Fitness & Nutrition Resources

The Extended Russian Power Routine is a 9 week peaking program that runs 3 days a week on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. Each week you train squat and bench press twice and deadlift once. One lift is light and one is heavy on each pressing day: light squat with heavy bench on Monday, heavy deadlift on Wednesday, then heavy squat with light bench on Friday.

It’s an extended version of the Russian Squat Routine, worked up to peak all three competition lifts. The base routine runs 6 weeks and focuses on one lift; stretching it to 9 weeks gives you room to recover while squatting, benching, and deadlifting heavy in the same week. The first 4 weeks build volume at 80%, then the reps drop and the weight climbs each week up to 105% by week 9.

This one’s for experienced lifters who already have a base and want to peak for a meet. Running squat, bench, and deadlift all at high intensity in the same week is demanding on recovery, so it’s a lot to ask of a newer lifter. If that’s you, start with the plain 6 week Russian Squat Routine and come back to this once you’ve run a few cycles.

Program Type: 9 Week Programs, Peaking Program, Powerlifting Program, Programs
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Last Modified: August 3, 2026

The Infinite Off Season program from Kizen Training is a 5-week powerlifting off-season block you can run over and over. You train 4 days a week, one main lift per day (squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press), and every main-lift session is a few straight sets of 5 plus one AMRAP top set. Squat, bench, and deadlift each get a second, lighter variation day, so the big three are trained twice a week.

It’s built around submaximal work and autoregulation. You start at 70% of your 1RM and climb to 80% over the five weeks, and the AMRAP set on each main lift decides what happens next: hit 8 or more reps and next week goes up 2.5%, 5 to 7 reps holds the weight, 4 or fewer drops it 2.5%. The goal is to add strength and work capacity between meets without grinding at true maxes.

It’s aimed at intermediate powerlifters who want a low-stress block between competition cycles. The percentages stay light on purpose, so stronger lifters may find the early weeks almost too easy (one reviewer routinely hit 15 or more reps on the first AMRAP sets). If you want heavier top-end work, look at the Kizen Powerbuilding preview or a dedicated peaking program instead. Infinite Off Season is deliberately a base-building block.

Program Type: 4 Week Programs, Powerlifting Program, Programs
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Last Modified: August 2, 2026

Jeff Seid’s workout routine is a 5 to 6 day bodybuilding split that trains one muscle group per day. You hit chest and calves on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, arms and calves on Thursday, and shoulders on Friday. Saturday is an optional day for a lagging body part, and Sunday is rest.

It’s a high-volume aesthetics program built around hypertrophy rep ranges, mostly sets of 8 to 12 with some higher-rep calf and shrug work. There’s no percentage-based progression here. Jeff trains by feel, so you push the weight or reps up when a set starts to feel easy and track your tonnage week to week.

This one’s for lifters chasing size and a classic physique who can commit to training 5 or 6 days a week. If you’re a beginner, or you’re mainly after a bigger 1RM, you’ll get more out of a program with built-in strength progression. It also carries high training volume, so make sure your recovery can keep up.

Program Type: 6 Week Programs, Bodybuilding Program, Programs
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Last Modified: July 31, 2026

Jonnie Candito’s Advanced Bench Program is a free 6-week bench specialization built for lifters who’ve stalled on the competition bench. You bench up to 5 days a week for the first 3 weeks, then drop to just 2 sessions a week for weeks 4 through 6. Each bench day pairs the flat bench with one primary press accessory and a couple of high-rep isolation lifts, and the loads run off your current 1RM early in the cycle, then off your goal max once you reach the peaking weeks.

Candito built this after a full year of stalled bench progress and nagging shoulder pain. He scrapped the “just bench more to bench more” approach and leaned on heavy barbell accessories, an RPE-based effort target on those accessories, and a much shorter taper than he runs on squat or deadlift. It’s the bench companion to his advanced squat program and advanced deadlift program, the same one-lift-at-a-time idea applied to the press.

This one is for advanced lifters, meaning your bench isn’t moving month to month anymore. If you’re still adding weight every few weeks, you’ll get more out of the Candito 6 Week Strength Program or the beginner-focused Candito Linear Program. There’s also a hybrid version that runs this bench work alongside the 6 Week Strength Program’s squat and deadlift.

