Linear-Progress Programming

this is a guide to linear-progress programming, which is a strategic (yet simple) way to express more strength every time you lift.

linear-progress programs are the simplest and most straightforward way for a beginner to get stronger. most people in the gym would be better off ditching whatever program they’re on and starting a linear-progress program.

on a linear-progress program, you express more strength every time you lift. there are a few ways to express more strength. the two most overt ways: using more weight or doing more reps.

linear progress can be milked for a long time if you know how to dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation. learning the steps of this dance is easiest to do in the shadow of a specific program. with that in mind, let’s take a look at Starting Strength.

Starting Strength is one of the most popular linear progression programs on the internet.

i teethed myself on Starting Strength in 2007. i was a Starting Strength junkie. Rippetoe was my god.

things are different now. unless you want to be a competitive powerlifter, i don’t recommend Starting Strength. (reasons are aplenty, now isn’t the time to indulge.) still, i’m going to use Starting Strength as a vehicle to explain the basics of linear-progression programming.

keep in mind, the thoughts that follow are mine (even though they heavily are informed by my former obsession with Starting Strength). the horse’s mouth is a combination of Starting Strength and Practical Programming, which are physical books (the horror). both are worth your money if you’re in this game for the long haul.

i’m butchering both books here, instead of simply pointing you in their direction because i’m arrogant enough to think my perspective and portrayal of linear progression programming is easier to digest and unique enough to stand alone.

during Phase 1 of Starting Strength, you rotate between two different training days.

Day A

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Bench Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

DAY B

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Overhead Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

(if you’re used to body-part splits, the look of this program might give you shell shock. suspend your disbelief. stick with me.)

you lift three days per week on non-consecutive days. there’s a two-day break after the third training day. the classic Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule works, as does any combination that respects the rule.

you rotate between the two training days like this:

Week one:

Monday – Day A
Wednesday – Day B
Friday – Day A

Week two:

Monday – Day B
Wednesday – Day A
Friday – Day B

on the third week, you’re back to the week one configuration.

notations.

the numbers in the parenthesis refer to the number of sets and reps you do. i always list sets before reps, so (3×5) is three sets of five reps. (it makes more sense to list reps before sets, but i’m too old to correct myself.)

the letters prior to the exercises dictate the order of operations. do exercise A first, complete all sets. do exercise B second, complete all sets. do exercise C third, complete all sets.

work sets (across).

the sets and reps listed for each exercise in the program refer to work sets. work sets drive progress. they’re the sets you track over time.

the work sets in Starting Strength are done in a sets-across fashion, meaning you lift the same weight for every work set. (3×5) means do 3 sets of 5 reps at “x” weight.

(3×5)@225

three sets of five reps at 225 pounds.

first work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds
second work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds
third work set: 5 reps @ 225 pounds

you should also do warm-up sets in addition to your work sets.

warm-up.

you should warm up prior to your work sets.

optional: increase your body temperature and get your blood flowing in a generalized manner. spend a few minutes on a bike, a treadmill, or a rower… or do some jumping jacks.

recommended (by me): prepare the joints involved by controlling them through a full range of motion. in other words, do three-dimensional joint rotations.

essential: perform the lift with lighter weights (start with the empty bar), gradually increasing the weight on the bar toward your work-set weight. as the weight nears your work-set weight, drop the reps to stay fresh.

say you’re doing bench presses and your work-set weight is 135 pounds. you can do a set of 5 reps with 45 pounds (the empty bar), then a set of 5 reps with 65 pounds, then a set of 2-3 reps with 95 pounds, then a set of 1-2 reps with 115 pounds. of course, this might be overkill for you. you might be better off ditching the 95-pound set or 65-pound set or…

warm-ups are more art than science. the golden rule: warm-up sets should excite, not exhaust. with this in mind, do 2-4 warm-up sets before your work sets, and always start with the empty bar (or your bodyweight).

starting.

in order to begin the program, you need to find your starting weights for each exercise. to avoid unnecessary complexity, i’m saying the starting weight for every exercise is the empty bar (45 pounds).

the first time you perform each exercise, use the empty bar. from here, add weight to every exercise every single time it’s trained. once again, to avoid unnecessary complexity, i’m saying the weight increase on every exercise is 5 pounds; add 5 pounds to every exercise every time it’s trained.

here’s what the first two weeks of training would look like:

