Heavy, Light, Medium (HLM) is a simple way to organize your training week so each lift gets a heavy, a medium, and a light session across three days. The heavy day pushes intensity, the light day keeps you moving and sharpens technique, and the medium day sits in between. This free spreadsheet turns that idea into a 12-week template based on Andy Baker’s framework, so you enter your maxes on the Input tab and every heavy, medium, and light load fills in for you.
The HLM idea goes back to coaches like Bill Starr, Mark Rippetoe, and Andy Baker, who used it to keep intermediate lifters progressing without burning out. Rotating the intensity day to day is much like a flexible daily undulating (DUP) split, and by the final week the medium day gets pushed hard enough that the program starts to look like a Texas Method setup, with one heavy intensity day and one hard volume day.
HLM works best for intermediate lifters who want a flexible template they can shape around their own recovery, not a fully prescriptive plan that dictates every set. If you’re newer and you just want to be told exactly what to do, a linear beginner program like Starting Strength will take you further before you need this kind of structure.
Table of Contents
Heavy Light Medium Video Overview
Andy Baker put together a great video on how he organizes HLM training. It’s worth a watch before you start tweaking the spreadsheet, since most of his ideas carry straight over.
Heads up: the spreadsheet on this page uses “sets across” (the same weight for every set), not the top-set-plus-backoffs method he covers in the video. You can still apply most of his thinking with sets across.
Heavy Light Medium (HLM) Spreadsheet
Enter your 1RM for each lift on the Input tab, pick your rounding (5 for lb, 2.5 for kg), and the whole 12 weeks calculate for you. Every medium and light load is just an offset below that week’s heavy load, and everything climbs week to week.
The spreadsheet below is based on my interpretation of Andy Baker’s “Structuring 12 Week Heavy Light Medium Programs” article. It’s my own interpretation of his work, not something he wrote or endorsed, but I tried to follow the article as closely as I could when building it.
HLM Training is Flexible
Since the HLM style is so flexible, it has rarely been captured in spreadsheet form (at least that I’ve been able to find for free). There’s no “definitive” HLM program. It’s a way to organize training, not a fixed routine.
Still, smart coaches like Bill Starr, Mark Rippetoe, and Andy Baker have spent years figuring out what works for their athletes and sharing it. This template is my attempt to package their thinking into something you can run and adjust.
How to Use this Spreadsheet
Why are there so many customization options? Just tell me what to do!
When making this spreadsheet I wanted the lifter to be able to use the flexibility of the HLM style.
If I just pumped out a static spreadsheet, it wouldn’t be very useful for people who want more control, since making changes would be hard.
If you just want to be told what to do, the spreadsheet starts with a “vanilla” HLM progression. It’ll be great for some people and not for others, but it works as a starting point for adjustments.
I tried to make changes easy and straightforward so you can play around with the programming style and see how it works best for you. You can learn a lot about programming for yourself by using this spreadsheet as a starting point. I’d also recommend picking up Practical Programming or reading through Andy Baker’s excellent articles (see list below) to get the most out of the spreadsheet’s flexibility.
Lifts + 1RM
You can choose any lifts you’d like to perform. Enter your selections on the “Input” tab.
You can also enter a corresponding 1RM if you’d like the weights to be calculated for you.
Heavy Percentage of 1RM
You can choose what % of your 1RM you’d like to use on the first training session of each phase’s heavy day.
For example, selecting 70% for squat means that on the first heavy training session, 70% of your 1RM will be used for the squat.
Medium and Light Offset Percentages
You can choose the % offset for your medium and light training sessions. This is relative to the heavy % you chose in the adjacent column.
For example, if your heavy % is 70% and your medium offset is 10%, then your medium training days will be 10% below your heavy day for the same week. So week 1 will have a medium % of 60% (70% minus 10%). The default value in Phase 1 is a 10% offset for medium training days.
The same logic is used for your light offset. The default value in Phase 1 is a 15% offset for light training days.
Weekly Progression
This is the % increase that will occur each week for the heavy training days.
As the medium and light loads are calculated from the heavy load, they climb at the same percentage each week.
Sets & Reps
The prescribed sets and reps are based on my interpretation of the Andy Baker article linked above. They aren’t gospel; they’re a starting point.
The one thing that isn’t flexible with this spreadsheet is that the training load is programmed as “sets across,” where the load is the same for every set. It doesn’t let you use a different load per set.
To edit set and rep counts, just overwrite them manually. Nothing fancy here.
Organizing H/L/M Days & Lifts
This is the default or “vanilla” HLM setup the spreadsheet starts with. Monday is the heavy day, Wednesday is the light day, and Friday is the medium day.
| Day | Squat | Bench Press | Deadlift | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday (heavy) | Heavy 5×5 | Heavy 5×5 | Medium 3×5 | – |
| Wednesday (light) | Light 3×5 | Light 3×5 | – | Medium 4×5 |
| Friday (medium) | Medium 4×5 | Medium 4×5 | Heavy 1×5 | – |
In this example, rows are medium instead of light because this Imaginary Athlete finds they prefer medium loads on rows. This Imaginary Athlete also doesn’t like heavy deadlifts and heavy squats on the same day, so heavy deadlifts moved to Friday. Heavy deadlifts are done for only 1 set, since more volume is too taxing on recovery for Monday’s heavy squats.
