Workout 01 — Foundation
No lifting today. Walk or run, hit the protein, sleep. Below: your next session, ready to preview.
- ~40min
- Duration
- 7
- Movements
- 1–3
- Reps in reserve
- 60–90s
- Rest between sets
Warm-up · 3 min
60 s jumping jacks · 10 arm circles each way · 10 bodyweight squats — then first lift: half weight × 8, three-quarter × 4.
The Week
Same workouts. Climbing weights.
- Top of the rep range, clean form, two sessions in a row → add 1–2 kg to that lift next time.
- Can't reach the bottom of the range? The weight is too heavy — drop 2 kg.
- Log weight and reps in the lift's own panel (open a lift → Last time). That's the whole tracking system.
- Lifts climb at different speeds. Presses stall while legs sprint — expected, not a problem.
- From week 6: if recovery holds, add a 4th set to the first two lifts of each session.
Every muscle gets hit 2–3× a week across ~9–12 working sets — the evidence-backed dose (Results tab). Three different angles keep the joints fresh.
A lift you hate is a lift you'll skip. Every movement lists a swap in its detail panel — same muscles, same gear. Swap freely, keep the pattern.
By Muscle
Train a muscle on its own day: pick 2–3 moves, 3 sets each, 8–12 reps, stopping 1–3 reps short of failure. Loads shown are starting points at 70 kg — log what you actually lift in each exercise's own panel.
Nutrition
- 2 750kcal
- Daily target
- 112g
- Protein floor
- ~400g
- Carbs
- ~75g
- Fat
- 5g
- Creatine, daily
Maintenance ≈ 2 500 kcal (70 kg, desk days, 3 lifts + 2 walks a week) + 250 surplus ≈ 0.25 kg gained per week. Scale flat after 3 weeks → add 200 kcal. Gaining over 0.5 kg/week → cut 200.
| Food | Portion | Protein | Kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 150 g | 35 g | 250 |
| Skyr | 200 g pot | 21 g | 120 |
| Whey scoop | 30 g | 24 g | 120 |
| Canned tuna, drained | 140 g | 30 g | 150 |
| Salmon | 150 g | 30 g | 300 |
| Steak haché 5% | 125 g | 26 g | 170 |
| Eggs | 3 | 19 g | 215 |
| Fromage blanc | 200 g | 16 g | 130 |
| Lentils, cooked | 200 g | 18 g | 230 |
| Greek yogurt | 170 g | 17 g | 165 |
| Meal | Plate | Protein | Kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Skyr 200 g · oats 80 g · banana · honey | 32 g | ~575 |
| Lunch | Chicken 150 g · rice 280 g cooked · olive oil · vegetables | 42 g | ~760 |
| Snack | Whey scoop · 30 g almonds · apple | 30 g | ~400 |
| Dinner | Salmon 150 g (or 2 steaks hachés) · pasta 300 g cooked · vegetables | 45 g | ~790 |
| Evening, optional | Fromage blanc 200 g · honey | 16 g | ~150 |
| Total | Protein overshoots the floor — that's fine. Kcal is the dial: scale oats, rice and pasta ±300. | ~150 g | ~2 700 |
5 g monohydrate every day, training or not, in water, coffee, anything. Timing doesn't matter. Drink an extra 500 ml of water.
Protein lands in 3–4 meals of ~30 g — same food on rest days, the muscle is built between sessions. Chaotic day? Hit protein + creatine, forget the rest.
Weigh in once a week, same morning, after the bathroom, before breakfast. The weekly average decides the kcal dial — never a single day.
Results
You've built this before. It comes back faster.
Muscle keeps the extra cell nuclei built the first time around, so a returning lifter regains size and strength in roughly half the original time — the first two months here will move faster than anything a beginner sees. With the food dialed in, expect +2–3 kg bodyweight by month 3–4, most of it lean, and 40–70% heavier working sets on the main lifts.
Movement quality, fast load jumps
Soreness peaks then fades. Loads climb almost every session — that's the nervous system waking up, ride it.
Most lifts +2–4 kg
Sleep and protein decide the pace now. Muscles feel fuller before the scale moves.
