If you’ve been training for any length of time, you understand it can be difficult to find a great functional fitness strength program. Chances are that you’ve stalled out with your strength gains, or you don’t really understand how to get stronger and not lose ground with your metabolic conditioning. This 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program is designed to do exactly that. It’s primarily a strength plan, with just enough conditioning to maintain what you’ve already built. Keep reading to see the full plan.
As the name of this program implies, it’s designed to increase your strength, in a wide variety of movements that are useful for daily life. That doesn’t mean you won’t be doing things like bicep curls or other lifts seen in a more traditional strength training program.
I’ve taken the liberty of combining the best of both worlds. You will be spending a lot of time on heavy barbell lifts, and functional training exercises. Let’s take a quick overview of the program.
The 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program Overview
This program was primarily designed to be a continuation of the 12 week muscular endurance cycle. I highly recommend checking that out prior to starting this plan. It will prepare you very well for the high volume you will be doing here.
This brings me to my next point. This plan is for experienced athletes. You need to have a significant strength base, and solid technique to try it. If that’s not you it’s ok, you just don’t need this much volume and intensity to progress. That’s a good thing.
You should probably be able to meet or exceed most of these standards, if you’re going to find success here. It’s ok if you have a few lifts, or WODs that are behind, but if you aren’t even close, then you might try my 7 week program first. If you want to see the full fitness level ranking system click here.
Functional Fitness Standards: Intermediate
- 6+ Months experience
- Males 3 strict pull ups, Females 1
- Deadlift (bodyweight multiple): Males 1.2x, Females 0.9x
- Squat (bodyweight multiple): Males 1x, Females 0.6x
- Press (bodyweight multiple): Males 0.5x, Females 0.3x
- Fran 5:45 Males, 6:55 Females
- Fight Gone Bad: 250+ Males, 215+ Females
- Isabel 5:00 Males, 4:30 Females
- Endurance: 1mile run 9:00min Males, 10:00 Females
As the title implies, this is a functional fitness strength program which is designed to increase your upper body and lower body strength, for everyday life. We’re going to improve your strength for everyday activities using the most effective methods available, heavy compound exercises.
If you’ve done any functional fitness training, then you know that strength accounts for a large portion of your overall WOD performance. Research has shown that strength is one of the key predictors of performance in workouts that involve any kind of weightlifting like: Grace, Isabel, Linda, and dozens more. Building strength can also reduce the risk of injury.
The 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program
This whole body program is a 4 day split workout routine. You will be following my most successful strength progression to build strength for daily activities. These functional strength training exercises will focus on specific muscle groups that will increase your full body strength. Fair warning, when I did this program I found that the lifting alone took about 45 minutes.
After the full-body workout, using compound movements, you will be doing functional fitness exercises in the form of a workout of the day or WOD. These functional exercises are generally on the shorter side, and are designed to act as accessory work for the primary free weight lifts.
Even though this is a functional fitness strength program, I expect that you can build some muscle mass in addition to your strength, with these functional movements. This is good because there are only two ways you gain strength.
How to Gain Functional Strength
The first way is to increase the efficiency of your nervous system. Moving heavy objects repeatedly increases your bodies ability to recruit muscle fiber quickly and efficiently. These nervous system improvements account for the majority of beginner gains.
This is also why having good form can increase your strength. It’s more efficient to lift the weight with proper form. It can also allow you to lift with a full range of motion, which improves strength.
The second way to gain strength is to gain muscle mass. In fact, gaining muscle mass is a great way to improve your overall strength, as you can only improve your neurological efficiency so much. If you look at athletic performance, in strength sports, you tend to find that the best athletes carry the most muscle mass for their frame.
Functional Fitness Strength Program PDF
Because this functional fitness strength program has very specific programming, you’ll need to download the premium version below. I’ve put a ton of information in this PDF. For each day you can expect a specific warm up, as well as coaches notes for each portion of the workout.
They include things like rest periods, and most importantly, lifting percentages for the primary lifts: bench press, deadlift, back squat. Here’s a sample workout in the premium version.
