PROGRAMMING
BASICS
A simple guide to understanding how to
program for muscle growth
Ben Yanes
At some point or another, you’ve probably
asked (yourself or someone you find competent
as a coach) “what’s the best split?”. You’ll soon
come to understand - if you don’t already - that
this is an impossible question to answer
without understanding the context of the
individual who's asking. This E-Book will give
you the tools to be able to answer that question
yourself and it will also give you the guidance
and perspective to understand that the “best
split” is going to be different depending on who
you are, what your life is like, what your
personal preferences are, and how that can all
change over the course of a training career.
Programming for bodybuilding (also referred to
as hypertrophy programming) is as complex or
as simple as you want to make it. Very little
long-term research surrounds the topic, which
means that many of the programming
strategies we use successfully come from trial
and error. Some may claim absolute authority
in their programming strategies and be
dogmatic about their approach, but if you’ve
had any skin in this game for any length of time,
you probably realize that most of these kinds of
people are totally full of shit.
One could spend hours talking about what the
difference between doing 8 reps and 12 reps is
and speculate about how that may change an
outcome (or how it might not), or you could
pick 8 just because you like it and it takes less
time. The goal of this E-Book isn’t to dive so
deeply into the weeds that there’s no practical
takeaway about what you should do and why,
but rather to give a general overview of basic
programming principles and to leave you with
information that you can apply immediately to
your own workouts (and to those of your clients
if you’re a strength coach, bodybuilding coach,
or personal trainer).
The three major variables we can control when
designing a hypertrophy program are volume,
intensity and frequency.
Volume refers to the total number of hard sets
that an individual does within a specific
timeframe. Some define this differently, but
this is my definition. People sometimes
quantify volume through hard reps and total
tonnage, but I think it’s easiest and most
effective to use hard sets as a guidepost for a
number of reasons that we’ll cover in a later
section.
Intensity refers to the effort of each individual
set - not from a "damn bro, you were shouting
and screaming during that set and looked like
you were in pain!" standpoint, but from an
actual objective perspective on how many reps
left in the tank you have after each set is
completed. We’ll talk more about intensity
later, but for now, just remember that I’m
referring to intensity not in terms of weight or
perceived effort, but proximity to failure during
a set (i.e. did I have any reps in reserve [RIR]
after the set? Or 1-2 more left [RIR 1-2]?).
Frequency refers to the amount of exposures
within a specific timeframe you train a
muscle/muscle group with a given intensity and
volume. In other words, when people say "I do
push, pull, legs as my split, 2x a week", they’re
basically saying they train every muscle group
with a frequency of 2x/week or 8x/month.
Volume, intensity and frequency are variables
that affect the magnitude of each other,
meaning that they’re all different pieces to the
same puzzle. These variables do not (and
cannot) exist as isolated in a vacuum from one
another. If the intensity of your total sets goes
up (to a significant degree), it’s likely that your
volume will go down. If your volume lowers by
50%, it’s likely that the sets you’re doing should
be harder because you don’t have as many of
them to contribute to the net stimulus for a
muscle group.
While volume, intensity and frequency are the
major players of program creation, other
variables such as your nutrition, sleep, exercise
selection, exercise execution and exercise order
are all important as well. It’s important to
remember that, even in the context of a
picture-perfect program, an athlete will fail to
progress if they do not have a high enough
degree of quality in these non-programmingrelated areas. For example: if an athlete has the
perfect program, exercise selection and
execution, but isn’t eating enough, sleeping
enough, or both, it’s highly likely that that
athlete will fail to see optimal progress in
the timeframe they expect to. While I feel this is
an important caveat to make, I won’t be talking
much in-depth about these other variables
from here on. If you’d like other resources on
those topics, send me a DM on Instagram and
I’ll do my best to direct you more specifically!
Now that we know that volume is the amount
that you need to do, intensity is the effort that
you use across your sets, and frequency is how
many exposures per time period (usually a
week) you train a muscle group, how should
YOU go about programming for yourself and for
your clients?
The first question that needs to be answered –
that most seem to forget about entirely – is
how many days CAN I (or my client) train per
week? We’re all looking for the perfect split, but
what if that split required 10 hours a week in
the gym? Would that be practical or enjoyable
for you? There are limitations that may differ
for every individual and it’s important that we
take that into account when beginning this
process.
For example, if you’re someone that works 1012 hour work days (I’ve had countless clients
like this and still do), does it seem reasonable
that they should do a 6-day-split program and
lift for 2-3 hours on each of those days? Most
likely not. Would it seem reasonable for that
individual to train 3-4x/week with sessions that
are closer to 60-90 minutes? That’s starting to
seem more realistic.
Regardless of where you are in your training
career, this is the first question you should ask
– how many days a week can I or am I willing to
go to the gym, and how much time on each of
those days will I have to be able to get my
workout done, consistently?
My first piece of advice would be to err on the
side of being overly conservative with your
guess, meaning that you should pick the
number of days and hours that you KNOW for a
fact that you can commit to. If you’re 80% sure
that you can get to the gym 5 days per week,
but you’re 100% sure that you can get to the
gym 4 days per week, choose to start out with a
4 day split option - at least to begin with – so
that you can program in a way that allows you
to train every muscle group with the priority
that you want. If you do end up being able to
get to the gym 5 days per week eventually, you
can always just reorganize training then, but if
you program for 5 days initially and miss that
5th day every week or two, you’ll likely miss out
on gains you could’ve accounted for had you
just gone with the 4-day-option.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ve
already finished half the battle, because you
know what kind of framework that your
program needs to fall into. As an aside: if you’re
reading this E-Book, it’s highly likely that you’re
at a point where you’re going to need at least 3
days per week of training to be able to make
substantial progress on a reasonable timeline.
