"Fierce 5" Comprehensive Program List

[Doyoueven2020]

Do you add 5-10lbs every other week to just the main lifts I.E. bench, OHP, Squats, or is it all exercises?

[csg1976]

Do you add 5-10lbs every other week to just the main lifts I.E. bench, OHP, Squats, or is it all exercises?

I've been doing all exercises, plan to continue until stall then do as stated for stall.

[WakingOp]

You are a beast if you can keep adding 5 pounds to your curls for any lengthy period.


I just realized I've been doing pull downs wrong. Thought those were 3x5, not 3x8. I've been doing a set of 5 chinups(weighted, the pulldown only has 20 pound increments after 150) after each ohp set. So 4x5. Should I change to 3x8? I want to say I should just add a rep next week to do 4x6. That way I don't have to muck with adjusting the weight appropriately for the change. It's still 24 reps, and a slightly higher intensity. But then again I'm sure Davis knows more than me so maybe not?

[Doyoueven2020]

Do you add 5-10lbs every other week to just the main lifts I.E. bench, OHP, Squats, or is it all exercises?

Somebody? Anybody? lol

[sqal]

5 lbs/ week for upper body. 10 lbs / week for lower for main lifts. Reverse Flies go up 5 lbs every month.

[Teryaki]

Can i get some help with my form on front squats & RDL

I heard that people with really long femurs like myself cant do front squats properly? I know that my wrist mobility isn't the best, but the squatting feels alright.

https://streamable.com/pefv0

https://streamable.com/crisb

[dgoyena216]

Can i get some help with my form on front squats & RDL

I heard that people with really long femurs like myself cant do front squats properly? I know that my wrist mobility isn't the best, but the squatting feels alright.

https://streamable.com/pefv0

https://streamable.com/crisb

Looks fine, maybe work on ankle mobility prior to front squatting. With the RDL stop looking up. Look at the ground a couple feet ahead of you.

[birkett87]

Hey guys,

I have a Fierce 5 question.

I hit my first failure on a couple of my lifts yesterday and suspect I'll fail again on my next workout.

Here's what I failed on (either due to needing a spot or poor form)

Squat - 105kg, failed on second set
Bench - 97.5kg, failed on second set
Pendlay row - 80kg, poor form

If I fail on these again, I'll drop the weight and work back up as per the program instruction but my question is if I fail, should I move on to the intermediate upper/lower and if so, what sort of weight should I be starting on?

I'v been doing the novice one for about 3 months. I know, it's not very long and looking back, I should have started a lot lighter than I did.

Advice appreciated.

[Teryaki]

Looks fine, maybe work on ankle mobility prior to front squatting. With the RDL stop looking up. Look at the ground a couple feet ahead of you.

Thanks for the feedback, also I keep the same width on front squats as on regular low bar squats, which is slightly wider than shoulder width, is it better to stand abit closer on front squats?

[dgoyena216]

Thanks for the feedback, also I keep the same width on front squats as on regular low bar squats, which is slightly wider than shoulder width, is it better to stand abit closer on front squats?

Width is mostly determined by your own anatomy. Femur length and neck of the femur length, hip structure, etc.

Just got to play around with it and see which feels optimal for you.

[MedicalAuthor]

Quick question:

What should one do when Weighted Back Extensions become too heavy to work with plates? I'm doing 135 and it's just difficult to hold three bulking 45 pound plates. Would one move to doing these with a barbell? Or is it time to move to another exercise entirely?

Thanks!

[tommy4life]

Quick question:

What should one do when Weighted Back Extensions become too heavy to work with plates? I'm doing 135 and it's just difficult to hold three bulking 45 pound plates. Would one move to doing these with a barbell? Or is it time to move to another exercise entirely?

Thanks!

I actually prefer back ext with a barbell. Load it with small plates (depending how long your arms are) and use a wide grip, so the BB is hanging from your arms not on your back.

[InfernoUk]

Hey guys

I’m starting the upper lower routine soon and had perhaps a stupid question, can I swap the upper lower B routines with the A routines so I go:

OHP routine
Front squat routine
Rest
Bench routine
Squat routine

Or Is there a reason it’s written as bench, squat, ohp, front squat

Asking as I want to use Wed, thurs, sat, sun as my training days, but my gym is so busy it’ll be easier to do the bench and squat days on a weekend

[Andrew578]

Hey guys

I’m starting the upper lower routine soon and had perhaps a stupid question, can I swap the upper lower B routines with the A routines so I go:

OHP routine
Front squat routine
Rest
Bench routine
Squat routine

Or Is there a reason it’s written as bench, squat, ohp, front squat

Asking as I want to use Wed, thurs, sat, sun as my training days, but my gym is so busy it’ll be easier to do the bench and squat days on a weekend

Nah not really, you would be fine doing it your way. As long as you are hitting each muscle group twice a week you will be good

[Slave2thestove]

Hey never posted before needed some quick advice been running the novice program for two months now

Stats are as follows:

Lifts

Squat. 135 190
Bench. 100 135
Pendlay 90 110
Face pull. 45 80
Tricep pushdown. 65 90
Calve raise. 90 120
Front squat 90 135
Overhead. 65 85
Deadlift. 135 190
Lat pulldown. 65 100
Curls 2x12. 45 65

Bodyweight
140. 154.1

Now I've made gains both in strength and size however my Bench is seriously lagging the recent figure is a major struggle with no explosive power in the drive up...

