I’ve been running a couple of Powerbuilding programmes for the past 6 months, back-to-back; and while strength has improved marginally over this time it’s now plateaued a while; and my workouts are consistently an RPE 8/9.
I’ve got 5 years’ lifting experience, and prefer Powerbuilding programs since I have no competitive goals; but do want to increase strength.
At this juncture, with those goals in mind, would it be better to do Hypertrophy II, or one of your Low/Medium ISF programs? I’m someone who tends to shoot high with RPE in most sessions, and consequently feel very drained after most workouts.
N.B. I’m also taking Sertraline, which may affect energy. With this is mind would lower RPE strength program be better or Hypertrophy with lower total weight?
I think the low ISF program would be a good choice given everything you’ve laid out here. Give one of the 4 templates included a run and see how you like it. Let us know!
As a general rule, on any given program of yours that I’m running, if training volume should seem too high compared to current training potential, what would be your preferred protocol for systematically reducing volume, without compromising the benefits of the program?
I speculated that the following approach may be appropriate, and would appreciate your thoughts:
Reduce volume of any additional GPP arm and back exercises.
If volume still too high, omit any additional GPP arm & back exercises.
If volume still too high, reduce/omit any supplememtal exercise.
If volume still too high, consider a 3, rather than 4-day program.
P.S. I haven’t done a 3-day program for over 4 years.
Would reducing lifting sessions by 25% be a last resort in this case, to manage fatigue, since it would constitute a significant backwards step in training exposure?
Would a pared-back 4-day program, with only three exercises, no supplemental exercises or accessory arm and back exercises, still be preferable to a fully-fleshed out 3-day program?
To be clear, reducing the stress to an appropriate level would likely increase adaptations on any program that’s providing too much stress.
In the context of our templates, I would typically start by reducing RPE by 1 or 2 points and/or reducing weekly volume of the non-GPP lifts by 10-20% total . I wouldn’t touch anything on GPP usually.
For the 3-day question, I do not think that moving to a 3-day program should necessarily considered a step backwards, as the composition of the training days is far more important than the # of days you train. In fact, I am not convinced frequency makes a ton of difference until volume gets very high (> 10-12 sets per body part or movement pattern in a day) or for logistics purposes (time available to train). In sum, I can create a 3-day program that delivers more training stress than a 4-day program and vice versa. I cannot say whether a hypothetical version of a 4-day program is more or less appropriate than another hypothetical program that’s 3-days per week. Given your response to the powerbuilding program as of late, I would start on one of the 3-day Low ISF templates.
Thanks for the question and the answer. I have been considering go back to 3 days now that I need to cut a little and was worried about getting set back some. Thanks for the answer Jordan, this has led me to try it. I needed to cut a little and it seems hypertrophy I is recommended. After the strength II template I have missed some workouts so shorter workouts with one day less as compared to hypertrophy II I had started should be easier for compliance while I cut a little and heal up. Also I can’t remember the video you and Austin posted but you were discussing the idea of a marathon and not a sprint to paraphrase where you both had said your training had focused away from doing more than a time before and just realizing you want a positive trend over time even if it dips a little bit here and there.