There is nothing wrong with training 2 days per
week if you have to, but it’s likely not going to
be an ideal circumstance for anyone that has
serious goals of putting on muscle.
From here on, I’m going to assume that each
one of you chose to workout between 3 and 6
days per week. Although fewer than 3 and 7
days per week may work in exceptional
circumstances, the majority of you will likely
benefit from 3-6 days.
The next two questions we need to ask
ourselves are 1) what are my specific goals and
priorities and 2) how many times per week
should I train each muscle/muscle group?
Some of you may have more specific muscular
goals, meaning that you want to grow a specific
tissue disproportionately to the rest of your
body right now. Maybe you’re satisfied with the
current status of your quads, but not your
hamstrings; maybe you’ve got jacked traps but
tiny middle delts and it just looks weird to you.
Whoever you are and whatever your goals are,
make them specific, because an aimless goal
isn’t one at all. Even if your goal is to grow
everything proportionately, specify that, so
that you’re not aimless in your approach.
The short answer to ‘how many times per week
should I train each muscle group?” is probably
2. I’m sure you’re hoping for some nuanced,
specific reason that this is the case, but in all
honesty, it’s just been the most practical
frequency in so many cases. Some people may
give you a more complicated, nuanced answer
than that, but 99% of the time, 2 is the number
that comes out in the wash as highly effective
for MOST people, but that doesn’t mean that
there aren’t specific people or specific tissues
that may benefit more from a higher or lower
frequency.
Hopefully you’re starting to see how the answer
to these questions may interact….if you aren’t,
here’s what I mean, using myself as an example:
I personally couldn’t care less about the size or
appearance of my anterior tibialis (if you don’t
know what that is, it’s a muscle on the front side
of the shin). However, I do see a huge benefit to
training the anterior tibialis to improve and
maintain proper function at the ankle as well as
the knee and potentially the hip. Because of
these reasons, I may only train it 1x per week
with a moderate intensity and lower volume
just to be able to maintain some degree of
strength/neurological coordination in that
tissue. On the other hand, I currently have goals
to grow my calves disproportionately to the
rest of my legs. To account for that, I’m training
them 2x per week, and I’m using 3 different
exercises across 12-15 total weekly sets for
them.
Hopefully this illustrates a good example of
how different the attention and effort you give
to certain tissues can change the outcome of
what your program looks like to a significant
degree. It doesn’t make sense that everyone
should do the same program or split because of
all the reasons we’ve gone over so far, but also
because everyone likely has slightly different
goals. Program for the individual, not some
imagined ideal.
So, there may be times to use 1 or 3x training
frequencies - like if volume for a muscle group
is really low (1) or really high (3) - but most
people can make most volumes make sense
with a 2x frequency. If you want a more
nuanced look at the current research we have
on training frequencies, I suggest you take a
look at this article by Greg Nuckols.
So now that we’ve established that you’ll be
training between 3-6 days per week, with an
average frequency of training a muscle 2x/week,
what should volume and intensity look like?
How do you decide? And what rep ranges are
best for growth?
The current body of research shows that
individuals of different backgrounds can make
progress on as few as 3-6 sets per week per
muscle group (and potentially even fewer) and
as high as 12-15 sets per week per muscle group
(and potentially even more). Where on the
spectrum of total sets you should choose
should, again, go back to your specific goals in
training.
In his book on strength, hypertrophy and
programming, Eric Helms recommends that
each muscle group is trained, on average,
between 6-15 sets per week per muscle group. I
think that’s a solid recommendation, given that
the amount of volume YOU should do should
depend on a number of factors we’ll discuss
now.
The first factor you’ll want to consider is
priority. As I mentioned earlier, for me, calves
are a current priority, as are arms and middle
delts. So, in my current programming, I have 12
sets per week of biceps/elbow flexors, 12 sets
for triceps, and 12 sets for calves. After the next
12-16 weeks are done, I’ll assess subjectively
(and likely with diameter measurements and
weight) whether or not I’ve made progress in
those areas, and then determine whether I need
to add more volume to those muscle groups,
keep them the same, or potentially lower
overall stress to start a de-load week where I
can recover from any excessive stressors that
may emerge (more on de-loads later).
The second variable you’ll want to consider is
trainee experience. If you’re a beginner lifter, I
recommend staying closer to the 6 sets/week
landmark, because the amount of stimulus that
you’ll need to grow is relatively low. If you’re
more of an advanced trainee, it’s likely you’ll
need to be on the higher end of that range,
closer to 10-15+ sets/group/week. This, of
course, has the potential to change over the
course of a mesocycle (8-16 week time period,
generally), but right now, we’ll just focus on the
start of a phase of training.
Of course, none of this even matters if you’re
someone who has incompatible goals relative
to their lifestyle. If you really want to maximize
muscle growth, but your job requires you to be
in the office 80 hours a week, it may not be
possible for you to train with 10-15 sets for
every muscle group, at least not for any
significant length of time.
The third variable you’ll want to consider is the
intensity of your training, which brings us to a
deeper discussion related to intensity. Earlier,
we acknowledged that intensity (as I define it) is
basically how hard a given set is. Are you at
muscular failure when the set ends? Are you
beyond it with mechanical drop sets? Are you
leaving a few reps in the tank intentionally?
Which of these should you do, and why?
I believe the answer to this question comes
down to (surprise, surprise) the individual and
how much weekly volume they currently have,
as well as other factors such as the specific
exercise and practicality of loading and using
higher intensity sets and/or sets closer to
failure.
