I’ll try to keep it short:

Been stalking the forums for a while and I am feeling very indecisive about what level I’m actually at realistically, so hoping to kindly get some input into a new routine. In my searches on reddit and such 5/3/1 Building the Monolith or PHUL seems to be a highly suggested program I just hoped for some input as I’ve begun to doubt whether I am really intermediate or Novice still really.

Main goal is unashamedly aesthetics, but training heavy is fun so I’m really just looking to shift some weight and put on size, ideally looking to train on a 5/6 day split.

Lifting consistently 3-4 years now (started on bro splits though so..), I have just finished 20 weeks of PHAT with abs added in, (coolcicadas ppl prior to that and that’s all the programs I’ve ever done). My progression on PHAT has stalled, unable to increase weight for many weeks and honestly its become stale

(I have a weekly tally for each workout if you wanna laugh https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SP2Dp0QEJliTgHRq9A2uWcgtuiBLbnblZhsIuoYa10A/edit?usp=sharing).

Stats: considering how long I’ve been Lifting I guess my numbers aren’t the best but these are the latest heavy working sets during PHAT (so not 1RM)

5ft 10’, 80kg (175lbs), Squat: 125kg x5(275), Bench 90x5(200lbs, my weakest area in numbers and looks so my primary focus atm), Bent over row 110x5(240), Deadlift 150x4(330lbs), OHP 65x4(140lbs).

I’m definitely eating enough, averaging around 3000 cals, 170-180g protein, the rest kinda just falls into place.

I rambled, but I appreciate any help.

Hey man, nice to see you joining the @forums!!

Your numbers don't look too bad man. Everyone starts somewhere and there will be plenty of people chasing the numbers you have, think of it that way!

I took a brief look through your program, so I see you're following an Upper/Lower split. One thing that might help your strength gains is doing more sets on your first upper and lower days. I notice at the moment that you're hitting 3 sets for those heavy sets, but then on the second day when you are doing speed work, you do 6 sets. Why not do 6 sets during the first days as well?

Also, it looked like for your bench, you went 80kg, 90kg, 85kg for your sets.. so it sounds like the first set was kind of a wasted set, right? As in, 80kg for 5 would have been kind of easy for you, and still like a warm-up? Maybe you would be better starting your first heavy set with 90kg, then lowering the weight AFTER that if you need to.

Those are some thoughts from me. If you want to go back to a PPL split as well (which might also help because you won't be trying to lift super heavy for the chest and back in one training day), you can try the one on the site. Each workout starts with reverse pyramiding for the first exercise, which could be another way for you to change up your rep scheme to keep moving forward with the strength gains. https://muscularstrength.com/Push-Pull-Legs

Hey!

Thanks for the reply! Appreciate all of that.

I wasn't exactly following an Upper lower split no, I notice that on the link I included it starts off at page 1, that weeks session was back in September the start of term! (it's split by pages on the bottom tab) so I think what you looked at is just the first weeks numbers when I was starting fresh.

That old routine is called PHAT (Power Hypertrophy Alternate Training, its an upper/lower split on the power days then further splits into back+shoulders, legs, and chest/arms, for hypertrophy days, so a five day routine. But as I say I've run that program for 22 weeks now so the numbers and all of that have changed, and thats why the numbers on the bench were a bit iffy on that first page you saw with the warmup stuff, my bench is now consistently in early-mid 90s.

Those are some interesting changes to bulk up the heavier areas! I found that with doing the 3 sets of heavy I would push to go heavier than I might be capable of putting out for 6 sets but I might give that a try next, but to be honest I like the sound of that push pull legs, the whole speed work days got a bit stale and I was looking for some interesting methods to keep me focused on something new (pyramidding sounds like it could fit the bill!).

Again appreciate all the great help you give, disappointed more of the forumers didn't take to hitting up that anime section 😭 

Oh OK I see. Yeah sorry I didn't read through the whole thing, I didn't even see the tabs at the bottom of the page haha.

I think you will definitely enjoy the PPL split, and I think changing thins up is what you need to push past the 'staleness' you have yourself in at the moment, not to mention pushing through plateaus. 22 weeks is a long time to be following the same program, and if it's no longer giving you good results, it's a sign that you need to try something different.

And we do have quite a few people in the anime @forum, a few people from the Dokkan fam jumped in there 😊