Originally Posted by
CommanderFun
The novice program does not squat heavy 3 times a week until the end. When recovery becomes an issue, one of the first steps is to chop off some weight on your middle day for squats. Deadlifts also eventually have their frequency lowered in a similar fashion by switching off with power cleans and then chin ups to lower it even further. I can't recall if the blue book has the light squat day step but the grey book does. There are also forum posts about it I've seen. But I have heard and read in many, many places about beginning as a novice again after a long break from training. Maybe it won't last long for you. Maybe it will. But so long as it lasts, it'll be faster than just training as an intermediate with some super relaxed loading protocol.