Deep Water is a high-volume strength program from strongman and pro wrestler Jon Andersen. It’s actually three separate 6-week programs run back to back – Beginner, then Intermediate, then Advanced – and each one is a complete 6-week, 5-day block (4 lifting days plus a recommended active recovery day). The whole thing is built around its infamous “100 reps in as few sets as possible” work for squat, deadlift, and push press, with the base level running 10×10 on the main lifts.
The idea behind Deep Water is to build strength and conditioning at the same time by burying you in volume. Andersen calls it training in “deep water” – you keep your head above the surface by getting fitter and stronger, week after week, as the program shortens your rest and tightens the sets. It’s closer to a brutal work-capacity builder than a peaking plan, which is why it shows up in the squat program and deadlift program collections, and why I’d file it under general strength training more than powerlifting.
Despite the name, the “Beginner” level is not a true-novice program. It assumes you already have roughly a year or more of barbell training and know your squat, deadlift, and press maxes. If you’re brand new to lifting, you’ll get more out of a real novice program first – the 10×10 volume here will flatten you otherwise. If you’ve got a base of training under you and you want your work capacity tested, Deep Water delivers.
Table of Contents
Deep Water at a glance
- Days per week: 5 (4 lifting days plus a recommended active recovery day)
- Duration: 6 weeks per level, 18 weeks total if you run all three in sequence
- Experience required: roughly 1+ year of barbell training, even for the “Beginner” level
- Session character: high-volume main-lift work (10×10 at the base), short rest periods, and plenty of accessory and conditioning work
- Best for: building work capacity and general strength, not peaking a 1RM
How the program progresses
The three levels aren’t phases of one plan. They’re three full programs, and the way you push harder changes at each one.
The Beginner level keeps the load and the 10×10 set scheme steady, and progresses you by cutting rest. You start with longer rest between sets and work your way down (roughly 4 minutes to 3 to 2 over the block), so the same weight gets harder as the weeks go on. The Intermediate level holds the same ~100-rep target on the main lifts but makes you hit it in fewer sets – 10×10 first, then under 9 sets, then under 8 – so each set carries more reps and less rest. It also adds a power-clean conditioning day on top. The Advanced level swaps the rep-chasing for a 5×5 protocol where you work up across sets and then come back down, grinding the last sets to failure. That’s the actual “deep water” sink-or-swim test the program is named for.
So the short version: Beginner trains the same volume with less and less rest, Intermediate packs the same volume into fewer, denser sets and adds conditioning, and Advanced drops the high-rep sets for heavy 5×5 work taken to failure. Each level is harder than the last, and you’re meant to earn your way up.
Deep Water program spreadsheet & review
The version in the spreadsheet is based on the free e-book Jon Andersen put out. It’s an “all in one” sheet because it holds the Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced versions of Deep Water together – just change the level on the drop-down menu on the “daily” and “weekly breakdown” tabs.
The “daily” and “weekly breakdown” tabs show the same information for whatever level, week, and day you pick. One lets you look at a single training day, the other at the whole training week.
If you’d like to read a review of the Deep Water beginner program, you can do so on /r/fitness.
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