intermediatePowerbuilding

Powerbuilding 4D/W

The Powerbuilding engine in four sessions a week.

No sets of five or fewer and no max test, and fewer weekly sets than the six-day version. Your strength shows as the weight you move for 7 to 12 reps climbing week by week.

Duration
8 weeks
Frequency
4 days/wk
Sessions
30

Upper A · Lower + Arms A · Upper B · Lower + Arms B

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Upper AWeek 1, day 1
  • Bench Press3 × 10~8RIR 23~5 min
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1 of 8 slots in this session.

What you leave with

  1. 01

    Strength you can watch climb

    When your reps reach the middle of the range, the load goes up about 2% the next week, or by one rep where your equipment can't make that step. Fall under the range and it comes down about 2.5%.

  2. 02

    Upper and lower, twice each

    Two upper days and two lower days with arms, each pattern at a heavier and a lighter rep range.

  3. 03

    Spaced to recover

    Never three training days in a row, and squat, deadlift and their variations never go closer than two reps from failure.

How the 8 weeks run

  1. Way in

    Adaptation

    1 week

    Finds your working weights before the loading starts.

  2. The work

    Weeks 1–6

    6 weeks

    Every load comes from your own logged sets.

  3. Way out

    Deload

    1 week

    Takes the fatigue off, so the next cycle starts fresh rather than tired.

It's for you if

  • You want to get stronger and bigger on four days a week
  • You train with a barbell, rack, bench, dumbbells, cables or bands and a pull-up bar
  • You have six months or more of regular training and know what two reps in reserve feels like

Start elsewhere if

  • You're peaking for a meet or want to test your maxLifting near your max takes practice and adapting to heavy loads, and both come from the heavy singles and triples this program leaves out.See 1RM Peaking
  • You can train six days a weekMore weekly work on the same engine.See Powerbuilding
  • You have less than six months of regular trainingReps in reserve has to be learned before a program can be run on it.See Beginner Step 1

Inside the program

239prescribed exercisesacross 30 sessions

  • Sets, reps and rest on every one, and a reps-in-reserve target wherever it applies.
  • Every load comes from your own logged sets.
  • Your log carries into whatever you run next.
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