I’ve run the powerbuilding and strength templates for a few years and feel they are well worth the money spent. They are built on years and years of experience and solid, evidenced based principles. Excellent review, new subscriber here!
I used this as a "comeback" program after the COVID shutdown when I got my home rack and bar, and it did a fantastic job bringing me back to where I was at before the lockdown in pretty quick time. Highly recommended.
Mind if I ask where you were at before? I'm looking at doing this the same way as you. I was about 2 years into consistent lifting and had progressed pretty well, but last year have been inconsistently doing home workouts. I definitely lost most of my muscle mass from pre-COVID.
Gotta respectfully disagree about the necessity of non-specific warmups... I'm an old man, and us old guys all grew up in a time when it was dogma that warmups could only benefit us. We came to *believe* that the warmups we did were benefiting us, "protecting us from potential injury", etcetera etcetera. So I absolutely get it. - As you note though, evidence has shown that that's not the case at all, that in fact there's relatively little evidence of any benefit of non-specific warmups when the question is actually looked at in any systematic way. So the question becomes: is our personal experience a reliable indicator that what we *believe* is benefiting us... is actually benefiting us? I'd argue not. I mean have *any* of us actually done a thorough test of our own beliefs in this matter? - For instance, if we feel that warming up our shoulder makes the shoulder hurt less throughout our workout, have we taken the time to spend a month or two *not* warming up except with the empty bar, and rating and recording our discomfort levels at the end of each set? Then spending a month or two warming up in a non-specific way and recording the data in the same way, then doing the whole thing over again to make sure we were right the first time? Our personal experience following these months of meticulous note-taking would *still* not approach even the semblance of scientific objectivity, but it'd be closer to it. - If one's argument against this kind of testing is "why risk it? Why not just carry on warming up, what's the harm?" then one is merely revealing how far one has been nocebo'd. One's expectation, one's *fear* of potential harm if one's warmup "ritual" is not followed to the letter, is heightened, and may pose an injury risk in and of itself.
Yep. What you are describing is pretty much the placebo effect, something that the guys at barbell medicine constantly talk about. If you feel like the warmups are helping you, then by all means do them.
Thank you for giving out honest reviews on programs, especially from Barbell Medicine (not many reviews on their templates). I figured they're programs would be pretty solid!
Dude, your channel is really good. I think that you should post more often, that will help with getting more views. Maybe videos on basic exercise science topics (muscle adaptation, biomechanics, energy systems, etc...) might help you get more views as these are topics that are just glanced over by many other content creators. Great video! P.S: I'm a biomechanics student and have been on youtube fitness for about 5 years, the topics I suggested are just things that I think are important that other great youtubers don't offer. Other things that could be on that list are: Periodization, what factors are taken into consideration when coaching a client, how to program for both strength training and/or endurance training, etc...
What program do you recommend to someone that has experience in lifting 2-3 years, but didnt workout for 1,5 years now due to illnes. I want to do a beginner program, but can’t decide between beginner build (jeremy ethier), jeff nippard (fundamentals hyperthrophy, imo a bit too much volume) or Barbell Medicine beginner template? My goal is strength & aesthetics
@@suitsued2526 I haven't looked at the Volt before, but I'll check it out. Barbell Medicine's beginner program is great for absolute beginners and building a foundation. The one's from Jeff and Jeremy are more specific in building muscle. Either one is good, don't really recommend one over the other. You can do Barbell's program to start, and then transition into either Jeff or Jeremy's program.
@@LiftingExplained The OP mentioned Jeff Nippard's Fundamentals of Hypertrophy. What about Nippard's Push Pull Legs? Would the Beginner Template provide a good foundation that I could use to move straight to Nippard's Push Pull Legs? Thanks.
Thanks for the review on this. Would you say this is a better program for beginners vs Baby Groot? Or is there a different program you would suggest for beginners?