For example, a set to failure of a biceps curl
won’t fatigue you globally in the same way that
a failure set on hack squats will; so, despite the
fact that you may count each of those as a
single set for biceps and quads respectively,
you need to respect the fact that the set of
hack squats affects your system fatigue
substantially while the biceps curl likely only
affects the local tissue substantially.
Keep in mind that, if you’re a beginner trainee,
doing sets that are 5 reps away from failure will
still likely elicit some growth. In the case of an
advanced trainee, however, it’s much more
likely that more total sets will need to be closer
to (or at) failure.
Another factor that contributes to deciding
how hard you should train is what the individual
leans towards from a subjective/enjoyment
perspective. As it currently stands (and based
on what we know from the available research),
you can do sets to failure or sets a few reps shy
from failure, and both will stimulate muscle
growth, but if you don’t do as many sets to
failure it’s likely you should do MORE total
volume, and if you do all of your sets to failure,
it’s likely you should do LESS total volume. This
is not a hard-and-fast rule, but rather an
anecdotal recommendation that seems to sort
itself out regardless of intention. In other
words, individuals that like to train hard (at
failure every set) likely can’t do as many sets in
a workout as individuals that don’t train as
hard, but the individuals that don’t train as hard
can likely make up for any lost gains with
greater volumes of work where the higher
intensity folks wouldn’t be able to.
To recap everything thus far: you should start
by determining how many days per week you
want to/are willing to train and how long each
session should be. Start at the lower end of the
set recommendation range and work up from
there if progress stalls but recovery is strong.
Then, figure out what your muscle priorities are,
and prescribe a 1, 2, or 3x training frequency
laid out across the days that you have (make
sure that no muscles are being trained 2 days in
a row so that they can recover). If you don’t
have any specific priorities (i.e. you feel like
you’re #foreversmall and everything needs to
grow), just start with 2x training frequency per
week for every group. After that, figure out how
many sets each group needs, and disperse
those sets in a balanced way across days. If
you’re just starting out a program, go with the
6-8 sets/muscle/week, and build from there
only when necessary. After that, determine how
many of those sets per session – if any – you
want to take to complete muscular failure. As a
starting point, I would recommend taking the
first set (or two) close to failure (but not at it)
and taking only the last set to complete failure.
As an aside: this is a great way to introduce the
skill of training to failure without sacrificing
form/technique/rep quality on your prior sets.
The more often you train to failure, the more
you need to ensure that your technique stays
consistent as you fatigue. Lastly, once you’ve
determined weekly volumes for each group and
where you want to place that volume, prescribe
rep ranges for every exercise (which we’ll get
into next!).
Should you lift light weights or heavy weights,
bro?
This is the age-old question that people are still
asking for some reason, as if the answer could
somehow be a mutually exclusive one (it’s
totally not like you could use a lighter weight
for some sets and a heavier weight for other
sets, right?? Oh wait…).
Anyhow – the current body of research on rep
ranges effectively tells us this: it doesn’t really
matter what rep range you use in the context of
hypertrophy, as long as you’re training close to
failure. Do sets of 6, or do sets to 30, if you’re
failing on the last rep, you’re good to go.
In theory, this is pretty cool, but in application,
there are practical limitations to this kind of
generalized thinking. For example: you could
technically do 5 sets of 3 reps on a biceps curl
and see the same growth that you might doing 5
sets of 30 reps on a biceps curl, but these
clearly aren’t the same from a force standpoint,
a time standpoint, or a joint/connective tissue
fatigue standpoint.
In the case of using the 3-rep-sets, you may find
that setting up the biceps curl is hard to do,
especially the initiation of the first rep
compared to the second and third. You may
find that the weights are difficult to stabilize
with your shoulders because you’re using an
absolute load that’s difficult even for the nonprimary-moving joint to deal with. You may also
find that using these higher loads for a biceps
curl encourages momentum-based cheating or
joint aches/pains that you wouldn’t experience
with relatively lighter weights that you
controlled more easily, especially as fatigue
sets in.
In the case of doing the 30-rep-sets, you’ll
quickly realize that you’re bored out of your
mind, and by the time you’re halfway through
the set, your biceps are burning, but your rep
speeds aren’t slowing down and you’re not
seeing any signs of true muscle failure. All of
this without mentioning that 30 reps for each
set (especially if you’re doing a single arm
exercise) would take forever.
So, clearly, sets of 3 to failure aren’t the same
as sets of 30 to failure. These are the extremes.
So, what’s a happy medium?
I generally find that anything within the 8-15
rep range is a happy medium of the qualities
that make lifting heavier beneficial as well as
the qualities of lifting lighter beneficial. Some
may argue that there are nuances to be
discussed on either end of this spectrum, and
that may be valid to some degree, but I think
that, much like the 2x/week muscle training
frequency, 8-15 reps is something tried and
true, and is far more practical than
below/above that range.
Let’s make a recap list of guidelines:
1) Decide on days per week and time per
session.
2) Start with 2x per week frequency for each
group/muscle, unless that group/muscle is an
exception on 1/3x week (1x being lowest
priority, 3x being highest priority).
3) Decide how many sets you want to start each
group with, in the range of 6-15 sets/week
depending on priority, and split those sets in a
balanced way between days.
4) Decide on which exercises you want to
dedicate to which portions of the 8-15 rep
range.
So the question you may be asking now is:
should I do 8 or 15 reps for each of my sets? Or
something in between?