I have performed a reset on Bench already and I am still struggling... Do I drop the weight right down(did I start to high?) or do I need to use and accessory to bring my chest up?

All my other main lift are going up with ease week on week... Ohp press going up less weight proportionally however still feels strong...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[geokilla]

Any reason we should do romanian deadlifts instead of regular deadlifts?

I need to add direct glute and core work as instructed by my family doctor and chiropractor. I have chronic back pain which I had under control till last month when I injured the Thoracolumbar junction and possibly gave myself a pinched nerve. My chiropractor has been treating me more frequently with acupuncture and adjustments. Currently I'm feeling much better. However I have to take it easy now and slowly get back to lifting. My chiropractor also said we should avoid doing dadlifts as a lot of people do it incorrectly, which is how I injured myself in the first place. So what should I do and replace deadlifts with, if I go that route?

[agc1987]

I've read a few times that step ups can be used to replace the leg extension. However, due to the height of my ceiling I can't perform these either. Is there another substitute? Perhaps the bulgarian split squat. I've already replaced the leg press with lunges

[agc1987]

I've also substituted legs curls for nordic ham curls as I don't have any leg machines. However I do have a pulley system so was wondering if a lying cable leg curl is any better than a nordic leg curl?

If they are similar, considering the leg curl is repeated on both lower days perhaps I could split them across both leg days?

[TAWS6]

Any reason we should do romanian deadlifts instead of regular deadlifts?

RLD's are easier to program, you can recover from them much faster, and there is less risk of an injury. They also pair better with a front squat.

[beq1991]

Is there any issue if I run the 4 day upper/lower routine 4 days in a row? This is pretty much what my schedule looks like:

Mon-Rest
Tues-Rest
Weds-Cardio/Rest
Thurs-Upper A
Fri-Lower A
Sat-Upper B
Sun-Lower B

I started doing this because my schedule only allowed me to work out 4 consecutive days, but I'm in the habit of doing this now.

[TAWS6]

Is there any issue if I run the 4 day upper/lower routine 4 days in a row? This is pretty much what my schedule looks like:

Mon-Rest
Tues-Rest
Weds-Cardio/Rest
Thurs-Upper A
Fri-Lower A
Sat-Upper B
Sun-Lower B

I started doing this because my schedule only allowed me to work out 4 consecutive days, but I'm in the habit of doing this now.

Yeah. Once you start moving heavy weights you won't be recovering properly.

[beq1991]

So another question: I wanted to throw shrugs or the farmers carry into the intermediate upper/lower routine, but my understanding is this can lead to issues...I’m essentially trying to build a thicker neck and I’m not sure what exercises in the routine work the neck. Any advice?

[air2fakie]

Just do the routine as written and stop trying to find ways to keep going off track.

Once you get in the habit of eating at a deficit and following the program consistently over an extended period of time and start to see improvement (fat loss), then consider tweaks.

Your neck is the least of your issues.

[ReiLen]

I take it, this is impossible with a 2 day a week regiment?

My friend and I only really have time to meet up twice a week. I know it won’t be anywhere near as good, but I was wondering if that was a possibility.

[Vicksonleji]

Hey I'm planning on doing the U/L intermediate routine and subbing in DL/Lunges as prescribed. However, my DL 1RM is 450lb and I can't see myself doing 3x5 of 360+ (80% of 1RM) and maintaining a linear progression. Is 1x5 DL's fine? or should I be fine?

[BullHorn]

I hopped on the Novice version of Fierce 5, and started a journal: forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=178036021

Growing up, sports and exercise were everything to me, but some time around age 14 I got hooked on the Internet and video games, and over the years lost all interest. That was combined with weak tendons/ligaments that constantly flared up for no obvious reason. Posture went to ****. Attempts at getting back into exercise quickly ended, with endless tendon injuries that sent me into weeks or months of inactivity.

I've spent the last month just walking. Started with 4km and quickly ramped up to 6-8km walks. I've also introduced C25K now, but I'm going to be doing it at 50% of the prescribed rate, so 1 'week' will take me 2 weeks to progress through.

Would love to see some of your in my journal, I could probably use some advice and suggestions when I reach slightly heavier weights (I started with empty bar on every exercise).

[Cautious1]

for The Intermediate Upper/Lower can I add forearm and shrug exercises? And why isn't there decline bench?

[DEVBRUH]

My physical therapist told me to add stiff-legged deadlifts to my routine (we are working on getting more hip mobility).

I’m currently running the novice program and I have swapped FS and RDL for deadlift and leg curl because I lack the mobility for the FS.

Where would you recommend I add or swap the stiff-legged DL?

[tommy4life]

Vicks-you'll be fine just do 3×5

Cautious-forearm work would probably be a waste of your time but go ahead, again with shrugs. You dont need decline because it works the chest pretty much the as any other chest exercise

Devbruh-you could always do back squat on both days and add sldl on day 2.

[melpa64]

Is doing an upper body say on a Monday resting Tuesday and upper body wednesday enough time to rest? I know everyone is different and I am still sore by the third day but is this risky? I.e. injuries.