How to structure a training program?
There are a huge number of training programs out there, but all of them (or at least most of the good ones!) have a lot in common when it comes to the structuring of a program.
Breaking down most of these programs, you will see that the majority of the exercises in an effective program can be categorized, and that there is a lot of similarity in how a training week is then structured based on these categories. Even programs which are at first glance very different will actually have a lot of similarities in their structure.
A training program is often more than just a one-week skeleton structure. I’m going to show you how to create this weekly skeleton structure in this article. However, for calculating how many sets and reps, determining more specifically what exercises are to choose, planning over several months etc., these will all require different articles, and this is where most of the difference in programs come from.
Contents
- Introduction
- Exercise Classification
- Example Programs
- Bringing Everything Together
- Sample Microcycle Structures
- Conclusions
- Final Notes
Exercise Classification
To first learn how to structure training program, it is useful to look at different ways to categorize or classify exercises.
Bondarchuk, in his book “Transfer of Training Sports”, lists four types of exercises: Competitive Exercises, Specialized-developmental Exercises, Specialized-Preparatory Exercises, and General Preparatory Exercises. These are all fancy words, but in practice they are no different than most coaches or athletes thinking of exercises being “tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3” or “competition, assistance and supplement”.
Here are some definitions of these exercise classifications, and then I’ll show you how they are applied in practice, and how they are very similar to other exercise classifications that are typically used.
Competitive Exercises – This is the main exercises you are training for. In powerlifting, this would be the squat, bench and deadlift. These are exercises that a generally the most specificity to your goal. Typically, they utilise similar rep patterns to the actual competition, to ensure you are using the same “energy systems”.
Specialized-Development Exercises – Slight variations on the competitive exercise, often with an emphasis on a specific part of the competitive exercise’s movement pattern. For example, someone who is stuck off the floor on the deadlift may perform 1” pause deadlifts. These are generally done for similar reps and intensities as the competitive exercise but is a slight variation in the movement pattern to emphasise working on weak-points. They can also potentially include the competitive exercise itself, just performed at a lower weight.
Specialized-Preparatory Exercises – Generally these are exercises which vary quite a bit more from the competitive exercise in their movement pattern and the rep scheme. They are often focusing on strengthening weak muscle groups. For example, if the deadlift is the competitive exercise, a Good Morning, or a glute-ham raise may fall into this category. They are exercises done to strengthen the muscles, but are often have a different movement pattern to the competition exercise, and can incorporate different rep schemes.
General Preparatory Exercises – These are usually exercises that are unrelated to competition exercises, generally training antagonistic muscle groups. For example, with powerlifters training the squat, bench and deadlift, these exercises will typically train the upper back, arms and core – the muscles which are usually missed out. They can also include conditioning exercises.
As an example of potential exercises in each category for a powerlifter, these exercises categories would therefore become something like this:
| Movement Pattern | Squat | Bench Press | Deadlift | Secondary Bench Press |
| Competition Exercise | Low-Bar Back Squat | Competition-Style Bench | Deadlift | Touch-and-Go Bench Press |
| Special Developmental Exercise | Pin Squat | Pause Bench | Pause Deadlift | Close-Grip Bench Press |
| Special Preparatory Exercise | Leg Press | Press | Good Mornings | Dumbbell Bench Press |
Note that I have included two bench press categories – a Bench Press and a “Secondary Bench Press”. This is quite common with powerlifting – a second competition exercise is chosen (in this instance, the touch-and-go bench press), and SDE and SPE exercises are chosen for this. It is also fairly typical that the second competition exercise will be an overhead press.
Lets see a potential 4-day split using these exercise classifications:
| Monday | Tuesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Primary Squat CE | Primary Deadlift CE | Primary Squat SDE | Primary Deadlift SDE |
| Primary Bench CE | Primary Bench SDE | Secondary Bench CE | Secondary Bench SDE |
| Secondary Bench SPE | Primary Squat SPE | Primary Bench SPE | Primary Deadlift SPE |
The above program would be typical for the weekly microcycle you might see from Reactive Training Systems or Barbell Medicine. It is a full-body four-day split, with the movement patterns spread out throughout the week, and is one example of how to structure a training program.
A four-body split like this with different exercises each day can be beneficial, as it means you are coming in to each different movement pattern fairly “fresh”, so can put in a lot more meaningful work to the main movement slots.
Alternative Exercise Classifications
An alternative way to think of the exercises is that presented by Cody Levefer in his GZCL programs. There he categorises exercises into tiers.
