MyProgram - Wave strength
A four-week cycle, replayed higher each time. Loads sit below your true max, which is what makes it sustainable cycle after cycle.
Galloway-like — Run / walk
Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method applied to our progressive plan: volume and the long run build like a classic plan, but every continuous session alternates running and walking at the ratio of your pace — from 30 s / 30 s for the true beginner to 9 min / 1 min for the fast runner. The walk break is a reset that protects from injury and the wall, not a failure — and you keep it on race day.
MyProgram - Sprint 60 → 400 m
What progresses here is not volume — it is speed. Sessions start at 90 % of your maximum and climb to all-out effort, while the amount of running eventually comes back down. Strength and plyometrics are not extras: without them, running fast is not enough to get faster.
Norwegian method — Threshold volume
A lot of work just under threshold, never above. You accumulate volume at an intensity you can repeat rather than chasing the session that hurts — and it is threshold volume that progresses, not intensity. The easy base stays protected by a ceiling the method sets on itself.
Progressive Running Plan
Your plan, built on what you run today. Volume climbs in three-week blocks followed by an easier week, starting from your current mileage and never above it. Your paces come from your race time: easy, threshold, VO2max, each worked out for you. And the closer race day gets, the more your training looks like it — until you're running at the pace you're aiming for.
Tailored health
The programme the WHO recommends to stay independent: real-intensity strength, balance in every session, and mobility. This is not watered-down lifting — it is the combination of the three that cuts falls the most, and strength alone has never been shown to be enough.
Lydiard-like — Base then peak
Arthur Lydiard's sequential pyramid: build the widest possible aerobic base first, then stack hills, anaerobic power and race-specific pace. Volume peaks early and gives way to intensity — the opposite of a plan that builds until race day.
Canova-like — Growing specificity
Renato Canova's system: everything is measured as a percentage of your race pace, and everything converges towards it. All qualities are present from day one; what changes is how close they get to race pace — specific volume rises as total volume comes down.
MyProgram - 800 m · 1500 m
Volume builds first, then the work changes nature: sessions with incomplete recovery give way to sessions with full recovery, where you chase speed on fresh legs. That switch, as the race approaches, is what makes the difference on the track.
MyProgram - Block strength
Three blocks on a training max at 95% of your best: volume, then intensity, then singles — with a deload every four weeks, a paused day in between and a taper before the test.
MyProgram - Block strength, three lifts
One heavy lift per session, fresh: squat on Monday, bench on Wednesday, deadlift on Friday, the other two in reduced doses. Sets of 5, then 3, then singles, a deload every four weeks, a taper and a test with attempts set from your best single.
Effort-Autoregulated Strength (RTS-like)
Here the program doesn't hand you a weight, it hands you an effort: "5 hard reps, keeping 2 in reserve". You pick the day's load based on how you feel, and the following sets adjust to it. The weights shown are only a starting point. Requires being able to judge your own effort.
Hyrox — First race
Inspired by Centr HYROX Starter, written by us. Twelve weeks in four stages: foundations, pace, specificity, taper. If you can't yet run for thirty minutes, running starts as run/walk and turns continuous through the first block; loads climb to competition weight by the halfway point, and intensity and the end-of-session final push only arrive in the second stage. A partial simulation at halfway, the full one two weeks out, then a two-week taper: less intensity, competition loads kept, and an optional last session. Your paces, loads and days come from your answers.
Hyrox — Race time
Inspired by Centr HYROX Accelerator, written by us. The same twelve-week frame, for athletes who already run and chase a time: forty minutes of continuous running from week one, up to an hour by the end of the first block (if you can't yet run for thirty minutes, a preparatory block gets you there first), competition loads from the start, the end-of-session final push from week 1. A heavier partial simulation at halfway, the full one two weeks out, then a two-week taper: less intensity, competition loads kept, and an optional last session. Your paces, loads and days come from your answers.
