Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
Frequency: 3-4x/week
The program is one of our favorite set ups for multiple situations. It can be used for a de-load from metabolic or fatigue-based intensity training as well as an effective method for improving strength and neurological efficiency simultaneously.
The neurological efficiency gained, the ability to recruit more muscle fibers in each contraction, is highly beneficial regardless of goal. For performance based goals, it allows you to produce more peak power.
For body composition goals (muscle gain or fat loss) it allows you to get more efficient work done in other types of training. You’ll be able to create more tension and used heavier loads.
It is also highly useful for improving execution at higher intensities, where form often begins to break down. This is the greatest benefit to beginners who wish to work on execution and strength at the same time, while often getting body composition benefits as well.
Choosing your weights carefully and tracking them is extremely important for getting the most out of this program, but you will notice that your loads and execution continue to improve each week if done properly.
Level: 1
Frequency: 4x/week
The program is a progression on one of our favorite programs for multiple benefits. It can be used for a de-load from metabolic or fatigue-based intensity training as well as an effective method for improving strength and neurological efficiency simultaneously.
The neurological efficiency gained, the ability to recruit more muscle fibers in each contraction, is highly beneficial regardless of goal. For performance based goals, it allows you to produce more peak power.
For body composition goals (muscle gain or fat loss) it allows you to get more efficient work done in other types of training. You’ll be able to create more tension and used heavier loads.
It is also highly useful for improving execution at higher intensities, where form often begins to break down. This is the greatest benefit to beginners who wish to work on execution and strength at the same time, while often getting body composition benefits as well.
Choosing your weights carefully and tracking them is extremely important for getting the most out of this program, but you will notice that your loads and execution continue to improve each week if done properly.
Level: 2
Frequency: 4x/week
This program can be used for a combination of hypertrophy and fat loss. You can focus more on one or the other if you choose by selecting your goal in the nutrition calculator included.
By utilizing super sets of exercises with specific characteristics we can push your body parts to higher levels of fatigue in a much shorter amount of time without sacrificing much intensity.
You’ll be required to have strong determination when it comes down to the last set or two of the exercises for each body part as your muscle’s will be on FIRE and you’ll have a ridiculous pump.
This program has been tailored to prioritize glutes, upper back, and shoulders. The three key muscle groups that accent the “bikini” physique.
If you’re a guy and want to focus on these three areas too, by all means go for it!
There are super sets in this program, but most of them can be done without requiring multiple stations to accommodate busier gyms.
Level: 3
Frequency: 4x/week
This is my Time Efficient Super-set Training (T.E.S.T.) Protocol that I created to decrease my training time while pursuing hypertrophy.
This program utilizes a rest-pause method to achieve a significant amount of volume in far fewer sets (and in less time) and than traditional sets.
The workouts take a bit less than an hour (including time to warm up).
The main layout is that you’ll use your 8-10 rep max for a given exercise and perform 3 sets, each with a rest-pause set. This will allow you to accumulate about 4-5 sets worth of volume in just 3 sets.
We will also use super sets to further increase efficiency and give you plenty of rest between these very demanding sets. Don’t worry if you’re in a busier gym. You may only need to split up the As (which will only add about 10 minutes if you increase the rest periods) as the remainder of the sessions were all written in a fashion that should still allow you to complete it as-written by using DB super sets or cable super sets.
Level: 1
Frequency: 4x/week
Tension is one of the key drivers of hypertrophy (muscle gain). Both quality and quantity matter, which is why choosing the right exercises, training variables, and of course execution are all essential before trying to add sets or reps.
This program is designed around foundational movements that everyone from those just getting started with resistance training to advanced athletes can benefit from. We’ll be focusing primarily on compound movements to allow you to train larger amounts of muscle tissue simultaneously as well as practicing your movement coordination.
The more frequently you can stimulate muscle tissue and recover, the faster your results will be.
We’ve selected exercises to maximize muscular tension throughout as much of the range of motion as possible to allow for very efficient workouts with lower total volume. This will allow you focus more on quality of your reps and recover more quickly so that you can train with a slightly higher frequency.
