All Pro Simple Beginner Routine Program Spreadsheet

The All Pro Simple Beginner Routine (ASBR) is a 3 day full body program built around seven barbell lifts, run in 5 week cycles. Every session hits every lift. What changes between sessions is only the load: 100% on the heavy day, 90% on the medium day, 80% on the light day.

Progression is by reps rather than weight. You start a cycle at 8 reps per work set and add one rep a week, so week 5 is 12 reps at the same load you used in week 1. Clear all 12 on the week 5 heavy day and the weight goes up 10% for the next cycle. Miss even one rep and you repeat that lift’s weight for another five weeks.

It’s a genuine beginner program and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. The first two or three weeks feel too easy on purpose, there’s no deadlift and no direct triceps work, and it asks you to leave the weights alone until a cycle is done. If you want faster loading and don’t mind the higher failure risk, a linear progression like GZCLP moves quicker. The original routine is All Pro’s; this version and the spreadsheet were extended by tr3pid.

All Pro Simple Beginner Routine Spreadsheet

Enter your starting weights on the first cycle tab and the rest fills in, including the warm-up loads and the weekly rep bumps. There are six cycle tabs, which is 30 weeks of training, plus a progress tab for tracking.

All Pro Simple Beginner Routine | LiftVault.com

Program Overview

• Length: 5 week cycles, repeated. The spreadsheet carries six of them.
• Frequency: 3 workouts per week, full body every time
• Progression: +1 rep per week within a cycle, +10% load between cycles
• Work sets: 2 per exercise
• Lifts: squat, bench press, bent row, overhead press, stiff legged deadlift, upright row, calf raises

The Three Days

Same seven lifts, same rep target, three different loads. The medium and light days are rounded to the nearest 5 lb in the spreadsheet.

Workout	Load
Workout 1	Heavy, 100% of your working weight
Workout 2	Medium, 90%
Workout 3	Light, 80%

Rep Progression Within a Cycle

Week	1	2	3	4	5
Reps per work set	8	9	10	11	12

Week 5’s heavy day is the test. Hit 12 on both work sets for a lift and that lift goes up 10% next cycle, bar included. Miss one and it stays where it is for the whole next cycle, which sounds harsh but is what stops you grinding the same stall for months.

Warm-Up Sets

The spreadsheet computes two warm-up sets before every lift, at 25% and 50% of that day’s working weight, for the same rep count. tr3pid’s FAQ below says warm-ups are only required on squat, bench and bent row and optional on the rest. Both are fine. Follow the sheet if you’d rather not think about it.

Note: the spreadsheet lists upright rows in the sixth slot, while the FAQ below discusses curls with upright rows as the recommended substitute. The sheet has already made that swap for you.

All Pro Simple Beginner Routine FAQ

The rest of this page is tr3pid’s FAQ, reproduced from the spreadsheet as he wrote it. His numbering skips Q2 and his wording is unedited.

Q1: So how many sets am I doing exactly?

You are doing exactly 2 work-sets for each exercise. In addition, you are doing 2 warm-up sets for the first three exercises only (Squats, Bench Press and Bent Over Rows) – the remaining four exercises do not require warm-ups, however you can do them if you feel the need to. Here is a blue-print for all the sets you should be doing, in that order:

Squats: warm-up, warm-up, work-set, work-set

Bench Press: warm-up, warm-up, work-set, work-set

Bent Over Row: warm-up, warm-up, work-set, work-set

Over Head Press: work-set, work-set

Stiff Legged Deadlifts: work-set, work-set

Curls: work-set, work-set

Calf Raises: work-set, work-set

Q3: Will I gain muscle mass on this routine?

despite what you may think, gaining muscle mass is not just about lifting weights; the training is just a catalyst, which will create the conditions necessary for new musclee to be built. However, to actually build that muscle, you need to eat at a calorie surplus (consume more calories than you burn). There is no way around this, and you will not be able to avoid having to do some simple calculations if you want results. To understand this, visit this thread: Emma’s diet thread (archived) and make sure to read and understand the entire first post by Emma. If you have any questions regarding diet, ask them in that thread. This is possibly the single most important thread you can read over here – if you will only read on thread, let it be that one.

