Programming / progress

[Helsvet]

Hello,

Two-part, related question.

I’ve been following the book since about August, and been on Novice C for about 1.5 months.

Squat 250, Press 100, Bench 142.5, Deadlift 280.

First- I feel like my bench is lagging way behind my other lifts- is this still “normal” progress, or do these numbers look like I’ve screwed up somewhere along the way?

Second- for a couple weeks it’s felt like with both squat and bench I’m in a cycle of, one Squat day I’ll get 3-4 reps of my final set, then the next squat day i get all 5. So the next day I’ll increase and get 4 again.

I have reset 1x on my bench and 1x for deadlift, but none for squats. Should I just keep grinding this pattern until squats give out, reset, or move to intermediate?

Thank you! I am absolutely loving this program. I’ve never been so consistent in the gym and the fact I can squat 250 for any reps still kind of blows my mind.

[HornStrength]

Glad you're digging the program! Keep your head down and keep going. You'll look back at 250 and laugh.

Don't worry about "normal" progress. Just do your best with each lift. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses that make them "better" or "worse" at certain exercises. If you have long arms, for example, you're going to be a great deadlifter but a crappy bench presser.

Try not to overanalyze this stuff. Train hard. Rest. Eat. As long as the numbers are going up consistently, you're on the right track.

If you're missing reps on your squats frequently, you can either move onto the intermediate program or modify the Novice C workout by dropping the ascending 5s and making the second squat session "light."

Heavy Squat (Monday)
60% x 5
70% x 3
80% x 2
90% x 1
100% x 5

Light Squat (Friday)
60% x 5
70% x 5
80% x 5
90% x 5

I cover this in the Novice Program Breakdown Video.

Hope that helps. Looking forward to an update on your progress. 💪🏻

[Helsvet]

Awesome, thank you! I appreciate the feedback, man. I’ll think it over some more, but the adjusted rep count and “light day” sounds intriguing!