Tier 1 would be the main exercise such as the Squat – equivalent to Bondarchuk’s Competition Exercise
Tier 2 would be a main assistance lift, that closely mirrors the competition exercise focusing on weak points – equivalent to Bondarchuks Special Developmental Exercise (SDE)
Tier 3 would be supplemental exercises, that build additional muscle in the muscle groups, often using different reps and slightly different movement patterns – equivalent to Bondarchuks Special Preparatory Exercise (SPE).
Alternatively, some coaches class competition/tier-1 exercises as “primary exercises”, SDE/tier-2 as “assistance exercises” and SPE/tier-3 as “supplemental exercises”.
These are all different labels for the same few movement categories. Once we start seeing similarities in different programs and classification systems, we can begin to see what makes these programs work.
Example Programs
By looking at well-established example programs, we can see how they are structured and therefore learn how to structure a training program for yourself. We have already seen a sample microcycle that you might expect from Reactive Training Systems or Barbell Medicine.
GZCLP
Taken from http://swoleateveryheight.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-gzcl-method-simplified_13.html. This is a good program to look at, as this program uses Tier 1/2/3 exercises as their classification system.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| T1: Squat 5 sets x 2 reps | T1: Bench Press 5 sets x 2 reps | T1: Deadlift 5 sets x 2 reps | T1: Overhead Press 5 sets x 2 reps |
| T2: Front Squat 4 sets x 5 reps | T2: Decline Bench 4 sets x 5 reps | T2: Good Morning 4 sets x 5 reps | T2: Incline Bench 4 sets x 5 reps |
| T3: Leg Curl 3 sets x 12 reps Leg Extension 3 sets x 12 reps | T3: Dips 3 sets x 12 reps Triceps Extension 3 sets x 12 reps | T3: Shrugs 3 sets x 12 reps Upright Row 3 sets x 12 Reps | T3: Arnold Press 3 sets x 12 reps Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12 reps |
Here you can see there is a one-lift per day protocol. Lets take a snapshot of just day 1, to see how each day is broken down.
Squat Snapshot
| (All on day 1) | ||
| T1: Squat 5 sets x 2 reps | T2: Front Squat 4 sets x 5 reps | T3: Leg Curl 3 sets x 12 reps Leg Extension 3 sets x 12 reps |
| Equivalent | ||
| Tier 1 Competition Exercise | Tier 2 Special Developmental Exercise (SDE) | Tier 3 Special Preparatory Exercise (SPE) |
As you can see, GZCL program includes all three classifications of lifts on the same day. Similar to the four-day full-body split we saw originally, the competition exercises or tier 1 exercises are generally performed first in workouts as they are most important, followed by tier 2 exercises which are followed by tier 3 exercises.
HLM (Heavy-Light-Medium)
Taken from Practical Programming by Mark Rippetoe and Andy Baker
| Monday (Heavy Day) | Wednesday (Light Day) | Friday (Medium Day) |
| Squat 5×5 | Squat 3×5 (20% of Mon) | Squat 3×5 (10% of Mon) |
| Bench Press 5×5 | Press 3×5 | Close Grip Bench 3×5 |
| Deadlift 1×5 | Powerclean 3×3 | SLDL 3×5 |
Again, lets take just a snapshot of the squat:
| Monday (Heavy Day) | Wednesday (Light Day) | Friday (Medium Day) |
| Squat 5×5 | Squat 3×5 (20% of Mon) | Squat 3×5 (10% of Mon) |
| Equivalent: | ||
| Competition Exercise Tier 1 | Special Preparatory Exercise (SPE) Tier 3 | Special Developmental Exercise (SDE) Tier 2 |
Note that here the SPE (Tier-3) and SDE (Tier-2) are not different exercises, but they are loaded differently.
It also worth noting that in this context, there is less upper-body volume. Bench Press is clearly the competition exercise, and Close-Grip Bench Press is clearly a Special Developmental Exercise. The Press is likely classed as a Special Preparatory Exercise, although in some contexts it could be its own competition exercise.
For the deadlift, the powerclean is classed as the SPE/Tier-3 lift, and the Stiff-Leg Deadlift (SLDL) would be the SDE/Tier-2 lift.
