I’m in week 4.5 of phase 1 of the beginner template. My squat has stagnated for a couple of weeks in the 4 rep range (day 1, exercise 1), as has my ohp (day 2, exercise 2). My squats in the 7 and 10 rep ranges are still seeing weekly progression, as are my bench, deadlifts, and rows in all rep ranges. Would you advise me to move to phase 2 now, or can I continue with phase 1 for a couple more weeks?
Also, I notice there seems to be no deload in week 1 of phase 2. For example, the squat on day 1 is a set less than at the end of phase 1 but at a higher intensity. Just wondering what the thinking is on this?
How do you define stalling in the context of determining when to move on to subsequent phases in the Beginner Template? In Leah’s article on understanding stalls, it seems to indicate that no progression over a 3 week period might be a useful yardstick. Would you agree with this for the Beginner Template?
In my progression on the this template, my squat weight in the 4 rep range has increased at least every second week.
Hi Eric,
The Beginner’s Template talks about a stall for this program being when TWO lifts have stalled or regressed. If you see this for more than one lift and for 2 weeks or more, time to move on in this program. But a stall, in a general sense, has some time ambiguity to it.
