6 Week Squat & Bench Routine

Here are a couple routines you can use for breaking past lingering plateaus in the bench and the squat.

Use your current one rep max (1RM), not a training max.
70% x 8 x 5 reads 70% of 1RM x 8 sets x 5 reps.

Your squat days will look like this...

6 Week Squat Routine

	Day 1	Day 2
Week 1	70% x 8 x 5	80% x 6 x 2
Week 2	70% x 10 x 6	85% x 6 x 2
Week 3	75% x 8 x 5	87% x 7 x 2
Week 4	70% x 3, 75% x 3, 80% x 2, 85% x 2, 90% x 3 x 1	80% x 6 x 2
Week 5	70% x 2, 75% x 2, 80% x 2, 85% x 2, 90% x 1, 95% x 3 x 1	85% x 12 x 2
Week 6	OFF	TEST 1RM

Alternatively for your bench, your routine will look like this...

6 Week Bench Routine

	Day 1	Day 2
Week 1	55% x5, 65% x3 70% x 2, 80% 5 x 2, 60x10	55% x4, 65& x3, 70% 2 x 3, 75% 2 x 2, 80% 2 x 2, 85% 2 x 1, 70% x 4,60% x10
Week 2	55% x4, 65% x3, 70% x3, 80% 5 x 3, 60% x 12	55% x4 65% x3, 75% 2 x 3, 75% 2 x 3, 80% 3 x 2, 85% 2 x 2, 75% x4, 60% x12
Week 3	55% x4, 65% x3, 70% x2, 80% 5x4	55% x4, 65% x4, 70% x3, 75% x2, 80% x3, 85% 2x3, 90% 4x1, 65% x10
Week 4	55% x3, 60% x3, 70% x2, 80% 12x2,	55% x3, 60% x3, 70% x2, 80% x2, 85% x1, 90% x1, 95% 6x1
Week 5	55% x3 60% x3, 70% x2, 80% x2, 85% 3x2	OFF
Week 6	TEST 1RM	Rest

You can use these programs together. If you decided to, this is what it will look like with antagonist assistance work.

All Together For 6 Weeks

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Week 1	Bench + BB Row	Squat + GHR	Bench + DB Row	Squat + RDL
Week 2	Bench + BB Row	Squat + GHR	Bench + DB Row	Squat + RDL
Week 3	Bench + BB Row	Squat + GHR	Bench + DB Row	Squat + RDL
Week 4	Bench + BB Row	Squat + GHR	Bench + DB Row	Squat + RDL
Week 5	Bench + BB Row	Squat + GHR	OFF or Light Work	Squat + RDL
Week 6	Max On Bench	OFF	OFF or Light Deload	Max on Squat

You can certainly add in some other assistance work of course. As always, just don't go nuts. You could throw in a little overhead pressing on one bench day and some type of vertical pulling (i.e. pull-ups) on the other bench day. Also, it should go without saying, to work your abs a few days a week through the cycle. You really should not have to do much more for your lower body other than the squats-- it should be more than plenty.

I used pretty much the exact some template to squat 430 lbs. You can check it out the video here:

Stick To Your Guns

One of the worst things a lifter, or anyone for that matter, can do is comparing yourself to others. In the modern day of the internet we are constantly bombarded with "do this," "do that," or some new fad. On top of that, we have the ability to expose ourselves to all of these people around the world who might seem ridiculously strong and you begin to question why the hell you're even busting ass in the gym.

You need to keep in mind that if you are doing the basics such as following a sound lifting program, lifting with great intensity, following a diet, and getting rest that there is little you can do outside of that to progress any quicker or further. The struggle, yet the key, is being creative and persistent through this process. I started lifting in high-school in a Strength & Conditioning class at the confused age of 14. I never cared about what I could lift. I just wanted a class where I could do what was natural to me, which was being physically active. I hated sitting in a class room and doing book work. Till this day, I hate it, and I have a degree in physics.

I fell out of lifting for years, I thought it was silly. Gyms made no sense to me. The people running in place on a treadmill like a hamster on an exercise wheel or some muscled up narcissistic douchebag watching himself pump his muscles in front of a mirror. I called the gym, and still do today, the Gerbal Gym. Most gyms are this. People in there trying to fulfill some bullshit that makes absolutely no sense to me. I hate gyms. However, the internet gave me a fantastic gift. I saw these guys lifting big weights and training their primordial personalities with passion. Hot damn, video after video, article after article, I began learning about a whole different culture of men and women who just trained to become better humans. They didn't train for beauty pageant shows, to look good for the beach, or because of some doctor's prescription... they trained to become stronger versions of themselves. For no other reasons other than to just do it. I believe that is what fascinated me with the whole powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting circles. I always associated general exercise, conditioning, and weightlifting with bullshit. It opened my eyes and I am not sure why. Athletes do these things to train for various sports, you name it. However, this gave me a gift-- a gift that enabled me to release the common sociological crap that plagues modern man.