Program Type: 6 Week Bench Press Programs, 6 Week Programs, Bench Press Workout Program, Lift Specific Program, Peaking Program, Powerlifting Program, Programs
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Last Modified: July 29, 2026

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.

Program Type: 12 Week Programs, Powerlifting Program, Programs, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 28, 2026

This Chinese Olympic weightlifting program is a 3 day, 4 week peaking block that runs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It was originally written for school-aged lifters who could only train 3 days per week, so it fits the snatch and clean & jerk plus all the supporting pulls, squats, and presses into three sessions. The block builds toward a peak at the end of the month.

It follows the classic Chinese high-intensity method: you train heavy often and aim to peak roughly once a month. That shows up in the loading, including the documented spots where the program calls for “100% or more” of a lift’s 1RM. Since you can’t actually grind multiple reps at a true max, the sheet keeps that prescription as written and pairs it with the practical “OR 5×3 @ 85%” approach so you have something you can actually load and hit.

It’s a good fit if you’re an intermediate or more advanced Olympic lifter who’s short on training days and wants a focused peaking block rather than a full year-round plan. If you want a longer Olympic lifting program to build base work first, check out the Torokhtiy 13 Week 3 Day Olympic Weightlifting Program, then come back to this block when you’re ready to peak.

Program Overview

• 4 week peaking mesocycle
• 3 training days per week
• Trains a variety lifts, but is designed to peak the snatch and clean & jerk
• Trained lifts include the snatch, clean & jerk, power snatch, power clean, snatch pull, clean pull, deadlift, Romanian deadlift, back squat, front squat, hang snatch, push press, and press.

Program Type: 4 Week Programs, Olympic Weightlifting Programs, Programs
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Last Modified: July 26, 2026

Prison workouts are typically bodyweight workouts that can be performed using no equipment and minimal space. In this way, they are also great to use as hotel workouts, home workouts, and other areas with limited room to move around. (more…)

Program Type: Bodyweight Workout Programs, Programs
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Last Modified: July 26, 2026

The Magnusson Ortmayer (Mag/Ort) deadlift program is a brutal deadlift-only program that has helped tons of lifters add serious weight to their deadlift. If you’re looking to build out your work capacity for deadlifts, this is a great option. This is either an 11 or 12 week deadlift program depending upon if you desire to test your maxes on week 12.

Mag Ort packs the week’s deadlift work into one heavy session instead of spreading it across multiple days. Each week runs 4 sets of 4 at 70%, two heavy doubles at 80% and 90%, then a back-off set at 70% for 8 or more reps. Hit that rep target and you add 10 lbs to your working numbers the following week. Miss it and you repeat the week instead of moving on.

This program is built for lifters who already have solid deadlift technique and want to specialize on the pull for 11 to 12 weeks. It works best if you can recover from frequent near-max doubles, since the 80% and 90% work shows up every week. If you’re newer to lifting or your squat and bench need attention too, a program with more balanced volume across all three lifts, like GZCLP, will serve you better than a deadlift-only block.

Program Type: 12 Week Deadlift Programs, 12 Week Programs, Lift Specific Program, Powerlifting Program, Programs
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Last Modified: July 24, 2026

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. (more…)

Program Type: Programs, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 23, 2026

The Dorian Yates 1987-1992 workout routine is an advanced bodybuilding split built around a single rotating sequence of 4 training days: Chest/Biceps/Triceps, Legs/Calves (Heavy), Back/Shoulders, and Legs/Calves (Light). After warm-ups, every exercise is taken for 2 working sets to failure. Dorian Yates, the six-time Mr. Olympia who reshaped the sport in the early 1990s, ran this exact structure during the build toward his first Olympia title and treated each working set as a true all-out effort.

This is the earlier version of Yates’ training, and the distinction matters. From 1987 to 1992 he performed 2 working sets to failure per exercise, often finishing the second set with a drop set or forced reps. His later training style (i.e. Blood n Guts style training) used just 1 intense working set per exercise. The routine on this page is the 2-set era, not the single-set Blood and Guts era. The intensity is the same brutal train-past-failure approach that defined Yates, but the working-set volume is higher.

