Hi… I’m planning to train twice per week soon; program as below.
2 cycles of:
Leader
5s PRO
5x5 FSL
30 from each category
1 cycle of
Anchor
5/3/1+
3x5 FSL
30 from each category
To be detail:
Week 1
Day 1
Squat 5s pro
Squat FSL
DB press
Lat pulldown (reverse)
Ab rollout
Day 2
Bench press 5s pro
Bench press FSL
Seated dips
DB row
Bulgarian split squat
Week 2
Day 1
Sumo deadlift 5s pro
Sumo deadlift FSL
DB floor press
Lat pulldown
Hyperextension
Day 2
Incline BP 5s pro
Incline BP FSL
Seated dips
Yates row
Bulgarian split squat
Substitute overhead press with Incline BP for extra benching, hoping to improve my extremely weak bench. Conditioning done on non lifting day. No deload.
Do let me know if there’s anything I need to add or remove. Thank you.
Looks fine to me. Which book do you have? There’s a 2-day option in Beyond that kicks an uncomfortable amount of ass. Still mulling it over for my next 5/3/1 cycle despite already “settling” on a 3-day program.
Just out of curiosity, how bad is your “extremely weak” bench? A lot of people have a skewed ideal of where their bench should be in relation to their other lifts because so many people forego lower body strength work.
Also, are you more concerned with aesthetics, overall strength, or a combo of both? Do you have a set program for your cardio? When you’re only lifting twice a week you generally should have cardio programmed into your week.
Personally, if I were going to do 2 days a week (assuming you aren’t doing other resistance training not part of this program), I would ramp it up a bit.
Combine Bench / Squat days and DL/OHP days. If you’re doing 5’s PRO with 5x5 FSL this is easily doable, especially because your assistance isn’t anything crazy (for example, you’re not weighted pull ups or something more taxing).
or
Do 5x10 FSL (BBB) for the main lift and keep it as is. Again, if you’re only lifting 2x a week, this is easy to recover from, especially if you’re a bit weak on some lifts, as you say.
I have the Beyond book. Which program are you referring to?
2x2x2 with Hypertrophy & Strength phase
2 day per week new template
For this program, I follow from one of the post in this forum:
Liking the idea of doing one main lift followed by press, pull and single leg/ core per session since I spend only 2 days per week in the gym. I applied JW’s advice regarding each category even during my 3-4 days per week. As for the assistance, my aim is to improve my pull and triceps strength hoping it will improve my bench as well. I have a bad shoulder so I only can pull down instead of pull up.
Been training for about 5 years so I’m kinda familiar with JW’s program. Body weight 86.5kg with 1RM (kg);
B: 87.5
D: 175
S: 170
M: 62.5
Was supposed to test my 1RM last March but gym closed due to Covid so I train at home with my cheap barbell set. And due to lack of weight plate and shitty bar, I substitute my deadlift, squat and press with SLDL, front squat and incline press. I notice my bench is better now in 5s & 3s wave (Juggernaut Method). Deadlift and squat definitely improve in term of speed and RPE, especially deadlift.
I’m more interested with strength without getting fat and always looking forward to improve my time especially in running and cycling. Cardio mainly running 4-5km on non lifting day and jogging or fast the next day preparing my body for lifting the next day. And hopefully able to restore my bike in the nearest time so I can cycling back to work. Ah, and I love to eat.
Hi, I like your reply. But my main concern combining two main lift with assistance is I might spend more than an hour in the gym. But again like you mentioned, my assistance is easily doable.
I like BBB but my left knee hate it, especially during squat and deadlift day. But that is during my 3-4 days per week. 2 days per week should be more forgiving. Maybe I can do FSL 5x5 on lower body day and FSL BBB on upper body day.
Also I been thinking about JW’s old program with a little tweak from his current principal. 50 reps press on squat and deadlift day, 50 reps single leg/ core on bench press and press day to complement “each category”.
Or maybe I can do 2 main lift per day, 5s pro with 5x5 FSL with “complementary” assistance lift. Eg;
50 reps pull on squat and bench day, single leg/ core on deadlift and press day.
I like the 2x2x2 hypertrophy option, it helped me gain quite a bit of strength and kept me big-ish and lean-ish. I don’t think I ever spent more than an hour in the gym and got a lot of good volume in to groove technique. If you did it that way you could probably keep press as a main movement, then use bench as the 5 x 10 lift that day and use incline bench as your 5 x 10 lift on bench day.
Ya, the variations lift, the assistance lift, the sets and reps chosen by Jim pretty much cover all the aspect that I’m concerned. Just do the 2x2x2 program with leader and anchor principle and trust the process.
And maybe after I complete the cycle, I can try combine two main lift per session following his latest programming and principle.
