Bullmastiff
Bullmastiff is Alex Bromley's intermediate strength program, from the free excerpt of his book Peak Strength that he publishes on the Empire Barbell site. Four days a week in three-week waves, and the last set of every main lift is a rep-out whose reps set next week's weight. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load.
How it works, set by set and week by week: Bullmastiff explained.
What this program is
Each day trains one of the four barbell lifts as its main lift, then a variation of a different one of them, then supporting work. Bromley prescribes slots rather than exercises (a "developmental squat", a "back" movement) and gives a menu for each, so picking from the menu is your job.
The Base phase layout. The Peak phase trims the supporting work and adds a variation of the day's own lift.
The rep-out that drives it
The last set of the main lift is an all-out set for as many reps as you can do with good form. Every rep past the target adds one percent of your max to next week's weight. Each three-week wave then restarts at its own, higher percentage, so the weight climbs three times in a phase rather than once. Bromley credits this way of auto-regulating to Doug Young.
The variations progress differently: the weight stays put and you add a set each week, which Bromley calls volumizing.
Base and Peak
The program comes in two phases of nine working weeks each. The percentages are where each wave starts, taken off a real one-rep max.
| Wave | Base phase | Peak phase |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (weeks 1 to 3) | 65 percent, 4 sets of 6 | 80 percent, triples |
| 2 (weeks 4 to 6) | 70 percent, 5 sets of 5 | 85 percent, doubles |
| 3 (weeks 7 to 9) | 75 percent, 6 sets of 4 | 90 percent, singles |
In the Base phase the sets and reps hold across each wave while the weight climbs. The Peak phase inverts that: within each wave the sets drop from five to three to one as the weight goes up. It finishes with a deload week and a test week.
At a glance
| Discipline | Powerlifting (the barbell base under strongman training too) |
| Experience level | Intermediate |
| Length | Base phase 9 weeks, Peak phase 11 weeks, or both in a row for 20 |
| Training days | 4 per week |
| Equipment | Full power gym |
| Loading | Percentage of a real one-rep max to open each wave, then the rep-out sets the weight |
| Price | Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes |
Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.
How it works in Ægir Iron
When you load it you choose the Base phase, the Peak phase, or both back to back. The first week of each wave carries a weight worked out from your max. Weeks 2 and 3 cannot: their weight depends on how your rep-out went, so they arrive with Bromley's rule written on them and no weight, and you add one percent of your max per extra rep yourself. Inventing a percentage for those weeks would be wrong for nearly everybody.
Every variation and accessory row is one sensible pick from Bromley's own menu, with the rest of the menu in the row's note so you can swap with his options in front of you. Three things are Ægir Iron's rather than Bromley's: the exercise picks, the rep targets on the supporting work (he fixes the sets and leaves the reps to you), and what goes into the deload and test weeks, which his table names without specifying.
It programs no strongman events. Bromley is a strongman and this is the barbell block underneath that work, so if you compete in strongman, add your event training around it.
Original source
Ægir Iron's template is built from this source. Under it is what the template takes from it.
- Bromley A (2021). Peak Strength: Competitive Performance Roadmap (Bullmastiff, pp. 154-166). Self-published (Base Strength book 2); free excerpt on empire-barbell.com.Bullmastiff: Base and Peak phases in three-week waves, the main-lift AMRAP that adds one percent of the max per rep over target, and volumizing variations
Start Bullmastiff
Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerlifting or Strongman, then choose Bullmastiff from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.