Hey, Docs! Over the last year, my loyalty to the squat, bench and deadlift has waned. I still consider them to be valuable exercises, but I no longer prioritize them over movements and would like my programming to not be centered around them going forward. I want to focus on getting strong over a variety of exercises rather than treating everything as ancillary to the big three. Running the BBII template kind of cemented that for me, and I have to say it’s probably the best program I’ve ever run. I’m really enjoying training like this and am making solid gains (thanks by the way). I still want to have strength work on the lower end of the rep spectrum at appropriate points during my training trajectory, but also enjoy the concurrent, mix rep schemes/ranges that are commonly integrated within BBM templates.
My question is this: I consider BBM templates to be the best on the market. I want to continue using these templates going forward, but where would an appropriate place for me to transition to after BBII? Should I just keep running BBII or the hypertrophy templates indefinitely? I feel like running a cycle of powerbuilding after BBII is probably a good idea, but I don’t want things so oriented towards powerlifting style training. I hate modifying BBM templates, but should I just try to modify something like PBIII to suit my needs? If so, how? I really want to extract the “powerlifting” dynamic from my training style, as you can probably tell. Thanks for all of your help over the years, guys.
Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you’re enjoying the template. I’m wondering how close you are to this being an issue, e.g. needing a new program because you’re no longer enjoying and/or seeing progress from template. I suspect you have many weeks, if not months left on the template, right?
As far as what’s next, what movements would you like to get stronger in?
Oh, it won’t be an issue for a while. I’m on block II of BBII, so, yeah, I’ve got a minute before needing a new program. In terms of specific movements, ideally, I’d like to get stronger in every exercise I perform. I like the exercise variety that’s natively present in the templates. I just don’t want every macrocycle to necessarily contain SBD with a powerlifting focus. It would be fine if some cycles (5-8 week training blocks) did contain SBD, but not all the time and not routinely enshrined as the “main” compound lift of the day. I’m open to trying a wide range of exercises. I don’t want to omit SBD entirely, but I don’t want it to be the most prioritized movement pattern in my training career either. This all makes me think that modifying PBIII is the path of least resistance after BBII, but I’m not sure.
While I think that there’s some practical utility in classifying movements as squat, hinge, press, and pull, you don’t have to prioritize the “default” movement in each category, e.g. squat, deadlift, bench, and barbell row. I would pick a variation within each category that you want to pursue.
I definitely like PB III, but I’m not sure the powerlifting focus of that template along with training singles fits with your goals. If I was coaching you, I’d hammer on what your goals are (and why) and what movements you prefer/want to do.
If someone told me they wanted to move away from prioritizing the squat, bench press, and deadlift, but still wanted to do traditional resistance training, I’d favor prioritizing strength in the front squat, incline bench, trap bar DL or hip thrust, and pull-up.
Yeah, I am definitely with you in classifying movement patterns in that fashion and trying to accumulate strength in those broad categories. That makes more sense to me than arbitrarily prioritizing SBD when I have no interest in powerlifting. Although, I still want to try to get strong in those movements as well when I elect to rotate them into my programming.
The singles in PBIII gave me pause too. What if I changed the singles to triples instead? Taking a heavy triple to gauge where my strength is for that day instead of a heavy single seems reasonable, but I’m not sure. Just a thought.
I feel like PBIII could work if I really overhauled the set/rep protocols and exercise selection for the main lift throughout the course of the program, because everything else in that program suits my goals. And the alternate lifts you provided are definitely some solid variations to consider. But in terms of what to run after BBII, perhaps I should just stick with cycling that template indefinitely…until you guys devise a more generic RT template devoid of powerlifting specialization that I can run between bodybuilding/hypertrophy blocks?
until you guys devise a more generic RT template devoid of powerlifting specialization that I can run between bodybuilding/hypertrophy blocks?;)
You mean like a General Strength and Conditioning II template that’s to be released this weekend? Sounds like it might be right up your alley.
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Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!! Sweeeeeet!!! You have piqued my excitement. 
Thanks, Jordan! I will eagerly await its release over these subsequent days of feasting.