My concern about BBM’s beginner template is that they specifically state that it’s *not* designed to get you as strong as possible in the shortest space of time, and I’m not sure I agree with the reasons they give for this. The first reason is that they worry about over-specialisation. But this is a beginner template. If the novice phase only lasts a few months as they say then I can’t imagine that someone who’s been lifting for just a few months is a “specialist” to the point of being over-specialised. The second reason is that they want you to learn the skill of accurately(ish) gauging RPE for when you move on to intermediate programs, even if it comes at the expense of progress. But again, this is a beginner template, and they themselves state that the novice phase will only last a few months. If I have to take X amount of time getting used to RPE and that will temporarily reduce my rate of progression, wouldn’t it be better to do that *after* the novice phase when my gains will have slowed down anyway? Analogy: say I own a restaurant and I need to close it for refurbishment. That will involve losing money for a few days while the works are done. To minimise the impact, I will have the works done during a less busy time of year.
@@OMAR-vk9pi they say so themselves. Here is the quote: “It should be noted that this is purposefully NOT designed with the intent of “sport specialization”, or of getting a trainee as strong as possible, as fast as possible in a select few movements.” The point of their program is that it promotes an investment in developing skills that will help lifters in the long term at the expense of short-term gains. They don’t deny this. The debate is over whether this is the best approach to novice training.
Good review. BBM is fairly minimalistic when it comes to stuff like warmups, prehab, stretching, that kind of stuff - even to the point of seeming antagonistic towards people who do promote that. This is sometimes rightfully so, as other channels (*cough* athlean-x *cough*) go way overboard on that type of things.
They have explained why this is the case, although I imagine a lot of people who are starting barbell resistance training after coming from other types of exercise where warm ups are far more common would be thrown for a loop. I do think the justification of "the best warmup is the movement you're going to do, and extra general warmup is spending time and energy that can be used elsewhere" is fairly reasonable for what they're going for.
@@JackgarPrime Yea it's a clear reaction to the "excessive prehab" nonsense. I'm definitely more on their side but perhaps they take it too far at times.
@@GVS I think they're a little less dogmatic about it than, say, Rippetoe, as they do acknowledge that there can be placebo or other mentally beneficial effects for warm ups, and they have themselves used things like leg swings to warm up during a meet. I, myself, will do a bit of shoulder and hip mobility so I can get into a better position for the low bar squat with my early warm ups.
@@GVS Helps that, as doctors, they actually know how to read studies! I'm always impressed with the sheer volume of sources they have for their articles. I know that Austin Baraki is always looking at and sharing new research on pain science, in particular.
Would this be a good program for a 40 year old who has been lifting for a few year's but never really trained? As in was horrible about following a routine?
I saw the program recently, and I just can't understand why they would program in RPE 9s on all top sets and have singles @ 8. I feel like beginner lifters would do better training further from failure to get technical proficiency down. IMO, leaving the 6,7,8 structure would've worked just fine for the 2nd phase since you're adding exercise variation. I also feel like the last phase just has too much volume for beginners. I think 1@7, 75% 5x5 would've likely worked better. I also am not a fan of the huge paywall since it's supposed to be getting people into barbell lifting. Great video tho!
Nah, you're not factoring in some obvious counters: that beginners need to learn RPE in the easiest way (the easiest RPE to rate is 10, and the second easiest to rate is 9, lol) and that the absolute load beginners can handle is very low, therefore overdoing the intensity is less of a concern at the beginner stage.
Beginners tend to sandbag RPE on average, so prescribing 9RPE would probably be several reps away from failure for most beginner lifters still. I am assuming this is part of their intention with this.
@@LiftingExplained I work out at home and am interested in the Beginners Template. To be clear on this, would a barbell and plates, dumbbells, a power rack with high and low cables, and a bench be sufficient to successfully use the Beginners Template? thanks.
@@jananilcolonoscopu4034 If this RUclipsr has no actual experience under the barbell, he has no way to know if a program that he is reviewing is any good or not. I'd like to see at least a 300+ wilks if he is going to go around reviewing programs.
