PlanStrong/BuiltStrong I Write a PlanStrong Program

[Steve Freides]

1 (Large numbers at the top of a post indicate it contains the next step.)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Even after I attended PlanStrong _twice_, I still found the process of creating a PlanStrong program daunting, overwhelming - lots of math, but not all math, and therefore a "strange brew" that needed math but also needed experience, common sense, and a good understanding of PlanStrong's guidelines.

To help us all, I'm going to go through the process of creating a PlanStrong Program. This was and is a _real_ PS program, written by me, for me, and discussed with Fabio Zonin at several points along the way.

No spreadsheet - I am not trying to create a computer program to write PlanStrong programs. While I think that the idea of a computer program to write PS programs is a fine one, I think one misses some very important thinking if one only uses a spreadsheet. Better, for most of us, to understand the process as, they say, "from the top down." We will start with the big picture and as we continue, we'll continue to work out more and more of the details.

Note that this thread cannot possibly be all things to all people, so I beg your indulgence when it comes to questions like, "What if the lifter wants ...." - our mission here is to follow one plan through the steps necessary to have a single, Prep period, 4 weeks worth of lifting. We can address other wants and needs as long as keep the thread focused on the mission.

The mission is to help anyone who has not been able to complete writing a PS program to their own satisfaction by working through one complete example. Those of you who are already writing PS program will perhaps still find things of interest here.

We begin:

First: Who is the lifter? Do we want to use PS 70 or PS 50 for this lifter?

If we don't know who the lifter is, we can't really write them the best program for them.

Our lifter has about a 2.5 x bodyweight deadlift, good enough to have set some records because of his age and weight.

Male, 65 years old, 66 kg weight class for IPF/USAPL, 67.5 kg weight class for other federations. Raw, lifetime drug-free.

Important - our lifter spends most of his life a little _over_ the top of his weight class, and therefore wants to be careful about gaining weight, even muscle weight.

Lifting background - has been doing 200-250 deadlifts per month averaging 73% 1RM intensity with no particular plan.

For this lifter, we choose

PlanStrong 70

because the lifter wants to increase his 1RM without growing out of his weight class. PlanStrong 50 might be a better choice _if_ he wanted to do more lifts in the 50-70% range in order to add muscle to his frame.

If I haven't lost you yet, here's what we'll do: Ask questions now, make comments, and when those, if any, are done, I will summarize this message at the beginning of the next message. By the end of the thread, you'll see everything in one place, the last post, but you'll have the opportunity to scroll back up to review the details of the thinking that went into each decision along the way.

-S-

 

[Tbone77]

This is a cool idea and could be very helpful. There was so much info presented in the seminar that it’s going to take a while for me to sort through it all as I’m sure it will take a lot of practice ( if not a lifetime) to develop the skill of program design. One of the shocking things I have discovered talking to a lot of other athletes/ lifters is how blasé their can be about recording their workouts and the corresponding info.

 

[PeterLuffman]

I'll be interested to know the thought process regarding variants used.

 

[Steve Freides]

This is a cool idea and could be very helpful. There was so much info presented in the seminar that it’s going to take a while for me to sort through it all as I’m sure it will take a lot of practice ( if not a lifetime) to develop the skill of program design. One of the shocking things I have discovered talking to a lot of other athletes/ lifters is how blasé their can be about recording their workouts and the corresponding info.

@Tbone77, why don't you write your own program along with this thread as it progresses. Start a new thread if you wish, give us a bit of background, and talk about why you might choose PS 50 or 70 - that is the first thing to do.

Thank you for the feedback so far.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

I'll be interested to know the thought process regarding variants used.

In principle, they should be randomized; in practice, for this, my first PS cycle, I knew what I wanted and I went looking for it in the table of variants. When we get there - soon - I will explain my thinking.

-S-

 

[Tbone77]

That’s a great idea, perhaps I can do a bodyweight or kettlebell plan so we can cover more bases

 

[william bad butt]

I'm following along. What else is the lifter doing? Maybe a park bench overhead pressing routine a few days per week? Any other serious lower body or hinge pattern training?

Eric

 

[Taylor Rimmer]

Cool idea. Will this just be the DL portion of the plan, or the whole thing?

