Other/Mixed Russian Bear training specifics

[Lamentation]

Hello!

So, I have about 4 years of weightlifting experience, even tho I took farely long breaks of several months several times, largely because I overtrained. But I learned a lot and I am back at it again and very ready to pull through. I train primarily for size but of course strength a preliminary for that. I came across Pavel Tatsouline's "Russian Bear program" recently, have a few questions about it and it would be awesome if you could help me out. I attached a Screenshot of the program if you're not familiar with it.

Given my goal of size, do you recommend that I should be doing more than the recommended 5 reps each set? I'm a slow fiver guy, so do you think that 8-10 reps would be better instead? Also, this workout only includes compound exercises, should I add one isolation excersise with about 3-4 sets at the end of each session as well? Any additional help would be great if you can think of something to add!

Thank you for your time! It is much appreciated!

 

[Steve Freides]

Given my goal of size, do you recommend that I should be doing more than the recommended 5 reps each set?

No. Just adjust the rest periods. Two sets of 5, even with only a short rest between, will still allow you to use more weight, and lift with better form, than one set of 10. Nothing wrong with an occasional higher-rep set, but 5's are the sweet spot to make you both stronger and put more meat on your bones. Also higher-rep sets are fine for assistance exercises, just not for the main courses of your lifting.

I'm a slow fiver guy ...

I don't know what this means.

You'd do well to look into BuiltStrong. It's a 2-day workshop we offer, and there are also articles that discuss it in more general terms here on the site.

-S-

 

[Lamentation]

Alright thank you!

How should I adjust the rest periods exactly?

And about the slow fiber thing: I just read that you can test wheter or not your built more towards slow or fast fibers by lifting 80% of your one rep max and if you can do more than 9 reps your slow twitch oriented while less than 7 means your fast twitch oriented.

Anyhow, another user by the name of kennycro@@aol.com recommended that, in order to focus on Hypertrophy, one third of your workouts should focus on strength with 5 or less reps, one third on power and one third on 8-10 reps. I'm planning to integrate this into the Russian Bear workout, so on Monday I do 8 reps, on Wednesday 5 reps with less weight to focus on explosiveness and on Friday 5 reps, focusing on strength just like in the original programm. This apparently showed success in Dr Michael Zourdos Conjugate Training Protocol. What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Lamentation]

Anyhow , another user recommended that, in order to focus on Hypertrophy, one third of your workouts should focus on strength with 5 or less reps, one third on power and one third on 8-10 reps. I'm planning to integrate this into the Russian Bear workout, so on Monday I do 8 reps, on Wednesday 5 reps with less weight to focus on explosiveness and on Friday 5 reps, focusing on strength just like in the original programm. This apparently showed success in Dr Michael Zourdos Conjugate Training Protocol. What are your thoughts on that?

Barbell - What would be the ideal rep range to train for both strength and hypertrophy?

What would be the ideal rep range to train for both strength and hypertrophy using a barbell? I'm not concerned with solely one or the other, for my vanity I'd love to grow larger muscles but I would also be disappointed if those muscles weren't as strong as they appeared. What would be the...

www.strongfirst.com

It was mentioned at the end of this thread to be specific.

 

[bluejeff]

Keep the rest periods under 1:30 if 5s seem easy. I have found that heavy 5s are plenty tough if you do them this way. Pavel has summed up hypertrophy training a number of times in his books as "get a pump with a heavy weight." The key word, I think, is heavy. If I'm understanding the literature correctly, "Heavy" means something that counts as your 8RM or so (or even heavier). Meaning, you couldn't possibly do rep #9 with that weight. Thus, if you're lifting an 8RM for sets of 5, you're doing more volumie with a heavier weight than if you were doing sets of 10.

While Pavel has touched on the importance of higher-rep training for vascularity, joint health, work capacity, and more, it's pretty clear in his writings that 5s are the sweet spot for dense and strong muscle, as opposed to the "puffed up" look of many bodybuilders. "Be as strong as you look," in other words.