You can see that there is a lot of info on each of these functional fitness workouts. The idea is to make sure that you’re executing the program appropriately. This can be hard when you’re lifting heavy, with WODs and Metcons, in the same type of workout. You can pick up your copy below.
In the next section I’m going to provide the first three weeks of programming for those that want to try it before making any purchases. I will also review some of the highlights for this functional fitness program in each week. Let’s take a look at the first week of the workout program.
The 9 Week Functional Strength Program: Week 1
This week is going to be the easiest week in terms of strength training. This means I’ve kept the WOD difficulty fairly high. You probably won’t like me for that, but I’m used to it at this point. You can see that each day is built around one of the core multi-joint movements. There is also associated accessory work, with lighter weight. Here are the first four workouts below.
You can see that the red blocks are the WODs. As the coaches notes spell out in the premium version, you should take around 5 minutes after your final functional strength movement, before starting your WOD warm up. You can see that most of the WODs are roughly 10-12 minutes in length. Don’t forget to join the email list below.
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The 9 Week Functional Strength Program: Week 2
In the second cycle of this program we continue on with the heavy, percentage based training. Like any good strength training program, you need to gradually increase your weight lifting capacity, via progressive overload. It’s important to point out that many functional fitness athletes may not be able to execute all these movements as written.
That’s fine. I have specific modifications in the premium version. You can also read this article where I explain how to scale correctly for some great general advice.
This high intensity program is designed to keep the lifting frequency high. If you’ve done any of my other programs, you know that I often use research to guide my programming style. In this article I review the importance of selecting the right lifting volume to build muscle mass and strength.
This is why you’re often working the same muscle groups 2-3 times per week, in this type of training. Moreover, I often rotate exercises, within the same muscle group, to help correct muscle imbalances. This also helps to avoid over use injuries. Let’s look at the next week.
The 9 Week Functional Strength Program: Week 3
This week is going to be hard strength training wise. You’ll find that you’re taking about 45-55 minutes or so to get through the strength portion, which is why the WOD is generally held to 10 minutes or less. This will allow you the best chance of recovering from the difficult strength training.
It’s worth noting that just because this program has you doing the strength and the WOD in one session, there is no reason why you can’t do an AM and PM session, if your schedule allows. This will of course take more overall time, but it’s probably superior in terms of allowing maximum recovery between sessions.
You should pick the schedule that works best for your needs, and stick with it for the duration of the program. As a coach, I would rather you be consistently good, than occasionally perfect. If you stick with it for the full 9 weeks, you’ll be surprised how much strength and muscle you can gain, using this functional fitness strength program. Next, we’ll cover week 4.
Strength Program: Week 4
This is going to be the highest volume week for strength training in part one of The 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program. These weights are very challenging. You will need to take a minimum of 3 min or so between those heavy sets. That’s roughly 40 minutes of rest between sets! Remember, the point here is to move the weight with perfect form, not jack your heart rate up.
This is the last week before the deload on week 5. Here, I’ve done my best to pick WODs and movements that won’t impact your strength work, but there’s no way around this killer week. You can add in a few things like walking or wearing tights during, and after your training sessions. The research is clear that both of those methods can improve your ability to recover between sessions.
Strength Program: Week 5
Ah, at last we have a reprieve from the heavy, heavy free weights. This is a deload week. The volume has been cut down, and so has some of the intensity. You will notice that the WODs aren’t super hard, but they’re still difficult. Resist the urge to add in “a little extra” work. You need to focus on recovery this week, as we have another full cycle to go in this part of The 9 Week Functional Fitness Strength Program!
This week is for recovery. Even though some of the WODs are still pretty heavy, and challenging, that doesn’t mean you have to go balls to the wall. Feel free to execute these WODs a little slower than your max. Remember this whole cycle is for strength, not metabolic conditioning!
Final Thoughts
This is the first 5 weeks of a total of 9 weeks in the cycle. This will be difficult, but there is no way to accumulate strength without struggle and strain. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. If you finished this then you kick ass, and should continue to part two of the program.
