Free Programs and Spreadsheets
Lift Vault Market is now offering custom strength programs designed to help you crush your goals.
Recommended Reading: Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe (Amazon)
Strength training programs are designed to increase the maximal force of the athlete's musculature. While the routines emphasize growing the strength of the athlete, they generally will also induce hypertrophy and trigger muscle growth. This is part of what helps the athlete get stronger. If hypertrophy is the primary goal, a powerbuilding or bodybuilding program is a better fit.
Strength routines differ from powerlifting programs in that they are not specifically designed to maximize the single rep max of the competition power lifts. However, many strength programs can be reasonably used as off season work for powerlifters as long as the program is followed by a powerlifting peaking program before a meet.
Search the Lift Vault Program Library to find the exact program you're looking for based on many criteria (e.g. experience level, days per week, and much more).
The latest strength training programs are available below.
Many of the most popular programs on Lift Vault are now available on a free app!
Boostcamp lets you track progress, calculate weight/sets/reps, and discover new programs - all for free!
Doug Hepburn has become synonymous with brute force and sheer simplicity. This is reflected in his programs, which focus entirely on compound strength movements and do not explicitly recommend any direct accessory work.
Below there are essentially 2 programs, each with a power phase and a pump phase. In the old days, [Read more…]
Check out the spreadsheet for Brian Alsruhe’s 5/3/1 variant program, which is excellent for those looking for a powerbuilding training style.
Please watch Brian’s video to understand how the program works. [Read more…]
Below you fill find two programs by Brian Alsruhe (check out his YouTube channel and website): Dark Horse and 4 Horsemen.
Notes directly from Brian:
This is a variation of Tactical Barbell programming combined with the GZCL program framework. It only programs the bench press and squat movements. Deadlifts are not included. This is ideal for athletes that are either unable to deadlift or looking to focus primarily on improving their bench press and squat. [Read more…]
If you’re a fan of Frankenstein-esque hybrid programs, then Megazord may be exactly what you’re looking for. Written (or maybe concocted is a better word…) by /u/BenchPauper on Reddit, this program combines the Coan/Phillipi Deadlift Program, Greg Nuckols’s 2x weekly Intermediate Bench Program for OHP from his 28 Program Collection, and Ben Gillingham’s Raw Bench Program.
The results? Well, see for yourself…. [Read more…]
Established by Doug Hepburn as a powerbuilding routine that blends the heavy weight work of powerlifting training with the hypertrophy-inducing volume of bodybuilding training, PHATburn is a challenging program for advanced athletes. If you’re looking to introduce more volume into your off-season training, this may be what you’re looking for. [Read more…]
Combining GZCL for squats, Mag-Ort for deadlift, and Deathbench for bench press, this hybrid program became popularized on Reddit by /u/truthlesshunter. [Read more…]
Building the Monolith was created by Jim Wendler, who wrote the 5/3/1 programs and inspired other programs like GZCL and NSuns, Building the Monolith is designed for advanced athletes looking to break through plateaus, not novice or intermediate lifters. For a bench-focused variation of this program, check out Benching the Monolith.
[Read more…]Created by Jordan Feigenbaum and Austin Baraki at Barbell Medicine, the Bridge is a strength program designed for athletes that are finishing a novice program like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts 5×5 and are ready for a “bridge” to intermediate level programming. [Read more…]
While the Texas Method has long been a popular intermediate program for graduates of Rippetoe’s Starting Strength or other novice programs like Strong Lifts, a popular Texas Method variation to emerge has been the Cowboy Method.
Included here are the Original Cowboy Method and a Modified Cowboy Method. [Read more…]
Initially shared on Reddit’s /r/fitness community by /u/ivysaur, the Ivysaur 4-4-8 Beginner Program was designed to improve upon the foundation laid out by popular “sets of 5” novice lifting programs like Starting Strength and Strong Lifts. [Read more…]
nSuns 5/3/1 is a linear progression powerlifting program that was inspired by Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 strength program. It progresses on a weekly basis, making it well suited for late stage novice and early intermediate lifters. It is known for its challenging amount of volume. Those who stick with it tend to find great results from the additional work capacity.
Redditor /u/nsuns assembled a 5/3/1/ LP spreadsheet complete with 4, 5, and 6 day variants in addition to deadlift and squat specific workloads to help everyone get stronger.
Use the table of contents to jump to your desired spreadsheet or read on below to learn about which nSuns program you should run.
[Read more…]Whether it is run for the squat, deadlift, bench, or all three (known as the Extended Russian Power Routine), the Russian Squat Program (aka Russian Squat Routine or RSR) is a brutal peaking program that will help boost maximum strength when prepping for a meet.
Update: A new spreadsheet for this program is now available. It tracks 12 weeks at a time, progresses weight per workout automatically, and is easier to customize. It is linked below.
Push, Pull, Legs (PPL) routines offer a great template for achieving strength and physique goals while remaining flexible enough for the lifter’s preferences.
This flexibility can be a hindrance to less experienced lifters, who like the sound of a templated PPL routine but don’t know how to make one for themselves.
This issue has been resolved. Enter: /u/metallicadpa’s 6 day PPL program aka the Reddit PPL.
[Read more…]Short for Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower, PHUL blends power and size building principles for the athlete looking to get stronger and bigger. The PHUL program follows many of the principles of powerbuilding programming, but could also be considered a bodybuilding program.
[Read more…]Written by Bret Contreras, Strong Curves workout is a great program for novice and intermediate lifters looking to get stronger and, yes, have a better butt. The program’s greatest strength lies in its simplicity, making it a simple workout to follow and make progress quickly.
It has quickly become a staple within the strength training community and is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.
[Read more…]While men and women’s bodies respond in very similar ways to weight training (provided in the spreadsheet), the New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove also provides nutrition advice and descriptions of the exercises, which may be useful for novice lifters or those looking to refamiliarize themselves with the movements. [Read more…]
Based upon Juggernaut Training Systems and Chad Wesley Smith, the Juggernaut Method incorporates significant amounts of submaximal work to build work capacity in the lifter without [Read more…]
Popularized by Jason Blaha, Ice Cream Fitness is a solid novice strength program that incorporates more accessory work than similar programs (e.g. Starting Strength, Strong Lifts) helping the user get stronger and add size.
In 2019, Blaha released Ice Cream Fitness 2.0. It reduces working sets to 3 sets of 5 instead of 5 sets of 5 and reduces some of the exercise variety. The core goal of the program, helping novices rapidly gain strength and size, remains the same.
[Read more…]One of the most popular novice lifting programs, Starting Strength is a textbook (literally) strength program for beginner lifters to rapidly develop proficiency with basic compound movements and get stronger.
If you’re looking to start lifting and want something that works, this Google spreadsheet is a solid option. It is very similar to GreySkull LP and StrongLifts.
Graduates of the Starting Strength routine may be interested in Madcow or Texas Method.