Experiences on BBM Templates

[mouse]

@mouse Have you read Bromley's ebook? It's not necessarily about Strongman, but it has a pretty in depth section in the back on training for it that has my interest for when barbells become boring. In relation to BBM style programming, his ebook was a breathe of fresh air and has reminded me of how I trained before I knew what LPs and RPE were. So far, I like the switch.

Have not... but I'll take a gander...

[mbasic]

Its just my own realization of "what a time to be alive".
As you said, the more power to them....

I could see a future version of myself buying Swol3.0 from BBM.

[mgil]

@mouse Have you read Bromley's ebook? It's not necessarily about Strongman, but it has a pretty in depth section in the back on training for it that has my interest for when barbells become boring. In relation to BBM style programming, his ebook was a breathe of fresh air and has reminded me of how I trained before I knew what LPs and RPE were. So far, I like the switch.

Have not... but I'll take a gander...

Have you found Steve Pulcinella’s 16 week program yet?

[mouse]

@mouse Have you read Bromley's ebook? It's not necessarily about Strongman, but it has a pretty in depth section in the back on training for it that has my interest for when barbells become boring. In relation to BBM style programming, his ebook was a breathe of fresh air and has reminded me of how I trained before I knew what LPs and RPE were. So far, I like the switch.

Have not... but I'll take a gander...

Have you found Steve Pulcinella’s 16 week program yet?

No but after some googling I found a (barely) readable transcript hahaha... looks interesting...

[DCR]

https://flic.kr/p/ebQBUE

[quikky]

It's a little disheartening to mash 4-6 sets of compound lifts at RPE 7-8-9 and not get much out of it. I'm doing the same reps and sets now, but with 1 top set at RPE 7. Progress is the same or better strength-wise, I can do more bodybuilding volume so better aesthetic gains too, and I like training more.

Squat 5@6, 5@7, then belt squat for 4 Sets of 15@7-8 is much better than squat 5@6/7/7/8/8/8.

This is actually something I am trying out as of late as well. I think most of us have been to married to SBD(P) for so long that whenever we think of changing training, or improving the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, we always just think of changing the volume/frequency/intensity of those lifts, or adding some variants that are basically the same thing but with a different grip, or stance, or some pause, etc, and not completely different lifts altogether. I am starting to wonder if for some people it might be smarter to train at higher volumes with lower fatigue lifts, like belt squats in your example, with just some exposure to the big lifts for practice. Basically train like a bodybuilder but with some regular exposure to heavy compound lifts.

[brkriete]

Isn't that what some of Baker's Barbell Club periodized training looks like?

[Stoop]

It's a little disheartening to mash 4-6 sets of compound lifts at RPE 7-8-9 and not get much out of it. I'm doing the same reps and sets now, but with 1 top set at RPE 7. Progress is the same or better strength-wise, I can do more bodybuilding volume so better aesthetic gains too, and I like training more.

Squat 5@6, 5@7, then belt squat for 4 Sets of 15@7-8 is much better than squat 5@6/7/7/8/8/8.

This is actually something I am trying out as of late as well. I think most of us have been to married to SBD(P) for so long that whenever we think of changing training, or improving the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, we always just think of changing the volume/frequency/intensity of those lifts, or adding some variants that are basically the same thing but with a different grip, or stance, or some pause, etc, and not completely different lifts altogether. I am starting to wonder if for some people it might be smarter to train at higher volumes with lower fatigue lifts, like belt squats in your example, with just some exposure to the big lifts for practice. Basically train like a bodybuilder but with some regular exposure to heavy compound lifts.

Absolutely. Everyone's quick to point out that gymbros have better benches than a lot of post-SS, early powerlifter guys. Why not carry that logic over to squats or deadlifts?

Doing squats 2-3 times a week < doing squats once a week, then blasting 15+ total sets of leg press, dumbell lunges, knee extensions a week. At worst you'll maintain your strength, put on some muscle and have more successful strength blocks. At best you'll actually look like you lift, get stronger, get better conditioning and not hate training anymore.

It takes me 35 minutes to do 10 sets of bench/deadlift or squat/weighted pullups. That leaves another 30-45 minutes to cram a ton of light volume sets in and actually have a "back day" "shoulders day" "arm day."

[SnakePlissken]

It's a little disheartening to mash 4-6 sets of compound lifts at RPE 7-8-9 and not get much out of it. I'm doing the same reps and sets now, but with 1 top set at RPE 7. Progress is the same or better strength-wise, I can do more bodybuilding volume so better aesthetic gains too, and I like training more.

Squat 5@6, 5@7, then belt squat for 4 Sets of 15@7-8 is much better than squat 5@6/7/7/8/8/8.

This is actually something I am trying out as of late as well. I think most of us have been to married to SBD(P) for so long that whenever we think of changing training, or improving the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, we always just think of changing the volume/frequency/intensity of those lifts, or adding some variants that are basically the same thing but with a different grip, or stance, or some pause, etc, and not completely different lifts altogether. I am starting to wonder if for some people it might be smarter to train at higher volumes with lower fatigue lifts, like belt squats in your example, with just some exposure to the big lifts for practice. Basically train like a bodybuilder but with some regular exposure to heavy compound lifts.

Absolutely. Everyone's quick to point out that gymbros have better benches than a lot of post-SS, early powerlifter guys. Why not carry that logic over to squats or deadlifts?

