Best training program for novice?

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I previously did SSLP through SSOC, and ended with something around 295 Squat, 280DL, 145 OHP, and 220 Bench, all but DL were HLM training cycle, DL was alternating 1X5 and 3Xrep pause… Because of a few injuries/surgeries/life I haven’t been able to train since August 2017.

I’m ready to jump back in but after my experience with the never ending grind of SSLP to HLM I would rather try something different. Is The Bridge or another BM template the way to go? Should I run out a shortened version of LP to get the weights up to where I was previously?

Thanks

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Hey VonMeister, welcome to the BBM forums and glad to see you’re getting back into lifting.

I think you’ll find varying opinions, even around here, on how a novice should train and what programming they should do.

The Bridge is traditionally run as a post-SSLP program, but I think it also makes a good novice program (I also asked Feigenbaum about this on Instagram Live, and he agreed). It’ll introduce you to RPE, which will prevent training from ever being a grind, and get you adapted to handling higher training volumes, and you’ll start to learn the process of training - not just simply trying to add 5lbs forever. You’ll probably be able to run the program a few times in a row and hopefully make some sweet progress.

I’d say try out the Bridge 1.0, and if you like it, rerun it or go ahead and buy the Bridge 3.0 template - it’s pretty sweet.

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Yeah I agree, if you plan on doing BBM/RTS style programming post novice, you are better off just skipping SSLP and starting with the bridge. There’s no point in doing a completely different training style than you’re going to be doing the rest of your career for a small 3 month period of time. You’ll be better off starting with the bridge and start learning the tools that you will use the rest of your lifting career right off the bat. Plus, you are already acquainted with the misery that is the grind at the end of LP, and I don’t blame you for not wanting to put yourself through it again. I know I wouldn’t put myself through it again either, once was enough for me!

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