The starting weights below are calibrated to leave 1–3 reps in reserve for someone returning to training at 70 kg. Adjust on the fly if a weight feels far off.
Most fitness content is folklore. The hypertrophy literature converges on a handful of variables that consistently replicate. This program is built around them, in priority order.
Hypertrophy scales with weekly working sets per muscle. Returns rise sharply from 0 to 10 sets and plateau around 20. This program delivers ~12 sets per major muscle weekly — productive without excess fatigue.
Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger — J Sports Sci, 2017 [1]When weekly volume is held equal, training a muscle twice per week produces meaningfully more growth than once. Three full-body sessions hit each muscle 2–3× weekly — structurally why this beats a body-part split for limited hours.
Schoenfeld, Grgic & Krieger — Sports Med, 2017 [2]Stopping 1–3 reps short of failure produces equivalent hypertrophy to going all the way, with substantially less fatigue and faster recovery. RIR is the lever that lets you train hard sustainably.
Refalo, Helms et al. — Sports Med, 2023 [3]Muscle growth is similar across rep ranges from 6 to 30, provided sets are taken near failure. 8–12 reps is the time-efficient sweet spot for compounds; 12–15 for isolation.
Schoenfeld et al. — J Strength Cond Res, 2017 [1]Two-minute rest periods produced significantly more strength and hypertrophy gains than one-minute periods. Rest preserves load on later sets — quality matters more than density.
Schoenfeld, Pope, Benik et al. — JSCR, 2016 [4]A 49-study meta-analysis found a clear plateau for muscle accretion at ~1.6 g of protein per kg bodyweight per day. For 70 kg = 112 g daily. Distribute across 3–4 meals (~30 g each).
Morton, Murphy, McKellar et al. — Br J Sports Med, 2018 [5]3–5 g of creatine monohydrate daily is safe, effective, and produces ~5–15% performance improvements plus measurable lean-mass gains over weeks. No need to load. Take it any time.
Kreider, Kalman, Antonio et al. — ISSN Position Stand, 2017 [6]Lifting is the stimulus. Sleep, food, and consistency are the actual mechanism.
112 g of protein. Spread across 3–4 meals, ~30 g each.
Rough portions: 150 g chicken or beef = 35 g · 2 eggs = 13 g · 200 g Greek yogurt = 20 g · 30 g whey scoop = 24 g · 100 g lentils (cooked) = 9 g.
Hit 30 g at breakfast — most people miss it there and never catch up.
5 g creatine monohydrate, every day. No loading. Mix in water, coffee, or smoothie — timing doesn't matter.
Drink an extra 500 ml of water daily to stay ahead of mild water retention. Side effects beyond that are essentially nil.
7 to 9 hours. Most growth signals fire during deep sleep. Under 6 hours measurably impairs recovery and performance the next day.
If sleep was bad, drop one set per exercise that session — don't force volume on a fatigued nervous system.
Keep walking or running 2× per week as you already do. WHO baseline: 150 min moderate cardio weekly.
Don't add more cardio in this block — the limiter is recovery, not aerobic work. Schedule it on non-lifting days when possible.
Three numbers per set: weight · reps · RIR. Note on your phone is enough.
Example: Goblet Squat — 16 × 10 × 3 / 16 × 10 × 2 / 16 × 9 × 1. Next session: hit 16 × 10 across all three, then bump to 18 kg.
Week 1: soreness, learning movements. Week 2: soreness fades, weights feel familiar. Week 3: real loading, visible progress.
By the end of three weeks: heavier or more reps on at least 5 of 7 main movements. That's the objective measure.