Fulminata Fitness

Winter Arc

Level

Beginner

Days a week

5

Length

12 weeks

Twelve weeks, five days: push, pull, legs, upper, lower. Every lift runs on dumbbells, cables or machines. Lock In builds the base for five weeks. After one lighter week, Deep Freeze pushes the main lifts for six more.

The Agoge

Level

Beginner

Days a week

7

Length

4 weeks

Crunches, squats, and push-ups, then a half-hour walk. Just under an hour a day, every day, for four weeks.

“Add a step.”A Spartan mother to her son, on his short sword (Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women 242A)

Ferrum Invictum

Level

Beginner

Days a week

3

Length

6 weeks

Three full-body dumbbell sessions a week in an A/B/C rotation: two lower and two upper compounds each day, plus arm supersets and core.

“Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros.”Seneca, De Providentia (“fire tests gold; adversity, brave men”)

Principia

Level

Beginner

Days a week

3

Length

8 weeks

Three days a week, two alternating barbell workouts: squat, bench, deadlift, press, row. Add a little weight every session for eight weeks.

“Gutta cavat lapidem.”Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto (“dripping water hollows the stone”)

Initiate

Level

Beginner

Days a week

4

Length

4 weeks

Four weeks, four stages: bodyweight, then dumbbells, then the barbell, then the full gym.

“Few men are born brave; many become so through care and force of discipline.”Vegetius, De Re Militari

Palaestra

Level

Beginner

Days a week

3

Length

8 weeks

Bodyweight only, three days a week, about 35 minutes. Three weeks of groundwork, one lighter week, then four weeks with more sets and longer holds.

Return to Ithaca

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

11 weeks

A comeback plan for lifters returning after time away. Three light weeks to knock the rust off, four weeks of barbell reactivation, then five weeks of loading past where you left off.

“Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' / We are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are.”Tennyson, Ulysses

Trifecta Classica

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

6

Length

10 weeks

Push, pull, legs, six days a week, so every muscle gets trained twice. Ten weeks of high volume with a simple structure.

“Every habit and faculty is confirmed and strengthened by the corresponding actions, that of walking by walking, that of running by running.”Epictetus, Discourses

Forge of Hephaestus

Level

Beginner

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Four days of upper/lower work on machines and dumbbells. Moderate weights, strict form, real time under tension.

“Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.”Hesiod, Works and Days

Weight of the Sky

Level

Beginner

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Lower-body specialization: three leg sessions a week plus one upper day. Squats and hip thrusts lead, with steady loading over eight weeks.

“And Atlas through hard constraint upholds the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms…”Hesiod, Theogony

Adonis Protocol

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

5

Length

12 weeks

Five days a week focused on the V-taper: extra volume for shoulders, chest, and arms. Six weeks of foundation, then six weeks of detail work.

“Beauty he declared to be a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction.”Diogenes Laërtius, Lives (on Aristotle)

Age of Aureum

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

5

Length

10 weeks

The classic bro split: chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs. One body part a day, five days a week, high volume for ten weeks.

“First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men.”Hesiod, Works and Days

Anabasis

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

5

Length

8 weeks

Five days on machines, Smith racks and dumbbells, no barbell needed: upper, lower, upper, lower, arms. One anchor lift a day on double progression, accessories at 8-15, and fifteen minutes on the stairs to finish.

“θάλαττα θάλαττα.”Xenophon, Anabasis IV.7 (“the sea, the sea”)

Callisthenia

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

6 weeks

Bodyweight only, four days a week on an upper/lower split. Three weeks of foundations, then three weeks of harder progressions.

“…it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit.”Socrates, in Xenophon's Memorabilia

Tirocinium

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Upper/lower with dumbbells only, four days a week. Phase one goes heavy for strength; phase two raises the volume with supersets.

“Fortis fortuna adiuvat.”Terence, Phormio (“fortune favours the brave”)

Kanon

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Four days, upper and lower: one heavy anchor lift per session on double progression, accessories at 8-15 reps to fill in the shape.

“τὸ εὖ παρὰ μικρὸν διὰ πολλῶν ἀριθμῶν γίνεται.”Polykleitos, quoted by Philo of Byzantium (“perfection comes about little by little, through many numbers”)

Pillar of Hercules

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Four days a week: heavy top sets on the big four, bodybuilding volume behind them. Eight weeks of strength and size together.

“Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.”Seneca, Hercules Furens (“there is no easy way from earth to the stars”)

The Trident

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

3

Length

8 weeks

Three full-body sessions a week, each built around one heavy compound with just enough volume behind it.

“…if you add only a little to a little and do this often, soon that little will become great.”Hesiod, Works and Days

Xysticus Maximus

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Four days of athletic upper/lower training: heavy compounds paired with jumps, throws, and Olympic lift variations.

“Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.”Juvenal, Satires (“pray for a sound mind in a sound body”)

Atalanta

Level

Intermediate

Days a week

3

Length

8 weeks

Jumps, sprints and conditioning with no equipment, three days a week. Three base weeks, one lighter week, then four weeks of more jumps and longer sprints.

The Colossus

Level

Advanced

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Four days of advanced barbell work: four weeks of volume on the big four in sets of five, then four weeks of heavy doubles and triples.

“Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues.”Pliny the Elder, Natural History (on the Colossus of Rhodes)

Tres Columnae

Level

Advanced

Days a week

6

Length

8 weeks

Push, pull, legs with dumbbells only, six days a week. Phase one stacks volume; phase two drops the reps and tightens the rest.

“Labor omnia vicit improbus.”Virgil, Georgics (“unrelenting toil conquered all”)

Telamon

Level

Advanced

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Push, pull, legs and skill days led by handstand push-ups, muscle-ups, pistol squats and L-sits. You need a pull-up bar and somewhere to dip. Three weeks of volume, one lighter week, then four weeks of more sets and reps.

Gigantomachia

Level

Advanced

Days a week

4

Length

9 weeks

A four-day body-part split with supersets. Four weeks of volume, one lighter week, then four weeks of heavy first lifts and drop sets.

Pankration

Level

Advanced

Days a week

4

Length

8 weeks

Two power days built on power cleans, push presses and jumps, two strength days on heavy squats, trap bar deadlifts and carries. Three base weeks, one lighter week, then four weeks of heavy doubles and triples.