Best Squat Program (For Intermediates)

[@chrisp9500]

The last 3 months I ran this (with personal modifications) and added 12 kg to my squat 5RM and 5kg to my deadlift 5RM and a little to my press as well. I just want to say thank you Major Broggi for "allowing me" to deviate from "THE PROGRAM!" 2 lifts a day 3x/week is great for me. And deadlifting was naturally moving to Wednesday with no squatting anyway.

[@rainerhorn7547]

Amazing help. Was just hitting the end of novice phase and this looks increadible

[@johnyrttn]

The Northeast South California program! Started this a couple weeks ago. Thanks Grant.

[@GF-qb3uo]

Minor critique--the normal presentation is sets x reps, and you have the opposite in your charts. Most programs use this set up, so it's more intuitive when one looks at it.

[@thestrengthco]

we use weight x reps x sets when recording in a log book 405 x 5 x 3 if you only had one set it would be 405 x 5 that is why we do it that way.

[@Joe-vw9xx]

"Come to Jesus moment" Hahaha. Honestly, nearing the end of an LP there every rep feels like a CTJ moment during a 5x3.

[@drice1007]

started this morning and had my come to Jesus moment on rep 18. I even started with a weight I thought would be relatively easy so I could increase weight for at least 6 weeks. Nope repeating the same weight next week.

[@raymondjurado9203]

When NLP gets grindy, I'll have to refer back to this video. Thanks for putting it together?

[@hanskazan7403]

madcow 5x5 is a great program too, they have an app now for it and its really good you squat 3x a week monday 5x5 with 1 top set friday you do 1x3 top set and wensday is a light day for squats with heavy deadlift and its also benching 3x a week

[@johnathonolavarria7432]

I like mad cow because the 5x5 day is ascending sets instead of sets across. Huge time saver. I sub out the rows for chins and drop the light squat all together. Day two can be a press day too. The jumps can be too big on mad cow though. With smaller jumps mad cow would be a great follow up to this videos more intense programming.

[@hanskazan7403]

​@@johnathonolavarria7432yeah its great just 4 warm up sets and then 1 heavy set and you move on to the next exercise. With stronglifts 5x5 youre feeling beat up every day haha and for the big jumps i know what you mean its from set 4-5 thats the big jump but you can always do just a 1 rep sets between those 2 sets. So youre doing set 4 then rest 3 min them do a 1 rep set with the between weight of set 4 and 5 and then rest another 3 min and go for it sometimes thats better of that topset starting to get heavy af

[@johnhintz9823]

Thank You for all the Great Educational Videos!

[@preethampooserla3933]

Great explanation.. workout is intense.🙏

[@kevinitdone]

Not even gonna lie the info you've dropped has put weight on my lifts this year.

[@aidanlamb7387]

Where do you find the article at for this

[@prideofalion]

How in earth is the Texas method taking over 2 hours? 😅 What's your rest time, 15 minutes between sets?

[@antisocialite927]

Is the Friday press a percentage of the Monday press? I mean besides 100%

[@lewisyaworski8962]

This was adopted from the TM created by Mark Ripptoe, with that in mind I remember reading that your top sets, or sets depending on the day, will stay the same as normally your Press is much lighter than any of your other lifts. It stays at 100% of Mondays weight the whole program. You could write a program in which you have a heavier Press day and a lighter Press day, but that would be another program.

[@user-if6wu3wg1r]

My squat 1rm has been stuck around 315 for like a YEAR. I'm so gd frustrated

[@ItAintEazyBeingCheezy11]

Link to the article?

[@plinio23]

Awesome program!! Just questio; Deadlift Will be done just one time by week??

[@thestrengthco]

try it!

[@aminedhaouadi8688]

did anyone make this into an excel sheet?

[@DonaldDeiwert]

3 hours for the Texas method? Per session?

[@Lane_X]

What about accessory?

[@tahaawan7958]

Hey i just went up in weight on the bench yesterday but only got 5 4 3 with 200 pounds. Im 19, weigh 185 pounds at 5’10. Should i microload or maybe switch to 5 sets of 3?

[@jeffriggins9106]

Try it again for 3x5, could have been an off day, maybe sleep or diet was shit day prior. Give it another shot and maybe rest a bit more prior to that last set.

[@Hast91]

Yes, microload(maybe 5-10pounds reset), and eat fucking more. That change is for women because of less neuromuscular efficiency. When men could consider 5 sets of 3, it's usually more appropriate with intermidiate programming. Also ask yourself the 3 questions.

[@jeffriggins9106]

@@Hast91 yup

[@theNavyKid29]

Thanks for this!!

[@Gwama67]

What's the difference between press and bench press?

[@lewisyaworski8962]

Press is Overhead Press(Standing with the bar in your hands and pressing overhead). Bench Press...is performed with the lifters back on the Bench. You can use the Press 2.0 method or strict military style of Press.

[@keysersoze5920]

The bench.

