Prilepin's Chart Visualized

One of the main tenant's of programming for strength training, muscle building, or any training in general is that the weight you do, the number of reps, and the number of sets all matter. The training effect and therefore result depend on exactly how you train. These charts are an example of A. S. Prilepin's scientific and anecdotal experience of the best rep/set combinations to train strength, or to train certain abilities relating to Russian Olympic weightlifters.

Keep in Mind that it is just a guide, but it really helps to understand that we should be thinking about how much weight we use, AND how we distribute the reps we do.

Percentages are of a theoretical or tested 1 rep max of the given movement.

chart for strength building:

chart including other rep-ranges, and therefore other qualities (Hypertrophy and Endurance):

Honestly, I cannot find reliable sources for this data, and if you see below both versions are called very generally "Prilepin's Chart". Still, if you are training for strength and your rep/set split is outside of one of the shaded areas in the first graph, or you are training for another quality and you are outside of a shaded area in the second graph, maybe step back and think why.

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other places it is discussed:

https://www.elitefts.com/education/training/sports-performance/prilepins-chart/

https://www.t-nation.com/training/prilepins-table-for-hypertrophy

https://powerathletehq.com/2014/07/28/prilepins-chart/

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/files/prelipins.pdf

https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/11672-Prilepin-Chart-and-How-To-Design-Your-Own-Powerlifting-Program 

Incorporating military style PT with weight training

I have for a long time done beginner and intermediate linear progression programs like Starting Strength or The Texas Method. This usually means lifting weights every week, three times per week, full body each session. However, for the last two years or so I have only had enough time to get to the gym twice per week, and not as much dedication in the kitchen to keep up with these tough programs. Combine that with a desire for a bit more 'general fitness', a bit of a fixation on getting better at pushups and pullups, and a bit of admiration for the crazy levels of fitness of folks in the military, and I am looking for a way to incorporate more PT in to my workouts.

In high school I did the first few weeks of a 'Navy SEAL program' (here and here), and then of course quickly stopped doing it because I was lazy. It is composed of two nine-week blocks, with a running program, and a non-specific recommendation of swimming. Doing all of that is already a lot, but by the end of the 18 weeks one is doing 400 pushups per session!

I want to keep lifting weights in the gym, so I only want to add two days of PT; one on a day of lifting, and one on a day where I don't lift. Therefore the progress should be a bit slower. And I definitely don't want to be doing 400 total pushups per session. I made a program that is similar to the first 9 weeks of the Navy SEAL program, but progresses instead over 12 weeks, and includes dips a bit sooner.

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12 week PT program - parallel with weight training - 2x per week

WK#	Pushups	Situps	Dips	Pullups
1	4x15	4x15	0	3x3
2	4x15	4x15	0	3x3
3	5x15	5x15	0	3x4
4	5x15	5x15	0	3x4
5	5x20	5x20	0	2x6
6	5x20	5x20	0	2x6
7	6x20	6x20	2x6	2x8
8	6x20	6x20	2x8	2x8
9	6x25	6x25	2x10	2x10
10	6x25	6x25	3x10	2x10
11	6x30	6x30	3x12	3x10
12	6x30	6x30	3x15	3x10

3x10 is 3 sets of 10 repetitions. The pushups and situps are always identical, which is easy to remember. I plan to always do it as a circuit, in the order listed pushups-situps-dips-pullups and then repeat. The dips and pullups always have fewer sets than the pushups and situps, so one should spread them as equally as possible.

Let's see how the next 12 weeks go with this. I plan to do it on Thursday and Saturday, with lifting on Monday and Thursday still.

Deadlift Dice

I have always played around with the idea of having randomly generated workouts. In general, and also for specific exercises, variety to a point is useful and a good way to mix it up both mentally and physically. Crossfit makes a solid attempt at programming variety, but for me leaves a lot to be desired. Why not use dice and actually make a workout as random as possible?

The deadlift is one of my favorite exercises to do. It is fun, simple, and I can do relatively more on the deadlift than any other exercise (relative to my bodyweight and what someone of my experience should be able to do). Long story short, picking up heavy weight from the ground and dropping it is awesome. However, training the deadlift very hard can take a big toll on the body, and I actually find that my deadlift strength depends mostly on how much I weigh and not how often I train it or how much thought I put in to my programming. Therefore I still want to train the deadlift once per week, but I want to put as little mental effort in to my planning, and get rid of the stress of meeting any fixed benchmarks.

So the Deadlift is a perfect guinea pig for random training, and the alliteration 'Deadlift Dice' is very satisfying.

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'Deadlift Dice'

You need two die, preferably different colors. Or you can just roll one die twice.

Die/roll #1 – exercise selection
Die/roll #2 – rep scheme

roll die #1.
1 or 2 – conventional deadlift
3 or 4 – sumo deadlift
5 or 6 – snatch grip deadlift (or defecit deadlift)

roll die #2.
1 or 2 – volume
3 or 4 – speed/power
5 or 6 – intensity

volume = high sets, high reps = 5-8 sets of 5-10 reps
speed/power = high sets, low reps = 5-8 sets of 1-3 reps (focus on speed)
intensity = low sets, mid reps = 1-3 sets of 3-5 reps

Choose an appropriate weight yourself. These rep schemes are just examples.

Possible tweaks:
- If you don't like the deadlift variations, get rid of die #1 and just do a random rep scheme with your favorite variation.
- choose fewer deadlift variations or rep schemes, and distribute them across numbers 1-6.
- Choose more exercises or rep schemes and use a fancy die with more than six sides. Ask your neighborhood tabletop RPG player.

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This same concept could be applied to any other type of exercise, and also to running, biking, swimming, rowing, etc. Weight could also be chosen, although with some dependence on the rep scheme. Options could be unequally spread across the available numbers. The idea is that the planning work is only done once and then each training session all you have to do is roll the dice and do what they say.