Every exercise comes with a unique set of
properties that makes it differentiated from
every other exercise. I personally find that
picking rep ranges becomes far easier when you
understand the specifics of the exercise you’re
looking at, but the reality is that this probably
makes very little difference in terms of
outcome. Thus, I think the best way to
determine rep range for each exercise is to look
at all of the practical factors such as time and
convenience that may influence a movement.
Before we dive into specific exercise examples
and when to use different ranges, let’s first
outline a pro/con list for using the lower end of
the 8-15 range versus the higher end:
Now, using the example of a hack squat, let’s go
through some considerations…
A hack squat, for those of you that don’t know,
is a squat pattern that’s loaded on an
individual’s shoulders via two pads. Because
the motion is loaded on top of the spine, it’s
important to understand that there are
stressors other than just the quads, glutes,
and adductors during the motion. In addition,
the absolute loading on a hack squat is
significantly higher than that of many other
quad-biased motions, such as leg extensions,
split squats, and lunges. It’s important to
consider the magnitude of total loading and
how that may impact the body in a single bout,
but also within the context of the workout and
the other exercises that you’re doing on other
days. If you choose to stay in the lower end of
the rep range (6-8), you may want to consider
putting the exercise last because of the
potential global fatigue you’ll experience as a
product of that heavy loading during the
remainder of that workout. If you choose to
stay in the higher end of the range (12-15),
consider that what may potentially limit you is
your aerobic system instead of your quads.
Of course, these scenarios always need to be
contextualized to the individual, but I wanted to
lay out a few specific questions so that you can
start to do the same with other exercises you’re
doing. The rep range we choose to use for a
specific exercise should depend on these kinds
of questions predominantly as opposed to the
theory that may imply a small physiological
difference for supporting doing lower reps
during a hypertrophy phase and higher reps
during a metabolic/recovery phase. Both rep
ranges clearly work, and the distinction
between them from an outcome standpoint
should be far more rooted in the practical
considerations listed in the table above
because the data we currently have from a
research standpoint is very limited.
Given that we know that 8 and 15 reps are
different, though, I think it’s worth considering
the fact that we may want to use both sides of
the spectrum at various points throughout a
hypertrophy phase, not necessarily through
direct intention, but more so as a consequence
of needing to do more work to continue to make
progress.
Here’s what I mean: if you start a phase out
doing sets of 8-10 on a hack squat, it may be
very easy to continue to add load every week
within that range for 16+ weeks because of how
high the absolute loading cap on that exercise
is. However, it’s highly unlikely that you’re able
to add load to a biceps curl to the same degree,
because the absolute loading is so much
smaller and even the smallest progression is
often of a high magnitude (percentage) change.
This is where adding reps instead of load may
work very well, and why the traditional bros
love to talk about how ‘high reps for arms’ is
better. There are no research papers to support
this - it’s just basic math and adding both reps
and load to arm training (because of lower
absolute loads) is much more practical for longterm progression than just trying to add more
load or more volume infinitely.
This leads us conveniently into the discussion
around progression and how we should go
about it on a case-by-case basis.
In my experience, the more tools I have at my
disposal to create progression, the better.
Progression is simply just the addition of stress
to meet the new demands of the system to
grow. I.e., if you used 100lbs on an exercise last
week, the reason you might add 5lbs isn’t for
some arbitrary reason that says you need to
use more load every week, it’s because using
100lbs again may be too easy (for the same
reps)! So, put simply, progression is really just
more stimulus that allows the tissue/system to
continue to progress as it gets better and
better at meeting similar demands.
If I start a block off with every rep range in the
15-20 zone, although I could add more load, my
means of progression will be more limited than
if I were to start with 8-10 reps, because in the
latter scenario, I can add reps and/or load every
week, and in the former scenario, I can really
only add load (remember that whole
practicality thing? Doing sets of 30 eventually
may not be so practical).
This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule (just like
everything else I’ve laid out here, everything
should be contextualized), but it’s important to
consider the fact that most of you, most of the
time, will likely benefit from starting toward the
lower end of the recommended rep range for
the aforementioned reasons.
So what does a sample program start to look
like with all of these factors considered? Let’s
go through a number of different examples to
bring these concepts together...
Example A: this individual...
Is looking to get generally more jacked (no
specific goals of growing any tissue more
than others).
Has 5 days per week to train, and an hour on
each of those days to dedicate to their
training.
Is at a beginner-intermediate stage of lifting
(less than a year of training experience)
Let’s use the list of guidelines outlined before
to guide us through creating a good program for
this individual:
1. Decide on days per week and time per
session.
Done for us already!
2. Start with 2x week frequency for each
group/muscle, unless that group/muscle is an
exception on 1/3x week.
Because this individual has no specific goals of
growing one tissue more than any other, we can
settle on starting with the 2x/week frequency
for each muscle group to begin with. If he/she is
training 5x per week, we can split volume up in
many different ways, but here’s a sample split
that gives enough time for recovery between
sessions:
Monday – quads, hamstrings & glutes
Tuesday – Pecs, lats, and delts
Wednesday – biceps & triceps, and calves
Thursday – off day
Friday - quads, hamstrings & glutes
Saturday – pecs, lats, delts, biceps, triceps, and
calves
Sunday – off day
*There is nothing special about setting up
training this way. I could’ve easily swapped any
of these muscle groups to any of the other
days, as long as it made sense from a recovery
standpoint.
3. Decide how many sets you want to start
each group with, in the range of 6-15 sets/week
depending on priority, and split those sets in a
balanced way between days.
Because this individual has a
beginner/intermediate level of experience, we
can start on the lower end of the 6-15
sets/week suggestion, with each group on 6
hard sets per week, on week 1. Because this
individual is a beginner, ‘hard’ can be shy of
absolute failure, as the threshold for stimulus is
relatively low.