Periodized Volume (Renaissance Periodization method)
Mike Israetel's Renaissance Periodization method, transcribed from his own « Dr. Mike's Favorite » template. Six sessions a week, every muscle trained twice. What makes RP is not the exercise selection but the VOLUME RAMP: you start at the minimum volume that still drives growth (MEV), add sets every week — 3 then 4, 4, 5 — while reps in reserve fall from 3 to 0, up to your recovery ceiling (MRV). Week five deloads: 2 short sets, far from failure. Then you start again, higher. Each slot targets a MUSCLE rather than a fixed exercise: the one shown is a starting point, and you can swap it for any reason. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can absorb a volume that climbs week after week.
Wave Strength (5/3/1-like)
Intermediate strength program: one main lift per session, in 4-week cycles based on a training max. The weight goes up per cycle rather than per session — slower, but sustainable for months.
Descending distance (Clyde Hart · 400 m)
The most decorated 400 m system in the world — eight Olympians, nine gold medals, Michael Johnson. Its progression fits in one sentence: start from long repetitions run slowly, and as soon as the pace becomes hard to hold, shorten the distance. 600, then 500, then 450 metres, faster and faster. Continuous running runs through the whole year, which no other sprint programme does. His times are written for a 46-second athlete: read them as a shape, not as a target.
MyProgram - Progressive strength
Add weight every session you complete. The fastest method for as long as it works — and it works a long while when you start out.
MyProgram - Undulating strength
The week alternates volume, a light day and an intensity day. The heavy day carries the record; the others set it up.
Hyrox Preparation
Complete Hyrox preparation: running first, then the station-to-run transitions that make the race genuinely hard. Paces calibrated on your tests or your last race, official loads for your category.
Multi-pace (Horwill · Coe)
The most decorated system in middle-distance history. Five paces rotate within one cycle — your race pace and the two neighbours on each side — and all of them are there from week one. Volume does not climb: what progresses is the clock, the same session run faster.
AMRAP Linear Strength (Greyskull-like)
Beginner strength program: as simple as linear progression, but the last set of each exercise is taken to maximum reps. That set decides how fast the weight goes up — so the progression lasts longer.
Hypertrophy — Push/Pull/Legs (Metallicadpa)
The most popular push/pull/legs program, freely published by the community. The big compound lifts (squat, presses, deadlift, row) add weight session to session; all the isolation work runs on double progression — you climb a rep range, then add weight. Six days a week, each muscle trained twice. Ideal from late-beginner to intermediate.
Linear Strength (StrongLifts-like)
Beginner strength program: squat, press and deadlift, with the weight going up every successful session. The simplest and most effective way to start.
Pure Bodybuilding — Full Body (Jeff Nippard)
Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding spread across the whole body: five sessions a week, four different full-body workouts plus an arms day. Every muscle gets touched almost daily, with few sets at a time — the highest frequency of the three versions, and the most forgiving of a missed session, since no muscle depends on a single day. Ten weeks in two blocks: four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks with renewed exercises. The first two weeks deliberately start below (RPE 7-8) before climbing close to failure — that's written into the program, not added caution. Double progression, meticulous exercise selection, supersets on the busier days. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who would rather spread the work than concentrate it.
Pure Bodybuilding — Push/Pull/Legs (Jeff Nippard)
The densest form of Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding: seven sessions, one a day. Push 1, Pull 1, Legs 1, Push 2, Pull 2, Legs 2, and an arms day that alternates week to week between the two Nippard writes. Every muscle comes back twice a week, from two different angles each time — the first pull targets the lats, the second the mid-back. Ten weeks in two blocks: four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks with renewed exercises. Everything is taken close to failure (RPE 9-10), on double progression, with Nippard's last-set intensity techniques — long-length partials, myo-reps, dropsets. This is a lot of volume across seven training days: only take it on if you recover well and your week can genuinely absorb it.