DAY A MONDAY =

- BSQ: (3×5)@45
- BP: (3×5)@45
- CDL: (1×5)@45

DAY B WEDNESDAY =

- BSQ: (3×5)@50
- OP: (3×5)@45
- CDL: (1×5)@50

DAY C FRIDAY =

- BSQ: (3×5)@55
- BP: (3×5)@50
- CDL: (1×5)@55

DAY A MONDAY =

- BSQ: (3×5)@60
- OP: (3×5)@50
- CDL: (1×5)@60…

you’ll be able to sustain this consistent linear increase in weight on every exercise. for a little while, at least (longer than you think you can).

stalling.

eventually, if you play this program into infinity, you’ll stall. in other words, you’ll fail to make a scheduled weight jump on an exercise. the weight will get heavier and heavier and the reps will get harder and harder. one day, your body won’t be able to finish a set with all 5 reps. example: you were supposed to do squat (3×5)@245, but you only got three reps on the last set.

you can’t avoid stalling, but you can prolong the stall if you understand stress, recovery, and adaptation.

PART 2

strength science.

getting stronger is a delicate balance between stress, recovery, and adaptation. the easiest way to conceptualize this is to think about how a funnel “works” with water.

first, there’s the stress. expressing a degree of strength you normally don’t is stressful. this is like pouring water into a funnel.

second, there’s recovery. this is like water filtering through the funnel. when the funnel is clear and free of liquid, you’re recovered. when there’s liquid in the basin of the funnel, you’re stressed.

third, there’s adaptation. as the stress-recovery cycle repeats, you unlock the ability the pour more water into the funnel. you Level Up. the first day, your pour fills a thimble. as time passes, your pour fills a shot glass, then a rocks glass, then a pint glass, then…

Level 1.

when you first walk into the gym, you’re Level 1. you can’t express much strength relative to your Level 99 genetic potential; you can’t pour much liquid into the funnel. thanks to funnel engineering, small pours flow through rather quickly. assuming sane workloads and sane adaptation expectations, noobs can turnover in 48 hours. this explains the Starting Strength schedule.

training days are 48 hours apart to facilitate enough recovery and adaptation. the 72-hour break after Day C is a formality in order to create a consistent weekly schedule.

take a look at the squat. you go to the gym on Monday and do some squats (pour some water into the funnel). you go back Wednesday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Monday… and so you do. you go back Friday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Wednesday… and so you do…

not Level 1.

as time passes, you Level Up. you increase the amount you can pour into the funnel, which rams you into two physiological realities:

first, you need more time to recover. larger pours take more time to filter through the funnel. you’ll eventually be pouring an amount that can’t filter through within the initial 48-hour time frame.

second, you need more time to adapt. going from Level 55 to Level 56 takes more time than going from Level 2 to Level 3. some Olympic weightlifters (like, Level 97) train for four years, just to increase the amount they can lift by 10 pounds.

these two realities ruin linear progress. the delicate dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation decays over time. eventually, you’ll struggle to add weight to every exercise every session, either because you’re too fatigued or unable to adapt within the 48-hour window.

stalling.

you can’t avoid the stall, but you can prolong the stall because many aspects of your lifestyle impact your ability to recover and adapt including how much (and what) you eat and how much sleep you get. you’ll sustain progress longer if you sleep well and eat well. devout followers of Starting Strength drink a gallon of whole milk a day (GOMAD) to ensure they’re eating enough energy and proteins.

alas, some detrimental aspects of your life may be beyond your (realistic) control. maybe you have a Shang Tsung soul-sucking job. maybe you have two toddlers running around the house that get sick every other week and subsequently get you sick every other week. you shouldn’t quit your job or sell your kids on Craigslist (tempting).

even if you do everything in your power to prolong the stall, you’ll still stagnate.

load potential.

different exercises will stall at different points. after controlling for external factors, when an exercise stalls (during a sensible linear progression) is largely determined by an exercise’s load potential.

certain biomechanical realities influence how much weight you’ll be able to lift when you’re near max strength.

Smaller muscles aren’t as strong as bigger muscles. When bigger muscles are the primary drivers of an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
Fewer muscles working together aren’t as strong as more muscles working together. When more muscles are working during an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
More range of motion means more work than less range of motion. When an exercise has a small range of motion, you’ll have a higher load potential.
More torque creates more tension without an increase in the load. When an exercise has minimal torque, you’ll have a higher load potential.
Technical demand reduces the degree to which you can rely on strength. When an exercise has minimal technical demand, you’ll have a higher load potential.

there are more factors i could list, but here’s the general shakedown:

(A) Upper-body lifts typically have less strength/load potential than lower-body lifts, meaning they’ll stall earlier.

