Base Strength: Program Design Blueprint

by Alexander Bromley

"Base Program Design Blueprint" condenses over 100 years of strength training wisdom into one simple and concise book. Chapter One starts by building a crucial understanding of the relationship between stress and adaptation. Then, we cover the topic of stagnation, identifying the few big factors that cause progress to stop before breaking down the specific steps to preventing plateaus. "Base Strength" includes clear instructions on scheduling workout splits, clarifies the exact methods of weekly progression (with dozens of examples for squat, bench press and deadlift), gives multiple callbacks and comparisons to other popular programs and concludes with 10 example programs, each one completely fleshed out with main exercises, accessory work and progressions for both Base and Peak phases. There is also an added BONUS chapter on programming for Strongman events that work just as well for GPP and general sports conditioning as they have for my preparation for World's Strongest Man.

Genres: Fitness, Nonfiction, Sports

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2020

About the author

​Barbell Empire's owner, author, and resident cynic. Alex has been training since 2000 and has actively competed in Strongman and Powerlifting since 2006.
​
As the owner of Inland Empire Barbell in Redlands, CA, Alex coaches a team of active Strong(wo)men, Powerlifters, and Strength Nerds.

Reviews

[Bud Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half the fun of lifting weights is that to get better at it, you not only have to get ‘better’ physically, but mentally. It’s a two part thing … 1) show up and be consistent but also 2) study, and slowly learn how barbell programming works—the variations of the main lifts; the supplementary barbell lifts (RDL for deadlift, etc), and the accessory lifts (usually cable or dumbbell). There’s a lot to learn. And the more you learn, the better you can be with your own programming. Which is what I’ve been studying and implementing the last year. I restarted training (after a few years lapse) in October 2023, following along with various 5/3/1 templates by Jim Wendler. Made great progress but after studying further, I wanted to try out an 18 week powerlifting cycle—four main lifts: bench, deadlift, overhead press, squat—complete with a peak and test at the end. Bromley’s Base Strength has this 18 week cycle in the book in a couple different pre-fab programs. 70s Powerlifter and Bull Mastiff, which I chose because it works off percentages of 1rep max for the main lifts and implements step loading for the supplemental lifts. This type of programming was something I wanted to learn more about. So I’m doing it. Bromley has a YouTube channel where he explains how all the programs in his base strength book work, but I like having the templates written down, bound, on my shelf for when I want to reference them. All in all, I’d recommend Base Strength the book, for a person who has been training for a short while and is looking for ways to push on farther, expanding their knowledge. That said, if I was to recommend just one book on weightlifting, I’d say 5/3/1 Forever has enough to keep a person busy their whole life, perhaps start there instead of here.

[Bernardo Barreto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente livro para interessados em entender a lógica que suporta programas de treino de resistência/força; dentro da especialidade merece 5 estrelas mas perde uma ao requerer algum conhecimento prévio e/ou experiência com diferentes programas de treino para aproveitar o conteúdo do livro ao máximo.

A melhor parte prende-se com a explicação da dinâmica Base-Peak (“broad to narrow” e “wide base = tall peak”) e as diferentes modalidades de estímulos externo que provocam adaptações no corpo humano, a nível de massa muscular e capacidade de exercer força.

Talvez não o livro ideal para quem acabou de fazer uma resolução de ano novo e só quer começar a treinar mas excelente para quem queira ir um bocadinho mais além e tenha objetivos concretos.

[Jesse Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in grad school, I read a book called “Determinants of Growth.” It was an Econ book not a strength training book. In my Amazon review, I said something like: “I don’t know who this book is for. It’s too advanced and rapid fire for someone who has only taken Intro to Microeconomics and too simplistic for a grad student, merely covering the veneer of 8 semesters of economics in 185 pages.”

This is exactly the feeling I get from this book. Nobody doing Starting Strength could get anything out of it. And it’s too simplistic for someone a little more advanced who has watched the YouTube videos of someone like Alexander Bromley.

I recently started doing Bromley’s Bullmastiff program and felt I should pay him in some way. Thus I bought this book. I feel the determinants of growth he is discussing is not my alley. I know much of the theory he presents from videos and articles. But I do like having his templates in paper form.

