Everything the planner can draw on: 159 exercises across 15 movement patterns, and the 10 workout formats a session can be built in. Nothing here is a plan — it is the vocabulary a plan is written in.
A session slot names a pattern, never an exercise; equipment and experience then decide which of these can fill it. Role is what picks the default — a staple is the canonical expression of the pattern, variant a legitimate alternative, accessory supporting work that should not lead a session. From is a readiness floor, not a ranking.
Simultaneous bending at hip, knee and ankle with an upright-ish torso, lowering and raising the body's centre of mass. · lower body
Squatting to depth with no external load. The entry point for the pattern and the fallback when no equipment is available.
Cues: Sit between the hips rather than reaching back; Keep the whole foot loaded
HarderGoblet squat
Squat holding a single weight at the chest. The counterweight makes an upright torso easier to keep, so technique often improves relative to an unloaded squat.
Cues: Elbows inside the knees at the bottom
Goblet squat holding a kettlebell by the horns. Identical pattern to the dumbbell version; listed separately because the equipment requirement is genuinely different.
EasierBodyweight squat
InsteadGoblet squat
Pressing a carriage away on a fixed path while seated. The heaviest squat-pattern load available without balancing anything.
HarderBack squat
InsteadHack squat
Full-depth squat on one leg with the other held out in front. The ceiling of bodyweight squatting, demanding ankle range and balance as much as leg strength.
Cues: Reach the arms forward as a counterweight; Ankle range is usually the limit before strength is
EasierBox pistol squat
Barbell squat with the bar on the upper back. The heaviest loadable squat and the reason a rack is required rather than optional.
Cues: Brace before unracking, not after
Caution: requires unracking
EasierGoblet squat
InsteadFront squat
Machine squat with the back supported on an angled pad.
InsteadLeg press
Single-leg squat sitting back to a box or step and standing again from it. The height sets the difficulty, so it is the rung between a two-legged squat and a full pistol.
Cues: Touch the box under control rather than dropping onto it; Lower the box as the movement gets easier
EasierSplit squat
HarderPistol squat
Squat with two kettlebells racked at the shoulders. The front load demands a braced trunk throughout.
EasierKettlebell goblet squat
Squatting while holding a band overhead under tension. The overhead position exposes any loss of an upright torso immediately.
EasierBand squat
Back squat held motionless at the bottom before standing. Removes the stretch reflex, exposing whether the position is genuinely owned.
Caution: requires unracking
EasierBack squat
Barbell squat with the bar racked across the front of the shoulders. More upright than a back squat and less forgiving of a lost brace.
Caution: requires unracking, wrist mobility
EasierGoblet squat
InsteadBack squat
Squat with the bar carried in the crooks of the elbows. Brutally upright and unforgiving of a soft trunk.
Caution: requires unracking, elbow discomfort
EasierFront squat
Squat against a looped band. Resistance rises toward the top, so the hardest point is where the position is strongest.
EasierBodyweight squat
InsteadGoblet squat
Squatting to a bench and standing again. The box fixes depth, which makes the pattern learnable without guessing how far down to go.
HarderBodyweight squat
InsteadBodyweight squat
Flexion and extension driven at the hip with a relatively fixed knee angle, loading the posterior chain against a resistance acting down through the spine. Two neighbours share the hamstrings with this pattern and neither belongs here, because the test is the joint that moves rather than the muscle that works. Bridges and hip thrusts are hip extension too, but their knee moves through roughly 21 degrees and their load acts horizontally through the hips, which is movement_pattern:bridge. Leg curls hold the hip still and move the knee, which is the inverse of this pattern and is movement_pattern:knee_flexion. · lower body
Hinging at the hip against a band under the feet. Resistance rises as the hips extend, which is where the hinge is strongest.
Cues: Push the hips back rather than bending down
EasierGlute bridge
InsteadRomanian deadlift
Romanian deadlift holding dumbbells. Lighter loading ceiling than the barbell version and easier to learn.
EasierGlute bridge
InsteadRomanian deadlift
Lifting a kettlebell from between the feet. The shortest lever of the loaded hinges, so it is the easiest to keep a neutral spine in.
