Weekly Q & A and a request

Ok just a couple of requests for this Q & A

If you have a question leave a name.

Second, I know a lot of guys have questions about training.  Do me a favor and save it for the blog.  If you have a question about a consultation you can use my e-mail.

Thanks guys and gals.

With that said...........3......2...........1............go

Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff

Really looking forward to preparing for this meet.  The last cycle I could never get things dialed in.  Even squatting felt awkward.  But right now I feel pain free in my elbows and my conditioning is good.  I'm not 100% positive but more than likely this is going to be my routine starting as of Tuesday...

Tuesday - Deads
Deads - cycle work
Hamstring Movement - 1x12-15
Upper-Back Movement - 1x12-15

Thursday - Bench
Close Grip Bench - cycle work
Incline Barbell or Incline Db Press - 1x12-15
Rear Delts - 1x12-15

Saturday - Squats
Hip and Ass Machine - warm up
Squats - cycle work
Pause Squats - 1x5

That's pretty much it.  I may not even do the assistance work listed and may bench every other week like I normally do, but since my elbows feel ok I will try benching every week to start.  635/425/640 on my second attempts is the plan.  No belt, no knee wraps @ 242.

My bicep is back to 100% I think.  I did some chins messing around the other night.  Although I admit I was hesitant.  That's the biggest factor in coming back from injuries.  Getting over the mental aspect.  Your body may be ready but you still lack confidence.  Even after 20+ years of this shit I still go through that.

I have a feeling I am going to struggle to stay in the 242 weight class from here on out if I want to keep competing.  Truth is at 5'11" I am more suited to the 275 weight class but I don't want to weigh anywhere close to that.  If I could walk around at 260 lean?  Yeah.  But I do ok at 240 now where my bodyfat hovers around 9% or so.  I do like to eat though and every winter I end up at 265-270 without thinking much about it.  I never feel good at that weight however, and I am going to try and avoid it this winter.  I may push my weight up a little bit however.  Just not 270 or more.

Watched Clash of the Titans last weekend with the kids.  I didn't think it was all that terrible and it got blasted in the reviews.  Maybe it's because I just enjoyed that time with the family more than anything.  My youngest had a ton of funny comments about everything that happened.

Speaking of my youngest, at the gym a few weeks ago she was in the kids area and one of the care takers there came up to talk to her.......

"Are you married?" my youngest asked.
"No, I'm not married." the lady said.
"Ohhh.  So you're lonely." my youngest said
"I'm not lonely!"
"Oooook, whatever you say."

Awesome.

For those who asked about training I have revamped things a bit via the request of a few people.  Hit me up on my g-mail if you want the specifics.  plcj58@gmail.com

Someone asked me about music the other day so here are the songs I never do without on my mp3 player for lifting.........

Into the Mouth of Hell We March - Trivium
Hope Is - Killswitch Engage
Clean My Wounds - CoC
Lose It - Atreyu
Black - Sevendust
Only - Anthrax
Confined - As I Lay Dying
This Calling - All That Remains

That's pretty much the staple.  I mix in some other stuff but somewhere amongst my songs those will be in there.  I have a lot of mellow stuff I throw in there as well because after lifting if I go for a long walk or whatever I like something to take the edge off.  Mellow as in Alice in Chains and their stuff off of Jar of Flys.

I am currently helping some powerlifters get ready for meets and I expect them to blow some shit out of the water.  One guy is well known and the other is not.  If they both suck at their meets I will come back and delete this part of the post.  In all seriousness I think they both will do well.  One guy just pulled 485x4.  A weight he couldn't get off the floor at his last meet.  He's also hit two bench PR's in the last couple of weeks.  So I am expecting good things for him at his meet in a few weeks.

Ever notice that people who are jealous of shit you have say the reason you have that is to make up for something you are lacking in?  And it's always your junk.  Why?  Why did my junk shrink when I bought that Viper?  Or that Cigarette boat?  If I bought a Prius and a row boat instead would my junk have grown?  If that were the case then the interstate would be filled from top to bottom with Prius' pulling row boats everyday at rush hour.  Get what makes you happy.  Haters are gonna hate, that is their job.  BTW I don't have a Viper or Cig boat.  I need what little junk I have!

I hate winter.  Holy dog shit I hate winter.  I don't get to do all of the conditioning I love so much and I hate getting into a cold car in the morning.  I hate the snow and the ice.  I hate it hate it!  I gotta move soon.