Pure Bodybuilding — Upper/Lower (Jeff Nippard)
Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding, in its five-day upper/lower form: two uppers, two lowers, plus a dedicated arms day. Ten weeks in two blocks — four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks where Nippard swaps the exercises without changing the method. Every set is taken close to failure (RPE 9-10) and everything runs on double progression: climb the rep range, then add weight. The exercise selection is meticulous — lots of cables and machines chosen for tension in the lengthened position, where the muscle is most stretched. High volume, demanding execution, results to match. For the serious intermediate or advanced lifter who wants the best of evidence-based practice.
Reps first (Daniels · 1500 m)
The only plan Jack Daniels wrote specifically for middle distance, and it inverts his own hierarchy: fast repetitions come first, threshold becomes secondary, VO2max comes after. The plan opens with what others save for the end, and volume does not climb — what progresses is the speed of the repetitions.
SBS Hypertrophy — 2 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 2-day form: the 2x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 3 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 3-day form: the 3x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 4 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 4-day form: the 4x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 5 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 5-day form: the 5x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 6 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 6-day form: the 6x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
Weekly Undulating Strength (Texas-like)
Intermediate program built on three contrasting sessions: one for volume, one light, one for intensity where you set a record every week. More demanding than linear progression, but it keeps moving when linear stops.
CrossFit
A strength or skill part that progresses over six weeks, then the workout of the day, the same for everyone. Three benchmark workouts at the start and end of the cycle measure what you gained.
High Volume Strength (Sheiko-like)
Many sets at moderate intensity, spread over four sessions a week. The load stays submaximal: strength is built by repeating the movement, not by chasing a maximum. Time-consuming, very effective on technique.
Ramped Linear Strength (Madcow-like)
The bridge after the beginner progression: the weight still goes up linearly, but weekly rather than per session. Sets ramp up to the day's weight, and the week alternates heavy, light and medium.
Single-lift Specialization (Old School)
A specialization program on ONE lift (squat or bench press), three times a week for six weeks. You first build volume at 80% of your max by adding reps, then raise the load up to a 105% attempt. Ideal for pushing one specific lift.
Beginner full-body (Fierce 5)
The best starting point when you're new and want to build muscle. Three sessions a week, two full-body workouts you alternate (A then B), five exercises each. The big basic lifts (squat, presses) are done heavy for sets of five, adding weight every session for as long as it keeps going — that's where a beginner progresses fastest. The rest (rows, Romanian deadlift, isolation) is trained in higher reps to build muscle. Simple, balanced, no wasted time: designed to avoid the flaws of classic beginner routines (too strength-focused, or poorly dosed in volume). Ideal for a first real program.
Peaking Strength (Calgary-like)
A peaking program for a deadline: a progressive climb toward a maximum, where the day's load is found by feel rather than from a percentage. The last week is a test. For lifters who can judge their own effort. Worth knowing: peaking does not build strength, it reveals it. You deliberately stay below your maximum through the whole block so you arrive fresh on test day. Use it after a program that made you progress, not instead of one.
Powerbuilding — PHAT (Layne Norton)
The reference powerbuilding program, from Dr. Layne Norton. Five days of undulating periodization: two "power" days where you hit the big lifts heavy (3 to 5 reps), then three "hypertrophy" days at higher volume (8 to 20 reps). Every muscle is trained twice a week — once heavy, once for volume. Strength AND size at once. Everything runs on double progression: you climb the day's rep range, then add weight. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who refuses to choose between being strong and being big.
Y3T — Yoda 3 Training (Neil Hill)
The MESOMORPH program from Neil Hill's official Y3T guide (the coach behind IFBB champions), transcribed as written. An EIGHT-day cycle — three days on, one day off — that deliberately drifts against the calendar: you will not be training thighs every Monday. Four week types follow one another, and it is the ECCENTRIC that tells them apart. Week 1A: 6 to 12 reps, 4-5 second eccentric, 75-90 s rest. Week 1C: the exact same session, eccentric cut to 1-2 seconds. Week 2: 14 to 18 reps, 3 second eccentric, 90 s rest — this week is about blood flow, not load. Week 3: 15 to 25 reps taken deep into fatigue, with drop sets, triple drop sets and supersets, 2 to 3 minutes rest. Then you start over. WARM-UP: Hill opens every muscle block with 4 warm-up sets of the first exercise, and puts 1 to 4 ramp-up sets before the big compounds. They are not counted in the sessions below: do them on top. For the intermediate or advanced lifter.