If you have just stepped off Starting Strength or Stronglifts or did 5/3/1 for a few cycles, this book can be great. And the templates are awesome. But if you’re like me a the issue isn’t theory but a start and stop cycle of practice that is holding your training back; no book - not even this one - will be your magic bullet.

[Faraz Abro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read if you're new to strength program design. I'd recommend even for anyone who works out at all because it lays out a pretty solid foundation for how to progress. Just the conceptualization of laying your bricks nice and wide is instrumental for any beginner.

[Mike Bracken · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to powerlifting and strength training, but that hasn't stopped a million coaches from shrouding their programming secrets in mystery and selling you on the "hot new lifting methodology" that will make you a beast (spoiler alert...it's almost always some cookie cutter linear periodization program that will have you doing sets of 5 until you want to scream).

Alex Bromley peels away the curtains in Base Strength, showing that you while there is nothing all that new when it comes to training principles, what worked in the past will still work now -- if you understand how the human body responds to training stress/heavy/high volume loads and are smart about your training.

This book really is amazing. Bromley (whose Youtube channel is an unparalleled resource for powerlifters, strength athletes, and strongman competitors) breaks down the fundamentals of training so you can build a program that will help you continue to maximize lifts without running into the brick wall of plateaus. Breaking things down into base and peak phases, Bromley shows you all the tools you should have in your training toolbox -- volume, loads, specificity, how to deal with recovery, and more. Armed with this knowledge you'll be able to craft a program that is about a billion times more useful and specialized than whatever thing you last read in Men's Health or in some weird ebook you pirated in PDF form.

I wish I had about a hundred copies of Base Strength just so I could hand them out to every meathead I see in the gym grinding away at the same lifts for the same reps for years on end and never getting stronger or bigger. Even if you don't feel comfortable creating your own program after reading this book, Bromley has you covered. He's created a series of pre-programmed routines you can use as long as you're making progress and can tweak when the gains train grinds to a halt.

I've read a lot of books about powerlifting and strength training. Most of them are not very good. Base Strength is an exception to the rule. Bromley's not only a solid writer (and a dryly funny dude), but he knows his stuff and presents it in a way that any lifter (from complete novice to advanced competitor) can understand.

Seriously, one of the best books on the topic of programming. Read it several times and soak in the knowledge then go get stronger.

[Gabriel Zimmerly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book 5 stars as I’m a big fan of Bromley’s YouTube content but there’s just a few things that hold it back.

1) the editing is really pretty bad. Every few pages there would be text describing a table above it and they just don’t match. Misspellings and wrong word choices, almost like an autocorrect was used when writing. Now it absolutely was possible to decipher what the intended wording, but it severely slowed down the reading and started to become a little frustrating.

2) he references a lot of other programs to help give credibility and explain some of his own programming ideas, but doesn’t really provide enough of an overview of those programs. Someone who isn’t familiar with any of these programs the author name drops wouldn’t be given enough info to understand his point in this text alone. I have been a student of training methods for over a decade so I was able to know what he was getting at, but as this book is not marketed to someone like me, but instead a beginner, they wouldn’t get enough info to understand what he’s trying to say.

The program examples he provides at the end are where most of the value of this book lies, but even then, they’re pretty bare bones and I don’t know that I would recommend this to a beginner. It also doesn’t add enough new perspectives to make it super valuable to a more experienced coach either.

I like Bromley, he’s well spoken in his video content and when the editing is on point, his writing flows well and is a pleasure to read. He also is very knowledgeable. I just don’t think this text conveys those things very well. I’d seek out his YouTube content over this text.

[Vardaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is a great resource in terms of giving a conceptual overview of how to build programs for strength. I also realized while reading this that it may be a bit over my skill level, as I struggled a little bit understanding all the terminology within and sometimes the things the author wrote contradicted themselves (ex: saying the purpose of a wave is to decrease the volume, but the actual program will show an increase in volume in that wave). I will say that this may be due to shortcomings of my own understanding. Reading this undoubtedly made me understand that I am much more of a novice than I thought I might be. The most useful and generally applicable concept I found in this book was the idea of base vs. specific strength. It helped me see that I am lacking in my fundamentals, and that helped me decide to switch my current training program out. I think once I do another 4-6 months of rebuilding and focusing on healing my arm, then I could try to switch into some of Bromley's programs.

