Jim Wendler Seminar - Some Interesting Points

[LiftingNerd]

Thanks for confirming that, yeah most definitely a suicide grip on the bench. I would have thought it would be risky also with the OHP as it could be dropped onto your head still.

Agreed. But I'm going to try it friday and see if it feels any different.

It most definitely does. It's less risky on OHP because you have better odds at being able to get out of the way or deflect the bar a bit. Also if you're really worried about it you can also just press in a power rack and set the pegs slightly below shoulder height.

[Hunter]

Does anyone know how/where Jim would place strongman events/training in the weekly split? I am doing the 5 3 1 four day week (BBB routine) and am feeling a little tired (might be from lack of conditioning or I just need to up them calories) I am thinking about switching to the three day "work" week with the strongman stuff (tire flips, atlas stone, farmers walk) on Saturday. I sent Jim this question, but havent heard back from him yet, also somewhere on the T Nation forums its apparently talked about but those forums are huge. Thanks Hunter

[TempestTenor]

Is the Wendler 5-3-1 program an intermediate program or is it appropriate for novices as well?

[muddy]

Intermediate- it's more or less a 3 week wave, 1 week deload, then increase the weights and repeat. So your strength increases will be much slower on this than on a novice program.

[bkklift]

Is the Wendler 5-3-1 program an intermediate program or is it appropriate for novices as well?

It's meant to be a program for all, the accessory portion allows for a lot of flexibility, but I would definitely suggest doing SL until you reach 1.5xbw squat before thinking about 5/3/1. I feel it works best once you've developed a strong foundation.

[LiftingNerd]

Does anyone know how/where Jim would place strongman events/training in the weekly split? I am doing the 5 3 1 four day week (BBB routine) and am feeling a little tired (might be from lack of conditioning or I just need to up them calories) I am thinking about switching to the three day "work" week with the strongman stuff (tire flips, atlas stone, farmers walk) on Saturday. I sent Jim this question, but havent heard back from him yet, also somewhere on the T Nation forums its apparently talked about but those forums are huge. Thanks Hunter

You may have to separate your training into phases. An all around strength phase, then an event phase closer to the competition. Or are you not planning on competing and just want to do strongman type exercises?

[LiftingNerd]

Is the Wendler 5-3-1 program an intermediate program or is it appropriate for novices as well?

If you are a novice your body is adapting to training stress on a 48 hour basis. So doing a program designed for monthly increases is sort of an inefficient way of training.

[AhBen]

Does anyone know how/where Jim would place strongman events/training in the weekly split? I am doing the 5 3 1 four day week (BBB routine) and am feeling a little tired (might be from lack of conditioning or I just need to up them calories) I am thinking about switching to the three day "work" week with the strongman stuff (tire flips, atlas stone, farmers walk) on Saturday. I sent Jim this question, but havent heard back from him yet, also somewhere on the T Nation forums its apparently talked about but those forums are huge. Thanks Hunter

Are you training for a contest or just training for fun?

I am training for a contest next year Feb/Mar.

I do something like this(day of training may vary)

Mon-off
Tue-Front squat 5-3-1
Wed-off
Thur-Deadlift 5-3-1
Fri-Upper body 5-3-1(Weighted pullup 5-3-1,Weighted dips 5-3-1)
Sat-off
Sun-Events(Farmers,tire,yoke)

If you are training for a contest, events day is most important, the 5-3-1 days are merely assistance work to bring up your events performances.

If you are not training for a meet,you can do the strongman events after the main 5-3-1 lifts. E.g Yoke after squats, farmers/stones after deadlifts.

Hope this helps.

I also tried training 5 days(4 days 5-3-1 with 1 events day) before. Wasn't as tiring as I expected.

[Hunter]

I am just training strongman for fun, it might sound wierd but I seem to be stronger in odd lifts than actual gym lifts (might be due to the fact I use to work construction then in a saw mill, ahhh the good ol days) I might just ride the 4 gym days and 1 strongman day out till it snows, then do just a 4 day, then as spring rolls around switch to 3 gym days to allow more cardio before taking up the strongman stuff again. Thanks for the input guys.

[AhBen]

I am just training strongman for fun, it might sound wierd but I seem to be stronger in odd lifts than actual gym lifts (might be due to the fact I use to work construction then in a saw mill, ahhh the good ol days) I might just ride the 4 gym days and 1 strongman day out till it snows, then do just a 4 day, then as spring rolls around switch to 3 gym days to allow more cardio before taking up the strongman stuff again. Thanks for the input guys.

