Simple Jack’d is a blend of the Bulgarian Method and the Smolov base cycle: one focus lift you hit every session at 85%, plus three supplemental variations rotating through fixed rep targets. It’s a one week block rather than a fixed-length program, so you keep running it until progress stops. Four to six sessions a week.
The Bulgarian half is the focus lift: 3 to 6 reps at 85%, in as many sets as you like, every single session. The Smolov half is the supplemental work, where each variation gets a set rep total at a given intensity and climbs 2.5% once you’ve completed its cycle. Every lift progresses on its own clock depending on how often you train it.
Note: there are two versions below and you probably want v2.0. The creator considers it the better program, and it fixes the main complaint about the original, which asked for 40 reps per supplemental session regardless of how heavy that session was.
Simple Jack’d is a modified blend of the Bulgarian Method and the Smolov base cycle. It’s essentially a flexible one week volume accumulation block that can be run indefinitely for powerlifting and general strength goals.
It was shared on /r/weightroom, along with a review, by /u/SumoDadlifts. Thank you!
Preface
Just about every aspect of this program is flexible.
If you’re someone who is not comfortable making some decisions for yourself, like whether you should set your training max at 85% or 90%, whether you should train 4 days per week or 5 days per week, or how to program accessories, that’s totally fine. But in that case, this is not the program for you.
If you’re comfortable with those types of decisions or are willing to try to figure things out for yourself (an excellent trait in training and most areas of life!) then please keep reading.
Program Overview
This is the program overview for Simple Jack’d v1.0 – 90% of it also applies to Simple Jack’d 2x (aka v2.0), but please read the key differences noted by the spreadsheet link.
General Background
- 4-6 training sessions per week
- Bulgarian style training tends to call for six training days per week (I’m sure there are exceptions, but that’s how many popular variations are structured) and the program creator advised “no fewer than 4 days per week” for training.
- Lifts are in two categories: focus lifts and variation lifts (i.e. supplemental lifts).
- The focus lift is selected in step 4 and the supplemental variation lifts are selected in step 5.
- You have complete control over deciding what your focus lift and supplemental lifts will be.
Focus Lift
- You have one focus lift, which you will hit each training sessions for 3 to 6 reps @ 85% – this can be in as many sets as you wish. This is the “Bulgarian” portion of the program.
- After training the focus lift for 4 to 8 days, the training max (TM) can be increased by 2.5%.
Supplemental Variation Lifts
- You will be training three supplemental variation lifts at a time (hinge, press, squat), training one per session.
- When a supplemental lift is trained, it will have 40 reps completed during that session. The intensity will either be 70%, 75%, 80%, or 85% depending on which day in that lift’s cycle it is. The number of sets does not matter, but should generally be as few as possible given how you feel that day.
- This is where the Smolov influence appears in the program.
- You do not have to train the supplement lifts with even frequency.
- For example, you will likely train pressing movements more frequently than hinge movements. This is up to you.
- After training a supplemental lift for 4 days (1 cycle), the training max (TM) can be increased by 2.5%.
- Each supplemental lift should be trained for a minimum of 8 sessions (2 cycles) before being switched out for a new supplemental lift. If you want to keep going after 2 cycles, that is fine.
- Every lift progresses independently from the others depending on how frequently you train it.
Spreadsheet
Original Simple Jack’d v1.0
- You can mark each white box with an “x” to help keep track of which training days you have completed for each lift.
- If you don’t like the lift variations preselected in step 2, you can overwrite them.
- Set your own 1RM values, obviously. 🙂 Use the calculator provided if needed.
Simple Jack’d 2x (v2.0)
This is a revised version of Simple Jack’d, initially shared in February 2021 by /u/SumoDadlifts on /r/weightroom.
Version 2.0 makes two changes:
- There are two focus lifts per training session instead of one. The focus lift is the lift with a daily minimum rep count, which can be performed in any number of sets. Focus lifts are performed every training session.
- You no longer perform 40 reps for every supplement lift training session. Instead of requiring 40 reps for each supplement lift training session, regardless of whether this is at 70%, 75%, 80%, or 85% intensity (the original Simple Jack’d program), the rep count decreases as the intensity increases. Now you are asked to do 40 reps at 70%, 30 reps at 75%, 20 reps at 80%, and 10 reps at 85%.
Simple Jack’d FAQs
Which version should I run?
v2.0. The creator says so and the change makes sense: the original asked for 40 reps at every intensity, so a session at 85% carried the same volume as one at 70%. v2.0 scales it down as the weight goes up, 40 reps at 70% through to 10 at 85%. Run v1.0 only if you specifically want that flat volume.
How long does one run last?
As long as it keeps working. There’s no end date built in. Each supplemental lift wants a minimum of 8 sessions before you swap it, and the training maxes climb 2.5% per completed cycle, so the natural stopping point is when the focus lift stops moving at 85%.
Is this a beginner program?
No, and not because the training is advanced. It’s because almost every decision is yours: training max, session count, accessory selection, which lifts to rotate in. If you want a sheet that tells you what to do, this will frustrate you. Something like GZCLP gives a beginner more structure.
Can I squat heavy every session at 85%?
That’s the bet Bulgarian-style training makes, and the answer depends on the lifter. Set the training max low enough that 85% is genuinely a 3 to 6 rep weight on a bad day, not a good one. If you pick a focus lift and find you’re missing reps by day three, your training max is too high rather than the program being wrong.
What counts as a supplemental variation?
One hinge, one press, one squat, trained one per session. The spreadsheet preselects a set but you can overwrite them. Keep each one for at least two cycles so you can tell whether it’s doing anything.
Updates
- Added a proper intro explaining what the Bulgarian and Smolov halves each contribute, which previously required reading down to the Program Overview to work out. The v2.0 recommendation moved out of a dated changelog note at the top and into the intro and FAQs, where people will actually see it. Added FAQs. Programming details are unchanged.
- May 2020: added the Simple Jack’d 2x spreadsheet.