For any of you dieting, esp on low carb, don't train without SOME carbs.  One good thing to do is to buy one of those creatine loaders that has simple carbs built in and drink some before you lift.  You're not going to get fatter and it is not going to interfere with the fat burning process, plus it will help a bit with giving you enough energy to lift.  Don't fret over 35-50 grams of carbs.  The low carb shit is getting out of hand I think.  All it is, is a convenient way to cut calories.

There isn't anything super special about low carb.  Losing fat is still about calories in vs out.  If you figure out the number of calories you need to lose fat, then figure in 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, then the rest can come from a mix of carbs and fat.  So if you need to eat 2500 calories a day to lose fat and you weigh 230 then 230*4 = 920.  So 920 calories will come from protein.  You have 1580 calories that can come from carbs and fat.  1.5 to 2 pounds a week is a solid fat loss plan.  One pound of fat is 3500 calories, so 3500x2 =  7000.  So you need about a 1000 calorie deficit per day to hit that.  That's all the dieting information you ever really need to know at a basic level.

Prohormones over the counter, are the real deal now.  I wonder how much longer supp companies are going to get away with it?  And if you are 18-21 and weigh 180 or whatever and are talking about taking them, please pay someone to kick your ass.

Can't wait for Call of Duty Black Ops.  I am a total Modern Warfare/CoD freak.

Maybe it's time to actually put up a real website?

Training

Machine Bench - up to the stack x 10

Pulldowns - stack x 10

Incline Press - 225 x 3 sets of 10

Low Cable Rows - stack x 3 sets of 8

Upright Rows - 95 x 3 sets of 15

Notes - Still just playing around and having fun.  Joints feel pretty good so I think I should be in good shape to start meet prep next week.

Training

Hip and Ass Machine - 2 directions x 50 reps for each set

Squats - warm up to 315 x 5 sets of 5.  Adductor is still sore.

Deadlifts - 315 x 5 sets of 5.  Felt fine on the bicep.

Pulldowns - 4 sets
Adductor Machine - 4 sets

Timed Holds - 120 pound db's for 55 seconds.

I know the timed hold is worse than what a 10 year old girl can do, however I haven't held anything heavy for almost 10 weeks now so I expect some rapid improvement in that area.

Strength Training for MMA

This one is another request but I had actually started on this article a while back and let it sit on the back burner. After the request I decided to dust it off, especially since I am going to wait before I publish my article on strength peaking.

Obviously MMA has exploded over the last few years and I feel fortunate enough to have followed UFC and MMA since UFC1.  Fighters have evolved and training has evolved as well, just like any sport.  The majority of guys you see at the top of the fighting heap are in shape and look like fighters.  This comes back to my mantra about your function creating your form.  If you want to be a complete fighter then your strength and conditioning program is paramount.  As much as people love to cheer for Roy Nelson, he's never going to challenge for a championship fight until he gets his fat ass in shape.

For this article I'm going to cover the strength training aspect of MMA, and what a fighter can do to get stronger.

Train for Strength AND Power -

These terms get mixed up sometimes.  Strength is referring to absolute strength.  How much weight you can move maximally.  Power is about the rate of force, i.e. strength x speed.  A mixed martial artist should train for both.

Train Movement Patterns -

An athlete is always better off training for strength and power in the movement patterns closest related to his skill.  This is why, for example, that the incline press and front squat are really better lifts for football than the bench and back squat.  So picking movement patterns that relate to your skill will always pay bigger dividends.

Train Hard and Fast -

Always train like you play/fight.  If your sport calls you to go fast and hard, train fast and hard.  Everything should be applied to your goal of being a stronger/better fighter.  Make sure you are aware of your time between sets, and constantly push to reduce that.

Limit Strength Training Days -

Your goal should be to get stronger, not be worlds strongest man.  Think about that.  It doesn't take a lot to get a little bit stronger.  Unless you're already at world class level.  It's far more important to be on the mat, in the ring, and practicing your craft than in the gym lifting weights.  When I am focused on MMA training I never lift more than twice a week.  Also, this is not training for size.  This is training for strength and power in certain movement patterns.  You don't want a lot of volume.  Again, this isn't powerlifting or bodybuilding.  Just simple strength training.  Doing 20 sets of squats or deadlifts doesn't really have a place here.

