Better to underestimate than overestimate on a percentage based program. I’m using 370 lbs for my “1RM” on a bench cycle I’m running right now (my Larsen press strength in actuality) So then I hit 67% (250) for around 15 reps with reps in the tank. I would rather leave momentum to improve than have shit be difficult af in the beginning
@@nh1776 Yeah kinda, depends of context. I believe you can always train hard if you are training for hypertrophy. I never use rir or % in my training and I dont cycle volume in phases. But yeah the comment was meant more as a joke.
Good to see you Alex. Never thought I’d get injured by bending down to reach my charger. Guess I’m out the gym for a while I literally can’t walk properly
That really sucks man, and many times freak injuries like this occur outside of the gym. The overuse must have built up to a serious level, hopefully it's just a minor strain.
@AlexLeonidas I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who gets little tweaks and injuries like this. It's so annoying when one little thing throws you out of the gym for two plus weeks.
@MarcoFeldman I’m only 24 :) what to do man. Last time I got this injury I was ego lifting so it’s just unfortunate that it happened while doing smth very simple
Most tweaks and injuries happen when we move in ways we don't train, like bending+twisting to pick something up or carrying an awkward load, so it's always worth considering trying to incorporate even one "unusual" lift in your program that may assist in "injury prevention"
Years ago I fell in love with sets of 8. It came out of nowhere and I never intended for it to happen. But the heart wants what the heart wants. My friends, family, and even my wife were all extremely sad to hear that I’d taken a new lover. My relationship was tested but eventually I left behind my old life for sets of 8. 3x8, 4x8, even 6x8 all gave me what I’d be searching for throughout the years. Don’t let other deter you from following your heart and chasing love!
Just switching to a percentage/rpe based program, and I always run into failure unexpectedly from overinflating my numbers This is exactly the video I needed.
What kinda strength level are you at? What are you lifting? I'm an early intermediate and presuming good form, a calculator has worked for me from the start, as long as you know what certain things mean. For example, the number is usually a tad higher than what you really can do, and the accuracy diminishes when the reps get really high. And some exercises are just a little different in their relationship with the calculator. Overall, still, if I do 13 strict reps on the close-grip bench, I can do 20 reps with the weight it tells me (I did that today), regardless of my cutting and various other factors. Basically all my deadlift PRs have been me lifting ~1-4 kg less than it says I can do on the calculator, and the lower I go, the bigger the margin by which I do the lift gets. I'm starting to suspect that the higher-rep strength proportionally diminishes for people as they get stronger - perhaps at the 4 ½ plate deadlift or 5pl8, and equivalents, like 345-405 squat, 275-315 bench.
@@AlexLeonidas I just finished a meet and I hit a 255 at a higher rpe than I thought it would be(rpe 8.5). Then I went for a 270 and failed at the bottom on my chest. I destroyed my projected 370 squat max though. Felt like rpe 8. Should I guess that my bench max is 260 and start from there? What about my squat?
Calculators are only good for estimating what a fully peaked max is. If I had 405 for 10 then I’d guess maybe I can put up 485 (90% of 540). Then I’d do a warm up trying to reach 485 instead of immediately jumping to 485
Actually this morning, before I watched your video, I planned to do 95kg as my last heavy set on the bench, which I usually do for 2 to 4 reps, and and had the strategy to take it easy on my second chest day (which is more calisthenics focused) later this week, so I can *attempt* 100kg next Tuesday. But idk why, something in my brain made me go for 100kg today, and with a spotter watching over me, I unracked myself, did 2 good reps, and then got the bar 3/4 of the way up, before I asked the spotter to help me, which is a big deal to me, 100kg is one of the big goals I had in mind, and it happened sooner than I expected. Though, that tired me out a lot, because I just could not lift my usual weight on my standing OHP and incline bench.
Starting out I had to do a lot of testing as I wasn't experienced enough to yet know if my 10 rep max really was to exhaustion or if I had a lot left in the tank so the calcs were not accurate at first since the inputs were flawed.
Hey Alex, I'm a beginner at the gym(this is my second week), but I have a calisthenics background(10 clean muscle ups and HSPU, I also mastered the bodyweight basics), I'm 195cm 6'5 and 165lbs 75kg, I wanna follow your training methods, what do you recommend plz (Btw I've watched all your calisthenics related videos since that's what i've been doing before)
10:30 by 3 week wave being, 60%, 65% 70%, do you mean the 3x10 back offs after 1RM on intensity day? Would you also do straight bar on volume day or switch it up?
@@AlexLeonidasbro today when i was doing leg presses .. on the 3rd set i push myself to the limit to past my standard reps but then immediately i felt my back side of my head so heavy almost like all blood rushed towards thay particular part.. i even felt lil dizzy.. explain this bro .. why this happened and should i not go to the extreme?
I talk to a lot of people at the gym. Passionate consistent recreational lifters. Almost none use a clear method of progression. People just show up to the gym and reach failure on all their exercises as their progression indicator. Choosing Double Progression and a rep range for example on the other hand should be enough to determine what weight you should be using (I like to use Triple Progression, It works well for both compound and isolation exercises). With Triple Progression, (adding more SETS when you are unable to add more reps), you know where you were before, you know where you are NOW and you know where you need to be in the future. Your SETS, Reps and Weight are NEVER random. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
I use extra set to “punish” myself for inability/unwillingness to add reps/load across two sessions. Then if the next week, I do add a rep on one of the first three sets, I don’t do the 4th set. I didn’t know that was called triple progression, but it makes sense. Nobody told me to do it that way
yeah, but once the newbie gains stop it becomes extremely difficult to pull that off so keep that in mind@@lukas6485 You also heavily rely on how energized you feel on that particular day so your effort and progress is all over the place when you go about it that way. Its just more difficult to track progress that way once you are out of NEWBIE GAINS
5:13 yeah bro we talked about this A LOT… percentages scale weird as hell when you get strong as hell. You go from 460 to 500 with just a few percentages 😂 just gotta trust the math and the process here
maybe this is more of a Q&A thing, but given this video's topic i think it's a fair question: would you ever consider making a full video on all of your modern methods and programming advice for people who are hypertrophy enthusiasts first but still care about strength and moving big weights? i hate the term "powerbuilding" but honestly i don't know how else to best describe a lifter like yourself, who's legitimately elite both in terms of size *and* strength. i know you have plenty of individual videos (like this one) from over the years discussing conjugate, the max effort method, and the intersection of 1rm testing for both volume and strength work, but i'm interested to see what you've changed your mind on over time, and honestly just generally having all that information in one video for the average 2023 natural lifter would be nice!
This video inspired me to test my 1RM today. I finally hit 200lbs at 148lbs bodyweight on the bench press. I've been putting it off for a long time despite the numbers telling me I should be able to do it. I finally broke that mental block because of this video. Keep inspiring people to go above and beyond their limits
Respect for having the balls to max out, and respect for your excellent pound for pound strength! 200 at 148 is impressive, and imagine if you were heavier!
@@glenndiddy That's a solid number at that weight for sure. Extra pounds does help. In college i was 135 pounds and my max was 185. 30 years later I'm 170 pounds and just about at 3 plates.
