Posted: 3/23/2012 7:10:09 PM EDT
| Are heavy singles productive for gaining strength, or are they just a test of strength? I'm talkng about incorporating several sets of a major compound lift, i.e. deadlift, bench, overhead press, depending on the workout, being just one rep of 95% or so of max, with short (about a minute) rest intervals in between. Would I be accomplishing anything or just wearing out my joints? |
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Quoted: Depends on what level you are at. Most intermediate strength programs have heavy singles as part of the routine, but only part, not all of it.Are heavy singles productive for gaining strength, or are they just a test of strength? I'm talkng about incorporating several sets of a major compound lift, i.e. deadlift, bench, overhead press, depending on the workout, being just one rep of 95% or so of max, with short (about a minute) rest intervals in between. Would I be accomplishing anything or just wearing out my joints? |
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Quoted: Westside barbell hits max singles 2x/wk... 1 upper 1 lower. Singles can be useful for non-beginners. Beginners don't have enough muscle/strength to get maximum benefit from singles. I prefer doubles, personally... but that's just me. When I was doing Westside, I became really good at doing singles, the problem was that I could rep out for shit. I don't know if that was a fault of the program as it relates to my body, or simply because I wasn't doing the program correctly (it's a tough program to do on your own without a coach, I think). Rippetoe's Texas Method, along with Wendler's 5/3/1 seems to make things a little easier with programing. I do think that once you reach a certain point, singles are necessary when correctly used around days of heavy volume.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
What does your program look like now?
I was thinking of doing that approximatelly every other week. After warm up, just doing singles for 6-8 sets. Day one - heavy upper body (bench, rows, dips, etc) Day two - rest Day three - light lower body (squat, stiff leg deads) Day four - light upper body Day five - rest Day six - heavy lower body (squat, regular deads...) Day seven - rest Lather, rinse, repeat. |
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Quoted: Need more info than that, brother. Need stuff like sets and reps.Quoted: Quoted: What does your program look like now?I was thinking of doing that approximatelly every other week. After warm up, just doing singles for 6-8 sets. Day one - heavy upper body (bench, rows, dips, etc) Day two - rest Day three - light lower body (squat, stiff leg deads) Day four - light upper body Day five - rest Day six - heavy lower body (squat, regular deads...) Day seven - rest Lather, rinse, repeat. |
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Heavy upper - bench 5 sets, 4-6 reps after two warm up sets. Pullups 4 sets of 10 reps. Dips 4 sets of 10-12 reps. Bent over barbell row 3 sets of 4-6 reps. Superset EZ bar curls with skull crushers 4 sets of 6-8 reps.
Light upper - same as above, but 4 sets of bench with 8-12 reps, barbell row is 3 sets at 8-12 reps, and substitute dips for overhead press 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Curls and skull crushers are substituted for ab work. Heavy lower - squats 5 sets with 4-6 reps, after three warm up sets. Traditional deadlifts 5 sets with 4-6 reps. Light lower - squats 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Stiff leg deads 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Jump squats 3 sets of 10 reps each. Ab work. |
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Quoted: Heavy upper - bench 5 sets, 4-6 reps after two warm up sets. Pullups 4 sets of 10 reps. Dips 4 sets of 10-12 reps. Bent over barbell row 3 sets of 4-6 reps. Superset EZ bar curls with skull crushers 4 sets of 6-8 reps. Light upper - same as above, but 4 sets of bench with 8-12 reps, barbell row is 3 sets at 8-12 reps, and substitute dips for overhead press 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Curls and skull crushers are substituted for ab work. Heavy lower - squats 5 sets with 4-6 reps, after three warm up sets. Traditional deadlifts 5 sets with 4-6 reps. Light lower - squats 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Stiff leg deads 3 sets at 8-10 reps. Jump squats 3 sets of 10 reps each. Ab work. Honestly, I think you would do much better to have a regimented program than doing 4-6 reps of things. I would really recommend you get Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 book or Mark Rippetoes Practical Programing. |
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People who do WSB method are working on improving their 1 rep max. All their training is geared towards that. It's not a downfall of the program, it's the design of the program. When handling 85%+ of your max, you're taxing not only your prime-movers, but also your joints, tendons, ligaments... not to mention the major CNS involvement involved in Max lifting. As a beginner-early intermediate lifter who has, lets say <2x bw squat, your maxes are at a level that you can do sets/reps near(er) to your max without too much fatigue. As you train higher weight singles, your accessory work needs to adjust for this, using lower % if you're after 3-5 sets of 5-10 as accessory work.. Doing singles for squat @ 600lbs means that "accessory" work, at even 50% is still 300lbs, and doing sets above 5 with this is going to be taxing, and possibly hinder recovery. Whereas someone who has a max of 315, 50% is ~160, which isn't that heavy, and could allow them to do 60-75% for accessory work and not take too much toll on their body. OP: What you already have set up is like a... wuss-version of the Westside split. If you're planning on competing in Powerlifting––> look hard into the WSB program. If you're more into general lifting for being a strong ox?... look into 531... Either way, you need to know what accessory exercises work for you, which will build you up, which waste your time, and which actually do more harm than good––> this comes with time... |