Therefore, the full skeleton would be:
| Monday (Heavy Day) | Wednesday (Light Day) | Friday (Medium Day) |
| Squat CE | Squat SPE | Squat SDE |
| Bench Press CE | Press SPE | Close Grip Bench SDE |
| Deadlift CE | Deadlift SPE | Deadlift SDE |
5/3/1 Boring But Big
The famous 5/3/1 Boring But Big by Jim Wendler is another very famous program which we can figure out the breakdown quite easily for. I’ve chosen Example Two from this blog https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101077382-boring-but-big
| Day one | Day two | Day three | Day four |
| Press – 5/3/1 | Deadlift – 5/3/1 | Bench Press – 5/3/1 | Squat – 5/3/1 |
| Bench Press – 5×10 | Squat – 5×10 | Press – 5×10 | Deadlift – 5×10 |
| Lat Work – 5×10 | Abs – 5 sets | Lat work – 5×10 | Abs – 5 sets |
Again, lets look at just the Squat
| Day Two | Day Four |
| Squat – 5×10 | Squat – 5/3/1 |
| Equivalent | |
| Special Developmental Exercise (SDE) Tier 2 | Competition Exercise Tier 1 |
Note that with 5/3/1 BBB listed above there are no Special Preparatory Exercises. If something is missed out in a program, it is usually the SPE exercises, as they are the least important.
The Lat Work and Abs are general preparatory exercises. Here they have been included at the end of each day, but in other programs they are included on separate days.
You’ll also notice how this is almost a 4-day upper/lower split, with day 1 and 3 being upper-body and day 2 and 4 being lower-body.
You’ll also notice how the lifts are spread throughout the week – instead of doing the competition exercise and SDE on the same day, they are separated. This is another way you can program.
Also note that the SDE/tier-2 exercise is the same exercise as the competition exercise, but performed at a lower intensity for more reps. This is just how this particular version of this program is wrote, you could easily substitute the SDE/Tier-2 exercises for variations. This would mean for the squat, the program would be: Competition Squat (5/3/1 rep scheme) and then 5×10 of a squat variation, like pause squats, high-bar squats or safety bar squats.
In this program you can also see an example of how the Bench Press is a competition exercise, and the Press is also a competition exercise.
Now lets look at the full skeleton for this program:
| Day one | Day two | Day three | Day four |
| Press CE | Deadlift CE | Bench Press CE | Squat CE |
| Bench Press SDE | Squat SDE | Press SDE | Deadlift SDE |
| GPE | GPE | GPE | GPE |
nSuns 5/3/1
This is almost a combination of the 531 program and Boris Sheiko’s programs, made by the reddit user u/nSuns:
| Monday | |||||||||
| Bench | 65% x 8 | 75% x 6 | 85% x4x3 (Sets x Reps) | 80% x 5 | 75% x 6 | 70% x 6 | 65% x 8+ (AMRAP) | ||
| Press | 50% x 6 | 60% x 5 | 70% x3 | 70% x 5 | 70% x 7 | 70% x 4 | 70% x 6 | 70% x 8 | |
| Tuesday | |||||||||
| Squat | 75% x 5 | 85% x 3 | 95% x 1+ (AMRAP) | 90% x 3 | 85% x 3 | 80% x 3 | 75% x 5 | 70% x 5 | 65% x 5+ (AMRAP) |
| Sumo Deadlift | 50% x 6 | 60% x 5 | 70% x3 | 70% x 5 | 70% x 7 | 70% x 4 | 70% x 6 | 70% x 8 | |
| Thursday | |||||||||
| Bench | 75% x 5 | 85% x 3 | 95% x 1+ (AMRAP) | 90% x 3 | 85% x 3 | 80% x 3 | 75% x 5 | 70% x 5 | 65% x 5+ (AMRAP) |
| Close-Grip Bench | 50% x 6 | 60% x 5 | 70% x3 | 70% x 5 | 70% x 7 | 70% x 4 | 70% x 6 | 70% x 8 | |
| Friday | |||||||||
| Deadlift | 75% x 5 | 85% x 3 | 95% x 1+ (AMRAP) | 90% x 3 | 85% x 3 | 80% x 3 | 75% x 3 | 70% x 3 | 65% x 3+ (AMRAP) |
| Front Squat | 50% x 6 | 60% x 5 | 70% x3 | 70% x 5 | 70% x 7 | 70% x 4 | 70% x 6 | 70% x 8 | |
This looks incredibly complex, but if we break it down we can see the similarities of its ‘skeleton’ structure.