Q4: I have never lifted before and I am completely out of shape. Is this routine appropriate for me?

All Pro designed this routine with EXACTLY you in mind. It’s perfect for you.

Q5: I have tested my 10 rep maxes for each exercise. I have already completed two full weeks of the first cycle, and the weights seem too low for me, I feel like I could lift much more! Should I increase the weight?

first things first – avoid increasing weight mid-cycle and only do it with the beginning of the next cycle if necessary. Second, the routine is designed so that the first 2-3 weeks will feel relatively easy – this is true for everyone, and you are not superman for feeling the same thing. Finish the first cycle completely (full 5 weeks) without adding any weight to any exercise, even if it does feel too simple. If at the end of the 5th week of the first cycle you still feel that some of the weights are way too low, you may attempt to increase the weight by slightly more than 10% for the next cycle – however, this only makes sense if it was REALLY too easy for you. if it was just a “little” easy, you’re better off sticking with the program. All of these dilemmas can be avoided if you simply test your 10 rep maxes for each exercise properly, so make sure to take your time doing that properly.

Q6: there is no triceps exercise in this routine, what gives?

your triceps are being hit quite hard during both Bench Presses and the Overhead Presses – as a beginner, you do not need more than that. Do not add any extra triceps work or you are almost guaranteed to fail on either the BP’s or the OHP’s, or both.

Q7: I like doing pull-ups, push-ups, and standing on my head. Can I add in those exercises into the routine?

do not add any extra exercises until you have completed a minimum of 3 cycles. Once you’re going into the fourth, and you feel like you need to do some extra work on certain muscles, you can add an isolated assistance exercise for them – do only one set and at the very end of your routine (after calf raises). The assistance exercise follows the same rep scheme as all the other exercises. And do not ever add more than one assistance exercise per cycle – if you do so, and some of your other lifts stall, you won’t know which of your new additions might have caused that stall. Stick to only adding one extra assistance exercise per cycle, up to a maximum of two (though I believe that is already pushing it). Only do this if you know and have solid reason to believe that you really do require that extra assistance work – if uncertain, ask in this thread, someone will surely help you out.

Q8: Why are there no regular Deadlifts in this routine, only stiff-legged deadlifts? I feel like a boss doing deadlifts

there are two reasons for that:

1) Neither squats nor regular deadlifts address the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors complex) properly. By doing squats + stiff-legged deadlifts, this problem is solved, and a balance is introduced.

2) Squats and regular deadlifts are two exercises that are very taxing to the central nervous system. As a beginner if you did both of those exercises on the same routine, you are more likely to burn out sooner than later. Stif-legged deadlifts solve this issue.

Q9: what type of extra cardio should I do?

it is best that you do not overdo your cardio on this routine, since it can get you fatigued enough to hamper your performance in the gym. Two 30 minute jogging sessions (moderate heart rate or HIIT) per week should be enough. I would make sure that none of your cardio takes place on the day right before any of your heavy days. Do any cardio you want to do on rest days. Remember though that cardio is primarily good for your cardiovascular system’s health – for fat loss, your diet will be far more important than any cardio that you do.

Q10: What type of ab workouts should I do?

seems like everyone responds to different ab exercises, so you will just have to try for yourself and see which one works best for you. you can do cardio either on your off days, or on your work-out days right after the work-out, assuming you still have enough energy for them. if you go for crunches or similar, make sure to do them with extra weight – aim for 15 reps on the first week of the cycle, and add 2 extra reps per week for a total of 25 reps on week 5 of the cycle. Ab workout is not necessary for everybody though – your midsection is getting tons of workout in this routine since it acts as a stabilizer in basically every single exercise. So up to you to decide, though it’s probably a good idea not to introduce cardio until after you’ve completed the entire first cycle. Start with one set, and if it does not hinder your performance in the other exercises – add a second set at the start of the next cycle.