This is a book I can tell I will need to continue to revisit and read as the years go by and my fitness goals evolve to meet the caliber of these programs. For now I need to avoid injury by focusing on my tendon and ligament health.

[charlie potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and well written

I found the author while looking at reviews for Candito's program on YouTube. I really enjoyed his review so I subscribed to his channel and started watching his videos. I highly recommend both this book and his channel. Both have really good information that is presented very well.

[Matthew Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of options and clear principles

I have followed Bromley on YouTube, but I wanted to see the ideas written out, where I can think about them in more detail. I found this book does a nice job explaining training plan principles and also has quite a few actual plans you can plug into.

[Josh Boggess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Simple to understand, yet touches on some pretty complicated progressions. Gives you the tools to create an effective program no matter your skill level. Bromley is definitely a lifter and not a writer, though; however, some of his lines in here were pretty funny.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Bromley has such a way of being able to communicate legitimately complicated theories and lifting ideas in layman's terms, while not ending up Bro Science-y.

Will be attempting the "70's Powerlifter" template out of this book, wish me luck

[William Lotten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has almost zero fat to it. I learned more than I thought I would. It’s a must read for anyone thinking of trying strongman or any power lifter.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written. Good philosophy of training. Interesting programs.

[Aidan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good intro book for strength training, but will not be revolutionary if you've had a few years (intelligent) training experience

[Bartosz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to guide you through the beginning of your strength training journey.

[Matthew C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good material for personalizing programing. I'll be coming back to this book in the future

[Daniel]

eh

[Michael Rinaldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking to design my own programs and from a beginner’s standpoint this book is an approachable way to dip my toe in the water.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am split a bit about this one.

On the one hand, it helped me immensly to understand different progression schemes and when you would choose one about the other. Also why they exist in the first place.
The description and explanation from simple Linear Progressions to blocks and waves is very on point.
The templates at the end really help to build your own program.

On the other hand, the first part of the book with two different types of lifters just disappear in the second half. It nearly feels like two different "books".
Also would have liked some studies or references to maybe show the efficacy of different types of training.

All in all it is a great book for the eager beginner / novice who doesn't know or want to learn specifically about different periodizations and how they work.

EDIT: 3 -> 4 Stars
After creating my new routine based on this, I must admit that this book has helped very much.
Considering this and reregarding my criticisms, it very much is 4 stars for me.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for learning how to design programs for strength. It gives a really good overview of how to utilize waves, base-building and peaking phases. It also makes it clear that programs can be designed in a myriad of ways while achieving these goals. I was expecting the various programs in the second half of the book to be uninteresting, but they provided a good grounding mechanism for seeing the principles from the first half of the book in action. If I had to recommend a single book on how to design programs for the intermediate-to-advanced lifter, this would probably be it.

On the negative side, the book starts out with some fairly pointless story-telling about a guy that decides to get in shape. That could definitely have been left out. Another negative is that, as usual with these self-published programming books, an editor is badly needed: there are many typos, strange sentences, and even some programs that failed to format correctly in print.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joins Greg Nuckols' Art and Science of Lifting as the best guide to basic lifting principles I have read so far. Bromley does a great job of boiling down said principles into simple, easy-to-implement progression schemes. I really liked his "old school but informed by new ideas" approach, though for those who like high-frequency or very intricate programs it may not fly as well.

The sample programs at the end leave a bit to be desired - (I was hoping for more on exercise selection and how to program assistance work) - but the information in the book makes it so easy to design your own that I can't really complain. I also appreciate the appendix with suggested progressions for different strongman events.

[Oskar Andersson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great down to earth programming manual.

I really enjoyed this book and Bromleys down to earth approach to programming for general strength. One of very few strength books that Is actually read cover to cover rather than just skimming through.

I would recomend this book to everyone who want a framework for being self-sufficent in their long term strength journey.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really practical way to explain training. Some of this I already knew, but I learned new things from this as well. Tempted to try the templates in the back of the book too.

[Wannes Nys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy read, but worth it
I enjoy reading Bromley’s opinion when it comes to powerlifting or strongman competitions
His experience when it comes to programming is top tier