I'm gonna run this as is shown. RIP CNS. Not srs. Thanks for showing us clearly. The workload per session is nuts. Looks like on average likely >2 hours per session.
Lee Dan It got down to about an hour and fifteen on that last few weeks but starting out days 1 and 3 were running almost 3 hours. However, made some good gains and looking forward to modifying it and running it again. Blessings
I'd imagine so. My training has 3 movement slots per session. It's about 90-100 minutes without a deadlift, 100-120 with. No supplemental exercises. 3 hours is stretching it, but within expectation for the first few blocks honestly. Do you prefer training fewer days with this cycle to the prior split which had at least 4 days?
Great work man ! I know it's an old video but... I have a question : Do you think it would work if i replaced the Close grip bench with weighted dips as the accessory movement for the Bench Press in the TSA program???
How does a load drop work with fixed amount of sets? I thought you just drop the percentage then bang out as many quality sets as possible at a given two range.
bigbobabc123 I did not end up using the load drop option, it was left in so that I could use it if I wanted but throughout the cycle I found that as the sets went on RPE actually dropped and I added weight. If I had used load drop then the sets would have to of been auto regulated accordingly. Blessings
Connor Elliott I meant mostly the hammer curls when I said that, it helps by strengthening the bicep and allows for active recovery as blood is pumped to the elbows and forearms to assist in recovery from the beating they take from the squatting and benching. Blessings
Great work Garett on this training cycle, 500lb bench coming up soon! Did you train just three days per week or were there any additional sessions? Thanks.
Garrett Blevins If you could split it in 4-5 days,how would you? all fullbody,upper-lower? It would be interesting to know(may be usefull considering I am a personal trainer.) Thank you Garret,gotta say i started watching your videos these last weeks and I tell you you are awesome, always something to take out of your video,thanks!!
Aab Baab I coach all levels of lifters, however at the moment I am full as far as clients go. However, to get on the waiting list look for the form in the description box of a video of mine called "Interested in online coaching". That will get you on the waiting list. Blessings
Hey Garrett I noticed you mentioned you were doing some upper back work, biceps and hammer curls to help with elbow pain from back squatting. I'm often dealing with elbow tendon issues from squatting which then effect my bench. Any suggestions with how to deal with elbow tendonitis? I've googled a ton and haven't come across any articles written for lifters who don't want to take time off....
Jamie Cross do you wear wrist wraps? having a thumbs around the bar, broken wrist with a wrist wrap has helped me a lot! hope this helps at all, also, lacrosse balling around the elbow and shoulder helped me.
Justin Noble Thanks for the suggestions. I do wear wrist wraps. I've tried using a ball, however didn't find any real benefit. I haven't tried compression cuffs. Do you have any experience with those?
My lifting buddy does and he likes it for that reason! also training arms less helps me personally, although some people go the other way. Another tip, which probably helped me the most, is to wear your wrist wraps quite high, so it takes all of the force.. and putting the bar in your fingers rather than your palm.. sort of inbetween your second and third knuckle (first being the ones on the hand, punching ones) if that doesn't work i suggest slightly wider hand positioning while working on shoulder mobility etc. or wait for garret to reply ;) haha! all the best man!
Jamie Cross Wrist wraps will help as will massaging the tissue int he forearm and bicep. Likewise, make sure that the bar (on squats) is even across your back. Also, if you are doing lighter sets dont set up so tight you are killing your elbows, sometimes just going out a finger width or two will take the pressure off and allow for some recovery. Make sure you are drinking enough water and strengthen your elbows and biceps (bigger muscle = bigger cushion). Also, make sure the squat bar weight is on your back and not in your hands (the hands should be pulling the weight in a little like you were doing a behind the neck lat pulldown - dont overdo this but also dont put a lot of the weight in your hands). Blessings
SoashAng well, first you see where you fail at or you're slow at in the portion of the lift. where you fail at or slow at, its your weakness. lol. speed is an issue if, guess what? you're lifting it slow. lmfaoooo. Bro cmon you could've answered that yourself
SoashAng well, first you see where you fail at or you're slow at in the portion of the lift. where you fail at or slow at, its your weakness. lol. speed is an issue if, guess what? you're lifting it slow. lmfaoooo. Bro cmon you could've answered that yourself, you're smart enough.