(B) Single-joint isolation lifts typically have less absolute strength/load potential than multi-joint compound lifts, meaning they’ll stall earlier.

if you do a bunch of barbell exercises thrice per week and add 5 pounds to every exercise every session, here’s when each lift would stall (with the conventional deadlift being able to sustain linear progress the longest):

1. Barbell curl (stall first)
2. Overhead press
3. Barbell row
4. Incline press
5. Bench press
6. Front squat
7. Back squat
8. Conventional deadlift (stall last)

dance.

Starting Strength juggles stress, recovery, and adaptation to unlock a brief period of smooth and easy strength gains (which you will look back on and glamorize). the goal is to reach the highest Level possible in the simplest way possible. it works because of the applied workload and the expected rates of recovery and adaptation. if any of these variables change, the entire system changes.

if you don’t apply enough stress, you won’t spur adaptation. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
if you apply too much stress, you won’t recover in 48 hours. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
if you don’t recover adequately, you’ll be fatigued. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
if you don’t adapt between sessions, you won’t get stronger. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.

if you used insane workloads (if you did 10 sets of 10 reps for every exercise) or you had insane adaptation expectations (tried adding 30 pounds to every exercise every session), the program wouldn’t work the same way. you wouldn’t milk linear progress. you’d stall early. instead of reaching Level 34, you’d only reach Level 17.

subtle details.

with the importance of stress, recovery, and adaptation in mind, some of the finer details of Phase 1 are easier to understand.

deadlift volume:

the deadlift is done for only one set instead of three because doing more would make it difficult to recover from. doing one set is enough to trigger adaptation. a big factor in this is the (3×5) squat volume, as the squat and the deadlift tax similar muscles and structures.

press alteration:

the squat and the deadlift are done every day, whereas the bench press and the overhead press are alternated. this is an odd aspect of the program. it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based program.

powerlifters compete in the squat, the bench, and the deadlift. why include the overhead press in the program? why not just do the squat, the bench, and the deadlift three days per week?

for the squat and the deadlift, adding 5 pounds to the bar every time each lift is trained, you’re scheduled to add 720 pounds to each exercise in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.

for the bench press and the overhead press, adding 5 pounds to the bar every time each lift is trained, you’re only scheduled to add 360 pounds to each exercise in one year.

squat & deadlift expectation: 720 pounds / year
presses expectation: 360 pounds / year

when you rotate between two different exercises (within the program’s overarching structure), you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.

(one of the reasons) the overhead press is added to the program because it lessens the adaptation expectation. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained the bench press with the same frequency as the squat, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. the overhead press is added to milk linear progress on each exercise.

(3×5):

this is enough volume to spur adaptation for continued strength gains and not too much to interfere with recovery between training days. Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based strength program. its main objective is to increase how much weight you can squat, bench, and deadlift. (3×5) is a reflection of this.

headline.

PART 3

easy street.

the early days of Phase 1 are easy. you add weight to every exercise rather predictably. you are a novice lifter: someone able to recover from subjected stress within 48 hours. otherwise said, someone that’s able to add weight to every exercise in the program every time it’s trained.

as mentioned, if you extrapolate the program into infinity, you’ll eventually stall. stalling is your body’s way of saying: i can’t keep the pace; i can’t recover and/or adapt from the stress you’re subjecting me to quickly enough to express higher levels of strength within the time frame you’re asking of me.

i don’t recommend running Phase 1 headfirst into the stall. you can adjust the program before it sours to sustain linear progress. there are a few ways to do this, the first way being to add complementary exercises to the program.

complementary exercises.

as mentioned, the inclusion of the overhead press is an oddity of the program. it’s less odd when you realize it lessens the adaptation demand and facilitates further linear progress. it’s even less odd when you realize it complements the bench press.

complementary exercises support or enhance exercises already in the program. this (typically) means two things:

first, complementary exercises train similar structures to an exercise currently in the program, but perhaps different qualities.

the overhead press trains the entire shoulder girdle and not just the anterior shoulder (like the bench press). according to Rippetoe, this keeps the shoulder healthy; if you did nothing but bench press, you’d run into shoulder problems.

second, complementary exercises are “lighter” in some ways and help with recovery.

as mentioned, the overhead press has a lower load potential than the bench press. you can bench press more than you can overhead press. because of this, some parts of your shoulder won’t be worked as hard when you overhead press as compared to when you bench press. and so, on overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your bench press days, your rear delts have a chance to recover (rear delts aren’t hit very hard during bench presses).

progressive phases.

you can see complementary exercises in progressive phases of Starting Strength. for instance, in Phase 2, deadlifts are alternated with power cleans.

