Lifters.. What program do you..

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  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Do? there are so many out there, NROWL, 5x5, pyramid, superset, full body, split days.. the list goes on...How did you decide which one was for you?

    I started with Body For Life, which is an upper/lower split with individual isolation exercises. Did that for a while. After doing more research, and committing to the idea of getting a barbell, power rack, etc, I moved to Starting Strength. It was a whole new world in terms of using time efficiently, feeling productive, and making real strength gains.

    So far I've done 3 rounds of the beginner program. The first 2 rounds were abbreviated, but I hit every session of the 3rd round.

    Now I will be starting Wendler's 5/3/1. Similar methodology - the heavy compounding lifts and assistance work, but different programming with various weeks being heavier and lighters, and a deload every 4th week built in. That seems more sensible to me at this point.

    No regrets whatsoever about SS. I think it's an ideal program to get from Step "0" to Step "now I know how to squat".
    Do you ever mix programs?

    Not really, except in the last handful of sessions of SS, I started doing some hybrid 5/3/1 thing, where my working sets were more "inspired by" 5/3/1 rather than the regular 3x5.
    What are your lifting goals? Increased strength? Endurance? Tone/Fat burn?

    Brute Strength, muscles. But I'm willing to compromise some strength for a nice physique. In other words, going on cut cycles to lean out, as opposed to just eating and eating and eating.
    How do you judge progress?

    By how much weight was just lifted. Whether I succeeded or failed at completing my planed working sets. Whether I am on track with the lifting goals.

    Also, the mirror.
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    Bill Phillips... Body for Life :)
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    A friend and I did Animal Hellraiser Training for 10 weeks and both of us gained a fair amount of muscle on it. It's a bodybuilding focused program. I also saw a log of strength gains on this program. A lot of that can be attributed to getting my form back and just getting back into free weights though.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hrt-animal-hellraiser-trainer-series-overview.html

    Planning on doing Bill Starr's Advanced 5x5 starting up soon for some strength gains.

    http://www.muscleandbrawn.com/bill-starr-advanced-5x5-workout.html

    Is one 5x5 better than another?

    I think Bill Starr's is the original. All the others are pretty much derivative. As a beginner, I think any of these programs will pretty much do. After one has progressed, then he or she can look at changing up the programming.

    What's important - getting form right. Learning the movements. Making steady progress. That trumps the specific such-and-such program being followed.
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