Supplemental Notes
Gravitus will guide you through the entire program, helping you choose load, adhere to the
set/rep scheme, and swap exercises. The following notes are intended as supplemental
material and are not required for running the program effectively.
Summary of the Program
• This program is designed for novice and intermediate lifters
• Weight should not be increased past the intensities prescribed, or if form breaks down.
• Stay conservative and objective on accessories and avoid going to failure.
• Micro deloads are built in, however, if you need a longer deload as noticed by accumulated
fatigue, noticeable decrease in bar speed, or accruing stressful life situations, then take
deloads as needed.
Do I Need to Know My 1-Rep Maxes?
There is no need to have exact 1-RMs for the squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press,
however, it is incredibly useful to have a ballpark idea. Intensities will be increasingly hard to
scale without this fundamental knowledge. It’s also very helpful to have a baseline
understanding of RPE and RIR before beginning this program!
What intensity should I expect for compound movements week to week?
Compound movements should be scaled based on the daily RPE/RIR written in Gravitus. As a
general guideline, fluctuations in weight from workout-to-workout are okay, but if weight is
consistently down after three weeks, then intensity should be scaled back, as there may be
some overreaching present.
Increases in intensity can vary greatly based on the block (strength and hypertrophy), the reps,
and prescribed intensities. To excel with this program, one must be very mindful and objective
with how the body is moving and feeling each workout. It’s okay to scale back volume and
intensity if excessive fatigue is present or there’s a large accrual of daily life stress.
What intensity should I expect for accessory movements week to week?
There are a lot of accessories in this program, which means that more than likely there will be
weeks where accessory movement’s intensities remain the same, and that’s okay.
Since we’re ramping up our compound movement’s intensities each week, then we have to be
mindful of our intensity throughout all of the accessories. For example, if you only progress one
accessory movement’s weight one week, and keep the rest at the same intensity, that’s okay--
we’re still making progress.
Can I Take Additional Deloads If I’m Feeling Fatigued?
Absolutely. This 10-week program ramps up movements individually and deloads them every 4-
6 weeks accordingly. There are no full week long deloads, however, there are micro deloads
baked in for the upper and lower body.
If you’re feeling or experiencing one of three below, then deload for a week and resume normal
training.
1. Excessive fatigue in and out of the gym.
2. Very noticeable and clear bar speed decrease.
3. Buildup of daily life stressors that are impacting training.
To deload for a full week, start a blank or templated workout and halve your compound
movement sets while maintaining their intensities. Decrease accessory volume to 50%.
Generally, this will resemble the entirety of the program’s sets being halved to accommodate for
the ~60% volume.
Be smart and objective with how you’re feeling. It’s okay to stay at the same weight for a week
or two to avoid overreaching.
How Long Should I Rest In-Between Sets?
Rest times are not baked into the program throughout every exercise, so it’s up to you as an
athlete to be mindful of how long you’re resting. As a general rule of thumb, take the rest you
need to complete the prescribed sets and reps.
If you’re working out on a time crunch, then set rest time parameters for exercises. This can
help provide consistent guidelines for rest times across multiple exercises and can help you
scale intensities without overreaching when time is cut short and energy systems may not have
the luxury of recovering to their fullest.
An example of setting rest time parameters can be seen below,
• Compound Movements/A Lifts: 2-5 minutes
• Accessories/B Lifts: 75-seconds - 2-minutes
• Accessories/C Lifts: 60-seconds - 90-seconds
• Accessories/D Lifts: 45-seconds - 75-seconds
What about rest for supersets?
One option is to turn most accessories into couplets or “supersets” and keep rest times standard
throughout. I like to couple exercises together and utilize rest times for each of them. This can
help keep programs moving, cut down total workout time, and increase overall work output.
An example of how you could read a normal pairing of accessories:
• C1. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 x 8 / 75-sec rest
• C2. Incline Dumbbell Row: 3 x 10 / 75-sec rest
How Should I Split Up the Days?
You can space out the days however you want, however one approach I really like is… you
want to break the days into a split of 2-on, 1-off, 2-on, and 2-off. However, you can break them
into a 3-on, 1-off, and 1-on, 2-off if you need to, or a 2-on, 2-off, and 2-on,1-off.
At the end of the day, it’s your job as the athlete to be realistic with your schedule and energy
availability. Ideally, you want to avoid doing four days in a row, as fatigue can accumulate
quicker than we’d like with this structure.
What Is the Optional 5th Conditioning Day?
If you’re someone who loves going to the gym for the majority of the week, then the fifth day is
made for you. This day is designed to stay lighter in intensity, with more of a full body focus, and
provide a conditioning benefit.
Two rules of thumb to always keep in mind with the optional 5th day:
1. If you’re tired or feeling burnt out one week, then skip it. It’s supplemental, not required.
2. If you’re pushing so hard on the fifth day that you’re sore heading into the next week, then
scale back the intensity.
