The GB SSC is Highly Effective for Breaking Training Plateau

The following is a good article wherein GB Forum member AlexX describes his success in breaking his training plateaus utilizing the Gymnastic Bodies Steady State Training Cycle (SSC).

The Steady State Cycle.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Nice little post. I actually use kind of a variation of the steady state cycle for Olympic Lifting, and I believe that is actually fairly common, at least in some people I talk to. On days where the WOD consists of the actual lift or skill drills(and not strength work like OH Press and Squats) they are always done at X% of max. Usually this is between 70-95% depending on the day and higher intensity and always low rep days.

The point is, we don't try for a new max except for once every 2 months or so. So your percentages never change during that time, and we don't actually try to increase the weight, only technique during that time. I think it has worked pretty well so far. My first cycle was 6 weeks and I jumped up 15lbs in the clean & jerk and 15lbs in the Snatch. They were pretty solid improvements, and I've been told by more than one authority I could definitely handle more on the snatch if I clean my form up.

So I definitely believe the idea has a solid foundation. I am doing it now with both my FBE warm ups and my FSP warm ups. I think this will seriously help improve faster than I would otherwise. It is hard to judge how to do an SSC for WODs though. Hopefully my exerting more on the WODs won't hinder my progress, but I am just beginning, so I am sure as I progress, i will become much better at sorting out how and when to jump up in difficulty during those.

It is really one of the simplest ways to train. Push yourself, and don't make any increases until you have adapted significantly. I recently used two small cycles. One for about 4-6 weeks, in which I gained about 7% on my strength. I increased the intensity for my recent cycle, and I tested at another 5% increase. So that is about a 12% increase in 8-10 weeks. Not too bad. If you think that if you were to think of this in terms of increasing your benchpress. If your max benchpress was 200 lbs. You are now at 224 lbs. My loading is not very aggressive either. If I used greater volume, or frequency, my results might be better.

I've been wanting to learn more about creating my own SSC, thanks Coach.

Nick_EOD said:

Nice little post. I actually use kind of a variation of the steady state cycle for Olympic Lifting, and I believe that is actually fairly common, at least in some people I talk to. On days where the WOD consists of the actual lift or skill drills(and not strength work like OH Press and Squats) they are always done at X% of max. Usually this is between 70-95% depending on the day and higher intensity and always low rep days.

The point is, we don't try for a new max except for once every 2 months or so. So your percentages never change during that time, and we don't actually try to increase the weight, only technique during that time. I think it has worked pretty well so far. My first cycle was 6 weeks and I jumped up 15lbs in the clean & jerk and 15lbs in the Snatch. They were pretty solid improvements, and I've been told by more than one authority I could definitely handle more on the snatch if I clean my form up.

So I definitely believe the idea has a solid foundation. I am doing it now with both my FBE warm ups and my FSP warm ups. I think this will seriously help improve faster than I would otherwise. It is hard to judge how to do an SSC for WODs though. Hopefully my exerting more on the WODs won't hinder my progress, but I am just beginning, so I am sure as I progress, i will become much better at sorting out how and when to jump up in difficulty during those.

Congratulations on your Olympic lifts improvements. Have you tried it with your squat or military press?

I have been doing this with squat and military press, actually lol! That's really funny. I have recently started doing this with the proper FSP progressions for FL and L-sit and have seen great improvements not only in my strength but also in my work capacity.

For squats, I've just been doing a very simple 230x3 reps in my warm up 4x per week. Very easy, not draining, and I have noticed much better hip strength. Of course, I'm doing a 5s hold at the very bottom on each rep, which may have a LITTLE bit to do with that.

For standing military I've just been doing 4 reps of 135. I have noticed that this has been synergistic with the SSC work I have been doing on my handstand walking and press work, but I have also found that everything is getting very easy, which is great because I don't get worn out by the WODs anymore, and yet I am seeing consistent gains in both visible muscularity and strength!

slizzardman said:

I have been doing this with squat and military press, actually lol! That's really funny. I have recently started doing this with the proper FSP progressions for FL and L-sit and have seen great improvements not only in my strength but also in my work capacity.

For squats, I've just been doing a very simple 230x3 reps in my warm up 4x per week. Very easy, not draining, and I have noticed much better hip strength. Of course, I'm doing a 5s hold at the very bottom on each rep, which may have a LITTLE bit to do with that.

For standing military I've just been doing 4 reps of 135. I have noticed that this has been synergistic with the SSC work I have been doing on my handstand walking and press work, but I have also found that everything is getting very easy, which is great because I don't get worn out by the WODs anymore, and yet I am seeing consistent gains in both visible muscularity and strength!

That's awesome! If you don't mind could you pm me/or post your stats when you are done, if you plan on testing.

AlexX said:

Congratulations on your Olympic lifts improvements. Have you tried it with your squat or military press?

Not yet. I may in the future. For the time being, until I plateau, I am going to just try linear progression a la starting strength. After that I am sure SSC will be far more useful

I have to say, I'm not really worried about testing! TO be honest, any tests would be confounded anyways because I have started the vertical jump program, which has a reasonable of leg work. I plan on continuing that until May, and then seeing how fast I can sprint and jump.

Ah nice, keep track of your progress so we can compare notes as I have shifted my focus back to jumping/sprinting training.

I will! We'll have to train together again, should be fun! I'll share what I'm doing and you can tell me what you think.