Hi folis, new to this forum and looking for a new programme for PL. Been training for a few years and made pretty good progress but starting to feel I need to follow a slightly more advanced programme.
For back ground im natural and best gym lifts are S 205 kg, B 135kg, DL 260 at 92kg (videos are available on my Instagram if anyone doubts or questions it). I do some basic macro tracking and try to do at least 1 sttetch/yoga session a week. My form isn’t that great and I have a few sessions booked in with a local PL coach to dial all that in, mainly getting used to pausing the bench properly and working on squat depth and not pulling with my back too much.
I’m looking for a new programme to start creeping that up. Looking for something 3 or 4 days a week. I made good progress on a 26 week Jim Stoppani programme earlier in the year (5 weeks 5x5, 4 weeks 4x4, 3 weeks …etc you get the idea) training 4 days a week doing one lift a day with assistance on the last day. Looking for something to run over a shorter course, have looked into 5 3 1, TM and a few Westside variants. Looking for recommendations and suggestions.
Have you thought about incorporating the things you’ve learned into your own program - something that is yours and works for you?
Those are decent numbers for your bw.
I would look at something that will give you more of a conjugate style of training but NOT the way Westside does it. I’m talking more of a rotation of main lift variations for reps. No max effort/speed effort days.
For example: My DL day this week was block pulls 5x5 making plate jumps up to 500 then did a drop set at 315 for 3 sets of 8. That was the main work. Then moved on to a bunch of horizontal rows and then vertical rows. After that was rear delt and bicep work. I don’t count sets/reps/weight when doing the bodybuilding stuff afterwards. I’m just looking to put in a bunch of work that will stimulate growth using a bunch of different tempos, weights, reps, etc. Just work hard. All this is train the muscles used in the deadlift.
The reasoning behind it is to keep your joints from using the same pattern over and over again. Believe me, I’m finding out now that I should have varied my training a lot more in different ways and main lift variations, bodybuilding and higher reps should have been 80% of my work.
You’ll find with this style of training you won’t be beat up as much and it can breathe life into a routine that you’re finding monotonous.
You cannot beat hard work. No matter what program you run, those who work the hardest reap the rewards of hard consistent work. I’ve just learned that after competing for these past 9 years, if you don’t vary the movements and you get closer to your genetic ceiling in strength, injuries are certainly a guarantee. Learn to listen to your body.
Good luck. I don’t know if that’s really what you’re looking for but cookie cutter programs never seemed to keep my interest and I’ve always done better by just training what felt right to me. So maybe program Monday Push, Wed Pull, Fri Squat routine. Run a variation of the lift and do the bodybuilding stuff to support those muscles.
That is really helpful man I wasn’t expecting a full drop and go cookie cutter program (if only life was that simple !)
I used to keep all my training notes on an app on my phone (fit notes) great app and allows a lot of analysis and has loads of tools on it. Problem is I killed my last phone and couldn’t retrieve the data. I have a rough idea what I did over the last 18months but my memory isn’t that good so I don’t entirely know what’s been working lol. Lesson learned, store data more than one place !
I’ve pretty much just done one main lift a day, one accessory movement and some core work. The conjugate style is pretty much the opposite to how I have trained thus far but something that can clearly work very well and also looks very interesting on paper.
One thing I am wanting to do is incorporate variations of the main lifts as warm ups and use those as things specifically to address my weak points. Deficit deads as a warm up for my main DL session as off the floor is my weakest part of the lift. Dead bench for my bench because again my weakest point is off the chest, lock out is never a problem. For my squat my weakest point is more a mobility issue than a strength one so I was thinking ATG front squats. It’s far from a Westside conjugate system but it’s adding a lot more variety than I have been doing and makes sure I get a warm up in because i’m terrible for not warming up, I get away with it now at 29 but I’m sure I won’t for too much longer .
As for hard work well the gym is my escape from 3 kids and a full time job so getting in there a few times a week is my coping mechanism. I’m one of those in there at 5am no matter what types lol
5 set isn’t something I have looked into really, will research
Thank you Jeff for providing the link. I can see you are pretty stong but not very muscular. This is the powerlifting section, and I´m not into it (meaning don´t know about it), so can´t give my oppinion. You seem to be very tall and slim. How about diet (meaning eat more in your case)? Because if your goal would be BB I would answer that, but I understand is not the case.
That sounds like a bad idea. You want to practice the actual lift that you will be performing during your warmups. Do other variations after. Front squats won’t improve your mobility, it’s easier to reach depth because they involve less hip flexion. Try pause squats instead, and do some mobility work outside the gym as well. You can just hold onto something and sit down in a full squat position, hold for 30 sec. and repeat a few times. It helps if you have tight hips.
I’m 185cm (6’1") so fairly tall. Bodybuilding as such has never interested me but if a bit more of me is what it takes to get more off the floor then so be it heads off to fridge
In all seriousness diet wise I’m making sure that I get like 200g protein a day and at least like 3500cal’s.
Yeah I did wonder about doing assistance work first being a wise move, was just going to trial it and see. Im always happy to learn from my mistakes … but I’d rather learn from other people’s if I can, will go back to the drawing board on that lol
I wasn’t expecting a full drop and go cookie cutter program (if only life was that simple !)