I’m currently about to finish running the powerbuilding II template for the first time in a week after previously running powerbuilding I and the beginner template (It’s been around a year since I got into structured powerbuilding training, while before that I was running a typical “gym bro” AB program for a few years).
I ended powerbuilding I with the following numbers (I’m on the way to getting back to squatting freely after dealing with an injury for a few years so the numbers don’t really matter for this movement):
Comp style bench (1ct pause) - 100 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 108 kg
Deadlift - 150 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 162 kg
OHP - 47.5 x 6 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 59 kg
As for powerbuilding II, i’m hoping to finish the template with the following numbers (2.5 kg increase on my numbers this week which felt pretty good). I also weigh 78 kg @ 17% bf which is the same I weighed at the end of powerbuilding I:
Comp style bench (1ct pause) - 105 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 114 kg, a 6 kg improvement
Deadlift - 167.5 kg x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 181 kg, a 19 kg improvement
OHP - 57.5 x 1 @ RPE 8, E1RM of 63 kg, a 4 kg improvement
In this case, would it be best to rerun powerbuilding II or start powerbuilding III if my goals are both strength and hypertrophy to an equal amount? While i’m very happy with the amount of strength I put on my deadlift, I would have liked to improve my pressing numbers (Both bench and OHP) slightly more. I’ll note that I had all of my lifts reviewed via the form check service and I don’t believe that I have major form issues that are holding back my strength.
As for my second question, I find it tough to get to the gym 6 times per week (4 strength workouts and 2 GPP workouts) due to living quite far away from it, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to add the GPP at the end of my strength workouts because I find that I don’t perform as well on the upper back and arm work when I do, and because my workouts are already quite long due to the long rest periods (which I feel that I need in order to hit my strength goals for a given workout). In that case, would it be ok to combine the “bodybuilding” part of the GPP work into one day and that way I can train 5 times per week?
What I mean by that, is in addition to having the 4 strength workouts as they are, i’d have a 5th day at the gym where I perform for example:
8 sets of upper back work over 2 different exercises (instead of 4 sets of upper back work 2 times per week)
10 sets of bicep work over 2 different exercises (instead of 5 sets of bicep work 2 times per week)
10 sets of tricep work over 2 different exercises (instead of 5 sets of tricep work 2 times per week)
This means that the overall weekly volume should be the same, but instead of spreading the GPP work over two different sessions I can complete this during one session which would save a bunch of time for me.
I would probably repeat PB II at least once more before moving on. I would’ve probably done the same for PB I just given your training history, which would likely suit your needs from a scheduling standpoint. I do think that if you’re not gaining weight, gaining a large amount of LBM is unlikely. Just pointing that out for expectation management.
For the GPP, I do not think I would try to prioritize performance in these types of workouts over suiting your schedule. I would 10/10 recommend adding it onto the end of the workout. I would NOT recommend doubling them up.
Thank you for the advice, i’ll go ahead and rerun powerbuilding II at least one more time before going ahead and moving to powerbuilding III or some other template.
In terms of me currently maintaining my weight - would you say that I should still be making consistant strength gains, or would you expect it to slow down due to me maintaining my weight?
I’m hoping to gain at least some LBM while maintaining my weight for the next couple of months in order to get down to a slightly lower bf % (say around 15% though this might be a bit ambitious while maintaining my weight), after that point i’ll start slowly gaining weight again (i’m 22 and 180 cm just to give context).
As for adding the GPP to the end of my workouts, my only worry is that my workouts are already very long and I don’t know if I would want to spend 2.5 to 3 hours at the gym when including GPP (More toward 2.5 hours without the cardio). Do you have any advice as to how to make the workouts shorter? I know that the obvious answer will be to rest less time between sets, though I feel that I need 4-5 minutes of rest when lifting at a high intensity with the main compound lifts, and in general my gym performance is much worse on all exercises when my rest periods are towards the lower end of the programmed time frame.
I’ll give an example as for how deadlifts on day 3 go for me, which in total takes me almost an hour:
Bar x 8 (Minimal rest)
60 kg x 8 (Minimal rest)
100 kg x 4 (1-2 minutes rest)
120 kg x 3 (2-3 minutes rest)
135 kg x 2 (3 minute rest)
150 kg x 1 @ ~RPE 6 (4-5 minute rest)
157.5 kg x 1 @ ~RPE 7 (4-5 minute rest)
165 kg x 1 @ ~RPE 8 (4-5 minute rest between this set and each of the rest of my working sets - around 30 minutes in total in addition to the 15-20 minute warmup)
After the deadlifts - I then have 3 more exercise including isolation calve work which in total take my workout to almost 2 hours (I also do a few warmup sets for the paused bench press to find my working weight @ RPE 8 and the same for chest supported rows).
With respect to your bodyweight and strength improvements, I don’t think there’s much of a relationship between modest changes bodyweight and strength adaptations for the most part.
For the workout length, I think 2.5 to 3 hours is quite long and I would predict a RT session + conditioning should put you at < 2 hours. This is going to take some attention towards rest period length, setup, talking, and warm-ups.
For your DL warm up, I would advise bar, 60kg, 100kg, 130kg, 150kg, then work sets. If uncertain about loading, you can do some of the volume sets on the way up. For example, say the rx is 1 @ 8, 4 @ 8 x 2 sets. You could do ~ 150 x 4 @ 8 on the way up and then hit a 1 @ 8 based on that.
Thanks Jordan, i’ll try to be more mindful of my rest periods and hopefully get my workouts down more towards the 2 hour mark including GPP.
As for the DL warm up, i’m a bit confused.
I read the following article that was published on the BBM website about RPE, and it was suggested that you should hit a single @ 7 before moving on to a single @ 8 to determine your weight for the working sets:
I’m not sure I understood what you meant, but it seemed to me that you mentioned that you could find your single @ 8 without a prior set of a single @ 7, though wouldn’t this go against the point of using RPE to find your working weight due to the difference in performance potential between different training days?
As for doing 150 x 4 @ 8 on the way up to the single, this sounds like an interesting option and i’ll give it a try, though as I mentioned with the above question, how would I be able to know ahead of the set that 150 kg is really an RPE 8 for the day if I had a 20 kg jump for example up to that set? Also, I do feel like it may slightly affect my performance for the single due to fatigue, or would you not be worried about this considering it’s only an RPE 8 set?
And if we’re already discussing this topic, would the same go when your program calls for 4 reps @ RPE 8 x 3 sets for example?
Up until now, if I had to work up to 150 kg for 4 reps @ RPE 8, I would perform 135 kg @ ~RPE 6, 142.5 @ ~RPE7, and then 150kg @ RPE 8 as my final 3 warmup sets, in a similar way to how I used to work up to a single @ 8 up until now.
I do not think you need to hit an @ 7 single before an @ 8 single, no. However, I do think your last set could be a submaximal single as a sort of gauge for the 1 @ 8 for the day. Your 1 @ 6 in the example listed is sufficient to pick up a difference in performance (or close enough).
For the 150 x 4, the set at 130kg x 4 (or whatever) prior to it should inform you of its appropriateness. Again, it doesn’t need to be perfect- just good enough.
And if we’re already discussing this topic, would the same go when your program calls for 4 reps @ RPE 8 x 3 sets for example?
I would hit a set of 4 @ 6 or so prior to this to tell me what my work sets should be.