Strengthara

GROUNDWORK

Six movement patterns and three full-body sessions a week. Week one is for learning the lifts.

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Written by Strengthara (Zenta AB) · Updated

New to lifting, or back after a long break.

GROUNDWORK program cover

How to rotate the workouts

Alternate Full Body A and Full Body B. Start with two training days per week, with a rest day between them. If you train three times, continue A, B, A, then B, A, B the following week.

  1. Full Body A
  2. Full Body B

Take rest days between workouts as you need them. If you miss a day, continue with the next workout in the rotation rather than restarting. Strengthara lets you choose each workout; it does not schedule or advance the rotation for you.

Read the prescription

Sets are working sets. Reps show a fixed number, a range, or a duration; per side means repeat on each side. RIR means reps in reserve: 2 RIR means stopping when you judge you could do about two more clean reps. Rest is between working sets, or the easy interval in interval work. An empty value means that field is not prescribed.

Warm up before the working sets: practise the movement and build toward your working load with easier sets. The tables do not prescribe a starting weight. Choose one that lets you finish the reps with the stated RIR and controlled technique.

Full Body A

Squat, press, row, hinge: the four big patterns.

ExerciseSetsRepsRIRRestNotes
Goblet Squat38–122120 sSit between the hips; elbows inside knees. Squat pattern for the back squat later.
Dumbbell Bench Press38–122120 sLoad is per dumbbell. Horizontal press.
Seated Cable Row310–15290 sChest tall, pause at the ribs. Horizontal pull.
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift38–122120 sStop when the hamstrings stretch; back stays flat.
Plank330 s–60 sWhen all three holds feel easy, add 10 s.

Full Body B

Leg press, overhead press, pulldown, hip thrust and a push-up you can progress.

ExerciseSetsRepsRIRRestNotes
Leg Press310–152120 sKnee-dominant, no balance demand. Lower until hips start to tuck, no further.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press38–122120 sVertical press. Ribs down.
Lat Pulldown38–12290 sVertical pull. Bar to upper chest.
Hip Thrust310–15290 sBarbell or machine. Second hinge-family slot of the week.
Incline Push-up38–15260 sHands on a bench or the Smith bar. When you get 3×15, lower the incline next time; when you can do 3×8 on the floor, log Push-ups instead.
Dead Bug28 per side–60 sLower back stays on the floor.

Choose your next load using Last time

Strengthara shows what you logged Last time. You decide the load and reps today. For exercises with a rep range, this is one way to use double progression:

  1. Begin with a load that lets every working set reach the bottom of the rep range at the prescribed RIR.
  2. Keep that load and add reps over later sessions while keeping the RIR and technique. Log each set as performed, even when sets differ.
  3. Once every working set reaches the top of the range at the prescribed RIR, try the smallest load increase your equipment allows next time. Work up through the range again.
  4. If you cannot reach the lower end with the intended RIR, keep or reduce the load. If progress stalls across several sessions, review rest, recovery and technique before adding more work.

Example: for 3 sets of 8–12 at 2 RIR, Last time might show 12, 11, 10 reps. Keep the load and work toward 12, 12, 12. When all three reach 12 with about two reps left, try a small increase next time. No fixed load jump is required.

For fixed-rep lifts, keep the prescribed reps and use RIR to judge whether a small increase is manageable. For timed, bodyweight and conditioning work, follow the exercise notes. The app neither progresses loads nor changes the written prescription automatically.

Sources: ACSM (2009) supports gradual resistance progression; Zourdos et al. (2016) describes the RIR scale. The exact double-progression rule and rotation examples here are our practical guidance, not a claim that either study tested these five programs.

Follow it free in Strengthara

Open the block picker, choose this block template and sign in to create your block. Make it active, then choose a workout in the iOS app. Log the sets you actually do. The Logbook and Last time are included in Free. Editing the program or creating your own needs Pro.

Follow a program free

Method

Checked

Workout names, exercises, prescriptions, coaching notes and audience come from the anonymous block templates endpoint during the site build. They are a build-time edition of the catalogue; an existing block keeps its own copy. The rotation and progression guidance below are editorial instructions you apply yourself.