5’10 162lbs ~18%bf ( gross assumption)
38yo male Roofer ( so heavy work 50 hrs/week)
Been training on and off forever, i dont usuly stick to it
Working out from home only,
I have standard bench + full cage + barbell and 350lbs in weight, the basics, so im limited to these .
As for my “strengh level”
My 1rm would be as follow
Squat 275lbs
Deadlift 315
Bench 165
Ohp 115
Around 12-14 chinups/pullups
Any suggestion on what training program I could try up?
Ive done in the past stronglift/fierce5/allpro
Reason to train : mostly ageing and wanting to bulk up a bit and dont let my self get old and weaker
How many days a week can you dedicate to training? How much time per day?
I am a fan of the Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol. $10 e-book that lays out all you need to train for the goal of putting on mass and not get older and weaker.
You can train with weights 3-4 times a week and use the remaining time to perform conditioning, which will help you get back into shape and not be fat. You have all the equipment you need.
Another choice would be Dan John’s Mass Made Simple program, which is another $10 e-book. This one will only provide you a training cycle for 6-7 weeks, but it will absolutely get you into shape and get you bigger, and will well fit within your schedule.
I was initially going to suggest his Easy Strength program, as 5 days a week for an hour would allow you to follow the “For Fat Loss” variant, which allows for a 15-20 minute Easy Strength workout along with 40 minutes of walking, but that may not suit the goal of adding mass.
I am a big fan of 5/3/1, but find the above programs more prescriptive and, therefore, easier to follow. 5/3/1 is a great programming system, but the abundance of choice in it can overwhelm some trainees.
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Given your strength base and goals, Id’ recommend Trained By Jordan Peters.
There’s an eBook with his program written in it.
Alternatively, you could continue onward with a powerlifting program if you enjoy those. I like Phraks Greyskull LP for people who aren’t in the 1,000lb club, but any of your previous powerlifting programs could do the same. I just like Phraks as it’s more balanced with respect to push and pull movements.
Quick q about phrak
Do you sqjat 2x a week and dl 1x a week? Or they go abababa meaning the next week i squat 1x and dl 2x ?
The 2nd one.
Week 1:
Squat
Off
Dead
Off
Squat
Off
Off
Week 2
Dead
Off
Squat
Off
Dead
Off
Off
Repeat
I haven’t read these books, but I trust Pwnisher’s judgment and I like that it sounds like it gives you a specific prescription.
Andrew’s suggestion of JP fits the type of training that I generally am a fan of and is very Bodybuilding centric, but it’s a bit more of a skeleton of program that you would have to fill in. If you want it spelled out clearly for you, Pwnisher’s suggestions may be the best route. I don’t have a dog in the fight, just giving my thoughts.
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I’d also vote to do something prescriptive, though I don’t have any experience specifically with Tactical Barbell.
The good news in your situation is you definitely don’t need to get sucked into any of the minors - like, “do I add some volume for my rear delts.” Your job is going to take care of wearing you out, so just enough barbell work and a couple harder conditioning sessions and all your bases are well covered.
You mentioned wanting to gain some weight. Is eating enough to keep up with your expenditure tough for you?
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Well yeah, i tracked for about 3 weeks eating anywhere between 3200-4000 call a day and i wasnt gaining weight
So, given your goals, I personally think:
- Anti-aging: training will help a ton. What does roofing make hurt? I’d imagine low back and shoulders? I’d include a good bit of pulling and figure out what makes your low back feel good - front squats and RDLs might be better than squats and DL from the floor, for instance.
- Don’t get weaker: check
- Bulk up a bit: I think this will be the one you’ll have to put the most effort into. There are a lot of eating patterns that can make it easier to get in more calories. At 38, I wouldn’t go for broke (you’ll live longer at a lower BMI, anyway, and it gets so much harder to drop the extra fat as we get older), but I can understand wanting to gain a few pounds. An absolutely simple method, and pretty risk-free from a fat gain perspective, is just drinking a protein shake after your main meals. So you would change nothing about how you normally eat, and get in another 75-150g of quality protein and up to ~650 additional daily calories.
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Ill be honest i dont have much body issue despite my job, maybe 1 weak knee, my back is def my most developped part, ( i row more then i bench, but it doesnt hurt, i can feel my low back fatiguing on some excersise, squats arent hard for me.
All in all, im more fatigue then hurt moat the time
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As for conditioning i walk around 15,000-20,000 step a day, with working gear om, in snow, and lately pushing a shovel xD
Yeah, I would call that “easy” conditioning and I definitely wouldn’t add any more. I call it “easy” not in a dismissive way, because I know it adds up and is hard, but as a layman’s way to describe the targeted energy systems because me no think so good.
When I say “hard” conditioning, I’m talking more intense work. Anything between the anaerobic and lactate thresholds fits for me here. In practical terms, that’s things like 10 second sled pushes every minute, 15 seconds hard bike mixed with 45 seconds easy, or 3-4 400m runs at 90% with near-complete recovery in between. I think a day or two of this a week would be a benefit, but it’s unlikely a necessity for you (wiser minds may disagree) because of the additional work you’re doing.
I will also say, adding in casual walks whenever you feel like it doesn’t count against your training load (in my opinion) and is a great thing to do for recovery when you feel sore/ beat up.
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Something I dig about the Mass Protocol book in particular is that, not only is the training prescriptive, but so is the diet. It’s not my jam to count calories and macros, but for someone that needs that guidance, it’s laid out to the number how much to eat and of what composition.
And sure, there are other places to get that exact same information, but it’s nice to have it all in one spot.
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I love that. I think that’s why I bought in so hard to the original Meadows “Reactive Pump” that was on here: every set, rep, and calorie was specifically laid out.
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