4. Decide on which exercises you want to
dedicate to which portions of the 8-15 rep
range.
As discussed earlier, we can begin a training
phase logically by starting with the lower end of
the rep range so that we have the capacity to
progress in both weight and in reps as we look
to add greater amounts of stimuli. Let’s say that
every exercise will begin with sets of 6-10 as a
range, so that we don’t have to be overly
rigid/worried about being precise.
Now that we’ve laid out a general structure for
this individual, let’s talk about exercise
selection. Although this isn’t a book on exercise
mechanics and the functional anatomy of
different muscles (see my biomechanics course
for super in-depth information on all of that),
it’s worth briefly going over many of the basic
exercise patterns I recommend for a majority of
individuals with generalized hypertrophy goals.
For the upper body, we can categorize our
training into vertical and horizontal push and
pull patterns, except for curls, extensions, and
lateral raises. For the lower body, we can
categorize our training into knee dominant, hip
dominant training, and calf training. Of course,
there are many more nuances worth discussing
here from a muscular stimulus standpoint –
such as how one might bias one of the hip
muscle groups over another or one of the
‘pushing’ muscle groups over another – but that
is outside the scope of this book and is better
shown with visual demonstration anyhow
(again, I’ll plug my biomechanics course for that
kind of information).
That said, it’s likely a good idea to divide up a
general training structure using these kinds of
motions because they will cover all of the basic
adaptations that you’re likely looking for. So
let’s revisit the structure we laid out, with a
more specific set of prescriptions:
All exercises: 3 sets of 6-10 reps, first 2 sets RIR
1-2, last set only to failure, or 1 RIR
Monday – quads, hamstrings & glutes
A) Hack Squat
B) Seated Leg Curl
C) Hip Thrust
Tuesday – Pecs, lats, and delts
A) Low Incline DB Press
B) Seated Neutral Grip Row
C) DB Lateral Raise
Wednesday – biceps & triceps, and calves
A) DB Preacher Curl
B) Cable Triceps Pushdown
C) Seated Calf Raise
Thursday – off day
Friday - quads, hamstrings & glutes
A) Leg Extension
B) Trap Bar RDL
C) Leg Press
Saturday – pecs, lats, delts, biceps, triceps, and
calves
A) Converging Chest Press Machine
B) Neutral Grip Pulldown
C) Cable Lateral Raise
D) Cable Biceps Curl
E) Overhead Triceps Extension
F) Leg Press Calf Raise
You may be tempted to ask yourself “why
neutral grip on the pulldowns” and “why low
incline on the bench?” - refrain from these
types of specifics right now; we’re just trying to
get a general idea of how to create a solid
structure first, and then we can start to worry
about the nuances of specific exercise
selections (but again, not in the scope of this
book).
Do take note, however, that all of the basic,
aforementioned patterns were covered:
vertical/horizontal push and pull, curls,
extensions and lateral raises for the upper
body, and quad/hip dominant motions as well
as calf exercises for the lower body. I highly
recommend you form the structure of your
program this way first; i.e., don’t do what I did
and just list out exercises, but be more
generalized first, and then hone in on your
specific exercises because every gym will have
different types of machines (some may have
none) and free weight setups etc.
Depending on your lifting background, you may
look at the program above and make judgments
about whether or not that’s enough volume or
whether that’s too much for a
beginner/intermediate. I would encourage you
not to make specific guesses about these kinds
of things, because although they may spark
interesting and nuanced discussion amongst
others (and maybe in your own head if you like
to talk to yourself like I do), they’re not helpful
judgements to make outside the context of
actually doing the program, assessing results
and making changes based on what you find. At
the end of the day, starting out slowly is likely
never a bad thing because you can always add
more volume later. Starting out with the most
possible volume and intensity that you can
handle (at this moment right now) is a great way
to get a one-way-ticket to painsville (like
gainsville except pain).
Let’s look into another example to see different
perspectives on how we might want to
structure training.
Example B: this individual...
Is looking to get more jacked and has a
specific goal in growing their biceps, triceps
and lats.
Has 6 days per week to train, with 60-90
minutes of time to dedicate to each training
day.
Is at an intermediate-advanced stage of
training experience.
1. Decide on days per week and time per
session.
Done for us already!
2. Start with 2x week frequency for each
group/muscle, unless that group/muscle is an
exception on 1/3x week.
Because this individual is an intermediate to
advanced trainee with specific goals of growing
their biceps, triceps, and lats more than other
body parts, we need to be a bit more calculated
about how we set up the training week. Because
this individual has 6 days to train, splitting up
volume into 2-3x per week for the priority
groups may be a good idea. Putting the priority
groups on their own day will likely be beneficial
as well, as we can accumulate lots of volume to
each of those parts as well as train those
tissues when they are completely fresh off of a
full day off of training.
Monday – Biceps, triceps, and lats
Tuesday – Quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
Wednesday – Delts, chest, lats
Thursday – Biceps, triceps
Friday - Quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
Saturday – biceps, triceps and lats, delts
Sunday – off day
*There is nothing special about setting up
training this way. I could’ve easily swapped any
of these muscle groups to any of the other
days, as long as it made sense from a recovery
standpoint.
3. Decide how many sets you want to start
each group with, in the range of 6-15 sets/week
depending on priority, and split those sets in a
balanced way between days.
Because this individual has an intermediateadvanced level of experience (several years of
training under their belt), and because they
have a muscular priority in growing lats, biceps
and triceps especially, we can start them off
with 6-8 sets/muscle group/week on all muscles
apart from biceps, triceps and lats, which will
start off with 10-12 sets/week
4. Decide on which exercises you want to
dedicate to which portions of the 8-15 rep
range.
