Which lifting program is the best for you?
Replies
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I'm going to start lifting soon, so I'm looking for a decent starter program that I can stick to for a while. The goal is to gain some strength and build muscle. I found the SL 5x5 very appealing because it's super simple and straightforward, I only have to learn how to do 5 moves. In reading up on it, I accidentally stumbled across this Reddit. It's kind of an adaptation to the SL thing, claiming that it fills in for certain weak spots in the program. It spoke to me because it focuses less on squats. But since I am a noob amongst noobs, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
It's not a "bad" plan, but I feel his reasoning is incorrect and he kinda contradicts himself. He says that SL/SS aren't high-frequency, but his frequency is quite similar to those - he just swaps squat/lower frequency for upper frequency. Additionally, that plan requires by default that the lifter start out with more than just the bar. Not necessarily much more, but more.
I think this would probably be decent for someone that isn't necessarily a beginner, but maybe not quite - or just barely - intermediate. As in, follow SL for a month or two, then when the first failure happens, maybe one could switch over. But I'm not sure - and could obviously be wrong - that a beginner would see much benefit to this. Get a strength base, then modify. Just MO.3 -
Thanks for the great advice guys! I suspected that it was the best option to go for the unaltered SL program, but it's good to be sure.0
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amyrebeccah wrote: »
What makes you say that? You got incredibly polite and supportive answers.Tacklewasher wrote: »I see I'm in the wrong place. I'll go away now. Not sure how I ended up here.
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply I wasn't getting helped, just that I realized I was in the wrong forum (gaining weight) and I made a mistake in where I posted my question. It would have been better in a different forum.
I appreciate the advice and have no issue with what anyone has said. I'm sorry if I came across as being upset or anything.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
What makes you say that? You got incredibly polite and supportive answers.Tacklewasher wrote: »I see I'm in the wrong place. I'll go away now. Not sure how I ended up here.
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply I wasn't getting helped, just that I realized I was in the wrong forum (gaining weight) and I made a mistake in where I posted my question. It would have been better in a different forum.
I appreciate the advice and have no issue with what anyone has said. I'm sorry if I came across as being upset or anything.
LULZ. I had seen a number of your posts and thought of you as pretty reasonable. Then, that post above made me go, :huh:. Now, I'm like, "oh, OK." This is why it's important not to read tone into posts.1 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
What makes you say that? You got incredibly polite and supportive answers.Tacklewasher wrote: »I see I'm in the wrong place. I'll go away now. Not sure how I ended up here.
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply I wasn't getting helped, just that I realized I was in the wrong forum (gaining weight) and I made a mistake in where I posted my question. It would have been better in a different forum.
I appreciate the advice and have no issue with what anyone has said. I'm sorry if I came across as being upset or anything.
LULZ. I had seen a number of your posts and thought of you as pretty reasonable. Then, that post above made me go, :huh:. Now, I'm like, "oh, OK." This is why it's important not to read tone into posts.
Nah. I'm just an *kitten*
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
What makes you say that? You got incredibly polite and supportive answers.Tacklewasher wrote: »I see I'm in the wrong place. I'll go away now. Not sure how I ended up here.
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply I wasn't getting helped, just that I realized I was in the wrong forum (gaining weight) and I made a mistake in where I posted my question. It would have been better in a different forum.
I appreciate the advice and have no issue with what anyone has said. I'm sorry if I came across as being upset or anything.
LULZ. I had seen a number of your posts and thought of you as pretty reasonable. Then, that post above made me go, :huh:. Now, I'm like, "oh, OK." This is why it's important not to read tone into posts.
Nah. I'm just an *kitten*
Fair enough. But if there are lifting questions, you can always ask them in here. If it's really that bad, I have some really good magic tricks and can make stuff disappear.1 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
What makes you say that? You got incredibly polite and supportive answers.Tacklewasher wrote: »I see I'm in the wrong place. I'll go away now. Not sure how I ended up here.
Sorry. Didn't mean to imply I wasn't getting helped, just that I realized I was in the wrong forum (gaining weight) and I made a mistake in where I posted my question. It would have been better in a different forum.
I appreciate the advice and have no issue with what anyone has said. I'm sorry if I came across as being upset or anything.
