This is an advanced program. It’s Brett Wilkin’s off session program preparing him for his 2023 Olympia debut. His top priorities are Legs, Delts and Arms. Proximity to failure, as well as volume, were all specific to Brett’s training needs at the time.
As for every program, feel free to adjust variables slightly as needed. The base metric of “1 REP” is not well established in “research”, and can vary largely from individual to individual. So feel free to make slight adjustments to the program’s prescribed: Rep ranges, Number of working sets, and Proximity to Failure (RIR). Anyone that argues any of these variables down to the single metric of measure as definitively “the best”, has spent too much time on social media, and too little time applying training to actual humans. In addition, every individual brings large differences to the table as far as “outside the gym” variables: nutrition, sleep, stress, etc. So while I’m confident this program provides epic guidelines and a great place to start, you are ultimately your own study of 1. So feel free to experiment a bit.
Also, with exercise selection I always follow one of my main, guiding training principles of: As little as possible to produce maximal results. That said, there is no exact cut off point for the number of exercises per workout. So if you want to add an exercise or even two to any given workout, same as the advice I give above… try it out, measure progress and adjust accordingly. Lastly, exercise selection is based on what I feel has the most evidence for being effective long-term, but for any single exercise on the program, there are always other options that can accomplish the same goal similarly. So feel free to swap exercises based on preference, or if you need a recommendation get in the forums.
Rest: 90 seconds – 3 minutes before working sets
RIR: 0-1
Suggested split structure:
Legs 1
Push (delts, chest and Biceps – delts first, 1 Biceps)
Back/Triceps (1 triceps)
Off
Legs 2
Delts/Back (2 back movement)
Arms
Off
Other split options for consideration:
Legendary recovery:
4 days on, 1 day off
Good recovery:
2 days on, 1 day off
Below average recovery:
1 on, 1 off
*These are still just suggestions. There is no right or wrong option here. You can also make this work with any schedule. Whenever you train, just pick right up on the next session. Hypothetically, if you’re ever sick, rundown, excessively busy, stressed or just have a moment of laziness and train less days than the suggested split, no worries at all just pick back up right where you left off. At the same time if you are recovering like a robot, or just absolutely love training more often than the suggested split, have added it. Don’t let anyone, myself included, limit how much you love the train, or make you feel guilty for missing a session. Long-term consistency and adherence are.
Seated Leg Curls
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Smith Squats
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-12 reps
Lying Leg curls
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Walking lunges
Set 1: 20 steps total
Set 2: 20 steps total
Adductor Machine
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Leg Press (banded quad dominant)
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 20 reps
Push (chest, delts and Biceps – delts first, only 1 Biceps)
lying cuff laterals raises
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 15-20 reps
Set 4: 15-20 reps
Reverse Pec Dec
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Incline Barbell Press
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Roller Cable Flys
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
Machine Flat Press
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Standing Cable Curls
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
Set 4: 12-15 reps
Back/Triceps (1 triceps)
Supported Tbar row
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Set 3: 10-12 reps
Single-arm pull down
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Set 3: 10-12 reps
Chest Supported machine Row
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Set 3: 10-12 reps
Rack Chins
Set 1: 12-15 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Bent over rows (Dumbell 2-arms)
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Low back Extensions
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Cross-cable triceps extensions
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-12 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
Legs 2
Seated Leg Curls
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Banded Hacks
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-12 reps
Leg extensions
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Rear foot elevated Split Squats (smith machine)
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Lying leg curls
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Leg Press (banded quad dominant)
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 20 reps
Delts/Back (2 back movements)
lying cuff laterals raises
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 15-20 reps
Set 4: 15-20 reps**
cable rear delts
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
Delt cable y-raise
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
D1 Machine Shoulder Press
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Chest Supported Tbar row
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Forward lean machine lat Row
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Arms
Seated cable cross extension
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 8-12 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
Single arm DB preacher curls
Set 1: 6-8 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 10-12 reps
Smith JM Press (banded)
Set 1: 8-10 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Set 3: 8-10 reps
Incline cable curls
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Set 3: 12-15 reps
seated overhead rope extensions
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 12-15 reps
Set 3:15-20 reps
Dumbbell hammer curls
Set 1: 10-12 reps
Set 2: 10-12 reps
Set 3: 10-12 reps
