Topic: "Dube's Direct Approach"

[Sam McLean]

Sam McLean, Age: 29, Weight: 207 lb, Years Lifting: 3.

I am giving the "Direct Approach" program, authored by Joe and Virgil Dube, a try, and will be posting here.  I look forward to feedback, especially once I begin embedding videos.  Thus far I haven't recorded any video, but will do so on Classic Lift days after I get back from my Labor Day weekend trip.

A bit of history.  I have never been coached, but I am a fitness trainer, and have pretty good body awareness.  Still, in my 3+ years of Olympic lifting I've had marginal improvements.  Most recently I engaged in a knockoff homemade version of the Bulgarian program, and had success through the 7th week with my best lifts being 170 in the snatch and a 240 cj.

I then sustained an low back injury doing something really dumb, and completely unnecessary to my training, and had to take about 6 weeks to rehab.  I finally came back to full strength (probably even stronger in my core), and jumped right back in where I left off.  Weeks 8-11 got progressively worse, rather than better, I believe because I was focusing too much on beating my previous totals on contest simulation days.  I quit the routine last weekend, and began the "Direct Approach" on Tuesday of this week, the 26th of August 2008.  This time I want to document things publicly, and get feedback from those with more experience, (both lifting AND coaching) than myself.

So here goes:

26 Aug 2008: Day 1

My warm-up always consists of foam-rolling all major articulations of the body (sometimes on vibration) followed by skill-specific dynamic flexibility.  I will not post this information again unless I change something.  On to the day's lifts.  All weights in pounds.

BN Press (warm-ups: 45x5, 65x5, 95x3, 115x2; work sets: 135x2, 140x2, 140x2; drop sets: 70x20, 70x13)

Back Squat (warm-ups: a damn lot; work sets: 300x2, 330x2, 330x2; drop set: 165x25 [in hind sight, I should've saved the high-volume squat set for the end of the day, rather than grouping it with the rest of the squats, because my quads were shot for clean deadlifts)

Clean Deadlift (warm-ups: 135x3, 225x3; work sets: 275x3, 330x3 [hips came up first], 300x3)

Core: Sit Up with Kettlebell Press (25x12, 25x12)

28 Aug 2008: Day Two

Snatch (warm-ups: 45x5, 65x3, 95x2, 115x2; work sets: 17 singles at 135-140 [the program calls for 20-22 singles with weight equivocal to your "Zone of Comfort; No Misses", but I felt my balance and coordination check out for the day around single number 15.  I tried to get it back, and had two fairly fast, fairly controlled lifts, but could tell I was too tired to carry on and lift well, so I gave it up])

And now, of course, I'm going on vacation for 4 days.  I might do some jogging and core work, some light weight training, but won't have access to a platform.  When I come back, it's day three: cj and front squats.

[Matt Erdman]

Hey Sam I believe you are supposed to do 20-22 reps total. Also 70% of 170 is 120. Besically I think the workout should go something like this:

85x4 (~50%)
95x4
105x4
115x4
120x4-6

It is supposed to be a light day, espescially after the squats and deadlifts.

[Sam McLean]

Matt,

Thanks for the pointers.  I guess I misunderstood the intensity guidelines.  I definitely felt fine after squats and deadlifts, and the 135-140 lb singles felt good.  I think rather than focusing on percentage of 1RM, I was literally focusing on CFA (contest 1st attempt).  The main reason I didn't spend more time on the lower weights is that the health club where I work has only one pair of bumpers, those being 45 lbs. ea.  The rest of our plates are stupid Iron Grip hex plates.  It's just a pain to pull hex plates from the floor.  I think I will be fine with the weight I'm forced to use on this "light" day, especially working exclusively with singles, but it is an inconvenience not having lighter, full diameter bumpers.

So far, this program feels quite natural, and my boss, quite a skilled powerlifter, paid me a great compliment, saying "I've never seen you move that fast under the bar.  That was like controlled violence."

At some point today I've got cj's and front squats.  I'll see if I can get some vids.

[Sam McLean]

2 Sept 2008: Day Three

CJ (warm-ups: 45x5, 65x3, 95x2, 115x2; work sets: 135 [5 singles], 145 [3 singles], 155 [3 singles], 165 [7 singles], 170 [3 singles]).  Cleans were fine, nice and snappy.  My jerks on the other hand were all over the place.  I basically had a different error on every jerk, and only had a handful of lifts that felt really good.  I need to find my heels, so to speak.  Be conscious of loading and driving through them on the dip and jerk, then getting them into the correct positions for a balanced, consistent catch.

Front Squat (warm-up: 185x1; work sets: 220x2, 230x2, 230x2, 115x15).  This is where 4 days off killed me.  The only work I did on my trip was a jog (about an hour), and it showed on front squats.  My core was spongy on the warm up at 185 and I realized how tired I was from cj's.  I really psyched myself up for the subsequent sets, and they went alright.  The drop set was weak.

Youtube was being a pain, but video will be coming.

[Sam McLean]

Here is the video of Tuesday's lifting.  I did work up to a moderate weight on snatch just to give you guys a look at my technique.

http://www.youtube.com/v/lTnvkYEo_i0&hl=en&fs=1

[Sam McLean]

4 Sept 2008: Day Four

Power Jerk (warm-ups: 45x5, 65x3, 95x2, 135; work sets: 155 [2 singles], 175 [8 singles])  I'm glad these are in the program, because I really found my heels and balance.  Also, I was more conscious of my elbow position on the dip and drive, and it was much better than it was on Tuesday's cj's (see above video for reference).

Back Squat (warm-ups: 175x3, 205x3; work sets: 245x6, 245x6, 245x6)

Stiff-Legged Deadlift (warm-ups: 135x3, 205x3; work sets: 270x3, 270x3, 270x3, 135x25)  Rather than do leg curls for assistance, I took the liberty of just doing a drop set on these bad boys.

Single Leg Extensions (really light weight for 2 sets of 12)  I have patellar tendinitis, and this exercise actually frightens me more than any other movement in sport.  Still, I wanted to give it a try, and my VMO definitely woke up during that 2nd set especially.

Barbell Core Rotation in the Landmine (2 sets of 12)  Wanted to tack on some rotational core stability stuff today.

Felt really good today.  Video to follow shortly.  Tomorrow, leisure day!

(On Sunday this week my wife and I are jogging a 10k fun run. . . I had to do it. . . there's a spaghetti feed at the finish line!  I know it's counterintuitive for a weightlifter, but it was a food-motivated impulse decision.  I've trained up a little so that I don't die, but I'm not going to lift again until I'm not feeling the run in my knees anymore.)

[Andy Dick]

You HAD to do it?   

Was it more of a food motivated decision or a wife motivated decision 

Just kiddin buddy, I couldn't resist commenting.

[Stephen_Wasylishen]

I'm starting this program too. We have very similar stats - even the knee thing.