What’s the program that gave you the best results?
( What are the results?)
Also I am curious to know what’s the hardest workouts you’ve ever done?
I just finished 5/3/1 Building the Monolith and put on 4.5lbs of clean weight in 6 weeks. It was also one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done.
20 rep squats had me put on 12lbs in 6 weeks. Much sloppier weight gain, but also an incredibly tough workout.
Running a Westside Barbell influenced approach to training had me put something like 160lbs on my total in 9 months or so.
4 Likes
West side for skinny bastards was my holy grail for the longest time. All my lifts went up 50-100lbs easily. That was my first program were it really clicked for me in weight training. And I’ve ran every program you can think of stronglifts, 5x5, gvt, athlean x, p90x. You name I’ve done it probably. Ran the program with my clients even and all got great results.
Hardest program I ever did was indigo training program. I was probably in the best shape of my life but nearly fell apart afterward.
I’ll add buying a program and diet from Stu is probably the best thing I’ve ever done with training. Immediately fine tuned my diet and dropped about 15 lbs and walk around much leaner year round than I ever had without any performance drop off. Physique wise this was the best long term thing I’ve ever done.
3 Likes
Conjugate training.
50 lbs on deadlift and squats
40 lbs on bench
30 lbs on log press
1 Like
What were the variations you used for the log?
It’s not a ‘program’ exactly but training 3 on 1 off is what’s worked best for me over the years…as beginner 2 on 1 off worked fairly well but training everything just once every four days enabled me to train with a much greater volume of high intense sets & reps which has helped me build plenty of mass over the years.
Swiss bar with varying grip widths and military press. Would also count leg drive vs strict pressing as a variation. I also like changing up resistance band use and working on lockout.
1 Like
In my thirties the 21 day squat challenge put 15 pounds of muscle on me while people complimented me on losing weight.
In my forties, using “ramp ups” helped me beat my bench press PR from my twenties. In my twenties I didn’t have a clue; all my gains were from being young and full of juice.
The consistent program.
Check it out, it’s everywhere!
Hardest method: Daily Undulating periodization in a linear fashion. Just wore my ass out BC I was not smart enough to sub in variations, reset and deload often enough.
1 Like
Similar experience for me, although I’m just a beginner. Doing dips for high reps gave me a mild tendonitis though so I had to drop them since then.
My squat definitely felt stronger after doing 5x5 on monday and then 20 reps on the Friday.
BBS worked well for the press. I did it for squat in the next two cycles and it really helped handle heavier weights.
This topic made me think about this video
Basically what I’ve been doing with 531: stick with it, you’ll see results.
1 Like
German Volume Training
I should also mention that I use bench and OH as variations of each other. So one week I will do a bench variation for ME and the next I’ll do OH for ME. On DE day, I’ll lead with a variation of whatever was on ME day and then do a variation of the other right after.
1 Like
Results?
Good points he said, but him not looking at the camera for about 5 mins of 7 minute video was annoying lol
1 Like
5 days a week instead of 6.
Not having a program. Just making sure I go in every other day at least and squat, pull, press and get out!
1 Like
I don’t think I can give credit to any specific program per say, but I have read several smart pieces over the years that I tried to understand and take away from them the main impetus behind their proposed brilliance.
Personally, in reading through magazines, online forums, even social media, I think there’s too many “this will fix everything for everyone” magic programs always being pushed. Imo any decent understanding of how to stimulate growth, a basic application of how rep ranges and fiber types actually factor in, and an intelligent bit of sequencing or work-arounds for weak points will allow for progress when applied with serious intensity for a suffficient duration of time.
And thanks @zapata1, appreciate the kind words.
S
I saw you do a nice detailed breakdown of ways to stimulate muscle growth (mechanical stress, metabolic stress, tension, etc.) that I think you laid out in one of your Q and A threads a few years ago but I can’t find it from searching. I think you had like 5 or 6 stimuli or something if I remember correctly.
Do you happen to know which thread or where you wrote it? Or be willing to do another breakdown? Some things are clicking a little bit more lately for me and I think seeing that info again would help.
I actually transformed into what looks like a different person in five and a half months of working with Stu.
I followed along on that thread. That was one of the reasons I took the plunge and went with Stu to help me out. I am not gonna ever step on stage but wanted to get leaner. Years of chasing my strength goals left me with a so so body. I have been leaner looking than now but its always been fleeting.
Too be honest these forums offer me more practical useful everyday information than the articles on this website do. I probably have favorite posters on here than I do strength coaches lately.