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Ryan Mullen's avatar

Hey Wolf! Do you still recommend holding your breath on the bench press for three reps, then two reps (i.e., two breaths per work set of five reps) or do one breath for each rep like with all the other lifts?

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Michael Wolf's avatar

I initially teach it as one breath per rep, which is how I taught you if you recall. Once you're a month or two in and have the basic bench technique down well, then yes, I recommend going to multiple reps per breath so you do a typical work set of 5 reps on 2-3 breaths instead of 5. Same concept for other rep ranges.

Only for bench though, among the main lifts.

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Latticegourd's avatar

In your other article ‘So you want to get strong: where to begin?’ you have phases 2 and 3 organised differently.

In one article you say to replace one deadlift day with chins in phase 2, then later replace another deadlift day with barbell row in phase 3. But in the other article you introduce the barbell row first, then chins.

Has your thinking on this changed?

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Michael Wolf's avatar

Impressed with your close reading to notice this.

Either way is really fine - the 'guts' of the program is the big 4 basic barbell lifts and that's what is, by far, most important. The only one thing those lifts don't train in a primary way is the upper body compound pulling motion, which can be filled in with either rows or chins/pulldowns (eventually both, but one is fine at first). So which one you do first isn't that important. I tend to prefer chins as they're simpler and less technically complex, but it's a soft preference. Either way is fine.

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Arjun Singh's avatar

I was also hoping you could share whether variable resistance training could be considered the theoretical ideal for strength training. (e.g. chains and resistance bands accompanying an essentially traditional barbell set up for the 5 main lifts).

I’ve read that there is risk of joint damage over time by imposing static resistance during all parts of the ROM. For example, the part of bench press where the bar is closest to the chest, which is much harder to exert force during, compared to the upper portion of the ROM when the arms are extended. Is there an inappropriate demand being placed on my joints that I should be concerned about long term? Does proper form mostly or completely mitigate that risk?

I imagine that variable resistance can complicate warm ups, resetting, and progression, but I was hoping you could speak to what if any tradeoffs there might be, and address what might be “safer.”

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Arjun Singh's avatar

Do you recommend warming up for deadlift without the empty bar sets?

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Michael Wolf's avatar

Deadlifts are unique among the main lifts in that doing them with the empty bar is a different movement than with weights on, rather than just the same movement with less weight. Since one of the primary functions of warmup sets is to practice the movement the same way you'll do it for the work-sets, to grease that groove, empty bar deadlifts don't accomplish this. Start with an appropriate light weight, and do the necessary number of warmups to prepare for the work-set(s). This will usually be 3-4 for most people; a little more if you're strong or deadlifting first in the workout without being generally warmed up from other lifts first, a little less if you're a beginner and still weak.

For example: A normal person deadlifting a 300x5 work set, after having already squatted and benched, can do 135x5, 225x3, 275x2 and be ready to deadlift. A very strong experienced lifter pulling 635x5 and doing it first in the workout, may do something like 135x8x2, 225x5, 315x3, 405x2, 495x1, 585x1 before going on to 635x5. A newbie doing 105x5 after her other lifts, can just do 65x5 then 85x3 and be ready.

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Arjun Singh's avatar

Great, thanks so much for the detailed reply.

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