High Frequency Training

[franchise24]

I've been doing a lot of reading and youtube watching. I have noticed over the last few years that frequency works well for me. I have been reading and watching videos of Mike Tuchscherer, creator of RTS. I love his programing style. He mentioned high frequency training and training the deadlift 3-4 times a week squat 3 times a week and bench 4 times a week. I do much better with frequency it helps grease the groove for me while also woking on technique. Obviously this has to be done in gradual phases. And obviously the training percentages would be in the 75-85 percentage range until reaching the peaking phase.

My question is how would I program deadlift, squat 3x/week and bench 4x week? @theprodgicalson, @Perrin Aybara @Docd187123 @RodgerThat.

 

[franchise24]

Here is Mike Tuchscherer's thoughts on High Frequency.



Here is Jeremy Hamilton's thoughts on High Frequency and High Intensity training.

 

[franchise24]

Here is an article written about the Norwegian Frequency project.

High Frequency Training for a Bigger Total: Research on highly trained Norwegian powerlifters • Stronger by Science

 

[Docd187123]

Unless Tuchscherer changed his mind from what I've read of his in the past, he doesn't suggest training the deadlift 4x a week. On his old general intermediate program, the deadlift is only trained twice a week, bench 4x and squat 3x.

How many training days are you planning on doing per week?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I wouldn't program deadlift three times a week personally. I've done bench and squat both three and four times a week and honestly progress didn't seem any different than two times. For now two times a week on the comp lifts seems to be my sweet spot.

As far as how to program 3x a week comp lifts I'd think a heavy/light/medium format is an option. Or comp lift one day, bottom end work another and top end on the third. Or some combination of speed days, hypertrophy days, strength days, although that falls into heavy, light and medium.

 

[JC456]

It's my preferred approach, I generally coach my powerlifting clients to progressively work up to higher and higher volumes and frequencies. Myself at my strongest was squatting, benching and deadlifting 6 days a week.

Frequency is a wonderful tool. It'll grease the groove but one of the disadvantages as well as advantages is that it will highlight bad form almost immediately. If you have a weakness in form, high frequency training will punish you. It can also be quite forgiving for injuries in a different way, if you're always training while fatigued you typically won't be able to lift maximal weights. This in itself allows you to lift a bit safer.

What is the ideal frequency? I believe this is not only individual per trainee but also per lift. Figuring this out is part and parcel of the process as you push workload higher.

How do you programme this? This is going to be very individual and outside the scope of a single forum post but as a very general rule you would begin with a manageable frequency of challenging days, include at least one additional light day. Slowly increase volume over time. Then as volume reaches a tipping point, add another challenging day. Repeat the process.

Specifics which I won't cover here are how to sync challenging days with exercise selection, the role of variations, set/rep schemes, sticking points. These all tie into the larger approach. Hopefully that gives you an insight.

 

[Xlgx]

Take a look at Steve shaws 3 day split. One of my favorite programs. Just finished running it.

 

[franchise24]

Unless Tuchscherer changed his mind from what I've read of his in the past, he doesn't suggest training the deadlift 4x a week. On his old general intermediate program, the deadlift is only trained twice a week, bench 4x and squat 3x.

How many training days are you planning on doing per week?

I plan on training 4-5 days a week. At one point I was doing dealift/squat twice a week. Then I found squatting 3x a week was optimal for me. I have never deadlifted more than 2x a week.

 

[franchise24]

It's my preferred approach, I generally coach my powerlifting clients to progressively work up to higher and higher volumes and frequencies. Myself at my strongest was squatting, benching and deadlifting 6 days a week.

Frequency is a wonderful tool. It'll grease the groove but one of the disadvantages as well as advantages is that it will highlight bad form almost immediately. If you have a weakness in form, high frequency training will punish you. It can also be quite forgiving for injuries in a different way, if you're always training while fatigued you typically won't be able to lift maximal weights. This in itself allows you to lift a bit safer.

What is the ideal frequency? I believe this is not only individual per trainee but also per lift. Figuring this out is part and parcel of the process as you push workload higher.

How do you programme this? This is going to be very individual and outside the scope of a single forum post but as a very general rule you would begin with a manageable frequency of challenging days, include at least one additional light day. Slowly increase volume over time. Then as volume reaches a tipping point, add another challenging day. Repeat the process.

Specifics which I won't cover here are how to sync challenging days with exercise selection, the role of variations, set/rep schemes, sticking points. These all tie into the larger approach. Hopefully that gives you an insight.

This does give me some insight thanks @JC456.

 

[franchise24]

I wouldn't program deadlift three times a week personally. I've done bench and squat both three and four times a week and honestly progress didn't seem any different than two times. For now two times a week on the comp lifts seems to be my sweet spot.

As far as how to program 3x a week comp lifts I'd think a heavy/light/medium format is an option. Or comp lift one day, bottom end work another and top end on the third. Or some combination of speed days, hypertrophy days, strength days, although that falls into heavy, light and medium.

