Which lifting program is the best for you?

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Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    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!

    I would definitely suggest 531 too. Wendlers mentality if you struggle for time, get in... do the primary lifts and then do whatever you can after that in the time allowed. After that, *kitten* it and leave.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Bumpin for the newbs
  • Bones2Toned
    Bones2Toned Posts: 73 Member
    Great links! I'll try these soon!
  • laughingreddog
    laughingreddog Posts: 1 Member
    bumping
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Bump, so it's easier to find.
  • worldlymaret
    worldlymaret Posts: 20 Member
    I'm currently at the end of stage 1 of NROLFW. I simply do it at home, with dumbells and barbell - seems to be going well so far and I make it work for me! Having never done anything with weights before, I've kept it up so far!
  • kbshuler1
    kbshuler1 Posts: 5 Member
    I live in a very rural area with no gym. Which beginner program would be best without a huge investment in equipment?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    kbshuler1 wrote: »
    I live in a very rural area with no gym. Which beginner program would be best without a huge investment in equipment?

    You can start with a body weight program and then transition to a dumbbell program. You can also look at something like Selecttech dumbbells to start with.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Since many people either want to do machines, or only have access to them, perhaps Lyle McDonald's Basic Machine Program could be added?

    For people who are intimidated by the gym atmosphere, it may be a good way to get them acclimated and comfortable about some form of strength/resistance training.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Since many people either want to do machines, or only have access to them, perhaps Lyle McDonald's Basic Machine Program could be added?

    For people who are intimidated by the gym atmosphere, it may be a good way to get them acclimated and comfortable about some form of strength/resistance training.

    haha, I was just looking at this. I saw that you posted it in another post. Thanks. I will add this to the list. Lyle is legit.
  • GoldenSnidget
    GoldenSnidget Posts: 11 Member
    I'm in week 2 of Bodytech's Rise and Grind. I downloaded the app and it's great. It's a beginner program, but I couldn't complete the leg day. I really enjoy it and recommend it!
  • BrianKMcFalls
    BrianKMcFalls Posts: 190 Member
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    You pretty much nailed the options down; you can do a HLM (although, I would medium/low/heavy to allow for 2 recovery days post heavy) schedule where you vary between 50 and 85% of your 1RM or you can move to a split so you only work legs 2x a week (this is what I had to do because 3x a week was too much for me).

    I know @SideSteel has mentioned before about taking a 3x a week program and making it into a 4x a week program, but I would defer to his expertise on how to do so.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    Have you looked into running Madcow as an alternative?
  • BrianKMcFalls
    BrianKMcFalls Posts: 190 Member
    SideSteel wrote: »
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    Have you looked into running Madcow as an alternative?

    I had considered it as an option when I transition to an intermediate program, but thought I probably have plenty of gains left just running a straight LP on the other 3 main lifts. Any suggestions for accessory lifts, chin ups are the only thing recommended.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    SideSteel wrote: »
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    Have you looked into running Madcow as an alternative?

    I had considered it as an option when I transition to an intermediate program, but thought I probably have plenty of gains left just running a straight LP on the other 3 main lifts. Any suggestions for accessory lifts, chin ups are the only thing recommended.

    I see two options right off the top of my head:

    1: Run SS as is, except run your squats on the Madcow progression - so you'll still do squats 3x/week, but the first day will be 1x5, day 2 will be basically just warmups, and the third day will be 1x3 at a heavier weight than your 1x5 day.

    2: Run SS for everything else, but use 5/3/1 (or GZCL or some other intermediate programming) for your squats. You could either just squat 1x per week, or have the normal 5/3/1 heavy squats one day, with a lighter-weight, higher-volume (like BBB, 3-5x8-12) day on day 3.

    There are plenty of other options, but those seemed like the two most obvious things - like I said, off the top of my head.
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.

    I'm not very familiar with the Eat to Perform programs, but I'm guessing it's more strength focused than the programs you've done previously if it's focusing on the "big 4".
    If you're seeing progress with that I would stick with it a while.
    I don't think you're ready for an intermediate powerlifitng program with your current experience.

    5/3/1 is often run with one day per week dedicated to each of the big 4 and accessories (but there are variations to this), I guess you might call it somewhat of a "bro split" if you ran it the traditional way. (I personally run it as an upper/lower split.) I am a big fan of 5/3/1, I would recommend getting Wendler's books if you were interested in learning more about it. There's a lot more info in the books than what you can find online.
  • JB035
    JB035 Posts: 336 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    Have you looked into running Madcow as an alternative?

