Countdown to Strength Challenge Week 4 Live Tutorial Transcript

Note: This tutorial video was recorded as a live Facebook event. The text below is an edited transcript of the tutorial intended to provide members with a convenient means of referring to and further researching the topics and content detailed in the video.

Transcript

Alright, happy Sunday JYM Army. I'm going to jump into Week 4 of my Countdown to Strength Challenge. As of April 15th—that was the closing date of the challenge, so you can no longer sign up for the challenge—like I said, April 15th was the last day if you wanted to participate in the challenge part. But you can still follow the program. I'm still doing these live sessions, making the workouts available to anyone who wants to get access to them, and you can do them at any time. 

There are a few people who either part of the challenge or even not part of the challenge who are doing the program, just a few weeks behind me. I've already completed the first three weeks because I started this program right off the bat. However, many people waited until the 15th, or sometime in between when I started and the 15th, to get going. So, there are people who are just starting off, probably finishing up Week 1, those who are in Week 2, some are going into Week 3, and then there are many like myself who are ready to jump into Week 4.

Selecting the Right Weight for Your Big Three Lifts

We've completed Week 3 where we were doing the 3x3s and the 30 reps. Remember, our 3x3s are for the bench press—these are our three lifts: Bench, squat, and the deadlift are going to fall under these 3x3s. And remember, with the 3x3s we're not just doing 3x3 with as much weight as you can lift—you're going to be doing 3x3s for the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift three different times each week for each of these lifts.

However, the difference is sometimes you'll be using close to your 3-rep max to do 3 sets of 3. I would recommend in Week 3 somewhere around 90% of your 3RM to use, and again, remember, when I recommend these percentages of your max it's just a general guideline. Individual variances are going to make a difference here, and remember, like I said, by the time you're here in Week 3 you're already 3 weeks into the program so you're considerably stronger. 

Your old 3-rep max—and you're going to be using that 1-rep max chart or table that I have in the overview, so you're going to go to the overview. If you're on Instagram right now, you can click on my link tree and you'll find the Countdown to Strength Challenge. That link will take you right into the main page where you can find the overview to follow along with what I'm talking about right here. If you're on Facebook, you can also find the links that I put up earlier on the Countdown to Strength overview. 

Getting into Week 4, now. Like I said, last week I completed my 3x3s. Now we're jumping into the 2x2s, so again we're going to go heavier now on the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. We're going to be doing 2 sets of 2 reps. Probably now, you could probably be—because you're getting stronger—I recommend somewhere around 95% of your 2-rep max for this since we're doing 2 sets. 

You're probably considerably stronger, so I would probably shoot for right around 100% of whatever the table claims based on your 1-rep max test—remember, that was 4 weeks ago. You're considerably stronger now, and bumping up from 95—I recommend 95%, somewhere around there, but you're probably going to find 100% is better. Maybe even more than 100% because, like I said, you're considerably stronger, and you only have to get 2 sets of 2. 

Tips on Fast and Slow Reps

Now, remember, we're going to be doing this three times a week for the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift, so sometimes those 2x2s you're going to be using that 100% or right around that weight somewhere. However, you're also doing a fast day where we're doing fast, explosive reps, and a slow day where we're doing super-slow reps. On the fast day, you're exploding on the positive—I showed you, watch my video on how to do squats explosively—you're going to explode on the positive, but control it still on the negative. It's not being ballistic through the negative and the positive. It's being ballistic on the positive, controlling the negative. 

We'll do a fast day, we're going to do 2 sets of 2 reps very fast and explosive, and then you have a slow day where you go super-slow: 5 seconds on the positive, 5 seconds on the negative. So, if you're doing a squat—and, again, I did another video tip on doing the slow reps with the squat using a box squat because it's really tough to go lower down, 5 seconds slowly, into a squat without having something to sit back on. Tends to bring your weight forward when you go that slow, so 5 seconds down, 5 seconds up. 

Here I would recommend you use about half the weight that you're using for your heavy 2x2s, so somewhere around 50% of that weight. Again, that's just a recommendation, that's just a suggestion—somewhere around 50%. You might actually find that you're closer to 75%, even 80% of that, you're able to do because you're getting considerably stronger particularly with the slow reps as well because you've been training each week through slow reps getting heavier and heavier as well as the fast and explosive reps. For both of those you want to shoot somewhere around half the weight you're going to be doing for the normal 2x2 reps. 

