Train strength 5 days/week?

[Chris Hansen]

Would it be too much to workout 5 days per week?

I'd like to find a short, daily strength program I can do during the week with an emphasis on HeSPUs. I was thinking of a 3x3 approach rotating between different workouts Mon-Fri with HeSPUs on two of those days, does that sound doable?

Thanks.

[Blairbob]

Yes.

Once again, it all gets down to the amount of volume you can undertake.

The tricky thing is figuring out how much volume you can do without crushing yourself or burning out.

[Chris Hansen]

Yes.

Once again, it all gets down to the amount of volume you can undertake.

The tricky thing is figuring out how much volume you can do without crushing yourself or burning out.

Thanks for the reply.

In Coach Sommer's book, he mentions working out up to 4 days/week but I've also seen workouts that go 5-6 days/week so I wasn't sure. In Pavel's "Power to the People" program, he has you deadlifting 5 days/week so I thought maybe I can work HeSPUs and pull-ups following a similar program or alternate vertical and horizontal days?

I decided to give a try but I was hoping to benefit from the wisdom of others.

[Blairbob]

There was a recent thread about elite gymnasts training in that some gymnasts can thrive on 2 a days, 5-6 days a week whereas others can only do 1 and specialists like Gregor only train 2-3x/week I think.

Adding a 5th day is just fine. Saturday works well. You will to play with your scheduling so it doesn't conflict with WOD's like yesterdays or Wall/Ring HS for 10m, etc.

It's important to be able to last 4d/week of GB WOD before adding any other work in. For some starting off 4d/week may be too much and 2 or 3 days may fit better. I think you understand the principle.

As well, on the off days, WSaSu, you can easily be doing stretching, mobility, going for a jog/swim/bike, etc. Stay active, just don't kill yourself for the next day.

[AlexX]

Just saying that you are going to strength train 5 days a week doesn't say much. Are you going to work the same muscle groups? are you going to work the same or different movements? how much volume will you do on each day? are you going to push yourself on every day or just 1 or two and the rest be light days? These are the things that you have to consider instead of just saying I am going to strength train 5 days a week.

I've tried 5 days a week of work. 3 alternating days was strength work, 2 days between those was straight arm work, I recovered just fine until my shoulders started aching pretty badly. I am now very cautious about undertaking such routines.

[Chris Hansen]

Those are some good points and I haven't really thought about all of them. This is where I could really use some good advice.

My primary goals right now are HeSPUs and to improve my pistols. I was inspired by Pavel's "Power to the People" program which involves low volume/high frequency training and also Pavel's "Naked Warrior" program which is based on greasing the groove. I'm at home a lot right now so it's convenient to do several sets spaced throughout the day. It would also be nice to have an occasional break to look forward to, which I why I'd like to do something daily.

For pulling, I thought I'd alternate between days of pull-ups and rows. For pushing, I've been alternating between an unorganized combination of partial and negative HeSPUs, and barbell clean and press for about 3x3. I realized that I've been neglecting push-ups when I tried a few and they were really hard. I should find somewhere for some of those too. For core I've been doing HLLs daily for 3x3.

I haven't really worked out the sets/reps part but I thought I could just try something and make adjustments if needed. Some good advice might shorten the learning curve though. This is kind of what I'm thinking right now:

Mon, Wed, Fri: Negative HeSPUs, Pull-ups

Tues, Thurs: Rows, Push-ups

Daily: Hanging Leg Raises - 3x3

Pistols: GTG, Deadlifts: 2-3 times/week (Straight out of Pavel's "Naked Warrior" book)

[Gavin Strelitz]

Just a word of caution as you go through this process. It's better to work more conservatively when setting your volume and intensity levels, especially on a 5 day a week training program. The volume and intensity can always be increased, so don't overtrain. You don't want to spend a month plus on the sidelines because you pushed too hard.

[roman]

Just remember that the higher the intensity of the exercise = the more strain you put on you CNS. Keep that in mind in terms of your exercise selection and the overall volume, both individually to each workout and the overall weekly volume that you go with. You need to apply just enough stimulus to your body in each workout to get stronger each time, while balancing that with adequate recovery and rest. Break this delicate balance and you will achieve the opposite results. Keep straining the CNS too much too often and you're going to burn out and will need several weeks to recover. Furthermore you're going to end up weaker than you began. Sometimes Less is More. If you're impatient with your training and you try to do too much in order to progress "faster" then you're setting yourself up to fail. There are no shortcuts. Only slow consistent gains in strength which add up to a LOT after a few months. If you can't go more than 1 month without overtraining you're doing too much.

Personally for the last 2 months I have been training the upper body only with static holds, no more than 3x10 seconds on most of them (tuck V, L sit, Tuck planche, Back Lever), and on some slightly more e.g. bent arms handstands - 3x30 sec, ring support holds - 3x15 seconds.

Only dynamic exercises I do atm are pullups and SLS for legs. This "modest" approach has given me the best strength and hypertrophy gains of my life (training 3 times/week, taking each 3rd workout to 50% volume while increasing the intensity). And I'm saying this from the perspective of someone who has in the past built up to training successfully 5-6 times/week. The results I'm seeing now are FAR BETTER.

So just some things to keep in mind.

[Chris Hansen]

roman,

That sounds like good advice, thanks.

Instead of increasing volume, I was thinking of just spreading it out over more days. I'm working again and I have a short time in the morning when I can workout. A short, daily workout before work would be a welcome part of the routine.

Maybe alternate FSPs one day and FBEs the next, or alternate upper and lower body?