I want to start by saying that the God is a Beast template looks perfect for my goals and interests right now. I was debating between a few templates, but this one is most appealing to me. At the moment I want to get stronger, the Spinal Tap template looks fun, and the BBS template looks fun. I am planning on doing 2 leaders and 1 achor on it. I am not questioning that this will make me stronger and that is the goal, but the 85% training max seems light. It is important to note that I am happy to retract any or all of this as I start it since I have not started it yet, but I am just looking at the numbers and when I choose to devote time to a routine, I like to know what I am getting into.
It seems good for the BBS sets, but it seems light for the Spinal Tap sets. I am currently on my deload week on the original 5/3/1 Triumverate template. Right now I am using a 90% training max. If I lower it to an 85% training max then its not until the 5th and 6th weeks that I will be lifting heavier than I currently am and even then 1-3 reps at the training max is still a lower calculated max than what my calculated max is now. I have run different templates of 5/3/1 for the last couple years so I know to not mess with them and I don’t plan on messing with this one, but they have all been with a 90% training max and my calculated max on my lifts goes up almost every week.
Like I said, this seems like a program I will have a lot of fun on, but the fact that I don’t see my calculated max increase the entire time I run this and for most of it, I am lifting lighter than I have been makes it appear like it should have a 90% training max. I like that the anchor has PR sets, which is a 3+, but at 85% training max it seems like you should be able to hit 5-8 reps easily. Is this template pushing you hard enough?
I just finished The God Is A Beast programming, and I made impressive progress all across the board. I used 85% TM for all lifts, except for the deadlift as I used 80% here. Looking back, I am SUPER glad I didn’t use heavier TM, and once you start the program I bet you’ll understand why.
Just a side note. If I were you, I’d go for 2 leaders and 2 anchors, like the book says due to the length of the leader cycles.
Thank you. I’m not trying to sound argumentative here, but I’m not clear why the length of the leader cycles dictate how many anchors you do. Also, maybe I missed something, but the template does not seem to specify any 7th week protocol. So, would it be a good call to do a deload after the 1st 6 weeks leader, raise your training max, then run the leader for another 6 weeks, deload again, then do the anchor, then deload, then do the 2nd anchor, then deload or do some other 7th week protocol?
Regarding the leader/anchor length - I don’t think the length of the leaders should dictate how many anchor you do. But reasoning for adviceing you to do so is because it stands in the book, and because it allowed myself to discover more strength gains I had make. The first anchor allowed me to do PRs, but I was still a little rusty from all of the volume in the leaders. For my second anchor I was mucher fresher and made even bigger strength gains.
Jim once said: “During the Leader phase, you are essentially building strength/size and sacrificing NOW for the greater good of TOMORROW” - So I guess its nice to have a few more weeks to discover what you’ve build and sacrificed the last 12 weeks.
As for the 7th week protocol I was a little confused myself, so I look at the 7th week protocol chapter and reread this “The 7th week protocol will always be used as a deload between the leader and anchor”. Therefor I did not deload between the two first leaders. I don’t know wether this was right or wrong, but I made a descision and it worked very well.
Thank you. I will plan on using the 7th week protocol between the leaders and anchors, but I will go by feel. If I need a deload between the two leaders, I will take a deload week. If I dont need one, I will hold off until the leaders are done.