If you wanna train 5 days like I did, I suggest you limit the volume on all 5 days. When I was doing that, I did a maximum of 10 work sets per session,sometimes I just did the 5/3/1 sets followed by 3 x 12 of the main lift and call it a day.

Do you have ready access to the strongman equipment? If yes, doing strongman lifts as accessories would be better idea.

By the way,moving events in strongman(yoke,farmers,tire,sled etc) IS cardio.

[Hunter]

Yes I have full access to the equipment, its all out side in the garage (the wife hates having the tires around) The rest of my gym equipment is in the basement. Why is it we guys quickly to demoted from having a nice room to the two dirtiest place (garage and basement) shortly after getting married? I guess it does workout though as she hates going into both places.

[MikeD]

And since LiftingNerd's so insistent (kidding), I'll say I forgot to mention that the Ed Coan was hanging around at the seminar. He came down from another local Chicago gym where he trains a small group of lifters. If you don't know who he is, type in "Ed Coan Deadlift" in on Youtube and be awed.

I talked to him a bit, and he said he's been having bad problems with his hip, which has severely limited his training intensity. And yet the man is still damn imposing looking. Can anyone think of a "retired" lifter who doesn't keep at it, in some way? It seems it always follows them into older age, in some form.

[AhBen]

Yes I have full access to the equipment, its all out side in the garage (the wife hates having the tires around) The rest of my gym equipment is in the basement. Why is it we guys quickly to demoted from having a nice room to the two dirtiest place (garage and basement) shortly after getting married? I guess it does workout though as she hates going into both places.

Hey just wondering what equipment do you have in your home gym?

I have the following:

3 tires(<200kg,270kg, 350kg)
Farmers-2 sets(cylinders and bars)
Yoke
Sandbags(weight varies according to how many small weight plates I put inside)
12' log
Sled-2 sets(single post and double posts)
Prowler
Thick handled dumbbell(hold max of 90kg)
Tug of war rope(for arm over arm sled pulls)
4kg sledgehammer
6kg medicine ball
8kg,24kg,32kg kettlebells(two each)

On top of the usual squat rack, bar, 275kg worth of weight plates and accessories such as bands, chains, ab-wheel,foam rollers etc...

[Hunter]

Well you got me beat (lucky bastard) I have
2 tires (200lbs and 500lbs)
Farmers (I took 2 old e z curl bars and had handles welded on)
1 sandbag (100lbs)
1 steel sled
1 sledge (10lbs)
2 med ball (10lbs, 16lbs)
kb's 12, 16, 20, 24kg x 2
2 clubells 12lbs
1 keg
1 homemade atlas stone (120lbs)
With the usual squat rack, bench, bunch of weights, chain, ab wheel, sit up bench, inversion table (I got free on goods exchange day)

[MikeD]

A few other tidbits/trivia that I picked up on:

On crossfit:
-Stayed after with the gym owner, Sean, Wendler, and another Jim that was there. They all seem to loathe Crossfit, for different reasons.
Sean, who's very big on muscularskeletal correction and balance as well as strength and build (sort of in line with Cressey), can't stand the following Crossfit has gained from a business standpoint. "They (crossfit trainees) think", he said, "that because they hurt and see results that what they're doing is good". I argued that, at the very least, they're introducing some change into the fitness industry, where cardio fo the LSD kind is usually the norm, and no one's ever heard of a clean. "It's better than curves, right?"
"Actually," he said, "I think curves is doing a better job. It's getting people off the couch, it's introducing them to exercise, and they're not getting hurt". His big question was, just what the hell does crossfit carry over to? I thought it was a good one.

The "other Jim", who's a wrestling coach, said that someone he knew just got a bunch of people from crossfit to rehabilitate. They're all injured. They brought up the fact that you can't have a collegiate athlete in the same class as a 35 year old mom, doing 30 reps of cleans, which has been a criticism of Crossfit since the beginning.

Wendler agreed with all of this, but he had other reasons. When I asked him about Glassman (founder of Crossfit), he simply said "Douchebag". What used to be a fairly dedicated place, being started up by budding gym owners in shitty abandoned warehouses and whatnot, is now becoming more corporate. People are getting trainer certifications after 2 days seminars. And that shit costs like 2000 bucks.
Jim also talks to Rippetoe around once and month, and while he didn't go into details, he explained that Rippetoe basically told Glassman to fuck off. I kind of assumed something happened, because if you look on rip's website he's beginning his own barbell certification program, but I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. I was always kind of puzzled that Rip, who, at least with training, has very high moral and dedication standards about doing right by the trainees. Crossfit seems to be neglecting that worse than ever.