By Shane Robert
There are many programs that are designed for beginners, and just as many that are designed for intermediate lifters. The thought is that these populations differ so substantially that they need to train with quite different setups. It’s not a wholly wrong idea, but neither is it wholly right.
Beginners can and will progress much faster than someone with more experience. It’s hard to draw a definite line between a beginner and intermediate, but it’s safe to say that one ceases to be a beginner once they can no longer progress week to week by simply adding load to the bar. We can illustrate this with something like the Starting Strength program. New trainees can run that for quite some time and simply add 2.5 pounds to each of the thrice weekly training sessions for the prescribed 3 sets of 5 reps. At some point, however, the ability to do that will stop.
Does this mean the person is no longer a beginner? Possibly. Though they can still likely progress their 5RM by 5 pounds at least weekly. It may be a bit pedantic, but this person is probably best described as a “late beginner.” They haven’t quite tipped over into that intermediate territory, but are close.
The intermediate, on the other hand, is at a point where they can’t make weekly progress to rep maxes. That doesn’t mean that a trainee moving into the intermediate territory has to change their program. They simply have to change how they progress their program.
Let’s take a look at a very simple, 3 day per week program:
Day One:
5 sets - 8, 6, 4, 2, 2
Day Two:
2 sets - 2x8
Day Three:
3 sets - 3x5
For a beginner, the prescription is to add 2.5-5 pounds to each of the day. In the case of day 1, they will try to add 2.5-5 pounds to each of the 5 sets. The truth is, the first day that a beginner lifts a heavy double, it is so far from their actual strength, that a lot of the progress is simply their body learning how to more efficiently express the strength that they already have. As such, this will work for a long time for most people.
The intermediate has already learned to efficiently express their strength and now finds themselves in a situation where they need to build new strength, which means they will not be able to follow the same prescription as the beginner. They can, however, follow the same plan with a few small tweaks. Below are two options — one for the early intermediate and one for a later intermediate:
NOTE: base all percentages off of your best 2 rep max weight
Day One
After 1-2 warm up sets, use 65%x8, 75%x6, 85%x4, 90%x2, 95%x2
Day Two
After 2-3 warm up sets, use 70% for 2x8
Day Three
After 3-4 warm up sets, use 80% for 3x5
Run this simple cycle for 4 weeks. Each week, add 2.5% to each percentage listed and do the same amount of reps. At the end of the 4 weeks, you will use 102.5% of your previous max which, for the math geniuses out there, is more than you could do a month earlier. Repeat the cycle based off of the new 2 rep max weight.
For the later intermediate, adding 2.5% to your max every 4 weeks becomes less likely. That doesn't mean they have to substantially alter their training program. They simply have to alter the timeline:
NOTE: base all percentages off of your best 2 rep max weight
This program will run for 8 weeks.
Day One
After 1-2 warm up sets, use 55%x8, 65%x6, 75%x4, 82%x2, 87%x2
Day Two
After 2-3 warm up sets, use 60% for 2x8
Day Three
After 3-4 warm up sets, use 70% for 3x5
In this case, the program is run for 8 weeks, adding 2.5% to each percentage each week. After 8 weeks, you can work up to a 1RM, but, just like for the beginner intermediate, base the next cycle off of your 2 rep max, NOT the 1 rep max that you may or may not choose to test.
You can see that the percentages drop considerably compared to the early intermediate. This is to give the lifter a longer runway to progress over 8 weeks and to account for the larger overall load they are using.
A beginner and intermediate can’t train exactly the same way. That doesn’t mean they can’t follow the same basic program layout. Small, simple tweaks to the how the program is done is all it takes to keep progressing from a rank beginner through to an advanced intermediate.