This routine is built for advanced bodybuilders who are comfortable training to failure and recovering from it. The volume is low on paper but the effort per set is maximal, so it rewards lifters who can push genuine all-out sets and manage the recovery that follows. If you want a more conventional bodybuilding split, see the PHAT workout routine or the PHUL workout routine before committing to this one.

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Last Modified: July 20, 2026

The RTS General Intermediate Program is a free 9-week powerlifting program from Mike Tuchscherer and Reactive Training Systems (RTS), the coaches behind some of the strongest raw lifters in the sport. It runs four training days a week early on and drops to three days later in the cycle. Every session pairs a competition-style main lift with variations and accessories, and each lift is prescribed as a number of reps at a target RPE rather than a fixed percentage of your max.

The whole thing is autoregulated. Instead of grinding a fixed percentage on a bad day, you work up to a top set at the prescribed reps and RPE, then use RTS fatigue percents to add your working volume. You drop the bar by a set percentage and keep doing sets until the RPE climbs to target. It’s the same idea RTS built its reputation on, and it’s a different animal from a straight percentage block like GZCLP.

This is a loose template, not a polished beginner program. It’s built for intermediate lifters who already rate RPE well and understand fatigue percents. If you’re still learning to gauge RPE or you want something more scripted, run a percentage-based program first and come back to this one. For a similar 9-week RPE-driven peak that’s laid out a bit more cleanly, see the TSA 9 Week Intermediate Program.

Program Type: 9 Week Programs, Powerlifting Program, Programs
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Last Modified: July 16, 2026

Most strongman programs assume you already compete or already own a yard full of implements. This one doesn’t. Barbell Medicine, run by Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum and Dr. Austin Baraki, put out a free six-week template that eases you into strongman training with mostly barbell work and a few simple events.

You train three days a week. Each day pairs a main barbell lift with a press, then finishes with one event: a carry, weighted pull-up holds, or stone and sandbag loading. The barbell work runs on RPE, so you push hard enough without grinding yourself into the ground.

This one’s aimed at beginners and early intermediates who want to try strongman without buying a yard of gear. You only need a barbell, plates, and one event implement, like a sandbag, a few stones, or a sled if you don’t have a yoke or farmers handles yet.

Be clear on what this is. It’s a free six-week on-ramp, not the full program. Barbell Medicine also sells a longer paid Strongman Template that runs more volume across four to five days, and this template is a good way to test the water before you commit to that.

Program Type: 6 Week Programs, Programs, Strongman Programs
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Last Modified: July 16, 2026

The Dan John 40 Day Program runs for 40 workouts, ideally five days a week, so about eight weeks start to finish. You do the same five movements every session: a push, a pull, a hinge, a squat, and a loaded carry. Most days are just two easy sets of five, and only a handful of wave days mix in a 5-3-2, six singles, or a light set of ten.

This is Dan John’s Even Easier Strength, his free write-up of the Easy Strength method he built with Pavel Tsatsouline. The idea is to treat strength like a skill: train it often, keep the weights light, never miss a rep, and never grind. You add load only when the bar starts to feel light, so you finish each session feeling better than when you walked in.

It’s a good fit if you’re busy or in-season and want to hold or slowly build strength without the fatigue of a hard program. If you’re after size or a peak for a meet, skip it and run something like Dan John’s Mass Made Simple instead. The light, never-grind setup here is built for clean practice, not max effort.

Program Type: 8 Week Programs, Programs, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 16, 2026

The Cube Method is a 10-week powerlifting program from Brandon Lilly, built around the squat, bench, and deadlift. You train four days a week: one day each for the big three, plus a fourth bodybuilding day for your weak points. Each main lift gets worked once a week, and week to week it rotates through a heavy day, an explosive day, and a rep day so you’re never grinding the same style twice in a row.

The cycle runs as three 3-week waves and finishes with a meet week where you test new maxes. Every load is figured as a percentage of your 1RM, and the loads climb wave over wave while the reps drop.