LULZ. I had seen a number of your posts and thought of you as pretty reasonable. Then, that post above made me go, :huh:. Now, I'm like, "oh, OK." This is why it's important not to read tone into posts.
Nah. I'm just an *kitten*
Fair enough. But if there are lifting questions, you can always ask them in here. If it's really that bad, I have some really good magic tricks and can make stuff disappear.
K. I'll come back when I need to. The thing I like about the video I posted above is that I'm not trying to figure out the moves from text or little clips, but just need to follow along. I like the Aworkoutroutine guy (and actually found him before I found MFP and is one of the very few things I follow on FB), but I like the video in front of me when I do it. I figure in Sept (assuming I hit my goals) I will have to graduate to a gym and get some training as to how to lift more seriously.0 -
I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?0
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mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.0 -
@psuLemon, Mike Matthews recommends 4-6 rep range for men and 8-10 for women, as you know, and I've been following his program for two years. I'm looking for something new and have checked out PHAT and a program laid out by A Workout Routine. In PHAT, the power moves call for 3-5 reps. Does there really need to be any difference in reps between men and women? TIA.
I like the A workout Routine, the building muscle version (basically upper/lower split). My body responds well on those exercises and what I like about them is that you don't stay at the gym for 2 hours like certain workouts from bodybuilding.com. The writer of that book (Jay) explains everything on why he selected certain exercises or certain splits. When I start cutting, I will probably try his Fat Loss workout from his book, you do lower rep ranges in order to retain your muscles as much as possible.
Some will complain that he doesn't put deadlifts in most of his workouts, he prefers Romanian Deadlifts over regular Deadlifts, but you can always change it to deadlifts if you want.
Thanks! Sounds like I need to get a copy of his book.0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Hi! Check out Thinner, Leaner, Stronger by Mike Matthews.0 -
LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!
It's a broad suggestion without knowing your training age, goals etc, FYI.
I'd also recommend reading 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1 assuming you're interested in strength training. If not, disregard.0 -
LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!
It's a broad suggestion without knowing your training age, goals etc, FYI.
I'd also recommend reading 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1 assuming you're interested in strength training. If not, disregard.
41yr old female, training for strength, flexibility and skills. I like to commute to work by bike, but it's a 40min ride and I don't have time to both ride and lift on the same day usually. Currently I switch every other day biking/lifting. I just joined a gym that is on my bike route, so I'd like to shorten my lifting session so that I could bike AND lift every day. I'm a full time working mom of 3, so time is sparse and I try to multi-task as much as possible such as using my bike to and from the gym as a warmup/cooldown.
Goals:
DL 2X BW (currently at 1.85x for 4 rep max)
Squat 1.75X BW (currently at 1.6 for 1 rep max)
Bench 1X BW (currently at .8 for 1 rep max)
Side splits
Handstand for 20sec.
I actually just started trying 5/3/1 this week at someone's suggestion. I biked on the light day and it worked out great. I will try it out on the strength/volume days and see how it works.
Anyway, it may be too much work, but it would be super helpful I would think to put average session times or ranges of times on the pinned list of programs.0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!
It's a broad suggestion without knowing your training age, goals etc, FYI.
I'd also recommend reading 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1 assuming you're interested in strength training. If not, disregard.
41yr old female, training for strength, flexibility and skills. I like to commute to work by bike, but it's a 40min ride and I don't have time to both ride and lift on the same day usually. Currently I switch every other day biking/lifting. I just joined a gym that is on my bike route, so I'd like to shorten my lifting session so that I could bike AND lift every day.
Goals:
DL 2X BW (currently at 1.85x for 4 rep max)
Squat 1.75X BW (currently at 1.6 for 1 rep max)
Bench 1X BW (currently at .8 for 1 rep max)
Side splits
Handstand for 20sec.
I actually just started trying 5/3/1 this week at someone's suggestion. I biked on the light day and it worked out great. I will try it out on the strength/volume days and see how it works.
Anyway, it may be too much work, but it would be super helpful I would think to put average session times or ranges of times on the pinned list of programs.
:huh:
There aren't "light" and "strength" or "volume" days of 5/3/1. There's 4 days - all strength. You can choose what assistance template that goes with it.0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!