If you want an even more challenging strength program then check out my advanced program!
The opinions and information expressed in this article are solely those of the author and are not affiliated with any corporation, group, public or private entity. This web site is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by Crossfit Inc. All product and company names are the registered trademarks of their original owners. The use of any trade name or trademark is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the trademark holder of their product brand.
Jake,
Thanks for the great programming. I have a question about the difference between your workout and the one from the strong lift site. On the strong lift site, it has 5×5 for squat on Monday and 1×5 for BP and BBR. On Friday it has the reverse. Yours has 5×5 for everything both days. Was this done on purpose and why do you recommend it over the way they prescribe it?
-Kyle
Can you be my editor, because that was a great catch. I think the problem is in the overview of the plan on the stronglifts page it says 1×5, but when you download the spreadsheet it has you doing 5×5 with ascending weights. I’ve been doing what the sheet says, and it’s been fine. So far I’m about 3 weeks into it and having great success, especially with the bench press.
Wow, that spreadsheet is awesome and anyone doing this needs to use it. I started way too high in week 1. I’ll just get on track week 2, all weights are still lower than week 1 for me and very manageable. But, yes they do have 5×5 for everything, but some are build sets and some are straight 5×5 with the same weights. I’m keeping this spreadsheet.
Hi Jake,
I’m finishing the 12 weeks muscular growth program (great btw) and I’m about to start the strength program but I’ve a question.
During the last 2 weeks of maxs, there’s no max on Row, and we’re supposed to do some in the Stronglifts plan, so I should add it somewhere right ?
Thanks for the kind words. You can add it in where ever you like. Generally I don’t really bother maxing on that lift often, but if you would like I’d probably throw it in on the day you max on your bench press. Good luck!
Jake hi
I am a former pro long distance runner
Staying very fit still at 44 years old
But feel i need competition in some form
And is there a way to be a good CrossFit guy mixing your running 8 week programme with weights
Thanks
Mike.
Good question Mike. There definitely is. The 8 week program was designed to add on to which ever crossfit program you currently are on. I might suggest the 12 week muscular endurance cycle with the 8 week program.
They should work well together and you should see some great results. I generally wouldn’t add it to the 9 week strength program as that program can take about 90 minutes just with lifts and WOD. Adding in the running can be too much time for many. Let me know if you have other questions.
Is week 6-9 posted somewhere? I’m about finished with the 5 weeks and have really enjoyed it. Would like to continue on.
Thanks.
Hey i just wanna say tnx for the site,its great and i rly appreciate your effort,i have just a few question about this progam because i stared it this week on monday,and i downloaded excel file for weights etc,in program its says ,,Weeks 1 to 4 you’ll be doing sets of 5 reps, alternating ramped up sets of 5 (1×5) with 5 sets of 5 with the same weight (5×5). Like on Madcow 5×5, Wednesday’s Squats are lighter for recovery. The weight increases weekly, first 2 weeks are easy, week 3/4 you go for PRs,, so wednesday are lighter squats but what abour friday? are friday squats also heavy as monday? and do i increase that 5×5 weight evry week ? if you can explain a little bit,tnx 🙂
Im sry i didnt saw other tab on excel :D,now i get it, there are all weights for evry week 🙂
Good deal. Let me know if you need anything else.
Sure,il see how im gonna progress with this program and im write about it here :),but once more i must say its great site and thank you for free programs,greetings from Serbia
I just wanna update my progress i finished 4 weeks,and i can say my numbers got bigger that is for sure,for example my squat was on 5x140kg now im on 5x150kg,but i think there was much tension on my shoulders,because there were presses and bench and snatches and swings and burpees,and some times i felt tired for bench that is the only issue i had,but as i said my squat and deadlift got bigger,so i will continue to week 5 as it starts today
Hi!
Looking forward to start with this program soon. I might not be able to do all the five workouts every week, so the cardiodays on thursday might be chosen away sometimes. Do you think this will have much to say in the long run? And is it a cricis if the workouts will be on monday,tuesday, wednesday and thrusday?
