THE DEEP WATER EFFECT: BENEFITS OF ACCUMULATION AND CURRENT PROGRAM OVERVIEW

I realize what a zealot I sound like when it comes to Jon Andersen’s Deep Water program, but I can safely say it’s the most effective training I’ve ever performed, and my most recent training block has confirmed as such.  Before I discuss it, it’s imperative we understand the dynamics of accumulation and intensification, because I feel this is where many new trainees (self included) can get led astray.

It happens more often than you think

Whenever someone sets a big PR in a lift, people want to know what program that trainee used to hit that PR, and though that’s an interesting datapoint, its irrelevant compared to the program used BEFORE the program that set the PR.  In much the same way that the effects of political policy can sometimes only be felt after the incumbent has vacated the position and a new person takes charge, PRs tend to be the result of smart off season accumulation blocks rather than in season intensification phases.  The latter is great at UNLOCKING the potential, but the former is what builds the potential.

And as such, when looking at my current approach to programming, realize that it’s an amalgamation of all the things that have worked great for me in setting PRs in the past.  The difference is, BECAUSE of Deep Water, I’m setting much BIGGER PRs than I have ever done before.

With that said, here is how I’ve been training to get the most out of my time on that program.

THE PROGRAM

No surprise that I stuck with what has always worked for me: a bench day, a squat day, a press day, and a deadlift day, with a 5^th day for conditioning work.  6 week training cycle.

BENCH DAY

I was seeing such strong results from the bench day in Deep Water that I kept it completely as is.

Flat bench
3x10

Close Grip Bench
3x10

Incline Bench
3x10

Dips
3xFailure

I used an axle for the flat and close grip bench, and a swiss bar for incline, since it beats up my shoulders less.  For progression, I started with 4 minutes rest between sets, and then, each session, took away 30 seconds, before I finished at 2 minutes per set.  I then bumped it back up for 4 minutes rest per set for the final 2 workouts.  In between sets of all my benching, I’d do submax sets of standing ab wheel.  I started with sets of 2, and then a set of 3 to start the next bench day and sets of 2 for the rest.  Then 2 sets of 3 and sets of 2 throughout, etc.  This was done during the rest time.

SQUAT DAY

 

As usual, I’m experimenting with the squat training, because I can’t find anything I like, but experimenting is what got me to Deep Water in the first place, so it can’t all be bad.  I’m pleased with what I’ve structured here.

The main work is a giant set, consisting of a squat variation, box jumps, and reverse hypers.

For squat variation, I rotate each week between buffalo bar squat, SSB squat, and SSB front squat.  The order goes: buffalo bar, SSB, buffalo bar, SSB front squat, buffalo bar, SSB, repeat.  As much as squatting with the buffalo bar beats up my knee, it makes me strong overall, so I increased the frequency that I hit it compared to the other 2 bars, but the 1 week on/1 week off break seems to be helping keep my knee pain free.  This was a lesson that I learned during my time in Deep Water, so I’m making the most use of it.

 
In case you have trouble envisioning a SSB front squat

In addition, the squats is ramping, and trained in waves.  By this, I mean that, I’ll start the training cycle with 10 reps on the first week, 8 in the second, and 6 in the third, before repeating at 10 again.  By ramping, I mean that I keep those reps the same through all of my warm-up/build up sets.  Typically, I hit my topset by set 5 with this style.

For example, on my most recent squat workout, it was my third week on the cycle, and I was using SSB for a ramp-up to 6.  Weight and reps looked like this.

6xBar
6x155lbs
6x245
6x335
6x425
6x335

I always ramp up to the topweight I can manage for the day, and follow it with a backoff set with the weight used for the set previous to that one, just to get in more weight.

Box jumps would always be sets of 5.  Reverse hyper would start at sets of 8, then 10 the next week, then 12 the final, before upping the weight.  Trying to balance the work, such that, as squat reps go down, reverse hyper reps go up.

After the giant sets are done, I’ll either do some manner of cleans, chins, or walking lunges.  Once again, trying to keep those good things from Deep Water in my programming.  It’s kinda wildcard from there.

