Welcome to REBUILD Your Strength

This is our 4 week progressively designed program to help you get back into the gym
(and back under the bar) after having taken some time off.

Strength is a skill and our skills get a little rusty when we haven’t been able to use
them for a while to their full potential. The great news: the human body and training
is very neuromuscular -- your strength skills come back when you start using them
consistently again. But easing into this consistency is going to be your best bet for
long term sustainability and getting back to your pre-break levels.

Now is the time for patience and gradually increasing volume, intensity and
frequency.

Ramping things up and moderating can be tricky to do for yourself - especially when
you’ve been looking forward to lifting again! - so, we’ve done it here for you.

Our goals with this program are to:

● Provide a roadmap for your return to the gym

● Progressively ramp you up to your previous training intensity and volume
● Prepare you to a point where you can take on any complete strength training
program you choose without fear of not being prepared

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

 Disclaimer

The information in this program is offered for educational purposes and the reader
should be cautioned that there is an inherent risk assumed by the participant with any
form of physical activity. With that in mind, those participating in strength and
conditioning programs should check with their physician prior to beginning such
activities. Participants should understand that such training may be dangerous if
performed incorrectly. The authors assume no liability for injury.

Getting to Know The Program

Training schedule
You can complete your workout sessions on whichever days work best for you,
although we recommend NOT completing ALL training sessions consecutively if you
can help it, especially as the sessions increase as the program goes on.

Week 1: two training sessions

Week 2 & 3: three training sessions
Week 4: four training sessions

So, this might look something like this:

Week 1: Monday, Wednesday

Week 2 & 3: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Week 4: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

When you enter Weeks 2-4, if you “miss” a day, no worries! You’ll stay the course
and pick up where you left off in your program. This way, there’s no such thing as
skipping a session. Sessions do not have to be completed within a ​calendar ​week.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

Finally, when you get to week 4 and are still enjoying the program and progress
you’re seeing, don’t stop! You can continue on with the week 4 template for a few
more weeks and continue making small, 2-4% jumps in intensity until you reach a
plateau. At that point you’re ready for a new program.

Choosing exercises

Within the program you’ll find the only exercises specifically prescribed are the main
lifts (Back Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift). The remaining accessory movements
are programmed by a movement category, like this:

We did this as a way to allow flexibility for you both in terms of exercise preference
as well as equipment availability. For all of these movements, you’ll go to the
corresponding list on the attached Exercise Selection Chart and pick a movement
that best fits you. Here’s what those selection charts look like:

Some lists are shorter, some are longer, but NONE are a completely exhaustive list.
If you have a preferred movement within the category that may not be listed, you’re
welcome to substitute it anyway.

How to read your program

Within the program’s PDF, you’ll find a separate tab for each week as well as an
exercise selection chart. Clicking on the exercises in the selection chart will bring you
to its corresponding Youtube demonstration.
Exercises listed with a number and without a corresponding lowercase letter are to
be performed by themselves. Exercises listed with a number and lowercase letter(s)
are to be performed in supersets or tri-sets.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

For example in Week 1, the first exercise you will perform (after completing your
general warmup) is:

Here, you’ll perform 5-10 reps of your back squat with an empty bar, rest 1 minute
and then perform 5-10 more reps.

Then, you’d add weight to the bar to begin your working sets. Start lighter than what
you’re usually used to lifting from way back when you were working out more
consistently and heavier . Aim for an RPE (more on this below) of approximately 6.

You would perform a set of 6 reps of your back squat, followed by a rest period of
2-3 minutes. You would repeat this for a total of three to four times.

Super-sets in the program will look like this:

Here, you’d perform 8-12 reps (per leg) of your chosen lunge, rest for 1-2 minutes,
perform, 8-12 reps of your chosen anti-extension core exercise and then rest again
for 1-2 minutes. You’d repeat this for a total of two to three times/rounds.

Intensity
This is denoted by rate of perceived exertion (RPE) which allows for greater
individualization as well as auto-regulation based on how you feel on a given day.

RPE

We use this as a guide to limit the frustration from forcing specific training numbers
based on a percentage and allow for your own auto-regulation based on how you
feel in a given session, or on a given set.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

Keep in mind perfection is not necessary and being a few pounds under or over a
desired intensity in a single session is not as important as the cumulative effect of
long term training.

We rate RPE on a scale of 6-10 and through this program you’ll be training within the
6-8 range. The recommended RPE for each exercise is noted in the Intensity column
within the program.

Subjective Rating of Perceived Intensity Chart

RPE - Percentage Chart

Early on you may use this intensity chart as a safety net to estimate your working
sets, but it’s important to keep in mind that you, or any individual may differ by up to
5-8% for a given RPE based on training history, strength, exercise, height, etc.

Keeping daily notes on your perceived RPE after the set will help you get more
comfortable with your perception of difficulty and improve your long term estimation
and tracking.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

How to choose weights

It’ll be up to you to self-regulate your working set weights. You may find you’ve
chosen a load​ too​ light at first, and will need to incrementally increase the load
throughout your 3-4 sets. You may also find you’ve chosen a load perfect to stick to
for ​all ​of the sets. That works too! It’s also okay if your chosen loads don’t match up
with the programmed RPE “perfectly”. We’d much rather you finish your workout
feeling successful, strong, and slightly challenged, NOT completely spent.

Sore, tired, poor sleep, sick, hormonal shifts, etc. will all factor in as to how you’re
feeling and lifting on any given day. One day 30lbs might feel like an RPE of nothing
and the following week it could feel like a 9. That’s normal and to be expected. When
the weights seem to just not be moving, it’s time to focus on OTHER ways to make
progress (i.e, form, technique) and to lower the loads to match up better with the
prescribed RPE.
A lot of the time, you just don't know until you know. Playing Goldilocks - especially
with new exercises, programs and sets and reps is something you're always going to
have to feel out! That's part of the fun (we hope) of lifting.

Ranges
For many sets and reps, we’ve given you a range, i.e, 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps, to choose
from. Feeling strong and up to the challenge? Or, only have access to lighter weights
and need more load? Go for the higher end. Short on time, or not feeling up to it? Or,
using heavier weights? Stick to the lower range.

In general, we recommend starting off on the lower end of the range, especially in
the first week or so as you get yourself acclimated to heavier weights again. Plus,
this will give you an area to be able to progress in week by week.

Recording Weights
We encourage you to track the weight for all movements as well as your associated
RPE for main lifts. As we’ve said before, it's okay if your chosen weight misses the
mark slightly in terms of the given intensity. Making a note after the fact will serve as
a good reminder for the following weeks and help you refine your ability to regulate
your training as you progress.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE

Communicating with us
Questions about the program or our services?
You can reach us here: ​admin@strongerxdesign.com​, or, check out our social media
pages and our website to learn more

Stronger by Design site

Stronger by Design Instagram
Kiefer’s Instagram
Brit’s Instagram

Our top priority is to make sure you are safely and appropriately challenged while
continuing to build and progress on your success. (Aka: get you strong(er) in a smart
way). We encourage all conversation and dialogue that plays a role in that.

We’re here to help and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for you. Please let us
know how the program is going. We want to hear from you!

Thank you for being a part of the SxD squad.

SxD| REBUILD YOUR STRENGTH PROGRAM GUIDE