Training Philosophys

[lsuandy12]

I've been lifting weights and increasing overall athletic performance for ten years now. I've been very closed minded most of the time, being young and thinking the way I trained was always the best. As I've gotten older, I've realized that I was a dumb fuck to believe that I knew all there was to know. I have trained numerous college scholarship football players and also a three time Olympic decathlete, so I do know a fair amount. I've always trained using the Russian conjugate method (westside barbell) and have always gotten tremendous results out of myself and the athletes I've helped. I believe in lifting heavy shit often and not spending hours upon hours doing it. I always focus on big complex movements and very rarely do any isolation work unless its nessisary to fix a weakness. Always look forward to max day and breaking PR's. I just wanted to make a thread asking about other peoples training habits and how each of you go about getting the results you are after. Feel free to chime in, I'm looking forward to learning some new shit!

 

[romaleos]

Preaching to the choir brother! Conjugate method is the way to go for elite athletes.

Long story short. My obsession with maximizing human genetic potential has turned my hobby of Crossfit into a CSCS and guinea pigging a stable of games athletes.

Awesome to have you on board at Meso. Legit S&C guys are few and far between as well as information regarding AAS and athletic performance.

 

[4leafclover]

When boxing, I used HIIT and HIT. Since retiring from that sport, I have again picked up volume training (I did volume as a kid, since that was the "proven" method at the time, HIT didn't exist then, or wasn't published yet).

I like spending time in the gym, it's like my church, so I've never had a problem spending 2+ hours lifting. I've been trying some newer methods for lifting over the last month, and I haven't been thrilled with a 1x split/wk.

I hate crossfit, it goes against everything I was taught about form and control while lifting. If I didn't have that bias, I would probably like the intensity they bring to workouts, but I can't get over all the kipping movements.

 

[weighted chinup]

Excellent post, OP. I like your style.

My focus is on bodybuilding. With that being said, I am a firm believer in getting stronger as the best way to build muscle groups. I know for a fact I will have an excellent set of quads if I can front squat 2x my bw for 10 reps, so that's what I try and go for. Getting as strong as I possibly can for an 8-10RM in my major lifts is my goal.

My preferred tools of getting stronger are frequency and volume. I prefer to train with higher frequency and I keep weekly volume fairly high, especially on my major lifts that I want to get stronger in. 60-70 total reps of weighted chinups x2 weekly is plenty of volume to grow off of for me.

I think even for bodybuilding, once an individual is decently strong then taking advantage of dual factor periodization is the way to go imo. My routine that I run is based on a dual factor approach, and I love it. A lot of bodybuilding routines take a single factor approach, but obviously at a certain point guys who are decently strong aren't going to be getting stronger on a workout to workout basis, or even a week to week basis, so taking a dual factor approach to training is an excellent tool imo, even for bodybuilding.

Looking back if I could make any changes when I first started out, I would probably reduce exercise selection a little bit, keep it focused only on the major lifts I wanted to get stronger in, and trained these lifts slightly more frequently. Other then that I can safely say I am happy with the training choices that I have made, I am still learning everyday and look forward to perfecting my own training.

 

[lsuandy12]

I love the subject of volume. Following conjugate methods, volume per lift is fairly low, especially when comparing to a body building workout design. That being said, I've always wondered if increasing the overall volume maybe just 10% would lead to even higher PR's. I typically leave the gym wanting just a bit more and most of the people I've helped out feel the same. But I've been fortunate enough to dodge even the slightest bit of an injury to myself and my athletes. My next cycle, which I'll be placing an order soon, will start in the next month or so and I'd like to try a little higher volume and maybe even try a whole different workout routine all together. It's crazy to think I've done the same thing for ten years without switching, but I believe I want to do some experimenting now.