Great stuff Cherry, can’t wait to see where you’ll end.
And… Upon closer look and evaluation what he sent me is his free power building routine. The only things “personalized” is that he layed out the assistance and conditioning vs just saying heavy medium and light.
I don’t feel like this was truely personalized in any way and in fact feel like he ignored some of my statements.
I specifically said I don’t do burpees because landing hurts my wrists…he programmed burpees. I said I don’t feel comfortable performing cleans and snatches because I have zero experience with them and he programed those too.
I stated that at the moment I can not perform 1 full pull up and that I have been working on building strength through negatives and inverted rows… He programed multiple sets of 10 plus pull ups and weighted pull ups.
Still processing what I think about this.
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That doesn’t sound like a personalized program to me.
It could have been that program, but with modifications that met your desires and what you actually could do.
Like instead of pull ups do lat pull downs…
I think I would write back and say that it looks just like the free program and not personalized.
I’m kind of disappointed to read this, he seems like a nice dude.
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@mortdk I double checked the you tube video and the percentages he layed out and crossed referenced them this morning. It’s definitely the free powerbuilding routine. His variant of 531.
Like I said He was specific on a few things like the assistance work and conditioning and it will help create my own that fits but I am disappointed that nothing was scaled to my abilities. He did add in a few strong man sets on a couple days.
I will write him back and see what he says.
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That is a shame. I’ve been watching Brian’s videos for a few years, and even worked out at NeverSate once when I was in the area for a work trip, and he’s been a huge inspiration to me so I totally get wanting to throw a few bucks at him for support (part of the reason I dropped in for a workout when it was pretty far out of my way). With that said, it’s pretty disappointing for you to pay the money for a personalized program only to be sent the free powerbuilding routine, especially if you provided specific information about things that you prefer to emphasize or avoid that was ignored.
The only thing I can say in his defense is that he’s got a lot going on right now with his health, but if he doesn’t have the time to write you a personalized program, it still doesn’t seem right to take your money and then send you the free powerbuilding program.
On a more positive note, he has put out so much free content & you’ve clearly been doing lots of great work here, so it seems like you can probably put something of your own together that will keep you moving in the right direction.
@ActivitiesGuy honestly even if it’s a tad disappointing that it wasn’t exactly personalized I can say that I got more conditioning ideas from it and that I will still happy throw a few bucks toward him for the free content even if I never run the program (or run it several years from now when I can finally do all the things)
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Yeah, I thought about just sending him a check as a “thanks for all the YouTube videos.” I’ve instead resolved to do a drop-in workout at NeverSate whenever I’m in that area (I travel to DC once in awhile because a lot of conferences in my field are held there, and even though his gym is about an hour away, I can probably get there on the drive in or out of town most of the time).
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6/18 153.2
Realized I forgot to log a work out.
Bench press warm up 45x10,50x10,55x5,60x5
As BB row @ match weight and reps
Working bench
65x10, 65 6x5
SS rows @ matching
Ohp 10x5 45lbs emom
Ss pull up negatives 5x2 then inverted rows 5x8
CFP as triceps 4x25 40 lbs
Incline neutral grip DB chest press as incline bicep curls (ow) 4x15, 4x10 10 lb dbs
6/19 151.8
Warm up tabata x2
Jacks
Air squats
MC’s
KB swings
Warm up deadlifts
3x5 135, 155, 175
3x3 195
Giant set Working
KB swings 6x10 30
1x5 205
5x1 205
Planks 10 deep slow breathes
Giant set 2
Box jumps 3x4
Ramping squats
3x5 45,65,85
Hangs 5 deep breaths
Working
1x10 105
4x5 105
SS 1
Hip thrusts 3x10 135
Nordic curls (band assisted) 3x5
6/20 151.5
No response yet from Brian.
So… Back to scaling things to my level…
I have learned… That I do not like 5’s pro.
That I need variety in my assistance and that I like giant set style a’la Brian.
Now that I have done a couple weeks of fucking around and playing it’s time to get back on a plan.
Goals: Continue leaning out, gain or maintain strength. Ignoring size as a goal until able to start bulking again.
Thinking 531 PR sets, with rule of 10 and supplemental done at 5x5 FSL. (Is this 5 and dime almost other than I won’t necessarily aim for 10 top set always? Just 10 total)
3 major giant sets.
1st with main lift and rule of 10 (abs+ antagonistic or dynamic)
2nd with alternate lift variation @ 5x5 FSL weights (abs+ antagonistic or dynamic)
3rd with major accessory that supports the main lift of the day (2 minor accessories that build weak points or vanity muscles.)
Example:
Squat-abs-jumps
Pause or CG Bench-abs-rows
RDL- cable face pulls- tricep push downs
Ohp- abs- chin up/inverted row
Sumo dl- abs- kb swings
Lat raises- chest press- curls
Bench press- abs-row
Front squat-abs-jumps
Incline press- cfp- tricep
Dl- abs- kb swing
Z- press- abs- pull up/inverted row
Hip thrust- chest press-curls
That is just about 4 full body workouts if that is within a 7 day week you might crash and burn.
You could do
Squat
Sumo
Quad dominant Single leg
Ohp
Cg or paused
Lat rai
DL
Front squat
RDL
Bench
Z press
Incline press
and do the giant sets as mentioned.
That would give you 2 upper and 2 lower body days
The full body days was how I ran the BBB challenge for 8 of the 13 weeks.
The reason I am considering that is it limits me to only 4 days. If I do upper lower I often go 3-5 days in a row which pushes me through the 531 cycles to fast and not get enough rest in.
I also don’t like to add any additional quad work (single leg etc.) I am currently quad dominant and needing to bring up my hamstrings. Also… as a lady I’d like to grow my butt lol. That’s why I have rdl on squat day and hip thrusts on DL day.