It's a broad suggestion without knowing your training age, goals etc, FYI.
I'd also recommend reading 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1 assuming you're interested in strength training. If not, disregard.
41yr old female, training for strength, flexibility and skills. I like to commute to work by bike, but it's a 40min ride and I don't have time to both ride and lift on the same day usually. Currently I switch every other day biking/lifting. I just joined a gym that is on my bike route, so I'd like to shorten my lifting session so that I could bike AND lift every day.
Goals:
DL 2X BW (currently at 1.85x for 4 rep max)
Squat 1.75X BW (currently at 1.6 for 1 rep max)
Bench 1X BW (currently at .8 for 1 rep max)
Side splits
Handstand for 20sec.
I actually just started trying 5/3/1 this week at someone's suggestion. I biked on the light day and it worked out great. I will try it out on the strength/volume days and see how it works.
Anyway, it may be too much work, but it would be super helpful I would think to put average session times or ranges of times on the pinned list of programs.
:huh:
There aren't "light" and "strength" or "volume" days of 5/3/1. There's 4 days - all strength. You can choose what assistance template that goes with it.
Bwahaha! you are right! So sorry! I've been giving so many different methods a try I got mixed up. I was trying Texas Method. I had 5/3/1 keyed up to try next to check out timing.0 -
Ah, OK. LOL.
As far as timing goes, I've previously entered the lifts and sets into a spreadsheet. I give myself 1 minute for each set (just an estimate based on setting up, doing the lift, then marking it off in my notebook and adding notes if necessary) and adding in however much rest I plan/expect to take. Add in an extra minute or two between exercise types to change stations or get new equipment, and add it all up. Of course, I don't worry about that now, as I either know basically how long any particular session will probably take or don't care how long I'm at the gym.0 -
mom23mangos wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »LolBroScience wrote: »mom23mangos wrote: »I'm looking for an intermediate program that I can run in 30 min or less. Due to time constraints, I would rather find a program that I can do every day or 6 days/week for 30min vs. 3/4 days per week for 1-1.5hrs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Weight Training specifically, or what?
If weight training... 531 Frequency Project or Frequency Project 2.0 maybe.
Yes, weight training specifically. I will check those out. Thanks!
It's a broad suggestion without knowing your training age, goals etc, FYI.
I'd also recommend reading 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1 assuming you're interested in strength training. If not, disregard.
41yr old female, training for strength, flexibility and skills. I like to commute to work by bike, but it's a 40min ride and I don't have time to both ride and lift on the same day usually. Currently I switch every other day biking/lifting. I just joined a gym that is on my bike route, so I'd like to shorten my lifting session so that I could bike AND lift every day.
Goals:
DL 2X BW (currently at 1.85x for 4 rep max)
Squat 1.75X BW (currently at 1.6 for 1 rep max)
Bench 1X BW (currently at .8 for 1 rep max)
Side splits
Handstand for 20sec.
I actually just started trying 5/3/1 this week at someone's suggestion. I biked on the light day and it worked out great. I will try it out on the strength/volume days and see how it works.
Anyway, it may be too much work, but it would be super helpful I would think to put average session times or ranges of times on the pinned list of programs.
:huh:
There aren't "light" and "strength" or "volume" days of 5/3/1. There's 4 days - all strength. You can choose what assistance template that goes with it.
Bwahaha! you are right! So sorry! I've been giving so many different methods a try I got mixed up. I was trying Texas Method. I had 5/3/1 keyed up to try next to check out timing.
I assume you're trying different methods just to see if you will enjoy them/how they fit your schedule? Most programs it's recommended to stick with them for several cycles to really reap the benefits. I've learned first hand that jumping around a lot does not make for much progress..
As far as time to complete 5/3/1, the main movement following the basic template (working up to your plus set) has been taking me about 20-25 minutes, and then whatever you'd like to add for accessories.1 -
Yes @TresaAswegan, that's correct! Trying to find a program I will enjoy that fits in with my time constraints. I'm aware I need to stick with something for 3-4 months to progress. Hoping to find something soon. Sounds like 5/3/1 is a definite possibility! Thanks for the feedback!2
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