Barbell Russian Bear Weight Increase Question

[Dasho]

I'm in week two of trying out the Russian Bear with Zercher Squat/Military Press (feet together, feels really good as someone suggested in the recent Press/Military Press thread).

I'm running both lifts, twice a week, on either Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday. I've noticed, though, that if I do many more than 10 drop sets per lift, I'm really close to being late leaving the gym. So, I will probably up the weight once I can do 10-11 drop sets comfortably.

Should I simply add a set amount (5-10) pounds to every lift, or add a certain amount of weight to my first set and re-calculate the rest? Hopefully that question made as much sense as it did in my head. Thanks all.

 

[JeffC]

Reduce weight and rest and do more sets is an option. Do more work in the same allotted time.

 

[Dasho]

Reduce weight and rest and do more sets is an option. Do more work in the same allotted time.

My wait between drop sets is 90 seconds...I'm not sure if I want to drop it below that to be honest. It feels like a good work/rest balance as it stands.

 

[JeffC]

My wait between drop sets is 90 seconds...I'm not sure if I want to drop it below that to be honest. It feels like a good work/rest balance as it stands.

Have you tried it? Pavel says 30-90sec rest on Bear Sets.

There is plenty of PTTP info on the forum. I’m sure you will find something to help you get stronger.

 

[Dasho]

Have you tried it? Pavel says 30-90sec rest on Bear Sets.

Ha! To be fair, I haven't. I'll give it a shot on Thursday with the same weights and see how it goes. I guess I need to get out of the "feeling fully rested between sets" mentality that my previous workouts have involved.

 

[Steve Freides]

Reduce weight and rest and do more sets is an option. Do more work in the same allotted time.

This will tilt the balance more towards hypertrophy. Not necessarily a bad thing, I realize. Reminds me of Bryce's 50/20 - you could take a weight that you can only manage 30 reps for in your allotted gym time, and then work on getting up to 50 reps in the same time with the same weight.

-S-

 

[Dasho]

I went ahead and reduced my drop set rest periods to 30 seconds. Here's my comparison to Monday's workout:

8/20
Zercher Squat
130 x 5
5 minute rest
115 x 5
90 second rest
105 x 5, 12 sets, 90 second rest between sets
Military Press
95 x 5
5 minute rest
85 x 5
90 second rest
75 x 5, 8 sets, 90 second rest between sets

Total Volume 11,425 lbs

8/23
Zercher Squat
130 x 5
5 minute rest
115 x 5
30 second rest
105 x 5, 10 sets, 30 second rest between sets. Maybe had one more set in the tank.
Military Press
95 x 5
5 minute rest
85 x 5
30 second rest
75 x 5, 5 sets, 30 second rest between sets. BARELY got the last rep, though.
Total Volume 9,250 lbs

Zercher squats felt pretty good, but I think I may drop the weight a tiny bit on the military press, because I was really reaching for the fifth drop set.

Reminds me of Bryce's 50/20 - you could take a weight that you can only manage 30 reps for in your allotted gym time, and then work on getting up to 50 reps in the same time with the same weight.

Oddly enough, my numbers ended up being pretty close to that...60 squats and 35 presses. Might be time to up the squats slightly.

 

[Steve Freides]

How about a rest period in the middle? 45-60 seconds will feel a lot better than 30 seconds, IMHO.

-S-

 

[Dasho]

I'm willing to give it a shot...hypertrophy is a goal, but I'm not in enough of a rush to build muscle that I can't spend some time dialing it in.

 

[Dasho]

Also, one last question before I relegate this to a workout log or somesuch. If I feel good enough for chin-ups, should I just add some sets at the end of my Bear workout, or do them GTG through the week? I kinda assumed doing GTG through the week would defeat the purpose of recovering between Bear workouts.

 

[seward]

Have you seen Russian Bear Frequency ?

 

[Steve Freides]

Also, one last question before I relegate this to a workout log or somesuch. If I feel good enough for chin-ups, should I just add some sets at the end of my Bear workout, or do them GTG through the week? I kinda assumed doing GTG through the week would defeat the purpose of recovering between Bear workouts.

GTG should be OK - it's not supposed to be taxing.

Could you also do chinups after all your Zerchers? Yes, but pullups and chinups are ab-intensive lifts, and you may find it easy to overtrain your midsection on such a program. Not that you need to follow my model, but when I've done press, pullup, and deadlift in the same program, I've done them in that order. For you using Zerchers, I think you're going to have to experiment with the order.

-S-

 

[Dasho]

Have you seen Russian Bear Frequency ?

I have, but unfortunately my access to barbells is such that I can only rely on two sessions per week.

Could you also do chinups after all your Zerchers? Yes, but pullups and chinups are ab-intensive lifts, and you may find it easy to overtrain your midsection on such a program. Not that you need to follow my model, but when I've done press, pullup, and deadlift in the same program, I've done them in that order. For you using Zerchers, I think you're going to have to experiment with the order.
-S-

I'll play with it...the only reason I'm thinking of chinups at all is that I actually feel more fatigued in my traps vs. my biceps/arms after zerchers.

Thanks to everyone for their help!