Need some mass

[J-Madd]

Here's an update on my son's mass gain.

For the last five weeks I changed things up a bit:

Day one:
DL: work up to a "daily max" 3-5, and then take 80% of that weight for 3-5 EMOM for ten minutes.
Circuit x 4:
KB floor press 8-10 (each arm)
KB row 10-12 (each arm)
KB swarth 8 (each arm)
Ab movment

Day Two:
SQ: 20 reps with his usual 10 rep max
OHP: 5x5
Pull-Ups: 5x5

Even though he was conditioning and rolling BJJ the other days of the week, he tipped the scales at a lean 188lb for his official pre-seaosn weigh-in for the wrestling team. That's 16 pounds since August! Of course, we are taking about a growing, 15 year old boy who was licensed to eat obscene amounts of food, but nevertheless I'm happy with these results. Those twenty-rep squats and Russian Bear DLs really packed it on him during the last month.

After wrestling is over in a few months, I'll put him on Operator. For now, this is all his wrestling coach's problem.

[grumpy4669]

Jim, how`s your son`s program coming along? Still getting great results?

[J-Madd]

Jim, how`s your son`s program coming along? Still getting great results?

He hasn't been on it since November, because it's wrestling season. However, I think all the buddy-carry-hill-sprints his coach has the boys do has put a little meat on him too!

[cws1992]

What's a good way to program those extra EMOM sets for Operator I/A? I always keep 2 days between strength sessions. Would adding that to every session be okay as long as I feel like I'm getting enough rest?

[J-Madd]

What's a good way to program those extra EMOM sets for Operator I/A? I always keep 2 days between strength sessions. Would adding that to every session be okay as long as I feel like I'm getting enough rest?

I advise against doing extra EMOM work to OP I/A. I only use this technique for specialized hypertrophy programs, and usually with just two days of lifting each week. It fits neither the letter nor the spirit of Operator. That being said, if you really want to play with this (and I get that, its pretty fun), I would drop it in every 3rd or 4th session.

[mikhou]

I played with some EMOM work one time, and it was too much to add to what I was doing. I had to adjust by lowering my frequency which means it's no longer Op. End of the day, it didn't work for me.

[cws1992]

What's a good way to program those extra EMOM sets for Operator I/A? I always keep 2 days between strength sessions. Would adding that to every session be okay as long as I feel like I'm getting enough rest?

I advise against doing extra EMOM work to OP I/A. I only use this technique for specialized hypertrophy programs, and usually with just two days of lifting each week. It fits neither the letter nor the spirit of Operator. That being said, if you really want to play with this (and I get that, its pretty fun), I would drop it in every 3rd or 4th session.

Yeah I decided I'm gonna keep running OP I/A but run it similar to the mass template. 4x6 @75%, 4x5 @80%, 4x3 @85%, 4x3 @90%. Which is just OP I/A with an added Rep on first 3 workouts. Also adding in barbell rows on my Conditioning/recovery days at same reps/weight as my bench. People like Brian Alsruhe and Cody Lefever(GCZL) do back 4-5 times a week and I really feel like I'm missing out on some heavy barbell rows so I'm gonna include those as well as keeping weighted chins in my cluster on my workout days. Gonna experiment and see how I recover the next 4 weeks.

[grumpy4669]

Realize I'm a little late with this response, but I have to agree with Jim, I wouldn't do EMOMs on Op or Zulu, too much in one week. I find it works great with fighter, though I only do squats and bench per session. On Tuesday and Friday, I do kettlebell workouts, then a short run, with one long run on Saturday. I never played with Zulu, started TB doing Op for over a year before I switched to fighter, and now it's my go to workout. I run a lot of halfs though, so this training program is kind of in my sweet spot.

[Hellequin]

Those are some nice inputs and some great ideas for hypertrophy blocks! Thank you guys for sharing.