Train your whole body -

You don't fight with bodyparts, you fight with your whole body.  So train your whole body each time you strength train.

Get rid of advantages -

Get rid of belts, wraps, and straps and the excuses why you need them.  You don't fight with a damn weight belt on do you?  Then why are you training with one on?  You don't fight with straps do you?  Then why are you doing deadlifts with them?  Save me the bullshit excuses.  Train like you fight.

Do single limb work -

This one should be obvious.  You need to train each limb to work independently of the other as well.  Not only to even out strength imbalances but to simulate having to push off the mat with 1 arm, crab out from being mounted, so forth and so on.

The Program - 

Here is the kind of program that an MMA trainee could do well with to increase power and strength, flexibility and conditioning.

Day 1 -
General Warm Up - 10 minutes
Static Stretching with hip and shoulder mobility work
Pause Squats - 10/8/5/4 - 3  Work up to a top triple that moves fast.  Explode out of the hole as fast as possible.  Hold for 3 seconds in the bottom.  And "bottom" means basement.  You should have no doubt that every rep is below parallel.  God I hate high/parallel squatters.
Alternating Dumbbell Floor Press - 12/10/8/6 - 5 Work up to a top set of 5 alternating arms on the press.
Sandbag Turkish Get Up - If you don't have a sandbag, use a dumbbell and do the traditional get up, but the sandbag is better for MMA.  Do 3 sets of 5 reps per side.
Weighted Chins - warm up, then 3 sets of 3 reps.  Vary your grip from workout to workout.

Day 2 -

General Warm Up - 10 minutes

Static Stretching with hip and shoulder mobility work

Deadlift - 10/8/6/5 - 3 sets of 3 static weight.  Pick a weight that you can move explosively.  Rest only 60 seconds between sets.

Clean and Press - 5/4/3/2 - 1,1,1 with a static weight.  Do three singles.  Clean the weight from the floor and press overhead.  Rest 60 seconds between singles.  

Full Contact Twist - 4 sets of 10 reps.  Don't go super heavy here, make sure you move the weight explosively.  

Db Rows - 2 sets of 8 reps.  Pick a heavy weight that you can pull explosively.  

Notes - 

If you don't know how to do any of these, youtube is your friend.  

Worry about speed and strength.  You don't want to move up in strength so fast that your speed slows considerably.  Remember you want to be able to move a heavy weight fast, not just move it for the sake of moving it.  

You should be sweating like a freight train at the end of these training sessions.  Move as fast as possible and track your time between sets, and how long the session took.  If you can push your strength up while keeping the rep speed fast AND reduce time between sets, you are on the right track.  

You should not be very sore after these.  This is be design.  Soreness may be ok in lifting, but I have found when my muscles were sore and I was doing martial arts I always ended up hurting something else.  Minor soreness is fine, major soreness is bad.  Adjust the training based on that.

Note:  You sherdog faggots that bench 2 plates and squat 3 plates need to learn how to read and remove your head from your ass.  You know about as much about strength training in regards to MMA as you do about quantum physics.  

Training

Fun Stuff -

Strive Overhead Press - up to 190 x 8 with most resistance at starting point

Side Laterals - 30's x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20

Upright Rows - 95 x 12 x 15 x 15 x 15

Pushdowns and Curls - about 4 rounds

With less than two weeks before the meet work starts I like to take a break from squat/bench/dead and do fun stuff and let my joints get a break.  Plus I am super low calorie right now because my weight is too high.  I like to eat up to a meet and I'm still walking around at 239 sub 10% bodyfat.  I am going to take off a few pounds in the next 10 days then slowly increase cals.

Training

Light Day -

Squats -
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5

365 x 5 sets of 5, 60 seconds between

Db Bench Press -

40's x 12
80' x 15
100's x 20 x 20

T-bars - 3 plates x 3 sets of 20

Bicep is almost completely back to normal.  Feeling lots better.  Less than two weeks before I start meet prep.

Upcoming Articles

Sorry for no recent new articles.  I am working on an article for raw powerlifting and peaking for meets and after that I will have one out on strength training for MMA guys.  So keep your thongs on, they will be out in the next week or two.

I am also doing a raw meet in December with my buddy Eric Lilliebridge.  Hopefully I will be able to not tear a tendon off of the bone in prep for it.  That kinda sucks when that happens.