SoashAng When you go heavy or rep out you will find sticking points. If these are not due to bad form (that can be corrected easily) then it is a weakness or leverage issue that needs to be addressed through assistance work. Blessings
JinatosLions The last one, cause of the heavy weights. . . no the first one cause of all the building . . . no the second one cause I needed the drop from that volume. . . no the whole thing was hard . . . no I liked them all too much. . . not sure man :) Blessings
Alex Sutton It was supposed to be around 6 but I always tried to get more. Also, load drop is when you hit the RPE of the day you drop by that %. It was in the program but I did not use it since I was still really unused to RPE and often underestimated it. Blessings
Alex Sutton it's referred to as a fatigue percentage as well in any kind of training manual for rpe based systems. which rtsstrength I believe has a lot of articles explaining how it works. It's fancy wording for drop sets or if it's too damn heavy lower the weight and get the volume in at what you're capable of.
Austin Coniglio So what does that mean in the context of 5x5, 5%? Hit a top set of 5, then drop 5% and do 4 more sets of 5? I assume theres some RPE goal on the top sets? Curious if Garrett can shed some light on this.
Sam McKay I'm guessing he does a top set of RPE 9 or whatever, estimates his max, and then drops the load by that percentage to do the sets-reps described.
Sam McKay Load drop. However, I ended up doing ramp up (not % drop) sets when I ran this program since I am so unfamiliar with RPE. It was there to use if I wanted but I ended up just trying to add 10 lbs or so to my top sets each week. Blessings
***** No, it is my coaches intellectual property. However, TSA has a number of free spreadsheets on their website and if you really wanted to you could use the DUP one and just put in the sets and reps that are shown. Blessings
Thanks for sharing ! Always enjoying program reviews , never to late to learn something new.
Balint Gabriel So true.
Blessings
Thanks for sharing. I always enjoy the thought process going into programming. May God bless your training.
Gary Gasser Thanks for the kind words.
Blessings
I'm gonna run this as is shown.
RIP CNS.
Not srs.
Thanks for showing us clearly.
The workload per session is nuts.
Looks like on average likely >2 hours per session.
Lee Dan It got down to about an hour and fifteen on that last few weeks but starting out days 1 and 3 were running almost 3 hours. However, made some good gains and looking forward to modifying it and running it again.
Blessings
I'd imagine so. My training has 3 movement slots per session.
It's about 90-100 minutes without a deadlift, 100-120 with. No supplemental exercises.
3 hours is stretching it, but within expectation for the first few blocks honestly.
Do you prefer training fewer days with this cycle to the prior split which had at least 4 days?
Lee Dan I like a 3 day split if I am doing full body each day.
Blessings
Might be a worthwhile trade to travel to the gym one time less each week too. ;)
Great work man ! I know it's an old video but...
I have a question : Do you think it would work if i replaced the Close grip bench with weighted dips as the accessory movement for the Bench Press in the TSA program???
How does a load drop work with fixed amount of sets? I thought you just drop the percentage then bang out as many quality sets as possible at a given two range.
bigbobabc123 I did not end up using the load drop option, it was left in so that I could use it if I wanted but throughout the cycle I found that as the sets went on RPE actually dropped and I added weight. If I had used load drop then the sets would have to of been auto regulated accordingly.
Blessings
You briefly mention doing upper back and bicep work to help with elbow pain from low bar squats
curious as to how this helps?
Connor Elliott I meant mostly the hammer curls when I said that, it helps by strengthening the bicep and allows for active recovery as blood is pumped to the elbows and forearms to assist in recovery from the beating they take from the squatting and benching.
Blessings
Garrett Blevins ok thanks, always love the content
Also, have you seen any carry-over from hip trusts? I rarely see PLers doing them
***** I actually cut them out because of some QL muscle problems so I don't know if they are good or not (did them for about 2 weeks).
Blessings
Great work Garett on this training cycle, 500lb bench coming up soon! Did you train just three days per week or were there any additional sessions? Thanks.
Charlie Wade Just 3 days, all I had time for. In a perfect world I would spread these out to 4 or 5 days but that is not in the cards yet.
Blessings
Garrett Blevins If you could split it in 4-5 days,how would you? all fullbody,upper-lower? It would be interesting to know(may be usefull considering I am a personal trainer.) Thank you Garret,gotta say i started watching your videos these last weeks and I tell you you are awesome, always something to take out of your video,thanks!!
Hopefully not offtopic, but do you coach beginners? 185 lbs bench, 220 lbs squat, 385 lbs deadlift @ 185 lbs bodyweight.
Aab Baab I coach all levels of lifters, however at the moment I am full as far as clients go. However, to get on the waiting list look for the form in the description box of a video of mine called "Interested in online coaching". That will get you on the waiting list.
Blessings
Hey Garrett I noticed you mentioned you were doing some upper back work, biceps and hammer curls to help with elbow pain from back squatting. I'm often dealing with elbow tendon issues from squatting which then effect my bench. Any suggestions with how to deal with elbow tendonitis? I've googled a ton and haven't come across any articles written for lifters who don't want to take time off....
