How to explain to someone why Beginner template shouldn't be skipped?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi there,

I took lifting seriously starting in winter 2023, and I have had several rounds now of lifting for 3 months and getting busy and stopping, or lifting for 2.5 months and then challenging my 1 RMs and getting a shoulder injury, or basically some nonsense. I can do the movements, I have a “great squat” based on a local barbell coach etc etc and here are my numbers:

Body weight: 132 lbs 5’5
Squat: 230 lbs
Deadlift: 225 lbs
Bench: 135 lbs

My PRs for deadlift and bench were 245 lbs at 145 and 145 at 145, but I lost a bunch of weight intentionally at the start of 2024 and I never tried to rechallenge them. I don’t want to get injured again and I want my body to just be overall stronger and to have had the lifts dialed in more before taking the weight up to RPE 10 efforts.

I am currently on week 3 of phase 1 of this beginner template. I am convinced that I need to take more time and actually properly get through this entire template, re-running the 4th week several times etc until the gains slow down and it’s time to move on. My goal is to go to a powerlifting meet one day, maybe, and to see how I’d do (which I can kinda already see just by looking at results of past events). I’m 38 and I have no idea where my genetic ceiling is.

My friend is 12 years younger and way more impatient. He is convinced (because my pound for pound numbers are higher than his) that I should skip the rest of the beginner template (because he feels the rep ranges are too high) and he feels I should start doing multiple sets of low reps to be able to lift heavier weights faster and build muscle faster and everything faster.

How do I convince him that I should stay in the beginner template? I’m going to stay on it regardless, because honestly, where’s the hurry? Why not stay in this noob phase longer and gain as much as possible instead of trying to leap off the ground and smash my head against a plateau asap?

I tried to explain to him that I still need more “base miles”, but he thinks that the program is for people who can’t really do the lifts yet. Are there any criteria (I’m a physician, sorry) for ending the program early and moving on to a different program, in a new lifter who restarts every 2-3 months? (Hoping not to restart again).

2

JF,

Welcome back to the forum. It’s been a minute.

Regarding your friend, I don’t know that there is much convincing that can be done.

That said, the idea that only “low” rep sets contribute to maximal strength is inaccurate. Pretty much all rep ranges, intensities, etc. will work. For maximal strength development, muscle size and neurological adaptations need to be trained. For most, this requires a variety of rep ranges and movements. Very few strength athletes train exclusively with low reps/higher intensity year round, for example.

If you had to test your 1RM in 4 weeks, I don’t think the Beginner Template is the best choice. But if we’re talking months from now, I think it lays an excellent base.

If a person doesn’t like and/or isn’t responding well to a program, I would favor a change.

-Jordan

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