Boosting Intensity Means Boosting Power and Strength

The other part of the program is the 20 reps, right? So all the other assistance exercise—and again I show you, this is Workout 1—there are five workouts each week, for those of you who have not jumped into this challenge yet—this is Workout 1. There are five different workouts, so these are both Workouts 1 from Weeks 3 and 4. Remember, the workouts stay the same each week. There are five different ones each week that you'll basically repeat but with different weight and rep schemes. 

When we get into the 20 reps, remember even though we were doing 30 reps per exercise last week and now we're jumping down to 20 reps, it doesn't mean that this week gets any easier because you're only doing 20 reps, meaning you can do considerably heavier weight than you were using to get 30 reps on that same exercise even though the set and rep scheme swaps out and gets different. It's pretty unique, each one is novel. You'll see as you go through the program that each one of these is also getting heavier in weight, and we call that linear periodization. 

Each progression, the weight gets heavier and the reps get lower. Classic linear periodization, which is amazing for increasing strength gains, especially when you're combining the fast, explosive or what we call dynamic training to build up that power, because remember that power is important—particularly when you're exploding on the bench press, at the bottom of the squat, when you're lifting the deadlift bar off the floor—that explosion, that starting strength, the ability to generate enough power and force to get that weight moving is critical. 

The more power you have, the better strength it carries over into, and when you're training with those fast reps getting heavier each week with linear periodization you're not only getting stronger you're getting more explosive as well as you go. You're going to find, by the end of this program, considerable strength gains because you're using all these tools that work, these techniques that work: Linear periodization, dynamic reps—the fast reps—we're even using slow reps, and we're using all the other assistance exercises as well. 

The Importance of Program Design

When you combine this, you'll sort of get a real grasp of the way I design my programs and why, as far as program design, I'm one of few experts that's able to keep producing novel training program after training program. I literally have hundreds of training programs, and they're not just, "Do this because I say so," it's all designed based on science. You can see the way I sort of design my programs to develop all those goals that we want. We want strength gains, we want muscle mass, we want fat loss—all achievable at the same time if you know how to design your programs.

I'm not one of these experts who has one training program that they're always talking about, that one program that you always see and that's it, pretty much. Maybe they've got two—maybe they have three whole different programs. No, I have literally hundreds, and they're not just like, "Oh this one is a little different from—" No, these are all unique, novel, using different concepts because you can go to infinity on program design as long as you know a thing or two about the science of designing these strength-training programs. 

With this program, the one thing that people are amazed at—not only the fat loss, but also the strength gains, the muscle mass gains, and the fact that it's fun. Everybody's reporting just how much fun it is when you keep changing it up. That's one of the other reasons I love change: Change prevents stagnation, guys, but it also prevents boredom. 

One of the biggest issues with training in a gym is boredom, especially if you're going in and doing 3 sets of 10 on the bench press—and rest 2-3 minutes in between each set. Sit there, 2-3 minutes. Bench press, rest 2-3 minutes...I could see how anyone would get bored with weight training. It's boring. You're not going to be bored with my programs because you're really not going to be sitting around that much. You're going to be moving, doing different movements, different rep ranges each week, getting heavier, getting stronger, and you can see the change.

As a matter of fact, one member sent me his one-week transformation photo. He started the Countdown to Strength Challenge, and the fat loss in one week—he's using the Intermittent Fasting Carb Cycle Diet—but he's amazed at—the full-body with the intermittent fasting—how rapid the fat loss is when you're doing full-body training. So keep up the great work—he's just starting—and anyone else who's going through this program whether you're just starting or you're right here with Week 4, getting ready. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing this workout right here.

Changing Rep Schemes on Assistance Exercises

So let's talk about those 20 reps. So you can see the example: Barbell row, 3 sets of 10 in Week 3, 2 sets of 10 in Week 4; dumbbell lateral raise, 2 sets of 15 Week 3, 2 sets of 10 in Week 4; dumbbell shrug, 10 sets of 3—here I really swapped it up, 4 sets of 5. Just to throw a little—I could've got with 10 sets of 2 but I wanted to keep you guys on your toes here, so this one will be quite different. You've got to do 4 sets of 5, but again regardless of whether you're doing your shrugs 10 sets of 3—that's 30 reps—or 4 sets of 5 for 20 reps, 30 is not any harder than 20; 20 isn't easier than 30. 

