Data Analysis: WNDTP, and it seems to work anyway

[Mark Rippetoe]

WNDTP | Kunkel, Racculia, and Wisneski

[TommyGun]

I really enjoyed this analysis. Clearly presented the limitations (self reported, no control group) and just a fun and educational read. Fun to see the demographic splits by age and sex. Nice job everyone.

[Brian Harlin]

This is pretty interesting to read. Maybe it would be helpful to have a "What I did wrong / learn from my mistakes." thread where we can all admit, repent and ask forgiveness for the mistakes we made on LP?

I'll start.

Without consulting my logs, I can attest that my novice LP was too long and was stagnant for a long period. Here is what I specifically did wrong:
1) I did not eat enough and specifically, not enough protein.

2) I started the program with poor equipment (no shoes, Velcro belt)

3) I needed coaching very badly, specifically for the squat. It was several months before I got any.

4) I over-corrected and ate too much.

5) I reset more times than I should of and not for the right reasons. Part of this is the need for coaching and part of this is due to fear of heavy weights (mostly with squats).

6) when I actually got somewhat inline I made rapid progress up to 3x5x350 for the squat. At this point I made the mistake of waffling. Instead of making adjustments to continue with an advanced novice or even switching to intermediate, I decided that I wanted to lose weight (that I had gained by eating too much). I regret not continuing to push at that point and I regret the subsequent loss of strength I experienced after finally being successful for that last month and a half. I would much rather have gotten to a 500lb squat and then lost weight.

[MattimusMaximus]

Excellent read and excellent work mulling through all that data. Must have been very tedious for them!

Reflecting back over my own LP I should have followed the program exactly as written. I know I would have progressed much quicker with less stalls and resets if I hadn't tinkered. Shit, there was a time when I was benching more than I could properly squat! Ha!

[Leanne M. Lloyd]

This article was fantastic! It should be required reading for anyone starting the program... if only it was enforceable...

[Vostok]

If our data isn't input into the novice forum, would it be beneficial to the data collection to add it now?

I started with that Belgian guy's version of the program because it was a first result for 'beginner weightlifting program' in google. I started with the empty bar on all but deadlifts, where I started with 95 lbs. My crime was doing it too long, going around 10 months. It included a couple deloads and resets, some to helpfully fix form issues, some because I was doing 5x5 and would call getting 24 reps out of 25 a miss. I progressed using the phone app though, so I always added weight. I finished with 5x5 315, 3x5 380, 1x5 390 PR's on the squat before I switched to intermediate.

[Nicholas Racculia]

Thank you all for the feedback. It was our hope that we could offer some guidance to potential lifters on the common pitfalls encountered when doing (or not doing) the program.

Rumblefish, it actually might be useful to start a thread down in Programming to that end...a place to compile self-reflection; perhaps it might light some fires under posterior chains.

Vostok, don't worry about adding the data at this point; if we do another data dig, then we will need it.

[MarkFera]

Great info. So much of my time was spent on finding new ways to get stronger and bigger. It would have been more useful to find those things that prevented it. Ego, training how I liked, lack of sleep, lack of calories, lack of rest between set, etc. Most everything that you presented in the Observation section!

[Bestafter60]

My personal experience can be summed up as follows:
"The farther I strayed, the longer it took". Having said that, how can you know something is true until you prove to youself it is true by testing all aspects? I tend to deal out faith sparingly. Here it's well placed.

[Serack]

I'd like to add that although my log is probably too recent to be considered in this study, I am among those who is struggling to bring the bar down to the program's proscribed position on my scapula, and the resultant form issues are probably directly related to my Squat lagging behind all my other lifts.

Time spent with a SSC correcting this might work wonders, but my first two attempts to schedule an appointment fell through.