Level: 1
Frequency: 4x/week
This is a progression from the “Descending Rep Push Pull 1” program. It advances the exercise selection to allow you to allocate a higher degree of tension to different portions of the range of motion for each muscle to maximize the training effect. If you have not done so already, we highly recommend starting with “Descending Rep Push Pull 1” if you are new to N1 Training or you may be missing out on potential progress.
Tension is one of the key drivers of hypertrophy (muscle gain). Both quality and quantity matter, which is why choosing the right exercises, training variables, and of course execution are all essential before trying to add sets or reps.
This program is designed around foundational movements that everyone from those just getting started with resistance training to advanced athletes can benefit from. We’ll be focusing primarily on compound movements to allow you to train larger amounts of muscle tissue simultaneously as well as practicing your movement coordination.
The more frequently you can stimulate muscle tissue and recover, the faster your results will be.
We’ve selected exercises to maximize muscular tension throughout as much of the range of motion as possible to allow for very efficient workouts with lower total volume. This will allow you focus more on quality of your reps and recover more quickly so that you can train with a slightly higher frequency.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is an upper body focused program using an incomplete-rest method. It is a more advanced version of an incomplete-rest style program that will utilize super sets of different divisions for some muscle groups.
If you prefer to just do straight sets of one exercise, use the “B” version of this program which will adjust the exercise order and volume appropriately for you to get the same intended stimulus.
This type of program is usually used to help boost local metabolic conditioning while avoiding inflammation that higher intensity local metabolic programs can produce.
Use this as a de-load from higher intensity work or to prepare you to go into a higher volume hypertrophy program.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is an upper body focused program using an incomplete-rest method. It is a more advanced version of an incomplete-rest style program that will use exercises to bias of different divisions for some muscle groups, allowing for greater total stimulus per session than a traditional incomplete-rest program.
If you prefer to just do super sets of the different divisions for more time-efficiency, use the “A” version of this program which will adjust the exercise order and volume appropriately for you to get the same intended stimulus.
This type of program is usually used to help boost local metabolic conditioning while avoiding inflammation that higher intensity local metabolic programs can produce.
Use this as a de-load from higher intensity work or to prepare you to go into a higher volume hypertrophy program.
Level: 3
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is an upper body focused program using an incomplete-rest method. It is a more advanced version of an incomplete-rest style program that will allocate more volume to priority body parts and will include a modified form of cluster sets in addition to regular straight-set incomplete rest.
Compared to a straight set or super set style of incomplete rest, the cluster sets approach will allow the use of slightly heavier loads (more tension). However, it does take a little more skill in estimating your weights, which is why we’ve labeled this as a Level 3 program.
This type of program is usually used to help boost local metabolic conditioning while avoiding inflammation that higher intensity local metabolic programs can produce.
Use this as bridge between your high-tension programs to boost your local conditioning while still getting some hypertrophy stimulus.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
Get ready for a skin-splitting pump!
This program can be used to increase your muscle cells’ ability to store glycogen (carbohydrates) making your muscles look fuller and harder. It will also help you improve your ability to recover between sets which will allow you to handle denser training (more work done in less time) in other phases.
The stimulus this program provides helps to increase your muscles’ ability to soak up glucose, making it less likely to be stored as fat. That makes it a great tool for improving body composition whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain.
When done properly this workout creates minimal muscle damage or oxidative stress, this means you can train more frequently and have to worry less about delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) inhibiting your ability to perform in each workout.
For those familiar with the different training stimuli, this is a metabolic workout focusing on an AMPK / local lactic stimulus to increase nutrient partitioning and improving body composition.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3x/week
This is a total body program to allow you to train with maximum frequency to stimulate muscle tissue as often as possible. Great for those just getting started or coming back to training after time off, this program will work on improving your conditioning and using compound movements to be very efficient with your time in the gym.
These workouts are quick and effective, which works well if you’re on a tight schedule.
Level: 2
Frequency: 4x/week
This high intensity training program utilizes only 3 working sets per muscle per workout.
Which means they must be MAXIMAL effort.
We’ll employ an accelerated ‘warm up’ to the initial sets so that you’re ready to give it 100% as soon as possible.
These workouts are not long, but will be brutal if executed correctly.
