Which lifting program is the best for you?

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.

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?

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

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.

Bolded the most important part.

Given my newfound obsession with Strongman competitions, I'm going to be giving Chad Wesley Smith's Juggernaut Training Method 2.0 a run for about a year. It basically employs a slightly convoluted hypertrophy-intensification-realization style of periodization.

The progression system reminiscent of 5/3/1. However, instead of using Wendler's static +5/10 lbs. per cycle, your increases are based upon amrap performance. It also offers an interesting 6 day per week training variation, but for now I'll stick to the standard 4x/week (bench, deadlift, ohp, squat) format, as I'm using other days for SM specific stuff and/or GPP.

TR0berts wrote: »

Just found what looks to be a pretty good intermediate program, with Kizen's Infinite Off-Season. There's a few other free programs which look at least decent, but the Off-Season one looks particularly good, IMO.

I think I've looked at their site but I wasn't a fan of having to make an account just to see what the programming was about. I've heard good things though!

TR0berts wrote: »

not_a_runner wrote: »

TR0berts wrote: »

Just found what looks to be a pretty good intermediate program, with Kizen's Infinite Off-Season. There's a few other free programs which look at least decent, but the Off-Season one looks particularly good, IMO.

I think I've looked at their site but I wasn't a fan of having to make an account just to see what the programming was about. I've heard good things though!

True, but I have an email account that I use almost entirely for signing up for things like this, where I'll probably just delete whatever gets sent my way. And I tend to like Omar, so sure.

Silent Mike seems pretty great too, I'm just not ready for that level of commitment I guess lol

ETA Maybe I'll check it out later, I am in the market to start a new program any day now.

bump - great info that I need to look at in the future! Thanks for posting!