@@AlexLeonidas I’m glad to hear from someone as knowledgeable as you that you consider 200 at 148 impressive because I’m 150 and hit a clean 230 yesterday after spending a year away from bench doing pretty much only incline dumbbell press and weighted deficit pushups and my first thought after was, “Damn, I got it, feels good man, you weak ass bitch, 230, is that all you got?” 😂 Knowing I last hit 230 well over two years ago when I weighed 172 pounds and it damn near killed me and my form was atrocious, you’d think I’d have been stoked to hit 230 with no bounce or arch, at 150 pounds. And you’d be right. I was stoked for three whole seconds. Before I started questioning if I was still weak as fuck. Lol. If I can inch towards 250 before my 36th birthday in August while maintaining 150 pounds, I’ll be happy. Maybe for five or even six seconds this time! 👀 315 sounds beyond ludicrous at 150 pounds and I don’t really want to bulk because I came down from 210 pounds a few years ago and I’m scared shitless to gain weight intentionally. But a 250 bench at 150 has a nice, possibly attainable ring to it. 👏 Congrats on 200, Glenn! Lift responsibly and you’ll get those two plates on each side before you know it.
That reverse grip bench tip you gave, specifically the talon grip, boosted my reverse grip from 135 for a shaky set of 8 to sets of three as heavy as my floor press. After some more experience, I've found my floor press and reverse grip are the exact same.
Man I admire so much the passion of Leonidas especially as a natural athlete submerge by ped's users. Keep it up bro you're such an inspiration, salute from mtl.
recently (before i turned 18) the calculators said i could do a behind the back deadlift with ~540 pounds, ended up maxing out with only 500 pounds, not complaining since my last pr was 420
Those damn calculators, I swear. When I used to do a lot of trap bar deadlifts/hacks back in the day, it estimated me at 700lbs even though I was at low-mid 600s. Great way to ruin one's hype.
@@AlexLeonidas or on the other end with very light weights, like lateral raises they under estimate often in my experience. but hey at the end of the day you lift what you lift and you gotta be proud of your progress.
I've noticed the same thing with the 1rm calculators, if I try to base it on a 0RIR set (like 8-10 reps) it does quite overestimate where I'd be. I have to use 5RM or less to get close. Also, got my 2 plate 1rm neutral grip chinup today! Let's gooooo! 💪
Great topic and resolution Alex. I had the exact same problem a couple months ago then I stumbled upon NH’s evolving rep/set ranges concept, I started sprinkling them and saw crazy gains. Now it’s the only programming-esk thing I incorporate instead of rpe, rir, percentages, etc. if you care about hypertrophy I recommend you give it a try
yeah i hit 315 a few months ago on flat bench but i most definitely could not rn(probably cuz i hopped off creatine), eventually ill get it for reps tho😈😈😈😈
Started doing wheighted pullups. I waited untill i could do at least 3 sets of 10 with strict form and 5 second negatives before jumping and doing wheighted stuff. Every pulling day i set my rings, i pick the weight, i put the belt and i think "there's no fucking way i'm gonna do all 3 sets today". And everyday after the first set i feel confident about doing the other 2. Lifting has become a mental battle over the last months. Before i was afraid of getting hurt because i physically couldn't lift, but now that i have all the safety equipments and went all in over the last year the only thing stopping me is myself. If you can win the first reps, you'll win the whole workout.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🏋️♂️ Understanding the Importance of Accurate Max Testing - Testing your true one-rep max is crucial for accurate load selection. - Accurate max testing ensures you work with the right percentages in your program. 04:18 📊 The Significance of Consistent Strength Ratios - Individual strength ratios can help predict your performance on related exercises. - Tracking these ratios provides confidence in load selection across different movements. 10:14 🔄 Adapting Load Selection for Rotating Movements - When transitioning to new movements, you can adjust loads based on established ratios. - This approach simplifies load selection for max-effort rotations and minimizes the risk of failure. 12:04 🧠 The Value of Trusting in Quantifiable Numbers - Trust in quantifiable numbers over subjective feelings for accurate load selection. - Auto-regulate only after attempting the initial prescribed load to optimize training efficiency. Made with HARPA AI
i try not to pick anything up i cant handle twice, its not worth the injury risk to me. doubles and triples def are heavy. i don't need to know what my 1rep max is. its ego more than a physical need unless you compete in power lifting
WAY better bro, once you load dips with a daisy chain + one large carabiner, you will NEVER go back. Even beats the loading pin setup since there's minimal swinging, plus the daisy chain is smooth and easy to clip onto. Then facing away from the rack is best on the shoulder joints.
Iv never used a 1rm. Just load the bar. Once iv done 3x10s I load s'more. If I can't reach 8 on the next first set with the new weight I lower the increase.
Undervalued video especially when you're switching variations on things like pullups. Its so easy to assume your strength is so much higher for rep work on the easier variation only for a few weeks later to be struggling just to add just one rep. For example I attempted a 270 total weighted neutral pullup and the week after I would do 3x5-10 with 80% so 215 total. Its almost been a month since then and Ive only been able to add ONE total rep to those numbers. If I just played conservative and did 70% from the get go I prob wouldve been well on my way to making more productive gains. So tldr when switching variations dont assume your all time best rep pr is something you should be doing for rep work yet
As someone who loves this channel, have been subscribed since 2017 and respects Alex the most, I urge you guys to check something before lifting heavy weights frequently, which is: How's your bone structure in general? Even though my form looks good, and I’ve been fully invested in strength training and all topics related since 2016, I have a considerable hip imbalance, which has been causing me chronical pain for 6 years of my life now. Due to the left side being way higher, my hip would automatically cause a compensation in my right knee during any type of deep squat, also doing the same thing in my lower back and left groin, which caused a herniated disc and a patellar chondropathy. This imbalance also led to a crooked spine, which caused a lack of mobility in my right scapula, leading to shoulder, elbow and wrist pain on the right side and a Bench Press that never surpasses 90kg for 6 reps. My entire right upper body is also less hypertrophied than my left side due to this same problem. It took me so long to even consider this due to the lack of knowledge and how not talked about on the internet this topic really is. All we hear about is just percentage based training, best exercises for each body part, progressive overload etc., but how often do you hear someone talking about the first and most important step to even start lifting, which is your bone structure in general? Very rarely. Do you have a leg that’s shorter than the other, any hip imbalances, crooked spine or any other conditions that would require individual strategies to asses it? Please, before listening to any advice online, seek a professional to assess this before lifting heavy weights, or just exercising in general, it could save you so much pain and frustration, something I’ve been dealing with since June 2017 (yes, I remember the date very well).
