A Heavy/Light/Medium Training Miscellany

 

 Heavy/Light/Medium Training

Part 5: An H/L/M Miscellany – On Variation and Advanced Options

     This is the 5^th part of our ongoing series on heavy, light, and medium training based on the coaching of the (always) great strength writer extraordinaire Bill Starr.  If you haven’t done so, then please read the other parts before reading this.  If you don’t read them, then the rest of this essay may be a bit confusing—unless, of course, you are already familiar with Starr’s methodology, in which case you can just jump right in here.  When I presented parts 2 through 4, I mentioned that you at least needed to have read part 1 before reading any of those, though it wasn’t necessary to read the other parts aside from the 1st.  With this essay, it’s good to read part 1 and be familiar with the other parts.  This article will discuss bits from all of the previous installments and assumes a working knowledge of those pieces.  After reading this article, then you theoretically have everything you need to train using H/L/M programs for a long time.  However, I will still write some future specialization articles dealing with such things as how to get bigger, how to use H/L/M for a specific sport (such as powerlifting), how to adapt it to the older athlete, and perhaps a few other issues, depending on interest.  We will discuss some specialization points here but will not get into as much depth as those future essays.

     With that out of the way, here are the links to the previous installments for easy reference:

Part One – program design

Part Two – upper body training

Part Three – training the squat

Part Four – back training

 

     The first thing we’re going to discuss are some different variations; variations in programming design and in different methods of sets/reps to be more specific.  Let’s start with programming design.

 

Rotating “Heavy”

     When you first begin training using the H/L/M system, you should stick with the program as it’s initially laid out.  Starr trained many athletes over decades, and he kept day one “heavy,” day two “light,” and day three “medium” for a reason.  That order was generally the best set up for most athletes.  I believe it still is.  Having said that, there are a couple of options that lifters prefer once they’ve trained on it long enough to know how they respond to the program.

     The one variation that lifters seem to gravitate toward the most is to use a medium, light, and heavy plan.  Everything else stays the same with the program.  You simply swap the placement of the heavy and medium days.  If you train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then Monday is your medium day, and Friday is your heavy day.  Wednesday is still the light day.  Lifters who prefer this programming typically do it because they enjoy having 2 days off after their heavy session.  If you work Monday through Friday, and have the weekends off, this also allows for a little more rest and recovery after the heavy workout.

     The other option—and this seems to be one that lifters incline towards as they get stronger and their heavy days start getting longer and longer—is to train one or two of the lifts “heavy” on different days of the week.  On Mondays, you might train your squat and your upper body heavy, but you save heavy training on your pulls for Friday.  The schedule might look like this:

Monday: Heavy squats, heavy presses, medium pulls

Wednesday: everything light

Friday: heavy pulls, medium squats, medium presses

     You could also train each lift heavy on a different day, and rotate which days are light and medium, as well.  Your schedule might now look something like this:

Monday: heavy squats, light presses, medium pulls

Wednesday: heavy presses, light squats, light pulls

Friday: heavy pulls, medium squats, medium presses

     If you opt for this latter approach, then make sure you are keeping track of your workload for each lift and not overdoing it for the different lifts—or doing too little.  When you make the entire day either heavy, light, or medium, it makes it easier to track total workload, and, thus, easier to see where you make mistakes in your programming—it’s much clearer when you are doing too much or too little.  That’s not the case with this method, as each training day will have more of an equal workload.  However, the workload won’t be completely equal.  If you were to adopt my suggested programming above, for instance, the Wednesday workout would clearly be “light” compared to the other days.  Even though you would be pressing heavy on Wednesday, the squats and pulls would be light, so the workload for that day would be significantly less than others—unless, of course, you can press as much as you can squat and pull, and though I have seen that, it’s still an unlikely scenario.

 

Set/Rep Options

     5 sets of 5 reps is, of course, the “standard” or the “base” of Starr’s program(s).  The traditional way to do it is to do 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, working up to one all-out set.  This changes as you get stronger because you will need more than 4 progressive sets before reaching that one all-out set.  When I was a competitive powerlifter, I would use upwards of 8 to 10 progressively heavier sets before I reached my “max” weight, even more if I was working up to a heavy double or single.