I would submit that using a spreadsheet for the “worksheet 1” stuff just saves math time, and that “worksheet 2” is where the the art happens (probably can’t spreadsheet that part), like Mr. Zonin said in an IG post the other day.

But hey the worksheets are fun so let’s roll!

 

[jef]

Excellent idea, @Steve Freides
I would add comments on the PS50/PS70 (and the spreadsheet).

Writing a PS program is like learning to snatch.
You need to follow a progression: deadlift->2H swings->1H swing->snatch.
PS programming can also follow a progression :
create many PS70 with a paper and a calculator (learn the art) -> create PS70 with a spreadsheet to save time -> write PS50 --> write PS50 with assistance lifts.

So the choice of PS70/PS50 would also depend on how experienced is the programmer. Anyway, you would not write a PS for a very advanced athlete if you are still a novice in PS programming, right?

I also think that a PS70 is a good choice for most lifters, because:
- most are not that advanced that they need less than 70% intensity.
- it is easier to write (and then harder to mess up),
- less lifts = less time at the gym.

 

[Steve Freides]

That’s a great idea, perhaps I can do a bodyweight or kettlebell plan so we can cover more bases

Cool idea. Will this just be the DL portion of the plan, or the whole thing?

After we work through this one, we can decide what's next. I think adding at least one more lift makes sense.

For now, DL only.

I'm following along. What else is the lifter doing? Maybe a park bench overhead pressing routine a few days per week? Any other serious lower body or hinge pattern training?

Eric

Since this lifter is me, I can answer authoritatively. I had been working on my one-arm kettlebell press, first with the ROP and then with Soju and Tuba, but as I noted in a thread about playing the cello in our off-topic section, I failed a press, and I decided I wasn't pleased with the state of my shoulder health, so I stopped there. I don't want to derail this topic - suffice it to say that I'm doing nothing terribly structured, some light pressing and pullups. Other activities include a few miles a day of walking and some Q&D style sprinting - neither of those really organized, either, just as time, needs, and schedule allow.

My routine consists of my light pressing and pullups 4-5 days per week, and PS deadlifts as the program calls for, currently 2-3 days a week.

Writing a PS program is like learning to snatch.
You need to follow a progression:

As we are doing here - one lift, PS 70, with a clearly defined lifter about whom we know everything.

I also think that a PS70 is a good choice for most lifters, because:
- most are not that advanced that they need less than 70% intensity.
- it is easier to write (and then harder to mess up)

Agreed.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

2 (Large numbers at the top of a post indicate it contains the next step.)

Now some of the "big picture" numbers, by which we mean numbers that apply to the entire 4-week cycle.

NL - Number of Lifts and HARI

Lifter has been doing 54 lifts per week (3 training days of 6 triples each, which adds up to NL=216 for 4 weeks) but his HARI has been relatively low at around 74%. For our first PS cycle, we will raise his intensity and lower his volume as his introduction to PlanStrong.

Therefore, NL = 200, in the middle of what the manual recommends, and less than what he'd been doing.

We will aim for a HARI = 79%, at the bottom of the range recommended by the manual. This represents an increase of several percentage points from his previous training but we feel the lifter is able to accept this challenge.

If a lifter has been doing non-PS training, we need to consider those parameters because, even though this is his first PS cycle, it's still a continuation of his training. We are changing his HARI a lot so we don't want to change much else to get him started.


Training Weight Selection

The lifter's 1RM = 160 kg. *

A good deal of thought went into the selection of training weights.

Weights to be used:

(110 kg = 68.75% && too light for PS 70)

120 kg = 75%
130 kg = 81.25%
140 kg = 87.5%
145 kg = 90.625%

(150 kg = 93.75%) && not using, see below

Explanation:

We following the thinking that big jumps are best and therefore we'll try not to use anything smaller than a 5 kg plate for jumps of 10 kg (22 lbs). 120, 130, and 140 kg are obvious choices.

150 kg was considered, but this lifter has had success on the platform when staying below 90% 1RM in training. The manual tells us that lifts above 90% 1RM are lifter-specific. Following some of the guidance in the PS manual, and because we want our first experience to be a successful one, we will stick to 92.5% as a training maximum. 145 kg is perfect - it's more than the lifter is used to doing in training and will make a good "test" of how he handles 90%+ weights when not on the platform.

