I’ve made a 15 week Heavy, Light, Medium/DUP program for myself that I’m finishing the first cycle of right now. I’m really happy with both the style of training and the results I’m getting. Especially since I’ve been stuck on my lifts for half a year.
It would be really nice to get some feedback on the program. Suggestions, improvements or comments are highly appreciated!
Some background:
I’ve been lifting weights seriously for 1.5 years now. I’ve run Stronglifts 5x5, the Texas Method and the general intermediate program from Strengththeory.com each for half a year. I really progressed on Stronglifts 5x5 until I hit a pleteau. Even after several resets I could not progress any further. I then switched to Texas Method for half a year. Loved the idea of the program, but found it to be too easy in the beginning, too hard very quickly and mentally tiring to go back week after week and do an even heavier 5x5. It is also possible that I was a bit sick of doing 5x5’s after Stronglifts. Switched to the strengththeory program and replaced one of the bench sessions by overhead press (as described as a possibility) to get some overhead work in as well. Found this program to be too low volume most of the weeks and too low frequency for the main lifts. However, I really liked ramping up the weights and dropping the volume as you go. I also learned a lot about how my body feels when I’m overreaching or not doing that much volume the last year.
Info:
Sex: Male
Age: 28
BW: 87 kg / 192 lbs
Squat PR: 142.5 kg / 315 lbs
Bench Press PR: 122.5 kg / 270 lbs
Deadlifts PR: 170 kg / 375 lbs
However, I’ve already hit both my squat and bench PR’s for several doubles and singles feeling really good the last couple of weeks. So, I believe the following numbers are cautious estimates of my current strength 150/130/180 kg (330/286/397 lbs) (not that it matters that much!). My semi-long term goals are getting a three plates bench, four plate squat and five plate deadlift. And I’m planning to join my first local powerlifting meet in January or February next year.
Sorry for all the info, I’m just trying to give enough context!
The program is described below. For Monday and Friday I do a linear progression of the weights for three months. Increasing both independently 2.5 kgs each week. I do this for four weeks using the first column rep-set scheme, then do a volume deload for one week. Then change to the second column rep-set scheme and continue the linear progression for four new weeks, do a volume deload for one week and then I do the third column scheme for four weeks. Then, I deload the last week before hitting new PR’s that Friday. Hence, in total I add 30 kg over the course of the 15 weeks to my training weight.
For Wednesdays I increase the weight a bit more by the feeling, but I start out with sets of 8 and work my way up to sets of 10 before I increase the weight and drop down to 8 reps again.
Monday (Heavy Day):
Squat: 5x5 / 6x3 / 10x1
Bench: 5x5 / 6x3 / 10x1
Deadlift: 2x3 / 3x2 / 4x1
Wednesday (Light day):
In this workout I hit a new set every second minute to get some conditioning in, some pump and prevent the weights from being all that heavy. Its a though workout while doing it, but I recover quite easily from it.
Front Squat: 4x(8-10)
Overhead press: 4x(8-10)
Pull-ups: hit a total of 40
Incline DB bench press: 4x(8-10)
Pendlay rows: 4x(8-10)
Some core work.
Friday (Medium day):
Squats: 2x3 / 3x2 / 4x1
Bench Press: 2x3 / 3x2 / 4x1
Speed deadlift: (5-8)x3*
End the workout with some bodyweight, complex or rowing finisher as long as I feel my recovery is good.
*For the speed deadlifts I start out with 5x3, work my way up to 8x3, before I increase the weight and go back to 5 sets. Always ensuring that the bar is moving really fast.
I plan to start my next cycle with 115, 100 and 140 for squat, bench and deadlift for Mondays (approx 75% of PR), depending of course on how my PR attempts go in two weeks. And 130, 110 and 110 for squat, bench and deadlift for Friday (approx 85 for squat and bench and 60% for speed dead).
If you read all of this you deserve a pad on the back and I thank you for your time! If you share your thoughts I would be really happy
And to the ones who are going to say that I put way to much thought into the programming and that I should just focus on lifting due to my current level: I really enjoy the programming part. I find it to be very interesting and it helps me being consistent. And I’m truly giving the workouts all I got, seeing stars if that is what it takes to finish what I planed out. I’m aware of the fact that I need to put my heart into your trainings as well, its not just about the program.