Without a doubt one of my more popular basic barbell strength programs is the Garage Gym Warrior Program
It’s simple and it has a multi-year track record of results.
It’s also what I would classify as “medium volume, medium intensity.”
So other than a few of the peaking weeks, the program simply isn’t that hard. The workouts can be fairly short and don’t leave you beat up.
However…..no program works 100% of the time for 100% of the people who try it – and GGW is no different.
On some occasions I get feedback from customers and clients who simply didn’t make that much progress on the program – or maybe 1-2 lifts did well, but 1-2 lifts didn’t.
The vast majority of the time, the consensus was that the program, as laid out, simply wasn’t stimulative enough – i.e. it was too easy.
So the issue is almost never burnout or over training due to excessive volume and/or intensity.
It’s the opposite. Just not quite enough of something to yield the 5-10% increase in 1-RM strength that I often see from my clients with this program.
So here are 5 simple “tweaks” to the GGW program that can maintain the simplicity and structure, but inject a little juice into the program.
#1: Add a 1/2 Day on Saturday
As is typical with many basic programs, GGW is a Mon-Wed-Fri type of structure -with the full body trained at every session.
Typically clients will bias this program towards either the Bench Press or the Overhead Press. The focus lift is trained on Monday and Friday and the other lift is trained just once per week on Wednesday.
That Wednesday pressing variant is usually the one that has a hard time with improvement due to the limited frequency and volume.
Simple solution – head to the gym on Saturday for a quick Bench Press or Overhead Press session. For the extra work I’d suggest 4-5 sets of 4-6 reps at a medium intensity – 70-80%.
To make it worth your time, perhaps follow the extra pressing with some extra chins or pull ups and even a quick 10-20 minute conditioning session on the Prowler or Rower if you want to squeeze that in – but the extra press session during the week will help a lot.
Keep in mind you are benching/pressing heavy again on Monday so don’t go apeshit with assistance exercises on Saturday and show up Monday sore and tired.
#2: Up the Volume
As it’s laid out, most exercises are prescribed for either 4 sets, 3 sets, or 2 sets. You can bump that up by 1-2 sets per exercise if you want.
Especially on the lower intensity weeks – if you feel a bit under stimulated by the protocol, stick around and add a set or two here and there.
When you add up 1-2 sets added to each exercise – across the week it’s a pretty big jump in volume and should yield some positive results if you were stagnate before.
You can also add volume via assistance exercises. Dips and Chins are a great addition to the program that can add meaningful volume to the upper body. Glute Ham Raises or Reverse Hypers can add work to the posterior chain to help drive up the deadlift. Take a look at your weaker lifts and see if there are 1-2 assistance movements that might help bringing up those weak links.
#3: Up the Intensity
This is a bit more complex than upping the volume. Just make sure you are looking at the whole program and not just each workout or each week in a vacuum so you aren’t interrupting the entire structure of the program by jacking up the weight on a day that is supposed to be light, etc.
But if you found that previously the program was a bit on the light side, perhaps an across the board increase in the prescribed percentages of 2-5% is in order.
#4: Increase the Speed
There are two elements of speed here.
Bar speed and rest between sets.
If the workload seems to be a bit on the easy side – but you don’t wanna jack with the volume and intensity prescriptions – you can make the work load harder simply by decreasing your rest between sets.
If you’ve been resting 3-5 minutes between sets with no issues completing your work sets…..reduce to 2-3 minutes rest and get back under the bar before you feel 100% recovered.
If nothing else this will improve your cardio and overall fitness!
Just don’t miss reps because you are rushing.
The other element we can tweak is bar speed.
Squat the weight faster. Bench and Press the weight faster. Pull the weight off the floor faster.
More speed and more acceleration is more force production and more motor unit recruitment. It’s an excellent way to make a light weight more effective.
Control the eccentric and don’t let the form go to hell. But on the concentric – explode!!!
As Bill Starr would have suggested – always try and make the plates rattle at the top!!!
#5 Change the Exercises
This can mean minor changes to the basic movements or it can be whole sale exercise substitutions.
The basic movements can be made more effective and more difficult on a light or medium day by implementing things like Pauses.
Pause the squat in the hole for a 2-3 count. Pause the Bench on the chest for a 2-3 count. Pause the Deadlifts just below the knees for a 2-3 count.
You can make minor changes to mechanics on light and medium days.
Perform medium bench presses with a close grip (and maybe also a pause). Now all of a sudden that lift becomes a bit harder but the intensity is still low, where we want it.
Perform the medium deadlifts from a 2 inch deficit. Or perform stiff leg deadlifts. Or snatch grip deadlifts.
You can use front squats, high bar squats, box squats, and pin squats as light or medium day exercises.
You can Incline Press or Floor press on the medium bench day.
There are really lots of ways to do this. Ideally supplemental lifts address some sort of weakness in the lifter, but can also be added simply to jolt a lifter out of a period of stagnation.
If you are stuck in a rut and need a bit of a change, consider varying your exercise selection up instead of the same old big 4 week in and week out.
Pick up the Garage Gym Warrior Program here.