Day A

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Bench Press (3×5)
C. Deadlift (1×5)

DAY B

A. Squat (3×5)
B. Overhead Press (3×5)
C. Power Cleans (5×3)

power cleans complement deadlifts. even though they both stress similar structures, power cleans will always be “lighter” than deadlifts. power cleans are performed through a larger range of motion and are more technical. you’ll always deadlift more than you can power clean. power cleans are also more explosive in nature and train rate-of-force development more than deadlifts. this can benefit your deadlift.

in general, this is what complementary exercises do: facilitate recovery and increase proficiency in whatever lift they’re complementing.

(power cleans are done for five sets of three reps instead of the normal three sets of five so fatigue doesn’t interfere with technique. the total number of reps — fifteen — remains the same.)

more complementary exercises appear in further phases of Starting Strength. for instance, in Phase 3, chin-ups are added to the deadlift-and-power-clean rotation. front squats can be added to the program in some capacity to complement back squats (even though this is something Rippetoe usually doesn’t recommend because he thinks doing front squats interferes with the development of proper back-squatting technique, but that’s a story for another day).

complement care.

when possible, complementary exercises are approached identically to the exercises in Phase 1: start with a manageable weight and add 5 pounds to the bar every time the exercise is trained.

as for when they should be added to the program and in what capacity: it depends. their primary purpose is to reduce the progression precedent and give you more time to recover, to sustain linear progress. same can be said for adding less weight to the bar.

add less.

another way to prolong linear progress is to add less weight to the bar, which is known as micro-loading. there’s nothing special about 5-pound jumps, it’s simply the lowest weight increment available in most gyms (the lightest plates being 2.5 pounds).

you can buy fractional plates online and add 1, 2, 3, or 4 pounds to an exercise. this is particularly useful for upper-body exercises with lesser adaptation potential; instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar every time you overhead press and bench press, only add one or two when things get heavy.

you might scoff at adding only 1 pound to the bar, but within the confines of this program, it equates to adding 5 pounds to a lift every month at minimum. at this rate, you’d add 60 pounds to every lift in one year and 320 pounds to every lift in five years. (these numbers are added on top of the strength you already gained during Phase 1.)

people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.

progression precedent.

both complementary exercises and micro-loading adjust the progression precedent.

During Phase 1:

Squat & deadlift
- +15 pounds every week
Bench press & overhead press
- +15 pounds every two weeks

During Phase 2:

Squat
- +15 pounds every week
Deadlift & power clean
- +15 pounds every two weeks
Bench press & overhead press
- +15 pounds every two weeks

as you get stronger, the progression precedent has to decrease in order to continue making linear progress — a consequence of your body being exposed to a higher level of stress. larger pours of liquid require more time in the funnel.

the degree to which the precedent needs to drop (and when) depends on all of the factors that influence your body’s ability to adapt and recover. if you have thin bones and subpar genetics, you might need to drop the precedent more. same goes if you’re not eating enough.

premature regression.

why not drop the progression precedent from the start? the tortoise wins the race, right? why not add 1 pound to the bar instead of 5 pounds from the onset of the program?

if you have the patience, maybe you should. i don’t know. the reality is you will stall at some point, no matter how slow you go. and i’m not sure how much later you’ll stall if you start with a snail-pace progression precedent.

being able to add 5 pounds to the bar without hiccups in Phase 1 is a sign you’re adapting and recovering just fine given the applied stress. decreasing the precedent might just be a waste of time. crunch the numbers.

add 1 pound to the bar; three months in:

start at 45 pounds, now lifting 80 pounds.

add 5 pounds to the bar; three months in:

start at 45 pounds, now lifting 180 pounds.

snail-paced progress is probably better for your body in the long run, for obvious reasons, but i’m not sure many people have the slow-motion mindset required to pull it off.

