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Originally Posted by
Jonathon Sullivan
As is always the case with an intermediate Master: It depends.
For example, I have a 67 yo lady who completed LP and progressed to a pretty "standard" Heavy-Light program that has been progressively tailored to her needs and her capacities. Right now she has a Heavy Day where she works up to a heavy squat single or double (rotating reps) that advances one pound every week, followed by backoffs at 80%, 3x3. She puts up a heavy press single advanced by 0.5 lb every week with backoffs at 75% 8x3. And she does a heavy deadlift single at a 1-lb advance every week followed by a set of 3 at 85%.
On light day she does squats 3 sets of 5 at 85%, a heavy bench single followed by 8x3 @75%, and 2 sets of "light" deadlifts at 75%, followed by prowler. She does curlz at home in the middle of the week, because she wanted badass gunz (and now she has 'em).
Where did I come up with this? By observing her, listening to her, changing one variable at a time, and noting what worked. This program gets her somewhat sore, but she tolerates it. She enjoys her workouts. She makes progress. At 67 at 108 lbs bodyweight, she has a 142 lb squat, a 72 lb bench, a 55 lb press, and a 210 lb deadlift. Her form is beautiful. Her heaviest reps come up slow, but she never gets stapled and she doesn't get hurt. She leaves very tired but not crushed. She comes back recovered and ready. She's added a ton of muscle to her tiny frame and I'm here to tell you she's alive.
But that's her. Other Masters in my practice in the same demographic are on different programs. Some tolerate quicker progression, some don't. Some tolerate more volume, some need less. Some thrive on triples, others need 5s or even 8s, depending on the exercise and where they are in their training career. Masters are a heterogeneous population, and intermediate Masters require a high degree of individualization in their programming, more and more as they advance. This lady's program is only nominally a Heavy-Light program. It's really just the Suzy program*. We start with a template, calibrate, change one variable at a time, keep intensity high, add and subtract volume as indicated, attend to recovery, etc.
It's not rocket science. You know what it is? It's care. It's taking a care for the athlete in front of you.
Change one thing at a time and see what happens.
*names have been changed to protect the innocent.