Hello all, the main reason for this post is to give a quick overview of this program after my recent completion of it. I see a lot of questions on the program from newer lifters, so I thought maybe this might help them in their decision making.
So as many know, it’s a 12 week program on paper, but you repeat the fourth week of each phase(3 in total), until you no longer see progress on two lifts. For me this ended up being 8 weeks total on phase 1 and 2, and 6 weeks on phase 3. What I loved about the program was the variation of rep ranges, as well as the introduction of movements I had never done before such as paused squats, and pin squats. Also I found the deload week at the beginning of each phase very helpful as a means of getting ready for the increased volume that each phase brings. Ultimately in the last phase my body started recovering slower from the heavy deadlift and squat sessions and in week 3 and 4 of that phase and I started stalling out lifts. I ultimately think that I overshot my RPE on the last couple deadlift sessions when it came to the back off set volume and it really did a number on me.
I would wrap this up by saying that I would highly recommend this program to any novice lifter, or someone who is detrained because of a long lay off. I started this program 2 months after my return to lifting after a 10 year lay off. I am 44 years old, and was doing a conservative calorie cut throughout my running of the program. My progress on it was incredible and I am actually shocked how much my strength improved. Below are my final numbers, based on ERM on the main lifts, I would consider these actually very accurate ERM as the last phase you are working to a heavy single in the big lifts, so it definitely gives you great insight into your progress. Hope this helps for anyone that is on the fence about buying the program and giving it a shot. In my opinion it was worth every penny I paid for it.
Total program length - 22 weeks
Starting weight - 210lbs
Finish weight - 198lbs
Starting waist circumference - 42
Finish waist circumference - 38.25
Starting squat ERM - 233
Finish squat ERM - 357
Starting deadlift ERM - 317
Finish deadlift ERM - 432
Starting bench ERM - 191
Finish bench ERM - 235
Starting OHP ERM - 120
Finish OHP ERM - 150