Hey Jim, I’m aware that you shouldn’t make any adjustments to your program, or it’s variations, but I was wondering if skinny guys should add more exercises/volume to your BBB program? I’m unaware if you had someone who’s 5’7" 145 lbs with little body fat in mind, or is that enough volume for me, or should I make changes to the sets/reps/intensity? Should I use the same %s on the lifts? My training maxes are 115 (Military), 145 (Bench), 225 (Box Squat), & 245 (Deadlift). Thanks so much for all you’ve contributed! -Jeremy
You can have up to 65 reps on a particular movement in a session. How much more volume do you need?
1 Like
I think you should concentrate on putting on bodyweight and weight to the bar
You don’t need some kind of tailored program because your skinny
My advice would be to pick any of the beginner programs , follow and stick too it and make no changes and shovel as much food in your mouth as possible
No. Follow the program as planned. I assume you realize that all of us were skinny at some point? So follow the lead - not from people who haven’t gotten themselves out of skinny-mode yet.
Not volume but FOOD, most just don’t eat the volume of food required because they are obsessed with this abs craze going on.
Thank you all for your replies. I was just wondering if someone who’s skinny & never exercised before vs. someone who’s skinny & played college basketball before should be on the same program (… & should they be on the same 5/3/1 program as an advanced powerlifter who’s much stronger & much heavier?)?
Well, some were skinnier than others.
One of the good things about 5/3/1 is that the program adapts naturally as you get stronger.
The “skinny beginner” you are describing might be doing 5x10 squats @ 95 pounds on day 1, while the “high school jock” might be doing 5x10 @ 315 pounds … See how that works? Massively different work loads, dictated by the program
The main focus of someone who is “skinny & never exercised before” should be making sure they are doing the lifts correctly, and just putting in the effort.
1 Like
Thank you for the reply. I was just wondering if with vastly different body types & people being composed of different muscle fibers & where they are stronger in other areas & what they’re looking to accomplish if the program should ever vary?
I was describing myself actually as the former college basketball player wondering whether I’m considered a beginner since I don’t have a lot of muscle mass? A lot of basketball players tend to be on the skinnier side and all the successful guards will be very lean. I don’t play anymore & my reasons for wanting to use this program are I feel I’ll look better if I had more muscle & if I want to play again, I’ll be a lot stronger and understand how that’ll even result in being faster & jumping higher.
I see how that works & have noticed the changes in myself. My deadlift went from never deadlifting before to having difficulty doing 135 to deadlifting 245 which I’m excited about. I read a lot of articles by Jim Wendler, Joe Defranco, Louie Simmons, and others and learned about the box squat and I went from not being able to do 135 since I’d start to fall down due to perhaps pulling my groin and a lack of flexibility in my hips to below parallel box squats of 225 a year ago. However, my bench hasn’t gone up much. I typically feel sore where my arms connect to my chest & not my chest that much (and my military press is just 30 lbs less than my bench press). I haven’t had much luck increasing my size, but I understand I just need to eat more. In college, I tracked how many calories I was eating during a month and it averaged out to about 4,500 calories a day to maintain 145 lbs. I was unaware of tnation & other websites back then, so I understand I should not have been playing baksetball/running around for 3 hours & in the weight room for 2 hours. My testosterone strangely enough was at 950 ng/dL (it was at 300 in high school when I was doing twice the amount of work &stressing myself out).
I feel as though you are trying harder and harder to reword your question with the goal of getting a different response.
Jim has given you all you need on this man. Go forth and become better.
I know people typically don’t like to read so I added more details now & was curious if different people need different programs?
Right, but Jim provided you a great answer already. Even with the new details, it still applies. You have a great tool here; something I wish I had when I started training. Go use it and become great.
1 Like
Ok. Yes, we certainly do. Thanks.