# Programming

How to turn the intake into a programme. Follow this rather than improvising, and where
you depart from it, write the reason into the profile's `## Decisions` section.

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## 1. Anchor lifts

Pick three to five compound lifts as anchors, based on what they already do and what
their equipment allows. Typically bench, squat, deadlift, overhead press, and a row.

Anchors are the lifts whose **load is protected in every phase**. Volume can be cut hard
without losing strength; intensity cannot. Every accessory is negotiable; anchors are not.

If an anchor is excluded by injury, choose the nearest tolerated pattern instead. A
machine press is a fine anchor for someone who cannot barbell bench.

## 2. Choosing the split

| Days | Split | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Two full-body days | Anchors every session, minimal accessories |
| 3 | Full body x3, or upper / lower / full | Full body wins for beginners and for fat loss |
| 4 | Upper / lower / upper / lower | Default. Everything trained twice a week |
| 4 | 3 upper + 1 lower, or 3 lower + 1 upper | Only when they want that emphasis |
| 5 | Upper / lower / push / pull / legs | Needs genuine commitment; do not assume it |
| 6 | Push / pull / legs x2 | Advanced only, and only if they asked |

Order the sessions so the heaviest work is furthest from the last session that fatigued
the same muscles. Never put a heavy pull day the day after deadlifts.

Number the days rather than naming weekdays. People miss sessions; a sequence survives
that, a calendar does not.

## 3. Volume per mode

Sets are **per exercise per session**. A slot set to 0 does not appear in that mode.

| Mode | Intent | Weekly sets per major muscle | Reps | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut / deficit | Retain strength, minimise junk volume and injury exposure | 4–12 | Anchors 4–6, accessories 8–12 | Anchors RPE 8, accessories 2–3 RIR |
| Maintain | Hold, stay adapted to volume | 6–16 | Anchors 5–6, accessories 8–12 | 2 RIR |
| Build / surplus | Grow | 10–22 | Anchors 5–6 plus back-offs, accessories 8–15 | 1–2 RIR |

These are the same bands the app grades the week against on its Week tab, so a
programme written to this table lands inside them. The app counts a set as 1 for the
exercise's primary muscle and 0.5 for each secondary muscle, and assumes every counted
set is taken near failure. Aim for the lower half of each band when writing the
programme; the count rises on its own once secondaries are added in.

The evidence behind the cut column: strength is maintained on remarkably little volume
provided load is maintained, with the minimum for trained lifters landing around 3–6 hard
sets per muscle per week at high intensity. Programme slightly above that floor rather
than at it, so returning to full volume does not wreck them.

For a single fixed programme with no modes, use the maintain column.

## 4. Building each session

Structure every session as: anchor first, then the second compound, then accessories,
then isolation or core.

Budget the time honestly. Roughly:

- Anchor set: 3 min rest, so about 4 min per set
- Secondary compound: 2 min rest, about 3 min per set
- Accessory: 75–90 s rest, about 2 min per set
- Add 8 minutes for warming up

A 60 minute session is about 16–20 working sets including warm-up. If the session does
not fit, cut accessories, never the anchor.

## 5. Rep ranges and rest

| Type | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Anchor, strength bias | 4–6 | 3 min |
| Anchor, hypertrophy bias | 6–8 | 2.5 min |
| Secondary compound | 8–10 | 2 min |
| Accessory | 10–12 | 90 s |
| Isolation, small muscles | 12–15 | 60–75 s |

## 6. Progression

- Add load only when they beat the **top** of the rep range on **every** set with reps
  still in reserve.
- Increment: 2.5 kg on lower body and barbell presses, 1–2 kg on upper body isolation,
  or one pin on a machine.
- Never increase load and reps in the same week on the same exercise.
- Deload when performance falls for two consecutive sessions across multiple lifts:
  drop to about two thirds of the usual sets for one week, keeping the load.
- In a deficit, holding the same numbers **is** progress. Say so, because people read a
  flat log as failure and start adding volume they cannot recover from.

## 7. Injuries and exclusions

The intake produces a list of constraints. Apply them like this:

1. **Exclude, don't approximate.** If a movement is named as painful, it does not appear
   in the app. Not a lighter version of it.
2. **Substitute by pattern, not by name.** Replace a painful horizontal press with a
   different horizontal press, changing the variable that hurt: the grip, the range, the
   implement, or the angle.
3. **Grip and position are movement-specific.** Do not apply a global rule such as
   "always neutral grip". The same grip can help one movement and aggravate another
   depending on which structures it loads.
4. **Flag the affected exercises in the app** so they carry a visible watch tag, and
   progress them at roughly half the normal rate.
5. **Judge by next-day response**, not by how it felt mid-set. Discomfort that resolves
   within 24 hours is usually acceptable; pain that lingers or worsens the next morning
   means the last session exceeded capacity.
6. **Reintroduce in isolation.** When testing whether an excluded movement is tolerated
   again, do it light, on its own, not stacked onto a heavy day, so any reaction is
   cleanly attributable.

Tendon and connective tissue adapt slower than muscle. The classic re-injury happens when
load rises at the rate the muscle can handle. Progress anything injury-adjacent
conservatively and say why in the plan.

## 8. Nutrition targets

Only produce these if asked for in the intake.

- If they know their real maintenance calories from tracking, **use their number**. A
  measured figure beats any formula, and say in the plan that it came from their data.
- Otherwise estimate with Mifflin-St Jeor for BMR and apply an activity multiplier of
  1.4–1.6 for someone training 3–5 times a week, then label it clearly as an estimate to
  calibrate against two weeks of real scale data.
- Protein: 1.6–2.2 g per kg bodyweight. Use the upper half in a deficit, where it
  protects muscle and satiety.
- Deficit: 20–25% below maintenance, expecting 0.4–0.7 kg per week. Larger deficits cost
  strength and adherence.
- Surplus: 10–15% above maintenance, expecting 0.2–0.3 kg per week. Faster is mostly fat.
- Always add the sanity check: if actual weight change over two weeks differs markedly
  from the expectation, the maintenance figure was wrong and should be revised.

State plainly that these are targets, not prescriptions, and that anyone with a medical
condition affecting diet should take them to a professional first.

## 9. Conditioning

- Steps are the main energy-out lever in a deficit, not extra gym sessions. Set a target
  slightly above their current average rather than an arbitrary 10,000.
- One or two low-impact cardio sessions of 20–30 minutes on non-training days is plenty
  alongside lifting.
- Do not stack heavy axial loading, repetitive impact, and a heavy lower body day in the
  same 48 hours.
