PlanStrong/BuiltStrong Looking for Advice on PlanStrong or BuiltStrong – Any Recommendations?

[SereneDreamer]

I have been working out for over a year, focusing mainly on strength training and some cardio.

My current goals are to build muscle and increase strength.

I'm pretty good with my protein intake, but I might need to optimize the rest of my diet.

For those who have experience with PlanStrong or BuiltStrong, could you please share your thoughts on the following?

If possible, could you share some of the most effective works or tips you've learned from the programs?

Thanks a lot for your help! Looking forward to hearing your recommendations and experiences.

 

[John K]

I have been working out for over a year, focusing mainly on strength training and some cardio.

My current goals are to build muscle and increase strength.

I'm pretty good with my protein intake, but I might need to optimize the rest of my diet.

For those who have experience with PlanStrong or BuiltStrong, could you please share your thoughts on the following?

If possible, could you share some of the most effective works or tips you've learned from the programs?

Thanks a lot for your help! Looking forward to hearing your recommendations and experiences.

I think the most important things are to test and pick a real training max (not guesstimate), don’t let your rep speed slow down, and actually be consistent doing the whole program.

 

[LukeV]

I think the most important things are to test and pick a real training max (not guesstimate)

This

 

[Mark Limbaga]

Without giving away too much

The delta 20 principle allows you to train more often and avoid getting burnt out or injured

Focus on rep quality.. the volume will handle both strength and hypertrophy goals

 

[Ben Strong]

I ran BTS Minimalist program last year and had some good success with it. Increased weight across all my lifts after 8 weeks and enjoyed the process. I thought it was a particularly nice approach because I was able to focus on my technique and was not coming close to failure.

I think my advice would be to consider your lift choices carefully. Make sure to analyze your day to day sessions and the equipment needed for them. For example I tried to select H,M, and L exercises that would be a heavy barbell lift, medium kettlebell lift, and light bodyweight lift if possible. That way I was spreading out the type of equipment used. I also avoided putting dips and pullups on the same day because my gym's pullup and dip stand are the same piece of equipment. Therefore I didn't want to hog it for two different exercises.

Another tip would be to pick medium and light exercises that target areas you want to improve in. I felt like the heavy exercises really only maintained/slightly increased my maximums in those lifts. For me, the most dramatic impact seemed to come from the volume/work done in the medium and light rep ranges. Still not a bad tradeoff. This would be different if you chose the exact same exercise for all H,M, and L days which I did not. Perhaps I will do that during a future run of that program and see how that goes.

One last tip I found helpful would be to run the exercises as Fabio suggests, as a slow circuit. I would do my M and L exercises this way, alternating back and forth with about a minute of rest between the two. That saved me a ton of time, keeping most sessions under an hour in length with a warmup.