Note: P. 8 of the manual makes mention of "lifters with average to high endurance" and "lifters with low endurance." Our lifter is someone with low endurance - he overtrains easily but can exceed his training max significantly when he's on the platform. Therefore, if we're doing to err, we are going to err on the side of doing too little rather than too much with this lifter, and we will monitor his recovery. These characteristics of the lifter influenced our choice of HARI and, as we'll see in the next installment, also influenced how many lifts in the 91-100% zone we will choose to include in his first PS cycle.

What's Next?

We have NL, we have HARI, and we have selected our training weights, so our next step will be to figure out how many of each of our 4 weights we will want in our 4-week cycle. After that, we'll delve into the variants for volume and intensity so that the following step can be creating a number of lifts at each weight for each week of our program. And then the finish line will be, if not near, then at least in sight.

-S-

--

* the lifter has competition 1RM's from 3 years ago of 162.5 kg in the 66 kg class and 165 kg in the 67.5 kg class in another federation. An estimated current 1RM of 165 or 162.5 seems possible but 160 kg seems more realistic, and it has the added benefit of making the math simpler, too.

 

[jef]

Training Weight Selection
The lifter's 1RM = 160 kg. *
[...]
Note: P. 8 of the manual makes mention of "lifters with average to high endurance" and "lifters with low endurance."

You make a very good point here, that shows why the programmer needs to know the lifter (or at least ask the right questions).

For instance, I am at your weight and 1RM (68kg, recently tested 160kg deadlift), but I am high endurance.
For my case, I would have skipped the 145kg and chosen the 150kg instead (and actually did in my last cycle...).

 

[Steve Freides]

Indeed, @jef, it sounds like you're both higher endurance and can tolerate a higher intensity in training than I can.

I recall, at a StrongFirst event (don't recall where or when), Pavel T took some time to discuss programming for two people with the same 1RM. One of the two was more like you in that he could work at a high percentage of his 1RM for significant volume, and the other was more like me, where competition maxes were pretty far away from normal training weights. Cha·cun à son goût (to each according to his own taste), and vive la difference!

-S-

 

[william bad butt]

Indeed, @jef, it sounds like you're both higher endurance and can tolerate a higher intensity in training than I can.

I recall, at a StrongFirst event (don't recall where or when), Pavel T took some time to discuss programming for two people with the same 1RM. One of the two was more like you in that he could work at a high percentage of his 1RM for significant volume, and the other was more like me, where competition maxes were pretty far away from normal training weights. Cha·cun à son goût (to each according to his own taste), and vive la difference!

Interesting. I've created a few of these PS programs. I always error towards low endurance, at first, to be safe. Especially with big, bilateral, complex lifts like the 3 powerlifts for example. But it really helps when you know the lifter (or yourself. In this case).

I am extremely low endurance I guess. Last week I only did sets of 2 reps with 80% 1RM back squat. I just make up for it with lots of sets to keep my volume up. At a true 80% I'm probably capable of 5 reps for 1 set. 6 reps would probably be a PR. But I'd really have to psyche myself up and not something I'd want to do on a weekly basis.

Interesting forum post.

Regards,

Eric

 

[Steve Freides]

I am extremely low endurance I guess. Last week I only did sets of 2 reps with 80% 1RM back squat. I just make up for it with lots of sets to keep my volume up. At a true 80% I'm probably capable of 5 reps for 1 set. 6 reps would probably be a PR. But I'd really have to psyche myself up and not something I'd want to do on a weekly basis.

The best thing would be for you to test your RM with different weights. The guidelines in the PS manual are based on the idea that you want to do between 1/3 and 2/3 of your RM with a given weight. What's below suggests 80% is between about an 8RM weight. In the past, I've usually done 3-5 reps with an 80% weight, which fits the formula.