Phase X.

to give the rest of this conversation some glue, let’s establish Phase X (not an official Starting Strength phase):

Day A

A. Back Squat (3×5)+5
B. Bench Press (3×5)+2
C. Conventional Deadlift (1×5)+5

DAY B

A. Font Squat (3×5)+5
B. Overhead Press (3×5)+2
C. Power Cleans (5×3)+5

you spent a bit of time in Phase 1. things were starting to get a little bit heavier. you didn’t stall yet. you wanted to make adjustments prior to stalling. this resulted in Phase X.

highlights:

deadlifts alternated with power cleans; back squats alternated with front squats; overhead presses alternated with bench presses, but only 2 pounds are added to the bar every session.

this is a rather fair regression, as the initial progression precedent of every exercise in Phase 1 is halved.

stall wall.

eventually, Phase X will run you into one of two different scenarios: (1) one of the lifts in Phase 1 will get heavy enough that you’ll stall; (2) all of the lifts in Phase X will start to feel heavy.

let’s push the first scenario aside for now and focus on the second. what should you do? add more complementary exercises? decrease the weight jumps? run headfirst into the stall?

linear progression starts to break down here. for instance, decreasing the weight jumps without adding complementary exercises makes every day a “heavy” day, which can be taxing. if you add decent complementary exercises, the fabric of the program will remain (adding weight to every exercise every session), which keeps things simple. however, choosing a solid complementary exercise isn’t as easy as it was after Phase 1.

all of the pairings in Phase X are “easy.” making a good pairing isn’t as easy now because complementary exercises can be different enough to have ripple effects. for instance, unilateral squats (like rear-leg-elevated squats), hit your groin harder than bilateral squats. if you use them as a complementary exercise, their stress signature might be different enough to take a bite out of you; when you back squat (or front squat) on Friday after doing unilateral squats on Wednesday, your groin might be tender and vulnerable. not good for heavy squatting.

the stakes are higher near the end of Phase X because you’re stronger all around. going from Phase 1 to Phase X is easier because you’re still a relatively untrained novice with lots of unrealized potential.

Phase X².

if you wanted to try to milk further linear progress and avoid stalling on Phase X, you’d be best off making Wednesday a “light” day. Mondays and Fridays become “heavy” days because you have the long weekend break to help you recover.

you can make Wednesday a light day by adding another complementary exercise to the program.

squat: overhead squat if you have enough mobility to do them correctly (most don’t); zercher squat; etc…
deadlift: power snatch; snatch-grip deadlift; good morning; seated good morning; etc…
press: behind-the-neck press if you have enough mobility to do them correctly (most don’t); incline presses; etc…

you can also do one of the exercises from Phase X at a reduced volume and/or intensity, but since this changes the fabric of the program, i won’t entertain this option.

stall wall.

regardless of whether you try Phase X²or not, you’re going to stall at some point; you’re going to miss a scheduled weight increase on an exercise two sessions in a row.

sometimes you can climb out of a stall by adding singular reps every session. for instance, if you’re supposed to bench press 225 for (3×5) and you only get 3 reps on your last set, you can try to get 4 reps on your last set next session, and then 5 reps the following session. once you get to (3×5), you can bump the weight up and proceed as if nothing happened.

adding reps to sets every week is another way to maintain some semblance of linear progress, however, a telltale sign you’re biting off more than you can chew: your performance is decreasing (example: you go 5, 5, 3 and then next time you go 5, 3, 2).

once a lift stalls, the program isn’t over. you can reduce the weight and restart the progression. this is known as deloading. deloading dissipates residual fatigue and gives your body extra time to recover and adapt.

the most common way to deload is to subtract 10-15% from your work-set weight and then restart the linear progression using the lesser (deload) weight as your starting weight. (you should be able to add five pounds to the bar every session after the deload for a bit, before needing to micro-load again, assuming you were micro-loading prior to the stall.)

this is a lift-specific process; only deload the lift that stalls. if your bench press stalls, but you’re still making linear progress on your squat, then only deload your bench press.

slingshot after stall.

stalling is a byproduct of months and months of accumulated fatigue. after the deload, you should be able to slingshot past your first stall point because you won’t be as fatigued as you were the first time around. for instance, if your squat initially stalled at 275, you should be able to sustain linear progress past 275 after deloading (assuming you use a similar style of progression).

nevertheless, you will stall again. and when you approach (or reach) a second stall, you can throw away your diapers. you’re a big boy now. it’s time for more advanced programming.

