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Program brainstorming
I will try to keep this as brief as possible as I tend to ramble sometimes.
31, m, 6'0, 210 lb
Current lift estimates for singles:
Squat - 315
Deadlift - 385
Bench - 230
Press - 145
I've basically been rotating between training and exercise (minimal lifting for maintenance) for the last 5 years based on how much time/energy I've had to devote to lifting at any given time. I've run LP's, advanced novice, and multiple intermediate programs; but for the last 4-5 months since my 3rd child was born I've been lifting twice per week roughly following Andy Baker's training without a plan article. Work up to a heavy single, then 2-4 reps @90% followed by 5-8 reps @80%; each barbell lift once per week. I've been doing press/squat/chin-ups one day and bench/deadlift/HIIT the other day. So that's where I currently am.
I am now at the point where I would like to put a little more into lifting and make a push to get stronger. My thoughts are to reset weights slightly, and run out a simple LP. My question for the board are ideas on where to go from there. Everything I have tried in the past, trying my own stuff based on the principles in PP, has had minimal success. I lift in my garage at night after the kids are asleep and generally prefer more frequent, shorter sessions so it doesn't impact my sleep too badly. Kids wake up around 6 and I usually don't start lifting until around 8pm.
So assuming the LP sounds like a good idea, where could I go from there? Basically just looking to get all my thoughts reconciled in this post and get some different perspectives from the board since my self programming over the years obviously hasn't gotten the job done. In terms of priority in strength gains on the lifts, it would go press then deadlift then squat then bench. I wouldn't be opposed at all if anyone has good ideas for me on a program that would prioritize strength gains on the press and deadlift, and use bench/squat more as accessories.
Thanks in advance anyone to who takes the time to read and respond!
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At some point training stress has to go up. If you limit yourself to twice per week you are then faced with how to get enough of that stress into each of those two sessions. The general recommendation here would be to go back to typical 3 day split and once you run that out you could move to a 4 day split. But what are the time constraints you have exactly? You mentioned needing enough sleep, but if you start training at 8pm you should be able to get a typical session done by 9:30pm. That would leave you a solid 8 hours of sleep. Are there other considerations I am missing here?
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Maybe a 4 day upper/lower split training each lift twice a week? It's an extra gym day but you should be in and out pretty quickly provided you hustle on any assistance exercises you might choose to do.
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Since you're already familiar with Andy Baker's stuff you could always run Garage Gym Warrior. It's only like $25 I believe and from my experience it worked well so I'd say it's worth the money. It also can be set up to prioritize the press instead of the bench press. If you don't want to purchase a program Andy has a ton of information on his website on how to set up a HLM. Or like dalan said you could also run a 4 day split which again Andy gives ideas on how to program on his website and in practical programming. Good luck!
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I second the four day split, there’s one or two in PPST that look like they could be relatively short. I’ve always wanted dan Johns easy strength program to work for me. It sounds so quick and convenient, but the lack of intensity and self regulation on the weights don’t work well for me personally, although I’ve seen many people claim to have great results from it.
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Four day split is the way to go once LP peters out. Then decide whether you want to prioritize bench press or press and make sure that you are hitting the priority pressing motion 2-3 times per week.
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