Workout of the Week #73

Here’s your cleaned-up transcript:

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 73. So again, long name here. I need to concentrate: four-day modified StrongLifts 5×5 intermediate workout. Well, that went well.

So what’s the training goal? It is to build strength, as all other 5×5 StrongLifts workouts.

Training variables: We do 77.5% of the one-rep max to 82.5% of the one-rep max for the main exercises, and 75% to 80% of the one-rep max for the assistance exercises. Rep ranges: 5 for the main exercises, 4 to 6 for the assistance exercises. The exertion is hard to near maximum. The training effort is a repeated effort. Again, go to the introductory series and see why I think it’s more a repeated effort rather than a maximum effort.

If we look at the exercises: squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, and a barbell row as the main exercises. The assistance exercises: pull-up, dips, hanging leg raises, and back extensions. The exercise order: squat before push and pull, before deadlift, before assistance exercises if it applies.

More training variables: It’s four days a week. It’s a station training, including some complexes.

How does it look? Here we are, and we’ll jump right into it.

Here we are inside the modified intermediate 5×5 four-day workout. I changed the order of the words a bit around. Anyway, you download the PDF, you get an overview of the workout, and you see the weekly structure: Workout One, Workout Two, followed by a rest day and repeated Workout One, Workout Two. We’ll see that in a minute.

So Workout Number One is the lower body plus accessories. It’s exactly the same as in the beginner workout. Again, the difference between beginner and intermediate in the StrongLifts 5×5 is mainly the training intensity, which makes a lot of sense to me.

So we have back squat and deadlift. We do five sets of five at 75% of the one-rep max. We have five minutes of inter-set rest before we go to the accessories. Assistance exercises—again, assistance exercises and accessories are not the same. I have to learn that much better also, to not use them interchangeably.

Hanging leg raises: one minute. Back extensions: two minutes. So it’s an antagonistic complex. And we do three sets of eight.

In Workout Number Two, we go to the upper body where we do bench press and bench row, also here as a standalone exercise, not as a complex. But then the assistance exercises are organized in a complex, meaning yeah, we do five sets of five for the main lifts—the bench press and the barbell row—and then we do three sets of six at 75% for the assistance exercises.

Yeah, for the assistance exercises also, we have shorter inter-set rest: one minute after the pull-up, two minutes after the dips. Yeah, that might be a bit challenging, but because it is antagonistic, it is certainly possible. You will feel it a bit in the cardiovascular system, but it is certainly possible from a strength perspective.

Workout Number Three: Again, we have the lower body. I’ve outlined that before: I do not like the original order of deadlifting before squatting. So here I still have squats first, deadlift second, but I prefer to have a variation of the deadlift and not the regular deadlift. So that could be the trap bar or the RDL.

So again here, five sets of five at 77.5% of the one-rep max, five minutes of inter-set rest, and then we go to our assistance exercises: back extensions and hanging leg raises organized in a complex.

And then Workout Number Four: We move back to our upper body. So we do bench press, overhead press, and then our barbell curls and skull crushers. So main exercises, same thing here: five sets of five at 77.5%. Assistance exercises: three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max. Yeah. And then five minutes of inter-set rest between the main lifts. The complex organized in one minute after the first one, and then two minutes after the completion of the first complex.

Download that PDF. You get a glossary explaining the terms. You can read a bit about myself if you like to, or what other people have to say about me—my former athletes, my mentees, and my former colleagues. Last but certainly not least, you can join the membership and download the four-week periodized StrongLifts 5×5 intermediate workout alongside 72 other four-week periodized programs.

So let’s move back and finish this presentation. What are the next steps?

You download the PDF. You join the membership. And you like and subscribe. You can grab all previous workouts here. You can watch the previous workout. And if you haven’t already, you can subscribe.

I’ll see you next week with our next modified StrongLifts 5×5 workout, and then it’s going to be a two-day-a-week beginner workout. I’ll see you next week.