PART Q

after you stall, deload, and rebuild most of your lifts, you’re no longer a novice. you’re now considered an intermediate lifer. in other words, you’re able to stress yourself to a degree that requires a longer recovery and adaptation window. this requires more advanced programming, which isn’t the same as more complex programming. everything still revolves around stress, recovery, adaptation, and the progression precedents that have been created and sustained to this point.

yeehaw.

many Starting Strength graduates are (blindly) led toward The Texas Method. although The Texas Method is malleable, here’s one of the more common iterations:

Monday (heavy volume)

A) Back Squat (5×5)@90% of 5RM
B) Bench Press alt w/ Overhead Press (5×5)@90% of 5RM
C) Conventional Deadlift (1×5)@90% of 5RM

Wednesday (light)

A) Back Squat (2×5)@ 80% of 5×5
B) Overhead Press alt w/ Bench Press (3×5)@ 90% of 5×5
C) Chin-up: (3xBW)

D) Back Extension or Glute-Ham Raise (3×10)

Friday (heavy intensity)

A) Back Squat (1×5)
B) Bench Press alt w/ Overhead Press (1×5)
C) Power Clean (5×3) or Power Snatch (6×2)

translation: on Mondays, you squat and press (5×5) with as much weight as you can, adding weight to the bar every week in some fashion. Wednesdays are light days. Fridays you try for a new squat and press 5RM and look to add weight to the bar every week in some fashion.

gtfo.

i show you The Texas Method to show you how stress, recovery, and adaptation can be tweaked to sustain small incremental predictable progress. i don’t recommend The Texas Method. you’ve tortured yourself with enough 5-rep sets and enough thrice-per-week squats and enough…

get out.

now.

before you ruin yourself (like i did).

beat down.

Starting Strength is simple. a little too simple, for how well it works. however, it can warp your perspective and make you feel like you’re a loser unless you add weight to the bar. when you’re deep in the culture, you’re shamed if you stall early. you’re told you did the program wrong or you didn’t eat enough or…

i destroyed myself on The Texas Method more than once, fighting for new personal records (PRs) every week, ruining my joints in the process. at some point, you need to know when to fold.

one of the adjustments i made in later years, after in learned from my mistakes, is keeping the heart of predictable progress alive, yet being a little less aggressive.

PHASE

wrap up

customization?

as mentioned, Starting Strength is a powerlifting-based program. it’s designed around squatting, pressing, and deadlifting the most weight you possibly can. the entire ecosystem is built around this objective.

if this isn’t your objective, then you don’t have to force yourself to do Starting Strength. you can take the principles of stress, recovery, and adaptation and create your own linear progression program; as long as you respect stress, recovery, and adaptation, you will be able to sustain some semblance of linear progress.

for instance, maybe you only want to squat twice per week for (3×5). will you be able to add five pounds every workout? maybe. what if you wanted to replace one of the exercises in the program with a different one? could you? maybe. what if you wanted to add an exercise (like a direct back exercise)? could you?

the linear progression program i created is for those that want to get strong, yet also skew toward aeshtetics and building an x. (also adjust knowing my demo prolly not gonna eat the house.) the “core” not terribly different, but the principles remain.

perhaps you have different desires. now that you have a better understanding of what makes linear programs tick, you can ..

if you try something and it doesn’t work out, you know you’re failing to dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation.

one of the benefits of following Starting Strength (and why i used it to explain the ins and outs of linear progress): there’s a large pool of empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness. it has been fine-tuned. for instance, i can imagine, long ago, the program was simply squatting, benching, and deadlifting for (3×5). and then, over time, with trial and error, the deadlift volume was decreased and the overhead press was included. (i believe Starting Strength was modeled after Bill Starr’s 5×5 program which consisted of back squats, bench presses, and power cleans.)

for this reason, Starting Strength is a good “base” model to modify, as well as a useful comparison tool. if you’re on a custom program and doing an exercise for more than 15 heavy reps (3×5) and failing to recover and adapt in 48 hours, you’re probably doing too much.

first, we’ll unpack what running into the stall entails.

you’re months into the program. you do (3×5)@265 for back squats on Monday. it was heavy. you barely got the reps. squats have beaten you down for a few days now. you plan for (3×5)@270 on Wednesday, but you don’t get all three sets of five. you nail your first set for five reps. on your second set, you fail on your fourth rep. on your third set, you only get two reps. you’ve officially missed your first scheduled workload, but you didn’t stall… yet. after you miss a scheduled workload, you have a few options.

first, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim for the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270, so you’d try (3×5)@270 again. if you hit all sets and reps, continue on with the normally scheduled increase next session.

second, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim to add one additional rep to your failed volume until you build into the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270 like this:

5@270
4@270
2@270

and so, your next training session, you’d do

5@270
5@270
2@270

and then the following session you’d do

5@270
5@270
3@270

and you’d keep adding one rep until you reached (3×5), at which point you’d add weight and continue on.

chances are, you’ll be able to sustain progress for quite some time adding one rep to your workload every session. at some point, however, you’ll have to recognize when you’re too far removed from the roots of the program.

train different parts.

by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit and also a health benefit. for instance, if you did just bench presses, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between benches and overheads.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery.

complementary exercises are similar (yet different) to the initial exercises in the program. in general, they share the same joint depth (single-joint isolation or multi-joint compound) and pattern.

complementary exercises.

in addition to lowering the rate of progression, you can also add complementary exercises to the program. this is already a feature in Phase 1: alternating between the bench press and the overhead press. as mentioned, adding a complementary exercise into the program lessens the adaptation demand (among other things).

there are four primary barbell exercise patterns:

- Squat pattern:
  - glutes, quads
  - hips up and down
  - knee extension
  - hip extension

The back squat falls in the squat pattern, as does the front squat, overhead squat, leg press, split squat, etc…

- Hinge pattern:
  - glutes, hamstrings
  - hips back and forth
  - knee flexion
  - hip extension

The deadlift falls in the hinge pattern, as does the power clean, snatch deadlift, good morning, Romanian deadlift, etc…

- Press pattern:
  - chest, shoulders, triceps
  - arm flexion
  - elbow extension

The incline and overhead press fall into the press pattern, as does the behind-the-neck press, incline presses, push-up, etc…

- Pull pattern:
  - back, shoulders, biceps
  - arm extension
  - elbow flexion

There are no pulling exercises in Phase 1 of Starting Strength (for some reason?) Pulling exercises include chin-ups, barbell rows, lat pulldowns, biceps curls, etc…

beyond lowering the adaptation demand, complementary exercises also:

keep volume up.

in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.

bench presses hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overhead presses hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, similar areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.

if you rotated between benches and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.

train different parts.

this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery. on your overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your incline press days, your rear delts have a chance to recover (rear delts aren’t hit very hard during inclines)…

novices.

the term “novice” is used to describe someone new to lifting that’s not yet adapted enough to stress themselves enough to be unable to recover within 48 hours.

when you get to a point where you can only add weight to the bar once every week or two, you’re considered “intermediate.”

there’s a gray area between “novice” and “intermediate” known as “advanced novice.” this is when you can add weight maybe two times per week.

here are the four big movement patterns most barbell exercises fall into:

you can transition out of Phase 1 prior to the stall when your lifts start feeling heavier and you think you could use more time to recover and adapt between sessions. regardless of when you transition out of Phase 1, you need to understand this: every exercise in the program has been built atop a progression precedent.

Squat & deadlift
- +15 pounds every week
Bench press & overhead press
- +15 pounds every two week

phase change.

~~Squat & deadlift~~
- ~~+15 pounds every week~~
~~Bench press & overhead press~~
- ~~+15 pounds every two week~~

remember, stalling is your body’s way of saying: i can’t keep the pace; i can’t recover and/or adapt quickly enough. and so, Phase 2 is all about making the program more palatable by giving your body more time to recover and adapt without uprooting the foundation of the program. there are two (primary) ways to do this:

add less.

~~you can add less weight to the exercises every session. instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar for squats, maybe only add 2 pounds. or maybe only add 1 pound to the bench press and the overhead press.~~

you might scoff at adding only 1 pound to the bar, but this equates to adding 5 pounds to a lift every month at minimum. at this rate, you’d add 60 pounds to every lift in one year and 320 pounds to every lift in five years. (these numbers are added on top of the strength you already gained during Phase 1.)

~~people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.~~

complementary exercises.