EasierGlute bridge
HarderTrap bar deadlift
Hinge on one leg with no weight, the free leg extending behind as a counterbalance. Loads the pattern through bodyweight alone while the balance demand does the work a dumbbell would, which makes it the hinge for someone with no equipment.
Cues: Push the hips back and let the free leg travel behind, hips staying level; Stop where the back would otherwise round, not where the hand reaches the floor
Hinging at the hip with a near-fixed knee, lowering the bar along the legs. Trains the hinge without the floor pick-up.
Cues: Push the hips back rather than bending down
EasierGlute bridge
InsteadDumbbell Romanian deadlift
Deadlift from inside a hexagonal bar. The neutral handle position shortens the lever on the spine, which is why it is often the first loadable floor pick-up.
EasierDumbbell Romanian deadlift
InsteadDeadlift
Lifting a loaded bar from the floor to standing. The heaviest hinge, and the one most sensitive to a lost neutral spine.
Caution: spinal loading
EasierRomanian deadlift
InsteadTrap bar deadlift
Hinging forward with the hands behind the head and the knees held softly bent. The hinge pattern with nothing on the back, so it teaches the shape on two legs before the single-leg version asks for balance as well.
Cues: Push the hips back rather than bending the chest down; Stop where the back would otherwise round
Hinging back over a kettlebell passed between the legs and driving the hips forward. The cable pull-through's pattern without a cable stack, which is what makes it a home movement.
Cues: Push the hips back rather than bending the knees — the shins stay near vertical; Finish by squeezing the glutes, not by leaning back past straight
InsteadCable pull-through
Ballistic hip hinge propelling a kettlebell to chest height. Trains the hinge at speed rather than under maximal load.
Cues: The arms are rope, not levers
EasierGlute bridge
Hinge on one leg. Loads the pattern and challenges balance at the same time, which is why it doubles as neuromotor work.
Deadlift from a wide stance with the hands inside the knees. More upright than conventional, shifting work toward the hips.
Caution: spinal loading
InsteadDeadlift
Hinging forward with the bar on the back. The most exposed the spine gets in any hinge, and the most direct posterior-chain loading.
Caution: spinal loading, requires unracking
EasierRomanian deadlift
Hinge against a band looped over the shoulders. Enough resistance to feel the pattern, little enough to fix it.
InsteadCable pull-through
Hinging against a low cable pulled between the legs. The line of pull teaches hip drive without loading the spine.
InsteadBand good morning
Hip extension driven from a supine or shoulder-elevated position, with the knee held in flexion and the load acting horizontally through the hips rather than down through the spine. This is hip extension exactly as the hinge is — what separates them is the direction of loading and what the knee does, not which joint produces the movement. Measured against a deadlift the knee is the tell: it extends through about 21 degrees here and carries close to three times the extensor moment. · lower body
Driving the hips up from lying. Trains hip extension with almost no spinal load, which makes it the entry point for anyone who cannot yet load a hinge.
HarderHip thrust, Romanian deadlift
Glute bridge driving through one foot with the other knee held toward the chest. Doubles the load on the working side without needing anything to lie on or hold.
Cues: Keep the hips level rather than letting the free side drop
EasierGlute bridge
HarderSingle-leg hip thrust
Hip thrust driving through one leg. Doubles the load without adding any.
EasierHip thrust
Hip extension with the upper back supported on a bench and load across the hips.
EasierGlute bridge
Hip thrust with a band across the hips instead of a bar. Resistance peaks at lockout, where the hip is strongest.
EasierGlute bridge
Glute bridge with a mini band above the knees, pressing outward throughout. The band adds an abduction demand a plain bridge has no way to create.
EasierGlute bridge
HarderHip thrust
Plantarflexion, dorsiflexion and the intrinsic foot muscles. Grouped as one pattern because they share a joint complex and are trained together, but the knee angle matters: a bent knee shortens gastrocnemius and shifts the work to soleus, which is why a seated and a standing calf raise are different exercises rather than variants. · lower body
Rising onto the toes with the knee straight. The straight knee keeps gastrocnemius long, so it takes most of the load.