Such a coincidence with this video. Today and over the next two weeks I'm testing my max for multiple movements before going into my new program going towards my shot put training, so definitely needed this video as motivation, thank you ❤
I definitely agree with 1rm calculators being off at times specially with higher reps. Rep strength is also lifter individual. Personally ive noticed that my 4-5rm usually corresponds to 90% of my 1RM but again others might be better or worse at reps
The 1rm calculators definitely don't help, if i lift 100kg for 6 reps my max should be 116kg. But its actually 135kg. But if you flip it, it says if i do 135kg for 1 rep i should be doing 116kg for 6.
sub 10 reps on big exercises are accurate to calculate ur 1rm with - atleast for me... 90% of 1rm always gives me 4 reps, 80% gives me 8, 70% gives me 12... and anything in between is just as accurate... lower weights / higher reps are different tho and not as accurate to calculate with, especially over the 10-12 reps zone... u usually tend to overshoot using this formula
I feel it also depends how often you max out/go heavy. For me, they're always wrong including with lower reps. In fact, I could usually do more if basing off a higher percentage, but less from a lower percentage. Totally inverted.
but when u try to calculate top sets from people's instagram... it usually applies for them too... even for bicep curls it works out well... and hence most freeweight strict exercises where there is not much cheating changing how much u can get.. what is your max reps with 355 or 335 on bench? i assume it would be 5 and 7 reps respectively... @@AlexLeonidas
I have lately been doing behind neck pull up isometric at the top position, trying to realy squeeze my back muscles into the bar and it has really been growing my upper back
Alex, I noticed the strap safeties on your rack and I see that you have them set at the closest possible position to your J Cups but they look low and in case of a fail it looks like you're gonna get smushed if they even save you at all. Will they save you in that position? I find when it comes to safeties, companies don't really think about functionality, they think more about the looks of the safeties. Multiple companies have this problem with strap safeties and that is why I only get the flip down safeties. Strap safeties have the least savability and I don't trust them. Hey man, just don't fail right, at least not until you have a spotter. Take Care
After 2 months of gym I can finally do 47.5kg overhead press and I am fucking proud cause I was doing just 20kg barbell for 1 rep max😢😢😢 I was so fucking weak and my target is 100kg ohp in next 10months
How about instead of doing 1 rep max tests, doing X rep max tests, where X is a number somewhere inside the hypertrophy rep range it can be more relevant to the program building, since it closer represents loads of an actual program Some people can bench same % for different reps, and its not even constant, it varies over time, and its different lift to lift. When I benched 110kg for the first time for 1 Rep Max, I could not bench 100 for even 2 reps, only 1 Or is the downside of testing for X rep maxes being so exhausting does not allow to do it with high accuracy? Perhaps thats true too
If you know you one rep max how do you calculate what you should be lifting for sets of 10? My bench max is 280, squat 360, deadlift 440. If wanted to focus more on hypertrophy where would I start at?
Hey Alex, I think you’re the right guy to ask, but I’ve been really struggling recently with the eating aspect of bulking for size, and my gains have largely plateaued because of meal consistency. Do you have any tips?
Liquid calories (but in an good way). Frozen fruit, spinach, nut butter, yogurt, oats, seeds, milk, with a scoop of protein etc shakes. W/e you have on hand works. Can get down an easy 500-1000 calories with ease and good macros/nutrition. Tried and true for hard gainers. Its not a meal replacement, but in addition to your normal eating. Bulking made easy.
What should I do when I tried to go heavy on preacher curl for example. Form was on point I felt the burn in my biceps and yet my inner elbow on right arm got so irritated that I think I got myself a Golfer's elbow. Now I can only do 50% less of my previous weight on biceps cause my elbow is very painful otherwise. Same with wide pull ups. I was progressing nicely, was adding reps and weight gradually and now my right forearm all the way to elbow is so painful I can only do chin ups in peace Mind you my left arm is perfectly fine and healthy. Its clear my right arm is weaker and very fatigued. Question is how do I remedy this situation? Ty for your input.
Alex will you/have you done a video on tennis elbow? It’s so annoying, I’m 29 years old and it finally hit me. Tricep exercises seem to relieve it, and I started doing pulling exercises with a reverse grip and doing much less volume on them.
You need to learn the Tyler twist exercise with a therabar. It’s eccentric loading for the lateral epicondyle. I’m a tennis coach, some of our high performance players get elbow issues, not from tennis,but from performing a low bar back squat.
@@jeanpauljeanpaul2530 I appreciate the advice. I looked it up. So purchasing this bar, my tennis elbow doesn’t feel acute to where I can’t exercise or use my arm but it’s very nagging. I’ve still been exercising. Tricep extensions have given me lots of relief and seem to help. Should I purchase the light medium or heavy bar to begin? I was guessing medium.
@@DF-ei9kc most people can handle medium for a good amount of reps. I’ll still use my bar, even thought I no longer have elbow issues. Injury prevention is so important for these particular tendons.
I agree with most of your takes, but why sumo deadlift brother? Imo, sumo is just a lazy way to learn deadlift, because you don't need to care about your knees positioning and therefore it's easier and it's also just an ego lift. You develop much more muscle building with conventional deadlift.
I use Strengthlevel's 1RM calculator, and I get some shit for it, but it works very well! Even if the numbers aren't entirely accurate, they're way better, and get me much closer to my target RPEs than going off some single PR from months ago or just picking a weight and guessing. I have a novice friend who I got into lifting, and it's accurate for him too. He hadn't been doing his deadlift sets very close to failure at all, so we thought his 7RM was 155, which he was to do 3x5 with. He did a set of 10 or 11 whatever it was. He just kept going. And so it turns out he could actually do 3x6 at 185, which was stronger than I thought he'd be at the end of the 3 month project we're doing. Initially to deadlift 220, but now more like 250. He's since done 3x6 at 190 and he's getting stronger and stronger. He has yet to do a 1RM, and technically the heaviest he has done is 195, so he'll be repping out his PR next Sunday! Soon, he will do his first 200+ pull, and it'll be for reps. He's doing very well for a guy who was super skinny and, except for a bit of stagnant dumbbell work, was completely untrained at the start of the year.
You don't to know 1rm to go to failure. You can pick a week and go to failure. That is you perform the motion until you can no longer complete an additional rep. If you have do something like 15 reps or more to get to failure, then you can easily add weight until you go to failure within the desired rep range. If you're in the 4-6 rep range, then either you can remove 5-10lbs to get to a higher rep range or if that's the rep range you want, you can stick with it.
At which experience programming becomes really important? I'm going to 1-2 RIR on lifts with injury risk and 0RIR at movement without injury risk. I'm really good at estimating RIR while lifting, so i trust my estimates. Deloading for a weak when joints tell me to. Linear progressing by moving up the weights if reach a certain rep count. Do i leave a lot of gains behind training this way, not programming intensity?
If you feel like you're progressing this way, chances are you're doing absolutely fine, sounds like a better system than most gym users. I don't track (in writing) a single lift that I do, or a single calorie, and I'm making decent progress, training 10 years now, currently 3 days a week (push, legs, pull) plus armwrestling training one evening a week.
Great timing for this topic since I just started doing DC Training. I haven't done low volume stuff before, at least like this, but since I currently don't have that much free time I figured a two way split done 3x per week would work well.
@@AlexLeonidas I'm really bad at warming up for a 1RM, my chest never feels right for pushing hard until I've done a few sets to near failure during warmup. After pre-exhaustion I know I can go ham on the high weights without feeling tight, so that's how I always train heavy, and therefore my 1RM attempt looks a lot like a training set.
@@AlexLeonidas Pretty sure I was properly peaked, I took about six months to build up after dislocating a shoulder in January (fell down icy stairs LOL).
Hi Alex I have a question for the next q&a .. I have hyper mobile elbows too and pain in every pushing exercise or isolation(the pain is in my tricep tendons and in any phase of the movement not just the lockout).. are the fast band push downs enough to heal the injury ?
