Great stuff Grant couldn't agree more. I've had lifters hit PR squats, deadlifts and pressing on two days a week, three days a week and one lift a day while others faltered on four days splits. Like you said it's the consistency and the effort that makes the difference on any of these. 14:2814:28
This is very helpful! Been finding I can't recover from heavy deadlifts 3x a week and I found I ended up doing some of these already. Doing light squats, reducing volume, another time I even took off the squats, just did heavy bench and heavier than normal deadlift and it felt AMAZING to have that energy and just go straight into pushing my limits. Good to see the concepts explained.
Seminars and clips of Mike Mentzer have been blowing up on YT and social media and he makes a lot of sense. I dunno if I agree with all of it, but a lot of it seems like a natural progression from the novice LP.
Such phenomenal advice. I love the strength stuff but my issue is its not enough volume for me to grow. My genetics suck. Im 6'0 230 current weight, in my early 40's. (Been at it pretty consistently for 20+ years) I went reverse, i kinda held back a bit when i was younger because i always told myself i wanted to be at peak strength in my mid to late 40's then maintain it for as long as i can. I peaked a little sooner though probably around 39. Then another nasty plateau but it's slowly coming back now. I've learned for me to grow, i need to have some decent heavy volume assistance stuff as well. Im a 5 day now: Chest, start with flat bench (usually)/farmers Back, start with deads/forearms Shoulders, start with push press/neck Tri, start with flat close grip/Bi/grip Legs, start with back squats Every other Saturday log and Atlas stones Sunday off Each work out is a minimum of 1 1/2 hours on a good day. I've tried multiple different splits if found if i take away the volume, i don't maintain. I damn near start shrinking overnight. But, as i get older i know i need more recovery time. Ive actually considered a 7-8 day split but haven't implemented it. Not even sure what it would look like. I almost do like a powerbuilding but not enough recovery
Hey Grant love your content. I have question. I have been following starting strength 3 days a week and I have made good progress however I have put on a bit of fat. I would like to “cut” till the end of the year (7 weeks) as I have a wedding to attend so I am using that date as goal. I am thinking to do 2 day strength training (A: sq, press b: bench DL) and 2 days circuit type training (light lifts + boxing) Do you think this is a sensible approach? Any suggestions or tips much appreciated. And yes I will try to be in a deficit 😅
Retired, 65 years old. 6'1" - 180# Home Gym (Strength Co plates and Corps bar) Squat 260 x 3 Deadlift 355 x 2 Bench 193 x 3, 205 x 1 Press 126 x 3 Monday: active rest day Tuesday: Safety Squat Bar and chins Wednesday: Swiss Bar Bench Press and arms Thursday: active rest day Friday: Low Bar Squat and chins Saturday: Bench Press and arms Sunday: Deadlift and Press Just finished up a 13 week NLP using this 5 day split. Set PR's and recovered well. Active rest is a 4.5 mile hike or actively do nothing. Current program is Wendler 531 using my recent NLP PR's. Plan to do 4 three-week cycles and set more PR's.
I am 50. Business attorney. Working long hours. Gamewarden/Hunter on the weekends with lots of hiking. I don't recover well anymore. 5'10", 183#. Squat 3x5x230, Deadlift 5x260. I am thinking about a 2 day upper lower split. Saturday/Sunday hiking, Tuesday Squat 3x5, Deadlift 1x5 heavy, 1x5 -10%. Thursday Press, Bench, Chins. Could that be reasonable? All the best and thanks a lot.
Read The Barbell Prescription by Dr. Jonathan Sullivan and Andy Baker. It is barbell training for the over 40 crowd. They go into much training detail. They even have a program outlined for those who lift just one day a week. Excellent book, both authors are SSC. I myself am 61 and have found recovery to be quite an issue. This book will give you much needed advice.
I think a Tuesday squat, press day and a Thursday deadlift, bench, chin day could work as well. something like a Tuesday Squat 3x5, Press work and a Thursday Deadlift 1x5, Bench 3x5, Chins. This may help you split the upper and lower body stress up between 2 sessions. Also maybe consider a Monday+Thursday or a Tuesday+Friday as this may allow for more recover time between workouts.