Lilly wrote the program, in his words, “out of my absolute frustration with my training, myself, and the sport of powerlifting.” It’s a back-to-basics answer to overcomplicated programming. Instead of chasing one quality at a time, the Cube develops heavy strength, bar speed, and rep volume together and rotates them so each lift sees all three. If you’ve run Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 or the Juggernaut Method, the wave idea will feel familiar. The Cube just spreads the three styles across your lifts each week instead of moving every lift through the same block together.

It’s built for intermediate and advanced lifters who already have a solid 1RM and a meet or a test day on the calendar. The percentages run high, so you need real numbers to work from. If you’re newer and still adding weight to the bar most weeks, you’ll get more out of a linear program like GZCLP first, then come back to the Cube once that stalls.

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Last Modified: July 15, 2026

Starting Strength is Mark Rippetoe’s beginner barbell program, and it’s about as proven as a novice routine gets. You train 3 days a week on non-consecutive days, alternating two full-body workouts (A and B) built around five lifts: the squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, and power clean. Every session is a handful of heavy sets on the big compounds. You squat every time you train, and you add weight every session you make all your reps.

The idea is dead simple: a brand-new lifter can add weight to the bar every single workout for months, so the program never wastes that window on fancy periodization. It’s a straight linear progression, the same family as GreySkull LP and StrongLifts. What sets Starting Strength apart is the coaching. Rippetoe’s book breaks down each lift in more detail than just about any other source, so you learn to move well while you get strong.

This one is for true beginners, or for anyone coming back after a long layoff who can still add weight session to session. If you’re already an intermediate lifter and the weights stopped jumping every workout a while ago, you’ll get more out of an intermediate routine like Madcow or the Texas Method. If you’re brand new and not sure where to start, this or one of the other beginner programs is a great first step.

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Last Modified: July 14, 2026

5/3/1 BBB for bodybuilding is a hypertrophy-focused interpretation of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 Boring But Big. It runs a 7-week cycle (two 5/3/1 waves plus a deload) across 4 training days per week. The twist that sets it apart: leg extensions and leg curls run as the main 5/3/1 lift, the squat and deadlift get demoted to supplemental slots, and you stack 5 supplemental movements at 5×10 behind every main lift. Every exercise is swappable through dropdown menus in the sheet.

It’s a high-volume bodybuilding spin on Wendler’s Boring But Big. Instead of squatting and deadlifting heavy off the 5/3/1 percentages, you push the legs with isolation work on the main slot and chase size with a wall of 5×10 accessory volume. The GriefandHoz deviations are deliberate: leg-ext/leg-curl as the main lift (the creator’s personal preference, not a Wendler prescription), 5 supplemental movements instead of 2, and the BBB 5×10 rep scheme on everything. The author describes it as a “bastardization of BBB which is a leader, with the accessory volume of an anchor.”

This one’s for lifters who like the 5/3/1 structure but want it aimed at size, not a 1RM. You should be comfortable customizing a template, because the default exercise selection reflects one person’s preferences and you’ll likely want to tweak it. If you’d rather keep squat/bench/deadlift/OHP as your main lifts, you can swap them back in a couple of clicks. Newer lifters are better served by a leaner program first, since the accessory volume here runs well past what most beginners can recover from.

Program Type: 7 Week Programs, Bodybuilding Program, Programs
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Last Modified: July 14, 2026

This is an Olympic weightlifting program outline for beginners. It was originally published by Glenn Pendlay in 2010 on his blog, which is now defunct. The article and program template have been reproduced here for archival purposes.

I also have created an accompanying spreadsheet that can be used to follow along with the program.

Program Overview

• This program is for beginner Olympic weightlifters only.
  • The progression will be too rapid for more developed lifters to continually make progress.
• The program consists of week A and week B training cycles, which can be repeated as long as the lifter is making progress.
• Each training week is comprised of three training sessions.
• These training sessions can be organized however you’d like, as long as recovery is adequate. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is one logical sequence.
  • Other variations would likely work too. The most important question is if you feel recovered heading into each training session and are able to continually add weight on the bar. The answer to both should be “yes.” If not, sleep and nutrition should be assessed. Else, if the athlete has been running the program for several months, they may have exhausted this rapid linear progression and should move to another program with slower progression.
• Each training session consists of a snatching exercise, a clean & jerk exercise, a squatting movement, and at least one “complex.”
  • A complex is several exercises performed sequentially, in a circuit, with minimal rest in between exercises.
  • Complexes can include plyometric exercises like box jumps or long jumps, ab exercises, lower back exercises (e.g. reverse hyperextensions, back extensions, planks), and conditioning work like high rep kettlebell snatches or swings. Prehab work like shoulder dislocations or band pull-aparts can work too.

