Minimalist Approach: Trap DL, Press, Chin Ups

I enjoy working out so I couldn’t do that low of volume. I just switched from PPL back to a BB split and today happens to be back day. Today’s routine is

Trap Bar DL -5x5
Landmine TBar row - 3x12
Pull up 5x10 and last set to failure
Renegade Row 3x12
Curls to get a big arm pump whichever I feel like doing for the day(drag, preacher, hammer, ez bar with arm blaster, zottman, etc)

After I’m gonna do a 5k row on concept 2
 
I don't see the issue with switching it up, or cycling. Once a week sounds like too low frequency if you want to get good at a lift though, but other options have been suggested. Some sensible assistance work will help, as you mentioned with the GHR.

It would be nice to hear more about why people prefer the big three over other variations.
 
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You seem really well liked around here. I can see why.
Well, a handful of people liked the post that you apparently took exception to...

Also, just FYI, about 6,000 of my posts were made before this forum added the "like" function.
 
I don't see the issue with switching it up, or cycling. Once a week sounds like too low frequency if you want to get good at a lift though, but other options have been suggested. Some sensible assistance work will help, as you mentioned with the GHR.

It would be nice to hear more about why people prefer the big three over other variations.

the purposeful primitive is a very good read about many different approaches to mostly powerlifting iirc. by marty gallagher. some top lifters really only do the big three and nothing else. it's only 6 euros on kindle right now. i really liked the book. many cool gym anecdotes. gallagher was the coach or caretaker of kirk karwoski and some other record lifters. so he knows some stuff first hand.

happy easter...
 
Do an old school Stuart McRoberts / John Christy workout.

Day 1

Press
Deadlift

Day 2
Pull / row
Squat

Cycle poundages
 
I don't see the issue with switching it up, or cycling. Once a week sounds like too low frequency if you want to get good at a lift though, but other options have been suggested. Some sensible assistance work will help, as you mentioned with the GHR.

It would be nice to hear more about why people prefer the big three over other variations.

Personally I am less convinced that athletes *have* to deadlift as well as squat--although I can believe it for certain sports like grappling. I don't buy that it is mechanically a really different movement from squatting - it's knee extension then hip extension, with the back musculature mostly working isometrically to stop the trunk from collapsing and to maintain the back angle. Less ROM for the knee extension, more for the hip extension, more shearing force on the back because of the greater back angle and therefore more demands on the back. But unless your sport really involved powerful hip extension or resisting being pulled forward or something I am not sure the difference is enough to say you DL as well as squat.

I think with the bench it is likely to be the best press. Just seems that training a horizontal press is going to be applicable for more sports. Of course if you know your sport involves pressing overhead that would be different.
 
I do something similar but just cram it in one day .
Slowly getting into lifting again after a devestating back injury, so doing one workout every 5-7 days gives my spine enough rest between workouts.

I stay quite active the other days with yogaish stuff and other bw "movement " kind of drills.



Right now i do

Trapbar block pulls

Trapbar floorpress (try it, it feels amazing on the shoulders compared to a straight bar)

Straight arm pulldowns ( for now, will switch to a row soon)


Then i do a couple upper back/shoulder and arm pump sets of whatever i feel like is lagging.
(switch every 4-6weeks)



Works pretty good if you are capable to doing some smart progression plan.
 
Why wouldn't you squat? I would expect that any S&C coach worth a dime is teaching their athletes, regardless of the sport to squat, press, and pull in their most basic forms, then worry about holes.

I would assume you're, like myself, not strong enough to have holes.
 
Why wouldn't you squat? I would expect that any S&C coach worth a dime is teaching their athletes, regardless of the sport to squat, press, and pull in their most basic forms, then worry about holes.

I would assume you're, like myself, not strong enough to have holes.
See the question to ask is; why?

When and why do you choose front squats over back squats? Or squats/DL over trapbar, or sumo? When and why do you choose bilateral squats/DL over single leg variations? After all, most sports and life require single leg support and stability. When do you choose mobility and ease of movement over strength, and why? What about rope climbing, the prowler, dragging something, upper body stability requirements, the external rotators of the hip, lateral strength, jumping, the snatch, C&J and other explosive movements? Why one over the other? So on.

Obviously I don't expect anyone to be able to answer all that.

You could argue that a squat/dl/benchpress (hardly) are basic movements, but so is walking, running, rotating the trunk, rotating the hips, standing on one leg, being able to hold your balance, pulling something towards you, climbing, so forth. Most of the time when you pick something off the ground or bend down, you don't squat/DL down and pick it up, you bend your back relaxed and pick it up. That's a basic movement, but not necessarily something we should load (although people doing the jefferson curl would beg to differ).

I am absolutely convinced that if Trapbar DL, strict OHP and, let's pick something arbitrary, max weight on a prowler push for 10 meters was the standard in PL meets, most people in here would be touting that as obligatory. "Why are you squatting with weight on your back? You're supposed to push the weight forward, that's the metric for strength!"

I'm not saying that the PL basics are not excellent exercises, because they are. They work as intended. I get it, I love them too. At the same time the way in which they are viewed are extremely biased. It's almost a religion.

