Adding Complexity

When you’re running the Starting Strength Novice Linear Progression (NLP), at some point it starts to feel ridiculously hard. Especially if you started as a healthy young person, stuck to three days a week religiously, and kept moving up the load each workout. By the book, doing the program.

At this point you might start yearning for something different. You may even fool yourself into thinking you’re “strong enough” and ditch the endeavor entirely. You may get self-conscious about a number on the scale (even though you’re looking more muscular, not fatter) and want to start restricting calories. Your gym bro might start citing some podcast about “hypertrophy programs” that sound fun.

You’re burdened with free will and you can chase these dreams if you want. Heck, I’ll even help you. But what should consider is that perhaps you can continue to get stronger on your main lifts by adding the tiniest bit of complexity.

Consider Changes Lift by Lift

Your NLP may be done on your Press before it’s done on Squat, and that’s okay. It may be the reverse for someone else. You can stick with your 3 day per week program, but instead of press 3 times in two weeks, you may add a 4th session (meaning one day you both press and bench press.)

At some point in your squat, you may stop going for a new PR every session and instead set it once a week, following a “Heavy – Light – Medium” approach. Even following that, the heavy day may become one set at the new PR followed by drop sets.

You have a lot of options and it may take some experimentation, which leads me to my next point…

Make the Smallest Change Necessary

If your program has been working, but you can tell it’s time to change, why make the change any bigger than it has to be? A whole new template seems fun because it is novel, but that novelty will wear off and you may or may not be successful on the new program. If you replace your current program bit by bit you are manipulating fewer variables and can be more confident about what change is necessary.

Ignore Your Feelings, Seek Feedback

How hard it is doesn’t really matter. The stress that will drive adaptation will always be hard. You must trust the feedback loops available instead. Having a coach really pays off here, because they will be able to provide honest feedback in real time. When it’s time to put 300 pounds on your back, it’s going to be a little scary and it will be hard. What’s going to make you confident is your trust in the program you’ve been following.

Eyes on the Prize

Measure your progress on the main lifts. If you add some dumbbell bench press to your program for some stress management on days with multiple presses, that doesn’t mean our goal is the best DB Bench Press now. The goal is the bigger Bench and bigger Press. Allowing those to go up will bring the DB Bench up naturally. Complexity is only added in the name of more strength, not to win a different game.