@@EugeneMatlin So what you believe is three things: 1. Only people whose Wilks is arbitrarily in excess of 300 are entitled to intellectually analyze the contents of lifting programs, 2. those who cannot achieve a Wilks arbitrarily in excess of 300 "have no actual experience under the barbell" and 3. a beginner's opinion of a beginner lifting program designed for beginners can be discounted because they are a beginner. - As someone whose Wilks is comfortably above 300 myself, I hope you'll take the following opinion seriously: You're talking a load of absolute rubbish. lol
@@jananilcolonoscopu4034 He is not just reviewing beginner programs but other programs as well. For someone to have an informed opinion on a subject, he needs to have EXPERIENCE. If I go and start a channel reviewing musical instruments even though I don't actually play them myself should my voice / opinion matter? It would be a different video if he actually ran this program himself and is telling us about his experience... but no he is an armchair reviewer who looks like he doesn't even lift. The channel has great potential but the creator needs more credibility before going around talking about programming. I would be happy to sub to this channel if he can prove that he is actually legit.
@@EugeneMatlin Experience is a variable and subjective thing, far more than your simplistic posts appreciate. If you were a beginner to playing the clarinet, and you were reviewing a beginner course in the clarinet, yes, your opinion would still be worth listening to. But even if you were a very *bad* clarinet player, that would not negate the arguments you were making by default. By comparison, if you have read a great many lifting programs, and you have opinions on what's good and bad about those programs, the question of how much absolute weight you can lift is irrelevant when assessing your arguments. - Athlean-X has no doubt read a great many programs, and has at least shown that he can lift 400lbs for a single on the deadlift (when using real weights for once). But we all know his opinion is utter trash, because he's an idiot. Whereas if we discovered that our erstwhile content creator above can only lift 300lbs, it's similarly plainly obvious that his opinion is better thought out than any of Jeff Quackaliere's half-baked opinions are, and should therefore be taken with more seriousness. - Bear in mind what you've done here: you've come on to a video of someone sharing their review, their opinion, of a beginner lifting program. And your response has been: "You don't even look like you lift bro. Show me a 300 wilks before I listen to you". This is so laughable that it borders on comedy. I presume your wilks is also above 300? Well you have proven therefore that whether someone has a 300 wilks or not has no bearing at all on the question of whether their head is full of rusty old nuts and bolts. - Firstly, nobody else cares whether you subscribe to this youtuber or not. I doubt the youtuber does. Secondly your argument is fundamentally fallacious, as noted above, and you therefore don't have a leg to stand on.
Barbell Medicine did a superb job with their Beginner Template!
Hello. Do you belive there any better strength and conditioning programs?
@MrHumptyDumpty what are your primary goals?
@@LiftingExplained Gaining strength and size
I’ve run the powerbuilding and strength templates for a few years and feel they are well worth the money spent. They are built on years and years of experience and solid, evidenced based principles. Excellent review, new subscriber here!
Appreciate it, welcome!
I'd turn the music volume a bit down, but great video overall!
Still experimenting, thanks for the feedback.
I used this as a "comeback" program after the COVID shutdown when I got my home rack and bar, and it did a fantastic job bringing me back to where I was at before the lockdown in pretty quick time. Highly recommended.
Mind if I ask where you were at before? I'm looking at doing this the same way as you. I was about 2 years into consistent lifting and had progressed pretty well, but last year have been inconsistently doing home workouts. I definitely lost most of my muscle mass from pre-COVID.
@@crazyasianskills You mean where my strength levels were at?
Gotta respectfully disagree about the necessity of non-specific warmups... I'm an old man, and us old guys all grew up in a time when it was dogma that warmups could only benefit us. We came to *believe* that the warmups we did were benefiting us, "protecting us from potential injury", etcetera etcetera. So I absolutely get it.
