Programming cycles

Hello guys!

Thanks in advance for everything you do for the lifting community!

Been a long time follower of barbell medicine, been years now and your programming temples have been life changing for me!

After pretty much doing every 3days a week program for 2 years, I switched to 4 days a week programming a 1y and a half ago.

I’ve really enjoyed the PL2 template, but I notice every time I do it I kinda tend to crash pretty hard afterwards, both physically and mentally. I have always enjoyed training, and I do understand these things comes and goes so I try not to worry about it and just ride the waves.
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I’ve gotten into the habit of doing PL2 for 12 weeks (dropping week 13) then I move on to the PB3 for some easier RPE 7 sessions and just getting back on the horse, before I do the Hypertrophy 2 and then PL2 again, and then rinse and repeat!

I do enjoy this training cycle, but I was wondering if this seems like a good set up for me, as I’m usually pretty burnt out after PL2!
I’ve consumed pretty much all of your content on programming, and I do understand I’m not supposed to feel burnt out, but powelifting 2 template is supposed to push your limits (inside the RPE scope ofcourse).

Am I going about this the wrong way? Could it be that low fatigue templates are more suited to my needs so I don’t have to do this big template cycle?

I mainly do training just for enjoyment, although I ofc would like to see my numbers go up, I usually distance myself from day to day performance and try to look at the big picture!

To sum up:

PB3 - Hyper 2 - PL2 rinse and repeat.
Usually pretty beaten up after PL2, and need a couple of weeks to not feel burnt out! Does this seem to be a good setup or should I consider more low fatigue work?

Thanks!

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I think it would be hard to recommend changing things if you’re continuing to get stronger and enjoying the variation in training over the cycles. There are lots of ways to mess this up and not a lot of ways to improve.

That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to a trial of the low fatigue program to see if you happen to respond even better to it. I’d plug it in on the same rotation you have now, but if you are getting stronger and feel fresh after doing a cycle of it, you could just keep going with it. That could, potentially, be better for long-term strength development.

Just my 0.02.

-Jordan

1 Like