In order to stimulate as much tissue as possible, especially for convergent muscles like pecs and lats, we’ll slightly vary the exercise selection across the week to support both better performance and overall stimulus to the muscle fibers.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3x/week
This is a total body program to allow you to train with maximum frequency to stimulate muscle tissue as often as possible. Great for those just getting started or coming back to training after time off, this program will work on improving your conditioning and body composition.
There are two levels of this program provided based on your training experience and current conditioning as well.
All of the workouts start with just 3 sets, but you can go as high as 5 sets as your conditioning and tolerance to the volume improves.
Feel free to substitute any of the band or body weight exercises with free weights or machines if you have them.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
The Half Body split offers the benefit of having all the leg work in one day. This is especially valuable when limited to home exercises because many of the lower body exercises overlap, making it hard to separate quads, hamstrings, and glutes from each other on different days. This system is driven by frequency more than volume.
The exact frequency will depend on how you set up the off days and weekly schedule. Remember when choosing a higher frequency split to be more conservative on volume to start.
Some sample rotations would be:
High Frequency – Upper, Lower, Off (repeat)
Low Frequency – Upper, Off, Lower, Off Repeat
You can add additional abdominal work to either day. Additional calves would go on lower body day.
This program could be used for re-comp and fat loss if intensities and volume and nutrition are adjusted accordingly for the individual.
Only 1 set of each workout is provided because it is intended that you will repeat the same workouts and add progressions as-needed. View the Program Notes for suggestions on how to progress, which are viewable once the program is Active by going to Program > Active, and scrolling to the bottom.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
The PPL split offers the benefit of having all the leg work in one day. This is especially valuable when limited to home exercises because many of the lower body exercises overlap, making it hard to separate quads, hamstrings, and glutes from each other on different days. So when we need to use hypertrophy levels of volume and stimulus, the push, pull, legs split may be the most ideal.
If you want higher frequency and lower volume check out the Half Body Home Hypertrophy Program. The frequency will depend on how you set up the off days and weekly schedule. Remember when choosing a higher frequency split to be more conservative on volume to start.
Some sample rotations would be:
Most ideal – Push, Pull, Off, Legs, Off (repeat)
Less Ideal – Push, Pull, Legs, Off (optional 2nd day off) repeat
1x per week option – Push, off, Pull, off, legs, off (optional second day off) repeat
If you choose to ad additional abdominal work, on pull day if you get a day off before legs, or after the leg workout if you don’t. Additional calves can be added to Push or Leg days
One of each workout is provided so that you can repeat and update your sessions with progressions, rather than having to re-customize a workout each time. When the program is activated, go to Program > Active > scroll do the bottom to see the notes on suggestions for progressions.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
The purpose of this program is to increase tolerance to local metabolic stress while avoiding creating inflammation that higher intensity variations can create.
This is most often used as a de-load from higher volume tension or neurological programs, but can also be used to prepare before going into a hypertrophy focused program.
Nutritionally, you’ll likely be happy to hear that this program will require you to eat a decent amount of carbohydrates both to fuel training and keep your muscles’ glycogen (stored carbs) full. This will be essential to reaping the full benefits of the program so a low-carb diet is not recommended.
You can also expect great pumps during training and should see visual changes fairly quickly due to the effect of the workouts shifting glucose into your muscle cells and away from body fat.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
The purpose of this program is to increase tolerance to local metabolic stress while avoiding creating inflammation that higher intensity variations can create.
This is most often used as a de-load from higher volume tension or neurological programs, but can also be used to prepare before going into a hypertrophy focused program.
Nutritionally, you’ll likely be happy to hear that this program will require you to eat a decent amount of carbohydrates both to fuel training and keep your muscles’ glycogen (stored carbs) full. This will be essential to reaping the full benefits of the program so a low-carb diet is not recommended.
You can also expect great pumps during training and should see visual changes fairly quickly due to the effect of the workouts shifting glucose into your muscle cells and away from body fat.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This program can be used for a combination of hypertrophy and fat loss. You can focus more on one or the other if you choose by selecting your goal in the nutrition calculator included.
