weeklifts - the weekside method

Foreword

This is my take on cube method/RTS/conjugate principles applied in what I hope to be a long term programming cycle.
My main priorities are:

• Getting my strength back - pushing my 1RMs past old PRs
• Dealing with fatigue - RTS's 4th day was wrecking me, which I think is largely due to deadlifting twice a week. I need to address this.
• Keep my work capacity up and keep my rest cycles short
• Target weaknesses - I suck at this and need to pay attention to it.
• Keep up high frequency on bench (3+ times a week). Lower frequency for deadlift. Squat somewhere in between
• Adapt - change variations and accessories where necessary every 3-6 weeks. Don't get stuck in a static program.

During the planning and discovery of this, I found Garrett Blevins had already done an excellent job implementing something very close to what I originally had in mind.
I've made some further modifications, but he really did the ground work here. This program takes a lot of ideas from a lot of other successful programs.

For more info on how this came to be, my trial run with percentages, and other draft details, see the weekside trial post. This post is a distilled version of that with RPEs implemented.

Structure

General ideas

• Conjugate, periodize, and auto-regulate - Do all the buzz words
• Squat and Bench on same day - RTS style
• Split up the main Cube lift variations into separate days for frequency
• One bodybuilding day like Cube
• One SBD variation day to keep the body used to doing all three lifts in one day and in competition order

Main lifts and variations

Main Lifts - Deadlift, Bench, Squat
Schemes - Heavy, Explosive, Reps

Squat

• Comp Squat
• Squat with longer ROM (front squat - use a separate training max for this)
• Squat with shorter ROM or pause (Box squat / Pause squat)

Bench

• Comp Bench (Wide grip, in my case)
• Bench with longer ROM (close grip)
• Bench with shorter ROM and/or assist (Board press, pin press, Pause board press, slingshot, floor press)
• Bench with unassisted pause (On chest, 1" off chest) - Use same structure as shorter ROM accessory

Deadlift

• Comp Deadlift (Sumo, in my case)
• Deadlift with longer ROM (Deficit, conventional)
• Deadlift with shorter ROM (Block pulls, Rack Pulls)

Conjugate rotation

Each of the 3 ROM types / variations have specific rep ranges for the 3 styles and 3 waves.
This leads to something like this for a lift over 10 weeks:

• Heavy Day 1 (Week 1)
  • Comp Lift - 2 x 5 @ 6-7 RPE
  • Variation 1 - 1-3 x 2 @ 8 RPE
  • Variation 2 - 4-6 x 2 @ 8 RPE
• Explosive Day 1 (Week 2)
  • Comp Lift - 65% x 3 x 8
  • Variation 1 - 70% x 5 x 2
  • Variation 2 - 60% x 8 x 2-3
• Reps Day 1 (Week 3)
  • Comp Lift - 8-12 x 2-3 @ 7 RPE
  • Variation 1 - 6-8 x 2 @ 7-8 RPE
  • Variation 2 - 10-12 x 2-3 @ 8 RPE
• Heavy Day 2 (Week 4)
  • Comp Lift - 2 x 3 @ 7-8 RPE
  • Variation 1 - 1-2 x 2 @ 9 RPE
  • Variation 2 - 3-5 x 2 @ 8-9 RPE
• Explosive Day 2 (Week 5)
  • Comp Lift - 70% x 2 x 6
  • Variation 1 - 75% x 5 x 2
  • Variation 2 - 65% x 6 x 2-3
• Reps Day 2 (Week 6)
  • Comp Lift - 4-8 x 2-3 @ 8 RPE
  • Variation 1 - 2-3 x 2 @ 7-8 RPE
  • Variation 2 - 6-8 x 2 @ 7-8 RPE
• Heavy Day 3 (Week 7)
  • Comp Lift - 2 x 1 @ 8 RPE, 1 x 1 @ 8 RPE, 1 x 1 @ 9 RPE, 80% x AMRAP
  • Variation 1 - No variation this week
  • Variation 2 - No variation this week
• Explosive Day 3 (Week 8)
  • Comp Lift - 75% x 2 x 5
  • Variation 1 - 80% x 3 x 3
  • Variation 2 - 70% x 3-5 x 2-3
• Reps Day 3 (Week 9)
  • Comp Lift - 2 x 2 @ 7 RPE
  • Variation 1 - 1-2 x 2 @ 7-8 RPE
  • Variation 2 - 3-5 x 2 @ 7 RPE

We also stagger the conjugate rotation so that each lift is in a different phase each week.
In other words, every lift follows the Heavy, Explosive, Reps rotation, but they start on different phases from Week 1 and do 3 cycles each.

• Week 1

  • Squat Heavy
  • Bench Explosive
  • Deadlift Reps

• Week 2

  • Squat Explosive
  • Bench Reps
  • Deadlift Heavy

• Week 3

  • Squat Reps
  • Bench Heavy
  • Deadlift Explosive

• ...

• Week 9

  • Squat Reps
  • Bench Heavy
  • Deadlift Explosive

Weekly Main Lift Breakdown

• Day 1

  • Squat
  • Squat variation 1
  • Bench
  • Bench variation 1
  • Accessory

• Day 2

  • Deadlift
  • Deadlift variation 2
  • Bench variation 2
  • Accessory

• Day 3

  • Squat variation 2
  • Bench variation 3
  • Deadlift variation 1
  • Accessory

• Day 4

  • Bench supplement (Flyes, incline, etc...)
  • Overhead press
  • Accessory

Accessory

Accessories can be whatever you want, generally targeting some weak points or things not covered by the big 3.
I started with Cube Kingpin and made some variations ending up with something like this to start:

• Day 1

  • Front / Side Raises - 10 x 3
  • Face Pulls - 10-15 x 3
  • Pullups - AMRAP x 3

• Day 2

  • Rows - 10 x 3
  • Shrugs - 10 x 3
  • Chinups - AMRAP x 3

• Day 3

  • Quad target (Sissy squats, bulgarian split squats) - 15 x 3
  • Hamstring target (Leg Curl) - 15 x 3
  • Weighted Back Extensions - 12 x 4
  • Pull downs - 15 x 4

• Day 4

  • Rows - 10 x 3
  • Curls - 10 x 3
  • Good Girls - 10 x 3
  • Farmer walks - 30s x 4
  • Glute target (kick backs, bridge) - 10 x 3

Example of full run

Google Sheet

Peaking

I think going with a more standardize and highly specific peaking program to get used to high intensities is a better call than trying to modify weekside for peaking. RTS has some great resources for this.

However, removing the staggered conjugate so that you have all 3 lifts heavy in one week (or all explosive / reps in one week) might be brutally hard but line you up to test your maxes on week 10.

Other

Implementing box jumps
Implementing air bike