tiffashwill
New member
This is my first time running a program by myself and thus first program review so any comments/questions/critiques very welcome! When I was looking into this program I noticed there weren't a lot of reviews by women of it, so wanted to add to the literature 
TLDR: A lot of fuckin around and finding outing…. I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked (strength or physique-wise), but I'm giving myself a pass... In the middle of the program I quite my job, took a month-long vacation, and then moved from the U.S. to Europe. So on top of starting a new program I've got a whole new life than I did at the beginning of the program (and have had to switch from lb to kilo hehe).
Weight: 155ish > 155ish (lbs)
Height: 5’ 9” (175cm)
The Stats:
Squat
Bench
Deadlift
OHP
Start
135 lb
90 lb (barely)
215 lb
N/A
End
70 kg / 154 lb
43.5 kg / 96 lb
110 kg / 242.5 lb
33.5 kg / 74 lb
Training History:
TLDR: A lot of fuckin around and finding outing…. I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked (strength or physique-wise), but I'm giving myself a pass... In the middle of the program I quite my job, took a month-long vacation, and then moved from the U.S. to Europe. So on top of starting a new program I've got a whole new life than I did at the beginning of the program (and have had to switch from lb to kilo hehe).
Weight: 155ish > 155ish (lbs)
Height: 5’ 9” (175cm)
The Stats:
Squat
Bench
Deadlift
OHP
Start
135 lb
90 lb (barely)
215 lb
N/A
End
70 kg / 154 lb
43.5 kg / 96 lb
110 kg / 242.5 lb
33.5 kg / 74 lb
Training History:
- In 2017 I started going to a gym/trainer that had me doing programmed lifts 1-2x a week and a bootcamp-like workout 3x a week. I had lifted for fun with some friends in college, but this is where I first learned good form. I enjoyed it but was more into running and the bootcamp stuff, so my lifting was confined to whatever my trainer told me to do that day.
- 2018 - 2019 was a lot of fucking around and finding outing. I did a completely unorganized bro split type workout, lots of cardio, and circuit training. Was in pretty good shape but no goals or tracking etc.
- COVID - March 2020 to April 2021. I ran 10k almost every single day for over a year. If I could get my hands on some equipment I would try and do some kettlebell or other resistance work, but a lot of the time my living situation wouldn’t allow for it. Occasionally would go for a (20 - 30 miles) bike ride as a workout.
- April 2021 - Got back into the gym post-COVID! Joined a little boutique lifting gym that I loved.
- July 2021 - Went home for the summer and started this program since I no longer had my beloved little lifting gym. First time running a program by myself.
- 12 weeks, linear periodization, 4x a week, focus on hypertrophy. Long read up is here.
- What I Liked:
- Lots of accessories to play around with!
- The workouts are long and challenging (also a con) -- I like feeling like I got something done in the gym every morning, makes me feel accomplished for the day.
- GZCL app was great!
- What I Didn’t Like:
- I like the structure of the warm-up sets, but they take a long time.
- Weeks 7 - 10 started to get a little monotonous/boring for me.
- The workouts are really long-- I usually like to throw in some abs at the end of a workout but getting out of the gym in a decent amount of time was hard enough with just the programmed exercises.
- Accessory Work
- Day 1: T2A - SL Deadlift, T2B - Lat Pull Down, T2C - Barbell Row // T3s - Seated Cable Row, Leg Curl Machine (varied by which gym I was in), Leg Extension, Dumbbell Bicep Curl
- Day 2 (Bench): T2A - Dumbbell Row, T2B - Incline Bench, T2C - Shoulder Press // T3s - Lat DB Raise, Cable Cross Row, DB Fly, Cable Tricep Pushdown
- Day 3 (Deadlift) - T2A - Lunges, T2B - Lat Pull Down, T2C - Banded Goblet Squat // T3 - Leg Extension, Leg Curl Machine, DB Bicep Curl, EZ Bar Curl
- Day 4 (OHP): T2A - Bench Press, T2B - Close Grip BP, T2C - Push Press (I cut these out Week 7 because of shoulder issues) // T3s - Lat DB Raise, Tricep Pushdown, Cable Cross Row, DB Fly
- I started the program on a “cut”. I was aiming for around ~1950 calories a day. I lost about 5 pounds in 3 weeks. I had never understood when people said they couldn’t eat enough calories but for some reason in these three weeks I had a hard time keeping food down, mostly because I was EXTREMELY lethargic…. I looked great but felt like shit.
- On the fourth week of the program, I went on vacation. I was still able to go to the gym and lift was eating “healthy,” but definitely not at a deficit. I generally eat relatively healthy day-to-day-- lots of veggies, try and focus on my protein, etc.
- The fifth and sixth weeks of the program I couldn’t go to the gym-- I was backpacking in a remote area, so a pretty active vacation that I hoped would help my squats haha. I ended up getting really sick (some sort of stomach bug) and had to leave a little early and took a few days to recover enough to get back in the gym.
- I started back up two weeks after I did week 4 in week 5. Week 6 is the first time you test your 1RM. I did not do as well as I hoped (basically just hit my starting points). Probably because of the vacation and illness. Mentally I was pretty bent out of shape about the lack of progress.
- Weeks 7 - 10 are a bit of a blur. I had just moved to a new city (in a new country) and most of my focus in fitness was finding a good gym (didn’t really happen, but the gym I’m at will do) and figuring out how to convert kilos. I was also readjusting to doing things in person instead of working from home for the first time in 18 months, so having a schedule where I had to leave the gym at a certain time had me cutting out some of my T3s some days.
- Weeks 10 - 12 - These were fun! I could really tell I was making progress with my 5 and 3 rep maxes.
- Because I ran every day for a year and a half, it was hard to quit cold turkey (although I was getting quite sick of doing it EVERY day). On two of my "off days" (Wed/Sat/Sunday) I ran (usually around 10k). On the other off day (usually Saturday) I did leisure exercise like a long bike ride to a nearby town or, more likely, a long walk as an attempt to fend off the hangover from Friday night.
- I feel noticeably stronger. I’m hitting most of my old 1RMs for 3-6 reps depending on the exercise!
- My quads have grown quite a bit. I can definitely see a change in muscle definition, but I really want to cut to see the leanness.
- So, I tested/PRed my maxes this past week and then ran a half marathon on Sunday... and also PRed on that! So that was exciting. BUT I was definitely feeling it in the second half of the race hahahah.
- If you're thinking about doing J&T 2.0, read the program and then read it again and again and again while you're running it. I kind of just went for it relying mostly on the app and realized that I was not following it correctly multiple times throughout the weeks...
- I think considering all of the travel and that I moved to a different country in the middle of this program, my progress is pretty solid. Excited to run a program on my own now that I’m feeling a bit more stable in life.
- I’m planning on either running one of the 5/3/1 Templates (looking at the Bodybuilding one as I’m not sure I can mentally handle the boringness of BBB right now haha) or getting a virtual programming membership with my old gym back in the U.S.
- Really hoping to get a pullup this year!
- Would also like to get to 185 squat / 120 bench / 250 deadlift (lbs) by the end of the year. I may focus on the squat and go for it 2x a week in my next program. A little disappointed my bench didn’t improve more in this program, but I think I can at least get past 100 by the new year. I think it’s mostly a mental block for me.
- Yes! For those two weeks I was off the program backpacking I actually got really tan (for me). Unfortunately now that I’m in a Northern-ish European country, it has quickly faded and will likely not be coming back anytime soon.
I also like to warm up and cool down with a little bit of cardio which added on some unnecessary time.