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The 10 Best Strength Training Programs

A strength training program is built to make you stronger on the big barbell lifts: the squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. You'll still put on some muscle along the way, but the main thing being tracked is how much weight is on the bar.

Every program below comes with a free spreadsheet that works out your weights from your maxes. They're ordered roughly from beginner to advanced.

  1. StrongLifts 5x5: beginner, 3 days a week, two alternating workouts and 5 lb added every session
  2. GreySkull LP: beginner, 3 days a week, like StrongLifts but the last set is an AMRAP
  3. Ivysaur 4-4-8: beginner, 3 days a week, mixes heavy 4x4 work with 4x8 volume sets
  4. GZCLP: beginner to intermediate, 3 or 4 days a week, more volume per session than a 5x5
  5. nSuns 5/3/1: beginner to intermediate, 4 to 6 days a week, tons of volume and weekly progression
  6. Texas Method: intermediate, 3 days a week (volume, light, and PR day)
  7. Madcow 5x5: intermediate to advanced, 3 days a week, weekly PRs instead of every session
  8. Wendler 5/3/1: intermediate, 4 week cycles of slow, steady progress off a training max
  9. GZCL Method: beginner to intermediate, a whole family of programs (General Gainz, Jacked and Tan 2.0, The Rippler) built on the same tier system
  10. Building the Monolith: intermediate to advanced, 6 weeks, 3 days a week, a hard block of high-rep squatting and pressing

How to Pick a Strength Program

  • New to barbell training: run a simple linear progression like StrongLifts, GreySkull, or Ivysaur until you can't add weight every session anymore. That usually takes a few months.
  • Stalling on a beginner program: move to something that progresses weekly, like Texas Method, Madcow, or 5/3/1. More beginner and intermediate options are on the linear progression programs page.
  • Short on time: most of these run 3 days a week. Browse all 3 day workout plans, or the 4 day and 5 day plans if you have more time.
  • Training for a powerlifting meet: a strength program works fine in the off-season, but finish with a peaking program in the last 6 to 12 weeks before the meet. For more, see the powerlifting programs.
  • Mostly after size: a powerbuilding or bodybuilding program is a better fit.

You can also filter every program on the site by days per week, experience level, and length in the Lift Vault Program Library.

Recommended reading: Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe. It covers the thinking behind novice and intermediate programs like Starting Strength and Texas Method.

Other program types: Powerlifting Programs, Powerbuilding Programs, Bodybuilding Programs, Hypertrophy Programs

StrongLifts 5×5 Workout Program Spreadsheet

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Recommended by Lift Vault:
Experience level:
Weeks:
Periodization:
Meet prep program:
Program goal:
Uses RPE:
Uses 1RM Percentage(%):

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StrongLifts 5×5 is a 3-day-per-week beginner strength program built around two alternating workouts. Workout A is squat, bench press, and barbell row. Workout B is squat, overhead press, and deadlift. You train each one 3 times every two weeks, always squatting, adding 5 lb to the bar each session. Mehdi at stronglifts.com based it on Bill Starr’s 5×5 from the 1970s.

The idea is pure linear progression: no percentages, no wave loading, no periodization. You just add weight every single session until you can’t anymore. That simplicity is the whole point. Every session you squat, which is what drives the strength base. It’s the easiest possible novice program to follow, by design.

StrongLifts is for true beginners or people coming back after a long layoff. If you’ve been lifting consistently for more than 6 months, you’ll probably stall faster than the program expects, and something like Starting Strength or GZCLP may serve you better. Both the lb and kg versions of the spreadsheet are below.

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