After spending the first two months of 2024 abroad, I returned home last week excited to dig into a structured exercise routine.
This post is an in-depth breakdown of my exercise program for the next eight weeks. Here’s what to expect:
4-day per week strength program (exercises, sets, reps)
My unfiltered logic behind program design
4-day per week running plan
7 new movements I’m learning and why
The nutrition strategy I’m deploying (and you can too)
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Now, let’s dive in.
First, a few important notes.
There’s no one “right” or “best” exercise program. This is just the program I’m following for the next two months of my life. It’s not the best or the only. I designed it to meet my preferences, goals, and limitations and to experiment with that which I’m curious about.
Adjustments will be made. I will almost certainly make adjustments to the program and spontaneous tweaks in the gym based on how I’m feeling on a given day.
Make it your own. Feel free to borrow, copy, and modify aspects of this program to meet your own goals, needs, preferences, and limitations.
My weeks will consist of four runs and four gym sessions.
I tack a few minutes of stretching and mobility work to the end of each workout and before bed some nights to wind down. My stretching routine isn’t covered here but you can find all my favourite stretches in the From Stiff to Supple ebook which is available to paid subscribers.
Tired of stagnant growth in the gym over the past few years, I’m tracking every workout on paper and striving for progressive overload every session.
After eight weeks of following this program, I’ll reflect on my progress and create a new program based on new goals and areas in need of improvement.
Before getting to the workouts, here’s some of the logic that went into designing this program.
Session Structure
All four strength sessions will be total body.
Monday and Friday will target legs and horizontal upper body movements (chest presses, push-ups, rows, etc.).
Wednesday and Saturday will target legs and vertical upper body movements (shoulder presses, pull-ups, etc.).
Since I’ll be running a lot, I don’t want to have one dedicated leg day in which I destroy my legs. Training legs more frequently (four days per week) means I can do fewer leg exercises per session, enabling me to build strength without compromising runs.
I prefer total body workouts for a few reasons.
The mental and emotional benefits of exercise are stronger when I train total body than when I only target one muscle group.
Total body workouts also reduce the risk of training too hard and becoming extremely sore. When you’re so sore that future workouts are compromised — as I’ve idiotically done more than I’m proud to admit — you’re forced to sit out or dial back future workouts to recover which, over the course of a year, reduces your total training volume and impedes your progress.
Planes of Movement
Splitting my upper body sessions into horizontal and vertical movements means I can train each twice per week while maintaining balance across both planes of movement.
I also added rotational work (standing cable core rotation and bicycle crunches) at the end of Monday and Friday sessions.
In addition to rotational stretches I perform at the end of my workouts, such as the lying leg twist stretch, this ensures I’m training the rotational plane of movement, an often forgotten but critically important type of human motion.
I may add more rotational exercises as I go.
Super Sets
I currently superset all of my exercises in groups of three.
Supersetting saves time and keeps the intensity of my workouts high.
If your primary goal is pure powerlifter-type strength or power, I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Training for pure strength or power requires rest intervals of 3-5 minutes between sets.
I’m training for a mix of strength, power, and hypertrophy which, for my standards, can be achieved in the 5-12 rep range with relatively minimal rest.
The Exercises Don’t Matter
How you perform the exercises — sets, reps, rest, intensity, and frequency — determines your results, not what exercises you perform.
Exercise choice comes down to your personal preferences and limitations. Whether you use bodyweight, bands, kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, or machines is up to you.
These guides will help you structure the core exercise variables mentioned above to meet your goals:
How to Build Muscle: The Quick Guide to Hypertrophy Training
The “3 to 5” Approach: The Only Strength and Power Exercise Protocol You Will Ever Need
How To Train For Endurance: 4 Exercise Protocols To Optimize Your Endurance For Peak Health
Again, the exercises you perform do not determine adaptations. How you perform them, as detailed in the guides above, does.
Understanding The Workouts
The numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) below refer to rounds while the letters (A, B, C) refer to each exercise’s order in the circuit.
The first number following each exercise is sets and the second number is reps (“sets x reps”). For example, 4 x 8 means 4 sets of 8 reps per set.
A and B are the main exercises while the third (C) is a super low-intensity Knees Over Toes exercise that effectively utilizes time I would otherwise be scrolling on my phone or twiddling my thumbs while resting.
The Knees Over Toes exercises keep me running without injury or pain.
Now, onto the workouts.
Monday: Legs + Horizontal Upper
1A) Kettlebell Swing 4 x 25-30
1B) Kettlebell Goblet Squat 4 x 8-12
1C) Tibialis Raises 4 x 25
2A) Incline Dumbbell Press 4 x 8-12
2B) Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 4 x 8-12/side
2C) FHL Calf Raises 4 x 25
3A) Archer Push-ups 4 x 5-8/side
3B) Bodyweight Rows 4 x 8-10
3C) Weighted ATG Split Squat 4 x 5-8/side
4A) Decline Push-up 3 x 10-12
4B) Dumbbell Curls 3 x 10-12
4C) Standing Cable Core Rotation 3 x 10/side
Wednesday: Legs + Vertical Upper
1A) Single-Arm Kettlebell Swing 4 x 3-5/side
1B) Kettlebell Overhead Press 4 x 8/side
1C) Tibialis Raises 4 x 25
2A) Weighted Pull-ups 4 x 5-8
2B) Dumbbell Thrusters 4 x 8-12
2C) Knees Over Toes Calf Raise 4 x 10-12/side
3A) Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats 4 x 6-8/side
3B) Chin-ups 4 x 8
3C) Upright Rows 4 x 8-12
4A) Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3 x 10-12
4B) Cable Tricep Push-Downs 3 x 10-12
4C) Cable Crunches 3 x 10-12