    I had considered it as an option when I transition to an intermediate program, but thought I probably have plenty of gains left just running a straight LP on the other 3 main lifts. Any suggestions for accessory lifts, chin ups are the only thing recommended.

    I see two options right off the top of my head:

    1: Run SS as is, except run your squats on the Madcow progression - so you'll still do squats 3x/week, but the first day will be 1x5, day 2 will be basically just warmups, and the third day will be 1x3 at a heavier weight than your 1x5 day.

    2: Run SS for everything else, but use 5/3/1 (or GZCL or some other intermediate programming) for your squats. You could either just squat 1x per week, or have the normal 5/3/1 heavy squats one day, with a lighter-weight, higher-volume (like BBB, 3-5x8-12) day on day 3.

    There are plenty of other options, but those seemed like the two most obvious things - like I said, off the top of my head.

    Another squat option is Hatch Squat Program, it's a 2 X per week program consist of FS and BS. Starts out in the 70% area of your 1RM right out the gate! Very easy to work in with everything else.
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.

    I'm not very familiar with the Eat to Perform programs, but I'm guessing it's more strength focused than the programs you've done previously if it's focusing on the "big 4".
    If you're seeing progress with that I would stick with it a while.
    I don't think you're ready for an intermediate powerlifitng program with your current experience.

    5/3/1 is often run with one day per week dedicated to each of the big 4 and accessories (but there are variations to this), I guess you might call it somewhat of a "bro split" if you ran it the traditional way. (I personally run it as an upper/lower split.) I am a big fan of 5/3/1, I would recommend getting Wendler's books if you were interested in learning more about it. There's a lot more info in the books than what you can find online.
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.

    I'm not very familiar with the Eat to Perform programs, but I'm guessing it's more strength focused than the programs you've done previously if it's focusing on the "big 4".
    If you're seeing progress with that I would stick with it a while.
    I don't think you're ready for an intermediate powerlifitng program with your current experience.

    5/3/1 is often run with one day per week dedicated to each of the big 4 and accessories (but there are variations to this), I guess you might call it somewhat of a "bro split" if you ran it the traditional way. (I personally run it as an upper/lower split.) I am a big fan of 5/3/1, I would recommend getting Wendler's books if you were interested in learning more about it. There's a lot more info in the books than what you can find online.

    Thanks! Yeah I have the 5/3/1 books but didn't love the idea of that program. I can't really remember why. Maybe I should give it a second look.

    I'm wanting to get off the eat to perform program when I finish this cycle cause it is taking too long. It takes me usually at least 1.5-1.75 hours, so I'm having to get up st 4:15, and I want a bit more sleep. I could type out the whole program, but for an example, today was
    Back squats, warm up then 5x2
    RDL 4x8
    RFESS 4x8
    reverse lunge 4x8
    Back extension 4x30
    Farmer walks 4x40 ft
    2 ab exercises which I didn't even finish yet so I need to go back and do tonight.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.

    I'm not very familiar with the Eat to Perform programs, but I'm guessing it's more strength focused than the programs you've done previously if it's focusing on the "big 4".
    If you're seeing progress with that I would stick with it a while.
    I don't think you're ready for an intermediate powerlifitng program with your current experience.

    5/3/1 is often run with one day per week dedicated to each of the big 4 and accessories (but there are variations to this), I guess you might call it somewhat of a "bro split" if you ran it the traditional way. (I personally run it as an upper/lower split.) I am a big fan of 5/3/1, I would recommend getting Wendler's books if you were interested in learning more about it. There's a lot more info in the books than what you can find online.
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    AigreDoux wrote: »
    Any feedback on The Strength Athlete 9 week intermediate program?
    http://thestrengthathlete.com/freebies/

    It looks fairly straightforward as far as giving explaination about how to run the program. Lots of info about RPE. (Personally I think it can still take some time to truly understand the RPE system, even though they gave a very thourough explaination. By that I just mean you'll learn it over time through familiarity with the lifts.)
    It's definetly geared towards an intermediate lifter.
    If you haven't exhausted your linear gains yet I would look into something like that first. (I would consider intermediate to be several years of strength training/not able to improve linearly any more.)

    Hmm, not sure how to tell if I have exhausted linear gains or not. I have been lifting 1.25 years, but all gains have been quite hard fought and I often stall.