Training

Hip and Ass Machine - different directions for about 4 sets 20-30 reps per direction

Calf Press - stack x 20 x 20

Seated Db Press -
25 x 30
70's x 12
100's x 15 x 12

Stiff Legs -
225 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8

Pipes and Upright Rows -
5 rounds for each

Notes - Pulled for the first time since I tore the bicep.  Felt fine.  Grip is weak as hell though.  I will address that for the upcoming meet in December.

Training

#2 ass machine - 100 reps
calf press - 2 x 20

High Bar Squats - no belt no wraps

135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 5
405 x 5
500 x 5

Incline -
135 x 12
185 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 5
225 x 20

Pulldowns and Rows - 2 sets of 20 each

Notes - Popped something in my left adductor on the last rep of that squat set.  Not too bad but the next workout will be a light one for sure.  Regardless of the numbers I felt like total crap.

Weekly Q & A.......

3...2...1......go

Training

Standing PBN -
bar x 50
65 x 20
95 x 20
135 x 20 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 15 (neat trick, try it sometime)

Hypers - body x 20 x 20

Pipes - 4 circuits

Notes - Quick and easy like it's supposed to be.

Training

Squats -
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
455 x 2
500 x 1

405 x 12

Bench -
Bar x 50
135 x 10
225 x 5
245 x 4
275 x 3
295 x 2
315 x 1

T-Bar Rows -
90 x 4 sets of 20

Notes - Made up for a crappy session yesterday that involved a complete lack of sleep and feeling like crap.  This one was not too bad and the 500 single and 405 x 12 on squats were easy.  So was the 315 bench of course.

Training

Squats - suck

Was working on 4 hours of sleep and little food.  You know it's a bad day when 225 feels heavy.  I shut it down at 455 for a double.  Will probably come back and do this whole workout tomorrow.

Training

Standing Strict Press - bar x million
135 x 5
155 x 4
175 x 3
195 x 2
225 x 1

High Bar GM's - 185 x 3 sets of 10

Pipes - 3 rounds for bi's and tri's

Notes - Super tired tonight.  Barely talked myself into going in to get this session done, but I did.  Just wiped out from a whole week of this cold/allergy thing.  Have not been sleeping good because of it so a double whammy.

Training

Light Day -

#2Ass Machine - 3 sets of 50 reps with the stack

Squats - high bar no belt no wraps
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5 sets of 5

Incline Press -
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10 x 10

Db Shrugs/Lat Pulldowns superset - 60's x 25/80x20 60's x 20/80x20

Notes - I am sick with some kind of cold/head/sinus/sneezing/mono/aids/ebola/mutabo virus.  I feel like crap but still managed to get through this one ok.  Actually I felt a lot better afterwards.

Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff

I'm in a total movie slump.  I haven't watched anything that is new (and good) in a while.

Two more weeks and I'm considered 100% healing wise.  That doesn't mean I'm going to be pulling 600 that week.  I will start off slow and steady and move things up at a deliberate pace.

I've seen more and more people borrowing ideas from me and not giving any props.  This isn't completely new, but I would at least like SOME credit, thank you very much.  Like at least someone named the pjr pullovers, pjr pullovers.  Those were mine yes (if you aren't sure what I'm talking about google that exercise name).  Now if I only I could find a way to make money every time someone does some reps of that exercise.

Ok I'm going to go ahead and say what I'm playing with on my diet.  I am doing a no/low carb day on Friday and half a day Saturday.  On Saturday night I load up on carbs (going to Olive Garden tonight for unlimited PESTA bowl!) then I fast half the day on Sunday.  I have used this strategy on a female client recently and both times she did this on cheat day (once every 14 days for my trainees) she dropped around 2-3 pounds that week.  I eat moderate carbs through the week, generally coming from fruit only.  I have pretty much eliminated grains from my diet.  If you want to give it a shot just make sure you try to deplete as much as possible on Friday and Saturday.  I generally have a workout on Thursday and at least an hour of conditioning on Friday.  Then Saturday is lifting again.  You get the idea.  I don't know how long I will do this because I HATE low/no carbs.  Update on this - All three of my clients lost weight again doing this.  One lost 6 pounds.