     When most lifters think of 5 sets of 5 reps, they typically think of 5 straight sets of 5 reps, done with the same weight on all sets.  And, although you shouldn’t do that at first, it is a viable option once you become more advanced; i.e. you can handle the workload.

     Both of those approaches work, but let’s look at a few more ways to utilize 5x5.

The John Powell Workout

     This is one that I stole from Dan John (from his book “Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning”) who in turn stole it from, well, John Powell.  Here’s the way John explained it:

     My buddy, John Powell, is a former world record-holder in the discus. He had an interesting yearly variation on the old five-times-five workout: Each year he’d set a goal of doing a weight for five sets of five. Yes, we all know that, but his variation was unique. If he chose 365 as his target weight, he’d plop down on the bench once a week and test himself.

365 for 4

365 for 3

365 for 1

365 for 1

365 for 1

     He’d then add up the total reps of the workout, ten in this case. As the weeks and months progressed, he’d slowly work up in the teens, then the low twenties. With a serious enough weight, it could take months to build up to the full twenty-five reps of a five-by-five workout.*

     The one thing I like about this approach is that the math is easy.  Maybe that sounds like too “basic” of a reason, but it makes programming the light and medium days almost effortless.  Let’s say that you did the above on the heavy day.  On the light day, do the exact same sets/reps, but use 75-80% of the heavy day, and on the medium day, use 90%.  So, the light workout would be 275x4, 3, 1, 1, and 1.  The medium day would be 325 for the same.

Wave Sets

     For this method, work up to a heavy, all-out (or close to all-out) set of 5 reps.  After you do a set with your max 5, drop down on the next set and do a set of 5 with 75-80% and do a set of 5.  On the next set, go up to your max weight again for another set of 5.  On the 4th set, drop down to around 90% for a  set of 5.  On the 5^th set, go back down to the 75-80% weight.  You can either stop right there, or you can go back to your max weight and do a final set—or, at least, attempt it—for a final set of 5 reps.  A week of workouts for someone with a max set of 5 reps on the squat with 375 might look like this:

Heavy day: 375 for 5 reps, 280 for 5, 375 for 5, 335 for 5, 280 for 5, 375 for 5

Light day: 280 for 4 sets of 5 reps

Medium day: 335 for 5, 280 for 5, 335 for 5, 280 for 5, 335 for 5

     One thing that I really like about this approach is how you “sneakily” get in quite a bit of work.  It doesn’t just keep your body fresh, but it keeps your mind fresh, too.

Descending Sets

     This method works well because you’re starting with the heaviest weight on your first work set and then it’s all “downhill” from there.  This also gives you a bit of a psychological “boost”—for lack of a better word—since you know all the following sets will be relatively easy after that first one is in the books.  Using our hypothetical 375-pound squatter above, a week of workouts could look like this:

Heavy day: 375x5 reps, 355x5, 335x5, 315x5, 295x5

Light day: 335x5, 315x5, 295x5x3 sets

Medium day: 355x5, 335x5, 315x5, 295x5x2 sets

 

Exercise Variation

     As you get more advanced, you want to rotate not just sets and reps but exercises.  Here is what 6 weeks of training might look like on all of the major lifts.  This is just an example, as you might do some different set/rep combos, or you might select some different movements.

Weeks 1-2: 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, conventional deadlifts

Light Day: reverse lunges, barbell overhead presses, power cleans

Medium Day: front squats, incline bench presses, high pulls

Weeks 3-4: 6 sets of 5, 3, 2; 5, 3, 2

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, sumo deadlifts

Light Day: walking lunges, incline dumbbell bench presses, power snatches

Medium Day: barbell hack squats, bottom-position bench presses, Romanian deadlifts

Weeks 5-6: 5 straight sets of 5 reps

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, deficit deadlifts

Light Day: overhead squats, one-arm dumbbell overhead presses, hang cleans

Medium Day: bottom-position squats, weighted dips, thick-bar deadlifts

     On the following week, you can return to the same exercises and the same sets/reps from weeks 1 and 2 or you could opt for some different set/rep ranges.  Another 6-week block using different sets/reps might now look like this:

Weeks 1-2: Wave sets

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, conventional deadlifts

Light Day: reverse lunges, barbell overhead presses, power cleans

Medium Day: front squats, incline bench presses, high pulls

Weeks 3-4: descending sets

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, sumo deadlifts

Light Day: walking lunges, incline dumbbell bench presses, power snatches

Medium Day: barbell hack squats, bottom-position bench presses, Romanian deadlifts

Weeks 5-6: 5 sets of 5/4/3/2/1

Heavy Day: squats, bench presses, deficit deadlifts

Light Day: overhead squats, one-arm dumbbell overhead presses, hang cleans

Medium Day: bottom-position squats, weighted dips, thick-bar deadlifts

     You may also want to take a de-load week after each 6-week block before doing another 6 weeks.  And after the 2^nd 6-week block, it would be a good idea to select some different exercises.