By utilizing super sets of exercises with specific characteristics we can push your body parts to higher levels of fatigue in a much shorter amount of time without sacrificing much intensity.
You’ll be required to have strong determination when it comes down to the last set or two of the exercises for each body part as your muscle’s will be on FIRE and you’ll have a ridiculous pump.
This type of training will also help improve your ability to recover between sets faster in your future training programs, which will be very helpful regardless of your overall goal.
You can also expect that your muscles’ sensitivity to glucose and insulin will likely improve by the end of this program due to the stimulus of the workouts.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is a volume biased program that will divide up work across different divisions of muscles (when appropriate) to compliment the higher frequency.
It’s been designed to be very easy to execute even in a busy gym.
The progression half way through the program will shift towards a little higher intensity.
Exercise selection will bias more work towards the lengthened positions to support greater stimulus for hypertrophy.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is a volume biased program that will divide up work across different divisions of muscles (when appropriate) to compliment the higher frequency.
It’s been designed to be very easy to execute even in a busy gym.
In week 3, drop set variations will be introduce to efficiently increase the volume without spending longer in the gym. Use the first to weeks to adapt to the exercise selection and dial in your weights.
Exercise selection will bias more work towards the lengthened positions to support greater stimulus for hypertrophy.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is a volume biased program that will divide up work across different divisions of muscles (when appropriate) to compliment the higher frequency. It is designed as a progression from the Push Pull L1 program, but if you’re an experienced trainee have no problem jumping into this one.
The progression half way through the program will shift towards a little higher intensity while incorporating some set-extension methods increase the stimulatory volume.
Exercise selection will bias more work towards the lengthened positions to support greater stimulus for hypertrophy.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
High Efficiency Version
This is a volume biased program that will divide up work across different divisions of muscles (when appropriate) to compliment the higher frequency.
It’s been designed to be very easy to execute even in a busy gym.
We’ll be using the rest-pause technique as a part of the progression to add volume without adding much time to your session time.
Exercise selection will bias more work towards the lengthened positions to support greater stimulus for hypertrophy.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This program can be a great choice if you are physically active outside of the weightroom (whether thats MMA, marathons, rock climing, or anything else) and you still want to build muscle without ‘overdoing it’ and with limited training days to dedicate to the gym.
We’ll focus on stable high-output exercises to minimize fatigue in stabilizing muscles that you may need in your weekly activities.
This is a great option to focus on consistent progressive overload from week to week since we’ll only be updating the training variables once in the middle of the program. The mid-program update will help progress you towards higher intensity that will carry over to subsequent programs as you continue to build strength in your primary movement patterns.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
We’ll focus on challenging your local metabolic conditioning with higher rep sets. Simple and effective.
You’ll train everything 2x per week and will use exercise selection to distribute the volume more evenly across muscles that have larger variance in their divisions, like pecs and lats for example.
This is best used as a preparation phase before going into a higher volume hypertrophy program, or to de-load from systemic or neurological training.
The goal is to increase your tolerance to local metabolic stress.
The adaptations you’ll acquire to benefit your future workouts include:
– Faster recovery time between sets
– More glycogen (carb) storage in your muscle tissue
– Better performance in extended set techniques (drop sets, rest-pause, etc.) allowing you to accumulate more stimulatory volume
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
We’ll use different types of super sets to push your muscles to their metabolic limit. This program is designed to stimulate an increase in mitochondrial efficiency (cellular energy production), glycogen storage, and tolerance to local metabolite production.
Due to the high degree of effort and close proximity to failure, there will be fewer sets per muscle group than some of your other hypertrophy programs. If you’re honest with your effort, more sets are not needed to accomplish the goal of these sessions; achieve hypertrophy and increase local conditioning.
After doing this program, you can expect to be able to recover more quickly between sets of the same muscle and notice an increase in muscle fullness.
Level: 3
Frequency: 3x/week
This is a highly specialized program for athletes who just need to focus on glute gains WITHOUT adding more mass to other muscle groups.
Your ability to properly execute and apply effort to exercises like cable press backs for glutes is essential. While there are only a few super sets, the ones that are included are required for the goal stimulus. It is not recommended to split them up.
