Hi, I’ve been lifting for about 3-4 months now, obviously not anymore because of the situation, and was running SSLP to some success. However, I’ve been researching Barbell Medicine for a while and decided to purchase the Beginner Template. Looking at it now, there’s three slots for presses, meaning that you’re either going to be benching or pressing more. I don’t plan to compete in either Strengthlifting or Powerlifiting, so I prioritize the 4 main lifts over the 3 prioritized in powerlifitng. I know incline benching could be some sort of middle ground, but I plan on purchasing my own home gym and don’t really see much value in spending the extra $100+ for an incline bench. Will this be a problem moving forwards or will it just be fine if I were doing 2 benches and 1 overhead press? Alternatively, would you recommend doing 2 benches and 1 press on the second phase and then doing 1 bench and 2 presses on the third phase? Is it even beneficial to be pressing and benching the same amount? Thanks!
Hello and congrats on the new lifting progress! You will be totally fine in having different amounts of pressing and benching. You have a life-time of training ahead, and if at one time vs the other you want to prioritize one over the other with more training time/frequency, you’ll be able to do that.
At this stage, I would do the Beginner Template as outlined, and you can make the exercise selections there as you choose. The idea now is to build a solid training base as a new lifter.
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