Weekly Training Structure

You'll train 4 days a week on an upper/lower split, so every muscle gets worked twice a week from two different angles:

• Upper A (press-led): bench press and barbell row lead, then shoulders, lats, arms, rear delts.
• Lower A (squat-led): squat leads, then hamstrings, quads, calves, abs.
• Upper B (pull-led): pull-ups and incline press lead, then rows, chest, side delts, arms.
• Lower B (hinge-led): deadlift leads, then single-leg work, glutes, quads, calves, lower back.
• Rest days: 3. Recommended rhythm is Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, with Wednesday and the weekend off, but any four days with at least one rest day between the two lower days works.

Rest Days Matter

Your body doesn't change while you train. It changes when you recover. With four heavy days a week, the three off days are where the muscle actually gets built: walk, stretch, sleep more, hit your protein, prep your meals. Skip the recovery and you'll feel it in week 3 as weights that won't move.

Sessions

60–75 Minute Sessions

The main lifts take the longest because they get the longest rest; the accessories move faster. Lower days run longer than upper days. If a session runs past 75 minutes, you're resting too long on the isolation work, not too little on the main lifts.

Warm-Up

Don't skip it. Heavy main lifts on cold joints is how people get hurt in week 2.

• 5 minutes of easy cardio: bike, rower or incline walk, to raise your core temperature.
• Ramp-up sets on the first main lift: the empty bar for 10, then about 50% of your working weight for 5, then about 75% for 3. Then your first working set.
• One ramp-up set at about 60% for the second main lift. The accessories need none.

Training Progression Guide

Two 4-week blocks, same pattern, heavier the second time.

• Weeks 1 and 2: sets of 8 on the main lifts. Week 1 is for finding a weight you can do for 8 clean reps with two left in you. Week 2, add weight where week 1 was clean.
• Weeks 3 and 4: sets of 6. Take your 8-rep weight and add one step. Week 4 is the heaviest of the block.
• Weeks 5 to 8: the block repeats with a fifth set on every main lift. Start from your week 2 weights plus one step, so you're doing more sets at more weight than the first time through.
• "Always" exercises (face pull, calves, hanging leg raise, hyperextension) keep their sets and reps all eight weeks.

How to Add Weight

The one rule: hit every rep of every set with clean form two sessions in a row, then add weight. 5 lb on upper-body lifts, 10 lb on squats and deadlifts. If you miss reps, keep the weight and get them next time; that's the method working, not failing. The app shows last session's numbers before every set. Check them before you load the bar.

If a lift stalls for three sessions at the same weight, drop it 10% for one session, then climb back. You'll pass the old number on the way up.

How to Do the Open Set

In week 8, the last set of each main lift has no rep target. Hit the week's reps (6), then keep going for as many clean reps as you have, and stop with one in reserve. It's not a max test. It's proof of what eight weeks of adding weight does, and it gives you a number to beat next time.

Rest Between Sets

2 to 3 minutes on the main lifts, 3 on squats and deadlifts if you need it. 60 to 90 seconds on everything else. Full rest is what lets you lift the weight that builds you; short rest just makes you tired.

Pull-Ups

Bodyweight until you hit every rep of every set. Then add weight with a belt or a dumbbell between your feet, and progress it like any other main lift. If you can't get 8 yet, do as many clean reps as you have on each set and log them; the number climbs.

The Four Workouts