Sure, but if you do this you'll likely have to rotate exercises more often to minimize overuse. You will also get less blending between exercises, so the volume is less diversified. IMO the best approach is having 2 different days, sets/reps can be similar but the exercises should be different.
Alex I’ve bulked up to 200 this semester. Still have abs but my midsection is getting fluffier, my waist is ab 31 inches. Trying to be bearmodemaxing/leonidasmaxing
How should one program rack pulls, barbell shrugs and smaller movements like tricep kickbacks and forearm movements Is there any sort of periodization or % based programming we should do for these? Can we peak in these movements?
Depends. If you're asking these questions you're advanced I presume. you can obviously peak rack pulls, since it's a variation of dead lifts, just follow something like a Coan-Phillipi deadlift routine, 10 weeks. You'll obviously need to adjust things. The thing about the other movements are that, they're not really compound movements? Sure the shrug works a lot of muscle, but I don't think I've heard anybody do a 1RM shrug. I'm pretty sure someone like Brian Shaw can do like 1000 kilogram shrug or more. Same goes for triceps kicks and forearms, ever heard of anyone doing 1RM for them? But obviously, periodization does exist for the rack pulls. I'd say something like a wave periodization or daily undulating periodization can work. If your shrug weights are reaching the points where it's too much for your body, those periodizations will apply for that too. And with some minor tweaks and experimenting, you can make them work for any exercises, if you're advanced and stalled. But truth be told this is the first time I'm hearing some asking about periodization for forarm. Interesting to say the least.
I feel like I have so many damn imbalances that I always plateau at 3x4-5 265lb squat 3x4-5 225lb bench 3x3 90lb chin-up 1x1 305lb sumo deadlift And then get injured at the shoulder, elbow or lower left back…. Sucks. I haven’t increased my lifts in YEARS do to constant injuries at those weights listed above and that’s even with some adjustment to my ROM.
Hey Alex I am a huge fan of your channel I am wondering if you have any recommendations for me. I am 13 I weigh 120lbs I bench 63kg Squat 80kg Deadlift 85kg I have been working out for 1 year any recommendations?
If your program is thrown off by over/underestimating your max by a few pounds it's a bad program. Also I don't get why you're trying to calculate your 1rm based off high rep work from an online calculator. 1. The real formula is going to be completely individual and 2. why does it even matter if you're a bodybuilder. Basing your numbers off a 10rm makes more sense surely.
i watched the "Are HEAVY Dips Worth It?" video. i have a ppl workout 6 days a week, so on push day 1 i do bench press and flyes (clavicular focus), on the second push day i do incline dumbbell press and upper chest fly focus. where tf do i add this exercise? on leg day maybe? pls help . i want to be bias my strength more since this is a compound life i need to be fresh
I have the complete opposite of alex if take a weight i can do 10 and punch in the numbers for 1 RM it actually gives a number i can do 3-5 reps with depends on the lift. The second i go above 3-4 reps the weight that i can use falls off like crazy
I understand now that if I hit a plateau I should back track and reevaluate my programming because majority of the time when I hit a plateau it’s due to excessive load and not enough rest. It’d be nice to pr every few days but that’s not realistic especially as a natural lifter.
Your safety straps were looking kind of low on your reverse grip bench footage. It was scaring me, dawg lol. Love all your videos though. You inspire me so much!
I do a lot of high set sub max singles and it seems to be working well strength wise So I do like 6-8 sets x 1 rep And it has greatly improved my strength but also mix with higher rep days because your work capacity will suffer
Better to underestimate than overestimate on a percentage based program. I’m using 370 lbs for my “1RM” on a bench cycle I’m running right now (my Larsen press strength in actuality)
So then I hit 67% (250) for around 15 reps with reps in the tank. I would rather leave momentum to improve than have shit be difficult af in the beginning
I would rather have no momentum to improve and have shit be very difficult in the beginning and then still improve
I think we deserve 405 bench press video because you are strong and im sure you can do it but we dont have any footage of you
@@joojotin Sadly not how it works
@@nh1776 Yeah kinda, depends of context.
I believe you can always train hard if you are training for hypertrophy. I never use rir or % in my training and I dont cycle volume in phases.
But yeah the comment was meant more as a joke.
@@joojotin definitely agree for hypertrophy training
Good to see you Alex. Never thought I’d get injured by bending down to reach my charger. Guess I’m out the gym for a while I literally can’t walk properly
That really sucks man, and many times freak injuries like this occur outside of the gym. The overuse must have built up to a serious level, hopefully it's just a minor strain.
@AlexLeonidas I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who gets little tweaks and injuries like this. It's so annoying when one little thing throws you out of the gym for two plus weeks.
@MarcoFeldman hhhh yea man I’m very injury prone. Even tho I’m very meticulous with form but I’m guessing it’s overuse.
@MarcoFeldman I’m only 24 :) what to do man. Last time I got this injury I was ego lifting so it’s just unfortunate that it happened while doing smth very simple
Most tweaks and injuries happen when we move in ways we don't train, like bending+twisting to pick something up or carrying an awkward load, so it's always worth considering trying to incorporate even one "unusual" lift in your program that may assist in "injury prevention"
Years ago I fell in love with sets of 8. It came out of nowhere and I never intended for it to happen. But the heart wants what the heart wants. My friends, family, and even my wife were all extremely sad to hear that I’d taken a new lover. My relationship was tested but eventually I left behind my old life for sets of 8. 3x8, 4x8, even 6x8 all gave me what I’d be searching for throughout the years. Don’t let other deter you from following your heart and chasing love!
Just switching to a percentage/rpe based program, and I always run into failure unexpectedly from overinflating my numbers This is exactly the video I needed.
The max will solve everything my bro, let me know things go!
What kinda strength level are you at? What are you lifting? I'm an early intermediate and presuming good form, a calculator has worked for me from the start, as long as you know what certain things mean. For example, the number is usually a tad higher than what you really can do, and the accuracy diminishes when the reps get really high. And some exercises are just a little different in their relationship with the calculator. Overall, still, if I do 13 strict reps on the close-grip bench, I can do 20 reps with the weight it tells me (I did that today), regardless of my cutting and various other factors. Basically all my deadlift PRs have been me lifting ~1-4 kg less than it says I can do on the calculator, and the lower I go, the bigger the margin by which I do the lift gets. I'm starting to suspect that the higher-rep strength proportionally diminishes for people as they get stronger - perhaps at the 4 ½ plate deadlift or 5pl8, and equivalents, like 345-405 squat, 275-315 bench.
@@AlexLeonidas I just finished a meet and I hit a 255 at a higher rpe than I thought it would be(rpe 8.5). Then I went for a 270 and failed at the bottom on my chest. I destroyed my projected 370 squat max though. Felt like rpe 8. Should I guess that my bench max is 260 and start from there? What about my squat?
0:00 When you specialized in shaft training
Switched from 3x10 to 2x12 and nawt looking back bro. (But my back be lookin)
Hell yeah!
Calculators are only good for estimating what a fully peaked max is. If I had 405 for 10 then I’d guess maybe I can put up 485 (90% of 540). Then I’d do a warm up trying to reach 485 instead of immediately jumping to 485
Actually this morning, before I watched your video, I planned to do 95kg as my last heavy set on the bench, which I usually do for 2 to 4 reps, and and had the strategy to take it easy on my second chest day (which is more calisthenics focused) later this week, so I can *attempt* 100kg next Tuesday.
