The Lift Vault Workout Routine Database allows you to search through all free workout plans on Lift Vault using a variety of different filters.
It is the easiest way to find a workout routine on Lift Vault.
Example searches:
Here are two example searches to give you an idea of how to use the filters to find the workout plan you’re looking for.
You can click on the name of the search to see results.
- Recommended Beginner Programs
- Recommended by Lift Vault = Recommended
- Experience Level = Beginner
- 6 Day Intermediate Programs with 3x Bench PressÂ
- Days per Week = 6
- Experience Level = Intermediate
- Bench Press Frequency = 3
Pro Tip:Â The URL in your browser updates as you add filters. Bookmark or copy the URL to reference later or share with friends
If you think something is mislabeled or have a suggestion, please let me know.
Thanks!
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Tactical Barbell Program Spreadsheets (Operator, Zulu, Fighter, Mass & More)
This is a collection of templates for the Tactical Barbell program. Included are the Operator, Zulu, Fighter, Gladiator, Mass, and Grey Man templates – all in the same spreadsheet, with drop down menus and 1RM inputs for easy customization.
Tactical Barbell is K. Black’s strength system for people whose job demands more than lifting: military, law enforcement, fire fighters, and other first responders. Sessions are short and submaximal – you’ll work between 70% and 90% of your 1RM in 3 week waves – so you can keep training hard on the conditioning side without digging yourself into a recovery hole.
Most templates run 2 to 4 days per week on a 6 week cycle, so there’s a version for almost any schedule. If you want a minimalist strength base that leaves room for everything else in your life, it’s hard to beat. If a bigger squat or bench is your main goal, a dedicated program like 5/3/1 will get you there faster.
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Fierce 5 Workout Program
Fierce 5 is a 3-day-per-week full body program built for beginners. You train 3 non-consecutive days a week, usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and you alternate two full body workouts called A and B. Each session runs six exercises: three compound lifts plus a few accessories. It was put together by davisj3537 and shared on the Bodybuilding.com forums.
Progression is simple linear weight gain. You start light, and every week you hit all your reps you add a little weight to the bar. Fierce 5 leans more toward building muscle than a bare-bones strength routine, with extra rowing, face pulls, and arm work in the mix. If you like the idea of a beginner program but want a different 3-day option, the All Pro Simple Beginner Routine is a close cousin.
It’s a good pick for a beginner whose main goal is building muscle and looking better, while still getting stronger along the way. If your focus is maxing out your squat, bench, and deadlift, you’ll get more out of a dedicated strength program or powerlifting program. For most people getting started in the gym, though, Fierce 5 gives you plenty to work with.
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New Rules of Lifting for Women Workout Program Spreadsheet
New Rules of Lifting for Women is a 7-stage, full-body program from The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove. You train 3 days a week and alternate two workouts, an “A” workout and a “B” workout. Each session pairs compound lifts with core and single-leg work, and the whole program runs about 6 months.
Progression isn’t based on percentages of your 1RM. You pick a weight you can just finish for the sets and reps a stage calls for, and once you can complete every set at the top of the rep range, you add a little weight and start again at the bottom. The book also walks through exercise form and a nutrition plan, so it’s a full package if you’re newer to lifting or coming back to it.
It’s a good fit for beginner and intermediate women who want a structured full-body program with a diet plan built in. If you’re after a glute-focused routine, Strong Curves is worth a look, and if you want the simplest possible barbell start, StrongLifts 5×5 is a gentler on-ramp. If you’re chasing a percentage-driven powerlifting peak, you’ll want a different program.
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Extended Russian Power Routine Spreadsheet
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.
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Jeff Seid Workout Routine Spreadsheet
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.
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Candito 6 Week Advanced Bench Press Program Spreadsheet
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.
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Heavy, Light, Medium (HLM) Program Spreadsheet
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.
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Mag Ort Deadlift Program Spreadsheet
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.
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Dorian Yates Workout Routine [1987-1992] Spreadsheet
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.
(more…)RTS General Intermediate Program Spreadsheet – Mike Tuchscherer
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.
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Dan John 40 Day Program Spreadsheet (Even Easier Strength)
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.
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Starting Strength Routine Program Spreadsheet
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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Glenn Pendlay Beginner Olympic Weightlifting Program Spreadsheet
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.
Alan Thrall Program Spreadsheet – Untamed Method
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.
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Russian Squat Program + Routine Spreadsheet (Original and Masters Versions)
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.
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Westside for Skinny Bastards Program Templates (WS4SB)
Westside for Skinny Bastards (WS4SB) is Joe DeFranco’s hybrid, Westside-style program for skinny lifters and hard-gainers who want to add size and strength at the same time. It’s built around a primary heavy lift plus supplemental and accessory work, and DeFranco published it as two different templates: the original 3-day version (Part 1) and a later 4-day revision (Part 3). Pick the one that fits your schedule and how much you want to train.
The program borrows the Westside Barbell idea of rotating a max-effort lift and a repetition (higher-rep) lift, but it trims the conjugate method down into something a high schooler, athlete, or working professional can actually run. You train the upper body twice a week and hit the lower body hard, with the max-effort method building strength and the repetition method adding muscle. It’s a loose template, not a strict percentage-of-1RM plan, so you’ll rotate exercises every few weeks and do a little interpreting as you go.