@Perrin Aybara thank you again. I think I am going to give the deadlift a try at 3x week at the minimum 2x a week. As long as I stay away from high intensities I think I can adapt to it. As the training cycle progresses I will drop the frequency and work on intensity. The high intensity training is beating my body up. The strength gains have been great. But I have had to take some time off here and there to let some nagging injuries heal. I think the frequency and volume will help and keep me fresh as I go into the peaking phase.

 

[ruckin]

As far as how to program 3x a week comp lifts I'd think a heavy/light/medium format is an option

This.

Heavy/light/medium works great for me. Always has. I'm using it right now with solid results. It's simple and just works.

 

[Ironlord]

I'm with @Perrin Aybara on this one.

Training the comp lifts multiple times per week is great if you do it properly.. Either by varying percentage per workout or other variables...

An example would be doing deads 2x a week, but doing one day conventional and one day sumo, or one day heavy, one day light /speed..

I've had a ton of success with doing one day of rack pulls and one day of full deads..

You could do the same when squat and bench.. Alternate complimentary movements that will help increase your comp lifts-for bench that might be a max day/pause day/floor press day, or a reverse band squat day alternated with an Anderson squat day...

You still are greasing the groove, but you're not going to burn out doing the exact same movement multiple times per week-and you're going to get stronger on your weak/sticking points if you pick the right movements for you...

 

[franchise24]

I'm with @Perrin Aybara on this one.

Training the comp lifts multiple times per week is great if you do it properly.. Either by varying percentage per workout or other variables...

An example would be doing deads 2x a week, but doing one day conventional and one day sumo, or one day heavy, one day light /speed..

I've had a ton of success with doing one day of rack pulls and one day of full deads..

You could do the same when squat and bench.. Alternate complimentary movements that will help increase your comp lifts-for bench that might be a max day/pause day/floor press day, or a reverse band squat day alternated with an Anderson squat day...

You still are greasing the groove, but you're not going to burn out doing the exact same movement multiple times per week-and you're going to get stronger on your weak/sticking points if you pick the right movements for you...

I love pause squat and bench. I would like to incorporate paused deads. I love deficit pulls.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I'm with @Perrin Aybara on this one.

Training the comp lifts multiple times per week is great if you do it properly.. Either by varying percentage per workout or other variables...

An example would be doing deads 2x a week, but doing one day conventional and one day sumo, or one day heavy, one day light /speed..

I've had a ton of success with doing one day of rack pulls and one day of full deads..

You could do the same when squat and bench.. Alternate complimentary movements that will help increase your comp lifts-for bench that might be a max day/pause day/floor press day, or a reverse band squat day alternated with an Anderson squat day...

You still are greasing the groove, but you're not going to burn out doing the exact same movement multiple times per week-and you're going to get stronger on your weak/sticking points if you pick the right movements for you...

That's close to what I do. Each comp lift one day a week and variations of it on another day. Like overload, bottom end work, hypertrophy, etc. Well, you know, RTS principles. I keep the same variations in three weeks minimum, if not six weeks.

I've never tried what @JC456 is advocating, but I'd like to someday. I've read Squat Every Day and it is intriguing. I like to try as many different training philosophies as i can so i can take bits and pieces that work for my own programming ideas.

 

[franchise24]

That's close to what I do. Each comp lift one day a week and variations of it on another day. Like overload, bottom end work, hypertrophy, etc. Well, you know, RTS principles. I keep the same variations in three weeks minimum, if not six weeks.

I've never tried what @JC456 is advocating, but I'd like to someday. I've read Squat Every Day and it is intriguing. I like to try as many different training philosophies as i can so i can take bits and pieces that work for my own programming ideas.

I'm like you take different philosphies and make them into my own. Squat everyday is awesome. My legs never felt tight. Always felt loose. I didn't variations of the squat one day was dedicated to singles at 95% then two back down sets. I did reverse band squats, from squats, changed foot postionining and high bar with narrow stance. Quads grew. I was off cycle. But I was only able to maintain my other lifts. I'm going keep RTS principles I love RTS, but I'll add more frequency.

 

[JC456]

I don't necessarily advocate squat every day. It's just not going to be appropriate for a lot of people. I advocate finding the upper thresholds of frequency and volume and pushing those. That's going to be individual for every person, it's my job as the coach to find that effective threshold. That's the process I briefly described earlier.

 

[franchise24]

I don't necessarily advocate squat every day. It's just not going to be appropriate for a lot of people. I advocate finding the upper thresholds of frequency and volume and pushing those. That's going to be individual for every person, it's my job as the coach to find that effective threshold. That's the process I briefly described earlier.

How many clients do you take on at once?

 

[JC456]

How many clients do you take on at once?

I like to keep it in single figures.

 

[franchise24]

I like to keep it in single figures.

I feel you.