But idk why, something in my brain made me go for 100kg today, and with a spotter watching over me, I unracked myself, did 2 good reps, and then got the bar 3/4 of the way up, before I asked the spotter to help me, which is a big deal to me, 100kg is one of the big goals I had in mind, and it happened sooner than I expected.
Though, that tired me out a lot, because I just could not lift my usual weight on my standing OHP and incline bench.
Well done bro
My friend you ever help someone or coach someone through a pulled external(backside) intercostal muscle. I didn’t pull it in the gym.
That's why most good modern programs use RPE.
Starting out I had to do a lot of testing as I wasn't experienced enough to yet know if my 10 rep max really was to exhaustion or if I had a lot left in the tank so the calcs were not accurate at first since the inputs were flawed.
Can someone breakdown what he's saying for an APE like me? my bench squat and deadlift are 345, 375 and 545, how should I be lifting to improve them?
Hey Alex, I'm a beginner at the gym(this is my second week), but I have a calisthenics background(10 clean muscle ups and HSPU, I also mastered the bodyweight basics), I'm 195cm 6'5 and 165lbs 75kg, I wanna follow your training methods, what do you recommend plz
(Btw I've watched all your calisthenics related videos since that's what i've been doing before)
You must be absolutely shredded to be 75kg at your height
@@RDS_Armwrestling yeah average calisthenics guy, but I got 0 legs and I'm trying to fix that with bodybuilding
Proximity to failure a.k.a intensity? Should it be relative intensity?
10:30 by 3 week wave being, 60%, 65% 70%, do you mean the 3x10 back offs after 1RM on intensity day? Would you also do straight bar on volume day or switch it up?
Correct, and yes I would as a continuation or on seperste exercises. So momday could be 70% straight bar, thursday 70% swiss or 75% straight
FOR THEE ALGORITHM!!!
It's all lightweight,baby.
Light in the mind!
Is it the same as a peanut?
Hey buddy 😎👌
YEAH BUDDY!
@@AlexLeonidasbro today when i was doing leg presses .. on the 3rd set i push myself to the limit to past my standard reps but then immediately i felt my back side of my head so heavy almost like all blood rushed towards thay particular part.. i even felt lil dizzy.. explain this bro .. why this happened and should i not go to the extreme?
I talk to a lot of people at the gym. Passionate consistent recreational lifters. Almost none use a clear method of progression. People just show up to the gym and reach failure on all their exercises as their progression indicator. Choosing Double Progression and a rep range for example on the other hand should be enough to determine what weight you should be using (I like to use Triple Progression, It works well for both compound and isolation exercises). With Triple Progression, (adding more SETS when you are unable to add more reps), you know where you were before, you know where you are NOW and you know where you need to be in the future. Your SETS, Reps and Weight are NEVER random. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Spot on brother!
For anyone that read this, for the love of Jesus Christ our lord and savior TRACK YOUR PROGRESS god dammit, track your freaking progress.
Training to failure and seeing how much reps you improved from last time is literally the best way of progression
I use extra set to “punish” myself for inability/unwillingness to add reps/load across two sessions. Then if the next week, I do add a rep on one of the first three sets, I don’t do the 4th set. I didn’t know that was called triple progression, but it makes sense. Nobody told me to do it that way
yeah, but once the newbie gains stop it becomes extremely difficult to pull that off so keep that in mind@@lukas6485 You also heavily rely on how energized you feel on that particular day so your effort and progress is all over the place when you go about it that way. Its just more difficult to track progress that way once you are out of NEWBIE GAINS
Bro, underhand repping that 315 bench is wild to me! Mad respect
Much love Rizzo! It's been fun repping these big weights in reverse.
5:13 yeah bro we talked about this A LOT… percentages scale weird as hell when you get strong as hell. You go from 460 to 500 with just a few percentages 😂 just gotta trust the math and the process here
Ayy coach butler! Hi there bro
@@Kaushik6570hey what’s up brotha?
I still can't get over how f*cked it is, particularly for lower body training. But it's cool, the math always works out 😂
My guy just told us to go max out right now. Let's go baby 😎😎😎🤙🤙🤙
It's that simple, no more confusion!! Let's gooooooooooo 😎😎😎🤙🤙🤙
maybe this is more of a Q&A thing, but given this video's topic i think it's a fair question: would you ever consider making a full video on all of your modern methods and programming advice for people who are hypertrophy enthusiasts first but still care about strength and moving big weights? i hate the term "powerbuilding" but honestly i don't know how else to best describe a lifter like yourself, who's legitimately elite both in terms of size *and* strength. i know you have plenty of individual videos (like this one) from over the years discussing conjugate, the max effort method, and the intersection of 1rm testing for both volume and strength work, but i'm interested to see what you've changed your mind on over time, and honestly just generally having all that information in one video for the average 2023 natural lifter would be nice!
I second this
Third this
We also need a 13 year transformation video
This video inspired me to test my 1RM today. I finally hit 200lbs at 148lbs bodyweight on the bench press. I've been putting it off for a long time despite the numbers telling me I should be able to do it. I finally broke that mental block because of this video.
Keep inspiring people to go above and beyond their limits
Respect for having the balls to max out, and respect for your excellent pound for pound strength! 200 at 148 is impressive, and imagine if you were heavier!
Trust the process bro.
@@AlexLeonidas Thanks a lot man, I'm definitely going to bulk to 160. Keep up the good work!
@@glenndiddy That's a solid number at that weight for sure. Extra pounds does help. In college i was 135 pounds and my max was 185. 30 years later I'm 170 pounds and just about at 3 plates.
@@AlexLeonidas I’m glad to hear from someone as knowledgeable as you that you consider 200 at 148 impressive because I’m 150 and hit a clean 230 yesterday after spending a year away from bench doing pretty much only incline dumbbell press and weighted deficit pushups and my first thought after was, “Damn, I got it, feels good man, you weak ass bitch, 230, is that all you got?” 😂
Knowing I last hit 230 well over two years ago when I weighed 172 pounds and it damn near killed me and my form was atrocious, you’d think I’d have been stoked to hit 230 with no bounce or arch, at 150 pounds. And you’d be right. I was stoked for three whole seconds. Before I started questioning if I was still weak as fuck. Lol.
If I can inch towards 250 before my 36th birthday in August while maintaining 150 pounds, I’ll be happy. Maybe for five or even six seconds this time! 👀
315 sounds beyond ludicrous at 150 pounds and I don’t really want to bulk because I came down from 210 pounds a few years ago and I’m scared shitless to gain weight intentionally. But a 250 bench at 150 has a nice, possibly attainable ring to it. 👏
Congrats on 200, Glenn! Lift responsibly and you’ll get those two plates on each side before you know it.
That reverse grip bench tip you gave, specifically the talon grip, boosted my reverse grip from 135 for a shaky set of 8 to sets of three as heavy as my floor press. After some more experience, I've found my floor press and reverse grip are the exact same.
Very happy to hear this, you rock for giving it a shot and finding out this 1:1 correlation!