It's still crushing all 20 of those reps. You're going to be using different, heavier weight here. Considerably heavier here. Even though this is 3 reps, we had to do 10 sets of them with very little rest in between, as I have it outlined for you. Even though this is 3 reps, this is 5 reps, you're actually going heavier here because you only have to do 4 sets of 5 to complete all 20, whereas here you have to get 10 sets of 3. So you're not using the 3 rep max to get 10 sets—not even close. So you're still going heavier even though the rep range per set has increased this week. 

More Intensity Means Less Time in the Gym

So regardless of the way the rep and set schemes are set up, you're still kicking ass here in Week 4. I will say that you'll notice that the volume does decrease. The nice thing there is it's going to take considerably less time to complete these workouts, so if you're one of these people that just can't stand getting and banging out your workout and leaving, and you just have to be in the gym longer—you could probably bang this out in 20-30 minutes if you really wanted to move through it—if you find, "Oh, I just want to do more," well, you can do more. 

You could sort of do it with some intensity techniques here. After 2 sets of 10 on that, if you finish all 20 reps—which is what you're supposed to be doing; you have to, I shouldn't say "if"—when you finish your 20 reps if you can complete more, or if you can't complete more, do more. Rest-pause. Consider a drop set. Consider two drop sets. Consider some forced reps if you have a training partner. You can do some intensity techniques, particularly as we get into Week 4 because the volume is getting quite low.

But remember, the volume is supposed to be getting low. That's one of the principles of this classic linear periodization. The weight is getting heavier, but the volume is getting lower—the total amount of reps that you're completing—because each rep is harder to do than the previous week or the previous month, however, you're going through your periodization. I'm doing weekly, so microcycles, right? 

The Purpose of Periodization

Linear periodization, having it increase each week is one of the best ways to produce strength gains and, like I said, people are reporting incredible strength gains. But you can do more, with the volume—a little history lesson: Classic linear periodization is really the impetus of periodization. Now you know I teach about reverse linear, I've taught you about undulating, I've taught you about pendulum—there are multiple ways to periodize plans, but it was really that classic linear periodization that sort of started the whole concept of periodization, and that athletes can't just be at their peak every single day.

So you create a program that allows them to peak for a competition, for a particular date, and one of the things that's critical is volume. As you're getting closer to that competition where you want them to perform at their best, you don't want to be killing them with tons of volume or they run the risk of overtraining. 

Now, I'm talking about athletes here when I'm talking about overtraining. Don't get concerned about you overtraining. You go to work—if you're a 9 to 5 worker who spends your time in the gym doing my programs and that's pretty much it? It doesn't matter how hard you train in the gym, you're not going to overtrain unless you're undereating. So don't worry about overtraining, I'm talking about athletes who are training in the gym, they're training on the field, they then have technique drills and other practices all day long—training, and training, and training; practicing, practicing, practicing—that can lead to overtraining.

So volume goes down as you get closer to the competition because you want them at their best. You don't want them fatigued. As we get close to retesting our 1-rep max, we do want the volume to start dropping, and in fact, in Week 5 we'll be barely doing any volume while we test our 1-rep max again. We only have three workouts next week, so tune in—make sure you watch that tutorial because I'll give you some examples of what you can do because the week gets so unique in Week 5 with only three workouts. 

But you can add some extra intensity boosters here if you like because, like I said, these workouts are getting pretty quick—not easy, I'll say—I'm not going to say quick and easy, just quick. You're spending less time, but you're moving heavier weight in that less time, so it doesn't mean there's less work being performed it just means it's less time-consuming because you're doing more work in less time. So go easy if you're boosting your volume with some intensity techniques here as well. 

Counting Down to Your New 1-Rep Max

I've been doing these now—this is, what—Week 1, I went over; Week 2,  Week 3, this is Week 4 now—each one of these, for most of you who are following along, it's getting pretty redundant. You see the pattern going, right? You're starting at 5x5 in Week 1, 50 reps for the assistance exercises. Then Week 2 it was 4x4, 40 reps. Week 3, 3x3, 30 reps. Week 4, 2x2, 20 reps—well guess what Week 5's going to be: 1x1, which we don't need to write that way because it's just the 1-rep max. 

One set, the max weight that you can lift—the bench, the squat, and the dead—we'll be doing that next week. And then all our assistance exercises will only drop down to 10 reps because, again, during that week when we're testing we want the volume to be low. 

