Rest Days and Strength Programs

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Updates, Rest Days, and Getting Stronger

** Newsletter Originally sent on April 21, 2017.

Street Parking Crew -

We stepped our newsletter game and we hope you like how this looks! Our goal is to deliver helpful information and updates to you guys at least 2 x per month.

We really listen to your feedback about what you have questions about or what you would like to see more of in your program.

The basis of this program will ALWAYS be to keep it super simple. Our belief is that there are a lot of programs out there that are built for people who have a TON of time to train. We also feel that while we really like a lot of these programs, that they might make people feel as though they NEED to be putting in a ton of time and extra work in order to "get fit" or reach their goals.

Sure, if you want to be a competitive athlete in any sport - you will have to dedicate a little more time than the rest of us. But, if your goal is just to get super fit, while balancing your busy schedule with minimal equipment.....our daily workouts with a few of the Sunday extras added in are really all you need.

It's INTENSITY and CONSISTENCY that will get you there...not tons of time and volume.

With that said, we know some of you have a little extra time and just love to lift heavy. In this newsletter, we have broken down some of the lifting programs for building general strength that we have followed in the past.

We also wanted to make a quick note about RESTING - and when to take a rest day. What does that even mean??

REST DAYS
Rest days are meant to maximize your intensity and help you to get the most out of each training session both mentally and physically.To know when you should rest, you really have to know yourself and your body.

A couple basic things to think about when it comes to Rest Days:

You should be taking at least 1 full day off per week.
For many of us, those end up happening when things come up and often times end up coming up on their own. That's OK!
If you are REALLY sore. Rest.
If you typically really look forward to training and you find yourself not really feeling like training - REST!
If you feel sluggish or slow in your workouts, or weight feels heavier than normal - make sure you are eating enough and REST!!

WANT TO GET STRONGER?? CHECK OUT OUR SUPER SIMPLE GUIDE TO 2 DIFFERENT STRENGTH PROGRAMS!

When looking for a general strength program, there can be a lot of information out there to sort through. There are a bunch of opinions on what is the "best". At the end of the day, what we have found is that just having SOMETHING to follow that makes you consistent and is a linear (building with each session) progression - usually does the trick. Below are 2 of the programs we have seen success with and are pretty easy to follow and figure out.

Both of these will require you to have at least an idea of what your 1 rep max is across the 4 major lifts - Back Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Shoulder Press.

If you haven't tested those numbers in a long time, or ever, you can definitely guess your way through these - but our suggestion is to start off by testing each of those out. Do NOT do it all on the same day. Maybe one lower body and one upper body on one day, and the other 2 a few days later.

STARTING STRENGTH

Starting Strength is a program that was designed by Mark Rippetoe. It is known as one of the best and simplest programs out there for beginners to get super strong. You don't have to be a beginner to see a huge benefit from it's linear approach and focus on what Rippetoe calls "the 5 most important exercises in the weight room".

For this program there are 3 basic workout days that will be rotated. The way it was originally written is to get all 3 of these workouts in per week, not ever doing any of them 2 days in a row. It is designed to have 1-2 days rest between each.

The 5 major lifts of the Starting Strength Program are - Back Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench Press, Power Clean. You will also see 2 accessory movements in the Strict Pull Up and Hip Extension. If you do not have a GHD you may sub Good Mornings in the place of the Hip Extensions on those days.

There is no set % prescribed to start with for this program, although we recommend starting somewhere around 70% of your 1 Rep Max and adding 5# to each lift - in each separate workout.

For Example, Workout A is a Squat, Press, Deadlift day. Workout B is a Squat, Bench Press day. Program C is a Squat, Press, Power Clean day.

So you would start at 70% of your 1 Rep Max Squat on Day 1 - Workout A and do all working sets at that percentage. on Day 2 - you would perform Workout B - and for the squat you would do 70% + 5lbs.

You would follow the same fashion for the other movements as well. The only exception to this would be for the Deadlift. Since you are only seeing those once in every 3 workouts and it is such a full body compound movement - we would recommend to add 10lbs every time the deadlift comes up.