Cues: Pause at the top rather than bouncing
HarderSingle-leg calf raise
Rising onto the toes with the knee bent. The bend shortens gastrocnemius out of the movement, leaving soleus to do the work — which is the whole reason it appears alongside the standing version.
InsteadStanding calf raise
Standing calf raise on one leg. Doubles the load without any equipment, and exposes a side-to-side difference the two-leg version hides.
EasierStanding calf raise
Standing calf raise holding dumbbells. The calf tolerates far more load than bodyweight supplies, so this is where the pattern actually gets trained heavy.
EasierStanding calf raise
Drawing the ball of the foot toward the heel without curling the toes, raising the arch. Trains the intrinsic foot muscles, which support the arch that everything above stands on.
Cues: The toes stay flat and long — if they claw, it is the wrong muscles
Pulling the toes up toward the shin against resistance, heels on the floor. Trains the front of the shin, which almost nothing else in a programme does.
Cues: Slow on the way down — that half is the point
InsteadBanded dorsiflexion
Turning the sole outward against a mini band. The muscles that resist an ankle rolling inward, trained directly.
Toes pulled up against a band anchored in front. Adds resistance to the tibialis without needing a wall or a machine.
InsteadTibialis raise
Bending the knee against resistance with the hip held roughly still, loading the hamstrings at the knee rather than at the hip. Deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts train the same muscles but do not belong here: they move the hip with a fixed knee, which is movement_pattern:hinge, and this is the inverse. Sharing a muscle group is not the test — Bourne 2017 found the 45-degree hip extension selectively activates biceps femoris long head while the Nordic curl preferentially recruits semitendinosus, so the two are not substitutes for one another. · lower body
Curling the heels toward the hips against a machine, lying or seated. The hip is supported throughout, so the only thing being learned is the knee action.
Cues: Keep the hips down rather than letting them lift to help the pull
HarderSliding leg curl
InsteadBand leg curl
Bridging with the heels on sliders and extending the legs away, then pulling them back. A hamstring curl with no machine, and heavily eccentric on the way out.
Caution: hamstring cramp
EasierMachine leg curl
HarderNordic curl
Kneeling with the ankles anchored and lowering the torso under control, resisting all the way down with the hamstrings. The canonical knee-flexion exercise, and close to the hardest eccentric most people will ever attempt without a machine.
Cues: Keep the hips extended so the movement happens at the knee, not the hip; Catch with the hands rather than dropping once control is lost
Caution: high eccentric load
EasierSliding leg curl
Lying face down and curling the heel against a band anchored behind. The knee-flexion option for someone with neither a machine nor sliders.
HarderSliding leg curl
InsteadMachine leg curl
Loaded movement with the feet in a staggered or split position, so one leg carries most of the work. · lower body
Stepping back into a lunge and returning. Easier on the knee than a forward step and simpler to control than walking.
Squatting in a stationary split stance. One leg does most of the work without the balance demand of a walking variant.
HarderBulgarian split squat
Stepping onto a raised surface under control. Closest of the single-leg patterns to stair climbing, which is the daily task it protects.
Reverse lunge holding dumbbells.
EasierReverse lunge
Split squat with a band under the front foot and over the shoulders. The band shortens as you descend, so resistance falls away at the bottom where the position is weakest.
EasierSplit squat
Step-up holding dumbbells.
EasierStep-up
Lunge with kettlebells racked at the shoulders. The front load makes staying upright the hard part.
EasierReverse lunge
Split squat with the rear foot elevated, shifting nearly all the load to the front leg.
EasierSplit squat
Walking lunges with the bar on the back. Loaded single-leg work while moving, which is as close to unforgiving as this pattern gets.
Caution: requires unracking
EasierDumbbell reverse lunge
Stepping sideways against a mini band around the legs, staying low. Loads the hip abductors, which is what keeps a knee tracking over a foot.
Pressing a load overhead from shoulder height, as in an overhead or landmine press. · upper body
Push-up with the hips high, shifting the press toward overhead. The only vertical push available with no equipment at all.
HarderDumbbell shoulder press
Pressing dumbbells overhead from the shoulders.