Man I admire so much the passion of Leonidas especially as a natural athlete submerge by ped's users. Keep it up bro you're such an inspiration, salute from mtl.
recently (before i turned 18) the calculators said i could do a behind the back deadlift with ~540 pounds, ended up maxing out with only 500 pounds, not complaining since my last pr was 420
Those damn calculators, I swear. When I used to do a lot of trap bar deadlifts/hacks back in the day, it estimated me at 700lbs even though I was at low-mid 600s. Great way to ruin one's hype.
@@AlexLeonidas or on the other end with very light weights, like lateral raises they under estimate often in my experience. but hey at the end of the day you lift what you lift and you gotta be proud of your progress.
Key is to LIGHT WEIGHT BABY before, and magically it is light weight
Exactly, the feeling of weights begin before the workout!
I've noticed the same thing with the 1rm calculators, if I try to base it on a 0RIR set (like 8-10 reps) it does quite overestimate where I'd be. I have to use 5RM or less to get close.
Also, got my 2 plate 1rm neutral grip chinup today! Let's gooooo! 💪
Great topic and resolution Alex. I had the exact same problem a couple months ago then I stumbled upon NH’s evolving rep/set ranges concept, I started sprinkling them and saw crazy gains. Now it’s the only programming-esk thing I incorporate instead of rpe, rir, percentages, etc. if you care about hypertrophy I recommend you give it a try
Can you give the name of the video when he's talking about that?
Yeah u have a link?
yeah i hit 315 a few months ago on flat bench but i most definitely could not rn(probably cuz i hopped off creatine), eventually ill get it for reps tho😈😈😈😈
Is creatine really that beneficial? I’m still thinking about whether I should take it or not.
Should be on creatine year round my bro, no downsides and cheap!
@@AlexLeonidas ur honestly right im probably gonna hop back on soon
@@Nailz1992 yes bro that shit definitely makes a difference, especially with my energy levels in the gym
I'm curious (not bragging) is 1 350lb pause rep good at 190lbs? I'm 45 if that matters.
You can probably set some local state records, its very impressive!
Started doing wheighted pullups. I waited untill i could do at least 3 sets of 10 with strict form and 5 second negatives before jumping and doing wheighted stuff. Every pulling day i set my rings, i pick the weight, i put the belt and i think "there's no fucking way i'm gonna do all 3 sets today". And everyday after the first set i feel confident about doing the other 2. Lifting has become a mental battle over the last months. Before i was afraid of getting hurt because i physically couldn't lift, but now that i have all the safety equipments and went all in over the last year the only thing stopping me is myself. If you can win the first reps, you'll win the whole workout.
Im weak on bench idk 🤷♂️ even with +5 lbs sometimes I go down on weight maybe the job kills me but I train chest 2x week maybe I shud 3
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 🏋️♂️ Understanding the Importance of Accurate Max Testing
- Testing your true one-rep max is crucial for accurate load selection.
- Accurate max testing ensures you work with the right percentages in your program.
04:18 📊 The Significance of Consistent Strength Ratios
- Individual strength ratios can help predict your performance on related exercises.
- Tracking these ratios provides confidence in load selection across different movements.
10:14 🔄 Adapting Load Selection for Rotating Movements
- When transitioning to new movements, you can adjust loads based on established ratios.
- This approach simplifies load selection for max-effort rotations and minimizes the risk of failure.
12:04 🧠 The Value of Trusting in Quantifiable Numbers
- Trust in quantifiable numbers over subjective feelings for accurate load selection.
- Auto-regulate only after attempting the initial prescribed load to optimize training efficiency.
Made with HARPA AI
As someone who has ADHD and often needs to watch a few times, THANK YOU.
i try not to pick anything up i cant handle twice, its not worth the injury risk to me. doubles and triples def are heavy. i don't need to know what my 1rep max is. its ego more than a physical need unless you compete in power lifting
That is a unique way of loading dips. Never seen that before. Does it feel better than hanging plates?
WAY better bro, once you load dips with a daisy chain + one large carabiner, you will NEVER go back. Even beats the loading pin setup since there's minimal swinging, plus the daisy chain is smooth and easy to clip onto. Then facing away from the rack is best on the shoulder joints.
Man I wish my gym had a cable loaded dips machine lol
@RDS_Armwrestling bro I freaked out when I saw it 😂😂
I'm only interested in bodybuilding no need to care about max. I do train with progressive overload to failure.
Alex you were playing around with the haircuts and facial hair over the years, but the bald and beard look is alpha af
The simplest looks are often the best, thank you OG
He's looking like Kratos here. I don't think he has much of a choice with being bald tho
Iv never used a 1rm. Just load the bar. Once iv done 3x10s I load s'more. If I can't reach 8 on the next first set with the new weight I lower the increase.
That's cool for pure Bodybuilding goals
Undervalued video especially when you're switching variations on things like pullups. Its so easy to assume your strength is so much higher for rep work on the easier variation only for a few weeks later to be struggling just to add just one rep. For example I attempted a 270 total weighted neutral pullup and the week after I would do 3x5-10 with 80% so 215 total. Its almost been a month since then and Ive only been able to add ONE total rep to those numbers. If I just played conservative and did 70% from the get go I prob wouldve been well on my way to making more productive gains. So tldr when switching variations dont assume your all time best rep pr is something you should be doing for rep work yet
As someone who loves this channel, have been subscribed since 2017 and respects Alex the most, I urge you guys to check something before lifting heavy weights frequently, which is: How's your bone structure in general?
Even though my form looks good, and I’ve been fully invested in strength training and all topics related since 2016, I have a considerable hip imbalance, which has been causing me chronical pain for 6 years of my life now.
Due to the left side being way higher, my hip would automatically cause a compensation in my right knee during any type of deep squat, also doing the same thing in my lower back and left groin, which caused a herniated disc and a patellar chondropathy.
This imbalance also led to a crooked spine, which caused a lack of mobility in my right scapula, leading to shoulder, elbow and wrist pain on the right side and a Bench Press that never surpasses 90kg for 6 reps. My entire right upper body is also less hypertrophied than my left side due to this same problem.
It took me so long to even consider this due to the lack of knowledge and how not talked about on the internet this topic really is. All we hear about is just percentage based training, best exercises for each body part, progressive overload etc., but how often do you hear someone talking about the first and most important step to even start lifting, which is your bone structure in general? Very rarely. Do you have a leg that’s shorter than the other, any hip imbalances, crooked spine or any other conditions that would require individual strategies to asses it?
Please, before listening to any advice online, seek a professional to assess this before lifting heavy weights, or just exercising in general, it could save you so much pain and frustration, something I’ve been dealing with since June 2017 (yes, I remember the date very well).
Me "how heavy should I lift?"
Bold Omni Man "Try it and you tell me"
This is the way
Such a coincidence with this video. Today and over the next two weeks I'm testing my max for multiple movements before going into my new program going towards my shot put training, so definitely needed this video as motivation, thank you ❤
Heaviest you can without compromise your technique
I dont understand people who dont track there lifts and do more weight or reps evertime they step in the gym
You can also keep the reps and weight the same but improve execution 💪🏼
Some guys got good instincts
Your upper back is looking crazy
The chest expander bro, I swear to God.
I definitely agree with 1rm calculators being off at times specially with higher reps. Rep strength is also lifter individual. Personally ive noticed that my 4-5rm usually corresponds to 90% of my 1RM but again others might be better or worse at reps
Top tier fitness channel, great stuff Alex!