-
As you note though, evidence has shown that that's not the case at all, that in fact there's relatively little evidence of any benefit of non-specific warmups when the question is actually looked at in any systematic way. So the question becomes: is our personal experience a reliable indicator that what we *believe* is benefiting us... is actually benefiting us? I'd argue not. I mean have *any* of us actually done a thorough test of our own beliefs in this matter?
-
For instance, if we feel that warming up our shoulder makes the shoulder hurt less throughout our workout, have we taken the time to spend a month or two *not* warming up except with the empty bar, and rating and recording our discomfort levels at the end of each set? Then spending a month or two warming up in a non-specific way and recording the data in the same way, then doing the whole thing over again to make sure we were right the first time? Our personal experience following these months of meticulous note-taking would *still* not approach even the semblance of scientific objectivity, but it'd be closer to it.
-
If one's argument against this kind of testing is "why risk it? Why not just carry on warming up, what's the harm?" then one is merely revealing how far one has been nocebo'd. One's expectation, one's *fear* of potential harm if one's warmup "ritual" is not followed to the letter, is heightened, and may pose an injury risk in and of itself.
I think what he's really describing is the psychological benefit of prolonged or non-specifc warm ups, although he doesn't seem to see it.
Yep. What you are describing is pretty much the placebo effect, something that the guys at barbell medicine constantly talk about. If you feel like the warmups are helping you, then by all means do them.
Spot on, Jan
I think you’re overthinking it bro
Thank you for giving out honest reviews on programs, especially from Barbell Medicine (not many reviews on their templates). I figured they're programs would be pretty solid!
Glad you liked the review!
Dude, your channel is really good. I think that you should post more often, that will help with getting more views. Maybe videos on basic exercise science topics (muscle adaptation, biomechanics, energy systems, etc...) might help you get more views as these are topics that are just glanced over by many other content creators. Great video!
P.S: I'm a biomechanics student and have been on youtube fitness for about 5 years, the topics I suggested are just things that I think are important that other great youtubers don't offer. Other things that could be on that list are: Periodization, what factors are taken into consideration when coaching a client, how to program for both strength training and/or endurance training, etc...
I'm working on a new project that will take these topics into account. I'm hoping to launch it here by the beginning of the new year. Stay tuned!
What program do you recommend to someone that has experience in lifting 2-3 years, but didnt workout for 1,5 years now due to illnes. I want to do a beginner program, but can’t decide between beginner build (jeremy ethier), jeff nippard (fundamentals hyperthrophy, imo a bit too much volume) or Barbell Medicine beginner template? My goal is strength & aesthetics
This program from Barbell Medicine is a good place to start. You can then go into a more specific program like one from Jeff Nippard.
@@LiftingExplained what about the Volt (athlethics) app? Really curious about your opinion
@@LiftingExplained why’d you recommend barbell and jeff over jeremy ethiers beginner build? Just wondering
@@suitsued2526 I haven't looked at the Volt before, but I'll check it out.
Barbell Medicine's beginner program is great for absolute beginners and building a foundation. The one's from Jeff and Jeremy are more specific in building muscle. Either one is good, don't really recommend one over the other. You can do Barbell's program to start, and then transition into either Jeff or Jeremy's program.
@@LiftingExplained The OP mentioned Jeff Nippard's Fundamentals of Hypertrophy. What about Nippard's Push Pull Legs? Would the Beginner Template provide a good foundation that I could use to move straight to Nippard's Push Pull Legs? Thanks.
Thanks for the review on this. Would you say this is a better program for beginners vs Baby Groot? Or is there a different program you would suggest for beginners?
The subscriber count nearly tripled from 2 months ago. Keep up this momentum 👍
Thanks, I'm working on it!
@@LiftingExplained would you ever do a video on Kinobodys warrior shredding program and Superhero program
@@jayhadri5782 sure, I'll add them to the list. Will be a little while due to other requests though.
My concern about BBM’s beginner template is that they specifically state that it’s *not* designed to get you as strong as possible in the shortest space of time, and I’m not sure I agree with the reasons they give for this.
