I can only train four consecutive days a week. Which program should I do?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Dear Coaches,

I am presently a college student, and my schedule only allows me to train four consecutive days a week (Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri).

Which of your programs shall I use? I wanted to do the Bridge 3.0 because I’m still a “novice-intermediate.”

  1. I ran SSLP for a month and a half (I’m a smaller fella; I stand at about 5’4 tall)
  2. I ran a modified Texas Method for 8 weeks until November 2018.
  3. I ran an unsatisfactory Bridge 1.0 (due to getting used to new movements and misjudging RPE)

Finally, I have not been able to strength train at all due to financial reasons in the past two months.

I want to purchase The Bridge v.3.0. Is this wise? Or should I re-run Bridge 1.0?

Also, how would you recommend I run either of these programs for four consecutive days?
(Since The Bridge is prescribed only for three days).

Kind Regards,

A poor college student trying to get strong amid a host of financial setbacks

2

There isn’t one “correct” or “perfect” approach to this. I don’t think you “need” to purchase a template unless you want to. But given your schedule, you’re obviously going to need to find a way to expose yourself to enough volume and intensity over those four days to make progress (…duh).

One option is to take a “base” template like the Bridge and re-arrange it to fit your schedule. The Bridge has 3 days per week with 3 movements per day = 9 “slots” that could be re-distributed over four days, and use the RPE targets to auto regulate training loads and manage fatigue. From here you’ll just need to modify it as needed for progress (and sustainability).

1 Like
3

Thank you! Are there any YT videos of the BBM crew explaining how to modify slots and RPE? I’m still fairly new to strength training.
I ended up just buying the Bridge 3.0 because it was described as appropriate for novices.

4

There isn’t anything specifically on modifying “slots”.

With respect to RPE, I’d start here:

5

Reposting my comment from a thread on the bbm Facebook page. Hope it’s helpful:

I also need to train early morning and have at most an hour, so I’ve modified the bridge 1.0 to four days to make it easier to finish in time. I also take 3 mins max of rest. The breakup (in this example using the variants from weeks 1-4) looks like this:

M: Comp Squat/Close Grip Bench
T: Pause DL/Comp Press
W: GPP/off
Th: Pause Squat/Rows
F: Comp DL/Comp Bench/Tempo Squats

This has worked pretty well so far, and I’d eventually like to improve my efficiency and work capacity so that I could do a four day hypertrophy template in the same timeframe.