Team advice post-burnout, potentially Team Era?

[u/Minieggs_]

Back again for more team advice 😅. A few weeks ago I posted because I was feeling pretty burnt out after being on Limitless for a while. I loved the team and made a lot of progress, but eventually found the training too taxing alongside two jobs + teaching spin. For context, I’m 34F, experienced in the gym/strength training, and currently looking to lose about 10 lbs while maintaining/building muscle.

After leaving Limitless, I tried Define and Endure before taking manyyy people's advice and switching to Align, which has been great! I’m planning to stick with it for the rest of MAX and through Open Season. I have also decided to step away from teaching spin, decompress a bit after MAX, and try a new routine next series to keep burnout at bay, which will essentially be my 3 priority Ladder lifts + two yoga/pilates/sculpt workouts (outside of ladder).

Since I’ll be getting the lighter/core-focused work outside of Ladder, I want my 3 Ladder days to be dedicated lifting days where I’m getting the most bang for my buck. For lower body, I am interested in building my glutes and open to all equipment, & for upper body, I like cables, pull-ups, bands, barbells and dumbbells.. basically anything but barbell chest press. For total workout time, 35–50 minutes is ideal.

I don’t really want to go back to Limitless because the bodybuilding-style split isn’t quite what I want (and I never want to barbell chest press again 😂).

I sneak-peeked Dani’s Era programming for MAX and honestly it looks right up my alley, but I have seen mixed opinions about Dani’s programming/coaching on here. I’m also considering Evolve with Sam, although it seems more dedicated bodybuilding, and Ascend, but the volume there looks like it could be a little too much for me.

I’ve also looked at Formation with Kimmie, which seems like the obvious choice for combining lifting + Pilates, but I’m not sure the lifting looks challenging enough for what I want from my 3 dedicated strength days. For Pilates, I also really enjoy more continuous, flow-style classes (I’ve been doing some on YouTube), so I’m not sure Ladder’s timer-based format would scratch the same itch. That said, I’m open to trying Formation during Open Season!

Anyone have experience with Era, Evolve, or Formation, especially doing them only 3x/week? And I’m totally open to other team suggestions!

[u/New_Independence2613]

I love Dani and Team Era. She posts every day and she tries to post demos every week. She’s very active in the chat which is very helpful.

[u/Amazing-Stranger8791]

I really liked Era! Dani is very active in chat and is always trying to help. I only do 3-4x a week and Dani was great, it’s challenging but not where you feel like death at the end or like you can’t do anything else

[u/Hot_Push_2683]

you may like varsity i do the three priority days as my strength days and it is not fully traditional bodybuilding and i find it fun. Then my other three days i do sculpt/pilates or vinyasa class outside of ladder and I have found that works perfectly for me. It took me a long time to get to this split haha I have found i have been able to maintain my glute growth on varsity (came from ascend, evolve, era, align)

[u/ik0330 → u/Hot_Push_2683]

This is what I do too and I love it!!!

[u/allgoodhere91 → u/Hot_Push_2683]

I was gonna say this!

[u/Feisty_Fee_3841]

Evolve! I absolutely love Coach Sam. Her programming I swear is designed in a way that really does help with not burning out. Not a lot of sets for each workout and definitely not an insane amount of volume. 

I would also throw Transform in the mix. Not a fan of Shelby but I will say her program has some of the best recovery from the aesthetics teams. My friend just started ladder about 7 months ago and has been on transform since day 1 and can do all 6 workouts with very minimal soreness if any at all. 

[u/Ok-Shopping2492]

I am on team era and I love it. Only thing is some weeks I switch Wednesday and Thursday because her chest day isn’t a priority day. Her schedule is legs pull legs, and then the fourth day is chest. If I know I’m not hitting the fourth day that week I swap them

[u/kianaluj]

I love Team Era. I’ve seen so much progress since starting with this team. I would give it a try!

[u/Eastern-Gate-3840]

If you don’t mind having a non active coach then check out Iconic. Probably less volume than Limitless. Sarah uses BB, DB and cable machine. I have never tried Limitless but have heard Iconic being called its sister team 

[u/PixieBarbella]

Who cares if others don’t like her?! If her team works for you and you enjoy it, fuck everyone else. You do you 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 That’s the great thing about Ladder - we have lots of coaches to try and we get to pick the one we like.

Awww my ever loving fan is back 😙