No, you’re fine to drop a workout a week, and move the schedule a little bit. Pick the amount of days you can realistically do and commit to them.
Hi I’m new to CrossFit. I’ve done more bodybuilding/power workouts the past few years but I’m going into the military so I wanna start this program. I noticed it said things like “3 KB Snatch 55/35lbs, or 15 box jump 20/15in” does that mean I can choose the weight or I do 3 reps with 55lbs then right after i do 3 reps w 35lbs? Thank you!
When you see something written like 53/35 lbs that denotes men’s weight and womens weight. Reps will always be written before weight. So 20 Snatch 95/65 lbs means 20 reps of snatch at men’s/women’s weight. I’m glad you’re branching out. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hey,great program,i have one question tho,i train boxing 3 x week,would this program be too much on top of that,should i remove cardio day since i do cardio on boxing and just do 4 workouts from program,removing thursday?
If you removed the cardio day it could work, depending on your box’s programming. Let us know how it turns out.
Hi!
To fit the weekss I might sometimes to the workouts (stronglifts and olympics) right after each other, for example monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursdays. Is this OK? Or does it have to be one day between stronglifts? If it is OK, how many workouts (the stronglifts) can you do after each other to fit it all?
You might be able to do this initially, but as the weights get heavier you might find that you run out of energy. You can try it but definitely take a good break between power lifts, and olympic lifts to recover. Good Luck!
I am in week 3 of the program, and after heavy squats on monday, my three max power snatches dropped from last week. Do you think it might be smarter to do weightlifting on thursdays, and move cardio to tuesdays? Wednesdays are much easier days after all.. 🙂
Feel free to modify it that way if you like. I would not rethink the whole training plan because you had one day where you couldn’t increase your triple. Those days happen, and they are much more likely to happen the week prior to deload as it is the hardest week.
Is there a spreadsheet copy of this I can’t print out. The program looks awesome
Nope, that’s my next project. The Stronglifts plan is an excel sheet however
Your program makes a lot of sense and addresses the periodization that I feel is lacking at most boxes. Essentially, your program is suggesting that we work out on our own using a home gym. I have felt it was coming to that ultimately since I cannot integrate Stronglifts into our CF box programming since I never know what the wod is until the night before.
Yeah that’s one of my biggest gripes with how crossfit does things. There is no reason you can’t see the whole program, and it helps you work your schedule out so you can get the workouts done. Glad you like the program. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi
I am on week 6 now, and I now realise I have done the “stronglifts 5×5, experienced kilogram version” and not “5×5 advanced in pounds”.. Will this have much to say? Or is it the same? Should i finish with the experienced? I love this program, and I want to do it again after finish, but then I should do it with the advanced? 🙂
It won’t make a difference as long as you didn’t put in maxes of kilos when they are pounds etc. If you are making strength gains then don’t change a thing. Keep going! Once you stop progressing then you need to switch to another method. There’s nothing wrong with starting the same cycle over again with your new maxes. I’m also releasing my own strength program in a week or two so that might be something you want to look into.
Is the new program out? 🙂
Hi there I was looking into doing the 9 week program but am unsure of how much weight to start on as I can’t see any percentages also there is two squats in one week is one a front squat and one a back squat ?
Caroline,
You will need to download the Stronglifts program which is linked in the top portion of the sheet. It will tell you the weights.
Hi,
This looks like just what I’m after – I’ve been doing Crossfit classes for 2 year now, but need to take some time out to work on my own weaknesses, in particular getting stronger, as I’ve got most of the movements down.
I’ve downloaded the Strong Lifts spread sheet and am putting in my 1RMs – should I drop the values by 10% as the spreadsheet suggests, or should I just go with what my 1RMs actually. I’d really like to make the most of the programme and not start to heavy or light.
Many thanks – this looks like excellent work.
Yeah Olly I would recommend dropping them by 10%. This way you can really practice lifting heavy with good form. Trust me it gets heavy very quickly and you’ll probably wish you had gone lower lol. Let me know how the program goes.