On top of all that I have found that doing triceps and biceps on the same day to he a little much and want to split them up.
Turning each day into a full body that works different groups allows that.
I figure try this again and if I don’t like it I can switch back to an upper lower split.
Edit: or… I can run it as a 3 day program 4 week cycle as Jim originally intended
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As long as you know what you do, wants to do and have a reason for it, well then “go ahead make my day”.
Good luck with the “new” program.
Btw I like to giant set like Brian says
Opposite lift before the main Row/bench/core Jump/squat/core, and his joke “life lift/dead lift”
But the way you do it looks just as good.
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@mortdk I actually perform my giant set as the antagonistic or dynamic prior to the main lift as well. I just program it under so I know my priorities. =)
I took a nother look at five and dime just to see what differences I was doing besides butchering Jim’s work with giant sets…
My 5x5 is going to be done lighter.
Maybe… 1 cycle as FSL, 1 cycle at SSL and the. A full blown cycle of proper five and dime if I like it.
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6/23 153.8 c1w1d1 351 rule of 10, 5x5 SSL
Warm up tabata
Jacks
Air squats
MC’s
Plank shoulder taps
Squats 3’s week
jumps x2
Warm up Squats 3x5 45,55,65 working squats 3x3+ 85,95,105 (10 reps top set) ad since I felt good… 2x5 105 after tops set
MC’s 30 sec
Rdl 3x10 95 lbs
SS push ups 3x10
Bench press
DB row 9x10 30 lbs
Warm up Bench press paused 4x5 45,50,55,60
Working bench 5x5 65 lbs
Bench leg pull in things for abs (name?)
Cable face pulls ss tricep push downs 4x25 50 lbs.
Hit my fsl weight on bench and decided it was too light. Stopped at SSL weight. I feel this is sustainable. Over all the work out felt good.
Edit: went back to the forever book… This is called full body 4 days using 531 PR set as the option.
Could do 5’s pro or work up to TM for 1-3 reps… Gonna stick with PR set with a goal of 10 reps total at top set. Seems to fall in line well enough.
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6/24 153.8 A2S2.0 test day
Warm up tabata
Jacks
Squats
MCs
Arm circles and stretches
Ohp 3x5 45
5x5 55 last set 13
SS lat pull down 5x15 70 lbs
Sumo deads 5x7 135 last set 10
SS push ups 5x5
Cable pull throughs 4x10 60
Curls SS alt. lat side and front raises 5x15 10 lbs
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6/25 152.6
Rest
6/26 150.4 ATS 2.0 W1D1 total time 1 hour including the 5 mins on the stairs.
Squats
Warm up 5 mins stairs waiting for a rack
45x5, 65x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x1 (over warm up)
Easiest 135 I have ever hit. Had at least 5 reps in me if not more.
Working 95 5x5 last set 14 reps
SS abs with all 5 sets
Sdl 3x12 95 lbs
Close grip bench 5x7 last set 13 reps. 55 lbs
SS bent over rows same weight and reps.
Cable face pulls ss tricep push downs 50 lbs 3 Mrs 25,20,15 cfp and 3x15 triceps
So… You might have noticed that my last few work outs haven’t had SSL and been labled. Since I was only 1 day in I didn’t feel bad switching programs.
The same day I finally made a decision… I realized that Greg had sent me the A2S2.0 program.
I have gone 531 and gzcl based programs for so long… that a new different % based program was appealing.
So far… It’s similar enough to 531 that I don’t notice a difference during the work out.
For me the biggest difference is the optional encouraged over warm up. I didn’t know how much I would love this.
So the first one was just me testing.
Yesterday was day 1. Gonna run this for a bit and see what I think.
Other notes on A2S2.0…
So first 2.0 has no set recommended days unlike 1.0. Just a recommended number of main lift and main lift accessories slots each week.
Bench and squat get 3 slots each, and ohp and deadlift get 2.
Imo… That makes a 5 day rotation perfect for the program. 3 squat/bench days and 2 ohp/dl days.
That’s 5 full body days a week. But… Greg prefers this option to the upper lower split provided you don’t lift more than 2 days in a row.
So… 2 on 1 off rotation it is…
Most of the program is done in the 5x5-2 rep range with amrap sets at the end for the t1 and 5x7-3 for the t2. These amrap sets determine your TM each week for each lift in both thevt1 and the t2 individually! Pretty cool!
Over warm up sets are optional and recommended.
If you hit the max reps in each amrap (5 over the goal number) your TM would increase by about 40% at the end of the program. That’s pretty insane.
Since it adjusts so quickly I took the 531 philosophy and started lower. I picked tm’s that I knew I could hit the max reps with for the amraps set for the first 3 weeks or so.
Other than the t1 and t2 lift the sheet gives recommended pulling movements each day. And then let’s you choose your assistance work and programing.
I chose to keep rows with bench days and pull ups with ohp days. Rows are done at the same weight and reps bench is. Pull ups… Are just done until I can’t any more with the goal of adding 1 each work out.
I picked my assistance based on what Greg had recommended from “the journey” his free programs in stronger by science and popped increasing Mrs sets (3 on week 1, 4 on week 2, 5 on week 3, rest and start over, 2 on deload weeks) (Very weird not to be doing my traditional push pull legs/core for 50-100)
Gave it a go last night. Got through everything in under an hour. Felt good and strong. Not too sore today so I know I can do ohp and deadlifts today. Not too shabby.
Btw I did an over warm up to 135 single on my squat and it was the smoothest strongest I have felt at that weight in a long time. I knew when it flew up I had 8-10 in me. Can’t wait to be using that as my working weight!
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