WORKOUT 01
Foundation — squat-led, bench-led, row.
Three sessions, weekly.
Each muscle gets hit three times a week through different patterns. Pick your day, hit the seven exercises, repeat. The workouts stay the same — the weights climb.
Same workouts. Climbing weights.
- Hit the top of the rep range with clean form on every set, two sessions in a row → bump that exercise's weight 1–2 kg next time.
- Can't hit the bottom of the range with good form? The weight is too heavy. Drop 2 kg.
- Track three numbers per set: weight, reps, RIR (reps in reserve). Notes app is enough.
- Don't progress everything at once. Some lifts climb fast, others stall. That's expected.
Starting weights below are calibrated to leave 1–3 reps in reserve at 70 kg, returning to training. Adjust on the fly if a load feels far off.
FOUNDATION
- Duration
- ~38 min
- Movements
- 7
- Target RIR
- 1 – 3
- Rest
- 75 – 90 s
- Bring
- Bench · DB · water
Seven evidence-based levers.
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.
Volume is the dose
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]Frequency 2× beats 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]Failure is optional
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]Rep ranges are wide
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]Rest 90+ seconds
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]Protein hits a threshold near 1.6 g/kg
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]Creatine is the one supplement worth it
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]References
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass. J Sports Sci. 2017.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? Sports Med. 2017.
- Refalo MC, Helms ER, et al. Influence of resistance training proximity-to-failure on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Sports Med. 2023.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016.
- Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al. Protein supplementation effect on resistance training-induced gains. Br J Sports Med. 2018.
- Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. ISSN position stand: creatine supplementation in exercise. JISSN. 2017.
The work that isn't the workout.
Lifting is the stimulus. Sleep, food, and consistency are the actual mechanism.
Daily Protein
112 g per day. Spread across 3–4 meals, ~30 g each.
Quick math: 150 g chicken = 35 g · 2 eggs = 13 g · 200 g Greek yogurt = 20 g · 30 g whey scoop = 24 g · 100 g cooked lentils = 9 g.
Hit 30 g at breakfast — most people miss it there.
Daily Creatine
5 g monohydrate, every day. No loading needed. Mix in water, coffee, smoothie — timing doesn't matter.
Drink an extra 500 ml of water daily. Side effects beyond mild water retention are essentially nil.
Sleep, the real driver
7 to 9 hours. Most growth signals fire during deep sleep. Under 6 hours measurably impairs recovery and next-day performance.
If sleep was bad, drop one set per exercise — don't force volume on a fatigued nervous system.
Cardio (your existing 2×)
Keep walking or running 2× per week as you do. WHO baseline: 150 min moderate cardio weekly.
Don't add more cardio in this block — limiter is recovery, not aerobic work. Schedule on non-lifting days.
The only log you need
Three numbers per set: weight · reps · RIR. Note on 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.
What to expect
Week 1: soreness, learning movements. Week 2: soreness fades. Week 4: weights feel familiar. Week 8: real loading, visible progress.
By month 3: heavier or more reps on at least 5 of 7 main movements per workout.