Power Cleans: 3×8@70kg(154lbs)
Good Mornings: 3×10@135lbs
Barbell Shrugs: 4×5@275lbs
Seated Rows: 1×6@135lbs, 1×6@160lbs, 1×10@210lbs
Lat Pulldowns: 1×6@135, 1×6@160, 1×6@185lbs
Leg Raises on Swiss ball: 3×10@bw
First time I’ve had power cleans as part of my workout and I think I picked a good set/rep & weight to start with. After every set I was laying down on something trying to catch my breath. Hopefully I haven’t over estimated my growth in these for the routine I’ve designed(outlined below).
Good mornings were just a test for my back to make sure I wasn’t going to have any pains doing these again. In the past these have led to some rather nasty back spasms. For the first three weeks I’m keeping the weight light and the reps high. Shrugs were pretty close to the right weight and I like the rep range it will allow me to go nice and heavy on these in the future. Next week I’ll do 315 and see how that feels but my traps are pumped and sore right now.
Seated rows were right on and I was able to pull out 10 reps at 210 again so I think I’ll be going up next week but lat pulldowns were horrible and I was only able to pull out six reps before I failed. Guess I’ll stick with that weight again next week. Leg raises hurt again but I’m going to stick with them cause I can really feel them from top to bottom.
New routine for the next six weeks for deadlift and squats:
| Tuesday(Deadlift) | Saturday(Squat) |
|---|---|
|
Power Cleans: 3×8 @ 70kg Good Mornings: 3×10 @ 135lbs Shrugs: 4×5 Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×5 @ 275lbs Lunges: 3×10 Pull Throughs: 3×10 GHR: 3×8 Abs: 3×10 |
|
Power Cleans: 3×8 @ 72.5kg(160lbs) Good Mornings: 3×10 @ 145lbs Shrugs: 4×5 Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×5 @ 300lbs Lunges: 3×10 Pull Throughs: 3×10 GHR: 3×8 Abs: 3×10 |
|
Power Cleans: 3×8 @ 75kg(165lbs) Good Mornings: 3×10 @ 155lbs Shrugs: 4×5 Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×5 @ 325lbs Lunges: 3×10 Pull Throughs: 3×10 GHR: 3×8 Abs: 3×10 |
|
Power Cleans: 3×5 @ 90kg(198lbs) Good Mornings: 3×5 @ 205lbs Rack Pulls: 3×3 @ 400lbs Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×3 @ 375lbs Lunges: 3×5 Pull Throughs: 3×12 GHR: 3×6 Abs: 3×10 |
|
Power Cleans: 3×5 @ 95kg(209lbs) Good Mornings: 3×5 @ 225lbs Rack Pulls: 3×3 @ 425lbs Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×3 @ 400lbs Lunges: 3×5 Pull Throughs: 3×12 GHR: 3×6 Abs: 3×10 |
|
Power Cleans: 3×5 @ 100kg(220lbs) Good Mornings: 3×5 @ 245lbs Rack Pulls: 3×3 @ 450lbs Seated Row: 1×10* Lat Pulldowns: 1×10* |
Box Squat: 3×3 @ 425lbs Lunges: 3×5 Pull Throughs: 3×12 GHR: 3×6 Abs: 3×10 |
Hopefully the weights don’t get too crazy during those last three weeks but I suppose only time will tell. I may have gone high on the box squats as I haven’t done them in a while and don’t know what to expect for strength.
I find the power cleans work the traps really well. I like the new routine. Should make your back strong and more explosive power for the deads.
Never really tried power cleans – do they work the same part of the traps as shrugs?
Routine looks good.
No I don’t think they do at all. I did them on saturday and didn’t have any soreness in my traps, but after doing shrugs yesterday my traps are killing me.
you cant really isolate any part of the traps. the reason why you dont have soreness is almost certainly to do with the fact that there is virtually no eccentric trap involvement in a powerclean, and its largely the eccentric part of lifts that contribute towards DOMS…
looks like a good set up, i like your workouts in general, always simple, effective and to the point….
the one thing i would suggest is not to keep the numbers too fixed on powercleans as the most important thing is bar speed. if your not moving the bar at 90%+ of your max speed for the lift then power development will be sub-optimal.
So you’re saying I should work up to a weight where I still feel like I’m pulling with max speed?
Thanks for the complement on my workouts, this is really about the first time I’ve designed a program myself.
yes stinn that is absolutely vital for explosive power development.
[like i said the guideline is 90%-100% of your max speed, but its not practical to measure bar velocity. two ways i know that you can do this if your interested:
a) buy a piece equipment that attaches to the barbell (sorry the name evades me right now).
b) taking a digital video of the lift and following the instructions as per this page here: http://hypertextbook.com/physics/mechanics/power/ ]
thanks john, I think I’ll play it by ear and just make sure to keep my speed up.
no prob. thats exactly what i do too
The machine John Yeo is talking about is called a Tendo Powerlizer, and it can be bought from Westside Barbell or Sorin for just over a grand. More importantly, it measures force production. On the Westside site, they measured Karen Sizemore’s bench at different weights and found that some of the light weights used yielded more force production than others – - – kind of like the wiffle ball analogy where throwing it much harder doesn’t necessarily make it go faster.
Stinn, I like this setup for back/DL. So I saved it. I’ll try it sometime.