Transition from Advanced Novice to HLM for 39 year old

[Sammus_McNasty]

I’m looking for advice on how to sensibly transition my advanced novice squats to HLM. I’m no longer able to recover from heavy squatting twice a week but still making good progress on the other lifts.

I’m creeping close to 40 and lifting for health and recreation - I’m not competing in lifting or any other sport, So want to switch to HLM as discussed in the Barbell Perscription chapter 24.

Would I likely get enough stress continuing my current 1x5 + 2x5@95% - i.e. introducing a medium day instead of a second heavy day on Saturday.

If I needed to add more volume, should I add an additional back-off set - or look at building up from my 5 rep max? Or should I drop the 5 rep max and just build up again from 4x5@95%? I’m not convinced I could build up to 5x4 from example 24-2 at my current 5 rep max.

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Age: 39
Sex: M
Weight: 100kg (~220lb)
Height: 167cm (5ft6)
No injuries

Lifts:
Squat - 167.5kg (369lb)
Deadlift - 182.5kg (402lb)
Bench - 128kg (286lb)
Press - 85kg (187lb)
Clean - 78kg (171lb)

My program is currently:

Tuesday
Squat 1x5 + 2x5@95%
Bench 1x5 + 2x5@95%
Chins

Thursday
Squat 3x5@80%
Press 1x5 + 2x5@95%
Deadlift 1x5

Saturday
Squat 1x5 + 2x5@95%
Bench 1x5 + 2x5@95%
Power Clean 3x3

[Cole Gorton]

that all looks good to me i think you are on the right track and since youve read BBrx you are way ahead of the game. HLM chapter is great and if things are slowing down on your programming above i would just use one of the examples listed in the book. example 24-14 on pg 258 is a good one and you could continue using power cleans on M day instead of the chins that are listed. also example 24-17 looks awesome an ive wanted to do it myself.

if you arent wanting to overhaul your program than the only thing i would change is lowering the training dose on saturday for squat and bench, either in volume or more preferably in load. something like H day 1x5, 2x5 (-5%), L day 2x5 (-20%), M day 3x5 (-10%).......

[JamesFazz]

Firstly, well done on making it so far!

Seeing as we are only speaking about the Squat, a simple change would be to keep Tuesday and Thursday the same as you have now, but make Saturday 3x5 @ 90% of Monday. This isn't covered in Practical Programming but SS Coach Nick D has recommended it a few times as a 'final step' before fully moving to intermediate programming. This would result in a +2.5kg increase every week on the Tuesday (as opposed to on Tuesday and Saturday as you have currently).

Another option would be to reduce the back offs to 90% and see if that allows greater recovery so you can continue with your LP a bit longer.

If you really want to more to intermediate programming right now a simple approach is:

Tues: 5x5
Thur: 3x5 @ 80% of Tues
Sat: 4x5 @ 80% of Tues

For your first week of 5x5, take your last successfully completed top set of 5 and use 90% of that across. If after a time completing 5x5 across becomes too challenging, consider ascending sets or back off sets to get the volume completed.

You really want to make the smallest possible changes you can at this time as you are making good progress so far. I'd also say to not make any changes to your deadlift programming yet, I imagine there's still some juice in that progressing weekly.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Good work, McNasty.

There's no single right way to do this--that's part of its charm. If you're not interested in competition, then you don't need to be killing yourself to get another 20lbs on your 5RM.

I can't emphasize enough: This is just a serving suggestion. There are other ways to do it. There's no indication that you actually NEED more volume yet, but I do think pressing movements love sets of 8, even in Masters. That, at least, is my experience, so I'll put them in.

We'll begin by formulating the bench cycle:

Let Tuesday (A) be your heavy day, with "light" deads, and give yourself a little room to grow and recover by increasing your offsets:

HEAVY
Squat 1x5 + 2x5@85%
Bench 1x5 + 2x5@85%
DEAD: 1x5 @85%
PUs

Move your PC to light Day:

LIGHT
Squat 2x5@80%
Press 3x1@90% + 2x8 @75%
PC 5x3 (later you can go to 1x1 @ MAX + 3x2@85%--this works great!)
Chins
Prowler

Do HEAVY-ASS deads at low volume FIRST on Medium day:

MEDIUM
DEAD: 3x1 Max Triple
Bench: 1x5@85%; 2x8@75%
Squat: 5x3@85%
PUs

Then, flip the pressing movements around for the next cycle--a press cycle. The result will be a two-week pattern:

HEAVY
Squat: 1x5 + 2x5@85%
Press: 1x5 + 2x5@85%
DEAD: 1x5 @85%
Chins

LIGHT
Squat: 2x5@80%
Bench: 3x1@90% + 2x8 @75%
PC 3x5
PUs
Prowler

MEDIUM
DEAD: 3x1 Max Triple
Press: 1x5@85%; 2x8@75%
Squat: 5x3@85%
Chins

This doesn't exactly fit any of the examples in the book, but it's a good example of the principles, we have your real-world numbers to work with, and it's a smooth transition based on what you're doing now. It's how I'd transition you in my clinic, and I get EXCELLENT results with HLM among my athletes. Advance as per the various formulae in the book: rotating reps, etc. This initial formulation should be suitable for sustained training in a general-population, non-competitive athlete. How it evolves will be up to you--a coach is a big help.

Keep up the good work.

Sully

[Sammus_McNasty]

Thanks everyone so much for your replies. Dr Sullivan, the Barbell Prescription is a fantastic book, you and Andy have done a wonderful job. I'm grateful you've taken the time to respond so thoroughly. I'm going to take a bit of time to digest this properly and may come back with some questions later.

However, I absolutely take your point that the HLM is a template, not a programme and your suggestion is one way to approach things. A coach is a bit tricky where I live, but I will look into online options.