Jamie Cross do you wear wrist wraps? having a thumbs around the bar, broken wrist with a wrist wrap has helped me a lot! hope this helps at all, also, lacrosse balling around the elbow and shoulder helped me.
Justin Noble Thanks for the suggestions. I do wear wrist wraps. I've tried using a ball, however didn't find any real benefit. I haven't tried compression cuffs. Do you have any experience with those?
My lifting buddy does and he likes it for that reason! also training arms less helps me personally, although some people go the other way. Another tip, which probably helped me the most, is to wear your wrist wraps quite high, so it takes all of the force.. and putting the bar in your fingers rather than your palm.. sort of inbetween your second and third knuckle (first being the ones on the hand, punching ones) if that doesn't work i suggest slightly wider hand positioning while working on shoulder mobility etc. or wait for garret to reply ;) haha! all the best man!
Thanks mate. Appreciate the advice. I definitely hold the bar in my palms so I'll test out this finger grip with higher wrist wrap placement.
Jamie Cross Wrist wraps will help as will massaging the tissue int he forearm and bicep. Likewise, make sure that the bar (on squats) is even across your back. Also, if you are doing lighter sets dont set up so tight you are killing your elbows, sometimes just going out a finger width or two will take the pressure off and allow for some recovery. Make sure you are drinking enough water and strengthen your elbows and biceps (bigger muscle = bigger cushion). Also, make sure the squat bar weight is on your back and not in your hands (the hands should be pulling the weight in a little like you were doing a behind the neck lat pulldown - dont overdo this but also dont put a lot of the weight in your hands).
Blessings
How do you identify your weaknesses i.e. speed, stage where lift fails, etc?
SoashAng well, first you see where you fail at or you're slow at in the portion of the lift. where you fail at or slow at, its your weakness. lol. speed is an issue if, guess what? you're lifting it slow. lmfaoooo. Bro cmon you could've answered that yourself
SoashAng well, first you see where you fail at or you're slow at in the portion of the lift. where you fail at or slow at, its your weakness. lol. speed is an issue if, guess what? you're lifting it slow. lmfaoooo. Bro cmon you could've answered that yourself, you're smart enough.
SoashAng When you go heavy or rep out you will find sticking points. If these are not due to bad form (that can be corrected easily) then it is a weakness or leverage issue that needs to be addressed through assistance work.
Blessings
Which of the three blocks was your favorite and why?
JinatosLions The last one, cause of the heavy weights. . . no the first one cause of all the building . . . no the second one cause I needed the drop from that volume. . . no the whole thing was hard . . . no I liked them all too much. . . not sure man :)
Blessings
hahaha :)
whats the load drop % mean again? Also when it says an all AMRAP @ 2x6 does that just mean hit a minimum of 6 reps?
Alex Sutton It was supposed to be around 6 but I always tried to get more. Also, load drop is when you hit the RPE of the day you drop by that %. It was in the program but I did not use it since I was still really unused to RPE and often underestimated it.
Blessings
Alex Sutton it's referred to as a fatigue percentage as well in any kind of training manual for rpe based systems. which rtsstrength I believe has a lot of articles explaining how it works. It's fancy wording for drop sets or if it's too damn heavy lower the weight and get the volume in at what you're capable of.
This way too complicated to me. What is load? And how do I follow the program easily?
Hey Garrett, what do the percentages mean next to the exercises?
Sam McKay load drop
Austin Coniglio So what does that mean in the context of 5x5, 5%? Hit a top set of 5, then drop 5% and do 4 more sets of 5? I assume theres some RPE goal on the top sets? Curious if Garrett can shed some light on this.
Sam McKay I'm guessing he does a top set of RPE 9 or whatever, estimates his max, and then drops the load by that percentage to do the sets-reps described.
Sam McKay Nvm, based on the percentages shown that's definitely not the case lol.
Sam McKay Load drop. However, I ended up doing ramp up (not % drop) sets when I ran this program since I am so unfamiliar with RPE. It was there to use if I wanted but I ended up just trying to add 10 lbs or so to my top sets each week.
Blessings
Day 1 Monday
Day 2 Wednesday
Day 3 Friday ?
Justas Sam. Yes, but any three days would work as long as they were not next to each other.
Blessings
Can you upload the spreadsheet?
***** No, it is my coaches intellectual property. However, TSA has a number of free spreadsheets on their website and if you really wanted to you could use the DUP one and just put in the sets and reps that are shown.
Blessings