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Barbell Variable Loading for barbell strength training

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Masangkay

Level 4 Valued Member
First time poster, long time lurker here (though I was active back in the DD mid 2000s days). Are there any articles or resources out there detailing barbell strength training using Variable loading parameters? I have seen it in the context of Q&D - interested to read more in context of barbell big 4.

I have been playing around with it with pull ups and blast strap pushups with good results the past 4 weeks. For the squat, I just been waving between high and medium intensities 2-3x a week by feel.
 
I was also interested in seeing something about variable loading after hearing about it on the Joe Rogan podcast the other day.

I'm not sure the "daily dose deadlift" program is exactly variable loading but below is how I adapted it to me.

I've previously adapted the percentages from the daily dose deadlift for a "daily everything" and had some success with it.

Squats-I doubled the volume from 5 to 10 reps but I did not adjust the intensity of this one with the deadlift. I just left it at 75% the entire time.

I doubled the pressing volume as the "baseline" and used the dumbbell floor press and barbell bench as my "same but different" strategy alternating. I followed the intensity of the regular program otherwise.

I doubled the volume of "secondary pulls" too, I used Lsit chinups, no weight added here. Just added extras on higher intensity days and just left some in the tank so to speak depending on the prescribed intensity.

This isn't exactly easy but it's not too hard either.

In fact, if I'm pressed for time or feeling beat up I will default to this any day and get the lifts in at 75%-80% and just leave the gym without feeling too bad about much of anything.
 
The Joe Rogan podcast, along with rereading Q&D, is also what led me to this topic. Currently I simply apply the "Delta 20" principle to squat sessions punctuated by 1-3 days of rest in between. On "heavy" days, I use 1-2-3 ladders, long rests between ladders, 2-5 ladders. On "medium/light" days, 2-3-5 ladders, long rest, 2-5 ladders. And then occasionally take one day out of say every two weeks and perform a few "tonic" sets - light weight, high rep, long rest, no failure.
 
The 5trm back squat program may be a fit.

Love the handle BTW, I'm assuming you're a kabayan?
 
A textbook called The System! No affiliation. I’ve mentioned it a couple times tonight because I saw this question popping up since the Rogan podcast. Hope it helps.
+1

The system is an excellent book! keep in mind that its geared towards athletics, specifically American Football, so it does require some fiddling if your after powerlifting style results.
 
A textbook called The System! No affiliation. I’ve mentioned it a couple times tonight because I saw this question popping up since the Rogan podcast. Hope it helps.

+1

The system is an excellent book! keep in mind that its geared towards athletics, specifically American Football, so it does require some fiddling if your after powerlifting style results.

My first exposure to systematic periodized strength training (as opposed to Weider-style isolation bodybuilding) was a book by Johnny Parker (a co-author of "The System"). At the time, Parker was the strength coach for the New York Giants football teams that won two Super Bowls under Bill Parcells. The book had different levels of programs adapted to different experience levels and position groups, and was laid out in a percentage-based, day-by-day, set-by-set, rep-by-rep workbook format. The exercises (lots of big compound lifts and olympic lifting variations) were demonstrated in pictures by Giants stars like Joe Morris, Phil Simms, Jim Burt, and Leonard Marshall. Great stuff.

I haven't seen "The System," but if Johnny Parker is behind it, I would expect it to be great as well.
 
Here are some resources:

Welcome!

See here:
The Origins of StrongFirst Programming: The Soviet System | StrongFirst

And here is a fine example with some guidance (you could apply the percentages to your own targeted weekly volume):
From Simple to Sinister: Waving Volume on S&S | StrongFirst
And a PlanStrong Plan with some explanation: A Science-Based Plan to Prepare You for the SFG Level I and SFG Level II | StrongFirst

Here is another one:
Simplify your Strength Programming Using Die-Rolled Variability | StrongFirst
And yet another one from Arryn Grogan: Die Roll / Plan Strong (Inspired) Program


Further, the Delta 20 principle is explained in "the Quick and the Dead" (Q&D).

Edit: and of course the certification: Plan Strong™ | StrongFirst

I think the most can be learned from this application:
From Simple to Sinister: Waving Volume on S&S | StrongFirst

It uses a 15-20-30-35 % split and uses 3-5 sessions per week. (In the System it is something like 17-22-28-33.)

