I’m currently about to finish running the powerbuilding II template for the second time this week. I ran powerbuilding I once and the beginner template before this.
I ended powerbuilding II (The first time) with the following numbers (I’m carriying a long-term hip injury and i’m still working on getting back to squatting with full depth):
Comp style bench (1ct pause) - 105 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 114 kg
Deadlift - 167.5 kg x 1 @ ~RPE 8.5, E1RM of 178 kg
OHP - 57.5 x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 63 kg
As for the second run of powerbuilding II, I started feeling pain in my arms during the end of week 7 and ended up training only the lower body of week 8. I then started doing the upper body exercises during week 9, though with reduced volume and intensity to deal with the pain. Now during week 10, I still have some pain in my arms (though it’s better now), and i’ve been able to train at near normal intensity and volume.
Also to add context, i’m 21 and weigh ~76.5 kg @ ~16.2% bf which is pretty much the same I weighed at the end of powerbuilding II (i’ve been maintaining my weight).
I’ll list my best numbers from the second run of powerbuilding II in order to compare to the first run, though i’ll add that for the upper body movements this week i’ve got to -2.5 kg from my normal weight.
Comp style bench (1ct pause) (My best of this template was at week 7) - 105 kg x 1 @ ~RPE 8.5, E1RM of 112 kg, a 2 kg decrease on the first run of PB II.
Deadlift - 180 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 195 kg, a 17 kg improvement from the first run of PB II
OHP - 57.5 x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 63 kg, no improvement from the first run of PB II
In this case, would it be best to rerun powerbuilding II for a third time or start powerbuilding III if my goals are both strength and hypertrophy to an equal amount?
I hope that next week i’ll be able to train as normal (after dealing with this arm pain that started out of nowhere for 3 weeks), though even before this my strength gains on the upper body movements and muscle mass gain have completely plateaued (although i’ve been maintaining my weight, i’ve been hoping to atleast recomp a bit and lose some bf % which hasn’t happened).
Also, as a follow up question, what can I do in order to break through this plateau on upper body movements? Is this a matter of just switching programs to PB III, or is there something else that could be inhibiting my progress? I’ll add that I had all of my lifts reviewed via the form check, and while there’s always stuff that can be improved in this regard, I feel that my form is at least decent and wouldn’t think that this is the limiting factor in my strength progression.
Thanks for the post. I think if you had good results on PB II and like the setup, you could run it again. If you want something slightly different and to choose your own movements, PB III would be the move.
As far as the plateau goes, I would look at how you are selecting weights first, then exercise selection relative to your goals, then technique, then training dose. Practically speaking, I would make sure you are hitting your final warm up sets within 5% of your projected top sets, adding weight when you can, and making sure the exercises you select for supplemental slots carry over to the lifts you care about.
I’ve had pretty good results on PB II with lower body movements, though my progress on upper body movements has been underwhelming. I think i’ll rerun it again since I quite liked the setup and hopefully get better results this time, after that i’ll move on to PB III.
As for selecting weight, I usually work up with 4-6 sets of even jumps to a weight that is 2 RPE levels lower than my top set and for the same rep range, and then decide based on that what should be the number for my top set. For example, if last week my top set was 177.5 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, i’ll work up to 165 kg x 1 @ what is supposed to be ~ RPE 6, and based on the RPE of this set would decide whether I should go up to 180 kg for my top set or remain on 177.5 kg like the previous week.
As a follow up question that is somewhat related to this topic, I also feel that I plateaued in regards of building muscle mass (both visually and in terms of numbers on the scale), and maybe this is a contributing factor to plateauing with my strength aswell (?).
For the past few years i’ve been on a constant cycle of bulking up to around 76-78 kg @ 16%-17% bf, and then cutting down to around 70 kg @ ~ 13% bf. I started my last bulk at the end of 2021 and weighed 70 kg @ 13% bf and stopped bulking at october 2022 and weighed ~ 76 kg @ 16% bf. Since then i’ve been maintaining my weight for the past 4 months or so as I didn’t want to cut yet though I felt that my body fat was getting towards the upper end of what i’d feel comftorable with, and I’ve remained at pretty much the same weight and same bf % as 4 months ago.
Would it be smart to start a slow long term bulk once again, or do I need to lower my body fat % before attempting to bulk further? The only reason i’d be against cutting weight is that I feel that it’d get me back to the same position i’ve been at for the past few years in terms of my physique (and numbers on the scale). Also, were I to start bulking again, what rate of weight gain is appropriate in this context and to what weight / how long should I be bulking if I want to put on as much muscle mass and strength as possible (without getting to a a level where my body fat is to high)?
I’ll add that my height is ~180 cm, and my waist circumference at this moment (early evening in my time-zone, so i’ve eaten a couple hours ago) 84 cm.
For the warm-ups/weight selection, I like what you’re doing for the most part. That said, I think it should be a relatively rare event that you repeat the weight week-to-week, e.g. your performance is exactly the same. It should be up and down, mostly up over time, but rarely static…if that makes sense. In cases where the last warm-up is not giving you a definite signal to reduce weight, I’d plan on adding weight.
For the bodyweight management, I think you would likely benefit from a strength and muscle mass perspective by aiming for a ~95kg over the next 5 years. I would plan on gaining weight slowly, ~0.5-1kg on average per month, making sure you’re doing your conditioning, and having fun during your training. I would not cut right now, no.
I do find that my performance is mostly up over time, except for bench (and ohp) in recent times which has been quite static. I’ll give an example for the second part of PB II when I have 1 rep @ RPE 8 planned:
I initially (week 5) worked up to 92.5 kg @ ~RPE 6, and decided to go up to 102.5 kg which felt @ RPE 8. The following week I worked up to 95 kg @ ~RPE 6, though when I went up to 105 kg it felt more like RPE 8.5-9. I’ve been sort of stuck in this loop past couple of months (since weeks 8-9 of my first run of PB II) of 102.5 kg feeling too easy and whenever I work up to 105 kg it feels too difficult (The same thing happened also in the first block of PB II where I was stuck between 92.5 kg x 4 reps @ RPE 8 and 95 kg x 4 reps feeling like RPE 8.5-9).
Is there an upper level of bf % / waist circumference I should avoid during this bulk and before I need to cut weight? While I don’t feel I have excessive body fat, 16% bf feels not too far away from what i’ve been told is the upper limit that I should go to (though I don’t know how seriously to take this advice).
I would be looking at form issues with the singles jumping up in RPE like that. It may be that you need an additional warm up, e.g. 90, 100, and then 105 in this case just to make sure you’re ready for that near-PR load. Sounds like when you get near a limit it may be too big of a jump from the last warm up and/or technique breaking down a bit, which can certainly be limiting at circa maximal loads.
For the BF, I think getting to ~35" waist circumference and/or 20% BF (via DEXA) is probably where I would cap things, but I think you have plenty of room to grow here.