BB template: when to move on to the next phase

Hi, I’m running the BB template for the second time - last time was 12 months ago.

I’m currently on week 7 of phase 1 and everything is going well: all the exercises are progressing, I’m motivated, and am not experiencing too much fatigue.

As an experiment, I’d like to stretch this phase out as long as I can because in the past I think I’ve been too quick to switch programs after experiencing just one week of lowered performance on the main exercises. This time around, I’d like to try waiting until I experience a continual 3-week dip in performance before moving on. Does that sound reasonable? Or is it possible that phase 1 may be too low volume for me and I should move to phase 2 now?

I am also wondering whether this is an appropriate metric to use for the BB template since it’s primarily focused on hypertrophy. I have been taking body measurements and haven’t noticed growth yet other than my waist going up an inch, and I’ve been gaining 2 lb/month.


That sounds totally fine to me.

If your measurements on arms, thighs, and other non-waist components haven’t gone up in 8-weeks, I’d plan on switching programming to drive some size gains. Likely with different exercises and more volume.

Just wanted to follow up on this in case others are curious. I ended up growing quite a bit, about 1.5 inches on my arms, 2-3 inches on my chest/shoulders, and same for legs. Success! I experienced a pretty linear growth pattern starting at the end of phase 1 all the way to the end of phase 3.