2024 Strength Training Programs (FREE DOWNLOADs)

For 2024, I’ve created two workout cycles. The first is a 26-week cycle based on Brad Schoenfeld’s Max Muscle Plan, with some tweaks by yours truly. It is an excellent book; it is well-researched with practical guidelines and suggestions. This program is ideal for intermediate to advanced lifters looking to take a more systematic approach to their training and or looking to mix things up.

2024 Lean by Habit 26-Week Strength & Hypertrophy Training Program

The second is a 16-week training cycle focused on building muscle through progressive overload. This is the program I’m currently following. I’ve been training for over thirty years, and I seldom train with loads that are more than 80% of my one repetition max because I find it too taxing on my joints.

2024 Lean by Habit 16-Week Hypertrophy Training Program

Whichever program you choose, the attached spreadsheets take all the guesswork out of selecting the proper weights for each exercise. All you have to do is enter a weight you’ve lifted between 1 and 15 repetitions in the 1 RM (Repetition Max) Estimator Tab, and it will estimate your 5RM, 8RM, 10RM, 12RM, 15RM, and 20RM weights.

These programs are designed to vary your weights and repetitions from week to week (Undulating Periodization). Your training intensity will ramp up over several weeks in an attempt to set a new personal record (PR). When you set a new PR, I recommend you re-calculate your 1RM and reprint the spreadsheet.

Some weeks will feel easier than others, but remember, we are training, not exercising. Our goal is to coax performance improvements over several weeks, not to set a new PR, every workout. Think of your strength training sessions as practice. Focus on perfecting your technique and increasing the motor units’ firing rate to accelerate the weight up, then lowering the weight in a controlled manner to maximize muscle stimulation and reduce your risk of injury.

General recommendations:

1) Two-thirds of the sets you perform for each muscle group should be basic compound lifts, like the squat, bench press, stiff-legged deadlift, chin-ups, presses, rows, etc.

2) Rest for at least 2-3 minutes between working sets. You can perform sets for unrelated muscle groups or antagonistic muscles during rest intervals to perform more volume in less time. For example, you can superset rows and bench presses because they work antagonistic muscles, or you can perform abdominal cable crunches between sets of bicep curls because they are unrelated.

3) Avoid going to failure except where prescribed on basic compound exercises. When in doubt, use a slightly lighter weight. You can go to failure on most of your isolation exercises without overtaxing your ability to recover.

4) Follow the general guidelines as much as possible, especially if you are in a training rut. We all develop habitual ways of training. Remember, everything works until it doesn’t. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. The best program is the one you aren’t doing.

Terms and Explanations of the Program

Splits (Training Splits): How the body is divided for training, for example:

Back & Chest/Legs/Shoulder & Arms: Back and Chest are trained in one session. Leg muscles are in another session, and shoulders and arms are in another session.

Upper/Lower: Upper body muscles are trained in one session, and Lower Body muscles in the next.

Push/Pull/Leg: Pushing muscles of the upper body (chest, shoulders, & triceps) are trained in one session. Pulling upper body muscles (back, traps, & biceps) in the next session and Leg muscles in the following (quadriceps, hamstrings, & calves).

Push/Pull: Push days comprise all the pushing muscles, upper and lower body, for example, quadriceps, calves, chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pulling exercises target the hamstring, glutes, back, traps, biceps, and rear deltoids.

Suggested Weights – Weights are based on your calculated 1-repetition max (1RM) for each exercise, which you determine for each major movement at the beginning of the cycle. The second spreadsheet tab allows you to calculate your 1RM and estimates what weights constitute your 5RM, 8RM, 10RM, 12RM, 15RM, and 20RM for each exercise.

I recommend keeping the 1 RM estimates and these program guidelines saved on your SmartPhone as a PDF in my Apple – Books app. I converted the excel file to a PDF, emailed it to my iPhone, then saved it in my Books app.

RIR – repetitions in reserve (how many reps in the tank/short of failure).

Volume – I provide a recommended number of working sets for large muscle groups, like the quadriceps, hamstrings, chest, back, and shoulders) in the far-right column. I recommend cutting that number in half for smaller muscle groups like the biceps, triceps, & calves).

Weekly Volume: the number of weekly working sets performed for major muscle groups.

Myo-Reps: These are a type of rest-pause training. You perform your initial set, close to failure, rest for 15 seconds, then attempt to perform another set with approximately 1/5 to ¼ of the repetitions on your initial set. End the set when you cannot perform that number of repetitions. An example myo-rep set: 15 repetitions, rest 15 seconds, 3 repetitions, rest 15 seconds, 3 repetitions, rest 15 seconds, 2 repetitions – END SET. For a complete description, click this link – Myo-rep video.

If you have any questions or think I can help you reach your fitness goals, please get in touch with me at leanbyhabit@gmail.com.

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