For the real ones, much love brother!
Been awhile since I’ve seen one of your videos Alex but oh mann , my man is fucken huge. Serious Gains my boy
The 1rm calculators definitely don't help, if i lift 100kg for 6 reps my max should be 116kg.
But its actually 135kg.
But if you flip it, it says if i do 135kg for 1 rep i should be doing 116kg for 6.
become emotionally attached the maxing every session, and when this number stalls quit working out as youve hit your natural limit. non negotiable
Great video. Could you do a video on how to pick percentages for back off work? How to know when you chose well, where to start etc.
sub 10 reps on big exercises are accurate to calculate ur 1rm with - atleast for me... 90% of 1rm always gives me 4 reps, 80% gives me 8, 70% gives me 12... and anything in between is just as accurate... lower weights / higher reps are different tho and not as accurate to calculate with, especially over the 10-12 reps zone... u usually tend to overshoot using this formula
I feel it also depends how often you max out/go heavy. For me, they're always wrong including with lower reps. In fact, I could usually do more if basing off a higher percentage, but less from a lower percentage. Totally inverted.
but when u try to calculate top sets from people's instagram... it usually applies for them too... even for bicep curls it works out well... and hence most freeweight strict exercises where there is not much cheating changing how much u can get.. what is your max reps with 355 or 335 on bench? i assume it would be 5 and 7 reps respectively... @@AlexLeonidas
I have lately been doing behind neck pull up isometric at the top position, trying to realy squeeze my back muscles into the bar and it has really been growing my upper back
I go with dorian yates’s style i never max out on anything
Alex,
I noticed the strap safeties on your rack and I see that you have them set at the closest possible position to your J Cups but they look low and in case of a fail it looks like you're gonna get smushed if they even save you at all. Will they save you in that position?
I find when it comes to safeties, companies don't really think about functionality, they think more about the looks of the safeties.
Multiple companies have this problem with strap safeties and that is why I only get the flip down safeties.
Strap safeties have the least savability and I don't trust them.
Hey man, just don't fail right, at least not until you have a spotter.
Take Care
After 2 months of gym I can finally do 47.5kg overhead press and I am fucking proud cause I was doing just 20kg barbell for 1 rep max😢😢😢 I was so fucking weak and my target is 100kg ohp in next 10months
How about instead of doing 1 rep max tests, doing X rep max tests, where X is a number somewhere inside the hypertrophy rep range
it can be more relevant to the program building, since it closer represents loads of an actual program
Some people can bench same % for different reps, and its not even constant, it varies over time, and its different lift to lift.
When I benched 110kg for the first time for 1 Rep Max, I could not bench 100 for even 2 reps, only 1
Or is the downside of testing for X rep maxes being so exhausting does not allow to do it with high accuracy?
Perhaps thats true too
If you know you one rep max how do you calculate what you should be lifting for sets of 10? My bench max is 280, squat 360, deadlift 440. If wanted to focus more on hypertrophy where would I start at?
Also carb intake, I'm a novice and everytime I didn't took enough carbs before gym my strength and mood went to the ground after a heavy compound.
Hey Alex, I think you’re the right guy to ask, but I’ve been really struggling recently with the eating aspect of bulking for size, and my gains have largely plateaued because of meal consistency. Do you have any tips?
Liquid calories (but in an good way). Frozen fruit, spinach, nut butter, yogurt, oats, seeds, milk, with a scoop of protein etc shakes. W/e you have on hand works. Can get down an easy 500-1000 calories with ease and good macros/nutrition. Tried and true for hard gainers. Its not a meal replacement, but in addition to your normal eating. Bulking made easy.
What should I do when I tried to go heavy on preacher curl for example. Form was on point I felt the burn in my biceps and yet my inner elbow on right arm got so irritated that I think I got myself a Golfer's elbow. Now I can only do 50% less of my previous weight on biceps cause my elbow is very painful otherwise.
Same with wide pull ups. I was progressing nicely, was adding reps and weight gradually and now my right forearm all the way to elbow is so painful I can only do chin ups in peace Mind you my left arm is perfectly fine and healthy. Its clear my right arm is weaker and very fatigued. Question is how do I remedy this situation? Ty for your input.
Alex will you/have you done a video on tennis elbow? It’s so annoying, I’m 29 years old and it finally hit me. Tricep exercises seem to relieve it, and I started doing pulling exercises with a reverse grip and doing much less volume on them.
You need to learn the Tyler twist exercise with a therabar. It’s eccentric loading for the lateral epicondyle. I’m a tennis coach, some of our high performance players get elbow issues, not from tennis,but from performing a low bar back squat.
@@jeanpauljeanpaul2530 I appreciate the advice. I looked it up. So purchasing this bar, my tennis elbow doesn’t feel acute to where I can’t exercise or use my arm but it’s very nagging. I’ve still been exercising. Tricep extensions have given me lots of relief and seem to help.
Should I purchase the light medium or heavy bar to begin? I was guessing medium.
@@DF-ei9kc most people can handle medium for a good amount of reps. I’ll still use my bar, even thought I no longer have elbow issues. Injury prevention is so important for these particular tendons.
I agree with most of your takes, but why sumo deadlift brother? Imo, sumo is just a lazy way to learn deadlift, because you don't need to care about your knees positioning and therefore it's easier and it's also just an ego lift. You develop much more muscle building with conventional deadlift.
I use Strengthlevel's 1RM calculator, and I get some shit for it, but it works very well! Even if the numbers aren't entirely accurate, they're way better, and get me much closer to my target RPEs than going off some single PR from months ago or just picking a weight and guessing. I have a novice friend who I got into lifting, and it's accurate for him too. He hadn't been doing his deadlift sets very close to failure at all, so we thought his 7RM was 155, which he was to do 3x5 with. He did a set of 10 or 11 whatever it was. He just kept going. And so it turns out he could actually do 3x6 at 185, which was stronger than I thought he'd be at the end of the 3 month project we're doing. Initially to deadlift 220, but now more like 250. He's since done 3x6 at 190 and he's getting stronger and stronger. He has yet to do a 1RM, and technically the heaviest he has done is 195, so he'll be repping out his PR next Sunday! Soon, he will do his first 200+ pull, and it'll be for reps. He's doing very well for a guy who was super skinny and, except for a bit of stagnant dumbbell work, was completely untrained at the start of the year.
Alex, I’d love to know what kind of meals you make for muscle gain, and how you eat
love this channel, free amazing info for naturls
For the algorithm
You don't to know 1rm to go to failure. You can pick a week and go to failure. That is you perform the motion until you can no longer complete an additional rep. If you have do something like 15 reps or more to get to failure, then you can easily add weight until you go to failure within the desired rep range. If you're in the 4-6 rep range, then either you can remove 5-10lbs to get to a higher rep range or if that's the rep range you want, you can stick with it.
At which experience programming becomes really important? I'm going to 1-2 RIR on lifts with injury risk and 0RIR at movement without injury risk. I'm really good at estimating RIR while lifting, so i trust my estimates. Deloading for a weak when joints tell me to. Linear progressing by moving up the weights if reach a certain rep count.
Do i leave a lot of gains behind training this way, not programming intensity?