~~in addition to lowering the rate of progression, you can also add complementary exercises to the program.~~

~~complementary exercises are similar (yet different) to the initial exercises in the program. here are the four big movement patterns most barbell exercises fall into:~~

Squatting:
- glutes, quads
- hips up and down
- knee extension
- hip extension

The back squat falls in the squat pattern, as does the front squat, overhead squat, leg press, split squat, etc…

Hinging:
- glutes, hamstrings
- hips back and forth
- knee flexion
- hip extension

The deadlift falls in the hinge pattern, as does the power clean, snatch deadlift, good morning, Romanian deadlift, etc…

Pressing:
- chest, shoulders, triceps
- arm flexion
- elbow extension

The incline and overhead press fall into the press pattern, as does the behind-the-neck press, incline presses, push-up, etc…

Pulling:
- back, shoulders, biceps
- arm extension
- elbow flexion

There are no pulling exercises in Phase 1 of Starting Strength (for some reason?) Pulling exercises include chin-ups, barbell rows, lat pulldowns, biceps curls, etc…

complementary impact.

adding a complementary exercise into the program lessens the adaptation demand (among other things). for instance, take a look at Phase 1. the back squat is done three times per week, adding 5 pounds to the bar each session. this means you’re scheduled to add 720 pounds to your squat in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.

now take a look at the bench press and the overhead press. these two exercises are complementary. you rotate between these two exercises every session during Phase 1. adding 5 pounds to each exercise every session, you’d only add 360 pounds to each press in one year.

when you rotate between two different exercises within the confines of this program, you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.

~~squat expectation: 720 pounds / year~~
~~presses expectation: 360 pounds / year~~

there’s less adaptation expectation for both the bench press and the overhead press built into the program… and for good reason. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained benches or overheads with the same frequency as squats, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. benches are rotated with overheads to (hopefully) prolong linear progress on each exercise… but that’s not all. rotating between two complementary exercises also:

~~keeps volume up.~~

~~in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.~~

bench presses hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overhead presses hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, some areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.

~~if you rotated between benches and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.~~

~~train different parts.~~

progressive phases.

you can see the integration of complementary exercises in progressive phases of Starting Strength, where deadlifts are alternated with power cleans (Phase 2) and even chin-ups (Phase 3). when the back squat gets heavy, you can throw front squats into the mix.

complement choices.

choosing a complementary exercise isn’t an exact science, but here are a few things to consider…

bottleneck.

consider bottlenecks. the bottleneck is an exercise’s limiting factor, which may not be the muscles you intend on taxing. take a look at the overhead squat. the overhead squat is a squat. duh. squatting taxes the legs, of course. but, during an overhead squat, your bottleneck is your ability to support weight overhead. in other words, if you can’t support a lot of weight overhead, you won’t tax your legs much during an overhead squat.

effect.

consider filling voids (if they exist). for instance, if you want a bigger chest, then your complementary pressing exercise should tax your chest more than your shoulders. in other words, you’d be much better off doing parallel bar dips, as compared to behind-the-neck presses.

load potential.

consider load potential. remember, we’re in this predicament because we’re struggling to adapt and recover. you don’t want your complementary exercises to be more taxing than the exercises currently in your program. thankfully, this isn’t that big of a concern right now, as almost every complementary exercise will be light… at first.

choo choo.

once you pick a complementary exercise, treat it as you treated the initial exercises in the program: find your starting weight and add weight slowly, in an incremental and predictable fashion. starting light will automatically facilitate more time for recovery and adaptation.

here are some examples…

the initial training sessions won’t be challenging. you’ll feel like you aren’t doing enough. don’t do more. go to the gym. complete your work sets with good technique. pack your bags. wait for the next session to come around.

this program is a snowball. keep on rolling. the intensity will ramp up in the future. don’t rush the process.

Warm-ups for non-main exercises:

on multi-joint exercises

if you’re doing single-joint exercises typically don’t need many (if any) warm-up sets.

Linear-Progress Programming

this is a guide to linear-progress programming, which is a strategic (yet simple) way to express more strength every time you lift.

Starting Strength is one of the most popular linear progression programs on the internet.

notations.

work sets (across).

warm-up.

starting.

stalling.

strength science.

Level 1.

not Level 1.

stalling.

load potential.

dance.

subtle details.

headline.

easy street.

complementary exercises.

progressive phases.

complement care.

add less.

progression precedent.

premature regression.

Phase X.

stall wall.

Phase X2.

stall wall.

slingshot after stall.

yeehaw.

gtfo.

beat down.

customization?

complementary exercises.

novices.

phase change.

add less.

complementary exercises.

complementary impact.

progressive phases.

complement choices.

choo choo.

Phase X².