The Art of Play

Re-Thinking “Light” Day Training and the Need for “Play” in Your Workouts

     In my last essay on Spring Training, I mentioned briefly that summertime is, from a training perspective, the time for “play.”  This is not the essay for summer training—we’ll save that, you know, come summertime—but I do want to discuss the need for lifting sessions that are play no matter the season or how it is that you train.  That’s right.  All year-long, you should do at least some “play” workouts where you experiment with new things, try out some “odd” lifts or set/rep sequences, and, perhaps above all, just have some fun.

     One of the best times for play is during your “light” day sessions, whether you follow a structured program such as Bill Starr’s heavy-light-medium system or if you are just more intuitive about it and throw in a light workout when you feel as if your body could need or use it.  Play is essential for continued progress, not just because it keeps you sane—well, at least, it keeps me sane—from not always having to be so damn structured with your training but also as a means of discovering whether or not a lift or a method of training can bring about new gains.

     If you do follow Starr’s system, or one of my similar programs, of H-L-M training, the “light” day just makes sense for “playing around” with a new movement.  The light day is perfect for experimenting with different squats, pulls, and presses, particularly difficult-to-perform ones.  The harder a lift is to execute, the better it is to utilize on your light day since harder to execute typically means that it forces you to use a lighter weight.  No matter how “heavy” you train with these movements, you still can’t use much weight.  The overhead squat is a good example.  Train as heavy as you want with this movement, it still won’t be anywhere near the workload of a back squat or even a front squat.  Though the front squat might also be good for your light day, especially if it’s not a movement you’re accustomed to.  Many lifters who have utilized Starr’s system—and this is something that Starr recommended himself—did back squats on their heavy and medium days and front squats on their light ones.  Another good squatting movement to play around with would be the old-school barbell hack squat.  It’s awkward for many lifters, so it works quite well as a light-day movement.

     If you don’t usually train with power cleans or power snatches, they are also good movements for light day experimentation.  Many lifters who enjoy heavy power training do a lot of deadlift variations for their back but not as many do cleans and/or snatches.  Play around with more than just the “standard” power clean or snatch by doing either flat-footed or hang versions of either one.

     The same thing applies to overhead movements.  A lot of lifters, even casual gym-goers, do an assorted array of different bench presses—flat, incline, decline, barbell and dumbbell versions—but not as many do overhead work.  But overhead work is a must for anyone trying to get big, strong, or just train for aesthetics.  Always remember to use the “big 4” in your training.  Anyone who is serious about training needs to squat heavy stuff, pick heavy stuff off the ground, drag or carry heavy implements, and press heavy things overhead.  Many lifters do train with various squats and pulls, but not near as many do heavy overhead work.  And when lifters do press overhead, they tend to stick with barbell movements (machines too, but that’s outside of our discussion here) but you should play around with dumbbells and/or kettlebells for your overhead work.  I have long believed that perhaps the best overhead movement is the one-arm dumbbell overhead press.  Experiment with it along with two-arm dumbbell overhead presses, in addition to two-arm and one-arm kettlebell presses.  The problem, and I think this is quite obvious, is that a lot of lifters love to do various bench presses, but they’re just not that fond of overhead work.  However, if you still get your bench press work in on your heavy or “serious” training days, throwing in overhead work on your light days doesn’t seem as if it’s hard training, which means that you’ll probably end up enjoying your overhead work more.

     Speaking of dumbbells, they are great for playing around with and doing a wide assortment of movements.  Dumbbells are often used these days for higher rep movements and/or isolation exercises, but as I have discussed elsewhere, they are also great for heavy power training.  Spend an entire workout, or even an entire week or an entire training cycle, doing all of your lifts with dumbbells.  (If you’re going to do it for an entire training cycle, then you might, indeed, want to save it for your summer training, when you can spend the entire season in a state of play.)  Spending at least one workout per week, or every couple weeks, using only dumbbells might teach you about the efficacy of dumbbell workouts. Do a workout of the following and you may just become sold on dumbbells for strength, power, and mass training:

• Dumbbell squats

• Dumbell bench presses

• One-arm dumbbell overhead presses

• Thick-bar dumbbell deadlifts

• Two-arm dumbbell power cleans

• One-arm dumbbell power snatches

• Dumbbell curls

     Treat the workout just the way you would if you were using barbells for mass and power.  Here are some different set/rep suggestions: 5x5, 5x3-5, 3x5, 8x5, 10x3, 5x5,4,3,2,1, or 6 to 8 singles for each lift.  All those can be done as “straight” sets or progressively heavier.  Either way works, and either method has its benefits and drawbacks.  Straight sets—because you are doing more heavy weights closer to your max for the number of reps—take a little more out of you, so it will take you longer to recover.  Progressively heavier sets—where you do only 1 or 2 “top-end” sets—allow for quicker recovery, which means you can do the workout more frequently.