Doggcrapp (DC) — high-intensity rest-pause
Dante Trudel's Doggcrapp system, the exact opposite of high-volume programs. ONE work set per exercise after a few warm-ups — but taken to the extreme: you go to failure, fifteen deep breaths, back to failure, fifteen more breaths, one last mini-set, then a static hold. One set worth three. Two alternating sessions — chest, shoulders, triceps and back in one; arms, calves, hamstrings and quads in the other — four workouts every eight days, so every muscle comes back twice. Three exercises per muscle rotate from session to session. Not everything is rest-paused: back thickness, forearms, calves and quads run as straight sets, and legs add a twenty-rep set after the heavy one. Progression is the logbook: you must beat your reps or your weight, otherwise you change exercise. After the seven to twelve weeks, Trudel calls for one to two lighter weeks before starting again. Hard on the joints and the nervous system — for advanced lifters who can take a set to failure safely. A deliberate bet: intensity over volume.
HST — Hypertrophy-Specific Training
Bryan Haycock's "scientific" approach, the exact opposite of the 10×10. You do the same full-body session three times a week, with few sets per exercise — but the load climbs EVERY session, and the reps drop in two-week blocks: sets of 15 first, then 10, then 5. The bet: high frequency and ever-rising load stimulate the muscle more efficiently than rare high volume. Eight weeks, then one to two weeks of full rest ("deconditioning") to resensitize the muscle before starting over. Simple, short, relentlessly progressive — ideal from beginner to intermediate. At the end of the cycle, Haycock's rule is to do NOTHING for 9 to 14 days: this strategic deconditioning re-sensitises the muscle to loads that had stopped making it grow.
Rep-Max Wave Strength (Juggernaut-like)
Four four-week waves, from sets of ten down to sets of three. Each wave ends with a set taken to maximum reps, which sets the load for the next wave. A full sixteen-week cycle. Worth knowing: this program mainly builds volume and work capacity. Loads stay well below your maximum and it is the rep count that progresses. Excellent for an athlete, but if your only goal is to raise your maximum, other programs in this library go at it more directly.
Beginner Marathon (Higdon-like)
Eighteen weeks to finish your first marathon. Four runs a week, all at conversational pace, and a Saturday long run building from 6 to 20 miles. No paces to work out: the plan bets on volume and consistency, not speed.
German Volume Training — 10×10
Charles Poliquin's famous 10×10: a brutal, minimalist shock block. For each muscle group, a single big lift taken for ten sets of ten reps with a moderate load — never to failure, it's the accumulation of ten sets that does the work. The main lifts are paired as antagonists (push/pull, quads/hamstrings), and you add weight as soon as you complete all one hundred reps. Three rotating sessions, each muscle trained once a week but very hard. A short four-to-six-week block, meant to break through a plateau — not a year-round routine. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who wants a volume shock.
Couch to 5K (Couch-to-5K-like)
Nine weeks to go from nothing to thirty minutes of continuous running, three sessions a week with a rest day between each. You alternate running and walking, and the walking falls away step by step: one minute of running in week one, thirty unbroken in week nine. No pace to hold — the only guide is still being able to talk.
MyProgram - Wave strength
A four-week cycle, replayed higher each time. Loads sit below your true max, which is what makes it sustainable cycle after cycle.