EasierPike push-up
InsteadOverhead press
Barbell press from the shoulders to overhead, standing. Demands a braced trunk, so it trains more than the shoulders.
EasierDumbbell shoulder press
Pressing a barbell anchored at one end, on an arc between horizontal and vertical. Kind to shoulders that dislike a strict overhead position.
Dumbbell overhead press rotating from palms-in to palms-out.
EasierDumbbell shoulder press
Pressing a kettlebell overhead. The offset weight rotates unless the wrist and trunk hold.
Overhead press driven by a dip of the legs, allowing heavier loads than a strict press.
EasierOverhead press
Pressing to a handstand against a wall. Bodyweight vertical push at its hardest.
Caution: inverted position
EasierPike push-up
Pressing a band overhead from the shoulders.
InsteadDumbbell shoulder press
Pressing a load away from the torso in the transverse plane, as in a bench press or push-up. · upper body
Pressing the body away from the floor. The horizontal push available with no equipment, and scalable by changing hand height.
Cues: Ribs down, hips level with the shoulders
HarderDumbbell bench press
Pressing dumbbells while lying on the floor. The floor stops the elbows below the torso, which shortens the range and spares an unhappy shoulder — and makes it the horizontal push for someone with weights but no bench.
Cues: Let the upper arms rest on the floor between reps rather than bouncing
HarderDumbbell bench press
InsteadKettlebell floor press
Pressing kettlebells while lying on the floor. The floor limits range, which spares an unhappy shoulder.
InsteadDumbbell bench press
Pressing on a fixed path. Lowest technique demand of any loaded horizontal push.
InsteadDumbbell bench press
Pressing dumbbells lying on a bench. Each side works independently, so it tolerates asymmetry better than the barbell version.
EasierPush-up
InsteadBench press
Supporting the body between two bars and lowering until the upper arms are roughly parallel to the ground, then pressing back up. A decline press driven by bodyweight, which is why it sits with the horizontal push rather than the overhead one: the hands finish beside the hips, not above the head.
Cues: Stop at upper arms parallel rather than chasing depth, which is where the shoulder is loaded worst; Lean the torso slightly forward and keep the shoulders down away from the ears
Caution: shoulder strain
EasierPush-up
Barbell press lying on a bench. Requires the bench as much as the bar, which the legacy record omitted.
EasierPush-up
InsteadDumbbell bench press
Push-up with load across the upper back.
EasierPush-up
Bench press on an inclined bench, shifting emphasis toward the upper chest and shoulders.
InsteadBench press
Bench press with the hands inside shoulder width, shifting work to the triceps and sparing the shoulder.
EasierBench press
A push-up from the knees rather than the toes, shortening the lever and taking roughly a third of the load off. The step between the wall and the floor.
Cues: Hips in line with the shoulders, not folded at the waist; Knees far enough back that the chest reaches the floor first
HarderPush-up
A push-up performed standing against a wall. The smallest fraction of bodyweight the pattern can be loaded with, and the entry point for someone who cannot yet hold a plank.
Cues: Walk the feet back to add load, forward to take it away; Ribs down — the wall makes it easy to press with the lower back instead
HarderKnee push-up
Pressing against an anchored band. Portable horizontal push with no ceiling problem for a beginner.
InsteadPush-up
Drawing a load toward the torso in the transverse plane, as in a row. · upper body
Lying face down, lifting the arms through a Y, then a T, then a W. Loads the upper back against gravity alone, which is the one way to pull with no equipment at all.
Cues: Thumbs up, and lift from between the shoulder blades rather than with the arms
InsteadReverse snow angel
Rowing both dumbbells to the ribs from a hinged position, the torso held near parallel with nothing supporting it. The horizontal pull for someone who owns weights but no bench, which every other loaded row in this library quietly requires.
Cues: Set the hinge first and hold it; the row happens with the torso still; Pull to the ribs rather than the chest, elbows past the body
EasierChest-supported row
InsteadDumbbell row
Rowing the body up to a fixed bar with the feet on the floor. Load is set by body angle, so it scales without any weights.
Cues: Ribs down; do not lead with the chin
HarderDumbbell row
Rowing on a chest-supported machine. The support removes the trunk demand entirely.