When you feel like you are losing, you are stagnant, and perhaps regressing. Remember why you are doing what you are doing. I can guarantee the reason lies within you on such a deep personal level that what others are doing is absolutely of zero importance. Pave your own path. Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. Never give up. Take pride in your struggles. The great music and emotional moving art is created through exactly what you are going through. Saturate yourself in it.

Bigger Traps Assistance Work

Large trapezius muscles are beneficial for many reasons, to name a few:


1) They look awesome and give a lifter that athletic "power look."
2) They provide an important platform for the barbell during movements such as squats and behind the neck presses.
3) They are insanely powerful muscles which aid in pretty much every compound movement.
4) They support stability in the upper back increasing the amount of weight lifted in the squat, bench, deadlift, and Olympic lifts.
5) Weak people have small traps. Larger traps correlate with a strong person.


During my unfortunate and unavoidable hiatus from lifting one of the areas I wanted to bring up quickly was my traps. For the reasons above and others. They are a very important muscle to focus on. For me, the more beef I have on my back the more weight I can comfortably set on my back to squat. Also, strong traps make any type of pulling movement easier. Whether it is off the ground, vertically, horizontally-- and so on.


I would like to share with you what I did to focus on building distinguishable trapezius muscles. First, let me share with you before, during, and after photos. They are not the best of quality, but will give you an idea of what some simple persistent training can do for you.


First off, this is me around December 2012:

Dec. 2012

This is about 6 months later:

June 2013

...and finally, about 6 months after that at the end of 2013.

December 2013

This is what I did. Nothing fancy, just a combination of classic bodybuilding schemes and olympic assistance work. Regardless of your weekly split, just add these in accordingly however you would like, and what compliments your training days. 3 x 12 reads 3 sets of 12 reps.

Weeks 1-4
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x 12

Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 5 x 5

Day 3: High Face Pull 3 x 12

Weeks 5-8
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x12, pause for 1 second at top contraction

Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 3 x 3

Day 3: High Face Pull, Drop Sets 3 x 25, no rest between sets.

That is it, I pretty much cycled that for a solid year and the only thing I changed was increasing the weight every chance I was able to.

Now remember this is all assistance work. So this should be used in conjunction with a solid strength training template. If you're looking for a solid strength program check out my article on An Effective Variation of 5x5. It will get you strong and jacked, guaranteed. Hope this helps.

Training: The Mind

I got into a discussion (mostly listening) recently at work about exercise. A lot of people train for reasons that seem ambiguous and common. For example; a lot of people exercise for health reasons, they don't like the way they look (aesthetic), or their doctor or someone is telling them they need to exercise in order to add some amount of possible time to their life.

I find all of this hard to understand, because I wouldn't step foot into a gym for any of these reasons. For this reason people at face value often confuse me as a health nut, exercise guru, someone obsessed with the aesthetics and health benefits of exercising. I feel that this is also why a lot of people fail at ever changing anything physically, mentally, and emotionally through exercise.

The drive is not there. Just wanting to lose some flub around the mid-section, wanting to lower your blood pressure, or wanting to "look better naked" is going to result in less than ideals results over the long haul. It has to be beyond that I feel. Sure, there are those that become totally obsessed with a personal issue and will become persistent -- however, these are usually those that you see at the local gym doing the same thing day in and day out, year after year.

Like a mechanical organism, programmed to do one thing because "that is the only way" and in fear of transforming to their formal selves.

Training gives me a sense of self, it reminds me of my mortal barriers, that my body is still there. What I mean is that from day to day, the average person forgets about their body. It is sort of like when you get really sick you all of a sudden realize holy shit how awesome was it when I could breath clearly and my lungs were clear-- you realize you really take good health for granted.

Or, when you get injured and you lose the function of a limb, only then is the average person aware of the appendage. When you train, and train hard, you are constantly aware of your body. The very act of it being constantly torn down and built up, over and over, again and again. Sleeping good, sleeping bad, big appetite, small appetite, gorilla like strength one day, the strength of a mouse the next-- this dynamic process creates this self awareness of your body that is consistently in your face.

Training embodies a part of me, that is otherwise useless in current society. There is no true physical struggle anymore-- life is easy from a physical standpoint. Our hardships are mostly financial and social. I can walk into a store to buy my food, I turn a facet on to get clean water, walk into a doctor's office to get medicine-- necessities are in abundance granted that I keep my end of the bargain up and go to work and serve the system. This honestly leaves me in this unfulfilled state, where my primordial component handed to me from my ancient ancestors is left to rot and decay. Training keeps it alive, honed in, and trained.

Training resets the negative. I've commented before, training is often a religious experience for me. It is beyond a big squat or a nice chest. It is almost completely about my mind. The challenge is the fuel. The body is my vessel, it is a tool I use for my mind.