Doing squats 2-3 times a week < doing squats once a week, then blasting 15+ total sets of leg press, dumbell lunges, knee extensions a week. At worst you'll maintain your strength, put on some muscle and have more successful strength blocks. At best you'll actually look like you lift, get stronger, get better conditioning and not hate training anymore.

It takes me 35 minutes to do 10 sets of bench/deadlift or squat/weighted pullups. That leaves another 30-45 minutes to cram a ton of light volume sets in and actually have a "back day" "shoulders day" "arm day."

Do you use RPE still or is it more by feel? Like "Pick a weight, get some volume in and go home"

[Stoop]

For SBD I use RPE. 9 sets per week of bench/pause bench, deadlift/banded deadlift, front squat/front platz squat, weighted pullups/bw pullups. RPE for the sets is 5/6/7/6, usually adding 5lbs to the top set every week. I don't like squatting so I've replaced 3 front squat sets with 3 belt squat sets and made way better E1RM progress the last two months with only 2 comp squat sets per week.

Followed by 15+ sets of arms, shoulders or back EMOMs, just to get tired, keep mental intensity high in the workout, get the lungs burning a bit and get a pump, probably average around RPE 5-8.

[quikky]

Has anyone had any experience with BBM's Bodybuilding template? I would consider trying it at some point but have some reservations. Namely:

1. In the description it says there is a recommended 1-2 ab/arms days, stating that the main 4 days do not include direct work for those muscles. I am not sure if it's misstated or I am not interpreting correctly, but how can any bodybuilding training not include direct arm work?
2. As far as I know, no one at BBM is actually into bodybuilding. So, is this template just a "if we did bodybuilding, this is what we would do", or is it actually a tried and effective approach that's been used by their trainees and coaches?

Just curious if anyone here has any insight.

[James]

For the arm stuff. I havent seen the template but they usually program extra/GPP days. Wednesday and Saturday you'll do cardio, rows, arms and abs.

Only two arm sessions a week on a BB program seems kind of low to me.

[Stoop]

Has anyone had any experience with BBM's Bodybuilding template? I would consider trying it at some point but have some reservations. Namely:

1. In the description it says there is a recommended 1-2 ab/arms days, stating that the main 4 days do not include direct work for those muscles. I am not sure if it's misstated or I am not interpreting correctly, but how can any bodybuilding training not include direct arm work?
2. As far as I know, no one at BBM is actually into bodybuilding. So, is this template just a "if we did bodybuilding, this is what we would do", or is it actually a tried and effective approach that's been used by their trainees and coaches?

Just curious if anyone here has any insight.

If I was doing bodybuilding I'd probably go with a more "bodybuilding" type organization like Renaissance Periodization. A lot of normal bodybuilding routines don't have arms days and just spread the volume out at the end of multiple workouts. I'd only do an arm day if it was a big weakpoint and I wanted to tackle it fresh every week, on top of at the end of Push/Pull/Legs days or something.

[houzi]

Im on the BBM email list and got an email saying that their templates have been updated, in order to better reflect their current views on intensity, volume etc. I know they previously had a lot of @9 top sets followed by backdowns, but have their updates reflected the current trend of using overall lower RPEs?

Also, not sure if this is appropriate to mention here, but if anyone has their free Peak template, unhide the other tabs to get yourself some extra free programming...

[mouse]

Im on the BBM email list and got an email saying that their templates have been updated, in order to better reflect their current views on intensity, volume etc. I know they previously had a lot of @9 top sets followed by backdowns, but have their updates reflected the current trend of using overall lower RPEs?

I haven't seen any updates to the one template I have on my account, but I have PBII and Strength III where I somehow managed to get them WITHOUT creating an account so I have to manually ask for updates... we will see what they send back...

[sklunk]

The endurance template had some noticeable decreases in intensity, but I looked through hypertrophy 2, powerbuilding 2, and powerlifting 2 and didn't see any changes to the actual programming, just added exercise selection options. Maybe I'm missing something?

[mouse]

The endurance template had some noticeable decreases in intensity, but I looked through hypertrophy 2, powerbuilding 2, and powerlifting 2 and didn't see any changes to the actual programming, just added exercise selection options. Maybe I'm missing something?

So maybe you started with a more recent update than I do on PBII... but it's drastically different. My most recent is V3.2 compared to V4.0 that they just sent me, and (without giving anything else away) this is W1D1...

OLD:
Squat - 6@7, 6@8, 6@9
CG Incline Bench - 10@7, 10@8, 10@9
Split Squats - 12@7, 12@8, 12@9
Leg Extensions - 2x12-15 @8-9

NEW:
Squat - 5@6, 5@7, 5@8
CG Incline Bench - 10@6, 10@7, 10@8
RDL - 8@6, 8@7, 8@8
Isolation Quads - 3x12-20 @7 w/ 6 minute cap

Skipping around a bit I see almost very few @9 sets in there, as opposed to multiple @9 sets + backoffs nearly every day on the old version I have. The main heavy movements are also lower rep ranges... the whole thing looks like it would beat me up a whole hell of a lot less...

I'm actually really irked I can't run this at the moment because it looks really good...

Edit:

I'm still thumbing through comparing, the new version is way easier on the intensity and overall volume. Like shockingly so in my opinion...

[dw]

Seems like an improvement imo. I would probably add volume but that's me.

[mouse]

Seems like an improvement imo. I would probably add volume but that's me.

I just edited my comment, unless I'm missing something this new revision has like... half the volume of my old one hahaha.

Edit:

It's got calves! Hahahaha...

[sterjs]

How do you rate the added exercise selection? Did they change GPP at all?

The new protocols look much better.