GVT or W4SB?

Training Beginners
1

-Male, 22, 5’10", 170lbs
-Eat 6-8 times per day, 1gP per lb, lots of white carbs (live in china and hard to avoid)
-Supps: BCAA, Protein shakes, multivitamin, fish oil

  • Just over 6 months training experience

I’ve done some 5x5 programs and some 4x6 and 3x10 splits as well as a 3x8 program for a brief period. Now I’m training 5x5 full body 3x per week and I’m going on vacation for 10 days and want to switch it up when I get back.

My goal is to add 25% to all my big lifts over a 7 week period.

Should I use W4SB or German Volume Training?

5RM
Squat: 190
DL: 290
Bench: 150
Incline Bench: 122
Military Press: 95

It would be awesome to get to a decent level of strength like 1.25x body weight bench, 1.5x body weight squat, etc.

Thanks!

2

GVT won’t get you strong. A 25% increase in your big lifts is unrealistic unless you are a newbie.

3

I made decent strength gains on WS4SB. I started weightlifting seriously 2 months ago. My 5 rep max for bench was an embarrassing 100 lbs. I have it up to 120 now. I also added a little over 20 lbs to my front squat. Here are some of my other lifts…
-Single leg squats: up from 15 lbs dumbbells to 30 lbs.
-Face pulls: from 40 lbs to 70 lbs
-Chest Supported Rows: 100 to 160 lbs

Anyway, I’ve been happy with the progress. I would have gone with Rippetoe Starting Strength, but I don’t have a squat rack at my gym so I’m doing WS4SB.