I have been seeing more "posturing" on the net lately about shit related to lifting and life.  I'm not going to get into it, but I will say this...be your own man.  Don't live vicariously through the words or actions of other people.  I have three daughters and they paint my toenails and think it's awesome.  I care more about that turd I flushed down the toilet than what some internet "hard ass" thinks about this.  We can always knuckle up and find the F out now can't we?  If someone tells you "don't do that, that's gay" and it's something that you enjoy, tell them to get bent.  I have about had it with the "alpha males" that run boards and run mouths.  Be who you are, not who someone you think the person you look up to will like.  Because ultimately you always come away disappointed in yourself and in life.  For example, I was always a relationship guy, and didn't run around just trying to bang chic after chic.  I wanted to find someone who complimented me, was faithful to me, and loved me for who I was.  My friends thought this shit was silly, and all they cared about was nailing anything that moved.  Now, I've been with an awesome, supremely beautiful woman for 16 years and the majority of those "friends" have lives that are paved with failed relationships, misery, distrust, bullshit, and heartache.  I have someone that will stand by me no matter how bad I F up (and I do) and I reciprocate that with fervor.  Was I lucky?  Maybe.  But I believe you make most of your own luck, and I have what I have because I didn't fall into the trap of trying to please my friends.  Be your own man, and be a good one, and do the things in life that make you feel good about living.  Damn what anyone else thinks about it, so long as you aren't hurting anyone.

If anyone wants to contact me about training online, feel free to do so.  I am cheap but I am NOT free.  Thanks.

I haven't actually written about powerlifting on here, for example peaking for a meet for raw guys.  I think it's about time I went over that.  And speaking of which, I hope I can make it through the next year injury free somehow and put together a good total.  I've have two major injuries (the recent bicep and the shoulder from years ago) that have kept me from putting together a good total on the platform.  It's not an excuse, but the fact is I am not one of those guys that wants to show up just to "show up".  Unless I feel like training has gone well enough to show up for a good meet, I don't.  Why?  Because as I noted earlier, I am my own man and that's how I do shit.  I just feel like the money and time it takes to travel and the energy required should be centered around doing a good job.  That's my own philosophy.

Football season is upon us.............and I don't care.  Every year I become more apathetic.  I did decide to do fantasy football this year but I don't know how much attention I will ultimately pay to it.

I think in the end, your life can be narrowed down to about half a dozen decisions that you make.  If you are fortunate enough to lay on your death bed an old man or old woman, I think you could narrow down everything that significantly impacted your life to 6-8 choices.  Ever wake up one morning and thought "holy shit what happened?"  I don't mean from a night out drinking either.  Life can change in the blink of an eye.  Be wise about the choices you make and never let anger, guilt, or coveting guide them.

Be the best husband, father, son, and friend that you can be.  And don't text while you're driving dipshit.

Short and sweet (or not) this time.  Work has been strangling me so my mind hasn't had a lot of time to wander from it.

Training

Glute-Ham Raises - 4 sets of 15

Side Laterals - up to the 20's for 4 sets of 30

Pipes - 7 sets of bi's and triceps

Notes - Feeling like ass.  I can't wait to eat pasta until my last name ends in a vowel.

Training

Ass Machine #1 - stack x 3 sets of 15

High Bar Squats - no belts no wraps

135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 4
405 x 3
455 x 2
500 x 1
365 x 12

Bench -
bar x 50
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
245 x 2
275 x 1
225 x 25

Bent Laterals/Wide Grip Pulldowns - superset 2 rounds of 20 each

Notes - Really tired tonight, but still not a terrible session.  The 500 squat and 275 bench were retardedly easy.  But I'm just at 6 weeks tomorrow from the torn bicep surgery so I still am not confident in everything yet.  Down to 235 pounds and think I can hit 225 or so in the next 6 weeks.  I also have some things I am going to try with my diet in the next couple of days to see how well it works (or not).  Will post it up when I am done trying it.

Upper body warm up

I use this warm up all the time for my upperbody and shoulders and can't recommend it enough for helping to prevent injuries and get your upperbody more flexible.  




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How to get "What constitutes strong...strong" Part 3

In this part we're going to talk about strength endurance.  The truth is, this block could be swapped out with the hypertrophy and strength block with a little tinkering, however this block will focus on building strength endurance, which also leads to hypertrophy in a big way (combined with good eating).

For this block we're talking about raising your strength levels in a high repetition zone.  Namely something in the 20-30 rep range.  This won't be done with a single set however.  Generally a version of rest/pause training will be used until these reps are reached, then over the weeks you want to lower the number of rest/pause rounds it takes to get there.