As with the earlier example, we can begin a
training phase logically by starting with the
lower end of the rep range so that we have the
capacity to progress in both weight and in reps
as we look to add greater amounts of stimuli.
Let’s say that every exercise will begin with sets
of 6-10 as a range. In addition, we’ll probably
want to do at least 1 set to failure per exercise
per session, so that we can be more precise
with tracking and so that we can ensure a
strong stimulus every workout (recall that
beginners probably won’t need this amount of
stimulus!).
Let’s now lay out a more specific structure to fit
the demands we’re looking to:
Monday – Biceps, triceps, and lats
A) Preacher Curl, 3 sets, 6-10 reps, first 2 sets 12 RIR, last set to failure
B) Triceps Cable Pressdown, 3 sets, 6-10 reps,
first 2 sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure
C) Neutral Grip Row, 3 sets, 6-10 reps, first 2
sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure
D) Neutral Grip Pulldown, 3 sets, 6-10 reps, first
2 sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure
Tuesday – Quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
(all 4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure)
A) Leg Extension
B) Seated Leg Curl
C) Hip Thrust
D) Seated Calf Raise
Wednesday – Delts, chest, lats
A) DB Lateral Raise (4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2 RIR,
last set to failure)
B) Low Incline DB Press (4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2
RIR, last set to failure)
C) Straight Arm Pulldown (2 sets, first set 1-2
RIR, second set to failure)
Thursday – Biceps, triceps
A) High Cable Curl (4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2 RIR,
last set to failure)
B) Overhead Katana Extension (4 sets, first 3
sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure)
Friday - Quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
(all 4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure)
A) Hack Squat
B) Lying Leg Curl
C) Trap Bar RDL
D) Leg Press Calf Raise
Saturday – biceps, triceps and lats, delts
A) Face Away Cable Curl (3 sets, 6-10 reps, first
2 sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure)
B) Triceps Cable Press (3 sets, 6-10 reps, first 2
sets 1-2 RIR, last set to failure)
C) Chest Supported Row/Pulldown (2 sets, first
set 1-2 RIR, second set to failure)
D) Cable Lateral Raise (4 sets, first 3 sets 1-2
RIR, last set to failure)
Hopefully you’re now starting to see that there
isn’t ONE single answer to any of the "what’s
the best split?" questions. Not only are there so
many individual factors that you need to
account for when choosing what split to pick,
but there are also an infinite number of splits
within the framework that you already have
that could also make sense in your specific
context. Overall, the process of programming is
mostly about fitting the individual’s needs into
a week first, and then deciding where
everything should go and what exercises to do
after that.
If I could summarize hypertrophy programming
and how to learn it in one sentence, this would
be it: any program you could choose from is
ultimately just a method of organizing a
specific amount of volume (with a prescribed
intensity) across a time period with a
frequency that allows you to fully recover
between sessions. Regardless of whether you
train calves and triceps on the same day or you
stick to a traditional ‘bro split’ or push/pull/legs,
every program you utilize is just
another way to organize volume over a time
period that’s logical and practical for an
individual. While there are many programs that
can work for many individuals, you are still
somewhat of a special snowflake, in that you’re
probably not going to see the same results and
respond in the same way that everybody else
will. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but rather
an artifact of training that we need to bring to
our awareness to so that we’re actively looking
to make changes when we observe specific
responses over time. Although hypertrophy is
very impractical to measure in many ways, it’s
usually obvious to the individual when a
program fits well and when it doesn’t.
Rewinding to the discussion on progression for
a moment – I believe that most people are
trying to make progressions every week that are
far too large, far too soon, in a way that isn’t
sustainable for more than 2-4 weeks. If you
need to deload (which we’ll talk about next) a
month into a block, you’ve definitely overshot
your volume, your progression, or both. As a
general guideline – and as mentioned several
times already – I like to view progression simply
as the addition of
stress/stimulus week over week. Additional
‘stimulus’ can be adding a rep, a set, more load,
improving tempo, improving execution…the list
goes on. If you’re progressing properly, the
weights you’re lifting week over week should
‘feel’ similar and your physical response
shouldn’t sneak up on you the next day like a
mack truck just hit you from behind.
Standard example progressions (from one
workout to the next):
Add 1-3% load.
Add 1-3 reps to all sets.
Add 1-3 reps to one (or a couple) sets.
Add 1-2 sets (obviously will vary).
An important caveat to make here is that the
progression you make should be specific to the
exercise and the goal of that exercise. For
example, adding a rep to a set of 6 is a lot
greater of a percentage change than adding a
rep to a set of 14 or 15. Conversely, adding load
to a set of 15-pound DB lateral raises will be far
more difficult to do (in terms of magnitude
change relative to the exercise) than adding
load to a hack squat or leg
press. Identifying which methods of
progression work well with which exercises is a
great problem to solve as fast as possible,
especially when introducing a new movement
to your own program or the programs of your
clients.
In general, adding load will be much easier with
exercises that you can use high absolute loads
on, and adding reps will be easier with exercises
that you can’t use a lot of absolute load on (see
the previous example). The addition of sets is
likely something that shouldn’t occur as often,
and if it does, it shouldn’t be so drastic that you
2x the volume that you were previously doing.
Aim to add 15-25% total volume per week, if
volume is something that you want to progress
(which, many of you may not have to for a
LONG time once you set a starting point as
we’ve already discussed).