From exrx.net's 1RM calculator page:

ExRx.net : Predicting One-rep Max

Estimated Reps at Percent of 1 Repetition Maximum
Reps:         1      2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10    11    12    15
%1RM  
Brzycki      100    95    90    88    86    83    80    78    76    75    72    70 
Baechle      100    95    93    90    87    85    83    80    77    75          67    65
dos Remedios 100    92    90    87    85    82          75          70          65    60

 

[Steve Freides]

3 (Large numbers at the top of a post indicate it contains the next step.)

In my previous post, I said, "We have NL, we have HARI, and we've selected our training weights, so our next step will be to figure out how many of each of our 4 weights we will want in our 4-week cycle." First, I'll show you what needs to happen in a nutshell, and follow that with the details and the math.

Executive Summary of Our Plan

• Decide lifts @ 91-100%
• Adjust standard assignment to reflect lifts @ 91-100%
• Do the math to arrive at HARI

If those three steps give us a HARI we like, we're done.

If the HARI isn't what we want, then we must repeat the 2nd and 3rd items above as many times as necessary to achieve the desired result, those steps being:

• Revise assignment of lifts to zone
• Do the math to arrive at HARI again

And we'll keep revising the assignment of lifts and recalculating the math until we have a HARI we like.

End of Executive Summary of Our Plan


The Nitty-Gritty

Here we go, in detail . The math isn't hard, and the concepts are just a fleshing-out of what's above.

The manual, at the bottom of p. 3, says the Average Distribution what's below, and the average HARI is 80%.

Average Distribution (from manual)

55% of lifts (NL) in the 70-80% (of 1RM) zone
35% of lifts (NL) in the 81-90% (of 1RM) zone
10% of lifts (NL) in the 91-100% (of 1RM) zone

But ...

We have already decided that our lifter isn't average, and that we don't want a lot of heavy lifting in our first PS cycle. And, just above that table of Average Distributions and Average HARI, we find these words of wisdom:

"90% RM and greater lifts are individual and lift specific. Start by having 0-3 lifts in the Prep Period"

Decision time! We have 2 problems to solve.

Problem 1: Because our lifter is experienced, even though new to PS, we are going to assign him 2.5% of his lifts (instead of the 10% average) in the 91-100% zone. That will mean 5 lifts, not the 0-3 recommended but it will be OK.

And because we dropped 7.5% of our NL from the heaviest zone, we have to put that 7.5% somewhere else. We'll take a guess and, since we're dropping some heavy weights, we'll put more of that 7.5% into a heavier zone to keep the average close to that it needs to be. We'll put 5% more in 81-90% and only 2.5% more in 70-80%, giving us:

Our Distribution (which has fewer 91-100% lifts)

57.5% of lifts (NL) in the 70-80% (of 1RM) zone (was 55%)
40% of lifts (NL) in the 81-90% (of 1RM) zone (was 35%)
2.5% of lifts (NL) in the 91-100% (of 1RM) zone (was 10%)


Problem 2: We have _two_ lifts in the 81-90% zone, so we need to divide our 40% (see above) of total lifts (NL) between _two_ weights. We'll try 25% with the lighter weight, 130 kg, which is 81.25% 1RM, and 15% with the heavier weight, 140 kg, which is 87.5% 1RM. (We could have tried splitting our 40% equally, 20% and 20%, but 140 kg, which is 87.5% 1RM, is already a pretty heavy weight and we don't want to overtrain. The lifter has had successful competitions in the past in which no training was done over 88%, so we'll try to keep the 87.5% lifts pretty low and give it only 15% of NL here.)


Our Percentages of Monthly NL at Each Training Weight

57.5% NL @ 120 kg, which is 75% 1RM, our only entry in the 70-80% zone
25% NL @ 130 kg, which is 81.25% 1RM, our lighter entry in the 81-90% zone
15% NL @ 140 kg, which is 87.5% 1RM, our heavier entry in the 81-90% zone
2.5% NL @ 145 kg, which is 90.625% 1RM, our only entry in the 91-100% zone

(You could argue that 90.625% isn't in 91-100%, but for purposes of assigning weights to zones, I round, and 90.625% rounds to 91%.)

Armed with the number of lifts at each weight, we're now ready to calculate our HARI for the first time:

The math is easy: to figure out the total NL for each of our 4 weights for the month, just double the percentages:

115 (2 x 57.5) lifts @ 120 kg
50 (2 x 25) lifts @ 130 kg
30 (2 x 15) lifts @ 140 kg
5 (2 x 2.5) lifts @ 145 kg

NB: Don't forget that the percentages must add up to 100.

