Deadlift and Bench once per week?

[aussieluke]

Hi, been reading these boards for ages but this is my first post here so I'll introduce myself first...

I'm Luke: 29, 5'11", around 95kg, and I'm an Aussie but live in England

Did crossfit last year for about 6 months, realised I was piss weak, so did some Dan John-ish basic strength training for a month, then switched to SS(ish) for a month, then stopped and farted around with a strict paleo diet and barbell complexes for some fat loss. Lost 10kg in 2 months ...but also lost some strength too.

Now I'm back on linear progression (basic novice program), am eating everything I can (not paleo), and drinking 4 to 6 (UK)pints of whole milk a day. Been on the novice program 3 weeks. I think (in fact I know) I started too high on the press so i think I will reset that before I get into real trouble. I am also trying to take it very easy on the bench, as benching has always given me shoulder pain for days after.

Here are how my numbers have gone so far over three weeks:

Squat: 85kg, 90kg, 95kg, 100kg, 100kg, 102.5kg, 102.5kg, 105kg, and tonight I will try 107.5kg

Press: 52.5kg, 55kg (missed 2 reps), 55kg (missed 1 rep), 55kg (missed a lot of reps! 4,3,3)

Bench: 70kg (easy), 75kg (failed + pain), 70kg (easy), 72.5 (easy), and tonight will try 75kg

Power Cleans: 65kg, 67.5kg, 70kg, 72.5kg

Deadlift: 135kg, 140kg, 145kg (slow), 145kg (back rounding), tonight I'll attempt 147.5kg


I have been eating more to try and address the missed reps, but I think my biggest problem was starting the press too high.

I'd like to focus on the press, but continue taking it very easy on the bench to try and get around this pain (not had any probs after these easy sets), and think sticking to once a week would help.

I also want to be able to make 2.5kg jumps on the deadlift from now on and I think switching to deadlifts once a week would help a lot.

So my actual question is, would it be reasonable to stick to the basic novice program, but always do workout 'B' on Mondays and Fridays, and workout A on Wednesdays? So EVERY week would look like this:

Monday:
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Power Cleans 5x3

Wednesday:
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Friday:
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Power Cleans 5x3


...therefore presses and cleans 2x week, bench and deadlift 1x week

Does this seem like a good/bad idea? I guess it's 'not doing the program' ...but its closer than some, no?

Appreciate your input.

Thanks, Luke

[kunnar]

Use micro loading for presses, otherwise they stall fast.

If you program this way then your most taxing workout will be always in the middle of the week, probably not best for recovery.

[aussieluke]

I'll reset the press on Monday to 50kg and microload 1kg at a time from there.

...but the program as written has the most taxing (deadlift) workout every second Wednesday anyway, and both Monday AND Friday every other week?

I can't think of any other way to reduce deadlifts to once a week without completely messing with the program and adding other lifts - eg. chins ...which would basically be one of the other programs?

[kunnar]

If you are still novice then probably it is not a problem, but at some point it may start affecting your recovery. Advanced novice and intermediate lifters are doing lighter day in the middle of the week, for example front squats or light back squats instead of regular back squats etc.

[Force Production]

Looks good. Wouldn't be wrong to add chin-ups on one of the days if you want to do them. Chin-ups and Pull-ups are in the novice program in PP first ed.

You could DL on Fridays for an extra day of recovery if it becomes a problem.

[aussieluke]

Looks good. Wouldn't be wrong to add chin-ups on one of the days if you want to do them. Chin-ups and Pull-ups are in the novice program in PP first ed.

You could DL on Fridays for an extra day of recovery if it becomes a problem.

I'd rather not add chins etc at this stage. Also nowhere at the gym to do them properly.

How would I arrange things to be able to deadlift on Fridays only?

[Force Production]

How would I arrange things to be able to deadlift on Fridays only?

PC. PC. DL? But the way it is right now is probably fine unless the DL is so heavy that it screws up your performance on Fridays.

[aussieluke]

But the way it is right now is probably fine unless the DL is so heavy that it screws up your performance on Fridays.

Thats what I was thinking/hoping.

