How do I follow the programming?
There’s 4 days of programming:
Monday – Lower Body
Tuesday – Upper Body
Thursday – Lower Body
Friday – Upper Body
Typically it’ll be squat, bench, deadlift, press but the order isn’t important.
You’ll need to know your 1 Rep Maxes of these lifts to use this program most effectively. If you don’t know them, follow Week 0 first then jump into the programming
Typically, each lift will be 3-5 sets with the final set being an AMRAP set. More on this below
What does xX% (80%, 85%, etc) mean?
This program is mostly based off of percentages of your 1 Rep Max. If you had a 1 rep max of 200lbs in the squat, and the program called for sets of 5 at 80%, you would lift 160lbs which is 80% of 200lbs (.8 x 200 = 160). Again, start with Week 0 if you don’t know your 1RMs
What is a 1 rep max and a training max?
A 1 rep max is the max amount of weight you could lift for 1 rep, hence 1 rep max. IE if you could lift 225 for 1 rep, that’s your 1 rep max.
But your 1 rep max would also be about 225 if you could do 215×3 reps or 200×5 reps so we don’t need to do a true 1 rep max to establish that. More on that in Week 0
A Training Max is simply some number that is lower than our True Max and Strength WOD uses 90% of our 1rm as our training max. In our previous example of a 225 1rm, our training max is 202.5 which we can just round up to 205.
Why would we do this? Because training using our absolute max doesn’t give us a whole lot of wiggle room when it comes to growth and training.
First, you’re not always going to be feeling 100% in the gym. A training max still let’s you get effective training in on those days.
By using slightly lower than max weights, we can continually make progress for much longer without any burnout, without having to grind through weights all while allowing us to use great form
It might seem counterintuitive, but using weights that are slightly lighter let’s you progress much easier.
Do I need the app?
Not at all. The app adds in a full warm up and simply tracks everything for you. Instead of seeing
“3 sets of 5 at 80%” you’ll see “3 sets of 5 at 160lbs” on your end
It also handle 1rm updating using the amrap targets so you potentially wouldn’t need to touch anything at all on your end. Even if you did want to adjust the 1rm yourself, it’s very simple
What does “+” mean in 3×5+ / what does AMRAP mean?
3×5+ or AMRAP mean essentially the same thing. As stated above, the final set of each lift will be an AMRAP or As Many Reps As Possible set, meaning you do as many GOOD reps as possible.
So if squat is 3×5, you’ll do 2 sets of 5 and the 3rd set you might do 6, 8, 10 or more reps. The perfect time to stop is when you think to yourself “I can definitely do 1 more rep but I’m not sure I can get 2 reps.” You’ll mess this up at first; that’s fine.
Don’t be an ass and continually push yourself to hit another rep that looks like shit. Leaving 1 or 2 reps “in the tank” ensures great form and keeps you from burning out
Since Strength WOD is structured with a training max in mind, you should always hit the target rep range. If you’re struggling to hit the target or are constantly grinding to hit the target, your training max is too heavy
Can beginners follow this program?
Yes but with a caveat:
If you’re new to heavy lifting, you can grow you’re strength much faster with the beginner program. You’ll simply do this program for 3-6 months and then follow Strength WOD
If you don’t care that your strength growth will be slower (it’s really not that big of a deal), want a little more flexibility in your training, are a little older or some combination thereof, then you can jump right into the programming.
Strength WOD is structured to allow new lifters fast growth while giving more experienced lifters slower and more progressive growth
How do I know when to Progress/How do I know when to add more weight?
There’s 2 ways to progress:
The first is where the AMRAP sets are key. If you blow the amrap set out of the water, add weight to your 1RM. My rule of thumb is if you get 5+ reps over the amrap target, add weight.
For instance, if you’re doing 3×5 squats, the “target” would be 5 reps. If you got 10 or more reps on the final amrap set, then bump up your 1RM by 5-15 pounds depending on how many reps you got.
This might look like
Your starting 1rm is 200
Week 1: 3×5 – you get 13. Your new 1rm is 205
Week 2: 3×5 – you get 12. Your new 1rm is 210
Week 3: 3×5, you get 15. Your new 1rm is 220
This is going to be a little different for everyone so play around with this and opt to go too light as that’ll ensure you don’t burn yourself out.
The second way to progress is use a set amount of time. Typically monthly, every 6 weeks, or every 8 weeks.
This is a good option for more experienced lifters.
For instance, if you’ve been training for a while, you might have a deadlift 1rm of 405 and we’re doing sets of 5 this month.
What you might see on your AMRAP sets are something like
Week 1: 6 reps
Week 2: 6 reps
Week 3: 7 reps
Week 4: 7 reps
So it’s been 4 weeks, it’s time to bump up your training max 5-10lbs
If you’re older and/or more experienced, you might opt to bump your max after 6 or 8 weeks instead or even opt to wait until you get 5+ reps over the amrap target
Utilizing both of these strategies is how Strength WOD works for both new and experienced lifters.
Someone new will be hitting over the amrap targets and adding weight weekly while someone more experienced will see more incremental growth
Again the app will update this for you if you want the convenience
What else should I do?
If you want a full athletic strength and conditioning program to follow, check out Game of Gainz
2 simple options for you though
pick 1 upper body, 1 lower body and 1 core exercise and do 2-4 sets. Something like pushups, lunges and plank
Or you can stick with the lower body/upper body theme so on squat day you could do lunges, calves and plank and bench day you could do pushups, rows and triceps
How long should I rest?
If you’re new, 2-3 minutes between sets is fine. As you get more experienced, it’s going to be in the 3-5 minute range
What if I can only do 3 days?
Just combine Thursday + Friday
What does 3×5, 5×3, etc mean?
The first number is how many sets you’re doing and the second number is how many reps. 3×5 is 3 sets of 5 reps, 5×3 is 5 sets of 3 reps, etc
What does Superset mean?
Superset means do 2 exercises back to back.
IE if the workout calls for deadlift superset with side planks, you’ll do the deadlift then immediately do the side planks, then back to deadlifts once your rest is over