Each individual exercise likely has limitations
from a progression standpoint, however, even if
they are accounted for and exercises are done
properly over the course of a mesocycle, it’s
likely that there is a natural set point of
progression that every exercise will fall toward
at some point. If it’s a DB bench press, and
you’re new to the motion, you may be able to
progress a variation for months (or even a year
or more). If it’s a biceps curl variation, the
timeline of progression may be smaller. It’s
completely normal for exercises to run ‘stale’,
which is why there is some truth to swapping
out exercises from time to time – not to ‘shock
the muscle’ or anything, but to allow for the
body and brain to reset to a different stimulus
that it can then adapt to in the same way it did
prior with other exercises.
Once progression globally stalls or an individual
feels run down, tired, unmotivated, has trouble
digesting food, is moody, isn’t having proper
bowel movements etc., it’s likely that a deload
is necessary. The aforementioned signs and
symptoms are often what tend to warrant a
deload before progression/strength on motions
stalls, although that may not be the case if
progression is mismanaged (adding too much
load too quickly or too much volume too
quickly to name two examples).
With deloads, I follow one rule: better safe than
sorry. What does this mean? Well…I try not to
overcomplicate deload phases, because I think
they’re periods of time that are meant to be for
the individual and not for the weight room. If a
client wants to take a week completely off to go
hiking, bowling or whatever other activity
instead, I think that’s fantastic. Too much of the
time, people don’t take the necessary rest that
they need when deloading and end up coming
back to the weight room 80% recovered but not
fully recovered. This often leads to shorter
blocks when less progress is made and where
progression runways stall out earlier.
If you DO still want to lift during your deload
phase (which is what I personally do because I
love lifting even if not done as intensely), I
recommend dropping your volume anywhere
from 50-75% from the prior week. So, if you
were doing 12 sets prior, I’d recommend
dropping weekly volume to 4-6 sets. In
addition, and in relationship to intensity, I
recommend a solid 3-5 RIR for every exercise,
so that you can ensure proper (and full)
recovery for every tissue/system. Remember
that you’re not just letting your joints and your
muscles recover during a deload phase, you’re
also allowing the nervous system to de-stress
as well as all of the other metabolic processes
that power muscle growth and recovery. Think
of a deload like taking your car into the shop to
get checked out every so often – you’re not
doing it because you HAVE to, but if you ever
HAVE to, you’re likely in trouble. Does that
make sense?
Deloads generally last about a week, but that
doesn’t mean that they can’t be any shorter or
any longer. Sometimes an individual may only
need a couple of extra days off at the tail end of
a week (maybe they take Wednesday-Sunday
off instead of Monday-Sunday) or two weeks. I
would highly recommend starting with a single
week, assessing your level of recovery and
motivation coming back to normal training the
following week, and then changing (or not
changing) your future deload plans based off of
that subjective experience and the objective
progress you make when you return to training.
Should you vary exercises across a week? The
answer to this question, as with every other
nuanced answer, needs to be contextualized. In
any trained athlete, I’d highly advise varying
your exercise selection with the same week, but
not subsequent weeks. So, for example, if I’m
training lats 2x per week, on each of those days,
I’ll pick 2 different lat motions, but the following
week, I’ll make sure that I repeat the same
motions on each of those individual days to
ensure I can track progression over time in a
standardized manner.
There are a number of instances in which I’d
program the same motion more than one time
in a week – the first may be in the instance of
skill development, wherein an individual is of a
lower level of training experience and has a low
threshold for adaptation. Repeating the same
motion multiple times throughout a week will
be great for developing the motor pattern of
that motion in addition to the hypertrophy and
strength effects because the stimulus is so
novel.
Another reason may be to do the same motion,
but emphasize different portions of the range
of motion or change the motion from a
tempo/execution standpoint to where the
motion may be significantly different from a
stimulus perspective. For example, if someone
has limited access to equipment and only has
DBs to train middle delts, on one day they may
do a lateral raise with a pause at the top to
emphasize the short position and on another
day they may do a momentum-type motion out
of the bottom to emphasize the bottom
portion/lengthened position of that same
motion. Although these types of scenarios are
more often exceptions than rules, they do exist,
and it can be very beneficial to navigate these
kinds of problems with an understanding of
tempo and execution and how varying
executions lead to varying stimuli.
Now, I know you’re probably thinking..Ben, what
the hell? What about rest times? How long
should I rest between sets, bro?
The answer is, of course, it depends. But what
does it depend on?
Some time ago, a study came out that said that
resting 3+ minutes improved strength far more
than resting ~1 minute between sets. After that,
everybody suddenly made the immediate
conclusion that resting more was better, and
now every time you go to a commercial gym,
you see gym bros sitting on equipment resting
longer just for the sake of it.
This, of course, is short-sighted logic (if you can
even call it that) that 1) doesn’t explain existing
data that shows equivalent growth across
groups that only do drop-set training (no or
minimal rest) and groups that rest significant
(1.5+ minutes) amounts of time and 2) doesn’t
explain existing anecdotal data from current
and past bodybuilders all over the world (this
isn’t an arbitrary appeal to authority, it’s a
pattern observation made over decades of
anecdote with concomitant results) that
suggests lower relative rest times work just fine.
So, much like I’ve done in the other sections,
I’m going to give you my practical
recommendations for rest times, when
different amounts of rest should be utilized,
and why.
The average rest time I recommend is between
1-3 minutes across most exercises. There are
exceptions, like in the case of drop sets or
maximal strength sets, but those (likely) are few
and far in-between (a quick note on drop sets:
it’s difficult to discern whether drop sets
should count the same as ‘normal’ sets for a
number of different reasons, but I don’t think
that it would be useful to go deep into those
differences…for whatever it’s worth, I usually
only count them as separate sets if I have
enough rest to generate about 75% of the
previous set's reps; I also don’t often use drop
sets with zero rest).
