I don’t know if this is allowed on the boards, but I wanted to post what a great experience I had with the Hypertrophy I template. I just finished it this morning.
My stats - 49 yo, 5’6", 170 lbs, waist circumference 34" at the start of the program
I’ve done barbell lifting for about 5 years now, going between SSLP and Madcow. Started on Barbell Medicine templates about a year ago. The Hypertrophy I template is the one I’ve enjoyed the most. I had some challenges during it - travel for work, trying to find a decent gym when out of town, and around week 6 I had a back tweak when trying to get out of a chair. But I kept going.
Here are the 1 RM results for the big three lifts:
Squat - 260 lbs to 305 lbs
Bench - 198 lbs to 225 lbs
Deadlift - 305 lbs to 345 lbs
I definitely saw hypertrophy and at the end of the program, here are my stats: 177 lbs, waist 33"
Three things I had to focus on: 1) Really think about RPE and not the weight on the bar. One week I was out of town in a different timezone for work and I had to drop the weights by about 10% but the RPE was still on point. The following week my lifts all went right back up; 2) Not try to increase the weight every single week but let the RPE guide it. That was tough because I still had the mindset that the weights had to go up every week; 3) Small changes in diet. I kept my protein intake the same. I get about 150-160g per day. I like eating chips with lunch and have dessert with dinner. I stopped both of those.
I also started taking creatine every day. Whether that helped or not, I don’t know, but even if it had a placebo effect on me, I’m fine with that.
It was a great program and made me look forward to lifting. Big thanks to the Barbell Medicine crew.
Sunil