[@skidaddler6293]

Grant. I’m 49. Rip said stay away from 5x5. What else you got? This intermediate stuff…it’s hard to figure out a program. I’m 5’9”. 227. Squat is 405 for 3x3.

[@Hast91]

When you are in the intermidiate stages, you should already have a little clue about how much work you can recover from and what stimuli needs to be done to make productive increases. The 5x5 is not written in stone, it is a framework that often work very well. Maybe 5x5 beat you up too much and you reduce by one set, or maybe you need more work and add a 6th. The volume work is a tool to increase your strength. At this point you need to learn to analyze data. The why's of progress and stagnation. The more advanced you become, the more individually adapted the program will be as it is based on recent training data. Heavy-Light-Medium framework work well aswell, but you still need to set it in context of what the needs of the lifter are.

[@thestrengthco]

kill one set of squats and run the same program. see if your having issues.

[@keysersoze5920]

Don’t know of anyone who has deadlifted heavy 48-hours after doing heavy squats.

[@TheBestBoyyeeehehe]

That's no problem at all, you can even deadlift heavy 20 minutes after heavy squats

[@keysersoze5920]

@@TheBestBoyyeeehehe Go for it.

[@keysersoze5920]

@@TheBestBoyyeeehehe You not gonna deadlift as much as you should, though.

[@jerrythomas4457]

Young man’s program

[@nathandunn1007]

I wish Grant would have addressed this -- but he can't address everything of course. Could a lifter in his 40s run this?

[@thestrengthco]

Yes. 40s is not old for lifters

[@nathandunn1007]

@@thestrengthco Best thing I've heard all day

[@keysersoze5920]

@@nathandunn1007 I’m 64 and I thankfully still do 6X5 on squats twice a week, deadlift 3 X 3 once the next week. I do full body workouts (chins, dips, presses, SLDLs, crunches) with my squats, and very little else with my deadlifts (chins, dips, crunches). I just find that you don’t recover as fast as you age, so a minimal basic routine with plenty of rest and good nutrition is crucial. Been lifting since I was 13. I am grateful to be blessed as so. Keep going. Lift hard, there is NO tomorrow!

[@icebox_Intruder]

Ya, no dilly dallying, guys.

[@ianwinckelmann7594]

🔥

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

If you can increase 2.5kg per week on the squat, you're still a novice imho.

[@Mukation]

Starting strength has you add 7,5 kg a week, so at 2,5 you're an intermideate

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

@@Mukation no way, no intermediate adds 2.5kg per week.

[@Mukation]

@@LarsRyeJeppesen litterally almost every intermediate program out there does that

[@Mukation]

@@paulchristie3306 You're both right and wrong. An advanced lifter usually has several years of lifting experince, yes. But the years themselves say nothing about how the lifter will respond to training, since you can do shit programming or program hopping every 2 weeks and that can litterally mean that you are still a novice. "Novice", "Intermediate" and "Advanced" is just terms to describe how an individual lifter responds to training. And it is usually means how often you can add "+2,5 kg" (the number is arbitrary, since we know upper body lifts will use less weight than that while doing the LP). Novice can add 2,5 kg per workout, while an intermediate can add it after a couple of workouts (reffered to as a "micro cycle" or a just a "week" ;P) and an advanced lifter usually needs an entire mesocycle (3-4 microcycles ie; about a month or beyond). Some who are very close to their genetic potential might very well only be able to add weight once a year. If John Haack breaks his leg today, he is going to be back at the "novice" stage in 12 weeks, when he can start squating again, but that novice phase might just be 2-3 weeks and not 6 months as it is for "newbies". Anyway, time to stop rambling, the term just reffers to how your body responds to training and the more advanced you are, the longer it will take for your body to adapt.

[@derekgreen7319]

An intermediate is typically defined as being able to add 5 pounds every week to once a month roughly. ( On a lift like the squat).

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

Imho 5x5 creates too much recovery issues compared to the results. Ramp-up to 1 heavy set, + light volume work will be better for your recovery. . Love the video though :)

[@HenchPig]

This will result in you being not as strong. 5x5 has more heavy sets. A heavy top set followed by higher rep work is a little more for Hypertrophy with a small amount of work focused on strength.

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

@@HenchPig it depends on your recovery or how strong you are. The stronger you get the less sustainable 5x5 becomes.

[@jeffrichard5740]

Substract 100 lbs. haha. Can you lift negative weights?

[@dagtheking5739]

I lost 20 on my squat last week.

[@sambsialia]

Grant I like you and your stuff. I still think that lifting needs carries in the mix, besides hinge, squat and presses. Iwonder if you would look at like frame carries or sandbags for building work capacity. I think you need push, pull, hinge, squat, carry and some anti rotational to be complete. Keep up the good work sir.

[@thestrengthco]

insanity twitter.com/GrantSSC/status/1681331280976179201?s=20

[@stevenpurchase1010]

Sounds like a prescription for a back injury to me.