Generally speaking, I tend to use lower rest
periods (1-1.5 minutes) with exercises that are
less globally taxing, like biceps curls, calf raises,
single arm rows etc. and higher rest periods (2-3
minutes) with exercises that are more globally
taxing, like squats, deadlifts, leg presses etc.
Basically, the more total stress on the body, the
more likely it is that your rest time will go up,
assuming your goals are to maximize muscle
growth.
If your goals are more cardio-related, you’ll
probably want to rest for periods of time where
you’re being aerobically challenged, and if your
goals are more hypertrophy/strength related,
you’ll want to rest for periods of time where
your rate limiter is the working muscle and not
how hard your lungs are working. For exercises
that involve more total muscular output, this
time may be longer, and for exercises that are
more isolated to a local muscle, this time may
be shorter.
Some people recommend resting as much as
you feel like you need to, which can work in the
case of training very experienced athletes, but
it’s unlikely that the average gym bro is going to
be adept enough and body-aware enough to
intuitively understand what that amount of
time is. Personally speaking, I usually end up
spending too much time messing around,
talking to other people at the gym, or just
wasting time on my phone if I’m not tracking my
rest periods.
So, the takeaway with rest periods is that it will
probably make a difference that you rest to full
(or mostly full) recovery with exercises that task
your aerobic (cardio) system significantly, but
probably not with exercises that are more
local/isolated like the aforementioned
examples.
Of course, as mentioned already, there are
likely applications to rest fewer than a minute
or more than 3, but I find that if you stay within
the average of that range, progressions tend to
work smoothly and as predicted, recovery
times tend to start to intuitively make more
sense based on the exercise, and overall body
awareness and skill in relationship to
understanding your personal preferences for
rest time develop as well.
If you are someone who is limited on time,
utilizing shorter rest periods so that you can
accumulate the amount of volume that you
want to in a given day is useful, even if you find
that your aerobic system is limiting your
muscular output more than you’d like it to. I
personally believe that it’s better to do the
work and have it be done than to not do enough
volume to progress. Supersets can also help
you save time, but likely won’t create a
significant difference in terms of outcome if
you equate total volume, frequency and effort
throughout a program (yes, that’s the answer to
‘what do you think of supersets?’ :)).
So, in summary: rest time should be
individualized to exercise and specific goals for
that exercise. If muscle growth is the primary
goal, I recommend resting for a long enough
period of time (relative to each exercise) so that
the tissue you’re training is the rate limiter of
the exercise (meaning that your lungs aren’t
limiting you). If your goals are more cardio
and/or recovery related, I recommend resting
for a short enough period of time (relative to
each exercise) so that your heart rate is
(relatively) high and so that it stays there
throughout the course of a session.
We currently don’t have enough data to
conclusively suggest that shorter or longer rest
periods are better for muscle growth, as there
are so many contexts in which resting shorter
or longer may be more appropriate. Anyone
that tells you something in a relationship to rest
time with 100% confidence is likely full of shit.
Again, if you need a takeaway from this, it’s to
start with 1-3 minutes depending on exercise,
and assess what amount you need for which
exercise and goal.
So, let’s summarize everything we’ve covered:
Volume, intensity and frequency are our
primary variables to manipulate and all
affect one another.
Think practically first and be honest in your
appraisal of how often you can train and
how long on each of those training days you
have available. The best split is the one that
you can commit to for a very long period of
time with 90%+ consistency.
Weekly volume recommendations fall
between 6-15 sets per muscle group, on
average. Extremes at either end for very
high or low volumes are exceptions.
Weekly frequency recommendations fall
around 2x/week per muscle group, on
average. Extremes of 1x or 3x frequency
apply to low and high priority muscle
groups respectively in most individuals.
Average intensity of sets should be
determined by trainee experience and
requirement for continued growth. More
advanced individuals should keep all
weekly sets between 0-2 RIR, on average.
Less advanced individuals should keep all
weekly sets between 0-4 RIR, on average,
with most sets not at failure but
approaching it.
Average rep ranges per exercise should
depend on the specifics of the exercise and
the practicality factors previously discussed
(time, loading, progression etc.), but should
generally fall between 8-15 reps across
most exercises and scenarios.
Progressions should be relative to specific
exercises, but generally starting at the lower
end of the recommended range (8) is
beneficial for a majority of people during a
majority of exercises.
Recommended average weekly
progressions: add 1-3% load, add 1-3 reps to
all sets, add 1-3 reps to one (or a couple)
sets, add 1-2 sets (obviously will vary).
Rule for de-loading: better safe than sorry.
Time off of training is useful, but if you want
to continue training, drop weekly volume
between 50-75% and lower RIR of all sets to
3-5. Sets to failure during a deload week
should likely not be done.
Vary exercise selection daily (between 2
days that are training the same muscle
group), but not weekly, so that progressions
are easy to track/are standardized.
Variation can be done with exercise
selection, but also variations like tempo, rep
schemes, rest times etc.
Rest between 1-3 minutes on average across
all exercises, but use more or less rest
depending on context.
I hope that you got something useful out of this
book. I tried to make it straight-to-the-point so
that you could use this information
immediately with clear and practical takeaways.
As a sign of my appreciation for your support,
I'd like to offer you a 20% discount off of my
online biomechanics course, which goes
in-depth into teaching you all of what you need
to know to maximize your training progress in
the gym.
To redeem your discount, use this link!
-Ben