Squat Snapshot
| Tuesday | Friday |
| Squat 75% x 5 85% x 3 95% x 1+ Descending Pyramid (6 sets, 90% to 65%) | Front Squat 50% x 6 60% x 5 70% x 6 sets using a Ragged Pyramid rep scheme |
| Equivalent | |
| Competition Exercise Tier 1 | Special Developmentary Exercise (SDE) Tier 2 |
Note how there is SPE squat. Some version of nSuns will have an additional day added for additional volume for the squat and deadlift, but the base program above has no SPE squat or deadlift exercise. Of course, there is no assistance work listed here – nSuns does have a lot of additional assistance work. This assistance work could consist of GPP exercises, or maybe even allow for some SPE exercises such as Leg Press, Incline Bench Press, DB Bench etc.
Bench Snapshot
| Monday | Wednesday | ||
| Bench 65% x 5 75% x 6 85% x 4 x 3 Descending Pyramid (4 sets, 80% to 65%) | Press 50% x 6 60% x 5 70% x 6 sets using a Ragged Pyramid rep scheme | Bench 75% x 5 85% x 3 95% x 1+ Descending Pyramid (6 sets, 90% to 65%) | Close Grip Bench 50% x 6 60% x 5 70% x 6 sets using a Ragged Pyramid rep scheme |
| Equivalent | |||
| Secondary Bench (Competition Exercise) Tier 1 | Secondary Bench (Special Developmental Exercise) Tier 2 | Primary Bench (Competition Exercise) Tier 1 | Primary Bench (Special Developmental Exercise) Tier 2 |
Again no assistance work. But we can see Wednesday has the Primary Bench, and Monday has the secondary bench. The two other (Press & CGBP) could be classed as SDE exercises. If we add in some assistance work such as DB Bench on Monday and Incline Bench on Wednesday, then we have: Primary Bench (Wed Bench), Primary Bench SDE (CGBP), Primary Bench SPE (DB Bench); and Secondary Bench (Mon Bench), Secondary Bench SDE (Press), Secondary Bench SPE (Incline Bench).
Now lets look at the full week as a skeleton framework:
| Day one | Day two | Day three | Day four |
| Secondary Bench CE | Squat CE | Primary Bench CE | Deadlift CE |
| Secondary Bench SDE | Deadlift SDE | Primary Bench SDE | Squat SDE |
Bringing Everything Together – Structuring a Training Program
In summary, there are 4 exercise categories:
Competition Exercise (CE) (Tier 1 or primary exercise) – Highest Stress and most specific. Usually the exercise you set PRs with.
Special Developmental Exercise (SDE) (Tier 2 or assistance exercise) – Slight variation to competition exercise. Usually a similar rep schemes as competition exercise. Usually focuses on a weak-point.
Special Preparatory Exercise (SPE) (Tier 3 or supplemental exercise) – significant variant from competition exercise, usually utilising the same muscles as competition exercise. Often uses different reps.
General Preparatory Exercises (GP) (Tier 4 or GPP) – Exercises training neglected muscle groups unrelated to competition exercises, or conditioning work.
Lets look at a few ways to program this. For simplicity sake, I am going to list exercises as:
CE / Tier 1 (Competition Exercise)
SDE / Tier 2 (Special Development Exercise)
SPE / Tier 3 (Special Preparatory Exercise)
I personally don’t think of exercises as “tiers”, however it can be a useful label for explanatory purposes.
Lets write programs for four lifts: Squat, Bench, Deadlift and Press. As we saw above this could just as easily be Squat, Bench, Deadlift and Secondary Bench. I’ve chosen Press as it will be easier to visually see in the below examples as a different exercise classification.
Sample Training Program Structures
3-day Full Body
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |
| Squat – CE/Tier 1 Bench – CE/Tier 1 Squat – SPE / Tier 3 | Deadlift – SDE/Tier 1 Press – CE/Tier 1 Bench – SDE/Tier 2 | Squat – SDE / Tier 2 Press – SDE / Tier 2 Deadlift – SDE / Tier 2 Bench – SPE / Tier 3 |
You’ll note that here the Press SPE/Tier 3 and the Deadlift SPE/ Tier 3 has been missed out. This is often an unfortunate necessity on 3-day full body programs.
4-day Full Body
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Squat – CE/Tier 1 Bench – CE/Tier 1 Bench – SPE/Tier 3 | Deadlift – CE/Tier 1 Press – SDE / Tier 2 Squat SPE / Tier 3 | Squat – SDE / Tier 2 Press – CE/Tier 1 Press – SPE/Tier 3 | Deadlift – SDE/Tier 2 Bench – SPE/Tier 2 Deadlift – SPE/Tier 3 |
This is a fairly typical set-up for a 4-day full-body workout, and it covers all of the main exercise classifications. You’ll see this set-up fairly commonly, with maybe a few minor tweaks here and there, the tweaks don’t make much difference and should really be based on personal preference to maximise compliance.