It is still recommended to do some maintenance work for upper body at your discretion.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3x/week
This is a simple and effective approach to prioritizing glutes and delts with local metabolic work. You’ll want to have enough carbs to support performance and the pump you will get in these sessions.
Utilize this as either a de-load or preparation program during your glute-gains journey.
Easily perform this in any basic gym, even when busy.
Level: 3
Frequency: 4x/week
This program focuses on maximizing upper body tissue gain by utilizing the power of biomechanics in exercise selection and applying all the current research on training for hypertrophy. You’ll experience how to PROPERLY apply techniques like lengthened partials, reverse drop sets, and more.
This program will emphasize training at longer muscle lengths and utilizing appropriate resistance profiles to maximize the stimulus in each set. You’ll see how ALL the data is applied in training, not just one or two factors from the most recent paper.
These are the same workouts from the 16 week version, but only the hypertrophy workouts. You will pick your own de-load/conditioning phase after this and then you can repeat or continue on to part 2.
Level: 3
Frequency: 4x/week
This program focuses on maximizing upper body tissue gain by utilizing the power of biomechanics in exercise selection and applying all the current research on training for hypertrophy. You’ll experience how to PROPERLY apply techniques like lengthened partials, reverse drop sets, and more.
This program will emphasize training at longer muscle lengths and utilizing appropriate resistance profiles to maximize the stimulus in each set. You’ll see how ALL the data is applied in training, not just one or two factors from the most recent paper.
These are the same workouts from the 16 week version, but only the hypertrophy workouts. You will pick your own de-load/conditioning phase after this and then you can repeat or continue with the Specialization Upper Body PPL programs.
Level: 3
Frequency: 4x/week
This is a 16 week fully periodized plan that includes de-loads, progressions, and multiple programs.
This plan focuses on maximizing upper body tissue gain by utilizing the power of biomechanics in exercise selection and applying all the current research on training for hypertrophy. You’ll experience how to PROPERLY apply techniques like lengthened partials, reverse drop sets, and more.
Periodization and progression is already built in. Just follow along and put in the effort 💪
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
If you only have 3 days to train per week and still want to specialize in upper body training, this is a great option. It also works well if you’re busy outside of the gym and still want to make progress without your training fatigue compromising performance in other activities.
You’ll notice there is a moderate variation in exercise selection in order to take advantage of different exercise’s characteristics. There will also be cases where you’ll get just 1 hard set of an exercise. So being familiar with the movement pattern without needing a bunch of practice sets will be important. Not a difficult skill to acquire, but might be challenging for those who are brand-new to the gym (<6 months). That is why we classify this as a “Level 2” program.
We’ve kept a busy gym in mind when constructing these workouts as best as possible.
Employing techniques like drop sets and rest-pause methods allowed us to pack in more stimulus in less time to get you in and out in a reasonable amount of time.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
*This program picks up right where the “Part 1” program finished. It is recommended to complete a metabolic program (local or systemic) between the two programs, rather than jumping right in. This will help improve your rate of recovery.
If you only have 3 days to train per week and still want to specialize in upper body training, this is a great option. It also works well if you’re busy outside of the gym and still want to make progress without your training fatigue compromising performance in other activities.
You’ll notice there is a moderate variation in exercise selection in order to take advantage of different exercise’s characteristics. There will also be cases where you’ll get just 1 hard set of an exercise. So being familiar with the movement pattern without needing a bunch of practice sets will be important. Not a difficult skill to acquire, but might be challenging for those who are brand-new to the gym (<6 months). That is why we classify this as a “Level 2” program.
We’ve kept a busy gym in mind when constructing these workouts as best as possible.
Employing techniques like drop sets and rest-pause methods allowed us to pack in more stimulus in less time to get you in and out in a reasonable amount of time.
Level: 3
Frequency: 3-4x/week
*This program picks up right where the “Part 2” program finished. It is recommended to complete a metabolic program (local or systemic) between the two programs, rather than jumping right in. This will help improve your rate of recovery and progress.
Now we’re getting into some serious specialization programming!
In order to maximally stimulate the priority muscle groups, we’ll be a wider selection of exercises and the workout days will have 2 versions each (6 total workouts) to accommodate the volume and allow sufficient recovery for performance and growth.