Tune in next Sunday for my Week 5 overview regardless of where you are, because you're really going to want to pay attention to Week 5, because that's when you're retesting. Like I said, the workout week is a bit different because there aren't five workouts that week there are only three, and then after that week we'll move back to the typical Train with Jim for those of you are going to continue doing the full-body with me. 

The Train with Jim Series

Remember, my Train with Jim series, it's my personal workouts. I post them up on my social media. You have access to them on JimStoppani.com. It's only $14 a month, guys. Go in there, search for Train with Jim, it'll take you to the landing page where you can get access to all these workouts including my Countdown to Strength Challenge because this is a Train with Jim challenge—the Countdown to Strength Challenge is part of my Train with Jim series, because I'm doing it. 

I want you guys to be my training partners, so anybody who wants to pick up and do the workout I'm doing that day can do precisely that. With the website, you're getting access to my app so that you can get those workouts on your phone versus having to print it off or write it down, and on that app, if you click on the exercise you can get all those other tips as well. $14 a month, guys. 

Training Fed for Strength and Muscle Gains

Week 4, I'm going to hit this tomorrow—after 4 o'clock, of course, because that's when I start my feeding window. It's important to train in your feeding window if muscle mass is the main goal. If fat loss is your only goal, if you're an 18-year-old female who has no concern about building any muscle and literally all you want to do is drop 20 lbs of body fat? It doesn't matter if you're training in your feeding window or you're training during your fasting window. It's not going to really matter.

When I talk about training in your feeding window it's for those of us who want to maximize muscle growth and strength gains so that we're fueled during the workout, we have the nutrients that we need to maximize our performance, and we can then recover properly right after with the proper nutrients. If you're not doing that, you're not going to grow muscle. 

However, if you're not doing that but you're training fasted, with no nutrients, no nutrients after, it's certainly not going to impede fat loss. So for those of you whose main goal is fat loss, if you just can't train when you eat that's fine. If your main goal is muscle mass, and you can't train when you eat, it's okay—at least you're still training—but to truly maximize your muscle mass gains, you're going to want to train when you're fed. 

Be My Training Partner!

So, 4 o'clock it'll be for me tomorrow. Who out there is doing this with me tomorrow? Who's training tomorrow at 4 o'clock, whether it's your time—no matter where it is—I'll be here at 4 o'clock Pacific time, training. I'm just checking in on all my training partners who are going to crush this workout with me tomorrow. 

That's the other reason I make these workouts available to you guys is not just so you get the best training advice but so we can all have fun here. We're training together, you guys are going through what I'm going through. Whose legs are killing them? Who in Week 4 right now is like, "Woo, Stoppani Shuffle!" 

I could barely pick up something I dropped last night because my legs, glutes, and lower back are so sore from all the deads and the squats—particularly for me because, with my leg injury, I haven't really been training legs with that much intensity and that much consistency. So this is the first time that I'm really jumping into some serious—although do I have to hold back a bit on my knee, I'm not going to rip it off yet again, so I'm holding back a bit—but man, my legs are so sore. 

Stoppani Shuffle, guys, for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a term that was coined I believe during the Shortcut to Size program and we started throwing around that term, the Stoppani Shuffle, because everybody was just dead after leg day—particularly when doing the one-legged squats and whatnot. It became "the Stoppani Shuffle".

Stoppani Shuffle, definitely through Week 3. So for those of you jumping into Week 3 this week, get ready for that if you're not already experiencing the Stoppani Shuffle. Oh yes, it'll continue into Week 4 as we get heavier and more intense. 

Happy Sunday, guys. I want to thank you for tuning in with me. I want to thank you for training with me through my Countdown to Strength program. You know, I train mainly alone even though I've got a full studio gym here, I've got a lot of people who come in, stop by, hang out with me, I typically train alone because I train at a very specific time—that's with my feeding schedule—so I tend to train alone. 

Having you guys as my long-distance training partners inspires me. Hopefully it's inspiring you. It's a lot of fun because we're experiencing the same things at the same time, so thank you guys for being my training partners and thank you for inspiring me every single day. I hope I'm inspiring you right back. Clearly, I think I am with all the great feedback I'm getting from this program, so keep up the good work, guys. Stay tuned for more live sessions coming right here from the Hollywood JYM. As always, guys, stay JYM Army Strong. Have a great weekend, guys. Thank you. 

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