Thanks Jake – I’ll let you know. Excited to get started.
Can I get a pdf of the full program like a print out. Is that available?
Not yet. I’m working on getting one put together for this though so stay tuned.
Hey again! I am about to finish the 12 weeks of muscular growth and preparing to start that. Looking at the wods in those first 5 weeks, I noticed some things that you could clarify:
– The WOD on week 1 wednesday – is it 50 ring rows and then 50 pushups or can be alternating between both movements? I have the same question for week 5 wednesday.
– The WODs on week 4 wednesday and week 5 monday – it is written just GHD, is it meant to be a GHD sit-up or something else?.
Thanks for the answers in advance!
Cheers,
Rado
Those are chippers, meaning work through each movement completing all reps before moving onto the next. GHD’s are GHD situps. Good luck!
When you say 5×5 on the row, what does that mean?
Thanks for this programming. Looking forward to getting after it starting next week.
That is 5 sets of 5 reps on that exercise. When you see anything written something x something its always sets, and then reps per set.
Ha! Great, sorry when I saw “row” my mind automatically went to rowing on a rower. Thanks! KF
Hi! I’m halving trouble finding the link to download the programming for this. I had them all downloaded to my Dropbox but I got a new phone and for some reason everything in my Dropbox was gone. Am I missing it?
This is one of my older programs. I haven’t put together a separate drop box program for this. There is a download that links to Strong lifts for the strength stuff. It’s going to take you to their site where you can download the strength work. Hope that helps
Where do I find the sheet to download and enter my maxes?
Click on the link that says Stronglifts 5×5 advanced plan
Hey Jake,
On Mondays, I gotta do the 3 different exercises or just pick one ? Thank you
You are correct. Three moves each day.
Would it be ok to do the madcow 5×5 (intermediate program) during the 9 week training or is the training program specifically for advanced 5×5?
I think you’d probably be fine as long as you did the same type lifts on the same days.
Regarding Thursday’s cardio days of 30 sec on/off. Say rowing as example. Is it 30 sec of rowing and 30 sec of rest with no rowing. Or would it we 30 sec all out? Followed by 30 seconds of slow rowing to recover? Or is there a certain perceived effort followed by 30 sec of recovery? Moving or not moving?
I always just move very slowly for the rest portions of the row. No need to physically stop.
I plan to re-do this program, since last time the results were great (8 months ago). I have a question about the Thursday conditioning, last time I did an assault bike and it was great (big torture). This time I have access to ski erg, I haven’t been practicing on it before, so do you think it is a good idea to do conditioning on it, or it would have too much interference with strength work?
Thanks, Rado! 🙂
Hi Jake,
great program, so great that this is the second year that I am following this part of your programming because it does work!
I was wondering if you could give me any suggestion regarding rowing alternatives, there are a lot of WOD with a rowing portion but we don’t have a rowing machine at the gym (I know, I should just find another gym).
I have been doing cable rows and high pull sumo deadlift but I amd not a big fan of either, especially the high pull.
Can you help me?
Thanks for the kind words Mark. Do you mean rowing as in a C2 rowing machine or are you referring to the bent over rows, because those only require a barbell. If you are referring to c2 rowers the best sub is any cardio movement, running, rowing, aslt bike, jump rope, that is in the same time domain as the row. So if you had a 500m row, that would be like a 400m run, or 100 ish double unders. Let me know if you have other questions or if that’s confusing.
Hi Jake,
I am at the end the hybrid program part 1 and I am very happy with the results. I would like to put more emphasis on strength after that. Then, I was planning to jump on the 9 weeks strength program without doing the 12 weeks muscular endurance. What do you think about that?
That would work out well Lucas. Let us know what results you get !
Hi where is the PDF for the 9 week 5×5 program?
This is the only download that you need. There’s no separate pdf. https://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-advanced-strength-muscle-building-training-program/
Hi jake, I’ ve been doing the program with great results for 4 weeks, but on day 5 of week 4, I got a minor pec tear (of course i realized the need to improve my recovery a lot).
