Is it fair to say that Ian King’s programs generally work great for people who don’t have a lot of fast twitch fibres?
Reading through the debate on King vs Poliquin posted in this board I seem to get the impression that fast twitch dominant persons(including myself) who’ve tried King’s programs don’t really get anything out of it.
If you look closely at Ian’s programs all the way through the 12 week’s you’ll find that he alternates about every 3 weeks on average. I don’t think his programs lean one way or the other in that area. They’re very complete.
Poliquin’s, on the other hard, seem to work best for those who have better than average genetics or who are “on”. Maybe working with all those roid using athletes has made him forget what the average dude can handle. I like his stuff, but I have to cut his programs in half in terms of length.
I don’t particularly see anything in King’s programs that make them more suited to either type. What I see is a balance of low rep and high rep work that will work great for the average trainee, but you may need to adjust the plan if you’re sure that you respond better to lower reps.
By the way, don't expect to be putting on slabs of muscle from any program. Look instead to make consistent, incremental strength gains. I don't even worry about my weight gains as long as my poundages are going up. The weight will be there. I've done Ian's "Get Buffed" program twice, and I put on 15 lbs to my max bench and squat each time. That's certainly not a huge, dramatic increase, but if you can keep this up over the course of a few years of consistent training, you're talking about increasing your maxes by over 200 lbs! I think the biggest problem suffered by the majority of trainees today is that they expect too much, too quickly. Enjoy the lifestyle, pick a program that you can stick to over the long run, and you'll make progress. The truth is, you probably won't add more than 5 lbs of muscle naturally on any 12 week program. Consistency in training is the password to a great physique.
If you're sure that you respond better to power training methods and/or lower reps, I would still suggest using King's approach, only modify his programs slightly to suit your particular needs. One option is to simply use the bottom end rep ranges on all his exercise prescriptions, but if this isn't extreme enough for you, then fuck it, make up your own plan! Try a descending linear approach where your reps go no higher than 8 in the first 3 week phase! Then try three weeks of 6-1 training. After that, go for a low rep wave loading method for three weeks, and finally, try some dynamic lifting in the last three weeks. Even if you're not a fast twitch type, you'll sure as shit get stronger, so why not give it a shot?