    What program are you doing currently?

    Started out with the book Strong, sequel to New Rules of Lifting for Women, did that for 9 months. Then did Strong Curves for a while. Currently 9 weeks into a template put out by Brad Dieter of Eat to Perform...it's 4 days a week with one day focused on each lift (squat, DL, BP, OHP) + accessories. So I guess in other words a "bro split" :) I've actually seen most progress with that as compared to the others but most likely just a lot of added volume. So thinking about switching to a 4 day/week focused more on the compound lifts. For a couple reasons, liked this better than 5/3/1.

    I'm not very familiar with the Eat to Perform programs, but I'm guessing it's more strength focused than the programs you've done previously if it's focusing on the "big 4".
    If you're seeing progress with that I would stick with it a while.
    I don't think you're ready for an intermediate powerlifitng program with your current experience.

    5/3/1 is often run with one day per week dedicated to each of the big 4 and accessories (but there are variations to this), I guess you might call it somewhat of a "bro split" if you ran it the traditional way. (I personally run it as an upper/lower split.) I am a big fan of 5/3/1, I would recommend getting Wendler's books if you were interested in learning more about it. There's a lot more info in the books than what you can find online.

    Thanks! Yeah I have the 5/3/1 books but didn't love the idea of that program. I can't really remember why. Maybe I should give it a second look.

    I'm wanting to get off the eat to perform program when I finish this cycle cause it is taking too long. It takes me usually at least 1.5-1.75 hours, so I'm having to get up st 4:15, and I want a bit more sleep. I could type out the whole program, but for an example, today was
    Back squats, warm up then 5x2
    RDL 4x8
    RFESS 4x8
    reverse lunge 4x8
    Back extension 4x30
    Farmer walks 4x40 ft
    2 ab exercises which I didn't even finish yet so I need to go back and do tonight.

    For reference, when I do two compound lifts (squat and deadlift/ squat and bench/etc) it usually takes me at least an hour to do warm up and working sets for both lifts. So the program you were looking at may not save you that much time compared to what you're doing now any way. (It wouldn't for me at least.)
    Have you tried supersetting any accessory work?
  • 3bambi3
    3bambi3 Posts: 1,650 Member
    Sorry if I missed an answer to this question up thread: So I currently have a tiny home gym and have started running a dumbbell program suggested on the first page. My question is, what can I do to make the lower body work more difficult? I'm used to squatting/deadlifting ~200 pounds and so my dumbbell squats and deads seem ridiculous. Should I just do more reps? I'm not in a position to buy an oly bar or rack for my place or heavier dumbbells...yet, so I'm just looking for ideas on increasing intensity until I can pony up the cash for more equipment.
  • _benjammin
    _benjammin Posts: 1,224 Member
    @3bambi3
    Are you doing Bulgarian(rear foot elevated) split leg squats?
    Single Leg Romanian deadlifts?
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited March 2017
    3bambi3 wrote: »
    Sorry if I missed an answer to this question up thread: So I currently have a tiny home gym and have started running a dumbbell program suggested on the first page. My question is, what can I do to make the lower body work more difficult? I'm used to squatting/deadlifting ~200 pounds and so my dumbbell squats and deads seem ridiculous. Should I just do more reps? I'm not in a position to buy an oly bar or rack for my place or heavier dumbbells...yet, so I'm just looking for ideas on increasing intensity until I can pony up the cash for more equipment.


    Im not sure of your goals, but more reps isn't the answer necessarily.

    Paused and tempos will give you more of the feeling of more intensity without the actual load.

    Also could do some unilateral work until you get the big weights.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    @psuLemon or anyone else with an opinion. I have been running SS for about 3 months. Now that I'm lifting heavier I'm having recovery issues with squats. I am on week two of a break, but plan on de-loading and starting back up next week. Any suggestions for modifications to allow for proper recovery? I've considered two days , but would still like to do each press more than once a week. I could probably BP and Press both days, but time is tight at the gym right now, so I was considering a possible 4 day split, maybe Squat Press Monday & Thursday , BP PC Tuesday, BP DL Friday and then maybe some accessory lifts as time allows. Any other suggestions? A HLM squat schedule perhaps. I enjoy the simplicity of the program plus I have the app for easy tracking, so I would like to keep running it until I exhaust my LPGA and need an intermediate program.

    You ever look into 12 ways to skin the Texas method?