When in doubt, do less

Introduction 
Last week, I front squatted 365x3 and push-pressed double 106 lb kettlebells x4—numbers I haven’t hit in 6 years.

Would you believe me if I told you that my training over the past 8 weeks involved lifting no more than 85% of my max?

I wouldn’t have believed it either.

I always thought to lift maximally heavy weights, you had to lift maximally heavy weights.

In this blog, I’ll share the program I followed and my approach to improving maximal strength.

1. Live and learn 

Last July, I hired a coach (who I'll leave unnamed) to learn about hybrid athlete training, which combines high-speed running and heavy lifting.

In our first week, I was required to record 1RMs and all-out sprint intervals. It was exciting and fun initially.

However, when I saw the first month of the program, it included the heaviest lifting with the lowest reps I'd ever seen early in a training phase.

I asked the coach why this approach, and he told me that if you can lift maximally, there’s no point in submaximal lifting. Simply put, building volume at lower loads wasn’t necessary in his opinion.

This was contrary to my usual approach of using the early months to build a foundation of sub-maximal lifting before increasing intensity. I was open to challenging my beliefs, though.

Fast forward three weeks, and I suffered the worst back injury I’ve ever experienced while setting up for a heavy set of conventional deadlifts. The injury was so bad I limped around Greece on my honeymoon, and it took me four months to fully recover.

The worst part? The coach didn’t care and ghosted me after the injury.

From that experience, I learned valuable lessons about risk vs. reward and the dangers of constantly chasing intensity. I also realized how important it is to trust your gut and experience.

2. Volume vs intensity 

Before diving deeper, it’s crucial to understand that you can’t push both volume and intensity at the same time in a program.

Simply put, if you're increasing reps and sets each week, you shouldn’t make big load jumps. And if you're increasing load, the volume should not be spiking either. 

When starting a program, the key question is: What variable are we manipulating first, and why?

Personally, I find that beginning with a 4-6 week block of volume building at submaximal loads prepares the body much better than jumping straight into 80%+ intensities.

This doesn’t mean the loads are light.

I prefer to build volume at loads between 60-75% because I find the sub-max strength repetitions build a groove of skill that translates to heavier loads. 

The reason? It significantly lowers the risk, allows for better learning, and provides a clear path for progress.

3. Training Organization 

You can organize training in many ways, but as the great Boo Schexnayder says, “All coaches have the same exercises; the difference in skill is how you put them together.”

When it comes to training organization, there are constraints—time, access to facilities, equipment, etc.—that will influence how you structure your training.

As I gain more experience, I’ve found that simplicity leads to the greatest gains.

For example, a younger version of me might have included 8-10 exercises in a session and changed the program every 2-3 weeks to keep the client from getting bored.

Now, I focus on the most important movements and give clients plenty of time to build skill in those patterns.

It turns out, they don’t get bored. I was the one getting bored because I was training 8-12 sessions a day that all looked very similar.

When organizing your training, I highly recommend identifying the most important elements and hitting them hard over an extended period.

4. Strength is a skill 

I view strength much like playing the piano or learning a new language, it's a skill.

To build strength, the most important thing is consistent practice of the same fundamental movements until you master them.

This contrasts with pop fitness culture, which often focuses on constant variation and learning a new skill every workout.

The truth is, it takes years of quality repetition to truly build the skill of strength.

5. 3x8 vs 6x4 

Brett Jones shared a study (J Strength Cond Res 36(11): 2983-2991, 2022) with me comparing two groups lifting the same loads in the same exercises. The only difference was that one group did 3 sets of 8 reps, while the other did 6 sets of 4 reps.

Additionally, the 3x8 group had double the rest time compared to the 8x3 group.

The results showed that even with less rest, the 6x4 group was able to recover in 24 hours, while the 3x8 group needed 48 hours.

This is significant because faster recovery means you can perform more quality reps in a week, helping you build strength more efficiently.

If you’re always pushing to exhaustion and soreness, there’s a limited window for effectively drilling the skills.

The main takeaway is that you can organize your training volume in different ways to produce slightly different adaptations.

6. StrongFirst influence 

I was listening to Pavel's podcast with Andrew Huberman, where they discussed a method used by Fabian Zonin. This method involves pairing three compound lifts and accumulating sets of 5 reps at 70% of your 1RM.

It’s important to note that 70% should be a load you could lift for 10 reps if pushed to failure. That’s the starting point for this method.

I remembered using this protocol nearly a decade ago and how impactful the results were.

So, I decided to design a program based on this approach, which I’ll outline below.

7. The program 

In the past month, over 100 people have tried this strength program, and the results have been amazing. (If you want in join my savage athlete program, we are in Week 2.) 

For exercise selection, you have two options:

1. Pick just three exercises and perform them 2-3 times per week.
2. Pick six exercises and split them across two training days.

I chose option #2 because I enjoy a little variety in my training to keep it fun and engaging.

For exercise selection, I included a hinge, squat, horizontal push, vertical push, and horizontal pull. You can use any variation of these movements for clients of all skill levels.

Day 1: Trap bar deadlift, close-grip bench press, chin-up
Day 2: Squat, overhead press, chin-up

I set up all three lifts and cycle between them, making sure I’m not resting too long or rushing through. I go when I feel ready.

10 sets of 5 for three exercises usually takes about 35-40 minutes, including a short warm-up with mobility and plyometrics.

Volume focus (Volume ^)

• Week 1 (70%): 6 x 5 = 30 x 3 = 90 reps

• Week 2 (70%): 8 x 5 = 40 x 3 = 120 reps

• Week 3 (70%): 10 x 5 = 50 x 3 = 150 reps

• Week 4 (75%): 6 x 5 (add load) = 90 reps

• Week 5 (75%): 8 x 5 = 120 reps

• Week 6 (75%): 10 x 5 = 150 reps

Intensity focus (Intensity ^)

• Week 7 (75/80/85%): (5/3/2) x 2 = 20 x 3 = 60 reps

• Week 8 (75/80/85%): (5/3/2) x 3 = 30 x 3 = 90 reps

• Week 9 (75/80/85%): (5/3/2) x 4 = 40 x 3 = 120 reps

• Week 10 (80/85/90%): (3/2/1) x 2 = 6 x 2 = 12 reps

• Week 11 (80/85/90%): (3/2/1) x 3 = 6 x 3 = 18 reps

• Week 12 (85/90/95%): (3/2/1) x 4 = 6 x 4 = 24 reps

The key to executing this correctly is selecting the right loads.

You’re doing it right if, by the end of the session, you feel fatigue building and the last 1-2 sets are challenging. If all the sets feel hard, the load is too heavy. If all the sets feel easy, the load is too light.

8. Conclusion 

There are many ways to structure training programs to achieve the desired results.

I find that starting programs by building volume before increasing intensity acts as a built-in insurance policy.

When constructing training volumes, there are several approaches you can take.

It's important to note that sets of 8-12 reps tend to result in high tissue damage. Instead, you might consider doing more sets with fewer reps to focus on skill development. This allows for faster recovery, letting you get more practice in the next day or two.

If you want to try a simple strength training program, check out my 12-week program I shared, and let me know how it works for you!