Strength & Recomp Program

Progressive overload (the engine)

Muscle grows and fat loss is protected when you gradually do more over time. In practice that means beating your last session: one more rep, a little more weight, or cleaner form. If your log is slowly climbing over weeks, it is working, whatever the scale says on a given day.

Double progression (how you add load)

Each exercise has a rep range. Pick a weight you can control for the bottom of the range with 2 to 3 reps left in reserve. Stay there until you can do the top of the range for all sets with good form, then add the smallest jump (about 2.5 kg upper body, 5 kg lower body) and drop back to the bottom. Repeat.

Effort, in "reps in reserve" (RIR)

RIR is how many more reps you could have done before failing. Most sets end at 1 to 3 RIR. Early weeks lean easier (2 to 4 RIR) while you learn the movements. You rarely need to train compound lifts to true failure.

Warm up, every session (about 8 minutes)

5 minutes easy cardio, then dynamic drills (leg swings, hip openers, band pull-aparts, arm circles), then 2 to 3 light ramp-up sets on your first big lift. This is your injury insurance.

Deloads (planned easy weeks)

Roughly every 6 to 7 weeks, take a lighter week: cut sets by about a third and drop weight around 10%. It should feel too easy. That is when your body absorbs the work. Deloads are marked in the 6-month map.

Your warm-up, step by step (about 8 minutes)

1. General (5 min): easy cardio (bike, row, or incline walk) to raise your temperature and heart rate.

2. Dynamic drills (2 to 3 min, about 8 reps each): leg swings front-to-back and side-to-side, a few bodyweight squats, walking lunges with an overhead reach, hip circles, band pull-aparts, arm circles, cat-cow.

3. Ramp-up sets (on your first main lift): build to your working weight over 2 to 3 quick sets, for example empty bar for 8, then about 50% for 5 and 75% for 3, then start your working sets. This primes the exact movement and is your best injury insurance.

Mobility & prehab (5 minutes, a couple of times a week)

Aimed at the spots that get cranky when you lift and run together. Pick one or two from each group, and spend extra time wherever you feel tight.

• Hips & ankles: deep goblet-squat hold, world's greatest stretch, ankle rocks. Helps squats and running.
• Lower back & core: dead bug, bird dog, glute bridge. Protects the back on deadlifts and runs.
• Shoulders: band pull-aparts, wall slides, face-pull holds. Keeps pressing pain-free.
• Knees & shins (for the runs): calf raises, tibialis (toes-up) raises, side-lying leg raises. Wards off shin splints and knee niggles.

First, finish your 5K (weeks 9 to 10)

You are at week 8, around 4 km with run and walk intervals. Over your next two or three runs, stretch the continuous running until you cover the full 5 km with no walk breaks, even if the pace is slow. Slow and unbroken beats fast and broken here. Once you can jog 5 km without stopping, you have arrived, and you move to maintenance.

Then hold at 5K, two runs a week

Run 1, easy: 5 km at a conversational pace, one where you could hold a full-sentence conversation. This is most of your running and should feel genuinely comfortable. Most people run their easy runs too hard; keeping this one easy is what stops it eating into your lifting recovery.

Run 2, quality (rotate these for variety): a slightly faster continuous 5 km (a notch below all-out), or a longer easy run of 6 to 7 km, or short intervals such as 6 x 400 m hard-but-controlled with a walk or jog recovery between each.

Progress without getting hurt

Change either distance or pace, not both at once, and add no more than about 10% to your weekly distance at a time. Almost every beginner running injury is simply too much, too soon. If a niggle shows up in a shin, knee, or achilles, back off for a few days rather than running through it, and keep your shoes in good shape. The weekly schedule already keeps your harder run away from heavy leg days so the two do not collide.

You will not do six identical months. Three things keep it moving:

• The intensity changes every block. Even on the same lift, the reps and load shift roughly every 6 to 7 weeks (see the 6-month map), so Foundation feels nothing like the Strength block.
• The exercises change at the halfway point. The lifts in the workouts above are your Phase 1 movements (weeks 1 to 13). At week 14 you swap to Phase 2 variations of the same movements (table below). Same structure and emphasis, fresh exercises.
• Accessories rotate any time. Those are low-stakes, so pull from the swap menu whenever you want a change.

Why the big lifts stay put for a stretch rather than changing weekly: as beginners, your fastest progress and clearest sense of improvement come from repeating a lift long enough to get good at it and add weight. Constantly changing the mains (program hopping) is the classic mistake that stalls beginners. So we anchor them, progress them hard, then refresh at week 14.

• Chest: flat or incline DB press, cable fly, pec-deck, dips, machine press
• Back: lat pulldown, pull-up, chest-supported row, seated cable row, T-bar row, one-arm DB row
• Shoulders: overhead press, DB or Arnold press, lateral raise (DB, cable, machine), face pull
• Biceps: DB curl, hammer curl, cable curl, preacher curl, incline DB curl
• Triceps: rope pushdown, overhead extension, skullcrusher, dips, close-grip press
• Quads: back or front squat, hack squat, leg press, split squat, walking lunge, leg extension
• Hamstrings and glutes: RDL, deadlift, hip thrust, leg curl, cable pull-through, glute bridge
• Core: hanging knee or leg raise, cable crunch, reverse crunch, Pallof press, side plank, ab wheel, dead bug

One rule when you swap: stay in the same muscle or movement column, keep the sets and reps for your current block, and once you pick a lift, stick with it a few weeks so you can actually progress it. Variety between blocks is good; randomness every session is not.

Habits that apply to both of you

• Spread protein across 3 to 4 meals (~35 to 45 g each).
• Build meals from a protein + vegetables + a smart carb.
• Hydrate: aim for pale-yellow urine.
• Liquid calories and alcohol are the usual hidden derailers.
• Weigh in the same way and use weekly averages.
• Sleep 7 to 9 hours; it beats any supplement for recomp.

Supplements: worth it vs skip it

You chose targets-only nutrition, so here is the short, evidence-based version. Food, protein, sleep, and progressive lifting do about 95% of the work; supplements are the small remainder.

Worth considering:

• Creatine monohydrate (3 to 5 g daily, any time): the most proven supplement for strength and muscle, cheap, safe, and well studied. Helps both of you. Daily consistency matters more than timing.
• Protein powder (whey or plant): not magic, just a convenient way to hit your target on days whole food falls short of her ~145 g or his ~180 g.
• Vitamin D: worth it if you get little sun, especially in winter. A basic daily dose, or a quick blood test to check first.
• Caffeine: a real performance aid before training if you respond well. A coffee beforehand is plenty; keep it out of the late afternoon so it does not wreck your sleep.

Skip or deprioritize: fat burners, BCAAs (redundant when your protein is on point), testosterone boosters, and most pre-workout blends. Mostly marketing. This is general information, not medical advice; check with a doctor or pharmacist before starting anything, especially alongside any medication or condition.

• Form before load, always. A weight you control through a full clean range beats a heavier one you cannot.
• Sharp or joint pain is a stop signal (muscle burn is fine). Swap to the listed alternative or skip that movement for the day.
• This is general fitness guidance, not medical advice. If either of you has a heart condition, injury history, is on medication, or has not had a recent check-up, clear this with a physician first. The female over 40 starting a deficit is a good reason for a quick baseline check.
• The calorie and protein figures are estimates with real individual variance. The tracking steps are how you correct them to your actual bodies.
• Spot reduction is a myth: core work builds the abdominal muscles, but you cannot choose where fat leaves. A flatter stomach comes from overall fat loss plus that muscle work.
• You chose targets-only nutrition; I can add a full meal framework (structures, food lists, sample days) whenever you want.