InsteadSeated cable row
Rowing a cable to the torso while seated. Constant tension and no hinge to hold.
InsteadMachine row
Rowing a dumbbell to the hip with the other hand supported.
InsteadBarbell row
Rowing a barbell to the torso from a hinged position. Loads the pull heavily at the cost of holding a hinge throughout.
Caution: spinal loading
EasierDumbbell row
Rowing dumbbells with the chest on an inclined bench, so the lower back does nothing.
InsteadDumbbell row
Rowing a kettlebell to the hip with the other hand supported.
InsteadDumbbell row
Rowing a barbell lying face down on a raised bench. Removes all body English, so only the pull moves the bar.
InsteadChest-supported row
Barbell row from a dead stop on the floor each rep, torso parallel to the ground.
Caution: spinal loading
EasierBarbell row
Face down, sweeping straight arms from the hips to overhead and back while keeping them off the floor.
InsteadProne Y-T-W raise
Pulling a band toward the face with the elbows high. Trains the rotators and rear shoulder that pressing work neglects.
Pulling a band apart at arm's length. Upper-back work needing nothing but the band.
Rowing against an anchored elastic band. The horizontal pull for someone with neither a bar nor weights.
InsteadDumbbell row
Drawing the body toward an overhead anchor or a bar down toward the torso, as in a pull-up or lat pulldown. · upper body
Pulling a cable bar down to the chest while seated. The vertical pull that does not require supporting bodyweight.
InsteadPull-up
Pull-up with a band taking part of the bodyweight. The usable vertical pull for most people starting out.
HarderPull-up
Pull-up with the palms facing the body. More biceps, and usually the first full-range vertical pull achieved.
EasierAssisted pull-up
InsteadPull-up
Pulling the body to a bar from a hang.
EasierAssisted pull-up
InsteadLat pulldown
Jumping or stepping to the top of a pull-up and lowering as slowly as control allows. The vertical pull for someone who cannot yet raise themselves and has no band to assist with, which is the usual situation at an outdoor bar.
Cues: Lower for as long as control holds, and stop the set when it stops being slow
HarderPull-up
Pull-up with the palms facing each other, usually the kindest grip on the shoulder.
EasierAssisted pull-up
InsteadPull-up
Pull-up with additional load hung from the body.
EasierPull-up
Pulling high enough to bring the torso over the bar and pressing out to a support. Combines a vertical pull and a press in one movement, and needs both at a standard well above either alone.
Cues: Earn it with a chest-height pull-up before attempting the transition
Caution: shoulder strain
EasierWeighted pull-up
Pulling an overhead-anchored band down to the chest.
InsteadLat pulldown
Drawing a dumbbell over the head to the chest while lying across a bench.
InsteadLat pulldown
Moving while supporting an external load, demanding trunk and grip endurance under locomotion. · whole body
Walking while holding a weight in each hand. Trains grip, trunk and posture together under load.
InsteadSuitcase carry
Walking with a weight in one hand only. The asymmetry is the point: the trunk resists side bending the whole way.
InsteadFarmer carry
Walking with kettlebells racked at the shoulders. The load sits high, so the trunk works far harder than in a farmer carry.
Walking with a loaded trap bar. The heaviest carry available, limited by grip before anything else.
EasierFarmer carry
Walking with a weight locked out overhead. Demands shoulder stability and a braced trunk at once.
EasierSuitcase carry
Resisting movement of the spine and pelvis rather than producing it, as in a plank or anti-rotation hold. · trunk
Lowering opposite arm and leg from a supported position without letting the back arch.
Holding a straight line on the forearms. Resisting extension rather than producing flexion.
HarderSide plank
Supporting the body on straight arms with the legs held horizontal in front. A hold rather than a repetition, and the signature trunk movement of an outdoor park.
Cues: Push the shoulders down away from the ears; Bend the knees to hold the position longer rather than losing it
EasierHanging leg raise
Extending opposite arm and leg from all fours while keeping the trunk still.
Holding a straight line on one forearm, side on. Loads the lateral trunk, which a front plank does not.