They can be substituted by other exercises, whether for injury prevention, general health or sports performance. For measurements of tissue strength, agonist-antagonist ratios, speed, power, agility, jumping ability, balance, rotational power, ROM, maximum voluntary contractions, or whatever. People have this notion that if you don't do these three, and pick something else, your body will start crumbling and falling apart. It's very dogmatic and frankly hardly ever reasoned well. Furthering the discussion would be more than "just because", or "basic movement".

If someone comes to me with solid reasoning as to why they want to do this and that over the big three, if it makes sense for their purpose it's all well and good.

This doesn't mean you throw away progressive overload principles and start doing doing single legged pistols on a bosuball. The principles apply. You get stronger and lift heavier.
 
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Personally I am less convinced that athletes *have* to deadlift as well as squat--although I can believe it for certain sports like grappling. I don't buy that it is mechanically a really different movement from squatting - it's knee extension then hip extension, with the back musculature mostly working isometrically to stop the trunk from collapsing and to maintain the back angle. Less ROM for the knee extension, more for the hip extension, more shearing force on the back because of the greater back angle and therefore more demands on the back. But unless your sport really involved powerful hip extension or resisting being pulled forward or something I am not sure the difference is enough to say you DL as well as squat.

I think with the bench it is likely to be the best press. Just seems that training a horizontal press is going to be applicable for more sports. Of course if you know your sport involves pressing overhead that would be different.
Looking at the press in a vacuum, the bench would likely be more transferable to sports that produces force in horizontal vectors ending with arms infront. Even then, with the OHP you have stability requirements that, even if the force vector is different, can have a good carryover to sport.

When disregarding the vacuum, standing press let's you incorperate various degrees of triple extension/muscle synergism which might further enchance the carryover. So it's hard to say really.

The bench is definitely not useless for sports and it's a pretty solid exercise overall. Yet if we're going with most sports, ie. variations of throwing/hitting, rotational power of the hips contributes the majority of the force and lats play a big factor in the power transfer through the upper body as well.

I will say this, having good/smooth hip extension (ROM matters) and a heavy DL/Squats definitely helps you power through a sprawl and get out. So does being able to take an angle which also happens to use far less energy, but the point stands.
 
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Looking at the press in a vacuum, the bench would likely be more transferable to sports that produces force in horizontal vectors ending with arms infront. Even then, with the OHP you have stability requirements that, even if the force vector is different, can have a good carryover to sport.

When disregarding the vacuum, standing press let's you incorperate various degrees of triple extension/muscle synergism which might further enchance the carryover. So it's hard to say really.

The bench is definitely not useless for sports and it's a pretty solid exercise overall. Yet if we're going with most sports, ie. variations of throwing/hitting, rotational power of the hips contributes the majority of the force and lats play a big factor in the power transfer through the upper body as well.

It's kind of a silly debate anyway. "Pick one, in the absence of any information that would inform your choice". If you are training for a particular sport, you ought to be able to work out whether horizontal press or vertical press is more important. If they seem equally important or you were not clear, you would do both.
 
You seem to think you know everything, so why are you even asking a question?

Just do your shitty routine and be smugly satisfied with never getting strong.

I was going to make a similar post after getting a few posts into the thread.

You complete me, bb.

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You seem really well liked around here. I can see why.


You got my all figured out it seems. Why don't you put money where your mouth is and post a vid of your squat?

LOL. Who gives a fuck about Sherdog likes? If we're talking self-esteem, I'll continue getting my tires pumped from Instagram, brah.

Oblivian's posts aren't wrong. I've squatted 672lbs with just a belt, no wraps or sleeves, am I qualified to say that?

Your program is lazy and you sound lazy. That's fine, you can admit it, but let's call a spade a spade. A trap bar deadlift will never replace some sort of squat. Some of the guys here have given you sold advice. It's up to you to accept it or not.

That being said, I suspect this was more of a "please tell me I'm right" thread than a "I'm genuinely asking for help" thread.
 
It's kind of a silly debate anyway. "Pick one, in the absence of any information that would inform your choice". If you are training for a particular sport, you ought to be able to work out whether horizontal press or vertical press is more important. If they seem equally important or you were not clear, you would do both.

For general strength/athletic training, I think I'd value the press more. It's more balanced, more useful, and has less risk for injury than benching. You could use close grip benching and weighted dips as supplemental lifts.

Unless you compete in powerlifting, benching really isn't that important.
 
For general strength/athletic training, I think I'd value the press more. It's more balanced, more useful, and has less risk for injury than benching. You could use close grip benching and weighted dips as supplemental lifts.

Unless you compete in powerlifting, benching really isn't that important.

That's a really good point. I see how OHP would involve more muscles in general. To play devil's advocate, I would say that the bench could be overloaded more, which translates into more general strength. How much is your press compared to your bench... half?

I'm also not sure about the injury risk on OHP vs bench. I think people bench more in general and are more familiar with the lift. Also, benching probably requires less shoulder mobility than OHP for most. Is bracing more important in the OHP than in the bench? It's a harder concept to grasp than arching your back.

Last but not least, how many credible programs have bench involved as opposed to OHP? Evidence is worth considering.
 
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