re: The Greyskull Methods- A Primer

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Today, I go 1x5, 1x3, and then only banged out 6 AMRAP after deloading 10 lbs. maybe my body is adjusting to doing all the pushups?

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It very well could be. JP speaks to this in the literature you cannot start too low honestly. Me personally I just completed week 15 and I started realllly low to where I did double increase on bench, squats, and deads until week 9. After that I did the standard increase but still am getting 9-10 on the AMRAP. I’m just riding the gains all the way up. For me personally the challenge has been OHP which I’ve already reset once and am due for a second shortly.

Should I be aiming to hit 10+ reps on AMRAP?

I’m getting that on deadlifts and squats, but not on press and bench.

Heavy-Light-Medium Setup with GSLP

Bill Starr style HLM is my favorite way of organizing the Strength workouts after you have run the basic setup for a while (2 resets or so). It's basically a Full Body ABC-setup, 3 days a week, so the same workout falls each time to the same day.

Each session has a different Press, Pull, and Squat/Deadlift plus 0-3 plugins.

Here is my favorite HLM Greyskull Strength Training Split. I use this in addition to my rather intensive sports training, as such it needs to be rather bare bones.


"The Athlete"

Mon:
Bench 3x5+ (+ means last set AMRAP)
Row 3x5+
Squat 4x5+
Curl Variant A 3x10-15
Core

Wed:
Press 3x5+
wtd. Chin 2x6-8
Deadlift 3x5+
Calves 4x15-25

Fri:
Power Clean 3x3
Close "Press" grip incline 3x5+
Squat 5x3 w/ 80-90% of monday as explosively as possible, 1.5min rests
Curl Variant B 3x10-15
Core


Obviously you could run this with whatever varianats of the presses/pulls/squats/deadlift. I like to keep the core 4 in there almost all the time, but swap out the other lifts with each reset.

Bodyweight:
-Chin/pullup ladders are done on Wed and Sat for 7min trying to increase reps, changing grip each ladder, not to failure. I need to let my back recover for sports (Rowing), FM is too much with chins.
-FM Pushups are done for 3-4 sets mon,tue,wed,fri,sat to keep them coming along.
-I also do 3 sets "FM" of deep jump squats 10-15 reps - as many as I can explosively do- those days as well

Here's some insight how and why I run it this way:

-I tend to ramp up with the warmup weights with same number of reps as working sets and not drop the reps with them for some extra volume (last warmup is with 90-93%)

-I need extra volume for my legs (priority) after running a long time with 3x5+, so I do one extra feeder set on monday with squats for 4x5+. Also on monday I go balls out on the last set. Squats are third lift (before curls), not last so that I still have maximum energy. I rest on Sunday so my heaviest squat is on Monday. Every other cycle after I can't do 5+ on the last set I continue Monday's squats with 3x3+ adding weight until I cant do triples anymore (GSLP for Powerlifting style). At that point I also swap friday to 6x2.

-Rows are important for me so I run them with 3x5+. They could also be done 2x6-8 as JP recommends

-I need one extra set of curls to get my biceps sore, and I dont do chins every day, so i do 3 sets of curls 2 days a week.

-Wed I do 3x5+ on deads, but I only use weight I can keep good form and a decent bar speed (it was still just over 2x bodyweight before an injury). Last set is limited to max of 10 reps. Some cycles I ramp up to 1x5+ (or 3+) deads with light 80% of Monday squats (Madcow/Starr) for 2x5 as warmup or a 2x8-10 finisher on the leg press after deadlifts

-Calves are hit with the neck extension set/rep scheme of 4x25. That tends to work best for me. I have weak calves and need to train them for stability.

-I need relatively fresh legs and back on Saturday because I have my toughest sports session then, so on Friday I do more of a dynamic effort/power day to set me up for that. Without that you could do a squat variant (front, pause, box...) for a heavy 3x5+. That said the reps should be as explosive as possible each day.

-Power Clean could be whatever Dynamic pul also (Snatch, Hang, Speed dead etc)

-During Racing season I drop to 2/Week A/B split, which is pretty much the mon/wed workouts done mon/thu but with light explosive squats for 3x3 before ramping to 1x5 deads on B workout (Power Clean the first deadlift warmups). I also use this on the fly mon/wed dropping the fri session when I need to be extra fresh on the Weekend.

