Jeff Roark
Level 7 Valued Member
Kenny,
Question for you sir if you have the time. Several years ago I started following a version of the old JP Sanchez Program. If you're not familiar, the basic run down is that you train 2x per week, 1 upper and 1 lower, and on week 1 you squat and incline press, week 2 you deadlift and bench. I found really good success with this. I had been stumbling along in my training and had basically got completely sick of the big 4, regular squat, bench, deadlift, and MP. So, I decided early this year to set one goal for a big lift and I chose my worst lift, the Front Squat. After finally seeing some progress and enjoyment from the new lift, I decided to change up all of my lifts away from the big 4. I picked 4 lifts for upper body and 4 lifts for lower, all new lifts that I had never done consistently. After about 6 months of rotating through these lifts on a 4 week cycle and am really starting to see the positive effects in all areas. I'm getting more powerful every workout, this was not something I was expecting heading toward 46 years old.
Another thing I have found is that moving away from the old worn out big 4 is that certain pains, that were definitely limiters, are all slowly fading away. I think that not over using the same movement patterns has taken the brakes off in certain areas allowing me now to put the mojo into the movements. My training is not Westside but I'm tending to go more and more that direction now with reducing my total volume of barbell work and focusing more on my single joint accessory work. I know I feel so much better with this approach in all manners.
Now, to get the point after novel above, have you found their is a limit to the number of lifts that one can rotate on a weekly basis and still get good results? I've been contemplating using up to 6 different lifts in my rotations but am hesitant thinking that it may be too far in between lifts. Any guidance on this would be appreciated.- Jeff
Question for you sir if you have the time. Several years ago I started following a version of the old JP Sanchez Program. If you're not familiar, the basic run down is that you train 2x per week, 1 upper and 1 lower, and on week 1 you squat and incline press, week 2 you deadlift and bench. I found really good success with this. I had been stumbling along in my training and had basically got completely sick of the big 4, regular squat, bench, deadlift, and MP. So, I decided early this year to set one goal for a big lift and I chose my worst lift, the Front Squat. After finally seeing some progress and enjoyment from the new lift, I decided to change up all of my lifts away from the big 4. I picked 4 lifts for upper body and 4 lifts for lower, all new lifts that I had never done consistently. After about 6 months of rotating through these lifts on a 4 week cycle and am really starting to see the positive effects in all areas. I'm getting more powerful every workout, this was not something I was expecting heading toward 46 years old.
Another thing I have found is that moving away from the old worn out big 4 is that certain pains, that were definitely limiters, are all slowly fading away. I think that not over using the same movement patterns has taken the brakes off in certain areas allowing me now to put the mojo into the movements. My training is not Westside but I'm tending to go more and more that direction now with reducing my total volume of barbell work and focusing more on my single joint accessory work. I know I feel so much better with this approach in all manners.
Now, to get the point after novel above, have you found their is a limit to the number of lifts that one can rotate on a weekly basis and still get good results? I've been contemplating using up to 6 different lifts in my rotations but am hesitant thinking that it may be too far in between lifts. Any guidance on this would be appreciated.- Jeff