Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Yesterday I covered Bob Hoffman’s Irregular Training as detailed in the old York Barbell Company courses.
If you missed it, it’s pretty simple. Train HEAVY one day per week – which we will call your LIMIT DAY.
Train two other days per week, but don’t train as heavy.
This later evolved into the York “Light, Medium and Heavy” Schedule – where you train light one day, medium another day, and heavy on the other day.
Now, that led to a ton of emails, including many from readers who said, “Why bother with the light and medium days – why not just train heavy once per week and not do anything else?”
Which is kind of surprising, given that I covered once per week workouts a few weeks ago, and got a ton of emails saying, “Impossible – it won’t work!”
Anyhow, here are some thoughts about training heavy once per week and doing nothing else during the week vs. training heavy once per week and doing some not so heavy training on other days.
1. First of all – everyone is different, and if training heavy one day per week works best for you, then do it.
1a. Ditto for training heavy once every six days – or every five days – or every four days.
1b. Related point. If what you are doing is working, then keep on doing it. If it’s not working, then make some sensible changes and see what happens. (Of course, whatever you do should be based on abbreviated training, compound exercises, heavy weights, etc. – in other words, don’t switch to a 20 set per bodypart muscle pumping routine and expect to see any progress).
2. If you do Olympic lifting, it is important to train more often than once a week in order to promote muscle and joint mobility, flexibility, and timing. Olympic weightlifting is an athletic skill, and must be treated as such.
2a. If you are an Olympic lifter, use your light and medium days to perfect your lifting technique.
2b. Note that two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner, Tommy Kono, has weighed in on this topic and has said that training 3x per week, using a Light, Medium, Heavy system, is BEST. You can’t argue with a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist.
3. Bob Hoffman always suggested that you include light days and medium days to help prepare you for the heavy work on your limit day. In Hoffman’s words, “They will tone the muscles and prepare them for the harder days ahead.”
3a. On light days and medium days, you can use letter perfect form and complete all of your reps on all of your sets. This gives you self-confidence, which carries over into better performances on your heavy day.
3b. Note that it is easier to learn important skills such as concentration and visualization if you are train I g with lighter weights. This means that light and heavy days are days when you can focus on developing the mental skills necessary for top level lifting.
4. Related to point no. 3 – some trainees will get really stiff and sore by going heavy one day a week and not doing anything else during the week. These trainees will do better by training on the Light, Medium and Heavy System.
5. Exercise is a great way to work off tension and stress – which is something we all encounter in the modern world. For older trainees, this may be one of the most important health benefits of physical training. And that’s a very good reason to train three times per week (Light, Medium and Heavy) rather than one time per week.
6. Consider “mixing it up” options if you do cardio work, kettlebells, martial arts, or a sport. In other words, do one heavy barbell workout per week and do cardio work or kettlebells or martial arts training or sports training on your medium and light days.
7. Note that older trainees may do better if their heavy day is not a maximum effort day. Many older trainees do best if they carefully limit the frequency of their limit workouts. Once a month as opposed to once every week may make all the difference in the world for an older lifter.
8. Beginners will do better with more frequent training because they need to learn the exercises. It’s much easier to develop good form in your exercises if you practice them 3x per week as a beginner rather than doing them only once per week.
9. As a general rule, if you’re trying to gain strength and muscle you can train less often than if you are trying to lose flab.
10. In the final analysis, it boils down to what works best for YOU – but just remember to follow and apply the basic principles of productive strength training as outlined in Dinosaur Training, Gray Hair and Black Iron, Strength, Muscle and Power, and each issue of the Dinosaur Files newsletter.
As always, thanks for reading, and heave a great day – and if you train today, make it a good one.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For more about effective strength training and productive workout programs, grab Dinosaur Training – Strength, Muscle and Power – Gray Hair and Black Iron – my new Doug Hepburn Training Course -- or The Dinosaur Files newsletter.
