Anyone who knows me in the real world, and quite possibly has seen some of my YouTube stuff will realize that my strength is odd compared to most.
The fact that :
•Injury – never happens
•Recovery – insanely fast
•Heaving/Cheat Reps- I’m far better at heaving/cheat reps than using strict form, and get more out of this style than most.
•Traps-way stronger than most.
•Core/Abs- bulletproof, very thick, I’ve never worn a belt.
•Cold Reps/No Warmups Necessary – likely cause I’ve done stuff demanding so much tension.
•Odd Objects/Weird Angles-way better here than most, and as compared to my own barbell lifting.
I believe what I’m calling “stupid strength saturdays™” is a large factor here in all of the above traits.
For two years at this commercial gym (oddly only infrequently at the more powerlifting oriented gym) like clockwork I’d go in on Saturday, sometimes also Sunday, and with another optional session in this style mid week go in and do partials in the gyms slightly uneven footed and only power rack.
It’d definitely be partial squats, started at pins anywhere from ¼ to ½ reps (usually top ⅓ to ¼), followed by shrugs in the strapped up heaving manner.
Sometimes I’d RDL as heavy as possible to a top set of 5-8 before the partial squats, and sometimes hit a full range 90%+ 1rm single to end the squatting.
At the time the partials were always back squats, it took me til the powerlifting oriented gym years down the road to discover that I love front squat partials, usually I’d work up to a top weight of 3-5 reps and then do about 10 sets at that weight with the occasional back off set of 10-20. Sometimes I’d do rep challenges like go for 50 partials with my full range 1rm as fast as possible. I’d always be doing some serious old school weight room work.
Sometimes I’d run the heavy pulling variant from shrug to rack pull to hand and thigh lifts as the weight increased, as well as sometimes superset in an oly variant, usually the power snatch, between sets of the heavy exercise.
These sessions could be bonkers from the outside looking in.
I’ll admit this was my college age self inspired primarily by the chaos and pain blog to do shit that I’ve never seen anyone else doing. I had a blast, and didn’t view it as a chore. In fact I can’t recall training that I ever enjoyed more. It paid dividends in a rugged whole body strength severely lacking in most.
I did this type of thing last Saturday at a bodybuilding gym, and this is kinda me getting amped up for a heavy marathon session tomorrow.
Right now I’m doing infrequent weight room sessions. If I stick to it I’ll write about it soon enough.
If I stick to ~2 sessions a week I’ll still likely end up with at least 5 hours gym time, and quite possibly even 10 hours weekly.
Will my frequency itch stay scratched by PT, walking, improv, and more? We’ll see.
I know I’m moving up levels physically right now. I can feel it.
Give the described style of session a try. Hell, even add more to it.
Whole body & heavyweight marathon session here I come.
-J