I know people are going to look at this day and talk about how I’m fatiguing myself before I get to the heavy work, but that’s the point: this allows me to push the squat hard while keeping the poundages light, which, in turn, keeps my knee happy.  I’ve observed frequently enough that, when I get strong under fatigue, I’m also strong absent of that fatigue.

PRESS DAY

 

Went with a classic staple here of 5/3/1 with a PR set for the topset, then a second set last PR set after that.  In between all sets of that, I did 20 band pull aparts.

After that, I’d do a giant set of axle strict press (5x10), dips (5xFailure) and DB lateral raises (5x10).  Percentages were close to BBB, just a little bit heavier.  Once again, all about getting stronger under fatigue.  Would get a gnarly shoulder pump from this.

DEADLIFT DAY

Another classic staple of ROM progression deads.  6 week cycle, touch and go, using chains as I’ve written about previously, with 2 rest pause sets at the end. 

After the mat pull workout, I’d do either a SSB front squat or buffalo bar squat rest pause/dropset workout.  I’d rotate between them each week, and started with a weight I could get for 10 reps.  I’d hit the 10, take 12 deep breaths, go for half as many reps as before (rounding up) and keep that up until I hit 1.  Then I’d strip a plate per side and try to match 10 reps again.  The next time I’d use this implement, I’d add 2 reps to the starting set and repeat.  Once I get to 14 reps, I’ll add 25lbs per side and start the whole process over again.

NUTRITION

With this type of training, the volume is low and the intensity is up, so I ease off the calories.  I dropped about 7lbs from where I stopped Deep Water, and became significantly leaner, most likely as a result of dropping some bloat along with fat.  I still kept carbs low and protein and fats high, but not to excess.

THE RESULTS

I hit 2 lifetime PRs that I had been chasing for a LONG time.  The first was pressing my bodyweight overhead for 10 reps

and the second was a 15x495lb deadlift.

Yes, I know that 15^th rep on the deadlift doesn’t really count, but it’s close enough at this point, and considering the last time I pulled that weight I had a similar fight on the 14^th rep, and this time rep 14 just sailed up, it’s a big victory.

LESSONS LEARNED

- The benefit of this program I put together is it’s ability to retrain me in handling heavier loads.  While running Deep Water, once I got to the third phase and went for max weight attempts in the 5 rep range, I noticed things felt MUCH heavier than they used to.  This is to be expected in such a low weight/high rep training phase.  The point is: don’t freak out when that happens.  In the span of 6 weeks, I got very comfortable with heavy weights, and set some solid PRs.  You just have to rediscover that strength.

- Deep Water greatly improved my tolerance for higher rep training.  Typically, that squat rest pause workout I’d do on Saturday would have me limping until about Wednesday, and now I don’t experience that at all.  Seems I’ve unlocked something special there.

- In a similar regard, my ability to fight and grind through reps is MUCH better than it ever was.  Witness that 10^th rep on the press and 15^th rep on the deadlift.  The press especially is something I became VERY familiar with on the 10x10s with Deep Water, because I’d end a lot of my later sets with a similar type of press. 

- Yet again I have to express that you SHOULD expect to lift more weight when you lose weight.  It’s not just a thing you do as a beginner.  However, the trick is you have to intelligently set up your training and nutrition to support that.  People time their weight gain and weight loss to coincide with seasons where they will be with and without shirts, and that’s their prerogative, but if your goal is to get as big and strong as possible, eat more food when you can support training with more volume, and when that volume goes away, drop the volume, up the intensity, and smash some PRs. 

HYPERBOLE AND HYPERTROPHY: WORDS MATTER

Another one of my rants about language and the avenue of passivity that trainees take to absolve themselves of responsibility, but now comes the bonus of me applying all of the knowledge I gained from a psych 101 course I took in undergrad a decade+ ago: you’re in for a treat.  But thankfully, we’re on equal footing here, because from my observation everyone else took the same course and got a C, because people are so quick to jump to diagnosing themselves with severe psychological disorders when it comes to their own foibles.  And before I go any further, I want to clarify that I intend no malice toward those legitimately afflicted with actual mental health disorders, because I’ve been around enough folks that suffer from such maladies to understand just how debilitating it can be.  But it’s BECAUSE of this that I take so much offense to those who are quick to grant themselves these same afflictions.  In our race to be as hyperbolic as possible in our language, we’ve worked to absolve ourselves of any and all responsibility and accountability for our own actions.  Once again, we’ve removed our own agency and thrown ourselves at the mercy of our environment.  Man, screw that: you are STILL in control.

