681 reviews for Bullmastiff
Bullmastiff is Alex Bromley's popular intermediate program from his book, BASE STRENGTH: Program Design Blueprint.
Bullmastiff uses all 4 big movements and follows them up with a developmental variation for the opposite movement and then general bodybuilding work. The program has a base phase (9 weeks) and peak phase (9 weeks) based on a 3-week wave progression.
Read more about the program below for an overview and progression guidelines.
Rune
Man, 423 weeks complete
4 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
Less than expected muscle gains
I like the way of progression of only going up, if I go above the target reps. It’s a nice touch and the biggest thing I’ve gotten out of it. I do believe the days with Squat, Bulgarian Deadlifts AND THEN Bend Over Rows are too tough, I’ve had to change the sequence in order to not kill my lower back. Or maybe I’m just weak :’)
Ben G.
Man, 2818 weeks complete
3 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
The program did a great job of keeping me "in the pocket". I enjoyed the variety in exercise selection and rep ranges. Good stuff, I'm going to run it again. I made 2.5 kilo PRs on squat, bench and overhead (push) and a 10 kilo PR on deadlift. S/B/D/O 152.5/127.5/230/95
Maksim Gurbanov
Man, 2119 weeks complete
6 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Very interesting program. It's good for understanding the principles of programming. Also good gains in my main lifts Squat 225 -> 240 kgs Bench 165 ->170 kgs Deadlift 270 -> 290 kgs Added more arm exercises on upper days, also extra pull ups and dips(had a great progress in those too) . I wish I had added some chest accessory. Definitely recommend this program for getting stronger and bigger.
Man, 35
11 weeks complete
5 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
On week 12. Blown away at the amount of progress I’ve made so far.
David H.
Man, 243 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Enjoyed the rep ranges. Not a bunch of volume more strictly focused on raw strength building. You get tired by giving all your effort instead of doing 1000 reps of volume then being tired by exhaustion
G W.
Woman, 257 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Great programme for anyone who has grown out of their "newbie phase" and ready for a challenge.
carter B.
Man, 195 weeks complete
7 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Bench press went from 205 to 275 within a few weeks. Not even joking
Jesse Yoza
Man, 4017 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
I switched to this from 531 best decision I ever made a very intelligent program for long time lifters.
W_Szon
Man, 2515 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
Less than expected muscle gains
The program starts off great. The volume is manageable, the gains were noticeable. However the last few weeks the workload was a bit too little. The sessions felt too easy. But that is perhaps due to me not pushing enough or I needed a different type of stimulus rather than 1rep maxing
Niklas Rydberg Pekkari
Man, 394 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Great progression scheme for main lifts and variations. Absolute top tier. No need to mess with it. Accessories is a different story. So long as the exercise in question targets the intended muscle (group) and the volume does not interfere with the mains or variations, replacing them according to personal preference should be fine. I swapped cable crunch for anti-rotational work, Wednesday's db curls for behind-the-hip cable curls, and added narrow grip pull ups on Mondays to complete the back work of the day while using them as a developing exercise for Friday's pull ups; my replacement for Bromley's original lat pulldowns. For funsies I follow these with dead hangs. Note that these changes are not necessarily improvements of the programme as such -- they just make the accessory work more fun for me personally.