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Stupid Programming = Fun
My girlfriends always said size didn't matter. I think they were lying...
I'm sure most of you are on some type of periodized strength program with specific sets, reps, and goals.
Good for you.
Careful planning, programming, and consistency are definitely the fastest way to achieve your goals.
But, if you're like me, you probably need a break every now and then.
Try some different and weird exercises; use a set/rep scheme that’s ridiculous; have a little bit of fun.
Here are a few snippets of what I did last week:
1. Competed in the bench press competition at Iron Fitness, a little hole-in-the-wall-gym. I won the overall with a 365lb press at a body weight of 187. (195% my body weight.)
2. Barbell hang snatches to overhead reverse lunges. (This was tough as hell.)
3. Single leg squats to jumping pull-up to landing back in a single leg squat on the opposite leg.
4. As many reps of bench press with 225lbs (I got 21 reps; Casey, my lifting partner, got 15.)
5. As many reps of single leg squats without touching the other foot to the ground. (Casey got over 30; I got 25.)
6. As many reps of chin-ups from a dead hang. (I got 21; Casey got 19.)
So what does this say? For one, I probably shouldn’t do any pushing exercises this week since I pretty much murdered the bench press; a shoulder injury is not something to look forward to.
Most important, though, is that I feel refreshed and ready to jump back into my periodized program.
Variety is the spice of life. (I could only come up with a cliché.) Mix it up.
Do you have any stupid or interesting exercise variations I can try out on my next “goof-off day?â€
Let me know.
Comments for This Entry
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Injuries have forced me to resort exclusively to dumbbell training so I'm forever looking for ways to make dumbbell work harder.
1. Dumbbell deadlifts - I can't say enough about this movement. It really is different from the bar variation and the freedom of movement really allows one to go nuts in a way that one wouldn't be able to (read: wouldn't necessarily feel safe doing) with a bar. The set up - think stiff leg with "soft" knees (which renders the movement not so "stiff leg"). In other words, not the quad dominant version of this exercise. At the top of the movement, let your hands come naturally to the sides of your body for some nice recruitment of the superior aspect of the trap. Note that b/c of the ROM that one can get with dbs, their is also some (not a lot, but some) recruitment of the inferior aspect of the trap too - which is always nice. The reps - go nuts. Try a 10X10 with 1 minute rests. Performed at a good pace, you'll discover that you don't need traditional cardio anymore. Or try 10x10 with 3 min rests (and heavier weights) - it will help you to understand what a total body exercise the db deadlift is. You won't feel it anywhere, because you will feel it everywhere. Or try high repping it with sets of 25 - in one session or in 5 separate sessions (the latter obviously being more conducive to strength). The longer duration allows for crazy grip training. NJoy.
2. Deep dumbbell shoulder press supersetted with dumbbell deadlifts (EDT style) - sets of 2 or up,m depending upon what you want to train - I will say that heavy doubles with these exercises are a killer (at least for mere mortals like myself).
3. Flat or incline db bench press (with far too many reps for 1 session). Stimulate don't annihilate. I say that the limits of every maxim are meant to be tested and that one's body can sustain almost anything provided that one does not continue in the doing of that thing for a prolonged period of time. Using dbs, work up to heavy doubles and proceed to do 15 sets of doubles with your target weight. Rest for 3 minutes to allow accumulated fatigue to dissipate. Resume with a weight that is 5 lbs lighter and go for as many reps as you can. Drop 5 more pounds, rest another minute and repeat, and repeat and repeat and...this is a silly variant of taper training that will abuse you more than you might care to be.
3. 45 degree leg press - begin with 1 45 on each side (yes, one). Perform 1 rep (yes, one). Without rest, add 10 lbs to each side, repeat, and repeat and repeat. When you can no longer continue doing singles without rest (I"m guessing, for you that will be at 6-700 lbs), start taking 1 minute rests and continue (i.e. continue adding 10 lbs per side and doing singles). When you can't continue with 1 minute rests, take two minute rests and continue. When you can't continue with two minute rests take 3 minutes rests. When you can't continue with 3 minute rests, stop. Rest for 3 minutes to allow accumulated fatigue to dissipate. Following your 3 minute rest, you will remove one 45 lb plate from each side and go for reps (to failure). Rest another 3 minutes and remove another 45 lb plate from each side - go to failure again. Repeat and repeat until you've had enough or you're wondering where to mail the anthrax.
