Larger Exercise Variety in a Novice Program

What are the advantages and disadvantages of following a 3-day per week, A/B/C routine instead of the traditional B/A/B, A/B/A routine for novices? Three different upper body push exercises, three for pull, and three for lower body. 9 exercises in total. Do you think strength gains will slow or stop under such a program? What about hypertrophy?

We have recorded multiple podcasts with our thoughts on these topics in programming (including discussions of beginners).

Episodes 22, 23, 24, 58, 70, and 164.

This is also discussed in the beginner prescription article and accompanying template/e-book.

I’m running the Beginners Template right now and just finished wk 4 - day 1. I’m able to make weekly 5% jumps on most of my lifts. The advantages that I’m seeing are consistent and progressive strength and volume gains with a hypertrophic side effect. I’m tracking my weight and macros daily. I’m tracking my waist measurements weekly. I was down 3 inches in my waist measurement at the end of week 3. Disadvantages?? I can’t think of any… I’d say a disadvantage to yourself is not running the program exactly how it’s laid out and being honest when you plug in all your numbers into the spreadsheet.

2 Likes

Follow up question: I work 3 x 14 hour shifts three days in a row, so I can only train 20min max on those days. What would you do as a novice?

  1. Train 3x/week, but do two days in a row.
  2. Train 2x/week. Would you do an A day and B day or just two days of the same workout? Could I do more sets so volume is equated to the 3x/week program?