Doing the switch to high bar, need some programming tips (if needed)

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki,

I took a week off from lower body lifts to see if that would help my nagging hip issue. Tuesday will be the first day back and I plan to try out high bar. The learning curve might be steep, as I previously tried light high bar squats and I was blown away how uncoordinated I felt. I plan on doing LP on High bar for a while until the movement pattern is ingrained in my head (I was doing a modified program provided by SSC Jayson Ball in which I am not doing LP), and also because the stress won’t be as much because the limiter will be my coordination of the movement, not strength. I am not completely sure of the training effect differences of high bar vs low bar, so I just wanted to know if I should increase DL frequency (current DL-related movement template is 3x8 rows Tues, 1x5 DL Thurs, and 4x5 Paused DL Sat). Also I would like to know what percentage of weight of my last DL session I should use for my next heavy DL day. The last time I deadlifted heavy was March 1st (pretty much 11 days from today). I don’t want to overshoot it and have a string of failed DL sessions and get stuck in a rut.

Thanks for your input,
-ColoradoMinesCole

2

I would not do LP with high bar squat if you’re not a novice, as the learning curve is pretty quick. You should add weight as you can, which is a benefit of RPE in a situation like this.

I would not increase deadlift frequency, as there are no training effect differences (meaningful anyway) between them requiring more pulling to make up for them.