I’m 65, 178# Sunday - Deadlift and Press 1x5 Tuesday/Friday - Squat 3x5 Wednesday/Saturday - Bench 3x5 DL 337 1x5 P 120 1x5 SQ 243 3x5 BN 179 3x5 Still recovering well, but starting to plateau, use a home gym.
I have two jobs so one lift a day during some periods of time is perfect. It’s not ideal but it gets the job done when you really don’t have the time (really don’t, not making excuses don’t) to do the 90 minute or longer sessions.
Ok, im so torn. I hope someone can answer my question: Why do 5 sets of 5 rather than 12 15 ive ever hit 20 to mabe 30 on some lifts this I alvious with just the bar and I've been adding 2 10 pound plats doing this and just adding 20 pounds at a time doing max sets the reps drop as the weight and sets get higher but I feel like I need higher reps am I wrong and it is a long workout but I feel like I got some of this volume and more experience the weight will be somewhat heavier then I can start 5x8-12ish and settle in to 5x5 for awhile is my thought process wrong I hope to get some answers thanks
Ditto. I used to sort of hate that long day with TM...now I know the light day is going to be fast and easy and even the intensity day is going to be fast.
I always wonder how this all fits into the fact that once you run into a plateau on the OHP, the usual recommendation is not to do less but to do more OHP volume during the week. Same for bench. So then following this recommendation on a 4/5/6 day split, you end up with 4,5 or 6 days with at least an hour of work 😅
This is solid advice. 3 days a week is more realistic for the vast majority of us.
Great guidance Grant. Older dude, work full-time and 3 kids. Plus tennis couple days a week. Still figuring out my programming.
This is exceptionally useful. I appreciate the way you apply these programming principles to actual life situations. Cheers Grant!
Glad it was helpful!
Grant, make a video about working out in the A.M.
Thanks Grant, your info is always on point!
Great stuff Grant couldn't agree more. I've had lifters hit PR squats, deadlifts and pressing on two days a week, three days a week and one lift a day while others faltered on four days splits. Like you said it's the consistency and the effort that makes the difference on any of these. 14:28 14:28
This is very helpful! Been finding I can't recover from heavy deadlifts 3x a week and I found I ended up doing some of these already.
Doing light squats, reducing volume, another time I even took off the squats, just did heavy bench and heavier than normal deadlift and it felt AMAZING to have that energy and just go straight into pushing my limits.
Good to see the concepts explained.
Seminars and clips of Mike Mentzer have been blowing up on YT and social media and he makes a lot of sense. I dunno if I agree with all of it, but a lot of it seems like a natural progression from the novice LP.
Such phenomenal advice. I love the strength stuff but my issue is its not enough volume for me to grow. My genetics suck. Im 6'0 230 current weight, in my early 40's. (Been at it pretty consistently for 20+ years) I went reverse, i kinda held back a bit when i was younger because i always told myself i wanted to be at peak strength in my mid to late 40's then maintain it for as long as i can. I peaked a little sooner though probably around 39. Then another nasty plateau but it's slowly coming back now. I've learned for me to grow, i need to have some decent heavy volume assistance stuff as well. Im a 5 day now:
Chest, start with flat bench (usually)/farmers
Back, start with deads/forearms
Shoulders, start with push press/neck
Tri, start with flat close grip/Bi/grip
Legs, start with back squats
Every other Saturday log and Atlas stones
Sunday off
Each work out is a minimum of 1 1/2 hours on a good day.
I've tried multiple different splits if found if i take away the volume, i don't maintain. I damn near start shrinking overnight. But, as i get older i know i need more recovery time. Ive actually considered a 7-8 day split but haven't implemented it. Not even sure what it would look like. I almost do like a powerbuilding but not enough recovery
Damn Grant!! The conditioning is working for you! You didn't have to take a breath during the whole video!!😂
Like that four day split in theory but I notice workouts suffer when I work out two days in a row even different muscle groups, I’m impacted.
Thanks 😊
Hey Grant love your content.
I have question. I have been following starting strength 3 days a week and I have made good progress however I have put on a bit of fat. I would like to “cut” till the end of the year (7 weeks) as I have a wedding to attend so I am using that date as goal.