Q11: Are there any videos that show how each exercise should be performed?

there are tons of them online. Lift Vault has form guides for the main lifts in this routine: squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift.

Q12: Can I substitute any of the exercises in this routine for other exercises?

as a general rule, no, you can’t (barring certain situations where an injury may prevent you from doing a specific movement). One exception being the curls, which can be substituted for standing upright rows (https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/BBUprightRow). This is more of a compound exercise and it actually fits the rest of the routine more nicely. Curls were added by all pro mostly because “everyone would want to do them anyway”, so if your ego will survive it, go for the upright rows instead of the curls – it’s a far better overall body exercise. Up to you though.

Q13: Can I use dumbbells instead of a barbell to perform the exercises in this routine?

Yes, you can. However, keep in mind that the program was designed with a barbell in mind; some of these exercises are more difficult to perform correctly with dumbbells, not to mention that as the weights you lift increase, your grip on the dumbbells will become a limiting factor (not so with a barbell). Do everything you can to get your hands on a bar, and only use dumbbells as a last resort.

Q14: I missed my medium training day due to [insert any reason here]. What should I do?

if for some reason you are not capable of performing three exercises on a given week, you can perform only two, however both will then have to be heavy days. Allow a minimum of 2 rest days both before and after your second heavy day on such a week. However, doing this too often will hinder recovery – the routine was very carefully designed for 3 weekly workouts, and changing that should only be done in extreme cases.

Q15: So I managed to complete all reps for both work-sets for all exercises on my “test day” (heavy day of week 5). How much should I increase my weights for those exercises?

You should add 10% to each exercise that you passed, and don’t forget to include the weight of the bar. For example, if you use an Olympic 45 lbs. bar, and you load that with 55 lbs. for squats, you would increase the weight up to (55 + 45)*1,1 for the next cycle, which would make it 110 lbs (again, this includes the barbell).

Q16: So I have managed to complete all reps for all exercises on all workouts, except for the overhead press… I only managed to get 11 reps on the second work-set of week 5 heavy day for those… can I bump the weight up anyway for the next cycle? I mean come on, I only missed one rep… pretty please?

You can already see by the sarcastic way the question above was phrased that the answer is going to be “no” you can only increase the weight for the next cycle by 10% if you manage to complete 12 reps for each work-set on heavy day of week 5. Not a single rep more, and not a single rep less. If you failed even a single rep, you will need to repeat the weight for that failed exercise for the duration of the entire next cycle (5 week period). This is a safe-guard designed to make sure you do not keep infinitely stalling on the same exercise and to give the involved muscles enough time to rest and recover for some more banging.

Q17: How do I know if I am a “Beginner” or not?

A beginner is, generally speaking, anyone who cannot squat twice his body weight, and bench press 1,5 times his body weight, for one repetition. So if you weigh 200 lbs for example, you should be able to squat once for close to 400 lbs. and bench press once for close to 300 lbs, in order to be considered to have moved beyond the “beginner” stage. It has nothing to do with how long you have been lifting weights – there are many people who have been going to the gym for a few years and who are still considered beginners. As long as your lifts are noticeably below the threshold described above, you are still a beginner and you’ll benefit greatly from this routine.

Updates

• Converted to the block editor and added the program structure that was previously only inside the spreadsheet: the heavy/medium/light day loads, the week by week rep progression, the cycle pass/fail rule and the warm-up scheme. Bodybuilding.com retired its forums, so the tr3pid credit link was removed (that thread was never archived) and the diet thread it points to now uses an archived copy. Replaced a YouTube playlist that no longer loads publicly with Lift Vault’s own form guides. tr3pid’s FAQ text is unchanged.

About Kyle Risley

Kyle Risley founded Lift Vault in 2016 to make finding great powerlifting programs easier. Since then, the site has grown to include hundreds of programs for strength, bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, and more. He currently lives in Massachusetts and continues to compete in powerlifting.