The first reason is that they worry about over-specialisation. But this is a beginner template. If the novice phase only lasts a few months as they say then I can’t imagine that someone who’s been lifting for just a few months is a “specialist” to the point of being over-specialised.
The second reason is that they want you to learn the skill of accurately(ish) gauging RPE for when you move on to intermediate programs, even if it comes at the expense of progress. But again, this is a beginner template, and they themselves state that the novice phase will only last a few months. If I have to take X amount of time getting used to RPE and that will temporarily reduce my rate of progression, wouldn’t it be better to do that *after* the novice phase when my gains will have slowed down anyway? Analogy: say I own a restaurant and I need to close it for refurbishment. That will involve losing money for a few days while the works are done. To minimise the impact, I will have the works done during a less busy time of year.
You act like your gains stop or something
@@OMAR-vk9pi they don’t stop. You just miss out on maximising the novice period
@@MetalCooking666 that’s not exactly how it works either
@@OMAR-vk9pi they say so themselves.
Here is the quote:
“It should be noted that this is purposefully NOT designed with the intent of “sport specialization”, or of getting a trainee as strong as possible, as fast as possible in a select few movements.”
The point of their program is that it promotes an investment in developing skills that will help lifters in the long term at the expense of short-term gains. They don’t deny this. The debate is over whether this is the best approach to novice training.
@@MetalCooking666 I don’t think you understand what that means lol
Does the programme include accessories, and a programme for gradually introducing cardio?
Yes
Good review. BBM is fairly minimalistic when it comes to stuff like warmups, prehab, stretching, that kind of stuff - even to the point of seeming antagonistic towards people who do promote that.
This is sometimes rightfully so, as other channels (*cough* athlean-x *cough*) go way overboard on that type of things.
They have explained why this is the case, although I imagine a lot of people who are starting barbell resistance training after coming from other types of exercise where warm ups are far more common would be thrown for a loop. I do think the justification of "the best warmup is the movement you're going to do, and extra general warmup is spending time and energy that can be used elsewhere" is fairly reasonable for what they're going for.
@@JackgarPrime Yea it's a clear reaction to the "excessive prehab" nonsense. I'm definitely more on their side but perhaps they take it too far at times.
@@GVS I think they're a little less dogmatic about it than, say, Rippetoe, as they do acknowledge that there can be placebo or other mentally beneficial effects for warm ups, and they have themselves used things like leg swings to warm up during a meet. I, myself, will do a bit of shoulder and hip mobility so I can get into a better position for the low bar squat with my early warm ups.
@@JackgarPrime yes they're generally quite fair. And always incredibly well read/researched.
@@GVS Helps that, as doctors, they actually know how to read studies! I'm always impressed with the sheer volume of sources they have for their articles. I know that Austin Baraki is always looking at and sharing new research on pain science, in particular.
Would this be a good program for a 40 year old who has been lifting for a few year's but never really trained? As in was horrible about following a routine?
I could be, could help get you into a routine.
I saw the program recently, and I just can't understand why they would program in RPE 9s on all top sets and have singles @ 8. I feel like beginner lifters would do better training further from failure to get technical proficiency down. IMO, leaving the 6,7,8 structure would've worked just fine for the 2nd phase since you're adding exercise variation. I also feel like the last phase just has too much volume for beginners. I think 1@7, 75% 5x5 would've likely worked better. I also am not a fan of the huge paywall since it's supposed to be getting people into barbell lifting. Great video tho!
Nah, you're not factoring in some obvious counters: that beginners need to learn RPE in the easiest way (the easiest RPE to rate is 10, and the second easiest to rate is 9, lol) and that the absolute load beginners can handle is very low, therefore overdoing the intensity is less of a concern at the beginner stage.
