Hello, is there any plan to add a bodybuilding/powerbuilding-specific training plan?
Something like Barbell Gain but also leveraging dumbells and leveraging the Ultimate Strength approach (maybe with longer rest-periods).
Maybe with the possibility to pick a selection of 3-6 main lifts within a list (squat, front squat, barbell lunges, bench press, deadlift, romanian deadlift, bb rows, ohp, push press, weighted pullups) to progress on, while adding some more variety with dumbell work. This would be awesome and very effective.
Specifically, the selection of the main lifts I believe it’s a big limitation of Ultimate Strength as there are too many lifts and it’s difficult to progress with such a low frequency.
This is a suggestion which I think might be very very interesting for many and extremely effective:
The idea would be to ask to pick 1 push exercise (within bench press, ohp, push press) 1 pull exercise (within weighted pullups and barbell rows), 1 leg exercise (within squat, front squat, barbell lunges) and 1 hinging exercises (within deadlifts, sumo deadlifts and romanian deadlifts).
Then the sessions might look like this -
SESSION A
LEG+PUSH day (i.e.: barbell squat + bench as mains)
Primary Lift 1 - Barbell Squat (lowish reps and fixed progression as in barbell gain)
Primary Lift 2 - Bench Press (lowish reps and fixed progression as in barbell gain)
Supplementary Lift 1 - Overhead Push with Dumbells (or bench push if the selected main lift is a form of overhead movement) (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
Supplementary Lift 2 - Lunge Pattern with Dumbells (or squat pattern if the selected main lift is a lunge) (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
Accessory Circuit - Triceps + abs (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
SESSION B
HINGE+PULL day (i.e.: deadlift + weighted pullups)
Primary Lift 1 - Deadlift (lowish reps and fixed progression as in barbell gain)
Primary Lift 2 - Weighted Pullups (lowish reps and fixed progression as in barbell gain)
Supplementary Lift 1 - Additional Squatting/Lunging pattern with dumbells (generally less hinge movements are needed compared to squatting/lunging for balanced legs, but it might be another form of hinge too if needed) (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
Supplementary Lift 2 - Rowing pattern with dumbells (or vertical pull pattern if the selected main lift is a rowing movement) (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
Accessory Circuit - Biceps + abs (highish reps, adaptive progression and exercise variations)
Session A and B can simply alternate, independently of the number of weekly training days.
Or maybe it could work like this, with one God Workout per week to keep some conditioning:
2 days per week: A, B
3 days per week: A, B, A (week after B A B)
4 days per week: A, B, God Workout, A (week after B, A, God Workout, B)
5 days per week: A, B, God Workout, A, B
This would allow a focus and a higher frequency of main lifts, to progress quickly and effectively, while adding volume with dumbells in ultimate-strenght-style (with longer rest periods).