Program/schedule critique please

[Aaron Hutson]

Hello,

I would like to receive some feedback and opinions on my current programming. Any advice is welcome and much appreciated.

Male
32 years old
6'-1"
247 lbs

Current lifts:

Squat: 270 x 3 x 5 (starting to grind)
DL: 315 x 5 x 1 ( progressing steadily with 5 lb jumps)
Bench: 225 x 3 x 5 ( really grinding - got here by going to 5 sets of 3 then 4,4,4,3 then finally 3x5)
Press: 140 x 3 x 5 ( really grinding too - got here just like bench)

No power cleans due to congenital back issue (sacralized extra lumbar vertebrae "L6") impacts and jarring of any kind tends aggravate condition.

My current programming look like this:

Monday: squat, bench
Wednesday: DL, press, chins
Friday: squat, bench

Monday: DL, press, chins
Wednesday: squat, bench
Friday: DL, press, chins

I'm starting to feel pretty beat up and sore. I only have time for two lifts per workout and I'm wondering if this is the best method for doing so. I apologize for the lengthy post. Again, any feedback is helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all of your time and consideration.

-Aaron

[Jeff Illingworth]

If you can only get in two lifts per session and you're stuck with MWF, you could look at going heavy/light or heavy/medium. For instance, squat heavy and bench volume on Monday; squat volume and bench heavy on Friday, etc.

[TurtleBack]

Jeff makes a good point.

You can try heavy/volume on squats and heavy/light/medium for presses. I think it is important to keep up your frequency on squats, so deadlift on Wednesdays. Add chins as needed.

Monday: Heavy squat, Bench
Wednesday: Deadlift, Press
Friday: Volume squat, Close grip bench or incline bench

[Aaron Hutson]

If you can only get in two lifts per session and you're stuck with MWF, you could look at going heavy/light or heavy/medium. For instance, squat heavy and bench volume on Monday; squat volume and bench heavy on Friday, etc.

I forgot to mention that I have every day of the week available. I just stuck with the MWF format for simplicity. I have been running this program since June in a linear progression fashion. The lifts have progressed well but i feel that there will be some stagnation soon and I'm trying to avoid that if possible. I can say for certain that on the weeks that require me to DL twice, I feel beat up by Friday and the DL session that day usually progresses but I pay for it on Saturday and Sunday.

[Jeff Illingworth]

Do you have any specific goals?
If you can train any day, you could go for a 4 day split: 1-heavy squat, volume press; 2-medium pulls, heavy bench; 3-light squat, heavy press; 4-heavy pull, volume press Something like that.

[Aaron Hutson]

Jeff makes a good point.

You can try heavy/volume on squats and heavy/light/medium for presses. I think it is important to keep up your frequency on squats, so deadlift on Wednesdays. Add chins as needed.

Monday: Heavy squat, Bench
Wednesday: Deadlift, Press
Friday: Volume squat, Close grip bench or incline bench

I agree with you on the squat frequency. It becomes very apparent on the weeks that I squat only once.

[Aaron Hutson]

Do you have any specific goals?
If you can train any day, you could go for a 4 day split: 1-heavy squat, volume press; 2-medium pulls, heavy bench; 3-light squat, heavy press; 4-heavy pull, volume press Something like that.

Sorry if my replies become excessive. I don't know how to combine quotes from multiple users into one posted reply.

I have no specific goals. I just want to get stronger to be a more useful, capable human. I'm not competing against anyone but myself and I plan to keep it that way. That being said, "myself" can be a really persuasive and prodding bastard when it wants to be. I'm thinking of a four day split. Like this:

Monday: heavy squat/chins
Tuesday: Heavy press/ volume bench
Wed: off
Thursday: DL/volume squat
Friday: heavy bench/volume press

[Charlie Davies]

It's fun to design 4-day split programs! I like them myself, though I'm currently running HLM instead.

What beats you up is working too close to your rep max, too often. If you keep doing that, but 4x/week instead of 3x/week, you'll be right back where you started.

Have you tried just lowering the average intensity a bit?

I.e. hit one heavy set, that still stops a rep short of failure, then do the rest of your sets lighter so they stop 2 reps short of failure.

You might have to add a set here or there if you lift lighter this way, in order to make progress.
But this style of lifting (more sets, fewer of them at max effort) works really well for me at avoiding injury.

[Aaron Hutson]

It's fun to design 4-day split programs! I like them myself, though I'm currently running HLM instead.

What beats you up is working too close to your rep max, too often. If you keep doing that, but 4x/week instead of 3x/week, you'll be right back where you started.

Have you tried just lowering the average intensity a bit?

I.e. hit one heavy set, that still stops a rep short of failure, then do the rest of your sets lighter so they stop 2 reps short of failure.

You might have to add a set here or there if you lift lighter this way, in order to make progress.
But this style of lifting (more sets, fewer of them at max effort) works really well for me at avoiding injury.

I'm hoping to lower the intensity by adding a volume day for each exercise....besides deadlifts. I feel like they have some life left in them.

So, take Tuesdays for example. I'm thinking of something like this:

Heavy press: 3x5 at 145lbs
Volume bench: 5x5 at 190lbs

Does that seem reasonable?

[Charlie Davies]

I'm hoping to lower the intensity by adding a volume day for each exercise....besides deadlifts. I feel like they have some life left in them.

So, take Tuesdays for example. I'm thinking of something like this:

Heavy press: 3x5 at 145lbs
Volume bench: 5x5 at 190lbs

Does that seem reasonable?

I think that would be too much volume for me, unless the weights were really light.

But really, I'm not a coach. My one insight re: intermediate programming, is that you shouldn't work at your absolute limit very often.