I mean, in most c

What am I getting at here?  Again, people make a habit of employing such egregiously hyperbolic language in their EVERYDAY dialogue that they’ve engendered a habit of removing their own personal responsibility from the actions they perform.  Look at any trainee discussing their shortcomings in their training and it becomes abundantly apparent.  “I’m addicted to sweets.”  Ok, really, let’s discuss what “addiction” means.  Your addiction means that you lack the ability to function without partaking in the substance you are addicted to.  It means your brain and body will start shutting down unless you have the substance you are addicted to.  In some cases, addiction are so strong the subject will die if they go without their substance for too long.  And you’ve decided you’re going to use that language…about candy?  Rather than say “I really like eating candy”, you jumped straight to “addiction”, and in doing so, you’re saying that you eating sweets is totally outside your control.  You simply lack the ability to NOT eat sweets.  You are a SUFFERER, you are afflicted, YOU are the misfortunate one…because you just plain can’t stop eating sweets.  Ok, seriously?  No, quit using that word.  Own up to your shortcomings.  “I like eating sweets more than I like being in shape.”

“I don’t know if I should bulk or cut: stupid body dysmorphia!”  Ok, again, are you serious here?  You’re trying to explain away your inability to make a decision by claiming it’s because of a severe psychological disorder to distorts your perception of your body?  No, what’s happening here is you lack the ability to make short term sacrifices for long term growth.  This is such an easy question to answer: if you want to be bigger, gain weight, if you want to be smaller, lose weight.  When you have to post a shirtless photo of yourself online and ask strangers to dictate your lifepath because of your “body dysmorphia”, you are once again just saying “I don’t want to make decisions and control my fate: won’t someone ELSE please do it for me?”  And you make use of hyperbolic language to excuse yourself from your inability to act.

It's also worth noting that it's NOT body dysmorphia when you look bad and you think you look bad...

And these are just 2 immediately obvious examples out there where people use language to absolve themselves of the responsibility of being a functioning human.  Where else have you seen this?  People that HAVE to eat or train a certain way because of “their OCD.”  No, you DON’T suffer from a debilitating disorder that limits your ability to function in normal society: you just don’t like to change.  People that “can’t stop eating”?  Ok, so you’re saying you suffer from binge eating disordering: go seek immediate psychological treatment.  Oh wait, MAYBE you just refuse to exercise self-control instead.  Maybe instead of “can’t”, the word you REALLY were looking for is “won’t”.  I get it: we live in a hyperbolic world.  It’s the only way people can get attention anymore.  No one cares for the mundane, everything gets sensationalized, HOWEVER, you need to recognize what you’re doing to yourself here.

Folks, if you’re going to employ hyperbole, use it to your ADVANTAGE: not to cripple yourself.  Creative a narrative in your mind where you are indestructible.  When you discuss your dietary compliance, explain how it’s no problem at all, even IF you experience cravings.  When talking about your training, discuss PRs as though their inevitable, not wishful thinking.  Let yourself be super humanly strong, bulletproof to injury, a machine when it comes to nutrition.  You want to remove yourself from the equation?  Fine, but do it POSITIVELY.  Construct a narrative where SUCCESS is inevitable, NOT failure.  Be hyperbolic for your benefit.

Imagine for a second how much you would succeed if you were Arnie and ALSO, underneath that, a robot

I get it; we exist in a self-deprecating society, where people enjoy bragging about their failures and shortcomings.  It’s trendy to commiserate with everyone else about how you can’t succeed because the deck is stacked against you on a genetic level.  But you know what: wish for failure and you’ll get it.  Will people think you’re bragging and full of yourself if you’re hyperbolic in a positive sense?  Sure, but guess what: you’ll be worth BRAGGING about.  You create a self-fulfilling prophecy of success based off the language you employ when discussing yourself.  This is the very basics of the notion of “the power of positive thinking”.  And yeah, you’ll have a different narrative than others, but that’s because you want different RESULTS than others.

Or maybe you don’t, and maybe you’ll leave it up to someone else to decide what you want.