So far this week (5) I kept only the heavy squats for the stronglifts and modified the wods to keep training only the lower body. I’l keep the full week lke that, and will be restricted for two or three more weeks, and really need your advise, should I keep the heavy squats and partially go back to bench press and the rest of the program?, or just drop, and start over once I’m fully recovered? Maybe its a silly question but I’m really upset about loosing my gains, as previously i just completed hybrid hypertrophy program pt 1 and pt2, and was feling great.
No worries all is not lost. It makes the most sense to continue where you left off with the movements you can still do at full intensity. If you can squat and deadlift then go for it. With your bench the number one priority is to recover. My rule of thumb is however long it takes for an injury to feel ok outside of the gym is the same amount of time I wait to start hammering it in the gym. You’ll have to modify the WODs as you see fit. Once you are recovered, I would start the second cycle or (part 2) of the program using your new squat, DL and current bench numbers. Keep in mind that all athletes will have the occasional set back like this, and learning to train correctly through it is a must. Good luck!
First off, thank you so much for your programs. They are great! I was wondering I=if I was previously lifting intermediate/advanced numbers but had to take almost a year off due to a lower back injury would it be okay to jump into this strength program again? or should I go to the 5×5 beginner program they have on their website?
Thanks!
Hi Jake, first off thank you for the programs. They are great. I was wondering if i was previously lifting intermediate/advanced numbers but had to take almost a year off due to a lower back injury would it be okay to jump into this strength program again? or should I go to the 5×5 beginner program they have on their website?
Thanks!
Luke the beginner version makes sense to me. Take it easy on that back, and be patient working back into heavy weights.
Hi jake! this program is awesome! I’ve been using it for 2 weeks. Also, I have a question. Would it be possible to add a little hypertrophy accessories? (aka beach muscles) and what day to do these exercises. I was thinking of adding an extra day on Saturday, how do you see it? Thank you very much for answering! appreciate.
Hi Jake!
I’m currently thinking of starting this program but I’m a bit unsure which weight I should use. I can’t find any percentages in the stronglifts. I’m from sweden so I’m also weighs in kgs. Thank you for your answer!
Here is the link to the download from StrongLifts. I think the spreadsheet works in Kgs as well as pounds. Have fun. This is a good one. https://cdn.stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/stronglifts-5×5-advanced.xls
Hey Jake
I bought your 9 week functional strength program, however, there seems to be a problem with the pdf. there are blank blocks which seem to have not printed on the pdf session 33 onwards. Could you please send me an updated copy?
Also, the second concern i had was that i thought the premium version will be a more detailed form of the 5×5 style training. However, it seems to be completely different, there are also no OH presses at low strength range reps, neither are there any front squats in the strength portions. Could you please clarify what exactly the program is aiming at?
Kind Regards
Taneesh. Those blocks are blank because I do not schedule any of that specific work. From session 33 onwards is the deload. So you should expect less and less total session volume. Rest assured you aren’t missing anything. As to your point about the exercises. This program is more effective than the free version. 5×5 works well, but I found athletes responded better to the premium version than the free version. If you really want to add in OH press you can do so, just use the same percentages as bench press. Similarly if you prefer front squats you can sub them in for back squats. This program is designed to build full body strength. It does not include every single lift that might do so. Let me know if you have other questions.
Thanks for replying so promptly Jake! Clarifies it for me, will shoot in more questions if any.
Just wanted to thank you for all the great work you’ve been doing and have put in. I’ve been buying your programs and your book. You’ve done a wonderful job! Haven’t found anything better suiting to my goals than your programs.
Hey Jake,
I’d appreciate if you could answer two further queries:
1. Shall we follow your version of the 5×5 stronglifts program where subsequent weeks stay the same in a ABA fashion where “A” is Squat,Bench,Row and ‘B” is Squat,Press,Deads or the stronglifts excel which alternates in an ABA / BAB fashion per week? Why such difference and what is the impact as such?
