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PlanStrong/BuiltStrong BuiltStrong Minimalist Review

Bauer

Bauer

Level 8 Valued Member
This has been my first hypertrophy focused plan from the StrongFirst universe.

THE PLAN
BuiltStrong Minimalist comes with an awesome plan generator. You can choose three different version, with different volume overall (about 20% difference between plans). I have used the medium volume version and was really happy with it.

This is a BTS3 plan, i.e. you run it with three types of exercises: Upper body push, upper body pull (or ab work), and squat. For each category you have three different intensity zones, allowing you to use up to 9 different exercises overall – or just three exercises with different weights.

This requires some thinking and testing beforehand, but offers a lot of variety and fun.

BTS plans are similar to PlanStrong plans. Therefore, the volume waves up and down from week to week for all exercises. Weeks 4-7 are the most challenging, with week 6 being the peak week.

Each day comes with a certain amount of volume. Depending on your actual TRM per exercise you are prescribed certain types of ladders. For most exercises, this worked like a charm for me. For some exercises I counted my grindy testing reps too, resulting in slightly too challenging ladders. Bottom line: only count your perfect reps.

HOW IT WORKED
I was surprised by how doable everything was. More than 50 Front Squats with my 8 TRM looked more challenging on paper than they actually felt.

During the first week I needed to get used to higher rep sets, but adapted quickly. During the high volume weeks I felt a general mild fatigue, but no real soreness or CNS fatigue.

I trained all exercises in a slow circuit at home, sometimes split into two sessions.
I kept my warmup very minimalist: I only used some drills from @Brett Jones Iron Cardio video, which helped a lot with hip, ankle, and shoulder mobility.

On off-days I did some easy aerobic work. I think I would not have been able to do ballistic work alongside BTS minimalist.

RESULTS
I have gained more muscle than usual, and got some comments from friends and relatives. The first four weeks were more of a recomp phase, and during the second phase I tried to up my eating, resulting in more muscle growth – and belly growth, too… But I noticed most growth in my legs.

Overall, I feel much more solid now. My midsection is tighter and my clothes are fitting tighter. I have improved my mobility and stability, too. Standing on one leg (for example, while putting on socks) or taking two steps at a time feel easier now. Surprisingly, my joints feel much better now, especially my hips and elbows.

Here is what I haved tested strength wise:

Double C&P: my 3TRM became a 4TRM
Double MP: my 8 TRM became a 9-10 TRM

Double Front Squats: my 8 TRM became a 10 TRM
Double Front Squats: 8 kgs heavier than my former 8 TRM became a new 6 TRM

Bent Over Rows: 4 kgs heavier than my former 14 TRM became my new 11 TRM

Bodysaw: my 8 TRM variation became a 17 TRM
Bodysaw: a more challenging variation became my new 10 TRM


Good improvements overall, with some beginner’s gains with newly added exercises.

Anyway, I enjoyed the variations and the programming a lot and am pleased with the results. Thank you Fabio for a great product!
5/5 stars from me!

PS: Ha, as fate will have it, it it is actually on sale today.
 
Thanks for this valuable review. During that time period, was BuildStrong Minimal program the only fitness related endeavor that you have followed?
 
I'm incorporating this into my total-body workouts with myself and my clients in two weeks. It's similar to what we're currently doing. So I'm interested in seeing how it works.
 
Bauer said:
I trained all exercises in a slow circuit at home, sometimes split into two sessions.
Click to expand...
Question about this - I'm guessing you mean that you did split into two session during one day. But do you think it would work to split, for example, squat and pull Monday Wednesday Friday, and push Tuesday Thursday Saturday?

Time constrains me to about 30 minutes of training time per day, so that kind of split works for my available time, but I've always wondered if you lose something from a program by adjusting the schedule from a full rest day between the 3 sessions, or splitting the volume over 6 days as mentioned above.
 
If you follow the program in a Circuit format doing each exercise EMOM, you will easily finish all 3 exercises in under 30 minutes.

Thus, if needed, you could extend the rest on some sets.

I'm starting it Monday using the "Tough" schedule and will follow the EMOM approach in a Circuit format as it's something I've done for more than a decade and this plan has me doing far fewer reps at my various RM's than I normally do.

For example, after testing all my lifts and RM's, it has me doing ladders of 1-2-3 with my 5RM, ladders of 2-3-5 with my 6-7 RM, and ladders of 4-6-10 with my 15RM.

This will be ridiculously easy for me as I typically perform multiple sets of higher reps than that for my RM's (3-5 reps with 5RM, 10-12 reps with 15RM, etc.).

I'm also used to higher volume than even the "Tough" schedule provides.

