week one.

     This program works because you are starting with such a light weight compared to your 5-rep max, allowing you to slowly build up your strength by ramping up the workload from workout-to-workout.  After another 3 weeks of training, you will want to take a de-load week.  You can then repeat for another 6 weeks of training or move on to a different set/rep combo.

     At some point, you probably want to add some more movements to your sessions.  A lot of old-school lifters, such as Marvin Eder, did workouts similar to what is above but did it for 2 or even 3 different squatting movements.  The legendary strength/power writer Anthony Ditillo would often train squats, front squats, and lunges 3 days a week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—all for 8 to 10 sets of 5 reps each.  On another 3 days, he would do pulls for the same volume.  That might be a bit much for most lifters, but I think it’s certainly viable for you to work up to the point where you were doing that 2 days per week.

     What about speed work or, as it’s known mostly because of Westside, the dynamic effort method?  Yes, you could do an occasional day of speed work, but be careful.  Speed work is hell on your central nervous system.  It takes a lot out of you, so, if you decide to use it, limit it to only once per week.  Don’t use it on programs where you are training your squats and pulls 3x or more per week.  It will just take too much out of your system.

     There are essentially 2 ways that a strength athlete can improve his strength.  The first is through “intermuscular coordination” or “skill” training.  The 2nd is through “intra-muscular coordination,” or your body’s ability to fire individual muscles more intensely.  Speed training, the Westside methodology, and most of the powerlifting training done by Western lifters (at least, until fairly recently) represents intra-muscular training.  The training of Russian lifters, and other former Soviet-bloc strength athletes, and the training that I have written about here uses inter-muscular training.  You don’t, at least not very often, want to combine the two, though both methods of training, in the end, improve both.

     Here are a couple of quotes from Pavel Tsatsouline that sum up the methods we have discussed thus far:*

     “Frequent powerlifting technique practice will make you stronger and will keep making you stronger.  You will not only be able to lift more weight by optimizing your biomechanics, your muscles will learn to contract harder.  In other words, both your inter-muscular and intra-muscular coordination will improve.  And keep improving, even if you are at the top of your sport.”

     “By frequently practicing your competition technique with a moderate weight you will be making your muscles more and more responsive to the central command.  So in competition you will be trying as hard as usual but lifting more!”

     Even though we have covered quite a bit of high-set, low-rep training ground in this essay, believe it or not there are a lot more set/rep combinations that I could have added.  But we have several more essays in this series to do just that.  In the meantime, if you actually want even more programming suggestions, then I recommend my recent article “Skill Training as Size Building.”  It covers programs such as the 2-3-5 method and how to “re-engineer” your typical 5x5 training using the “90% rule” mentioned here.

     Until next time, stay strong and put some of these programs to work.  If you’re looking for the ultimate in muscle growth along with impressive strength and power, your manifesto has arrived.

*Power to the People Professional: How to Add 100s of Pounds to Your Squat, Bench, and Deadlift with Advanced Russian Technique by Pavel.  Copyright 2009 Power by Pavel, Inc.