Programming questions (alternating PB2 with BB2)

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi,

## Background/Update
As advised by Jordan in my previous thread(context: Low BMI, high abdominal fat, slow progression. Where to go from here? - Nutrition Q/A with Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum - Barbell Medicine Forum) I returned back to phase 2 (for 8 weeks) + phase 3 (for 6 weeks) of the beginner template and saw better progress in all my lifts (10-20% increase in e1rm for most lifts per block). Nutrition wise I tried to maintain my weight thinking I could eyeball it, but without properly counting calories ended up overshooting (up to ~74kg from ~70kg at the time of the thread, with waist slightly higher to 34.8’ from 34.5’).

Questions

  1. In the near term I plan on filling the rest of 2023 with Hypertrophy I (currently in week 2) and then Powerbuilding I, while more carefully monitoring my calorie intake to stick to maintenance. Do you think that’s an alright plan for the rest of 2023?
  2. I am also trying to set a longer-term outline for my programming (2024+), do you think alternating Powerbuilding II with single Bodybuilding II blocks would make sense? My logic is that I feel ready to move to 4 day templates soon, and I would use the BB2 blocks to prioritise more conditioning and isolation work and take a break from the big lifts(or as much of them) inbetween runs of PB2. I am probably 40/60 in terms of strength/hypertrophy preference at the moment. I guess my concern is losing too much strength in the big lifts during the BB2 blocks. Is that something you would expect?

Thank you!

2

I think the plan for the rest of the year seems reasonable, though you could just stick with hypertrophy I for the balance of the year as well.

Unfortunately, I do not think planning programming into the future is particularly useful outside of general considerations for competitions or time-sensitive goals. I would not expect you to lose much strength, if any, while still engaging in resistance training. Any strength performance decrease is likely attributable to skill decay from lack of exposure (to singles, for example) and is easily remedied. If someone isn’t competing at a powerlifting meet soon, I do not think this should carry much weight for programming considerations.

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