If you feel like you're progressing this way, chances are you're doing absolutely fine, sounds like a better system than most gym users. I don't track (in writing) a single lift that I do, or a single calorie, and I'm making decent progress, training 10 years now, currently 3 days a week (push, legs, pull) plus armwrestling training one evening a week.
Overshooting max and not being accurate is a mistake I've made all too often and hindered my progress.
Do you still believe in the Naturally Enhanced program and stuff outlined in the book?
I don't attempt 1 rep maxes. Too scared to try. Especially on legs and pressing
Max reps x weight x 0,0333 + weight = and take 2,5-5kg off that number is usually very close. 🎉
where'd you get that formula?
@@Ceisriel the 531 program if I remember correctly.
@@Ceisriel when I did 10 max reps at 100kg bench press the formula gave 133,3kg and I did 130kg when I maxed out. So 3,3kg less.
@@CeisrielJim Wendler’s formula from his 5/3/1 program. It’s the most accurate max calculator. Especially 5RMs and below.
Great timing for this topic since I just started doing DC Training. I haven't done low volume stuff before, at least like this, but since I currently don't have that much free time I figured a two way split done 3x per week would work well.
Beard is on point bro
Thank you Peps, 5 months in
I can easily do 315lbs for 10 reps and my 1RM is 385lbs.
Damn, in your case I would expect 390+. Maybe need a little peak?
@@AlexLeonidas I'm really bad at warming up for a 1RM, my chest never feels right for pushing hard until I've done a few sets to near failure during warmup.
After pre-exhaustion I know I can go ham on the high weights without feeling tight, so that's how I always train heavy, and therefore my 1RM attempt looks a lot like a training set.
@@AlexLeonidas Pretty sure I was properly peaked, I took about six months to build up after dislocating a shoulder in January (fell down icy stairs LOL).
Great video! I tested my 1rm on the big four two months ago, and been following the 5/3/1 program and hitting accessories after. So far, so good.
What’s the 5/3/1 program?
yeah, testing your max once in a while is good
This makes me wish I wasn't lifting in the upper part of a barn.
Camera quality is on point
I'm glad you recognize the quality :)
I like your hairstyle )
Go lots of hair to work with, thanks!
Hi Alex I have a question for the next q&a .. I have hyper mobile elbows too and pain in every pushing exercise or isolation(the pain is in my tricep tendons and in any phase of the movement not just the lockout).. are the fast band push downs enough to heal the injury ?
They should help, you could also try a deload but keep the triceps band work as well
Same workout twice a week? Same exercises, same rep ranges and equal volume per workout. The best exercises to master?
Sure, but if you do this you'll likely have to rotate exercises more often to minimize overuse. You will also get less blending between exercises, so the volume is less diversified. IMO the best approach is having 2 different days, sets/reps can be similar but the exercises should be different.
@@AlexLeonidas I've been doing concurrent for years. This made me tired and bored. What can I do? 6-12 reps and two workout?
Alex I’ve bulked up to 200 this semester. Still have abs but my midsection is getting fluffier, my waist is ab 31 inches. Trying to be bearmodemaxing/leonidasmaxing
With a 31 inch waist that's impressive my bro!
How should one program rack pulls, barbell shrugs and smaller movements like tricep kickbacks and forearm movements
Is there any sort of periodization or % based programming we should do for these? Can we peak in these movements?
Depends. If you're asking these questions you're advanced I presume.
you can obviously peak rack pulls, since it's a variation of dead lifts, just follow something like a Coan-Phillipi deadlift routine, 10 weeks. You'll obviously need to adjust things.
The thing about the other movements are that, they're not really compound movements? Sure the shrug works a lot of muscle, but I don't think I've heard anybody do a 1RM shrug. I'm pretty sure someone like Brian Shaw can do like 1000 kilogram shrug or more.
Same goes for triceps kicks and forearms, ever heard of anyone doing 1RM for them?
But obviously, periodization does exist for the rack pulls. I'd say something like a wave periodization or daily undulating periodization can work. If your shrug weights are reaching the points where it's too much for your body, those periodizations will apply for that too.
And with some minor tweaks and experimenting, you can make them work for any exercises, if you're advanced and stalled. But truth be told this is the first time I'm hearing some asking about periodization for forarm.
Interesting to say the least.
Do L-sit pullups work the spinal erectors?
Not really bro, just biases the lower lats
Hi alex is okay to rotate lifts on 6 times (6weeks) on volume days or you will get overuse ?.
Thanks.
6 weeks is a nice sweet spot if you ask me.
Bro. You are crazy strong in general lol.
If modern people liked real talk and not glossy fluff, you’d have a million plus subs.
This!!!! So many fake lifters out here.
I feel like I have so many damn imbalances that I always plateau at
3x4-5 265lb squat
3x4-5 225lb bench
3x3 90lb chin-up
1x1 305lb sumo deadlift
And then get injured at the shoulder, elbow or lower left back…. Sucks.
I haven’t increased my lifts in YEARS do to constant injuries at those weights listed above and that’s even with some adjustment to my ROM.
Hey Alex I am a huge fan of your channel I am wondering if you have any recommendations for me. I am 13 I weigh 120lbs I bench 63kg Squat 80kg Deadlift 85kg I have been working out for 1 year any recommendations?
If your program is thrown off by over/underestimating your max by a few pounds it's a bad program. Also I don't get why you're trying to calculate your 1rm based off high rep work from an online calculator. 1. The real formula is going to be completely individual and 2. why does it even matter if you're a bodybuilder. Basing your numbers off a 10rm makes more sense surely.
Its actually so impressive you have all these ratios down
Years of experience my friend, thank you!
i watched the "Are HEAVY Dips Worth It?" video. i have a ppl workout 6 days a week, so on push day 1 i do bench press and flyes (clavicular focus), on the second push day i do incline dumbbell press and upper chest fly focus. where tf do i add this exercise? on leg day maybe? pls help . i want to be bias my strength more since this is a compound life i need to be fresh
Hey Alex what does your programming look like for both upper body/lower body training? Conjugate? Getting 10 reps on a variation and then switching?
Basically what you wrote, without max effort training since my goal isn't optimal strength atm.
@@AlexLeonidas why not stick to the same variation, but with a bigger load?
@@theturbolads5997Plateaus, overuse, but most importantly, boredom. Especially since I'm always filming.
I have the complete opposite of alex if take a weight i can do 10 and punch in the numbers for 1 RM it actually gives a number i can do 3-5 reps with depends on the lift. The second i go above 3-4 reps the weight that i can use falls off like crazy
I understand now that if I hit a plateau I should back track and reevaluate my programming because majority of the time when I hit a plateau it’s due to excessive load and not enough rest. It’d be nice to pr every few days but that’s not realistic especially as a natural lifter.
Your safety straps were looking kind of low on your reverse grip bench footage. It was scaring me, dawg lol. Love all your videos though. You inspire me so much!
I do a lot of high set sub max singles and it seems to be working well strength wise
So I do like 6-8 sets x 1 rep
And it has greatly improved my strength but also mix with higher rep days because your work capacity will suffer
Why not just do more standard periodization, strength block with enough volume to maintain followed bye herpertrophy blocks.
@@Fuckingboredrn I never really thought about that but thanks i can try it