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Barbell Daily Dose Thread

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I completed my second run of the daily dose program this week.

The main goal of this run was to put in a lot of reps with the conventional DL which I'd never felt comfortable doing. I started with a max sumo DL of 390 and knocked 20 pounds off of it for a working weight of 280. In retrospect I probably could have gone heavier but the main goal was improving on form.

I ended pulling 410 which I am pretty happy with; I finally broke the 400 barrier and got back to a 2x bodyweight deadlift (previous was a very ugly 370 sumo at a bw of 180). More importantly my conventional DL form went from :eek: to feeling very comfortable and natural. An excellent video from Pavel M. in the barbell forum, a frontpage article from Brett Jones on getting into the deadlifting position and some advice from the helpful folks on the forum resulted in some pretty instantaneous improvements as I incorporated what I learned from them.

Overall I feel like the daily dose is brilliant and probably the ideal program for someone who is coming to DLing from kettlebells or for someone who just wants to add some weight to it while improving on their technique. The frequency and low time commitment makes it easy to video, critique and practice the adjustments and the heavier days sprinkled throughout are a good test of how these adjustments are working. I would love to see a similar template applied to other lifts as discussed in the comments.
 
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Nearing the end of the DDD program, would value any input on my plan to test 1RM.

For background, when I was doing Wendler's 5/3/1, probably 18-24 months ago, I hit PRs of 315x5 and 335x1 or 2 (don't remember precisely). Since then, I've primarily doing KB work (S&S plus some 'park bench' training). I spent about 5 weeks on PTTP building my DL back up earlier this summer, my last workout (not a test, just a workout) was 290 x 5, 3, 2.

I started DDD about 9 weeks ago using an estimated max of 335. Been using 250 as my 'daily' weight, and have hit all of the harder workouts without issue. Today I did 5x1 @ 310, and it felt reasonably 'easy' in that the bar came off the ground pretty quickly, didn't have to grind much at all, and my last rep felt just as clean as my first (with ~ 2 mins rest between).

I'm planning on doing a couple more days at 250 to finish the complete program, then want to test next week. When I started the program, my goal was 350 (2x BW - I'm typically a little under 175 pounds), and a bit of stretch goal was 365.

So, I am thinking about something like this for test day - Warm-up, 1x250, 1x275, 1x315, 1x350, 1x365 (assuming I hit the 350 without issue). Seem reasonable based on what I outlined above? Part of me thinks that I'm aiming a little low given the relative ease of my workouts so far, but then again, I've never even attempted to pull 350+ so don't want to get greedy.
 
I'm about your level of strength, and your plan looks fine to me. I think I might choose 225 for my first weight and do 2-3 of them, then go 275, 315, and max.

-S-
 
Seems fine to me. I just went a little heavier than I did during the program to see how it would feel and then went for the PR the next day.
 
Thanks @Steve Freides and @kbell12 . To provide a quick update, I finished the last couple days of the program, then took 3 days off and tested today. Went 225x1, 275x1, 315x1, 355x1 (PR), 370x1 (PR) and failed an attempt at 390. The 370 actually felt pretty smooth, and think I could've probably hit 380 or so, but 390 was a bit much especially after the prior two lifts. I did this at a bodyweight of 173, so easily cleared the 2x mark, which I'm super excited about.

Overall, I enjoyed the program. It got me from a max of ~335 to 370 without doing a single workout that felt 'hard' or gaining any weight (though I think my back is definitely more defined, so perhaps I swapped some fat for muscle). I'd certainly consider doing it again, thought I do think deadlifting 5x week might be a bit much for me in the future (both logistically and in terms of frequency - I think 3-4x would be a sweet spot for me, personally).

I'm going to take a bit of a break from deadlifting, and will focus on Phase 1 and 2 of KB Strong! using double 24kg C&P. Later this year/early next year I'll probably come back to the bar with a goal of hitting 4 plates (405#). Two questions:
1) after a couple weeks completely off from the DL, I'm thinking of 'practicing' once or twice a week while I work through Strong!, probably something like 2-4 reps @ 75%. Goal is just to stay fresh with technique and not lose what I've gained. Make sense, or should I approach differently?
2) Next program - any recommendations for trying to get from 370 to 405? Open to any ideas, but am thinking about trying one of the new Plan Strong programs.

Thanks, as always!
 
Your next DDD 75% weight works out to be 277.5 so you'd be using 275 or 280. That sounds like a fine way to go, and test at the end with maybe 225, 275, 315, 345, and 390.

-S-
 
I'm looking to start this program tomorrow because it's quick and efficient during the weekday where I don't have a lot of time to train and can do this at home before work or during lunch. I have more time to train on Saturday's, so I was looking to include some front squats in addition to the 3-5 deadlift singles. For the front squats I would utilize 5/3/1 with an 85% training max, something like a 5's pro with 5 x 5 FSL (first set last, these are down sets).

Edit: I went through the original article and found Derek Miller's suggestion of squatting once per week. I'll do that and also swings as advised in this thread and the original article.
 
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Sorry if that's been discussed before.
I know @Steve Freides has adapted it to presses, but has anyone used the DDD for a squat version?
I think it can be a great way to add heavy squats to S&S.

EDIT: I know it probably can be used for squats, this has been mentioned before, but I'd like to know whether someone has actually used it for front-, back- or zercher squats.
It was mentioned that the volume might be too low for squats, because with DLing you can get away with less volume and still make improvements.
 
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I have not used it for squats, but there's no reason you couldn't try it. I'd experiment with set/rep structure and see if you can find something suitable, e.g., you might try two sets of 5 @ 75% 1RM.

-S-
 
I believe there is some squat discussion in the comments of the original blog post as well.
 
@Sean M, a suggestion - try starting with the bar right up against your shins, and your shins completely vertical. If you do this, you'll fall over backwards _unless_ you hold onto the bar.

From there, pull and focus on getting your hips forward as early as you can.

In the beginning, if you do this right, when the weight's too heavy, it'll just sit on the floor. Later, when your technique improves, it'll come off the floor but might be hard to lock out.

Please give a try and let us know how it goes.

-S-
 
Wow, looking awesome, @Sean M ! You have gone from looking like an average guy to looking like a solid StrongFirst guy! Really impressive transformations.

Looks like you're doing some great lifting, which means perfect material to find more details to work on for mastery and progress, such as Steve's suggestion. Thanks for sharing.
 
@Steve Freides Thanks, will step closer to the bar (touching). As for hip drive, that’s why I prefer semi-sumo: it feels more like the KB swing. I’m all arms and legs, so conventional feels like I have a long way/time until the bar is high enough to clear my knees and I can finally drive.
 
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