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Barbell Russian Bear Squats

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JeffC

JeffC

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I am picking up the barbell, and putting it down, and ...., again after a three month hiatus. I am considering PTTP.

My Squat responds to high volume and my Deadlift responds to intensity. Why shouldn’t I PTTP, and eventually, Bear the Squat? I can Squat often and Deadlift heavy once every week or two.

Russian Bear Squats?
 
Sounds interesting, are you planning on one session a week or more than that? I ask because DOMS would be brutal after 10-15 sets of squats. Smolov Jr. might work for you if your squats work well with volume @Geoff Chafe .
 
Geoff Chafe said:
I am picking up the barbell, and putting it down, and ...., again after a three month hiatus. I am considering PTTP.

My Squat responds to high volume and my Deadlift responds to intensity. Why shouldn’t I PTTP, and eventually, Bear the Squat? I can Squat often and Deadlift heavy once every week or two.

Russian Bear Squats?
Click to expand...
My initial reaction is "Yes and No."

The Bear is a volume program for a lift that doesn't usually get a lot of volume - I'd think you have plenty of other high-volume squat programs to choose from. But, that said, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be effective, either.

A separate conversation, but based on what I know of PlanStrong, I might consider adding a little variety to the "many sets of 5 on short rests" part of the bear, e.g., if the weight for all those sets of 5 was 130 kg, I might do something like make half of them 125 kg and half 135 kg, and randomize the rep count to be 5 or 6 reps with the lighter weight and 4 or 5 reps with the heavier. You'd have 4 different combinations of rep and weight, and you'd do something like roll a pair of dice: 1, 2 or 3 on the first die means 125 kg, 4, 5 or 6 means 135 kg. 1, 2 or 3 on the second die means the lower rep number, 4, 5 or 6 means the higher. Or you could program it that way, e.g.,

125 x 5
135 x 4
125 x 6
135 x 5

and repeat those four sets. Or if it didn't make the lifting too hard for you (if 135 x 6 wasn't too much), randomize 4, 5 and 6 reps across both weights. The idea is pretty simple - just don't do exactly the same thing for consecutive sets.

-S-
 
ShawnM said:
DOMS would be brutal after 10-15 sets of squats.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily.

Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness

DOMS occurs when you preform a new movement or jump into something rather than easing into it.

Being To Aggressive With A New Program or Exercise

Staring off with a load that is too heavy or dramatically increasing the volume beyond what you are doing induces greater trauma.

Wound Healing

Research simply backs up common sense.

The greater the trauma to the body, the longer the recovery time required to heal.

Repeated Bout Effect

DOMS can be avoided or minimized with a new exercise or training program by staring out light and progressively increasing the loading.

DOMS is your body's way of telling you that you "Over dosed" yourself.

The Repeated Bout Effect is essentially similar to being give a small dose of vaccine; allowing your body to build up antibodies and adapt.

Starting out light provides you with a small "Dosage"; allowing your body to adapt, and recovery for the following training session.

Summary

1) DOMS is self imposed and can be minimized or complete avoided by easing into a new exercise or program.

2) Due to the trauma of DOMS, more recovery time is required.

3) Easing into a new exercise or training program ensures you recovery faster; meaning you progress faster.

Kenny Croxdale
 
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I am looking for a general strength program to get back into lifting. Maybe I should just go back to Wendler 5/3/1.

I need something not too taxing, to start, and under an hour, 4-5 days a week
 
Geoff Chafe said:
I am picking up the barbell, and putting it down, and ...., again after a three month hiatus. I am considering PTTP.

My Squat responds to high volume and my Deadlift responds to intensity. Why shouldn’t I PTTP, and eventually, Bear the Squat? I can Squat often and Deadlift heavy once every week or two.

Russian Bear Squats?
Click to expand...

Well, you can - but get ready to be sore as hell. I know I would be.
 
Geoff Chafe said:
After reading this I am intrigued again. I have been interested in this program, but never tried it. It may fit well for me.
Click to expand...