The volume will be biased more to certain muscles or divisions on one day of the rotation.
Employing techniques like drop sets and rest-pause methods allowed us to pack in more stimulus in less time to get you in and out in a reasonable amount of time. We’ll also introduce partial-rep techniques to further increase the stimulus while keeping a lower number of sets.
Level: 1
Frequency: 4x/week
Increasing strength does not require going to failure, but it does require exposure to high intensity (not just effort). That is exactly what this program is for.
You’ll have 1 primary movement for each body part you’re training that will focus on reaching a high intensity across several sets. You’ll then have at least 1 complimentary exercise where you can focus on working closer to failure to accumulate additional volume of tension.
This is an excellent foundational program for improving strength while still having the opportunity to add some muscle tissue. It even can work well in a deficit due to the low metabolic demand.
Level: 2
Frequency: 4x/week
Increasing strength does not require going to failure, but it does require exposure to high intensity (not just effort). That is exactly what this program is for.
This is a progression for Super Simple Strength 1 and the intensity will be increasing accordingly. It’s critical you are already trained to be able to coordinate these movements with heavy loads and know how to moderate your RIR/RPEs so that you don’t have to decrease load during your A series exercises.
There will be added techniques in the later exercises to increase the volume of stimulus efficiently, such as cluster sets and rest-pauses, so you can get a bit more work done without drastically extending the time in the gym.
This is an excellent program for improving strength while still having the opportunity to add some muscle tissue. It even can work well in a deficit due to the low metabolic demand.
Level: 3
Frequency: 4x/week
Wave loading is a highly effective method for improving strength and neurological efficiency (ability to recruit more muscle fibers in every contraction). This method allows you to prepare the nervous system with the first “wave” of sets to perform at a higher level during the second wave. Often allowing you to lift more load than you would using traditional straight sets.
Choosing your weights carefully and tracking them is extremely important for getting the most out of this program, but you will notice that your loads and execution continue to improve each week if done properly.
The strength and neurological benefits of this program will carry over to elevating your results in both future hypertrophy and metabolic phases of training. Whether your goal is muscle gain or fat loss, the adaptations from an effective wave loading program will help you long-term. It can also be a great option for a de-load from metabolic work so that you can still be achieving positive adaptations while taking a break from systemic or lactic training stress.
Get ready for some high intensity training!
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This program super-sets larger muscle groups with smaller ones for an intermediate level systemic conditioning stimulus. This is a great option to prepare yourself before eventually progressing to the Systemic Back Load programs.
The split is half-body, meaning that you’ll train half of your muscle groups on one day and half on the other. AKA 2-day split. The volume per workout is relatively lower which allows you to recover faster and train more frequently. It is the ability to stimulate large volumes of muscle tissue frequently that has great benefit for fat loss goals.
The goal here is to stimulate a lot of muscle tissue and increase the density of work to create a systemic effect. These workouts will feel much different than other stimuli. Failure will be due to fatigue of your cardiovascular system and your liver’s ability to process large quantities of lactic acid rather than failure of a single muscle group due to local fatigue.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This program super-sets larger muscle groups with smaller ones for an intermediate level systemic conditioning stimulus. This is a great option to prepare yourself before eventually progressing to the Systemic Back Load programs.
The split is half-body, meaning that you’ll train half of your muscle groups on one day and half on the other. AKA 2-day split. The volume per workout is relatively lower which allows you to recover faster and train more frequently. It is the ability to stimulate large volumes of muscle tissue frequently that has great benefit for fat loss goals.
The goal here is to stimulate a lot of muscle tissue and increase the density of work to create a systemic effect. These workouts will feel much different than other stimuli. Failure will be due to fatigue of your cardiovascular system and your liver’s ability to process large quantities of lactic acid rather than failure of a single muscle group due to local fatigue.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This is a more advanced version of a systemic workout to upgrade your overall conditioning and also works well for fat loss to improve body composition.
The split is half-body, meaning that you’ll train half of your muscle groups on one day and half on the other. AKA 2-day split. The volume per workout is relatively lower which allows you to recover faster and train more frequently. It is the ability to stimulate large volumes of muscle tissue frequently that has great benefit for fat loss goals.
