Understood about benching more frequently. I do think frequency might be necessary to move forward with the bench at a certain point, maybe even the press too. There is probably a money spot for all the 6 lifts regarding frequency, weight and volume. And likely none of them are the same. I think the upper body pulls, might be on one end of the spectrum and deadlifts on the other but the pushes and squats aren't quite as clear to me.
Its funny how much my mindset has changed already about minimalizing and simplifying workouts I kind of forgot about lifting more than 3 times a week which is completely doable and probably recommended by most. I guess that's how much down the concurrent path I have come to basically whittle out any excess? I still would like to do some hill sprints, or even some hill repeats? I have some stairs on my weekly run maybe I should try to ad 10 minutes and do some repeats there.
I put together my pull down unit this morning. Still thinking about the best way to add it in? Maybe as a warmup for pull ups and full loads for seated rows? I think I am going to lift Friday just so I can test it out.
Yah, that spectrum seems about right to me. Upper body pulls can, and perhaps should, be done pretty much every workout, which is what I'm thinking of trying. Plus, they don't add much time. I can do three sets of pulldowns or rows in about five to seven minutes, whereas squats and deadlifts can take fifteen or twenty, once you factor in warm-up sets.
I think Bench and Deadlift are sort of the same for me. Just once a week done heavy or intensively might be enough, then a lighter workout just to maintain the movement and keep the joints lubed. I'm still convinced of my idea that squats can drive 80% of deadlift progress, and overhead presses can do the same for the bench press. So two hard workouts per week on the squats and presses should do the trick.
I've never really tried a 4x per week routine, at least not for any extended period of time. I've always settled on that EOD, 3x per week alternation with aerobic exercise. But if you look at most programs, almost none of them do six lifts every workout intensively. I'm mostly going on intuition, but I think a little extra time spent on fewer lifts might give me more benefit at this point, although I like how my six-lift, higher frequency routine allows for easy recovery. We'll see. With the 2/3/5/7+ protocol, although I haven't really given it a fair shot, it's just a little daunting to do all four main lifts at that level of intensity. I think two per workout then secondary or assistance stuff that doesn't take as much time, energy, or motivation could work well for me. And with just two intense lifts, I could add a set of doubles or triples to really stroke the muscle recruitment genie, then let it work its magic with five- and 7-rep sets for a good pump. Or do the double load once as a single, once as a double, then two sets of triples, one set of five, and one set of seven plus.
So it's kind of your minimalist idea, but since I'm not really expending much time or energy on the aerobic front, it can be expanded a bit, without really adding anything in that's superfluous. The more I become familiar with the meathead literature, the more I side with the big and basic school of thought, i.e, the Rippetoes and Wendlers, or going back further, the Parks and Starrs. Plus, I think a lot of those bodybuilder routines are predicated on juicing. Then there's the Men's Health/Bret Contreras school where you need to worry about getting in every possible variation known to man. "Oh shit, I forgot to do my band pull-aparts!"
Also, with a simple Workout A & B scheme, I can easily allow for interruptions. Workout A is the most important, so get that in first. Workout B is expendable in a really busy week or when I'm sick, but if I just get in those two workouts, A & B, I'm probably at least at maintenance level. Then repeating each workout one more time in the week is frosting on the cake, but could really spur greater progress.
With the hill repeats (I hesitate to call them sprints since I'll be running at a 10-11mm pace) I'm thinking of putting them at the end of a workout, on the way to picking up the kids, since, initially at least, I'll only do one or two 'laps', to see how the knees handle it. But it could be a good way to scratch the running itch once in a while. Plus I think the running motion is an important one to practice. Nothing else really mimics it.
Pulldowns are also good for those grips that are hard to do as pullups, like a close-grip pulldown with one of those triangle attachments. But yeah, cable rows are probably the best use, because they work the back in a way that other rows don't.
Going to see a doctor in an hour about this persistent sore throat . . . enough is enough.