163 reviews for Intermediate Bodybuilding Program (by Eric Helms)
The Intermediate Bodybuilding Program is a five-day a week program based on the principles from the Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Training book by Dr. Eric Helms, Andy Morgan, and Andrea Valdez.
We highly recommend reading the book to learn science-based training and nutrition knowledge.
Weekly schedule
Day 1 - Lower Body
Day 2 - Upper Body
Day 3 - Lower Body
Day 4 - Push
Day 5 - Pull
Read below for general program programs and progression guidelines.
Custard S.
Non-Binary, 453 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
It's flexible and not proscriptive. The progression rules are intuitive. I train around bouldering as my main hobby so I have to juggle the days to manage overtraining so this program being built around upper/lower/push/pull splits really helps.
Nishantha S.
Man, 463 weeks complete
1 year of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Good program
Brandon D.
Man3 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Good overall mix of strength and hypertrophy. Eric does a good job incorporating some of the bigger movements like squat and deadlift. I’m more of a powerlifter, so while this still gave me some of what I wanted, I think it could be slightly tweaked to be even more effective.
Man, 25
3 weeks complete
5 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Good base program, progressions are easy to follow personally only modified exercises to add more external stability but I assume my results would have been relatively similar just using the program as written.
Lehua L.
Non-Binary, 3111 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
Less than expected strength gains
Less than expected muscle gains
I like this one, it’s been ok. I think i got more gains from the Greg Knockles Beginner Powerlifter than this one.
Danny H.
Man, 483 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Solid base. Switched out afew exercises but only for personal reasons.
Purple Writer
Woman, 335 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Great program. It worked better than I expected.
Chris Allbee
Man3 weeks complete
3 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Was able to follow the progression scheme week to week. Put more muscle on then I expected with the lower reps higher weight, but using the 1rm percentages usually gets failure on the last set. I also find a spot to superset lateral raises most days
Fred
Man, 363 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Bulgarian squats to weighted step ups
Ivan J.
Man, 2911 weeks complete
1 year of prior experience
As expected strength gains
Less than expected muscle gains
I have trained this program for 11w during 15w. I had some time without Access to gym and few times had to rest more. It was probably too much volume and not enough of rest days. After this program I have switched to 3x Fullbody and I have better muscle and also strenght gains with less work. However I enjoyed workout, and the strenght was going up. So it wasnt pointless for sure.