+1–1.5 kg on the scale, shirts fit differently
Chest, shoulders and arms show it first. Working sets are 20–40% above start.
+2–3 kg total, first ceilings hit
Visible change in the mirror. The strongest lifts reach the 24 kg dumbbell ceiling — the plan below keeps them growing.
| Lift | Start | ~Month 3–4 | Past the ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goblet squat | 16 kg | 24 kg ceiling | Reps 12 → 20, then dumbbell squat with the pair |
| DB bench press | 14 kg / hand | 20–22 kg / hand | Pause reps, 3 s negatives at 24 |
| One-arm row | 18 kg | 24 kg ceiling | Reps 12 → 20 per side, strict 1 s pause at the top |
| Romanian deadlift | 18 kg / hand | 24 kg / hand ceiling | Single-leg RDL — one leg doubles the load |
| Shoulder press | 10 kg / hand | 14–16 kg / hand | Years of room left |
| Hip thrust | 20 kg | 24 kg ceiling | Single-leg hip thrust, slow tempo |
- Slow the lowering to 3 s and pause at the stretch. Same weight, much harder, better growth signal.
- Widen the rep range: 12 → 15 → 20. High-rep sets near failure grow muscle just as well.
- Go one-limbed. Single-leg RDL, single-leg hip thrust, one-arm press — one limb doubles the effective load.
- Then buy the next weight. Only when three lifts sit at the ceiling with all of the above used up.
Pull-up bar — ~25 €
The one missing pattern: vertical pull. Chin-ups are the best back + biceps move this setup can't do today. Doorframe model is enough.
Heavier adjustable dumbbells — 32 kg +
When three lifts sit at 24 kg and the ceiling plan is used up. Extends every compound by a year.
Weight vest or a band set
Loads push-ups, split squats and chin-ups. Packs flat, travels.
Volume is the dose
Growth scales with weekly hard sets per muscle — steep from 0 to 10, plateauing near 20. This plan runs ~9–12.
Schoenfeld et al., J Sports Sci 2017 [1]Hit each muscle 2×+ a week
Same volume split across 2–3 sessions beats one — the structural reason full-body beats a body-part split at 3 days.
Schoenfeld et al., Sports Med 2017 [2]Stop 1–3 reps short of failure
Equivalent growth, far less fatigue, faster recovery. Sustainable hard training is the actual secret.
Refalo et al., Sports Med 2023 [3]Full range, own the stretch
6–30 reps all grow muscle near failure. 2025 trials: partials done in the stretched half match full range — so take the deep stretch, never cut it.
Wolf et al., PeerJ 2025 [7]Rest 90 s +
Longer rests preserve load on later sets — quality beats density.
Schoenfeld et al., JSCR 2016 [4]Protein plateaus at 1.6 g/kg
112 g/day at 70 kg, spread over 3–4 meals. More isn't harmful; it's just not needed.
Morton et al., Br J Sports Med 2018 [5]Creatine is the one supplement
5 g daily: ~5–15% performance, measurable lean mass, decades of safety data. No loading phase.
Kreider et al., ISSN Position Stand 2017 [6]Muscle memory is real
Myonuclei added the first time persist through detraining; retraining restores size and strength in roughly half the original time.
Frontiers in Nutrition 2025 review [8]- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response between weekly resistance training volume and muscle mass. J Sports Sci, 2017.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. Training frequency for hypertrophy. Sports Med, 2017.
- Refalo MC, Helms ER, et al. Proximity-to-failure and hypertrophy. Sports Med, 2023.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance strength and hypertrophy. JSCR, 2016.
- Morton RW, McKellar SR, et al. Protein supplementation and resistance-training gains. Br J Sports Med, 2018.
- Kreider RB, Kalman DS, et al. ISSN position stand: creatine supplementation. JISSN, 2017.
- Wolf M, et al. Lengthened partials vs full ROM in trained individuals. PeerJ, 2025.
- Skeletal muscle memory: implications for sports, aging and nutrition. Frontiers in Nutrition, 2025.