Galloway-like — Run / walk
Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method applied to our progressive plan: volume and the long run build like a classic plan, but every continuous session alternates running and walking at the ratio of your pace — from 30 s / 30 s for the true beginner to 9 min / 1 min for the fast runner. The walk break is a reset that protects from injury and the wall, not a failure — and you keep it on race day.
MyProgram - Sprint 60 → 400 m
What progresses here is not volume — it is speed. Sessions start at 90 % of your maximum and climb to all-out effort, while the amount of running eventually comes back down. Strength and plyometrics are not extras: without them, running fast is not enough to get faster.
Norwegian method — Threshold volume
A lot of work just under threshold, never above. You accumulate volume at an intensity you can repeat rather than chasing the session that hurts — and it is threshold volume that progresses, not intensity. The easy base stays protected by a ceiling the method sets on itself.
Progressive Running Plan
Your plan, built on what you run today. Volume climbs in three-week blocks followed by an easier week, starting from your current mileage and never above it. Your paces come from your race time: easy, threshold, VO2max, each worked out for you. And the closer race day gets, the more your training looks like it — until you're running at the pace you're aiming for.
Tailored health
The programme the WHO recommends to stay independent: real-intensity strength, balance in every session, and mobility. This is not watered-down lifting — it is the combination of the three that cuts falls the most, and strength alone has never been shown to be enough.
Lydiard-like — Base then peak
Arthur Lydiard's sequential pyramid: build the widest possible aerobic base first, then stack hills, anaerobic power and race-specific pace. Volume peaks early and gives way to intensity — the opposite of a plan that builds until race day.
Canova-like — Growing specificity
Renato Canova's system: everything is measured as a percentage of your race pace, and everything converges towards it. All qualities are present from day one; what changes is how close they get to race pace — specific volume rises as total volume comes down.
MyProgram - 800 m · 1500 m
Volume builds first, then the work changes nature: sessions with incomplete recovery give way to sessions with full recovery, where you chase speed on fresh legs. That switch, as the race approaches, is what makes the difference on the track.
MyProgram - Block strength
Three blocks on a training max at 95% of your best: volume, then intensity, then singles — with a deload every four weeks, a paused day in between and a taper before the test.
MyProgram - Block strength, three lifts
One heavy lift per session, fresh: squat on Monday, bench on Wednesday, deadlift on Friday, the other two in reduced doses. Sets of 5, then 3, then singles, a deload every four weeks, a taper and a test with attempts set from your best single.
Effort-Autoregulated Strength (RTS-like)
Here the program doesn't hand you a weight, it hands you an effort: "5 hard reps, keeping 2 in reserve". You pick the day's load based on how you feel, and the following sets adjust to it. The weights shown are only a starting point. Requires being able to judge your own effort.
Hyrox — First race
Inspired by Centr HYROX Starter, written by us. Twelve weeks in four stages: foundations, pace, specificity, taper. If you can't yet run for thirty minutes, running starts as run/walk and turns continuous through the first block; loads climb to competition weight by the halfway point, and intensity and the end-of-session final push only arrive in the second stage. A partial simulation at halfway, the full one two weeks out, then a two-week taper: less intensity, competition loads kept, and an optional last session. Your paces, loads and days come from your answers.
Hyrox — Race time
Inspired by Centr HYROX Accelerator, written by us. The same twelve-week frame, for athletes who already run and chase a time: forty minutes of continuous running from week one, up to an hour by the end of the first block (if you can't yet run for thirty minutes, a preparatory block gets you there first), competition loads from the start, the end-of-session final push from week 1. A heavier partial simulation at halfway, the full one two weeks out, then a two-week taper: less intensity, competition loads kept, and an optional last session. Your paces, loads and days come from your answers.
