So, whenever I get hyped about lifting, I write myself a new program. Doesn't matter if I'm still halfway through the old one. A new enthusiasm demands a new program.
I've probably done this about a half-dozen times now.
Anyway, here's the newest one:
Save your own copy if you want to use it.
It's a 14 week strength and hypertrophy program for intermediate lifters. It ends with a moderate peaking cycle. It requires 5 days a week. Each workout should be doable in about 90 minutes, including warm-ups and stretching.
I'm weirdly proud of it, and I intend to use it to prepare for a mock meet that I am hosting on my birthday, June 20th. I'm recovering from a 6-month hiatus (because sciatica), so my lifts are still 5-10% lower than they were when my spine was intact.
Starting Out
Planning Out the Weeks
Go to the first tab, labeled Maxes.
In the top right, fill in the date of your competition. It will auto-populate the start date (above Week 1). The rest of the weeks will also auto-populate, just to give you a starting trajectory. You'll probably take a rest week, which will require you to correct the listed dates. This is fine.
If you aren't within 14 weeks of a competition, just repeat the first 6 weeks until you are.
No Rest Week?
The program has a floating rest week. Take it whenever you want. You can even split it in half, if you want. The schedule is flexible enough.
The program doesn't have weekly oscillations--each week is about as difficult as the weeks surrounding it (until Week 11), and each week shouldn't be grueling.
Blue Letters
The blue letters indicate places where you will want to enter your own numbers. Fill them in.
Choosing Your Lifts
Choose your variations wisely in order to promote even development and hammer out your weaknesses. For example, DB Bench is a pec-heavy bench variation, while Touch-and-Go Bench emphasizes the triceps.
Choose 2 squat variations to complement your competition squat.
Choose 3 bench variations to complement your competition bench.
Choose 1 deadlift variation to complement your competition deadlift.
H M L ?
To the left of the lifts are little letters. H, M, and L. They stand for Heavy, Medium, and Light. They correspond to the lifting schemes below (in the gray boxes).
Heavy lifts will start heavy and stay heavy. This is ideal for your competition lifts, since you want to maintain specificity.
Medium lifts have an intermediate schedule. More reps at a lower weight. In the grey "Medium Schedule" box, you can see that they vary between 65% and 80% of their e1RM.
Light lifts, unsurprisingly, have the highest volume and the lowest weight. Use them for variations that are treated almost like accessory lifts. I like the Light Schedule for DB Bench partially because I don't like trying to get into position with 80% of my e1RM on Week 9.
The Max Table
You edit your starting numbers, on the first week. The rest of the table updates as you go along.
Basically, whenever you break your old estimated 1RM, the max goes up by 5 lbs, and the lift gets slightly heavier.
Working Out
Day One
In the "Human Forklift" tab, you'll find the meat and potatoes of the program. Start with Day 1.
Every set should be straightforward. Move fast and efficiently. If you find yourself grinding out any reps, take off a little weight and keep going.
The 3rd set of every exercise is a soft AMRAP. Try to get at least +2 reps beyond the listed amount.
If you manage to get +5 reps beyond the listed amount, it's probably a PR (or something close to it), which will increase your estimated 1RM for next week.
Don't feel like you have to treat every third set like a true AMRAP. It's expected that you'll typically be getting +1 or +2 reps on the soft AMRAP, and then moving on.
Still, progression does come from this mechanism, so if you're feeling good that day, go for it.
Entering Reps
After your soft AMRAPs, enter your reps on the AMRAPs tab. Numbers will change.
If you did enough reps to increase one of your maxes (on the "Maxes" tab), you'll see it update and turn orange. All the numbers downstream will also change to reflect the fact that you've gotten stronger. Cool.
Three Powerlifts On One Day?
Yeah. I'm don't want to go to a comp and get my ass kicked by the format (instead of the weight).
There are many places in the program where you'll have to do squats, benches, and deadlifts all on the same day. This is to get your body used to that type of day--to build workout specificity.
Your body will soon get used to them, and they'll probably be the easiest day of the week. Which is exactly the point.
Besides, it adds a splash of diversity to the workouts.
Day Two
This day features a hypertrophy workout. There are two kinds: Upper and Lower.
For a hypertrophy workout, go to the Hypertrophy tab and pick 2-4 exercises that look interesting. Do them.
Again, move swiftly. Unlike the compound lifts, you can grind out your bicep curls if you want. Superset if you feel like it. Wear your pants backwards. Just keep moving.
Keep track of your bests on the Hypertrophy tab. Like the other lifts, try to improve them when you can.
Secret Mission
Whenever you see "Upper Hyper" you'll also see a randomly generated exercise next to it. This is your Secret Mission for the day.
Out of the 2-4 Hypertrophy accessories you pick for the day, one of them must be the Secret Mission. Your job is to PR on it.
If you can't PR on it, your jobs is to do a hell of a lot of them.
If the exercise is a mobility movement (like face pulls), strive for volume and perfect form, rather than weight.
You'll see what Secret Mission you have been assigned after you enter your AMRAP and then return to the "Human Forklift" tab. (The Secret Mission changes whenever you change a cell, so this prevents you from cheating your way into an easier Secret Mission.)
If you get a spider emoji (a widowmaker set of squats), you are guaranteed to have good luck for the rest of the week. Guaranteed.