80/20 Rule

Everything pretty much falls into this category.

Increasing Your Lifts 110 lbs

Increase you lifts is doable. However, it take time.

How I Gained 34 lbs, of Muscle In 4 Weeks

Frerriss posted this link in the article.

This type of gain is an anomaly, which make it a bit misleading. It leads others to believe they can achieve it or something close to it, too.

The Colorado Experiment

This is mentioned in "How I gained 34 lbs, of Muscle in 4 Weeks".

The Colorado Experiment involved Casey Viator (a nationally recognized Bodybuilder) using Nautilus Machine and the Nautilus High Intensity Training Protocol and gaining a lot of muscle.

What they neglect to tell you is that Viator had lost weight by not training nor maintaining his bodybuilding anabolic diet plan.

Gaining Back What He'd Lost

The Nautilus Training Protocol along with getting back on his bodybuilding anabolic diet plan got him back to where he was. It easier to gain back the muscle you've lost rather than build new muscle.

What Was Learn From The Nautilus HIT Protocol

One of the thing that was learned back then from the Nautilus HIT Protocol was the importance of Intensity.

The 80/20 Powerlifting

Overall, it is a good program.

Going To Failure

Pushing yourself to failure in an exercise has it place in training. However, training to failure should be limited.

As I noted in post 5, the greater the trauma place on the body, the more time needed for recovery, "Wound Healing".

Pushing your self to failure is "Overreaching", you are slightly overtrained.

Your going to failure should be preformed on that final week of your Periodization Training Plan.

The week that follows it becomes a new Periodization Training Cycle; meaning it is a light and easy; aka "Active Recovery". The focus is on increasing blood flow to the muscles which increases recovery.

Geoff Chafe said:
I want something minimalist, almost daily, and heavy work at the beginning of the week.
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Longer Training Sessions

The main issue with this is the greatest training effect is obtain with the first exercise. Each exercise that follows, less of of a training effect is achieved.

As Vince Gironda said, "You can train long or hard but not both."

Minimalist, Almost Daily

The Bulgarians demonstrated the effectiveness of multiple short daily training sessions.

For most individual multiple daily training session aren't possible.

Daily Training Session are a bit easier but require some dedication.

However, scheduling a short (minimalist) daily training session is a great method of eliciting a greater training effect with the exercise being performed for strength, size. power, etc.

The key is to keep the daily training session short, 30 minutes or less.

A great example of a short, effective training is...

High Intensity Interval Training

The Tabata Protocol is a total of 4 minutes.

Dr Jamie Timmons' HIIT Training involved three 20 second sprint with two minutes if active recover between each sprint; waking easy or pedaling easy on a bike.

Kenny Croxdale
 
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Geoff Chafe said:
I am looking for a general strength program to get back into lifting. Maybe I should just go back to Wendler 5/3/1.
Click to expand...

Here are some ideas. In providing these ideas I am making the following assumptions:

1. After a three-month hiatus, your 1RM is iffy;
2. After a three-month hiatus, you will be sore after the first few workouts;
3. You realize that you will be sore but you don't want to be so sore that you won't be able to move the next day; and
4. You want volume in order to gain strength (strength by volume a la Sheiko) but don't necessarily want "dem hyooge legz, bro!"

Can't go wrong with 5/3/1 as it is autoregulating, which addresses issues 1 and 2 above. If you want to squat more than 1x per week you can use the "more squatting" option. Here's a calculator that will give you a template: Black Iron Beast - 5/3/1 Calculator From the way this is laid out, you'll get some additional volume but not the crippling soreness, which satisfies 3 an 4.

Other options:

Do 5/3/1 for squat 1x week, then for additional volume do some PttP sessions during the week. Start with maybe 1-2 PttP sessions on top of the 5/3/1 and add workouts as needed. Play it by ear. Should address all 4 of the above issues.

Do a "lazy bear." Go ahead and do the bear sets but cap them at say 5 additional sets. As you progress and get back into squatting go ahead and add more bear sets. Should address all 4 of the above issues.
 
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