EasierPlank
A side plank that lowers and raises the hip rather than holding still. Takes the lateral trunk through range under load, where the hold only asks it to resist.
Cues: Lower under control — the drop is the half of it that trains anything; Stack the shoulders and hips; the body stays in one plane
EasierSide plank
Anti-rotation press against an anchored band.
InsteadPallof press
Pressing a cable straight out while it tries to rotate the torso. Anti-rotation, which no plank trains.
InsteadBand Pallof press
Plank with load across the upper back.
EasierPlank
A sit-up holding a weight at the chest. Trunk FLEXION under load — producing the movement rather than resisting it, which is the half the braces and planks leave out.
Cues: Roll the spine up a segment at a time rather than hinging at the hips; Hold the weight against the chest, not overhead, unless the shoulders can stay stacked
Holding a shallow curved position on the back with the limbs off the floor.
EasierDead bug
Pulling a cable diagonally across the body, high to low or low to high. Rotation against a constant line of pull, which a free weight cannot give at the top of the arc.
Cues: The arms only carry the handle; the turn comes from the trunk and hips
InsteadLandmine rotation
Arcing the end of a barbell across the body from a fixed corner. Trains rotation under load, which the anti-rotation work deliberately does not.
Cues: Turn through the hips and let the feet pivot — this is not an arm movement; Slow at the ends of the arc, where the bar is furthest and the leverage worst
InsteadCable chop
Rolling the wheel away and back with the spine held still. Anti-extension at a long lever, which is what makes it hard — the load is your own body at a distance, not a weight you chose.
Cues: Ribs down and hips tucked before the wheel moves; Stop where the lower back would start to arch, not where the arms run out
EasierPlank
Raising the legs from a dead hang without swinging.
EasierDead bug
Lowering a rigid body from vertical while the shoulders stay anchored.
EasierHollow hold
Holding or recovering a stable position over a reduced base of support. Unlike the other patterns it is defined by what is resisted rather than what is moved: the work is in staying put, or in returning when displaced. · whole body
Standing on one leg. The plainest reduction of the base of support, and the one every progression starts from.
Cues: Progress by closing the eyes before adding time
HarderSingle-leg reach
Standing heel to toe in a straight line. Narrows the base sideways rather than removing a foot, so it suits anyone not yet steady on one leg.
HarderSingle-leg stance
Walking a straight line placing each heel against the opposite toe. Balance while moving, which is nearer to how falls actually happen than any static hold.
EasierTandem stance
Walking heel-to-toe in reverse. Harder than forward because the lead foot cannot see where it lands.
EasierHeel-to-toe walk
Standing on one leg and reaching the free foot out and back without touching down. Balance under a moving centre of mass.
EasierSingle-leg stance
Standing on one leg and reaching the free foot to several points in turn.
EasierSingle-leg reach
Standing on one leg without vision. Removing sight forces the ankle and inner ear to do the work alone.
EasierSingle-leg stance
Hopping on one leg and holding the landing still. Recovering balance from a disturbance, which is closer to a real stumble than any static hold.
Caution: impact loading
EasierSingle-leg reach
Leaving the ground and absorbing the return. The landing is the trained half: impact is what loads bone, and controlling it is what a fall demands. · lower body
Dropping from a small step and holding the landing completely still. The landing is the exercise; the drop only creates it.
Cues: Land quietly; Hold for two seconds before standing up — if you have to step, it was too high
Caution: impact loading
HarderPogo hops
Small, fast, stiff-ankle hops on the spot. Trains the ankle to return force quickly rather than absorb it slowly.
Cues: Minimal knee bend — the ankle does the work; Quiet and rhythmic beats high
Caution: impact loading
EasierLanding drill
HarderBroad jump
Jumping onto a raised surface and stepping back down. Stepping down is deliberate: it keeps the landing impact off a fatigued athlete.
Caution: impact loading
EasierLanding drill
A maximal two-footed jump forward, landing under control.
Caution: impact loading
EasierPogo hops
Hopping onto one leg and holding the landing. The closest thing in a gym to what a stumble actually asks for.