I've probably done this about a half-dozen times now.
Anyway, here's the newest one:
 |
| CLICK HIS PRONGS CLICK HIS PRONGS NOW |
It's a 14 week strength and hypertrophy program for intermediate lifters. It ends with a moderate peaking cycle. It requires 5 days a week. Each workout should be doable in about 90 minutes, including warm-ups and stretching.
I'm weirdly proud of it, and I intend to use it to prepare for a mock meet that I am hosting on my birthday, June 20th. I'm recovering from a 6-month hiatus (because sciatica), so my lifts are still 5-10% lower than they were when my spine was intact.
Starting Out
Planning Out the Weeks
Go to the first tab, labeled Maxes.
In the top right, fill in the date of your competition. It will auto-populate the start date (above Week 1). The rest of the weeks will also auto-populate, just to give you a starting trajectory. You'll probably take a rest week, which will require you to correct the listed dates. This is fine.
If you aren't within 14 weeks of a competition, just repeat the first 6 weeks until you are.
No Rest Week?
The program has a floating rest week. Take it whenever you want. You can even split it in half, if you want. The schedule is flexible enough.
The program doesn't have weekly oscillations--each week is about as difficult as the weeks surrounding it (until Week 11), and each week shouldn't be grueling.
Blue Letters
The blue letters indicate places where you will want to enter your own numbers. Fill them in.
Choosing Your Lifts
Choose your variations wisely in order to promote even development and hammer out your weaknesses. For example, DB Bench is a pec-heavy bench variation, while Touch-and-Go Bench emphasizes the triceps.
Choose 2 squat variations to complement your competition squat.
Choose 3 bench variations to complement your competition bench.
Choose 1 deadlift variation to complement your competition deadlift.
H M L ?
To the left of the lifts are little letters. H, M, and L. They stand for Heavy, Medium, and Light. They correspond to the lifting schemes below (in the gray boxes).
Heavy lifts will start heavy and stay heavy. This is ideal for your competition lifts, since you want to maintain specificity.
Medium lifts have an intermediate schedule. More reps at a lower weight. In the grey "Medium Schedule" box, you can see that they vary between 65% and 80% of their e1RM.
Light lifts, unsurprisingly, have the highest volume and the lowest weight. Use them for variations that are treated almost like accessory lifts. I like the Light Schedule for DB Bench partially because I don't like trying to get into position with 80% of my e1RM on Week 9.
The Max Table
You edit your starting numbers, on the first week. The rest of the table updates as you go along.
Basically, whenever you break your old estimated 1RM, the max goes up by 5 lbs, and the lift gets slightly heavier.
Working Out
Day One
In the "Human Forklift" tab, you'll find the meat and potatoes of the program. Start with Day 1.
Every set should be straightforward. Move fast and efficiently. If you find yourself grinding out any reps, take off a little weight and keep going.
The 3rd set of every exercise is a soft AMRAP. Try to get at least +2 reps beyond the listed amount.
If you manage to get +5 reps beyond the listed amount, it's probably a PR (or something close to it), which will increase your estimated 1RM for next week.
Don't feel like you have to treat every third set like a true AMRAP. It's expected that you'll typically be getting +1 or +2 reps on the soft AMRAP, and then moving on.
Still, progression does come from this mechanism, so if you're feeling good that day, go for it.
Entering Reps
After your soft AMRAPs, enter your reps on the AMRAPs tab. Numbers will change.
If you did enough reps to increase one of your maxes (on the "Maxes" tab), you'll see it update and turn orange. All the numbers downstream will also change to reflect the fact that you've gotten stronger. Cool.
Three Powerlifts On One Day?
Yeah. I'm don't want to go to a comp and get my ass kicked by the format (instead of the weight).
There are many places in the program where you'll have to do squats, benches, and deadlifts all on the same day. This is to get your body used to that type of day--to build workout specificity.
Your body will soon get used to them, and they'll probably be the easiest day of the week. Which is exactly the point.
Besides, it adds a splash of diversity to the workouts.
Day Two
This day features a hypertrophy workout. There are two kinds: Upper and Lower.
For a hypertrophy workout, go to the Hypertrophy tab and pick 2-4 exercises that look interesting. Do them.
Again, move swiftly. Unlike the compound lifts, you can grind out your bicep curls if you want. Superset if you feel like it. Wear your pants backwards. Just keep moving.
Keep track of your bests on the Hypertrophy tab. Like the other lifts, try to improve them when you can.
Secret Mission
Whenever you see "Upper Hyper" you'll also see a randomly generated exercise next to it. This is your Secret Mission for the day.
Out of the 2-4 Hypertrophy accessories you pick for the day, one of them must be the Secret Mission. Your job is to PR on it.
If you can't PR on it, your jobs is to do a hell of a lot of them.
If the exercise is a mobility movement (like face pulls), strive for volume and perfect form, rather than weight.
You'll see what Secret Mission you have been assigned after you enter your AMRAP and then return to the "Human Forklift" tab. (The Secret Mission changes whenever you change a cell, so this prevents you from cheating your way into an easier Secret Mission.)
If you get a spider emoji (a widowmaker set of squats), you are guaranteed to have good luck for the rest of the week. Guaranteed.
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