Simplifying the Heavy Light Medium System – Part 1: Introduction & Squats

Simplifying the Heavy/Light/Medium System – Part 1:  Introduction & Squats

As strength coaches, many of us were introduced to the concept of a “heavy-light-medium” training system by Bill Starr’s classic text The Strongest Shall Survive.  Starr introduces the concept as being borrowed from the 1930’s from Mark Berry, who was himself a national champion weightlifter and prolific coach of the era.   The concept was reintroduced to readers in Mark Rippetoe’s Practical Programming in 2006.   

A single system supported by three prolific coaches over the span of almost 100 years?  Must be something to it. 

In fact, there is something to the system.  I have been using the system with athletes and clients for a number of years with great success.  The system is very simple and easy to manipulate, yet there continues to be some confusion in the strength training community regarding its application in practice.

The Starr 5×5

Starr’s classic text was essentially a tutorial on his system of training large groups of collegiate athlete’s, particularly football players.  Starr found that his athletes responded best to a high frequency and high volume of squatting, but performance was best when athletes were NOT handling maximum poundages at each session. 

Although Starr’s trainees may have been great athletes, most of them were probably not great lifters. And all of them were trying to balance the demands of their strength program with the demands of their sport, their academic life, and the typical social life of a male in his late teens, or twenties.  This has much in common with most recreational lifters or sport athletes.  For the seasoned competitive lifter in his physical prime, frequent handling of maximum poundages is both doable and necessary for optimum progress.  But the majority of trainees who are training with barbells, will be doing so for a purpose other than competition in one of the strength sports.  Family, careers, travel, age, injury, sports practices, and quite frankly a lack of discipline and motivation will prevent most trainees from doing all that is necessary to prepare for a schedule that calls for a maximum output at every session.  The trainee simply can’t “get it up” to go all out, 3-4 days per week, physically or psychologically. 

Starr’s solution to this problem was the Heavy-Light-Medium training system.  This gave the trainee the volume and frequency that they needed to drive progress, but only called for ONE heavy day each week for each lift. 

Being a proponent of the 5×5 system of training, Starr simply had all his trainees do 5×5 each training day (Mon-Wed-Fri), but fluctuated the amount of weight that the trainee used at each session.  Simple. 

The routine Starr outlined in The Strongest Shall Survive was based on the Squat, Bench Press, and Power Clean, each done three times per week.  Again, all exercises were done for 5×5 with the weight fluctuated throughout the week.  I for one DON’T think that this is the best way to organize training, but Starr had to deal with training large groups of athletes in a small space.  You need a simple system to do this, and I think this was probably the best solution he had. 

An example week under Starr’s system may have looked like this (using just the squat as an example):

Monday:

Squat 5 x 135, 165, 195, 225, 255

Wednesday:

Squat 5 x 95, 125, 155, 185, 215

Friday:

Squat 5 x 115, 145, 175, 205, 235

The same concept was applied to the Bench Press and the Power Clean.

Again, I think there were some flaws in the program, namely the narrow selection of exercises.  While I am certainly a proponent of squatting, benching, and cleaning, I think that most athletes, and certainly most average gym goers, would desire and need a wider variety of exercises for long term progress.  Additionally, it is perfectly acceptable to venture outside the original 5×5 protocol.  Because of the popularity of Starr’s work in TSS, many have come to associate the Heavy-Light-Medium scheme strictly with his version of the 5×5 protocol. 

 

Putting it into Practice

I am fortunate enough to have my practice set up in a way that I work with my clients as individuals.  I can apply the system in a way that suits them best, based on their own unique set of circumstances.   In consecutive training appointments, I may see a collegiate football player and a 55 year old business man.   Both can use the system, but of course it will need to be manipulated for each individual.   

The training system is extremely versatile, and is an easy way to organize training. 

In general, the best way to operate an HLM training program is with 3 full body workouts on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday type schedule.  Each training session would consist of a Squat, a Pressing exercise, and a Pulling exercise.  The exact exercises will be selected to fit the individual, based on their goals and level of advancement. 