So if you really have a burning desire to do higher reps, then do them by all means, but that is not what the Bear program calls for.

another user recommended that, in order to focus on Hypertrophy, one third of your workouts should focus on strength with 5 or less reps, one third on power and one third on 8-10 reps. I'm planning to integrate this into the Russian Bear workout, so on Monday I do 8 reps, on Wednesday 5 reps with less weight to focus on explosiveness and on Friday 5 reps, focusing on strength just like in the original programm. This apparently showed success in Dr Michael Zourdos Conjugate Training Protocol. What are your thoughts on that?

In your first post you explained that you overtrained several times. My advice would be to do just what the Bear program calls for, only two days a week, for at least four weeks, and see how your body responds. In my experience, the more you add things and tweak things to a program, not only are you straying farther and farther from the actual program, but you are likely adding more volume than you can handle.

Try the Bear as originally written in Power to the People:
(this is not a quote, these are my words)
Do only barbell deadlifts and presses at the prescribed intensities, for sets of five, until you've had enough and/or your form starts to break down. You could split the deads and the presses into separate days if needed. The original Bear program in Power to the People calls for up to 20sets of 5 at 80%. That's what I meant by heavy. If you're doing that weight for that volume at that intensity I don't think you'll be wanting to do sets of 10 of other exercises.

 

[LukeV]

So if you really have a burning desire to do higher reps, then do them by all means, but that is not what the Bear program calls for.
Try the Bear as originally written in Power to the People:
original Bear program in Power to the People calls for up to 20sets of 5 at 80%. That's what I meant by heavy. If you're doing that weight for that volume at that intensity I don't think you'll be wanting to do sets of 10 of other exercises.

That's 80% of your five rep max AT MOST and usually less, not 80% of your one rep max.

The primary difference between strength training and hypertrophy training is how tired you should be at the end of the workout. Training for strength you want to stay away from failure, stay as fresh as possible.

Training for hypertrophy you want to get close to failure, want to be tired. How close to failure you want to get is debatable but certainly within a few reps and many argue closer.

When training for hypertrophy I have a personal preference for high rep sets. ~10 usually and up to 25. And I get good results from this. But I've also tried The Bear, which is lower rep sets, and got good results from that too. And I've tried programs that are somewhere in between, with good results. The one thing they have all had in common is hard work that leaves me tired and usually a little sore. I think that's the point

 

[bluejeff]

That's 80% of your five rep max AT MOST and usually less, not 80% of your one rep max.

Great clarification to make!

 

[Steve Freides]

another user recommended that, in order to focus on Hypertrophy, one third of your workouts should focus on strength with 5 or less reps, one third on power and one third on 8-10 reps.

Perhaps you should tag this other user and for their comments here or in the other thread or both.

-S-

 

[Lamentation]

Great clarification to make!

Alright well thank you both!

I will go with your advice and do the workout as written now, just finished a session where I maxed out some of the exercises in there so I know where I'm at . I've been doing mostly high reps for the last 5 months anyway, so doing this for 6-8 weeks will definitely show results. After that I may give the modified version a shot if it went well.

The only thing I will stick to is the frequency. I believe 3 times per week is better in my case, since I am not a beginner and I'm actually used to more workouts. For the last couple months I did 6-7 workouts per week, 3-4 of which were jiu jitsu sessions and about 3 were weight lifting. Since I started lifting 4 years ago I basically went to the gym 4 to 5 times a week whenever I was training, which was definitely too much and drove me off from it again and again. My sessions were always to long too. Right now I can't do jiu jitsu because of a second lockdown in Austria, so weight lifting will be the only type of exercise I'll be doing. Also I'm young, 20 years old to be exact. That's why I think 3 times per week will work better for me.

If you have anything to add, given the more specific information I just gave, which I should have done right from the start, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[Lamentation]

Perhaps you should tag this other user and for their comments here or in the other thread or both.

-S-

Oh yes haha. Sorry, I'm new and I literally never used a forum up until now

 

[Steve Freides]

@Lamentation, welcome aboard.

-S-

 

[LukeV]

@Lamentation If you want to try a hybridised program for hypertrophy my go to program is pretty much Pavel's much vaunted 3 to 5 program (p.4 of Beyond Bodybuilding) but with ~10 rep (or higher) sets instead of the 3-5 recommended. I've also increased the frequency to 3 workouts every nine days (instead of the recommended three workouts every 12+ days) with good results, and you may do fine with 3 workouts weekly as I have recovery problems due to some chronic joint issues.