There will be temptation to start heavier. Don't do that. Allow solid movement and add as you go. As soon as you get to where you can no longer progress (i.e. you fail your 5th rep), you will add 10 lbs to your predicted 1 RM and start back over - OR you can actually re-test your 1 RM after taking a week or so off.

All workouts are set at a 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 reps) rep scheme, except the Power Clean which is set at 5 x 3 (5 sets of 3). Each movement should have warm up sets, and these warm up sets do not count toward those working sets. All sets of the movements should be unbroken, except the Power Clean which can be dropped - but should be a quick re-set and then go again.

Here is what the program looks like:

Workout A	Squat	3 x 5
	Press	3 x 5
	Deadlift	3 x 5

Workout B	Squat	3 x 5
	Bench Press	3 x 5
	Back Extension	3 x 10
	Strict Pull Ups	3 x 10 or max reps

Workout C	Squat	3 x 5
	Press	3 x 5
	Power Clean	5 x 3

WENDLER 5 - 3 - 1

Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 is all about starting with very light weights while progressing slowly and consistently. This extremely popular strength training program is based off of the rep schemes 5, 3, 1, as the name suggests. Throughout the routine you will work with percentages based off of your max, and strive to hit rep PR’s each workout.

If you are looking for short training sessions, and slow but steady progress, then 5/3/1/ might be great for you. Jim believes starting light allows a lifter more room to progress forward.

5-3-1 is built around cycles. Each cycle consists of 4 weeks. Each week you will be training 4 days. Each day should be focused around one core lift. These lifts are Press, Deadlift, Bench Press, and Squat.

You will have rep-set goals for all of the major lifts each week.

Week 1: 3×5 (3 sets of 5 reps)

Week 2: 3×3 (3 sets of 3 reps)

Week 3: 3×5, 3, 1 (1 set of 5 reps, 1 set of 3 reps, and 1 set of 1 rep)

Week 4: Deloading (3 sets of 5 reps)

Once the cycle (4 weeks) is completed you will start your next cycle using heavier weights.

When choosing your beginning weights you must first know your maxes for the main 4 lifts. You will then want to take 90% of your maxes; these will be the numbers you base your first cycle (first 4 weeks) off of. For example, your 1RM in the bench press is 315 pounds, you use 285 (90%) as the base number for your training-weight calculations.

You may notice the last set shows 5+, 3+, and 1+. During these sets you will be going for as many reps as possible. You do not want to go to failure, but your goal should be a new rep record each workout.

After finishing your first cycle (first 4 weeks) you will add 5 Lb to your 1 rep max for the upper body exercises (bench press and military press), and 10 Lb to your 1 rep max for your lower body exercises (squat and deadlift) and recalculate your working numbers.

	Squat	B. Press	Dead	Press
Wk 1	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
	65% x 5	65% x 5	65% x 5	65% x 5
	75% x 5	75% x 5	75% x 5	75% x 5
	85% x 5+	85% x 5+	85% x 5+	85% x 5+

Wk 2	Day 1 / Squat	Day 2 / Bench	Day 3 / Dead	Day 4 / Press
	70% x 3	70% x 3	70% x 3	70% x 3
	80% x 3	80% x 3	80% x 3	80% x 3
	90% x 3+	90% x 3+	90% x 3+	90% x 3+

Wk 3	Day 1 / Squat	Day 2 / Bench	Day 3 / Dead	Day 4 / Press
	75% x 5	75% x 5	75% x 5	75% x 5
	85% x 3	85% x 3	85% x 3	85% x 3
	95% x 1+	95% x 1+	95% x 1+	95% x 1+

Wk 4	Day 1 / Squat	Day 2 / Bench	Day 3 / Dead	Day 4 / Press
	40% x 5	40% x 5	40% x 5	40% x 5
	50% x 5	50% x 5	50% x 5	50% x 5
	60% x 5	60% x 5	60% x 5	60% x 5

MIranda AlcarazApril 19, 2018Newsletter