Weight Training
I recently completed the 4 day a week S and P with olympics program. I…
The question
I recently completed the 4 day a week S and P with olympics program. I am 25 years old now and have been lifting since I was in high school and I can say with confidence that it is the most productive program I have ever participated in. I have always been a big believer in periodization and multiple set training but at times I have found the amount of different approaches to be a bit overwhelming. Your website has taken much of the guess work out of my workouts and I am very grateful. I have told all of my friends about your awesome service. My question has to do with progressive overload. In programs I have experimented with in the past ( for example a russian power cycle) the three major lifts bench squat and clean over a period of several weeks progress to say two reps of two at about 105% of max whereas in your programs no sets are done with weights much above 95% of max. Why is this? Believe me I have no complaints, like I said before I had tremendous success with your program I just find the science of periodization interesting and I am always trying to understand it better. My second question is why doesn't the s and p programs allow you to exchange lat pulls with chinups. I find chin ups much more effective for me and I would like really like to have this option. I have noticed in your football programs that chinups are actually the excercise most stressed for the upper back. Thank you again for your service, I lost 15 pounds of bodyweight and gained about fifteen percent on the three big lifts in just twelve weeks. Fantastic!
Dan's answer
Dan Wirth, MA, CSCS
Your question is somewhat common from our more hardcore members like you! The reason I do not prescribe intensity levels with greater than 100% intensity is that doing so moves away from "reality". Your maximum lift is 100%. No more, no less. My programs are based on monitoring your progress through your workouts and updating your weights. Doing otherwise means that you are trying to predict the future. Unfortunately, this fails more often than not! With the periodization models that you mentioned, the set and rep combinations are pre-programmed to illicit a predetermined strength response within a certain or arbitrary period of time. This forced adaptation just isn't the best way to get the results you want. However, you and I know that individual responses to a strength program will vary. Some progress faster. Some slower. This is the exact reason that I encourage each of our members to make continual program updates. These updates are based on a positive completion of the sets and reps on your program. Very simply, if you can't get your reps you need to drop your weights! Feel free to do some additional chin ups in your program but don't get rid of the Lat Pulldown exercise. I like to continue with Lat Pulldown exercises because they allow most people to use better technique which will train them to use their back muscles instead of the biceps muscles. Also, with the sports specific workouts such as the offseason football program I stress free-weight exercises predominantly, hence the use of chin ups and pull ups in these workouts. Although I know that some athletes (especially lineman) can't do pull ups correctly they percentage is still better than the general population! Good luck. Keep up the great work!
Dan designed the periodization models the Wave Engine runs.
See how the Wave Engine turns his programming rules into your workouts.