Who’s doing the group programming, what are your thoughts, and most importantly is it worth 75/month? Are the workouts designed for the group as a whole or more individualized? How many people are in a group? I realize this will change regularly, but 20, 100, 200, or is there a max for a groups size. Do you get to decide how many days a week you want to work out? All RPE or is there a percentage option? Probably a silly question…
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Seconding for relevant to my interests too.
Thirding.
My main question is the group size. My initial thought is if the group is beyond 20 people, and i wasn’t placed into that group based on my goals/current status, how could it possibly be more effective than me trying to modify one of the many templates. But there is probably something to that I don’t know. What i DO know is i’d benefit enormously from regular form critiques.
So, I am doing the group programming, competitive track. I don’t care about physique. I know enough about nutrition/my body to diet or add BW without someone writing me a nutrition plan. Even though I am not a competitor, I am purely strength focused. I just started this month and am a week behind in the programming based on when it was sent out and my current training schedule.
There are about 54 members in the private group and it is all the tracks. For the most part, most posts in the group seem to be for form checks.
Workouts are designed for the group/track and, at this point, don’t appear to be individualized. For instance, I am not bench focused (at all) but the programming is highly focused on benching. I have just altered the programming on my own for Press based on a reply from Jordan in the group page. I don’t know if there is a limit to the group size and that has not been addressed.
The competitive track is 4 days a week, I prefer 3 days a week, but that has not been addressed (I noted it, along with my emphasis/preference on the Press in my initial questionnaire). If it was really a deal breaker for me, I would push it to see what modifications they would recommend. I would probably just drop the 4th day’s leg presses and do the rack pulls on the 3rd day if I was worried about it and needed to make the change.
In regards to %, the first month of programming is all RPE based, but that shouldn’t be an issue if you’ve been training for a while and have been tracking RPE.
Is it worth it? Meh, I don’t know. (just because it is too soon to make a judgement). But I am looking at it as an opportunity to observe how they program for specific goals utilizing RPE and going longer than 12 weeks. For me, it’s not about the coaching aspect, it’s about the programming and getting better insight into how BBM (Jordan) programs over a longer period of time. I also owe Jordan some money for all of the time and free advice he has given over the years. I can’t afford to hire him as a coach, but I can certainly contribute a small amount at the current price point.
I’ve trained for years on my own with no coach (or anyone else for that matter), written my programming based on what I could glean from others so I am not very needy when it comes to needing feedback/guidance. I just need to bounce small tweaks to programming or injuries off of people more competent and (more removed) than me.
The way I see it, I will walk away smarter, more informed and a better lifter. I might even get stronger, but the jury is out on that.
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Thank you! That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.
Who does the form checks? Is it done by peers in the group or by BBM coaches?
Group programming is group-based programming, meaning that Jordan/Austin write the month of programming designed for the overall needs of that group, for that month. If you stay in the program, your monthly programming then progresses based on this. We offer changes and adaptations for members based on meets, days, injury, equipment, but given the group nature, you have to be a bit more proactive about that with us.
Personal programming and coaching is highly personalized and individualized, so there is a difference there.
We encourage members to ask questions as they desire or need on the FB group, and we hope there is interaction among members. However the BBM coaches provide the form checks and all needed coaching feedback/answers.
Reviving this thread.
By now there should be plenty of people subscribed to this service with richer opinions.
Can someone provide some more review RE: the programming itself? Are the monthly schedules working for you?
Did anyone unsubscribe already?
Intrigued too - I think I will definitely try it out at some point regardless, and there was a pretty positive recommendation of the powerbuilding program in another thread, which I’d be interested in for sure.
I’m currently 6 weeks into the powerbuilding group programming, and so far really enjoying it. The programming itself is excellent - I’m enjoying doing it and it’s giving results so far. My e1rm has increased for every lift so far. I think the programming reflects their programming podcast even more than their templates. They also have the month to month progression planned really well, so you don’t have to worry about things like “what template next??”
The entire group gets the same program, but as Leah said, if you talk to the coaches about any individualized problems, like injuries, meets, equipment/time limitations, or you’re just not responding to the training, they will tweak and modify your programming for you.
The form checks are excellent. You generally film the top working set of each exercise that day, upload it to the group fb page, and get helpful critiques from the BBM coaches, almost always on the same day. My Squat looks like a whole new person, and I’m getting many useful pointers to help my press and deadlift.
They do some exclusive live Q&As sometimes, and the coaches are always available to answer any training or nutrition related questions on the FB page. (And are more responsive and timely than asking on this forum, since you’re paying for it now!)
Powerbuilding seems like the most popular track, with early intermediate the least. But all the tracks are together in the same FB group right now. Jordan has said they are working on their own App / platform for it, but no time line for that.
Is it worth $75/mo? For me, yes. I’m getting a lot of value out of the form checks, Austin’s excellent mentoring skills, and the programming is the most enjoyable I’ve ever done so far. I’ll wait and see how much my 1rms and muscle mass increase in a few months from now before I call it a true success. But so far, very positive.
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I’ve been thinking of signing up for the power building track next month when I finish up with the 12 week strength template. I’m definitely a bit more on the training resistant side of things, so hoping some extra coach interaction will help get me more progress than I’m getting on my own.
Is the powerbuilding track still focused on the main 3 powerlifts however?
It would not be as ideal if it wasnt’ as specific.
Yup! All of the non-GPP work is the big 3 and their variations. It’s still a strength program where the goal is to increase your e1rm, it’s just more focused on hypertrophy and gaining lean mass than it is in absolute strength output.
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Is the programming three days/week, four or something else? Will they modify to suit your schedule?
That’s more than I would have expected.
I don’t wanna give too much away about the programming, but the powerbuilding track has been 3x a week (so far, don’t know if it will increase later), competition track seems to be 4x, and the intermediate track seems to be 3x some months and 4x other months. I’ve never actually seen the programming from these tracks, it’s just what I gather from others talking on the FB group. If you reach out to the coaches in the FB group, I’m sure they’d help you adjust it better to your schedule.
And yeah, I wasn’t sure how much form checks we’d get, but many members film top set from every lift from every workout and post it, and coaches always give feedback. I usually only post my comp lifts since I’m not overly concerned about mastering my supplemental lifts.
That would depend on what you mean by modifying more to fit your schedule. What are you thinking?
I’m thinking about changing to three days a week in case the default is four days.
I suppose I’ll also ask about the rare bigger change in case things aren’t working, but I fully realize group program is not individual custom programming and that this question may be too vague to answer.
Yes, that’s pretty vague, and I don’t know how I could answer that. We have an intake form, and that helps us place you into a group. We would attempt to work with you, and we do pretty well at keeping people moving forward if they offer us enough feedback as we go. If life gets so in the way of training, then you could do something else.
My concern with the 3 vs 4 day tracks is that I really need to bench at least 4 times a week for it to go up. Im extremely training resistant when it comes to bench so how would the powerbuilding track (3 days/week) adapt to that?
I’d say give it a try and see how it goes. The volume of each lift in the powerbuilding track is pretty high. I also consider myself on the training resistant side and was a bit worried about 3x/week pressing movements vs four, but so far both my bench and ohp are moving upwards, albeit slowly. I think you’d have to be pretty low on the bell curve to see no results at all with the kind of volume they prescribe. If it doesn’t work out for you though, maybe you could talk to the coaches about it, or do a little self experimenting with added volume.