So I'm a bit curious if this will work for me since it's more along the lines of "Easy Strength" versus many of the higher volume programs I've used like ROP amd other PlanStrong pressing plans.

I'll report back after I complete the first month!
 
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Nick Stevens said:
Question about this - I'm guessing you mean that you did split into two session during one day. But do you think it would work to split, for example, squat and pull Monday Wednesday Friday, and push Tuesday Thursday Saturday?

Time constrains me to about 30 minutes of training time per day, so that kind of split works for my available time, but I've always wondered if you lose something from a program by adjusting the schedule from a full rest day between the 3 sessions, or splitting the volume over 6 days as mentioned above.
Click to expand...
Yes, you should be fine doing this. You can treat all lifts independently.
 
I did two eight-week cycles recently, training various presses, squats, and chin or pull-ups.

Before the program:
  • DKB Press 20kg, 12RM
  • KB Press 24kg, 8RM
  • Bar Squat 215lbs, 5RM
  • DKB Squat 32kg, 5RM
After 8 weeks:
  • DKB Press 20kg, 16RM
  • DKB Press 24kg, 10RM
  • DKB Press 28kg, 5RM
  • KB Press 24kg, 12RM
  • Squat 215lbs, 10RM
  • Squat 245lbs, 5RM
  • DKB Squat 28kg, 12RM
After 16 weeks:
  • DKB Press 24kg, 11RM
  • DKB Press 28kg, 6RM
  • DKB Press 32kg, 2RM (never pressed this much before)
  • KB Press 32kg, 2RM (same)
  • Squat 215lbs, 13RM
  • Squat 235lbs, 10RM
  • Squat 265lbs, 5RM
I didn't see as much progress with chin-ups (added 1 rep), which I did first 8 weeks; or pull-ups (added 1 rep), which I did the second round. Added some muscle, but also some fat. Went from 185lbs to about 192-194lbs, primarily because I ate and drank everything I wanted.

I enjoyed the program quite a bit. It always felt do-able. I occasionally added other exercises as well, but nothing programmed or routine. And 30-60 minutes walking almost every day.

I also started the program in late December 2022, which was 6 months after an ACL repair. I'd been re-habbing before then, so I don't think all the gains were attributable to the post-surgery atrophy. But this was the first "heavy" leg lifting following the surgery. I'd been doing C&Ps starting a month or two following surgery along with rehab.

Looking forward to BTS4 and BTS6 when they come out.
 
Nick Stevens said:
I've always wondered if you lose something from a program by adjusting the schedule from a full rest day between the 3 sessions, or splitting the volume over 6 days as mentioned above.
Click to expand...
Bauer said:
Yes, you should be fine doing this. You can treat all lifts independently.
Click to expand...
I agree with @Bauer. The most important thing is getting the work in, the overall volume you need with the weights you needs. If we want to dive in a little deeper, I think it's fair to say that, for pure strength, more rest is better, but for hypertrophy, you want some of that "get a pump with a heavy weight" followed by rest, so you might keep that in mind as you create your schedule.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
If we want to dive in a little deeper, I think it's fair to say that, for pure strength, more rest is better, but for hypertrophy, you want some of that "get a pump with a heavy weight" followed by rest, so you might keep that in mind as you create your schedule.
Click to expand...
That makes sense for sure! Thanks Steve and Bauer for the input on this. I'm excited to give this program a try.
 
Week 1 is complete!

I'm using 9 exercises for the program:

1.) Double Kettlebell Presses
2.) DB Bench Presses
3.) Dips
4.) Weighted Pull-ups
5.) Chin-ups
6.) 1-Arm KB Rows
7.) Double Kettlebell Front Squats
8.) Bulgarian Split Squats
9.) Goblet Squats (instead of DKFS again)

Despite the extremely low volume on all the "Heavy" exercises throughout the program, it actually felt good.

I'm adding warm-up sets as needed to also help even out the number of rounds since I'm performing the exercises EMOM (for the most part - I take extra rest if needed) as a Circuit.

For example, today's session only had two sets of weighted pull-ups. So I performed two low-rep sets with bodyweight (3, 5) and two sets with additional weight (3, 4) as warm-up sets for a total of 6 sets.

This was to keep all three exercises as a Circuit with 6 sets each (2 warm-up sets on Dumbbell Dumbbell Bench Presses and 1 warm-up set of squats).

I took an extra minute of rest after every two rounds for a 20-minute session.

Off days will be predominantly A+A "Murph" training sessions since I participate in the Murph Challenge every Memorial Day.

My current 5.5 minute total-body warm-up for myself and my coaching clients is this:

 
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