intermediatePowerbuilding

Powerbuilding

Stronger and bigger at the same time, six days a week, without a set near your max.

No sets of five or fewer and no max test. Your strength shows as the weight you move for 8 to 12 reps climbing week by week. If you need a tested one-rep max, that is 1RM Peaking.

Duration
8 weeks
Frequency
6 days/wk
Sessions
44

Upper Body A · Lower + Arms · Upper Body B · Motor Control & Movement Quality · Upper Body Hypertrophy · Lower + Arms

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Upper Body A (Strength bias, 10~8 reps)Week 1, day 1
  • Bench Press3 × 10~8RIR 23~5 min
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1 of 8 slots in this session.

What you leave with

  1. 01

    Strength you can watch climb

    Every main lift is worked at 8 to 12 reps, one or two short of failure. When your reps reach the middle of the range, the load goes up about 2% the next week, or by one rep where your equipment can't make that step.

  2. 02

    Size from the same work

    Each pattern is trained twice a week, once at 8 to 10 reps and once at 10 to 12, with added work for shoulders, back and arms.

  3. 03

    Effort you can repeat

    Heavy singles and triples exist to lift a max on a given day. That is a goal of its own, with its own programs. Here the effort goes into sets you can repeat and add to every week.

How the 8 weeks run

  1. Way in

    Adaptation

    1 week

    Finds your working weights before the loading starts.

  2. The work

    Weeks 1–6

    6 weeks

    Every load comes from your own logged sets.

  3. Way out

    Deload

    1 week

    Takes the fatigue off, so the next cycle starts fresh rather than tired.

It's for you if

  • You want to get stronger and bigger, with no meet or max test coming up
  • You can train six days a week, about 90 minutes a session
  • You have six months or more of regular training and know what two reps in reserve feels like

Start elsewhere if

  • You're peaking for a meet or want to test your maxLifting near your max takes practice and adapting to heavy loads, and both come from the heavy singles and triples this program leaves out.See 1RM Peaking
  • You can train four days a week, not sixThe same engine and the same rep ranges, in four sessions.See Powerbuilding 4D/W
  • You have less than six months of regular trainingReps in reserve has to be learned before a program can be run on it.See Beginner Step 1

Inside the program

351prescribed exercisesacross 44 sessions

  • Sets, reps and rest on every one, and a reps-in-reserve target wherever it applies.
  • Every load comes from your own logged sets.
  • Your log carries into whatever you run next.
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