Sixteen programs. Three things to choose on.

All programs

1. 01e1RM

   An estimated max, not a tested one

   A tested one-rep max is a reliable number, but it describes one day, it says nothing about how hard a percentage of it will feel, and it is the lift with the least margin for someone training alone. An estimate from the sets you already do is not exact either, but it costs nothing and moves with you every session, so the library runs on the estimate and tests a true max only in the program built for it. Neither number knows how today feels, which is why sets also carry a reps-in-reserve target, and a speed instruction where speed is the point.

   Field NoteEstimated and tested maxes
2. 02RIR

   Stopping short of failure

   Taking every set to failure is paid for by the sets after it: it roughly doubles the bar speed lost after a session, and in the one trial run on highly trained lifters it bought no more growth than stopping a rep or two short, with pooled data showing at most a small edge for size. So most working sets end with reps in reserve. Judging that is imperfect, usually off by about a rep and on the cautious side, so the target is a band and the app flags effort reports that do not add up.

   Field NoteReps in reserve
3. 03Autoregulation

   Progress read from your log

   A plan that adds weight every week is a guess about how fast you adapt, and a number chased before the reps are there has to come from somewhere, usually range or form. So each load comes from what you last lifted and how hard it was. That only works if the log is honest, which is why nothing on the session sheet is filled in for you.

   Field NoteProgressive overload
4. 04Velocity loss

   Speed treated as its own variable

   How far into a set you go splits the result: deep sets favor size, sets stopped while the bar is still fast keep the fast qualities, and one rule for every set gives up whichever it costs. So in the athletic and speed programs, power sets end as the bar slows and every rep is attempted at full intent, while the sets built for size go deeper.

   Field NoteMovement velocity and intent
5. 05Rest interval

   Rest that keeps the next set real

   Short rest looks efficient and quietly deletes the reps that drive growth, because the next set starts tired. So rest is prescribed to let the next set be a full one, longer on heavy compound lifts. Where a session has to be shorter, programs pair muscles that do not compete rather than cutting the rest.

   Field NoteRest between sets
6. 06Volume

   Volume built, not jumped to

   More weekly volume reliably builds more muscle across the range studied, and that is the trap: it is the easiest thing to add and the hardest to recover from, and the first month is when programs get abandoned. So in most programs volume opens below its peak and builds across the block.

   Field NoteWeekly volume
7. 07Exercise selection

   A stable core, varied on purpose

   Muscles grow unevenly across their regions, so one exercise rarely develops a whole muscle, and rotating exercises for novelty means never progressing on any of them. So each muscle gets a small core of movements, held long enough to progress on, with the variation chosen for the positions it covers.

   Field NoteExercise selection
8. 08Exercise order

   Fast and fresh work first

   Fast or technical work done tired is neither fast nor well done, so a session in the wrong order trains its most demanding work at its worst. So jumps, sprints and the day's priority lift come while you are fresh. The deliberate exception is the contrast pair, where a jump follows a heavy set to ride its effect, and the wait between the two is written into the prescription.

   Field NoteExercise order
9. 09Adaptation and deload

   A way in and a way out

   Starting heavy on numbers nobody has found yet is how a first week goes wrong, and hard weeks stacked with no way out carry their fatigue into whatever comes next. So most programs open with a week that finds your weights and close with a lighter one, and the next cycle, of this program or another, starts fresh. The light week keeps training rather than stopping, because in the one trial of trained lifters a week off cost some strength, and it is not claimed to add gains of its own.

   Field NoteAdaptation weeks and deloads
10. 10Return to training

    Coming back below where you left off

    After time off, strength returns faster than connective tissue is ready for it, so the weight you can lift in week three overstates what you should. Runway restarts you below your previous loads and rebuilds across the block rather than resuming where the log left off. The break itself costs less than it feels: in the older adults it has been measured in, a few months off cost no detectable muscle, and strength came back in under eight weeks of retraining.

    Field NoteTime off and coming back
11. 11Individual response

    Progress read over months, not weeks

    Twelve weeks is a noisy measurement of anyone, so a slow block says less about you than it feels like it does, and true non-responders appear to be rare. So your estimated max is drawn with its margin, a change inside it is labeled as one, and a stall is called only after weeks with no confirmed progress.

    Field NoteAre you a non-responder?