     I suggested thick-bar dumbbell deadlifts above, but another good “play” workout is to do every lift with thick bars.  Purchase a pair of Fat Gripz (or some similar brand that can turn every barbell or dumbbell into a thick bar) and attach them to every movement that you do for that day.  About the only movement that you can’t turn into a thick-bar alternative is the barbell squat, but everything else works well.  For some in-depth workouts, check out my article from the beginning of the year titled, appropriately enough, Thick Bar Training.

     Consider spending an entire training cycle—or at least a couple weeks—playing around with something new for you, which usually means you should train in the complete opposite manner that you typically train.  If you usually train with full-body, heavy, abbreviated workouts, then switch over to multi-split, higher reps, ultra-volume sessions.  Do you enjoy heavy squats, benches, and pulls with sets of 5 reps or less?  Then spend a couple of weeks doing bodyweight workouts for super high reps.  Lifters who only do 5 reps or less on their squats are often shocked at how sore they get from doing bodyweight squats for sets of 50 reps or higher.  Not only do they get sore, their thighs grow.  Now, if you’re a competitive powerlifter, or some other strength athlete, you don’t want to do this for too long.  Too much high rep training will eventually limit your maximal strength, but doing it for a brief period of time can help your maximal effort training when you return to it.  It also helps to build conditioning, something even powerlifters should focus on for at least one training cycle a year.

     Another idea is to spend the first part of your training week doing your typical workouts, and spend the 2nd half doing something divergent.  Utilize a 2-way split, and do your 1st 2 workouts with a 5x5 (or something close) scheme.  For the last 2 workouts of the week, do 1-2 sets of 20-30 reps on each lift.  Any similar approach would work well; that’s just an example.

     Sometimes, when you play around with a new set/rep scheme, you might find that it becomes a new, regular workout.  When I trained bodybuilding in the mid ‘90s, I did the “typical” training of the day.  My workout partner Dusty and I trained in a power-bodybuilding fashion, but it was still a popular method of training at the time.  We would often do 3 to 4 exercises per muscle group for 3 to 4 sets each, and liked to use 6-8 reps, sometimes a little lower and sometimes a little higher, but nothing too different from that.  However, I read an article by Greg Zulak at the time—I think it was an arm training piece—where he suggested doing 15 to 20 sets of 2-3 reps on one-exercise-per-bodypart.  Dusty and I tried it, and we were shocked by just how sore our biceps were the next day.  We did it on barbell curls.  Not only were we surprised by the soreness, we were also surprised by the massive pump that we got, despite the really low reps.  We started applying it to other bodyparts and other movements, and were pleased with the muscle growth that we got out of it.  We wanted muscle mass and strength.  This method supplied us with both.  Our “play” workout became a regular, muscle-building program in the end.

     Another thing, for me personally, that started as play and turned into a regular method of training is the kettlebell.  I bought a few pairs of varying weights and started adding kettlebell swings in as a “finisher” to my sessions.  Soon, I was using them for everything from squats to cleans, snatches, overhead presses, and even curls.  Swings were just the starting point.

     Kettlebells were also how I discovered complexes.  Once again, they started as a simple finisher, but ended up being a workout unto themselves.  I’m particularly fond of what Dan John calls the “armor building complex.”  Without setting a pair of kettlebells down, you do double kettlebell front squats, cleans, and overhead presses.  Using them as a complex or not, those 3 movements, along with the swings, are a great workout.  Those exercises ended up becoming the impetus for my Metabolic Muscle-Building program.  If you want to get in superb condition, not to mention build a little muscle mass, play with it for a training cycle.

     Now that it’s spring, get outside and play around with some various odd lifts.  Spring and Autumn are two seasons where I love to do some outdoor training when it’s not too cold and not too hot out.  Get a sandbag, or a couple, and fill it/them with sand or rocks.  You can do sandbag carries with them, but you can also do an assortment of lifts that you would usually do with barbell or dumbbells. Sandbag deadlifts, sandbag bear hug squats, sandbag presses, and sandbag curls are all superb mass and power builders.  You can also do farmer walks, stone carries, tire flips, or sled drags outside.  Combine them together in a different order at each session and see what cool workout you can come up with.

     Like most of my essays, I wrote this in a singular fit of inspiration.  That also means I’m probably missing something that I’ll wish, at a later date, I had added to this.  No problem.  When that happens, it just gives me an idea for another article.

     I understand that working out is a science.  Or at least part of it is that.  But it’s also a skill and an art.  Learn the art of play and not only will you enjoy your workouts more, you’ll get even better results.  When lifting is enjoyable and result-producing, it becomes one of life’s true joys.  What more could a lifter ask for?

     If you enjoyed this essay, then you would like my book “Ultimate Mass and Power Essays.” It’s crammed full of similar pieces packed with my random thoughts on training.  You can find out more about it, and all of my other books, at the My Books page.  Purchasing a book helps to support my work and ensures that I can continue writing regular articles for the blog.

     And, as always, if there are any comments or questions, leave them in the “comments” section below or send me an email if you prefer a more private correspondence.