One of the things that came to mind when the elite repping numbers were thrown out there, was that most every lifter that could hit X amount for a single, could also hit X amount for reps.  For example, almost all of the 500 pound bench pressers we knew, they were all in the 315x18-22 rep range.  The guy that could squat 405x20 was also usually good for somewhere around 650.  The deadlift was a little different, but you get the idea.

Now let me say right up front, that just because you can rep 315x20 that doesn't mean you can hit 500 for a single but I can bet you'll be in ball park range.  Certainly if you can only hit 315x13 and raise that to 18-20 your single should have gone up as well.  If not, you are the exception and we don't use exceptions to make the rule.

Goals for this block -

The goal for this block is to hit something that has some kind of coloration to a certain max.  I will lay out the projected max and the weight associated with it in regards to 20 reps for some landmark weights......

Projected Max = Weight you need to hit for 20 reps


185 = 115

205 = 135

225 = 145

250 = 160

275 = 175

300 = 190

315 = 200

335 = 210

365 = 230

385 = 245

405 = 255

425 = 270

455 = 285

475 = 300

500 = 315

550 = 345

585 = 370

605 = 380

635 = 400

650 = 410

675 = 425

700 = 440

750 = 475

800 = 500

Again, I can't emphasize enough that just because you can hit 20 reps with that weight doesn't mean your max will in fact be that, however it will probably be ball park, especially if you increase your repping strength while doing some 80+% work as well.  I also think that the lower end of the scale will be off more because a guy that can rep 115 might not be able to even get close to 185.  However 315x20 on bench, for example, consistently lines up with guys with around a 500-510 bench.  230x20 is usually consistent with a guy that hits 350-365.  You get the idea.  If you use your calculator for a minute you will figure out pretty quick that the number used there is 63%.  So 63% of your 1RM is usually about what you can do for 20.

The Plan -

This block is fairly straight forward.  You're going to pick a weight you would like to be good for max wise, and work towards that for the entire 6 weeks.  Let me emphasize that if you can't bench 185 right now, to go check out some of my beginner or skinny guy training articles then come back when you are there.

The over-warm up and the plan -

Set your goal for the big 3 for the cycle.  I urge you to be conservative.  The most surefire way to fail is to get overzealous in your planning and try to add 500000000 pounds to your 160 pound max squat.  Don't do that.  If your max is 225 shoot for a nice 5% bump.  That's around 235.  So just say 235*63%=150 (rounded up). This will be your repping weight.

However you aren't going to walk in, do a warm up, then start repping.  What I mean is, this is how it generally works for most guys.

They decide to bench.  They are going to rep with 245 that day.  They do 135x10, 185x5, 225x1, then rep 245x9 or whatever.

This is not the best way to go about this.  I have consistently found that doing an over-warm up then coming back to the lesser weight allows for more reps to be done.  I'm not going to toss around terms like "CNS" (because the CNS does not have anything to do with lifting weights I hate to tell you) or shit like that.  But I have seen this a thousand times.  Doing a proper over-warm up will consistently let you do more reps on the back off sets, so long as the over-warm up is not too taxing.  If you're start breaching that 93-98% barrier with some grinding on those lifts, the back off repping sets will be hard as well.  So let's lay some ground work for proper over-warm ups.

First set - the bar
There is nothing wrong with going in and warming up with the bar for a lot of reps.  This has saved me some potential injuries by working out early kinks before getting some weight on the bar many times.  For deadlifts just do stiff legs with the bar.  For squat and bench, just squat and bench.  Do 20-50 reps and get everything loose.

Second set - 30% of your projected max for the cycle x 10
This set would be super light and feel good.

Third set - 50% of your projected max for the cycle x 6
Again, this should be light and easy.

Fourth set - 63% of your projected max for the cycle x 3
This is your repping weight for the cycle.  Again, this should be very easy.

Fifth set - 75% of your projected max for the cycle x 1
Don't rush this because it's light.  Be slow and controlled on the descent and explosive on the positive portion of the movement.

Sixth set - 63% of your projected max for the cycle x maximum reps until 30
This is the money maker.  This will be hard and suck ass, especially on squats and deadlifts.  I do understand that you can't rep 30 reps with 63% of your max, which is why we will do it with rest/pause and/or have timed rest periods within the set.