Why the 45 degree leg press? To take the need for stabilization and quick fatiguing lower back out of the equation. Why rapid singles on the way up? To allow for more than adequate warm up, a bit of cardio-respiratory engagement, and maximal (safe) expression of power. Why reps on the way down? Hypertrophy is a function of workout density (plus, everybody loves a pump). If you attempt this as prescribed, I apolgize in advance. A 16 yr old female that I was training on this movement, pressed the most that she ever has for a single and, couldn't walk properly for 3 days following the session (the latter, I note less as a selling point and more for my own amusement).
4. Back to db deadlifts - if doing a 10x10 with this movement isn't enough for you and you're looking for more metabolic disturbance (without taxing your grip anymore), rest for 5 minutes after you've completed the 10x10, proceed to a treadmill, incline it as high as it will go (the ones at my gym go to 15 degrees) and proceed to walk as fast as you are able for 30 min (no holding on to anything). Talk about GPP and EPOC.
Imagine me offering training tips to you. Talk about amateur night at the Apollo.
In any event, Njoy (I have left out a discussion of underlying concepts b/c they will, I think, be obvious to you. Having said that, feel free to ask or bounce around ideas should the urge strike.
Oh, one more. Pull-ups super-setted with chin-ups for multiple sets of doubles. First beginning with no rest, then with 30 second rests between sets. Duration - till you can't hold on anymore.
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Damn, aamir, you like deadifts! To tell you the truth, I've rarely performed DB deads. I think I'll try some today. Thanks for the info.
-Nate -
I like to do a chad waterbury style circuit when I need a break from a program or am too stressed to be patient with lifting.
Deadlift/squat for three reps (with your 5-6RM)
rest 30-60 secs.
Chin up for three (with 5-6RM)
rest 30-60secs.
Dip for three (with 5-6RM)
rest 30-60 secs. repeat 8-10 times.
Definite change up from straight sets, and it gets you in and out in about 40 mins.
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Thanks Chris. This is a really good idea. I like how all of them are major compound movements.
Repeat 8-10 times, eh? Jesus...
:)
-Nate -
- Find a pulling harness and a large tire (about the size on an 18-wheeler). Using alternating walks and sprints, drag it one mile for time. My time was about 16 minutes. We had one guy make it in about 12:30. At some point I think I saw jesus.
- Do 200 pullups in 30 minutes by alternating 6 and 7 reps every minute. For the math to work out, you have to add an extra five in there somewhere.
-Underwater rock running. Probably a little tougher to do in Montana, but you could always throw a rubberized 45-pound plate in a pool and run around with it. Doing it as a relay is a good one. We would anchor our boats in about 15 feet of water, then start in the surf zone and race to the boat with it. One guy runs with the dumbbell while his buddy swims over him, then they switch. Sometimes we'd finish the race by throwing mooring lines off the boat, and the race would end after the first team carried the rock up the rope onto the deck.
-Push a car (we used a toyota van) 100 yards, then turn around, pick up your buddy and fireman's carry him back to the start. Five rounds.
-Load a barbell with 135 pounds. Put it on your shoulders and walk one mile for time. Your capacity for this one builds surprisingly fast. I did it almost weekly for about six months. The first time we did it was awful and we barely made it back at all. I remember coming into the gym and falling over trying to get the weight off my shoulders. By the end, we could almost jog the whole way. Doing it for shorter lengths with the bar pressed overhead is a good one too, and probably better for your posture. -
@ Craig:
Holy shit, dude.
-Jason -
I just read some of the other suggestions...underwater rock running? 200 pullups in 30 minutes?
I am so amateur.
Having said that, I look forward to hearing how your session with db deadlifts goes. I'm a big fan of volume on this movement so I'm hoping that you try the 10x10. I'm hoping also that you give it longer than 1 min rests. The weak link in this movement is grip (as you're aware) and taking too short a rest between sets, while being remarkable grip training, will really short-change the rest of your body.
Go as heavy as you can and as fast as you can. It's not as hardcore as some of the other stuff that I've read but their is such freedom of movement and fluidity that it provides for a completely different feel than the bar deadlift, is very "athletic" and, has an impressive ability to convey the feeling of the body as a single unit (when you get into the groove of this movement you truly as if you are working as one piece).
Again, because of the fluidity and (relative) greater safety of this variant, I have found that one can drab heavy dbs and just lose ones-self.
Useful in the cultivation of "normal" mind, as this concept is explained the Book of 5 Rings. One does not try. One does not fail to try. One simply does. -
You cannot improve your past, but you can improve your future. Once time is wasted, life is wasted.
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You cannot improve your past, but you can improve your future. Once time is wasted, life is wasted.
COMMENT RULES: Critical posts are fine, but if you're rude I'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your personal name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. But most of all, have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Tim Ferriss for the inspiration.)
aamir 6:13pm May 11, 2008