4-day Upper/Lower Split
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Squat – CE/Tier 1 Deadlift – SDE / Tier 2 (Squat – SPE/Tier 3) | Bench – CE/Tier 1 Press – SDE/Tier 2 (Bench – SPE/Tier 3) | Deadlift – CE/Tier 1 Squat – SDE/Tier 2 (Deadlift – SPE/Tier 3) | Press – CE/Tier 1 Bench – SDE/Tier 2 (Press – SPE/Tier 3) |
This again is a fairly typical upper/lower split. Note the tier 3 exercises are in brackets, this is because they are often missed out. Doing some heavy squats, followed by SDE deadlifts is very fatiguing, an often times adding in some final SPE exercises is just too much for one day, either physically or mentally. It will generally need building up to. If you miss out the SPE/Tier 3 exercises, this will probably look quite similar to 5/3/1 programs, or a 4-day HLM/Texas Method layout. The difference will be how you program the reps and sets.
One Lift Per Day
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Squat – CE/Tier 1 Squat – SDE/Tier 2 Squat – SPE/Tier 3 | Bench – CE/Tier 1 Bench – SDE/Tier 2 Bench – SPE/Tier 3 | Deadlift – CE/Tier 1 Deadlift – SDE/Tier 2 Deadlift – SPE/Tier 3 | Press – CE/Tier 1 Press – SDE/Tier 2 Press – SPE/Tier 3 |
Some people love this layout, those people are usually masochists. Seriously though, this system can take some getting used to, and you may need to miss out the SPE/Tier 3 exercises until your work capacity is built up to it. This could also often look fairly similar to a body-part split depending on the exercises you choose for each category.
Priority System
This can be a useful method if you struggle with time or motivation. There is no set program, but instead you perform the lists in accordance to the priority of them.
If you are in the gym and have more time and motivation today, you may do a few CE / Tier 1 exercises, such as Squat CE/Tier 1, then Bench CE/Tier 1, then Deadlift CE/Tier 1, and then the next day you are short on time and motivation, so you do some SPE/Tier 3 exercises. When you are next in the gym and have more motivation/time, you’ll do the SDE/Tier 2 exercises.
This is often not discussed by people as on paper its not an optimal way to program. However, I’d rather an athlete comes into the gym and does the work in an ad-hoc manner than they simply don’t do the work. If this is the only system which lets you get the necessary work in, then this may be the optimal routine for you.
Conclusions: Which set-up is best?
There’s a lot of options above, and you can probably be creative and make your own. They are all fairly equal, the psychological benefits of doing a system which you like likely outweighs any of the physiological differences each system will give you. So I’d recommend choosing one which you think you would prefer. If you are unsure, I’d recommend trying either the 3-day or 4-day full-body split for 4-8 weeks, and then trying the upper/lower split for 4-8 weeks. You’d then have a good idea of what you prefer.
Final Notes – Periodization and Training Age
I think it is important to discuss periodization at this point. Many of the above programs are simply one-week microcycles, and don’t have any longer-term planning other than simply adding weight each week. Most of the programs also have a mix of reps within the week – often the competition exercises will use 1-5 reps, whereas the SPE exercises will use 8-12 reps. This can be a fine way to train, and is an example of undulating periodization. However, there may be other options, such as utilising linear periodization (note this is not linear progression), or block periodization, where there may be times when all exercises are in the 8-12 rep range (such as during a hypertrophy phase), and all exercises are within the 1-5 rep range (such as a strength or power phase). I’ll discuss more about periodization in the future, however the actual exercise classifications are what make up most microcycles regardless of the longer-term periodization model being used.
Finally, these microcycles are primarily suitable for people with a bit of training experience under their belt. If you are new to the gym and are a novice lifter, you are better off doing something like my novice program, listed here. This is because newer lifts will not require as much variation, and will usually benefit from doing competition exercises more frequently to really hammer-home the fundamental movement patterns. If you are passed your novice phase, then the above mircocycles would be suitable for you. There also isn’t too much difference in structuring a weekly-routine between intermediate and advanced lifters. Advanced lifters will usually require a 4-day split due to needing more volume, whereas intermediate lifters can get by with either 3-day or 4-day. The main difference between intermediate and advanced lifters is their rate of progress and the longer-term planning needed. Although even then, intermediate lifters can benefit significantly from the same longer-term periodization strategies advanced lifters need.