The Over Warmup

There are many modifications one could do to the basic setup, but I'll list only one more: The overwarmup. It works best after a reset. After resetting you warmup with singles to hit an easy single (some would call it 1@8RPE) with the weight you had before the reset to prime up your system before the worksets. As your worksets get heavier, you can slowly increase the single, but it should always be easy!

Periodization:
At some point when you have run many cycles you start to know how long you can run before a reset. The trick is to reset all the lifts at the same time, trying to hit 3x5 weight PRs at a certain point, say after 6 weeks (and 5+ rep prs up to that point). You need to choose the weights after a reset accordingly, to be close to the limit at that point on each lift. Of course you can adjust on the fly a few weeks. If a lift starts to stall earlier, just try to keep the weight the same untill most of the lifts are stalling

After that you would drop the main lifts to 3x3 (no plus set) with the same weight you finished 3x5+ for one week for a slight deload.

Then go on with 3x3+ increasing weight the weeks after up to limit. After that you would reset, and start over with 5+'s (no plus sets first week or two), maybe changing some lifts, or do a test week with light singles at the start of the week and test 1rms at the end if wanted, and then reset.

With the rep range lifts you would aim for top of the range during 5+'s phase, and bottom of the range during 3+'s phase.

This type of basic periodization is also used in madcow advanced among others

That's cool! Have you ever rotated in higher reps as well? For example, 3x8+ -> 3x5+ -> 3x3+ ? Or would you stick to 3-5 rep range for the main lifts?

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That's cool! Have you ever rotated in higher reps as well? For example, 3x8+ -> 3x5+ -> 3x3+ ? Or would you stick to 3-5 rep range for the main lifts?

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I have not personally tried 3x8+> 3x5+> 3x3+ , but in theory it should work well. However with 3x5+ your last set can very well be close to 12 reps in the beginning, it's more like 5-10 reps most of the time with 3x5+, and occasionally 3-4reps with 3x3+.

LSU777 might know better what would be a true Greyskull way.

That said I do have personally done higher reps (and am doing now for upper body) because of injuries. I start with 3xAMRAP for about 15 reps, increasing weight from there each session until I can only hit 10 reps. I then drop to 3x5+ and go on from there normally.

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What grip should I use for lat pulldowns? Should my palms be facing me or not? Wide grip or inside of my shoulders?

Goal: wanna do more chin-ups

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neutral, close grip according to JP.

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The Greyskull Methods- A Primer
Okay. I’m supposed to “pinch” my shoulders at the bottom of the row, right?

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Correct. and hold a breif pause at the bottom. Fight the negative.

For the plug-ins, how much weight should I be using?

For example, if I’m doing weighted chins 2x6-8 do I want to select a weight that I think I’m going to fail with at the 6-8 rep range? And do I increase the weight weekly like the main lifts?

Sorry if I missed this in the OP

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For example, if I’m doing weighted chins 2x6-8 do I want to select a weight that I think I’m going to fail with at the 6-8 rep range? And do I increase the weight weekly like the main lifts?

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But with weighted chins, at least for me, its different than a linear progression on one of the barbell lifts.

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This is correct. Until somebody can do 12-15 deadhang pullups I have them program them like this

FM sets throughout the day
On days weighted chins are called for during the workout

We do 1 rep below failure with just bodyweight. We do sets after each set of barball work.

So for the three sets of press, we would do a set of chins in between.


Once you can do 12-15 chins, start with weight progression. I like to do this

Start with adding weight(2.5 lbs) every workout shooting for a minimum of 6 reps. Once you have to do your first reset I like to do the following

Remove 25% if above 40 lbs
Remove 50% if below 40 lbs

However many reps you did before with that weight we will do. (day corosponds only to the day chins are called for)

Day 1 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt -1

Day 2 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt

Day 3 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt

Day 4 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt +1

Day 5 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +2
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt +1
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt +1


Day 6 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +2
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt +2
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt +1


Day 6 after reset
set 1- number of reps from previous attempt +2
Set 2- number of reps from previous attempt +2
Set 3- number of reps from previous attempt +2

Day 7 and beyond, add 5 lbs or continue to add reps in scheme above.