Periodized Volume (Renaissance Periodization method)
Mike Israetel's Renaissance Periodization method, transcribed from his own « Dr. Mike's Favorite » template. Six sessions a week, every muscle trained twice. What makes RP is not the exercise selection but the VOLUME RAMP: you start at the minimum volume that still drives growth (MEV), add sets every week — 3 then 4, 4, 5 — while reps in reserve fall from 3 to 0, up to your recovery ceiling (MRV). Week five deloads: 2 short sets, far from failure. Then you start again, higher. Each slot targets a MUSCLE rather than a fixed exercise: the one shown is a starting point, and you can swap it for any reason. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can absorb a volume that climbs week after week.
Wave Strength (5/3/1-like)
Intermediate strength program: one main lift per session, in 4-week cycles based on a training max. The weight goes up per cycle rather than per session — slower, but sustainable for months.
Descending distance (Clyde Hart · 400 m)
The most decorated 400 m system in the world — eight Olympians, nine gold medals, Michael Johnson. Its progression fits in one sentence: start from long repetitions run slowly, and as soon as the pace becomes hard to hold, shorten the distance. 600, then 500, then 450 metres, faster and faster. Continuous running runs through the whole year, which no other sprint programme does. His times are written for a 46-second athlete: read them as a shape, not as a target.
MyProgram - Progressive strength
Add weight every session you complete. The fastest method for as long as it works — and it works a long while when you start out.
MyProgram - Undulating strength
The week alternates volume, a light day and an intensity day. The heavy day carries the record; the others set it up.
Hyrox Preparation
Complete Hyrox preparation: running first, then the station-to-run transitions that make the race genuinely hard. Paces calibrated on your tests or your last race, official loads for your category.
Multi-pace (Horwill · Coe)
The most decorated system in middle-distance history. Five paces rotate within one cycle — your race pace and the two neighbours on each side — and all of them are there from week one. Volume does not climb: what progresses is the clock, the same session run faster.
AMRAP Linear Strength (Greyskull-like)
Beginner strength program: as simple as linear progression, but the last set of each exercise is taken to maximum reps. That set decides how fast the weight goes up — so the progression lasts longer.
Hypertrophy — Push/Pull/Legs (Metallicadpa)
The most popular push/pull/legs program, freely published by the community. The big compound lifts (squat, presses, deadlift, row) add weight session to session; all the isolation work runs on double progression — you climb a rep range, then add weight. Six days a week, each muscle trained twice. Ideal from late-beginner to intermediate.
Linear Strength (StrongLifts-like)
Beginner strength program: squat, press and deadlift, with the weight going up every successful session. The simplest and most effective way to start.
Pure Bodybuilding — Full Body (Jeff Nippard)
Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding spread across the whole body: five sessions a week, four different full-body workouts plus an arms day. Every muscle gets touched almost daily, with few sets at a time — the highest frequency of the three versions, and the most forgiving of a missed session, since no muscle depends on a single day. Ten weeks in two blocks: four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks with renewed exercises. The first two weeks deliberately start below (RPE 7-8) before climbing close to failure — that's written into the program, not added caution. Double progression, meticulous exercise selection, supersets on the busier days. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who would rather spread the work than concentrate it.
Pure Bodybuilding — Push/Pull/Legs (Jeff Nippard)
The densest form of Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding: seven sessions, one a day. Push 1, Pull 1, Legs 1, Push 2, Pull 2, Legs 2, and an arms day that alternates week to week between the two Nippard writes. Every muscle comes back twice a week, from two different angles each time — the first pull targets the lats, the second the mid-back. Ten weeks in two blocks: four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks with renewed exercises. Everything is taken close to failure (RPE 9-10), on double progression, with Nippard's last-set intensity techniques — long-length partials, myo-reps, dropsets. This is a lot of volume across seven training days: only take it on if you recover well and your week can genuinely absorb it.
Pure Bodybuilding — Upper/Lower (Jeff Nippard)
Jeff Nippard's science-based bodybuilding, in its five-day upper/lower form: two uppers, two lowers, plus a dedicated arms day. Ten weeks in two blocks — four building weeks, one lighter week, then five weeks where Nippard swaps the exercises without changing the method. Every set is taken close to failure (RPE 9-10) and everything runs on double progression: climb the rep range, then add weight. The exercise selection is meticulous — lots of cables and machines chosen for tension in the lengthened position, where the muscle is most stretched. High volume, demanding execution, results to match. For the serious intermediate or advanced lifter who wants the best of evidence-based practice.
