Think You’re An Advanced Lifter? Read This.
Most lifters think they're further along than they are. They think, "I've been lifting for several years, so I must be an advanced trainee." But your training age isn't about calendar years. It's about how your body responds to training stress — in other words, how easily you can still make progress and what kind of programming you actually need.
In this article, I'll go over the reality of the beginner, intermediate, and advanced training stages. After reading this, you may find that you fit into an earlier stage than you'd like to admit. That's not an insult, however. It's an invitation to understand the best way forward.
Why Training Age Matters
Understanding your training age isn't just an abstract concept; it's a practical tool that can help you pick the best training strategy for where you're at right now. This knowledge can be the difference between falling short of your potential and smashing your fitness goals.
What works for a newbie might not cut it for someone who's more advanced. And those advanced techniques? They can be overkill and even risky for beginners. By knowing your training age, you can customize your program to hit the right level of intensity and complexity based on your experience.
How to Figure Out Your Training Age
Understanding your training age isn't as straightforward as it might seem. It's not just about how long you've been training. For instance, a beginner might remain a beginner for 3 months or even 3 years, while an intermediate might become advanced in 3 years or 6 years, or might remain intermediate for the rest of their career.
It's also not solely about strength. An advanced lifter might not have jaw-dropping strength, whereas an intermediate lifter could be surprisingly strong. And it's not just about muscle size either. A beginner may experience unexpected muscular gains, an intermediate lifter might appear extremely muscular, and an advanced lifter might not appear as buff as one would think.
With all these variables at play, how do you figure out where you stand? Honestly, it's pretty straightforward because your rate of progress tells us a great deal about your training age. Let's dive into what that typically looks like at each stage.
The Beginner Stage
When you're a beginner, almost everything works, and progress is fast. You can often add weight or reps every session, sometimes without even trying. You don't need to pay much attention to your diet or fatigue management to get results. Having said that, many people get stuck in this stage for years because they confuse duration of "working out" with duration of actual, effective training.
Signs you're still a beginner:
You can add load or reps workout to workout without plateauing.
You've never stalled and had to reprogram to break through.
You don't track your workouts (exercises, weights, reps, etc.)
You're sloppy (you cut depth on squats, bounce benches, or stop controlling eccentrics as the weight gets heavy).
You obsess over "feeling" muscles with light weights instead of building strength on big basics.
You don't know (or don't care) how much protein or how many calories you eat.
You regularly skip workouts, accessories, or weekends and still expect progress, or even still make progress.
You lack basic body control (you can't manage pelvic position or maintain a brace under load).
How to train as a beginner lifter:
As a beginner, you want to keep it simple: linear progression, heavy basics, and full range of motion. Add small amounts of load each session. Train 2–4x per week with 3–5 compound lifts per workout. Eat enough protein and calories to support growth.
Key takeaway: If you've never hit a true plateau or systematically worked through one, you are still a beginner.
The Intermediate Stage
As an intermediate, progress slows noticeably. You can't add weight to an exercise every week anymore. Gains show up over weeks or more, and consistency alone won't cut it. You now need greater consistency and structure, and often more complex programming methods.
You're an intermediate if:
You've already wrung out beginner gains and can't progress session to session anymore.
You've plateaued and solved it by adjusting training variables such as volume, intensity, or exercise choice.
You can judge effort well enough to push close to actual failure, not just your discomfort threshold (whether by RPE/RIR or by intuitive sense).
You're strong enough on the basics that isolation "feel it" work supports strength and hypertrophy.
You've realized that half-assed commitment (eating like crap on weekends, skipping sessions instead of rescheduling them, skipping accessories, and so forth) hinders your progress.
How to train as an intermediate lifter:
The intermediate stage is where methods beyond linear progression become necessary, such as double progression (adding reps before load), wave loading, block periodization, and so forth. Planned or reactive deloads start to matter more. Accessories are there to reinforce the compounds, not replace them. Consuming protein at or above 0.8 g/lb and calories permissive for performance becomes essential.
Key takeaway: If you're still making progress relatively smoothly once you finally get consistent, but not necessarily in a linear fashion, you're likely an intermediate.
The Advanced Stage
In the advanced stage, progress starts to crawl. Gains take long stretches of precise work. You may get stuck on the same load and reps for months. A 2.5-pound PR is a win. And every variable matters — not just training, but recovery, nutrition, and long-term planning.
You're advanced only if:
You've trained consistently for years, not "on and off."
You've broken through multiple plateaus with deliberate programming.
You can only improve by carefully managing load, volume, frequency, exercise choice, recovery, and nutrition all at once.
You measure progress in months or years, not weeks.
You've had to go back to the drawing board with programming variables or technique to move past stagnation.
How to train as an advanced lifter:
When you're advanced, you'll need to consider long-term programming with multiple phases. You will also need to employ precision in exercise selection and execution. Fatigue and recovery management are non-negotiable, and nutrition must be dialed in to support even small gains.
Key takeaway: If you don't need a 6–12 month plan to see measurable progress, you are probably not advanced.
The Bottom Line
Training age isn't about how long you've been in the gym, how muscular you look, or whether you can outlift the average weekend warrior. It's about the rate of progress you can achieve.
Beginner lifters can make fast linear progress without much attention to detail.
Intermediate lifters experience slower progress that is no longer as linear as it once was. However, they still make reasonable progress with a good mastery of the basics.
Advanced lifters progress very slowly, and almost always non-linearly, and must master every little detail to do so.
Many lifters stall out not because they've hit their genetic ceiling, but because they misclassify themselves. An advanced lifter using beginner and intermediate techniques will likely stall out. Conversely, a beginner may jump ahead and overcomplicate their training unnecessarily.
The key takeaway? Don't overcomplicate things if you don't have to. Save the advanced stuff for when you really need it, if ever. Don't chase "advanced" status when you're still making beginner or intermediate gains. Continue to build strength, train consistently, refine your technique, and eat for your goal. If you do that for many years, the advanced stage will come.
Remember that each training phase comes with its own set of rewards and challenges, and the next phase isn't necessarily better--it's just different (and is often more frustrating than you anticipate). Focus on what's in front of you today, and remember that being obsessive about the process is what leads to results, not half-assing the process while haphazardly chasing the result.
