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How to write next week's programme from last week's numbers

By Raziel · 14 October 2026

For most coaches, next week's programmes take an evening, and most of it goes on one small decision made over and over: does this lift go up, stay where it is, or come down?

Every lift needs one of three decisions

Any line in last week's log leaves you three choices: add a little, hold it, or take some off. Coaches who programme quickly decide in advance which numbers lead to which, write it down, and stop working it out every Sunday.

That is a set of progression rules, one line each: if this happened last week, do that next week.

What you need in the log first

Rules only work on numbers you have. For each working set on the main lifts, log the load, the reps and how hard it felt. For the session, one more fact: did it happen at all?

For effort, use the reps-in-reserve version of RPE. RPE 10 means nothing left, RPE 9 means one more rep was there, RPE 8 means two. Zourdos and colleagues set this scale out in 2016, and you teach it with one question after each set: how many more could you have done?

Five rules that cover most weeks

1. If a main lift felt easy, add a small step

If every working set came in at RPE 7 or under, add 2.5kg next week. Zourdos argues for this fixed small jump with newer lifters at Stronger by Science: it stops them climbing faster than their technique can keep up.

2. If it landed on target, hold the load and chase a rep

This is double progression. Give the lift a rep range, say 6 to 8. Hold the weight until the client hits the top of the range at the effort you asked for. Then add load and start again at the bottom. Andy Morgan's progression guide at RippedBody uses the same trigger.

3. If it was a grind, hold or take a little off

A set at RPE 9.5 or 10 when you asked for 8 says last week's step was too big. Hold the load, or take a step off if reps were missed. In Zourdos's words, "there is absolutely nothing wrong with repeating the same load two weeks in a row."

4. If they missed the session, hold everything

A missed session tells you nothing about strength. Hold every load where it was and run the same session again. Without this rule, a missed week turns into a jump the client was never ready for.

5. Plan the lighter week before anyone needs it

Plan a lighter week every few weeks, at a point you choose in advance. Written in, it happens on time. Left to judgement, it gets pushed back until a client stalls or gets sore.

A worked example

One client's week through those rules, with invented numbers.

Four decisions, none needing a fresh think. Across a full client list, that is where the evening goes, and where it comes back from.

Where the rules still need your eye

Rules lean on effort ratings, so those have to be decent. Stronger by Science sums up a review by Halperin and colleagues covering 414 people. On average, lifters misjudged their reps in reserve by about one rep, and got closer near failure and on sets of 12 reps or fewer.

• Keep RPE-led rules for the main lifts in lower rep ranges.
• Check a new client's ratings against what you see.
• Override a rule when a sore back or a bad week at work tells you something the log does not.

The same log in should give the same plan out, every time. When a client asks why their squat stayed at 80kg, show them the line that held it.