WS4SB is geared toward ectomorphs and athletes who want general size and strength rather than a competition powerlifting total. If you’re brand new to lifting and want something simpler to start with, a straight linear program like Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5×5 is an easier on-ramp. Inspired by Westside, this program is not affiliated with Westside Barbell or Louie Simmons, and it is not a powerlifting program.
(more…)Thinner Leaner Stronger Workout Program Spreadsheets
Thinner Leaner Stronger is Michael Matthews’ strength and physique program for women, and the female counterpart to Bigger Leaner Stronger. It runs on 3-day or 4-day splits built around heavy compound work in the 4-6 rep range, with accessories in the 8-12 rep range. The training is organized into 8-week phases followed by a deload week, and the cycle repeats indefinitely as you progress.
The program’s core idea is that women build strength and shape the same way men do: progressive overload on the big lifts. Matthews pushes back on the “light weights for toning” myth. Each session starts with a primary compound lift (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, or hip thrust depending on the day), then moves into 3-4 accessory exercises. The 3-day version runs a push/pull/legs structure; the 4-day version splits into chest and triceps, back and biceps and glutes, shoulders, and legs.
TLS is a good fit for beginner to early intermediate women who want to get stronger and change their body composition. You do need access to a barbell and a rack. If you’re looking for a program that doesn’t require a full gym setup, Strong Curves is worth a look since it works well with dumbbells and a hip thrust setup. The full TLS book and bonus materials (including official Excel and Google Sheets versions) are available at legionathletics.com via Michael Matthews and Legion Athletics.
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Jonnie Candito Linear Program Spreadsheet
The Candito Linear Program is a free 4-day-per-week upper-lower program from Jonnie Candito. You run it with one of three emphasis variants — Control, Power, or Hypertrophy — that modify the secondary days while keeping the heavy days identical across all three. There’s also a 3-day-per-week version (Mon/Wed/Fri) built into the program. Progression is simple: add weight each week to the main lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) and run it until you stall.
The design keeps two heavy days constant every week (heavy lower on Monday, heavy upper on Tuesday — 3×6 squat/deadlift and 3×6 bench with back work). The two variation days are where you pick your emphasis. Control uses pause variations to build technique and time under tension. Power swaps the lower variation day for explosive work to develop fast-twitch fiber. Hypertrophy bumps the variation days to higher volume (5×8) for more muscle size. You pick one emphasis and run it. When you stall on a lift, drop 15 lbs and continue. After three resets, slow your progression to every two weeks.
This program is best for novice-to-early-intermediate lifters who know how to perform the main lifts safely and want a structured linear program with more variety than StrongLifts 5×5. If you’ve never touched a barbell, spend a few months learning the movements first. If you’ve already exhausted linear progression and stall fast, the Candito 6 Week Program is the natural next step.
(more…)Madcow 5×5 Program Spreadsheet (Intermediate + Advanced)
Madcow 5×5 is a free 3-day-per-week, full-body strength program built as a derivative of Bill Starr’s original 5×5 work. Each session ramps through progressively heavier sets of 5 on the squat, bench press, and row, finishing on a top set. Monday is your volume day, Wednesday is a lighter recovery day, and Friday is your heaviest day. Two versions are on this page: the Intermediate, which runs indefinitely with weekly linear jumps, and the Advanced, a fixed 9-week program with two distinct blocks.
The idea behind the program is simple: you ramp up to a top set, try to beat it the following week, and let Wednesday’s lighter session keep you fresh for Friday. Weekly progression keeps each jump small enough to sustain for months without burning out the way daily jumps eventually do. It’s closer in feel to Texas Method than to a straight beginner LP, but the bar math is less involved.
Madcow is the right move once you’ve stalled on session-to-session jumps from something like StrongLifts 5×5 or Starting Strength and you’re ready to move to weekly progress. Beginners still adding weight every workout should finish a beginner LP first. Lifters already managing training blocks or running percentage-based programs will likely find Madcow too conservative.
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10 Week Glute Hypertrophy Workout Program Spreadsheet
From Flap Jacks 2 Thick Stacks is a free 10-week glute hypertrophy program designed by Brendan Tietz. It runs 4 days per week on an upper-lower split, with each day assigned a distinct training goal: lower body overload, upper body overload, lower body hypertrophy, and upper body hypertrophy. The program runs in two 5-week blocks. Loading is calculated two ways: percentage of 1RM for the squat, bench, and deadlift, and reps in reserve (RIR) for accessories. You’ll need to know your 1RM (or a recent working max) before you start, since the spreadsheet auto-calculates your working weights once you enter it.
The idea behind the program is to build glute size without dropping full-body strength. Brendan programs squats, bench press, and overhead press twice per week alongside hip thrusts, lunges, and cable kickbacks, so you’re training glutes in context with compound movements rather than just isolation work. If you’ve run his beginner powerlifting program or his intermediate powerlifting program, this is a good next step if your goal has shifted toward glute development specifically.
This program is best for intermediate lifters who can train 4 days per week and already have solid form on the big lifts. It’s not a beginner program. The RIR prescriptions and percentage-based loading both assume you have a training history and know your way around the main movements. If you’re earlier in your training, Strong Curves is a better starting point for glute-focused training at a beginner-friendly level.
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