Single factor training 5x5 question to Madcow

[FAUSTO]

I want to start bill starrs 5x5 routine, single factor theory. I have a few questions about the routine. On mondays training could i swap the weighted hypers to goodmornings because we dont have a hyper machine in the gym that i go to.

On wednesdays instead of doing incline bench, could i swap it with military presses and could i add in some pullups also just like the wednesdays training in the dual factor theory.

And on wednesdays could i do some forearm work to strengthen my wrists up instead of doing the sit ups.

Do you think this is a good idea or do you recommend i stick with the original routine the way it was written out by bill starr.

Thank you so much for all your help.

 

[RipStone]

On wednesday, doing MP instead of incline press is fine. Also, doing chins is fine on wednesday as well as long as it does not interfer with your rows on friday.

Also, personally I do grip work on thursday and saturday or sunday. I do it on these days cus if I did grip work on tuesday it would interfer with deadlifts on wednesday. IMO you could do grip work and abs work on wednesday, again if it does not interfer with the rest of your training.

I dunno about subbing hypers and GMs...sorry.

 

[Madcow2]

The GMs should be very light if you do it - i.e. start with the bar and add only a little bit of weight a week - this is for conditioning and strengthening the core - not for use as a 'big exercise' in this program. These are not reverse hypers (i.e. Westside Barbell - fairly rare machine). You can generally find hypers (either 45 degree or standard) near the "ab" benches.

 

[FAUSTO]

Thanks guys for your replies, i am very grateful. I have some more questions for you.

1. How long do you recommend that i use the single factor theory before i switch over to doing the dual factor type training.

2. How many warm up sets do you think i should do before doing the main 5x5 working sets.

3. On the main 5 working sets, do you do 5 sets of the same weight or do 5 sets of pyramiding the weight up in equal increments.

4. On the days of doing abs, it says on monday to do weighted sit ups and on wednesdays it says to do sit ups. Does this mean to do full sit ups, and could i do exercises for my lower abs and obliques or should i stick to doing the sit ups.

I know this is a lot of questions but i just want to get everything right from day one. Once again thank you so much for all your help

 

[RipStone]

1. Milk SF as long as possible. To the program verbatim until you stop progressing. At this point you can continue to use SF, but tweak it a little by re-ramping your loads again or by cutting the volume and doing more work at your max sets(Madcow can elbaorate on this I am sure).

2. None actualy. Warm up by doing some body weight squats or by getting some blood flowing by doing 5 mins on an elliptical

3. For the SF version, you will prymaid up the loads until you reach a max-set(your 5RM). However, you dont do this on every training day. Maybe look at my journal to see how to go about picking the loads.

4. This is more up in the air. Most of your ab work should be with weight in order to build strong abs. You need strong abs to support yourself in the core lifts.

 

[blut wump]

There are several logs on here. Take a look at them for examples.