Beginners tend to sandbag RPE on average, so prescribing 9RPE would probably be several reps away from failure for most beginner lifters still. I am assuming this is part of their intention with this.
you are right 65 dollars lol just do starting strenght for your base
@@timwalcott ok but I'm a returning lifter and so RPE 9 seems unnecessary for me to get my strength back.
@@spannycat2then run the first phase and go to a different program?
I have totally zero experience working out, and I don't have access to equipment. Is this a good place to start? I have a really wimpy body.
Barbell Medicine has an at home template that doesn't require equipment as well.
good video. would recommend that you remove the sound in the background.
How long would you estimate each workout to take, about 1 hour?
Roughly.
Does this program need machines (I only have a barbell and some dumbells)
It's not completely necessary, just need to substitute for a few of the exercises, they provide alternatives that you can use.
@@LiftingExplained I work out at home and am interested in the Beginners Template. To be clear on this, would a barbell and plates, dumbbells, a power rack with high and low cables, and a bench be sufficient to successfully use the Beginners Template? thanks.
@@tomjones8235 yes it’s literally only barbell lifts unless you choice other variations
Post some videos of your own lifts to give yourself some credibility.
How much would he have to be able to lift before you would be willing to assess his verbal arguments on their own merits? lol.
@@jananilcolonoscopu4034 If this RUclipsr has no actual experience under the barbell, he has no way to know if a program that he is reviewing is any good or not. I'd like to see at least a 300+ wilks if he is going to go around reviewing programs.
@@EugeneMatlin So what you believe is three things: 1. Only people whose Wilks is arbitrarily in excess of 300 are entitled to intellectually analyze the contents of lifting programs, 2. those who cannot achieve a Wilks arbitrarily in excess of 300 "have no actual experience under the barbell" and 3. a beginner's opinion of a beginner lifting program designed for beginners can be discounted because they are a beginner.
-
As someone whose Wilks is comfortably above 300 myself, I hope you'll take the following opinion seriously: You're talking a load of absolute rubbish. lol
@@jananilcolonoscopu4034 He is not just reviewing beginner programs but other programs as well. For someone to have an informed opinion on a subject, he needs to have EXPERIENCE. If I go and start a channel reviewing musical instruments even though I don't actually play them myself should my voice / opinion matter?
It would be a different video if he actually ran this program himself and is telling us about his experience... but no he is an armchair reviewer who looks like he doesn't even lift. The channel has great potential but the creator needs more credibility before going around talking about programming. I would be happy to sub to this channel if he can prove that he is actually legit.
@@EugeneMatlin Experience is a variable and subjective thing, far more than your simplistic posts appreciate. If you were a beginner to playing the clarinet, and you were reviewing a beginner course in the clarinet, yes, your opinion would still be worth listening to. But even if you were a very *bad* clarinet player, that would not negate the arguments you were making by default. By comparison, if you have read a great many lifting programs, and you have opinions on what's good and bad about those programs, the question of how much absolute weight you can lift is irrelevant when assessing your arguments.
-
Athlean-X has no doubt read a great many programs, and has at least shown that he can lift 400lbs for a single on the deadlift (when using real weights for once). But we all know his opinion is utter trash, because he's an idiot. Whereas if we discovered that our erstwhile content creator above can only lift 300lbs, it's similarly plainly obvious that his opinion is better thought out than any of Jeff Quackaliere's half-baked opinions are, and should therefore be taken with more seriousness.
-
Bear in mind what you've done here: you've come on to a video of someone sharing their review, their opinion, of a beginner lifting program. And your response has been: "You don't even look like you lift bro. Show me a 300 wilks before I listen to you". This is so laughable that it borders on comedy. I presume your wilks is also above 300? Well you have proven therefore that whether someone has a 300 wilks or not has no bearing at all on the question of whether their head is full of rusty old nuts and bolts.
-
Firstly, nobody else cares whether you subscribe to this youtuber or not. I doubt the youtuber does. Secondly your argument is fundamentally fallacious, as noted above, and you therefore don't have a leg to stand on.