The format of the workouts puts the smaller muscle groups at the beginning so you can focus all the energy you have left on your larger movements at the end to really push yourself. This allows you to have an overall higher intensity across all the sets since the fatigue from smaller muscle groups shouldn’t limit your output on the larger muscle groups.
The goal here is to stimulate a lot of muscle tissue and increase the density of work to create a systemic effect. These workouts will feel much different than other stimuli. Failure will be due to fatigue of your cardiovascular system and your liver’s ability to process large quantities of lactic acid rather than failure of a single muscle group due to local fatigue.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3x/week
High Efficiency Variation
This total body split is an 8 week progression designed with gym-friendly super sets and time saving techniques to maximize your efficiency in every session.
Each workout should be less than an hour, including time for a warm up for each body part, provided you’re efficient with warm ups.
This is a slightly more advanced program since you’ll need to be able to select appropriate weight changes for drop sets and reverse drop sets, and be fairly accurate at judging your RIR/RPE.
This program can be a great choice if you are physically active outside of the weightroom (whether thats MMA, marathons, rock climing, or anything else) and you still want to build muscle without ‘overdoing it’ and with limited training days to dedicate to the gym.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3x/week
This total body split trains is a 10-week progression focused on mechanical tension for muscle gain and improving body composition.
Due to the high frequency, not every exercise will be taken to failure in each workout. Stopping some exercises 1-2 with reps in reserve (RIR) before failure will allow quicker recovery between sessions and better performance week to week.
This program is best suited if you can only train 3 times per week on non-consecutive days.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3x/week
This total body split trains is a 10 week progression focused on mechanical tension for muscle gain and improving body composition. This program is designed as a continuation of Total Body Tension 1.
Due to the time constraints of trying to train the whole body in a single session, we’ll be strategically incorporating drop set methods to accomplish greater efficiency as we increase volume over the 10 weeks.
This program can be a great choice if you are physically active outside of the weightroom (whether thats MMA, marathons, rock climing, or anything else) and you still want to build muscle without ‘overdoing it’ and with limited training days to dedicate to the gym.
Level: 2
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This high intensity training program utilizes only 3 working sets per muscle per workout.
Which means they must be MAXIMAL effort.
We’ll employ an accelerated ‘warm up’ to the initial sets so that you’re ready to give it 100% as soon as possible.
These workouts are not long, but will be brutal if executed correctly.
In order to stimulate as much tissue as possible, especially for convergent muscles like pecs and lats, we’ll slightly vary the exercise selection across the week to support both better performance and overall stimulus to the muscle fibers.
Due to the overall lower set volume, this program also compliments a calorie deficit quite well for the goal of muscle retention while focusing on fat loss.
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
This program is designed to get accustomed to higher frequency training at a moderate volume. It can act as a progression from 3x/week training or total body workouts to build up to higher volume half body splits.
The first 3 weeks will focus on dialing in weight selection at moderate intensities, but not many sets to failure, to accommodate quick and complete recovery between sessions. IE avoid excess soreness that might hinder performance. Then the volume and effort will ramp up for the remaining weeks as you adapt.
The workouts are designed to be simple with mostly linear rep scheme (same rep ranges for all sets of an exercise) and with a busy gym in mind, so that the super sets used are easy to accomplish.
If you’re getting back into training after some time off, this is a great option to start with for 3-4 weeks before progressing into other programs (like the Upper Lower 2, which follows this one).
Level: 1
Frequency: 3-4x/week
High Efficiency Variation
We’ll be applying Drop Sets in order to increase the efficiency of these training sessions so you can get in and out of the gym in under an hour, including your warm-up time.
Gym-friendly super sets will be applied where possible to further increase the efficiency of the session.
Increasing the density of the sessions also means that there will be a slightly higher metabolic demand to these workouts. The better your systemic and local conditioning is, the more hypertrophy stimulus you’ll be able to accomplish. This is why the first 3 weeks are designed to be more metabolic than the following weeks. It will allow you to perform and recover better as the intensity increases in the main part of the program.
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