Thread: Help With Program Variation

Hey

A tiny bit of background info about myself - This is my 1st ever post to the forum. I am a 35 year old male based in Ireland. I am 170cm tall (not the tallest) and weigh 79kg currently. I had a dexa scan 3 months ago which returned a body fat estimate of 8.2%. This seemed slightly low to me at the time but has definitely increased slightly since then. Generally I eat really well and aim for the following macros geared towards maintenance:
Calories - 2810 ; Carbs - 267g ; Fat - 119g ; Protein - 171g.

I have been training consistently for 3 years at 5 days a week. Even so I wouldn't call myself experienced. I have been doing the exact same program with minor tweaks here and there for those years. I have attached a snapshot of what I do which includes reps/weights. I have spent a bit of time making sure my form is good on each exercise. Obviously I didn't start at these weights but worked my way up to them and have just plateaued at these for entirety of 2020.

I used to love training and was super motivated at every session but it has gotten to the stage where every day is just a box ticking exercise for me now. I dont have the same passion and I feel that on my compound lifts my volume might be a bit too much and I may be wasting my time with a few of the sets. I don't feel as if I can sustain it for much longer.

I suppose my overall goals are to maintain a low body fat level while maintaining as much strength as I can for my size/weight. I feel like there could be an easier program out there for me to achieve this goal. I am just looking for a bit of advice or guidance in terms of an alternative program. I do enjoy the compound lifts and would prefer to keep them in my program but am just wondering is there a different split and rep/set range that is more sustainable. Maybe even less days. I would love to find a 4 day program that could cover this. It would fit into my life better.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

I think any 4 day upper/lower body split where you are doing squats, presses and rows twice a week would be perfect for you.
Your current program is not bad but if you're stalling it might be time to try something new.
Your lifts seems to be at intermediate level so maybe you could look into Wendler's 531 templates or Candito 6 week strength program, but those programs are geared toward max strength so you are doing work in low rep ranges. It might not be for everyone.
Another good option could be Fierce 5 upper/lower split where you are working with more casual 3x5 and 3x8 rep ranges.

Originally Posted by tallbro

I think any 4 day upper/lower body split where you are doing squats, presses and rows twice a week would be perfect for you.
Your current program is not bad but if you're stalling it might be time to try something new.
Your lifts seems to be at intermediate level so maybe you could look into Wendler's 531 templates or Candito 6 week strength program, but those programs are geared toward max strength so you are doing work in low rep ranges. It might not be for everyone.
Another good option could be Fierce 5 upper/lower split where you are working with more casual 3x5 and 3x8 rep ranges.

Thanks man, appreciate the input. I'll have a look into the Fierce 5.

I think you could get a lot out of the intermediate fierce 5 upper lower. Then once you get to the point where the workouts are getting too difficult you could move to the advanced LULPP.