Friend new to weightlifting - but I'm on a 4 day program

[Alexandros Brod]

Hey guys,

My friend wants to start lifting with me and I am happy to have a training partner. As we all know odds are he will quit very quickly. But if he does stay with it I'm not sure how to program for him. I've been lifting almost two years now and am on a four day intermediate program where I do each of the lifts (less clean) once a week. I told him it would be optimal to do 3 days a week which entails lifting once by himself. I do mon/tue thur/fri.

For now I'm just having him do my same program with lighter weights and fewer sets. Should I cut some of the assistance exercises altogether and send him home early? I'm concerned squatting once a week will impede his progress greatly. But I don't know if he'll stick with it if we're not doing essentially the same thing.

What about something like this:
mon:
squat/bench
tues:
dead/press

thur:
squat/bench
fri:
dead/press

This seems like a questionable program to me.



Thanks for any input.

[Michael Wolf]

It sounds to me like you're not sure about your friend's commitment to training. It's ultimately up to you if you want to re-arrange your training to cater to his schedule, or give him the Novice 3-day program and use that as the testing ground: if he can make it through that, then he can step up to be your training partner.

Also, your 4 day split is a bit odd, doing squat/bench together, and then dead/press the very next day. It's not unheard of, but isn't the way most of us would set it up.

Though I probably wouldn't, if you choose to re-arrange your schedule for your friend, can do you:

Mon
Bench Volume and Press Assistance / Press Volume and Bench Assistance
Weds
Squat/Dead
Fri
Bench Intensity and Assistance / Press Intensity and Assistance
Sat
Squat/Dead (or other pulling)

So you're still training with your friend on his three days per week, even though you won't be doing the exact same exercises.

[Steve Hill]

I'd like to hear Andy's opinion on both your (OP) program and how to work your friend's into it. IF it were me and IF it were a really good friend, I'd simply go back to 3 days a week for a while (there are plenty of very useful intermediate 3x per week programs) while I helped my friend learn.

But my main question is why aren't you (the OP) doing cleans?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

If you question HIS commitment to training then I wouldn't change YOUR routine up to accommodate him. Its hard to get progress as an intermediate or advanced lifter and you don't mess with a program when it is generating progress.

Just have him train with you to establish the behavioral pattern of coming in to train.

Look, training the lifts less frequently than the SS program doesn't prohibit you from getting stronger. PROGRESS JUST ISN'T AS FAST AS IT COULD BE, if you were training 3 days per week.

I'd just have him do:

Mon- Bench/Press
Tues - Squat/Dead
Thur - Bench/Press
Fri - Squat/Clean

Same rep scheme as SS.....3x5, 1 x 5, 5 x 3, etc. He'll do fine.

[Les Hahn]

If you question HIS commitment to training then I wouldn't change YOUR routine up to accommodate him. Its hard to get progress as an intermediate or advanced lifter and you don't mess with a program when it is generating progress.

Just have him train with you to establish the behavioral pattern of coming in to train.

Look, training the lifts less frequently than the SS program doesn't prohibit you from getting stronger. PROGRESS JUST ISN'T AS FAST AS IT COULD BE, if you were training 3 days per week.

I'd just have him do:

Mon- Bench/Press
Tues - Squat/Dead
Thur - Bench/Press
Fri - Squat/Clean

Same rep scheme as SS.....3x5, 1 x 5, 5 x 3, etc. He'll do fine.

This is what I would do too. He will still be moving his squat up 2x per week, DL 1-2x (at first if you just do DL's and not cleans), and bench/press 2x per week. That is plenty fast for right now. You can also have him do some basic assistance lifts.

[Michael Wolf]

I had a bet with myself, Les, that you'd chime in here with exactly that. I won. Didn't you do something similar while you were still in the Novice phase?

[Les Hahn]

I had a bet with myself, Les, that you'd chime in here with exactly that. I won. Didn't you do something similar while you were still in the Novice phase?

Yep. :-) When I first started lifting I did the Hepburn program which is an upper/lower split. Right after I started that, I somehow found SS.com. I bought SS, PPST2, and the DVD. I started using the form, but I didn't want to bail on my program since it was going pretty well. After a few months I transitioned right into Woojus Geeshman and then a few other TM split variations. So I didn't use the traditional SS, Advanced Novice, TM pathway.

Like LimieJosh said, if they had a movie about kittens traveling in space doing 4 day splits, I would totally buy it! :-)

[Alexandros Brod]

Mon- Bench/Press
Tues - Squat/Dead
Thur - Bench/Press
Fri - Squat/Clean

Same rep scheme as SS.....3x5, 1 x 5, 5 x 3, etc. He'll do fine.

Just to be clear you're saying he should bench and press on the same day, then squat and dead the same day?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Yes, I am saying that. It will work fine.