Reps first (Daniels · 1500 m)
The only plan Jack Daniels wrote specifically for middle distance, and it inverts his own hierarchy: fast repetitions come first, threshold becomes secondary, VO2max comes after. The plan opens with what others save for the end, and volume does not climb — what progresses is the speed of the repetitions.
SBS Hypertrophy — 2 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 2-day form: the 2x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 3 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 3-day form: the 3x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 4 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 4-day form: the 4x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 5 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 5-day form: the 5x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
SBS Hypertrophy — 6 days (Stronger by Science)
Stronger by Science's Hypertrophy Template in its 6-day form: the 6x tab of Greg Nuckols' spreadsheet, transcribed as written. Every session opens with its prescribed lifts, powered by the Reps-To-Fatigue progression — four sets, the last to failure, and your reps move the load up or down. An upper-back slot per session and accessories complete the coverage. Twenty-one weeks in three blocks, each ending in a deload, never above 82.5% of your max. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who can take a set to failure.
Weekly Undulating Strength (Texas-like)
Intermediate program built on three contrasting sessions: one for volume, one light, one for intensity where you set a record every week. More demanding than linear progression, but it keeps moving when linear stops.
CrossFit
A strength or skill part that progresses over six weeks, then the workout of the day, the same for everyone. Three benchmark workouts at the start and end of the cycle measure what you gained.
High Volume Strength (Sheiko-like)
Many sets at moderate intensity, spread over four sessions a week. The load stays submaximal: strength is built by repeating the movement, not by chasing a maximum. Time-consuming, very effective on technique.
Ramped Linear Strength (Madcow-like)
The bridge after the beginner progression: the weight still goes up linearly, but weekly rather than per session. Sets ramp up to the day's weight, and the week alternates heavy, light and medium.
Single-lift Specialization (Old School)
A specialization program on ONE lift (squat or bench press), three times a week for six weeks. You first build volume at 80% of your max by adding reps, then raise the load up to a 105% attempt. Ideal for pushing one specific lift.
Beginner full-body (Fierce 5)
The best starting point when you're new and want to build muscle. Three sessions a week, two full-body workouts you alternate (A then B), five exercises each. The big basic lifts (squat, presses) are done heavy for sets of five, adding weight every session for as long as it keeps going — that's where a beginner progresses fastest. The rest (rows, Romanian deadlift, isolation) is trained in higher reps to build muscle. Simple, balanced, no wasted time: designed to avoid the flaws of classic beginner routines (too strength-focused, or poorly dosed in volume). Ideal for a first real program.
Peaking Strength (Calgary-like)
A peaking program for a deadline: a progressive climb toward a maximum, where the day's load is found by feel rather than from a percentage. The last week is a test. For lifters who can judge their own effort. Worth knowing: peaking does not build strength, it reveals it. You deliberately stay below your maximum through the whole block so you arrive fresh on test day. Use it after a program that made you progress, not instead of one.
Powerbuilding — PHAT (Layne Norton)
The reference powerbuilding program, from Dr. Layne Norton. Five days of undulating periodization: two "power" days where you hit the big lifts heavy (3 to 5 reps), then three "hypertrophy" days at higher volume (8 to 20 reps). Every muscle is trained twice a week — once heavy, once for volume. Strength AND size at once. Everything runs on double progression: you climb the day's rep range, then add weight. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who refuses to choose between being strong and being big.