I am thinking to do 2 day strength training (A: sq, press b: bench DL) and 2 days circuit type training (light lifts + boxing)
Do you think this is a sensible approach? Any suggestions or tips much appreciated.
And yes I will try to be in a deficit 😅
Retired, 65 years old. 6'1" - 180# Home Gym (Strength Co plates and Corps bar)
Squat 260 x 3
Deadlift 355 x 2
Bench 193 x 3, 205 x 1
Press 126 x 3
Monday: active rest day
Tuesday: Safety Squat Bar and chins
Wednesday: Swiss Bar Bench Press and arms
Thursday: active rest day
Friday: Low Bar Squat and chins
Saturday: Bench Press and arms
Sunday: Deadlift and Press
Just finished up a 13 week NLP using this 5 day split. Set PR's and recovered well. Active rest is a 4.5 mile hike or actively do nothing.
Current program is Wendler 531 using my recent NLP PR's. Plan to do 4 three-week cycles and set more PR's.
I am 50. Business attorney. Working long hours. Gamewarden/Hunter on the weekends with lots of hiking. I don't recover well anymore. 5'10", 183#. Squat 3x5x230, Deadlift 5x260.
I am thinking about a 2 day upper lower split. Saturday/Sunday hiking, Tuesday Squat 3x5, Deadlift 1x5 heavy, 1x5 -10%. Thursday Press, Bench, Chins. Could that be reasonable?
All the best and thanks a lot.
Read The Barbell Prescription by Dr. Jonathan Sullivan and Andy Baker. It is barbell training for the over 40 crowd. They go into much training detail. They even have a program outlined for those who lift just one day a week. Excellent book, both authors are SSC. I myself am 61 and have found recovery to be quite an issue. This book will give you much needed advice.
I think a Tuesday squat, press day and a Thursday deadlift, bench, chin day could work as well. something like a Tuesday Squat 3x5, Press work and a Thursday Deadlift 1x5, Bench 3x5, Chins. This may help you split the upper and lower body stress up between 2 sessions. Also maybe consider a Monday+Thursday or a Tuesday+Friday as this may allow for more recover time between workouts.
I’m 65, 178#
Sunday - Deadlift and Press 1x5
Tuesday/Friday - Squat 3x5
Wednesday/Saturday - Bench 3x5
DL 337 1x5
P 120 1x5
SQ 243 3x5
BN 179 3x5
Still recovering well, but starting to plateau, use a home gym.
I like the sound of the 4 day split. However I am a fireman with a 24/48 hour schedule. Spell this one out for me please with progressions.
I have two jobs so one lift a day during some periods of time is perfect. It’s not ideal but it gets the job done when you really don’t have the time (really don’t, not making excuses don’t) to do the 90 minute or longer sessions.
Where can i find more info on setting up the 5 day "one lift a day" plan? With 2 little kids, an hour a day is about all k get
Do you program the press and bench with equal volume?
Suppose if you only stall out on the squat but the other 3 lifts keep going up? What do I do?
Ok, im so torn. I hope someone can answer my question: Why do 5 sets of 5 rather than 12 15 ive ever hit 20 to mabe 30 on some lifts this I alvious with just the bar and I've been adding 2 10 pound plats doing this and just adding 20 pounds at a time doing max sets the reps drop as the weight and sets get higher but I feel like I need higher reps am I wrong and it is a long workout but I feel like I got some of this volume and more experience the weight will be somewhat heavier then I can start 5x8-12ish and settle in to 5x5 for awhile is my thought process wrong I hope to get some answers thanks
I do 5 days 40mins/week
🔥🔥🔥
i rather train for 2 hours and have next day off🏋🏽
Yeah the off days feel great. I feel high all day.
Ditto. I used to sort of hate that long day with TM...now I know the light day is going to be fast and easy and even the intensity day is going to be fast.
I always wonder how this all fits into the fact that once you run into a plateau on the OHP, the usual recommendation is not to do less but to do more OHP volume during the week. Same for bench. So then following this recommendation on a 4/5/6 day split, you end up with 4,5 or 6 days with at least an hour of work 😅