The Novice Linear Progression, otherwise known as “The NLP”, is the process of adding weight to your lifts each time you train. A novice is a “beginner”.
In practical terms, doing the NLP means adding 5lbs to your lifts for as long as you can, as frequently as you can. (Note: 5lbs is appropriate for most people – but there are exceptions, your NLP weight might be 2.5lbs or 2lbs per workout, if you are older, smaller in stature than average, etc.)
Being a beginner is the most AMAZING time of anyone’s training career in terms of gaining muscle and weight added to the bar. It is ALSO the most simple workout program ever, and it needs to be.
The NLP: Sample Program
Back Squat 3×5
Press 3×5
Deadlift 1×5
Doing this program 3x/week, and adding 5lbs per workout is by far the fastest, most effective way to put 100s of pounds on your lifts, and yes, you want to do that because that is the only way to build muscle and get denser bones. It’s not uncommon for men to squat 95 on their first workout, and then 300 6 months later. For women, 65 on day one, to 200 in 6 months. When this happens, a significant amount of muscle is built, every single time it is done, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news: getting strong is the only way to build muscle. If you add 50 or 100lbs to a lift, you will gain muscle and get more toned, every single time… there is no other way.
How Do I Know If I’m a Beginner?
You might be saying “well I’m not a beginner”. Well, if you haven’t done the NLP, then you are WAY more than likely capable of doing it, and thus are in fact, a beginner.
You might be asking, “what is a beginner?”. A beginner is someone that can add weight to their lifts each time they workout, and this is the great, vast majority of people. If you squat 80 on Monday, you can do 85 on Wednesday.
You are a beginner until you cannot add weight to your lifts each workout. This, of course, assumes you recover, hydrate, sleep enough, eat enough, and train consistently. If you don’t eat, sleep, hydrate, or train consistently and you can’t go up weight, that doesn’t make you an intermediate… that means you aren’t training correctly. (Training = workouts + rest/recovery)
If you are training correctly, and you can’t go up weight every time you train, then, you are an intermediate lifter. I will expand on intermediate training another time.
How Long Are You a Beginner?
Being a beginner has nothing to do with the amount of time you’ve been training or how strong you are. It has to do with your level of training advancement. Here are a few examples:
Example #1:
A 65 year old 5ft 0in 85lb woman, if trained correctly (diet + sleep + hydration + stress management + proper training) would be a beginner for 6 months. She likely started at 0 squat, and gets to a 120lb squat in that 6 months and is ready for intermediate training.
Example #2:
A 17 year old 230lb 6ft 4in elite high school football player, if trained correctly, likely starts at a 225 squat, and ends at 495 in that 6 months. Get that – when this athlete squats 400, they are still a beginner because they can continue to add 5lbs per workout. At 495, they are likely ready to become an intermediate.
Example #3:
A 34 year old female – weighs 150lbs and is 5ft 5. She starts with a 55lb squat. Then, does not sleep enough or eat enough. In addition, she doesn’t totally buy in to the plan, and switches her training every 3-6 months to “focus on other goals”. After 5 years of training she went from a 55lb squat to a 105 squat and is still a beginner.
Example #4:
A 26 year old female, is 100lbs and 5ft 3. This person is sick of being skinny, and wants to grow big glutes, but “doesn’t want to get too big”. This person starts with a 25lbs squat. They train correctly (eat a ton of calories, sleeps, and adds weight to the bar). In 3 months, they squat 150lbs and notice a huge difference in their legs and glutes, but then sees she weighs 115lbs – despite looking much better – she freaks out and decides to cut her calories but keeps training anyway. 9 months later, (12 months into training) she still only squats 150 and is still a beginner.
Example #5:
A 42 year old male, 6ft tall, 185lbs, ss very dedicated to their training, and has been doing some sort of “functional fitness” for 10 years. Every time they lift, though, they do about the same weight, maybe going up occasionally. After 10 years, they squat 300 and are still a beginner. This same person, if committed to running a proper NLP would have likely gone from 100lb squat when they started to 400 in 6-9 months and be ready for intermediate training.
Main take away: there is no set amount of time you are a beginner. You are a beginner until you have exhausted your NLP, and let me tell you, almost no one trains correctly for long enough to become not a beginner anymore. I plead with you now, do whatever it takes to properly finish your beginner stage. Everything about being an intermediate is better! You look better, you feel better, you train better… everything!
Beginner Mistakes
Here are two of the most common mistakes I see with beginners.
First, the biggest mistake BY FAR that beginners make is attempting to do an intermediate or advanced program before being intermediate an advanced.
Some people do this because of ego, some do it because intermediate/advanced training looks more complicated and is more fun as a result. This might be the case, but if you are a beginner, doing a non-beginner program will slow you down drastically! Being a beginner and doing a non-beginner program will keep you a beginner forever. Is that a fair trade for a “more complicated/fun” program? I’ve seen plenty of people do a program that is too advanced for them and go up 30lbs in 6 months in their squat. If you’ve never trained correctly this might seem amazing. That same person, if trained correctly, would probably go up 90lbs in 3-4 months.
The next biggest mistake is not realizing they have significantly limiting beliefs. As a personal example, I thought a 325lb back squat was about as strong as someone could get. As I would add 5lbs per week, I subconsciously thought I was heading toward a limit. When I would get really close to that “limit” I would start coming up with other goals, and other things to focus on. Eventually I realized, the NLP is not, “do it until you squat a weight that you think is strong or that other people think is heavy”, it’s “add 5lbs per workout until you can’t anymore.” When I finally did that, I got to 470lbs on the back squat and largely met all of my physique goals. When I got over my ego, I got more progress doing a beginner program in 6 months than I did in the prior 6 years.
Not to mention, every single thing that had to do with a conditioning/cardio workout got significantly easier because now everything was truly a light weight. Instead of dying on 135lb power cleans, or 95lb thrusters, they all felt like an empty bar.
Another real life example I recall (and this happens all the time) of limiting beliefs is this: I once had a female client get to a 195lb squat. Then, for some reason, she continually failed 200lbs. 200lbs is a lot of weight – but there was no reason for her to be failing. She had been soaring in the gym. Went 180, then 185, then 190, then 195 like it was nothing, and just couldn’t hit 200.
Then, one day, a girl much stronger than her walked into the gym and squatted 325lbs right next to her. All of the sudden, the client that had been struggling, OVERNIGHT, went 200, then 205 the next training day, then 210, and continued like it was nothing. For whatever reason, she thought 200 was some sort of barrier or limit. When another girl showed her how far she could really take her lifting, 200 was no longer a limit, but a stepping stone.
The NLP at Spark Fitness
All of our Personal Training and Coached Access clients go through the NLP without deviating – and we adapt this program for 1, 2, 3 or 4x/week, with 3x/week being ideal. If you commit to the NLP and train correctly, you will be amazed and what your body accomplishes in a VERY short period of time.
For our Group Strength and Conditioning clients, we do an adaptation of the NLP, along with some conditioning. This is because this a “strength” and “conditioning” program, not just strength. As a result, these clients develop a wider range of fitness, but stay beginners in terms of strength for longer. Almost everyone would be better off going through the just NLP and then transitioning to adding some conditioning into their training, vs starting with both.
If you haven’t been through a Novice Linear Progression, and you want to do it correctly and get absolutely, positively incredible results, please contact us!
Coach Connor
Find me on instagram @connorgreen3000 and the gym @sparkfitnessla
Find me on YouTube here @connorgreen3000 and the gym here @sparkfitnessla