2. Can we start with heavier weights at a certain percentage such as 65% – 70% for the stronglifts program? as being around intermediate with a good amount of training history behind me, the starting low weight weeks (-4) seem like a waste of the session for the strength portion, specially coming off the Pt1, pt2 and pt3 of you hybrid bodybuilding programs, ending in a heavy strength block. Additionally, since I’m am in a hypocaloric phase and might not get enough stimulus to maintain muscle.
Looking forward to a response.
Kind Regards
Aah, no worries. I just saw the link you provided in the comment above mine. My Apologies, all i could see on the website was the intermediate plan. Just saw your link to the advanced one.
Aah, no worries. I just saw the link you provided in the comment above mine. My Apologies, all i could see on the website was the intermediate plan. Just saw your link to the advanced one in the comment above. Might be worth putting a link in the description as well perhaps 🙂
Aah, no worries. I just saw the link you provided in the comment above mine. My Apologies, all i could see on the website that you linked in the description was the intermediate plan. Just saw your link to the advanced one in the comment above. Might be worth putting a link in the description as well perhaps 🙂
I purchased the content, but I cannot view it. It shows a blank blue screen.
What email address did you use? Also please check your spam folder sometimes the program gets stuck there.
All good, thank you, Jake.
Jake, this program looks great. I’m a crossfitter that wants to work on my strength a bit whilst keeping up my wod capacity. so – perfect stuff.
I’m a little confused by the starting percentage of 1rm. The Strong-Lifts guys seem to recommend 50% of 1rm. Resultantly a 225lb bench press starts with 115lb roughly speaking. Because I’m an intermediate lifter, this seems to make the first 3-4 weeks almost useless ? Should I start with something more appropriate like 75%?
Very recently discovered the website – great stuff.
Best,
Matthew
Thanks Matthew. You should use around 90% of your most recent 1RM to figure out which percentages are best for you.
for 5 reps ? that certainly doesn’t seem right. What percentage do you use for the 5 rep sets for week 1 based on your current 1rm percentage.
So if i’ve just tested a 225lb bench press as my 1rm, what is my first week ‘working sets’ weight. The working sets are 5 reps according to your program/stronglifts
Best,
Matthew
Hey Jake, im starting this program tomorrow and I can see you’ve still not had a chance to answer my question . I will repeat it here …
(you said, misunderstanding my question I think, to use 90% of my 1RM).
my response:
for 5 reps ? that certainly doesn’t seem right. What percentage do you use for the 5 rep sets for week 1 based on your current 1rm percentage.
So if i’ve just tested a 225lb bench press as my 1rm, what is my first week ‘working sets’ weight. The working sets are 5 reps according to your program/stronglifts
Best,
Matthew
I believe there is a template which gives you your percentages you are supposed to use when you insert all your weights. Instead of using your actual 1rm weight you use 90% of your 1rm which then becomes your 1rm weight on the template. Example bench max 225. 90% is 205. 205 now becomes your 1rm. Base all of your percentages off of the 90% of each lift
also pretty sure strong lifts switches between press and bench each workout!
For the 5×5 plan should I follow the Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on the spreadsheet or stick to the plan you have?
Go with the plan I provide. The spreadsheet just gives you the reps and percentages.
Hi Jake,
Do you have a program that you would recommend to prepare for tier one unit tryouts in either military or law enforcement (SWAT/ERT)?
Thanks and your programs are awesome. Keep up the good work
I’m actually working on a program like that. For right now I’d say try my Lift heavy run fast program. https://www.tierthreetactical.com/the-15-week-lift-heavy-run-fast-program-for-functional-fitness-part-1/
Hey there,
I’m on the 5th week. Deload. What weight/% do you recommend we do?
It should be listed in the the spreadsheet download.
Hi Jake,
Can I find the old version of this program somewhere on the website. Free version with 5×5 approach.
Kind Regards
Michał
Hey Michal. I just updated this program to reflect the current one you see now. I’ve found that most athletes do better with this progression.