Figured I’d ask here before bothering the coaches.
In the General S&C template, it calls for a large amount of conditioning (duh).
3x per week LISS
2x HITT
2x Upper back
2x Arm work
2x Ab work
However it only calls for 2 days of GPP for the list above. I also wanted to bring in power cleans and snatches since an article from a BBM kind of gave it an okay (How-To: Incorporate the Snatch and Clean into Your Program | Barbell Medicine), but that is more volume I added. So it becomes strength plus LISS Mon, Wed, and Fri, then on Tuesday and Thursday I have the power movements plus upper back, arm, ab, and HITT. At this point, it feels like I’m working 2 hours Monday-Friday just on training. Is this… I don’t know, normal? Is this just a program I’m not connecting with? Am I just doing something wrong where my workouts take too long?
Even without the clean and snatch, this still feels like I’m spending more time then I would like in the gym. Any recommendations for what to go for next? I was thinking of doing The Bridge since I didn’t do that, but I did SSLP first where I did “graduated” to an intermediate, so would it be a better idea to go Strength 2 template or something?
What is your recent training history like? How long have you been running GS&C? If you went straight from SSLP to this template it might be a good idea to take a step back and run one of the versions of the bridge first which is planned out to ramp you up into this style of programming (so the step up is not so drastic). If you have almost finished GS&C I would perhaps just finish and then look at going to strength 1, power building 1 or hypertrophy 1 depending on your current goals. I say that just because the version 2 templates have more main training days then you are doing currently and you already feel like you are training for too much of your week.
If you feel like your workouts are taking too long a couple of things I have had success with (some of which it sounds like you are already doing):
-Having a consistent way of warming up to the first lift of the day and taking no rest between any of those sets
-Reducing the number of warm up sets I was taking on other exercises after the first movement of the day
-Time my rest periods and limit rest time to no more than 3 minutes for back off work
-Superset the GPP work
To keep the overall training week down I will add a few of my GPP exercises and some cardio onto the end of my main training days. So I for example I would do the three main movements for the day and then do a superset of rows and plank for one of my upper back and ab slots and then spent 15-20 minutes on the bike. This normally leaves just one day of GPP extra to do in the week and some short cardio sessions on some of my rest days.
In terms of what is ‘normal’: at the moment for me most my main training days take 1.5 - 2 hours (that usually include 20-30 minutes of cardio and some GPP) but different people are going to spend different amounts of times based on their preferences and other time commitments.
I ran SSLP, finished around early December (Dec 3rd to be exact), went immediately into Texas Method which didn’t work for me because finals in college and work kept interfering with scheduling. I’d have to close shop, which then meant I couldn’t go to the gym that day, that sort of thing. I decided to switch it since it wasn’t working for that and other reasons. Now I’m 5 weeks in S&C and not really seeing what I want and a lot of the GPP isn’t even stuff I care for. I don’t care for hypertrophy work, but I want to stick as close to the program as possible to really understand it, you know? So I do most of them anyways. I saw Strength 1, noticed its for people with >3 months experience, and knew I’ve been lifting longer than that, and decided to go for S&C since I used to do that before SSLP anyways. Its not exactly the workload that is challenging of S&C, but just the amount of time I spend doing work. Its feeling like my scheduling is revolving around the gym instead of the gym being an additional fun thing I do, if that makes sense.
I actually already do most of what you recommend. For me personally, it can take 2 hours simply because of the gym I go to being crowded. The heart of Boston, right next to a college, and only 3 squat racks for instance. Just yesterday, during my GPP day, I stood around, waiting 20 mins for a bench to open up just so I could do arm work, which I don’t really care for to begin with anyways. I already did all my other GPP work waiting for a bench to open up, I just had to wait cause I guess someone else took them when I was doing other stuff. Part of me wants to do the arm work to stick with the program, and another part of me doesn’t just so I don’t have to do something I don’t like.
I understand the two hours spent on the main days, I’m mainly worried about the days dedicated to GPP taking two hours, just feels weird I suppose. Maybe some experimentation will help ease my consciousness.
But yes, the reassurance does help ease my anxiety about this.:o And I will probably go to Strength 1 after this block. Thank you again.
I understand this. As is usual this time of year, my gym seems to have suddenly more than doubled in population. Also being less willing to share racks and equipment right now due to covid does make keeping training time down a challenge!
At the end of the day if you don’t really want to do the arm work and it is proving a pain for your scheduling right now, you wont be losing much if you cut it out for awhile. Although I will say looking back I do wish I had done more arm work more often over the course of my training history!
Sounds like Strength 1 will be a good match for what you are looking for once you finish up this training block
