Movement Patterns and Cycles

1) In my mind, quality is more important than quantity which is more important than load

2) do fewer exercises. Do one exercise per 'fundamental movement pattern'*

3) do fewer 'work' reps. Shoot for maybe 10-15, so 6x1, 5x2, 3x3, 5x3, 3x5. The longer the set, the more likely it is you'll do more reps of lower quality (see point #1)

4) warm up to your 'work' reps by using steps of lighter weight (e.g. if you are looking to squat 100kg for 5 sets of 2 reps, you might do 8 reps with 40kg, 5 reps with 60kg, 3 reps with 80 kg, 1 rep with 90kg, then your 5 work sets of 2 reps with 100kg)

5) drop the "train to failure" attitude with compound movements. Train to win, don't train to lose. Training to failure increases the likelihood of training more reps with poor form or improper range of motion, see point #1. If you feel like you are close to failure, stop and call it a day, congratulate yourself on your 100% success rate of high quality reps.

6) track the weights used (whether you do that here or somewhere else doesn't matter), so you make sure you are improving. Provided that you are keeping your reps perfect (quality), then being able to do perfect sets of 3 with something you were previously doing perfect sets of 2 counts as an improvement (quantity), then when it feels light, add a bit more weight (load), provided you don't sacrifice quality.



* fundamental movement patterns =

1) squat

2) hinge (at the hips)

3) push

4) pull

5) "other"/gait/put it all together



push and pull can be horizontal or vertical, so maybe there are 7 categories...



Category 5 is all of the 'other' planes of motion, so something like the Turkish Getup might fall in to 'other', or perhaps a one-armed overhead split squat, or Martial Arts, or Ballet...



Looking at your last workout and grouping them by movement pattern, you have:



Front squat (1)

back squat (1)

barbell thrusters (1 and 3)

kettle bell swings (2)

deadlifts (2 and 4)

barbell rows (4)

pullups (4)

sumo deadlift (2 and 4)

Romanian deadlift (2 and 4)

flat bench press (3)

incline/decline bench press (3)

Push press (3)

power cleans (2 and 4)

hang cleans (2 and 4)



Lots of overlap, and although it's fun to do lots of different exercises, you may find it more resourceful to specialise in one for each movement pattern. To me, this is the difference between 'exercise' and 'training'. Anyone can get 'tired', not everyone gets 'better'.



So, pick one exercise for each movement pattern and get really good at that one before changing.



Some exercises cover multiple patterns, but you might not be able to load them optimally for both patterns, so might not be appropriate. Deadlifts are great for covering hinge (2), and also cover pull (4) but do so with straight arms and quite a short range of motion. Thrusters cover squat (1) and push (3), but the load is likely to be limited by your push strength rather than your squat strength.



Let's see if you can get great results from the fewest exercises and the least work. How about you go with (from your list):



Deadlifts, front squats, push press and pull ups.



Get really skilled at doing high quality reps of these exercises, increase the reps gradually, increase the weight gradually, make sure quality is maintained, become more awesome.



You may consider doing something like this: pick a weight you know you can do for 5 reps, 100kg for example, then:



workout 1 (week 1, Mon) - warm up (see recommendation above), then 6x1 @100kg

workout 2 (week 1, Weds) - warm up, then 5x2 @100kg

workout 3 (week 1, Fri) - warm up, then 3x3 @100kg

- add 5%, drop back down the rep range, carry on

workout 4 (week 2, Mon) - warm up, then 6x1 @105kg

workout 5 (week 2, Weds) - warm up, then 5x2 @105kg

workout 6 (week 2, Fri) - warm up, then 3x3 @105kg

- add 5%, drop back down the rep range

workout 7 (week 3, Mon) - warm up, then 6x1 @110kg



and so on, provided every rep is 100% quality



If it feels too easy, brilliant, concentrate on quality, maybe add some weight. If it feels too hard, take some weight off and concentrate on quality. If it's a challenge but you can do it, great, do it and concentrate on quality.



:D