Y3T — Yoda 3 Training (Neil Hill)
The MESOMORPH program from Neil Hill's official Y3T guide (the coach behind IFBB champions), transcribed as written. An EIGHT-day cycle — three days on, one day off — that deliberately drifts against the calendar: you will not be training thighs every Monday. Four week types follow one another, and it is the ECCENTRIC that tells them apart. Week 1A: 6 to 12 reps, 4-5 second eccentric, 75-90 s rest. Week 1C: the exact same session, eccentric cut to 1-2 seconds. Week 2: 14 to 18 reps, 3 second eccentric, 90 s rest — this week is about blood flow, not load. Week 3: 15 to 25 reps taken deep into fatigue, with drop sets, triple drop sets and supersets, 2 to 3 minutes rest. Then you start over. WARM-UP: Hill opens every muscle block with 4 warm-up sets of the first exercise, and puts 1 to 4 ramp-up sets before the big compounds. They are not counted in the sessions below: do them on top. For the intermediate or advanced lifter.
Doggcrapp (DC) — high-intensity rest-pause
Dante Trudel's Doggcrapp system, the exact opposite of high-volume programs. ONE work set per exercise after a few warm-ups — but taken to the extreme: you go to failure, fifteen deep breaths, back to failure, fifteen more breaths, one last mini-set, then a static hold. One set worth three. Two alternating sessions — chest, shoulders, triceps and back in one; arms, calves, hamstrings and quads in the other — four workouts every eight days, so every muscle comes back twice. Three exercises per muscle rotate from session to session. Not everything is rest-paused: back thickness, forearms, calves and quads run as straight sets, and legs add a twenty-rep set after the heavy one. Progression is the logbook: you must beat your reps or your weight, otherwise you change exercise. After the seven to twelve weeks, Trudel calls for one to two lighter weeks before starting again. Hard on the joints and the nervous system — for advanced lifters who can take a set to failure safely. A deliberate bet: intensity over volume.
HST — Hypertrophy-Specific Training
Bryan Haycock's "scientific" approach, the exact opposite of the 10×10. You do the same full-body session three times a week, with few sets per exercise — but the load climbs EVERY session, and the reps drop in two-week blocks: sets of 15 first, then 10, then 5. The bet: high frequency and ever-rising load stimulate the muscle more efficiently than rare high volume. Eight weeks, then one to two weeks of full rest ("deconditioning") to resensitize the muscle before starting over. Simple, short, relentlessly progressive — ideal from beginner to intermediate. At the end of the cycle, Haycock's rule is to do NOTHING for 9 to 14 days: this strategic deconditioning re-sensitises the muscle to loads that had stopped making it grow.
Rep-Max Wave Strength (Juggernaut-like)
Four four-week waves, from sets of ten down to sets of three. Each wave ends with a set taken to maximum reps, which sets the load for the next wave. A full sixteen-week cycle. Worth knowing: this program mainly builds volume and work capacity. Loads stay well below your maximum and it is the rep count that progresses. Excellent for an athlete, but if your only goal is to raise your maximum, other programs in this library go at it more directly.
Beginner Marathon (Higdon-like)
Eighteen weeks to finish your first marathon. Four runs a week, all at conversational pace, and a Saturday long run building from 6 to 20 miles. No paces to work out: the plan bets on volume and consistency, not speed.
German Volume Training — 10×10
Charles Poliquin's famous 10×10: a brutal, minimalist shock block. For each muscle group, a single big lift taken for ten sets of ten reps with a moderate load — never to failure, it's the accumulation of ten sets that does the work. The main lifts are paired as antagonists (push/pull, quads/hamstrings), and you add weight as soon as you complete all one hundred reps. Three rotating sessions, each muscle trained once a week but very hard. A short four-to-six-week block, meant to break through a plateau — not a year-round routine. For the intermediate or advanced lifter who wants a volume shock.
Couch to 5K (Couch-to-5K-like)
Nine weeks to go from nothing to thirty minutes of continuous running, three sessions a week with a rest day between each. You alternate running and walking, and the walking falls away step by step: one minute of running in week one, thirty unbroken in week nine. No pace to hold — the only guide is still being able to talk.