(Josh’s) Five Favorite Training Programs

Well, maybe they aren’t the best, but they’re certainly my favorites.

One of the most important things to know about training, in general, is that time in the gym beats timing the gym. That is, investing consistently over years will bring you the results you’re looking for, not just a collection of random one-month spurts here and there.

It’s just like investing.

And with that I can confidently say that these programs I’ll list aren’t necessarily the only structures that drove results, but merely the ones that seemed to help me realize the strength I had built while being enjoyable at the same time.

So if you’ve been looking for a new program and aren’t quite ready to take the leap into training head-on, here are five programs that I think just rock.

5/3/1 with the Boring But Big accessory template

Simple high(ish)-end strength work. Fun accessory work. I still use the 5×10 Boring But Big template for accessory work when I feel like it. Jim Wendler nailed it with this one.

I do loath percentage-based programming though, so I devised a secondary strength template that I called 5352 which was a four-week cycle named after each week’s rep number. It waved the volume naturally and I just chose what weight to use and how many sets to do for that week.

Mash Jacked

As you’ll see in the next program, too, I love high-frequency, short duration workout schedules. And this one did not disappoint. I had some great lifts in this program across the squat, front squat, and bench press. Plus, it adds in extra conditioning work which I love having in a program.

The 40-Day Program

The 40-day program was my first introduction into high-frequency work and it landed me some of my best squat PRs. Simple and straightforward.

Renaissance Periodization Simple Training Template

I ran this program for almost the entirety of 2021, including during a lengthy diet phase at the beginning of the year. The RPE-based system is easy to follow and provided near-constant PRs on whatever lifts I had chosen.

The workouts were also easy to get through and didn’t leave me dreading the gym.

JMF Block Periodization

This program doesn’t have a link to it because it’s mine. Over the years, I’ve tried to simplify a strength system so that we don’t need to use percentages, 1RM testing, or RPE in our programs. 

We ran something in the gym that I called the 13-week barbell program for years with tons of success in the major barbell lifts (mostly bench, squat, and deadlift variations). 

But I also found it stressful to have a program that didn’t align perfectly with our four-week training templates (which it typically didn’t because we stuck with each wave for as long as it was fruitful). 

So we transitioned into a 10-8-5-3 four-block system and I’ve used it personally, multiple times, to build and rebuild my strength in the main lifts.

I think this block periodization model is my favorite because it allows me to change up the accessory work each block to whatever I want. (This current cycle, in particular, I’m using the Boring But Big template from 5/3/1.)