Which lifting program is the best for you?

Bumping for future reference. Great information to have.

I am just confused on where to start, lol! I did SL 5x5 for about 7 months and did get results but then it seemed that my body got used to the same 3 movements over and over again and I was stalling out on the weight. I am looking for something that has muscle confusion or at least a little bit of a mix up. I just finished 8 weeks of Les Mills GRIT and the muscle confusion gave me great results but they are not offering anymore classes at the moment and now I need to find another program to do. They do offer Body pump at my gym so I was thinking about doing that 2 days a week and then some other sort of strength/lifting program 2 other days of the week. I still have fat that I need to lose so I am eating at a deficit also. Just need to find another program now and I feel a little lost.

And there are more than 3 lifts in SL...did muscle "confusion" increase your lifts?

Bumping for reference! Thanks!

Great review of the programs too, mentioning many of these. May have been mentioned on the many pages by now, but perhaps useful in the OP.

http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/

There's a pair of beginner DB-focused programs you could add from reddit's /r/fitness

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/zc0uy/a_beginner_dumbbell_program_the_dumbbell_stopgap/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/2e79y4/dumbbell_ppl_proposed_alternative_to_dumbbell/

I'm using this DB routine https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dumbbell-only-home-or-gym-fullbody-workout.html
I'm going to do it for the rest of this month and in August I'm switching to strong lifts 5x5.

Bump

Has anyone run one of the four day splits as a three day program? By that I mean you still cycle through all of the four workouts in order, you just do three sessions each week (so first week is workouts 1, 2, 3 then second week is workouts 4, 1,2 and so on). I'm wondering how much progress I would lose if I gave it a go. I've been doing Stronglifts for over a year now and the three day routine works great for my life, but I'm starting to plateau (and honestly, I'm getting quite fatigued from squatting heavy every workout - starting to dread lifting days). I'm looking for something intermediate level with some more variety - dumbbells, machines, etc - in addition to barbell work, but it looks like most of the programs that meet this criteria are laid out as four day programs.

I looked through the list here, and these seem like good contenders:

• Wendler 5/3/1
• A Workout Routine
• PHUL
• 3 Day Power Muscle Burn Split (obviously this is already three days)

Would love to hear your thoughts if you have given this a try or if there are any other workouts on the list that might be a good fit for this modification that I might have missed.. Thanks!

jessiefrancine wrote: »

Has anyone run one of the four day splits as a three day program? By that I mean you still cycle through all of the four workouts in order, you just do three sessions each week (so first week is workouts 1, 2, 3 then second week is workouts 4, 1,2 and so on). I'm wondering how much progress I would lose if I gave it a go. I've been doing Stronglifts for over a year now and the three day routine works great for my life, but I'm starting to plateau (and honestly, I'm getting quite fatigued from squatting heavy every workout - starting to dread lifting days). I'm looking for something intermediate level with some more variety - dumbbells, machines, etc - in addition to barbell work, but it looks like most of the programs that meet this criteria are laid out as four day programs.

I looked through the list here, and these seem like good contenders:

• Wendler 5/3/1
• A Workout Routine
• PHUL
• 3 Day Power Muscle Burn Split (obviously this is already three days)

Would love to hear your thoughts if you have given this a try or if there are any other workouts on the list that might be a good fit for this modification that I might have missed.. Thanks!

Not sure about PHUL, but I'd imagine it would work just fine.

AWR (via website) and 5/3/1 (in Beyond 5/3/1, as well as original book) both have templates for training 3x per week.

MrsBeccaM5 wrote: »

This article explains how to do a three day split. http://www.fitmole.org/upper-lower-split/

A good source for advice, thanks for that.

VintageFeline wrote: »

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VeronicaA76 wrote: »

None of the above. I just listen to and do what my trainer tells me to do, no matter how sadistic or insane I think he may be at times. I am slowly getting to where I want to be, so it's working. And there is constant adjustments based on my feedback.

So no structure to speak of?

If the coach is competent and ever present, predefined structure isn't needed. We see this a lot with stuff like Sheiko's beginner routines. The progression in those is basically autoregulated by an outside source (the coach) based on form maintenance, bar speed, etc.