For barbell, you could assume 50-100 reps per week per lift, less for squats and deads and more for presses. This is the sum of all reps above 50%1RM.

According to Pavel, you would program each lift individually - in the System you calculate them together and also wave them together.

According to Pavel's "Ladders Reloaded" article you would spend two the majority of your reps between 70 and 85%1RM, favoring 75%. (Probably 70% of volume at that intensity, maybe 5 % above and 25 % below.)

Hope that helps :)

Note: All of this is written from memory, so I might be a little off here and there.
 
Here are some resources:



I think the most can be learned from this application:
From Simple to Sinister: Waving Volume on S&S | StrongFirst

It uses a 15-20-30-35 % split and uses 3-5 sessions per week. (In the System it is something like 17-22-28-33.)

For barbell, you could assume 50-100 reps per week per lift, less for squats and deads and more for presses. This is the sum of all reps above 50%1RM.

According to Pavel, you would program each lift individually - in the System you calculate them together and also wave them together.

According to Pavel's "Ladders Reloaded" article you would spend two the majority of your reps between 70 and 85%1RM, favoring 75%. (Probably 70% of volume at that intensity, maybe 5 % above and 25 % below.)

Hope that helps :)

Note: All of this is written from memory, so I might be a little off here and there.
Thanks Bauer that helps a lot. I haven’t read a few of those yet so I will be looking over those this evening after work.
 
I haven't seen "The System," but if Johnny Parker is behind it, I would expect it to be great as well.
The System is quite comprehensive. However, it is geared towards building football players.

It differs a little from Pavel's teachings, as far as I can see (I haven't attended PlanStrong). As mentioned above, the System uses total volume of all lifts combined as the main input for planning four-week blocks and all lifts wave together up and down. And then this total volume is assigned to up to 7 exercises (in contrast to probably 2-4 Pavel-style), based on their relative importance for football. Most exercises are done explosively and Squat and Power Clean are the main dish. Further, it states that one would need at least 12 reps per session per lift to ellicit a training effect - contrary to SF's minimalist programs (PTTP, ES, DDD, Soju and Tuba, etc.).

I really like that it has a lot of comprehensive tables and rules of thumb.
 
Craig Marker had a good article on this subject I believe. But I can’t recall where it was posted.
This one?

 
This one?


Good Article

Craig Marker provides some good article. This is one.

With that said, some of the misinformation that continue to be perpetuated, as in this article, is on Bulgarian Training in regard to their Training Percentages.

Competition 1RM and training 1RM

Although the characterisation of the differences between the Russian and Bulgarian methods of training for Olympic weightlifting described above is now widely accepted, the differences may not be as stark as is generally believed. Zatsiorsky (1992) compared the Russian and Bulgarian methods, noting the main difference between the two groups is the number of lifts reported at >90% of 1RM. According to the calculations made by Zatsiorsky (1992), the Russian teams report just 600 lifts per year, while the Bulgarian athletes report 4,000 such lifts a year. Zatsiorsky (1992) explains that this is not as substantial a difference as immediately appears, as the 1RM used by the Russian method is the competition 1RM, while the Bulgarian approach uses a training 1RM, which is typically around 10 – 15% lower, depending on the weight class. When normalising both classifications to refer to competition 1RM, the number of lifts performed in the Bulgarian system that are >90% of 1RM is much reduced.–

Article Resource: 290. Zatsiorsky, V. M. (1992). International Perspective: Intensity of Strength Training Facts and Theory: Russian and Eastern European Approach. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 14(5), 46-57.[Citation]
file:///C:/Users/Admin/Downloads/International_Perspective__Intensity_of_Strength.11%20(1).pdf

During the 1980s, Russian and Bulgarian weight lifting teams won almost all of the gold medals at World and Olympic competitions. It has been reported many times that Bulgarian athletes lift barbells of maximal weight more than 4,000 times a year. The training intensity of Bulgarian athletes is actually higher than it is for Russian athletes. However, the real source of such a huge discrepancy (600 versus 4,000 lifts a year) is not the training itself, but the method of determining maximal weight. Russian athletes use CFm in their plans and logs, while Bulgarians stick to TFm (1 RM in a given training session).
 
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