So the set might look like this for bench...
63% x 17
rest 30 seconds
63% x 7 = 24 total
rest 30 seconds
63% x 4 = 28 total
rest 30 seconds
63% x 2 = 30
Done

Obviously your goal for the next week is to get the reps in fewer rest/pause rounds or increase the reps in some of those rounds.  So the following week you might get the first round for 19 reps, but then it still takes 3 more rounds to get to 30.  That's ok.  You still made progress from the week before.

Laying out the rest/pause and timed rest -

For squats and deadlifts the timed rest is 60 seconds.  For bench it's 30.  That's it.  What I do suggest is, that you leave some in the tank instead of approaching failure.  This way you don't need quite as many rounds to make the 30 reps as you did before.  Second, the truth is you want to bust upwards closer to 40 reps by the end of the cycle if possible.  The 6th week is a testing week so you will go all out anyway.  So be wise in your effort on the sets to make the reps.

The whole block -

This is the whole block laid out.  There is no overhead pressing day because the calculations don't work out as well.  Plus, our goal was a 315x1 overhead.  The hypertrophy and strength day has a day all for overhead work so use that time to work on it there.  But since overhead work does matter you will still do some overhead work on bench day here.

Day 1 - Deadlifts
Deadlifts
Chins

Day 2 - Bench
Bench
Standing Overhead/Dips (alternate)

Day 3 - Squats
Squats
Leg Curls

The percentages for the big 3 over the next week look like this on a week per week basis......

Week 1 -
barx30-50 reps
30%x10
50%x6
63%x3
75%x1
63%xmax reps - 30 seconds between bench effort and 60 between squat and dead effort to 30 reps

Week 2 -

Week 1 - 

barx30-50 reps

30%x10

50%x6

63%x3

80%x1

63%xmax reps

Week 3 - 

barx30-50 reps

30%x10

50%x6

63%x3

80%x1

63%xmax reps

Week 4 - 

barx30-50 reps

30%x10

50%x6

63%x3

80%x1

63%xmax reps

Week 5 - 

barx30-50 reps

30%x10

50%x6

70%x3

85%x1

63%xmax reps

Week 6 -

Week 1 - 

barx30-50 reps

30%x10

50%x6

70%x3

90%x1

63%xmax reps without rest/pause or timed rest.  You go all out for 1 set here.  

Some notes on this block -

I cannot stress enough that you should do this block AFTER the conditioning block.  You don't want to try to do this block out of shape.  The squats and deads will eat you alive.

How do you know when to try for more than 30 reps?  On the last timed set.  So if you get 22 and then 7 on bench you know you're going to cross 30 on the next one almost for sure.  Go all out and get as many as possible there.  Always go all out on the last round if you are going to cross the 30 rep mark.  This should make sense and I shouldn't have to explain it over and over again.  If you get 18 reps, then 8, then go all out on the last one to get 30+.  This is simple, don't over think it.

If your question is "can I go for a new 1 rep max on the 6th week" my answer would be NOOOOOO!  WTF?  Don't bastardize my shit.  The point of the block is to increase your ability to rep big weights.  If you want to add a 7th week and try a new max, fine.  Take the next week off and start a new block of whatever you want to do.  But the point of the 6th week is to bust out something grand with the weight you have programmed in for the block.  Not go for a new max.  If you do a shit ton of reps with a weight you could only hit 12-15 with before, you got stronger.  Ok?  If your next question is "why do you wave the top single" well that's because we want to constantly stimulate top level strength through each block no matter what.  In this block your top level strength is still kept "alive", in the conditioning block it is trying to be maintained, and in the hypertrophy block it's pushed with your heavy sets of 5.

Don't do more shit after the chins, dips, presses, and leg curls.  The point of this block is to get better at the big 3.  Not a bunch of other crap.  If you want to change all of those out for a different movement, fine.  But you could just do the big 3 for this cycle and that would probably be enough all by itself.  It's only 6 weeks.  You're certainly not going to get weaker.

Conditioning - Well the lifting in this one is part of the conditioning.  You should be busting ass pretty good with the limited rest.  With that said, I advise 1 hard day of conditioning, usually on squat day or the day after. Then a couple of days of walking.  However because the squats and deads will push the breathing efforts, I don't see conditioning maintenance as much of a problem here, even without doing a day of hard conditioning.

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