12 week strength template questions...

I want to try to get some information about the 12 week strength templates before I shell out the 40.00 for one of them.

  1. How long do the workouts typically take? If you were to compare them to say the SS workouts or the Monday TM workout for example how would it compare time wise?
  2. Is there a way to get a general list of the lifts included in the programs? I just want to make sure I won’t be removing anything from my routine that I really enjoy, for example power cleans.
  3. At the end of the 12 weeks if I start the cycle 12 week cycle again can I expect similar results? Just in general, I know a whole host of factors need to be accounted for.
  4. What type of poundage increases are prescribed/typical in the 12 weeks for the main lifts?
  5. Is the program RPE or percentage based?

I hope this hasn’t been asked already and I just missed it.

Thanks,

Tim

Hi Tim,

  1. About 1.5 to 2 hours as long as you keep your warm ups quick and time your rests.
  2. There is no PC in this program, given it’s strength development focus. There are squats and variations (tempo and pin), DL and variations (RDL, rack pulls, paused, deficit, SLDL, rows), bench and variations (paused, pin, tempo, close grip), and Press.
  3. You can do that, depending on how the 12 weeks went for you, you might be able to run it again as is, you might need to adjust some things.
  4. There are both RPE and percentage guides in the template and how much you increase will depend on your training history.
  5. Both.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the help, I ended up getting the press template and will be giving it a go. I do have a question about how to handle weight progression in the program. I come for the SS/TM camp and I am used to the add 5lbs or 2.5lbs every training session or week. With the RPE that seems to be a bit different, yet I am not entirely sure how to add weight. Is there any guidance that can be given on how to add weight in these templates? I don’t mind reading or watching a video if needed.

Thanks for the help,

Tim

This is explained in the templates. The expectation is that you should be able to add 2.5-5 lbs per week (and hence we recommend people start out a bit conservatively), but the RPEs allow for fine-tuning and adjustment on a day-to-day basis in order to help manage fatigue over the course of the training cycle.

I have what I hope is one last question that I did not see explained anywhere in the template. How is the fatigue % cell supposed to work? Thanks again for your help, you guys have been great.

Tim

It’s just a template calculation, but it has no bearing on your fatigue calculations in the set, and it should just be ignored as you do and plan your training.