We've divided our 200 lifts among our 4 weights, so we're now ready to compute our total weight lifted for the month, which is necessary to compute our HARI.

First, we multiple the number of lifts at each weight by the weight itself to arrive at total kg lifted for that weight in the month:

Total KG for Each Training Weight for the Month

115 lifts x 120 kg = 13,800 kg
50 lifts x 130 kg = 6,500 kg
30 lifts @ 140 kg = 4,200 kg
5 lifts @ 145 kg = 725 kg


Then we'll add those together:

Add Total KG per Training Weight to Get Total KG Lifted for the Month

13,800 + 6,500 + 4,200 + 725 = 25,225 kg total weighted lifted for the month


Then we'll divide by 200, and have our HARI.

Divide Total KG lifted by NL to Get Average Weight Lifted for the Month

25,225 / 200 = 126.125 kg average lift for the month


And now, Good News and Bad News

126.125 kg (average weight) / 160 kg (our 1RM) = 78.83% HARI

Good New: Our HARI is close to what we want.
Bad News: We can do better, so we need to adjust our weight distribution and calculate again.

Take #2

We need to make things just a little heavier on average, so let's try moving another 2.5% of our monthly volume. We'll move it out of 120 kg and into 130 kg, which should push our HARI a little higher.


Revised Distribution and Math

110 lifts (55% NL, 2.5% less than before) @ 120 kg (5 fewer lifts than before)
55 lifts (27.5% NL, 2.5% greater than before) @ 130 kg (5 more lifts than before)
30 lifts @ 140 kg (unchanged)
5 lifts @ 145 kg (unchanged)

110 lifts x 120 kg = 13,200 kg (600 kg less than before)
55 lifts x 130 kg = 7,150 kg (650 kg more than before)
30 lifts @ 140 kg = 4,200 kg (unchanged)
5 lifts @ 145 kg = 725 kg (unchanged)

13,200 + 7,1500 + 4,200 + 725 = 25,275 kg Total Weight Lifted for the month

25,275 kg total weight / 200 total reps = 126.375 kg Average Lift for the month (up 0.25 kg)

126.375 kg (average weight) / 160 kg (our 1RM) = 78.98% HARI

We'll accept this, 78.98, as close enough to our goal HARI of 79%


Finished with Our Installment 3

And we're done with this step! We now know how many reps for each of our 4 weights we're going to do in the month. Our month could be expressed simply as

120 kg x 110 reps
130 kg x 55
140 kg x 30
145 kg x 5

for an average lift of 126.375 kg or 79% of our 1RM of 160 kg.

Cool stuff.

Next time, we'll decide how much volume and how much relative intensity we want in each of the four weeks of our Prep Period. (Those are the Variants in the table on P. 2). You'll see how we assign the weights from the heaviest on down, and how we "backfill" with the lightest weight to make the math come out correctly.

When we're done this step, we'll have the weights and reps decided for each week, and the end will be another step closer. After that, two more big steps to go: assign weights and reps to each training day, and break each day up into sets, and then we'll have a complete 4-week plan for Prep 1. So, at this point, we're about halfway there.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

Was there too much math in my previous post for people to follow? I'm really trying to make sure everything is explained as clearly as I can, and no replies makes me think I didn't do a good job.

Thanks.

-S-

 

[william bad butt]

Was there too much math in my previous post for people to follow? I'm really trying to make sure everything is explained as clearly as I can, and no replies makes me think I didn't do a good job.

Thanks.

-S-

I was able to follow. Still digesting it. I think I am in agreement with everything.

 

[jef]

No reply can also mean that it was clear.
I do the maths the same way as you do: calculating average weight, then dividing by the 1RM.

Some people play with percentage only (this is how it was done at the PS event I was to), but I find it more complex and more likely to lead to mistakes, in my case.

 

[Steve Freides]

@jef and @william bad butt, thank you both for the feedback. I am going to try to make the post more clear, anyway - I think I can do better. I will post a note when I've revised it and would love additional feedback if you have it.

-S-