Program Type: Olympic Weightlifting Programs, Programs
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Last Modified: July 14, 2026

The Untamed Method is a free 12-week powerlifting program that Barbell Medicine wrote for Alan Thrall of Untamed Strength. You train four days a week, and every day pairs the competition lifts (squat, bench, and deadlift) with a variation lift, a myo-rep pump slot, and some easy conditioning work. Loads run off RPE and your estimated 1RM, with percentage back-off sets on the main lifts.

The whole point was to keep Thrall progressing on very little. Dr. Austin Baraki built it while Alan was dealing with a newborn, so it is designed around short sleep, little free time, and compromised recovery. That is why it leans so hard on autoregulation: you push when you feel good and back off when you do not, using RPE to pick the weight instead of grinding a fixed number. It is the same block-periodized, RPE-first approach you will see in The Bridge and Barbell Medicine’s peaking templates, and if you are still getting comfortable rating your sets, the RPE calculator does the reps-to-percentage math for you.

It fits intermediate lifters who already know their way around RPE and want structure without a rigid percentage grind. Beginners can run it, but you will get more out of a simple linear program first, and if you are pointing at a meet you may prefer a dedicated peak like Calgary Barbell. If you have the four days and you are comfortable auto-regulating, it is a low-stress way to keep the big three moving when life is busy.

Program Type: 12 Week Programs, Powerlifting Program, Programs, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 13, 2026

Building the Monolith is a 6-week strength and size program from Jim Wendler, the creator of 5/3/1. You train 3 days a week, and every session pairs a heavy lower body lift with a press and a pull. Loads run off a training max set at 85% of your true 1RM, which keeps the high-rep work like 5×5 squats and 10×5 pressing hard but doable.

It’s a brute-force plateau breaker. Standard 5/3/1 runs slow monthly waves; Building the Monolith front-loads a huge amount of squatting and pressing over six hard weeks to pack on muscle and work capacity fast. You can see its DNA in later high-volume templates like GZCL and nSuns. Wendler wrote it for lifters who had stalled and wanted a short, punishing block to shake things loose.

This one’s built for advanced lifters trying to break a plateau. You need a solid strength base and the recovery to handle the volume while eating and sleeping to match. If you’re a novice or still adding weight every week on a linear program, you’ll get more out of standard 5/3/1 for now. For a bench-focused take on the same idea, check out Benching the Monolith.

Program Type: 6 Week Programs, Powerlifting Program, Programs, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 13, 2026

The Russian Squat Program (aka the Russian Squat Routine, or RSR) is a squat-focused peaking program that comes in two versions attached here. The original runs 6 weeks with 3 training sessions per week; the masters version runs 8 weeks with 2 sessions per week to bring the intensity down for older lifters. Every session is built around one main lift for lots of sets of low reps at 80% or more of your 1RM, and the loads climb toward a new max in the final week. Finish the 6-week cycle and you can typically expect a 5-10% bump on your 1RM.

It’s a classic Soviet-style squat cycle, run to peak your strength right before a meet. It comes out of the same tradition as the USSR 1974 and 1976 Yearbook Squat Routines and the Soviet 6 Week Peaking Program. You can run it for the squat, deadlift, bench, or all three at once. That combined version is the Extended Russian Power Routine.

This one is aimed at experienced lifters with a solid squat base who are peaking for a meet. The original version keeps you at or above 80% the whole way, so it’s demanding on recovery. Older lifters, or anyone who can’t recover from three heavy squat days a week, should run the masters version, which mixes in lighter 60% to 70% work to soften the average intensity. If you’re still building your base, start with a linear program first.

Program Type: 6 Week Programs, 6 Week Squat Programs, 8 Week Programs, 8 Week Squat Programs, Lift Specific Program, Peaking Program, Powerlifting Program, Programs, Squat Program, Strength Training Program
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Last Modified: July 13, 2026