The Exercises:  Squats

For the general strength trainee, I think that three back squatting sessions are best.  The type of squat that I advocate is the version described in Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength:  Basic Barbell Training.  Low bar, medium stance, just below parallel.  This style of squatting has the benefit of allowing the most amount of weight to be used, and working the largest amount of muscle mass.  This has a positive hormonal impact on the system as a whole, and will accelerate gains in both strength and muscle mass.  Additionally, many do not give the squat its due regarding the technical nature of the lift.  Like any other physical skill, squats need practice.  Doing the lift 3 times per week (twice with moderate weights) gives the trainee the opportunity to hammer home perfect form and technique.  This can be exceptionally beneficial for older trainees who tend to lose the “feel” of an exercise without some degree of frequency, but cannot manage multiple heavy sessions in the same week.  This is also good for those who are particularly non-athletic and may have a hard time sustaining proper mechanics without regular practice.  We have a rather insulting term in the personal training industry to describe this segment of the population:  motor morons.   The motor moron will benefit greatly from repeated exposure to this very technical movement. 

The benefit that this program has for athletes cannot be overstated.  Non-barbell sport athletes must walk the delicate balance of training for their sport and training in the weight room.  Many sports are of course quite demanding on the lower body and many athletes will not have enough reserves in their tank to squat heavy more than once per week.  The HLM system allows the trainee to place their heavy squat day on whatever day of the week allows them to train in the most recovered state.  For many this will be Monday since they are likely to have 1-2 days off during the weekend.  During the rest of the week, the athletes will have to perform strength workouts, by and large, in a state of fatigue.  The HLM system makes this a little easier to manage.  On the light and medium days, the athlete will be focusing on form and technique, and SPEED.  In TSS, Bill Starr talks about “making the plates rattle” at the top of the lift.  For athletic training, I couldn’t agree more with this approach.  Most sports are dependent on an athlete’s ability to demonstrate power – and this is a down and dirty way for the trainee to learn how to express their strength quickly. 

One area of this program which lacks some clarity is the degree of offset from the heavy day to the light day to the medium day.  As with many things in weight training, there is no one answer that will work for everyone.  One important concept to note is this however:  the degree of offset will grow based on the absolute strength of the trainee.   In other words, a 500 lb squatter will probably need a higher percentage offset than a 200 lb squatter. 

As a starting point though, start your light day 10-20% lower than your heavy day, and set your medium day 5-10%  less than your heavy day.  Stronger lifters will use the higher percentage offset, and weaker lifters (older trainees, women, etc) will probably use the lower percentage offset.  Once you have your estimate, it is permissible to use your brain and your experience to adjust the numbers accordingly.  Recent training history always produces better data than percentages.  Percentages serve simply as reference points to give you an idea of where to set your numbers. 

Now, the alternate way to set up the HLM system for squats is to vary the exercises each day in a way that produces a HLM effect.  For instance, a lifter could back squat heavy on Monday, front squat on Wednesday, and do a paused box squat on Friday.  This provides the lifter with a little bit of variety in his programming and takes away the need for percentages.  Using the preceding example, the lifter may squat for heavy sets of 5 on Monday, front squat for triples on Wednesday, and box squat sets of 5 again on Friday.  The critical difference in this style of programming is that the lifter is actually giving maximum output on each day, but the load changes due to the nature of each exercise.  This should be an important consideration when choosing which HLM method to select. 

Review

 Method 1:  Static Exercise/Vary Load

Example: 

Monday:  Back Squat 3x5x405

Wednesday:  Back Squat 3x5x325

Friday:  Back Squat 3x5x365

 Method 2:  Varied Exercises

Example:

Monday:  Back Squat 3x5x405

Wednesday:  Front Squat 3x3x275

Friday:  Paused Box Squat 3x5x350

In part 2 of this article, we will look at the pressing and pulling program, discuss sets & reps, and look at some specific sample routines based on a wide variety of different types of training goals. 

Feel free to comment below! 

Andy

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