 

Advanced Split Training Options

     Once you have been training for a considerable time using Starr’s methods—as in at least a year—you will probably need to look at some split training options.  This could be for the sole reason that your sessions simply become too long to do at one workout.  It was one of the reasons that I had to switch over to some other training options when I was powerlifting.  (Well, that and boredom—I must admit that I’m not that good at sticking with the same program for months on end because my mind simply starts “going crazy” from doing the same thing ad nauseam).  Once I reached the point that, on my heavy day, I was doing work sets with over 500 on the squat and the deadlift, and over 300 pounds on the bench press, my workouts were moving into the 2 and ½ hour to 3-hour range.  Here, as an example, is what a “typical” heavy day might have looked like for me using Starr’s system:

Squats – 8 sets of 5 reps, 4 sets of 8 reps

Walking lunges – 4 sets of 10 reps

Bench presses – 8 sets of 5 reps, 4 sets of 8 reps

Weighted Dips – 4 sets of 8 reps

Deadlifts – 8 sets of 5 reps, 4 sets of 8 reps

Weighted Chins – 7 sets of 5 reps, 2 sets of max reps

Barbell Curls – 5 sets of 8 reps

Skull crushers – 5 sets of 8 reps

Ab work

     If you reach the point of something similar, it makes sense to start to split up your workouts.  Now, before we go further, it must be said that the first thing you should probably do is add a 4^th day of training.  (To see some ideas for how to initially set that up, go to Part Two.)  You also may want to try rotating your heavy training—as we discussed at the start of this article—before taking on these split ideas, but at some point one of the options below will most likely be a necessity.

Double Split Training

     If you have the time to fit in two training sessions per workout day, then this is, I believe, your best option.  Keep in mind that double split training is not an excuse or a technique to do more work.  Rather, it’s simply splitting the work you would do in one session into two sessions.  If you use it to double the amount of training that you’re currently doing, then you run the risk of overtraining.  Double split programs should be a natural overflow from the fact that your one workout session is just becoming too much to do at a single trip to the gym.  You’re not training more.  You’re just training smarter.

     If you decide to go this route, I advise making the a.m. session a squat and press workout, and the p.m. session a pull workout.  Your workouts naturally fall into thirds, anyway, as you are always doing a squatting portion, a pressing portion, and a pulling section of the workout.  So, do 2/3 of the workout at the early session, and the final 1/3 at the late one.

     Some lifters prefer to do the squats and pulls together at the morning workout, and the presses at the 2^nd one.  This isn’t a bad idea, as long as you don’t start doing more work at the p.m. session and skimp out on doing enough at the early one, since some lifters, let’s admit, are much more likely to overdo their upper body muscles—a lot of guys want big pecs and big arms over big squats and heavy pulls.  Don’t let that be you!

The 6-Day Program

     If you can only make it to the gym once per day, but you know that you can make it to the gym 6 days a week, then the simplest option is to use a 2-way split.  Monday and Tuesday are your heavy days.  Wednesday and Thursdays are your light days.  And Friday and Saturday are your medium days.  As with the double split option, don’t do more work than you would if you were training 3 days; just split the workload in two.  And as with the double split method, on the first training day do 2/3 of the workout, and on the 2^nd day do the other 1/3.

     Don’t select either the double split option or the 6-day program if you are unsure whether or not you will make any of the sessions.  Consistency is always the most important factor in any program, and if you can only make it the gym 3 days per week, stick with a 3-day schedule, even if you can’t get in as much total work as you want.  It’s better to be on a “lesser” program, and not miss a single workout, than it is to be on a “better” program, but miss a workout here or there.

 

 

 

 

 

*John, Dan. Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning (p. 99). On Target Publications. Kindle Edition.