Maybe you differ from this Imaginary Athlete. That’s fine! Adjust as you see fit. Take out the light bench press and replace it with medium overhead press, do 3 sets of heavy deadlifts instead of 1, whatever fits how you train.
Phases
Phase 1
Phase 1 runs about six weeks (weeks 1 to 6). If you’re crushing your sets and still feeling fresh, you can repeat a week before moving on.
Phase 2
Phase 2 runs about three weeks (weeks 7 to 9). Like Phase 1, you can stretch it a bit if you’re recovering well.
It’s similar to Phase 1, except there’s slightly less volume on heavy days (3 sets instead of 5, still for 5 reps) and the weekly increases are halved to +1.25% each week.
The medium and light offsets are also bumped up here to give you more room to recover while keeping the set and rep counts the same. The defaults are a 15% medium offset and a 20% light offset for Phase 2.
As always, adjust these if you’d like.
Phase 3
Phase 3 typically lasts two weeks (weeks 10 to 11). Heavy days drop to 3 sets of 1 to 3 reps at 90% or more of your 1RM.
Final Week
Things get a little weird in the final week of training (week 12). Here you’ll see a decrease in the medium offset, down to about 10%, to push the intensity of the medium sets.
Andy expands on this below.
And on the final workout of the last heavy week prior to the deload, I will push their medium day pretty hard with multiple sets across in the 80-85% range. This can be a bit miserable, but it pays dividends in the end. We never fail reps, but during the last week or so the medium day gets “not so medium” and the program looks very much like a Texas Method template with one day dedicated to higher intensity singles and one day dedicated to high effort volume work.
– Andy Baker, “Structuring 12 Week Heavy Light Medium Programs”
When to Move to Next Phase
If it’s your first time running an HLM template, it’s probably a good idea not to extend each phase beyond its default length.
It’s also a good idea to cut a phase short if you’re starting to miss reps. You don’t want to be missing reps in training, period. If that happens, a few things could be going on.
- You started the program too heavy. Take 10% off your 1RMs and see if that helps.
- You’re not recovering properly (calories, protein, sleep).
- You have form issues that are hindering progress.
That’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good place to start.
Writing Your Own HLM Program
Managing Intensity & Volume Through INOL
I included an INOL calculator built into the spreadsheet (on the Calculators tab) to help you gauge whether the program you’ve devised is challenging enough.
Here’s the INOL cheat sheet. These are general guidelines you can use to gauge the feasibility of your training plans. You may respond a little differently to different INOL ranges for each lift (you might handle higher INOL on bench press while needing lower INOL for deadlifts). That’s for you to discover as you go.
INOL Values per Training Session
| INOL Value | Guideline |
|---|---|
| < 0.4 | Not enough stimulus |
| 0.4 - 1 | Good, recoverable |
| 1 - 2 | Good IF you're loading or accumulating volume |
| > 2 | Extremely difficult |
INOL Values per Week
| INOL Value | Guideline |
|---|---|
| < 2 | Good for recovery, deloading, off-season |
| 2 -3 | Recommended for loading phases |
| 3 - 4 | Lots of fatigue, can be run for short periods of time |
| > 4 | Not recommended |
Discuss HLM Programming Styles
If you want feedback on your HLM split or want to share your own, post it over on r/liftvault.
HLM Resources
- https://www.andybaker.com/structuring-12-week-heavy-light-medium-programs/
- https://www.andybaker.com/two-simple-hacks-for-heavy-light-medium-programming/
- https://www.andybaker.com/heavy-light-medium-16-faqs/
HLM Program FAQs
What is a Heavy, Light, Medium (HLM) program?
HLM is a way to organize your training so each lift gets a heavy, a medium, and a light session across three days a week. The heavy day pushes intensity, the light day keeps you moving and sharpens technique, and the medium day sits in between. Rotating the stress like this lets you train the same lifts often without grinding yourself into the ground.
How long does the HLM program last?
This template runs 12 weeks: six weeks of volume in Phase 1, three weeks in Phase 2 as the intensity climbs, two weeks of heavier low-rep work in Phase 3, and a final peak week. After week 12 you retest your maxes and start over with the new numbers.
Do I need to know my 1RM to use the spreadsheet?
It helps. Enter your 1RM for each lift on the Input tab and every load fills in automatically. If you don’t have a true 1RM, use the Epley estimator on the Calculators tab, or just enter a weight you can hit for the prescribed reps and adjust from there.
Can I customize the exercises and loads in the HLM template?
Yes, that’s the whole point of the template. You can pick which lifts go on which day and set the heavy starting %, the medium and light offsets, and the weekly increase for each phase on the Input tab. Overwrite the sets and reps if you want something different. The vanilla setup is just a starting point.
What is INOL and how do I use it?
INOL is a quick way to gauge how much work a session or a week adds up to. It’s total reps divided by (100 minus the intensity %). The Calculators tab has an INOL calculator and a cheat sheet of ranges, so you can check whether a week you’ve built for yourself is too easy, about right, or too much.
How does HLM compare to the Texas Method?
They’re cousins. The Texas Method runs a volume day, a light day, and an intensity day each week, and by the final week of this HLM template the medium day gets pushed hard enough that it starts to look the same. HLM is just more flexible about how you assign heavy, medium, and light across your lifts. If you want the stricter version, run the Texas Method instead.