[KONG]

You could always do back extensions or good mornings or situps or something like that if you need more recovery instead of power cleaning on Fridays.

When i started the progression, I was having bench pain...and I dropped it for six weeks and exclusively pressed while the shoulder healed. Before I started progression, I hadn't really trained press in the past very heavily, the gains on the press were outstanding...and then I reincorporated bench and now I'm hitting PR's without pain.

Ditto on the microloading. It works wonders on the press.

[aussieluke]

Thanks Dwayne, I will try the program I suggested for a few weeks and see how things feel.

I have thought about dropping the bench completely before and pressing 3x a week, in fact I asked about this last year on the crossfit boards and got a roasting for it, including by Justin and Gant! ...and was told that the bench helps with presses too and it is an important lift etc.

I'm hoping that benching just once a week will allow me to build it up slowly and reduce the chance of further pain or injury. If that doesn't work I will ditch it and focus on pressing.

Incidentaly I got all reps on the bench again no trouble today (only 75kg) ...no pain so far.

I made 147.5kg for 5 on deadlifts, though I took about 5 - 10 seconds to reset between each rep. Is that ok? Should I got for 150kg next week or repeat today's weight?

[GripAU]

Dude, you are like a clone of myself. I'm Aussie, 5'11.5-6', 95kg and lifts are bench- 77.5 this wed, press 52.5 this mon, squat (reset 10% from max) is 95 this mon. you got a lot on me on deads though, most i've ever tried is 100kg x 5, will attempt 110 x 5 this week with confidence. Check out my log. How about a friendly competition?!

[timt]

Borrow some ideas from madcows 5x5 or just do that program. The setup is:

Monday:
Squat
Bench
Row (or swap out for clean)

Wed:
Light Squat (could just do regular if you wanted to)
Press
Dead

Monday:
Squat
Bench
Row (or swap out for clean)


However in madcows you only increase the lifts weekly (by 2.5% IIRC) and you only do 1x5 at your max weight (and 4x5 with each set ramping up to your max for a total of 5x5) where as SS you do 3x5 at the top and your warm-up sets are strictly for warm-up. If you think your in the middle of these two programs than i would try just applying the SS rep/set amount to the template above and see how that works.

[timt]

Ops, re-read original post and read how you want to focus on press, If you swap them around you pretty much got the same program you outlined in your OP so nevermind.

[Squatson]

I would keep alternating the two pressing movements and do cleans on M, back extensions (or good mornings) on W, and deadlift on F.

Microloading and patience are key with the press. I stalled when I got to 135, reset and microloaded, blew past it.

Form on the press is also important, which breathing technique are you using? I find that when I take it out of the rack and get the first rep up on one breath, and then START at the top for the remaining 4 reps it is a lot easier.

[aussieluke]

Microloading and patience are key with the press. I stalled when I got to 135, reset and microloaded, blew past it.

Form on the press is also important, which breathing technique are you using? I find that when I take it out of the rack and get the first rep up on one breath, and then START at the top for the remaining 4 reps it is a lot easier.

yeah I will reset on Monday to 50kg and microload 1kg at a time

I really would like to try benching only once a week for a while, just to see how it goes. Shoulder is right on the edge of being painful today after yesterdays workout. I don't want to push my luck with it.

As for press form, I take the bar from the rack with an elbows up front squat type rack position, and the bar on my delts. I take a breath and lower the elbows so the bar is in front of me and start the first rep, then like you I take a breath at the top for each rep after that.

[aussieluke]

Dude, you are like a clone of myself. I'm Aussie, 5'11.5-6', 95kg and lifts are bench- 77.5 this wed, press 52.5 this mon, squat (reset 10% from max) is 95 this mon. you got a lot on me on deads though, most i've ever tried is 100kg x 5, will attempt 110 x 5 this week with confidence. Check out my log. How about a friendly competition?!

Hi mate, yeah I'll start a log this week and see how we go!

[timt]

Also make sure your pushing out with your stomach (like with the squat, you want to take a big breath of air into your belly and hold it in) and your squeezing your glutes together as hard as you can. Always helps me with the press.