Caution: impact loading
EasierPogo hops
Cyclic locomotion: walking, jogging and running, and the non-impact forms that do the same cardiorespiratory work, such as the stationary bike and the rowing ergometer. Named for the pattern its staples share rather than for the foot — a rower is not gait in the biomechanical sense, and lives here because this is the pattern an aerobic block fills. · locomotion
Walking fast enough to raise the breath but still hold a conversation. The pace most public-health guidance means by moderate-intensity activity, and the one that reaches a training stimulus without running.
Cues: Fast enough to breathe audibly, slow enough to finish a sentence
HarderSlow jogging
Running at conversational pace. The bridge between walking and running, and where most endurance volume belongs regardless of level.
Cues: If you cannot speak a full sentence, you are running, not jogging; Walk breaks are part of it, not a failure of it
HarderRunning
Walking at a chosen pace. The lowest-barrier aerobic option and the one most people can sustain for an hour.
HarderRunning
Cyclic lower-body work on a fixed elliptical path. Reaches running heart rates with no flight phase, which is why it is the usual substitute when impact rather than fitness is the limit.
Cues: Drive through the whole foot rather than the toes; Let the arms work — the handles are load, not balance
Cycling on a fixed ergometer. Non-impact, and the mode used in much of the interval literature.
InsteadRowing machine
Running outdoors or on any surface.
Caution: impact loading
EasierWalking
InsteadTreadmill run
Rowing on an ergometer, driving with the legs. Whole-body and non-impact.
InsteadStationary bike
Running on a treadmill, where speed and gradient are controlled directly. Useful when an interval protocol names a precise intensity.
InsteadRunning
Walking uphill on a treadmill. Raises the aerobic cost substantially without any running impact.
InsteadWalking
Short controlled accelerations to near-top speed, held briefly.
EasierRunning
Hard efforts on a fixed bike. Non-impact and easy to hold a precise intensity on, which is why much of the interval literature used it.
InsteadStationary bike
Maximal-effort running up a gradient. The hill limits speed, which reduces the strain a flat sprint places on the hamstrings.
Caution: impact loading
EasierStrides
Maximal-effort running on the flat.
Caution: impact loading, hamstring strain
EasierHill sprint
Ascending stairs briskly. Equipment-free vigorous work, and the mode used in the exercise-snack trials.
Preparation and range-of-motion work. Each belongs to a movement pattern — it is the mobility for that movement — but none of them trains it, so they are listed apart from the exercises that do.
Lengthening the back of the thigh with the knee near straight.
Half-kneeling stretch of the front of the hip. The counter to prolonged sitting.
A lunge with a thoracic rotation, covering hip flexors, hamstrings and upper back in one position.
Driving the knee forward over a fixed foot. Ankle range is the usual limiter on squat depth.
Rotating the upper back while the hips stay still. Restores rotation that lumbar spine and shoulders otherwise borrow.
Taking the shoulder through its overhead range under control.
The 15 patterns a plan is written in. A session asks for one of these, and equipment and experience then decide which exercise fills it — which is why every pattern needs options at every level.
Simultaneous bending at hip, knee and ankle with an upright-ish torso, lowering and raising the body's centre of mass.
Flexion and extension driven at the hip with a relatively fixed knee angle, loading the posterior chain against a resistance acting down through the spine. Two neighbours share the hamstrings with this pattern and neither belongs here, because the test is the joint that moves rather than the muscle that works. Bridges and hip thrusts are hip extension too, but their knee moves through roughly 21 degrees and their load acts horizontally through the hips, which is movement_pattern:bridge. Leg curls hold the hip still and move the knee, which is the inverse of this pattern and is movement_pattern:knee_flexion.
Hip extension driven from a supine or shoulder-elevated position, with the knee held in flexion and the load acting horizontally through the hips rather than down through the spine. This is hip extension exactly as the hinge is — what separates them is the direction of loading and what the knee does, not which joint produces the movement. Measured against a deadlift the knee is the tell: it extends through about 21 degrees here and carries close to three times the extensor moment.
Plantarflexion, dorsiflexion and the intrinsic foot muscles. Grouped as one pattern because they share a joint complex and are trained together, but the knee angle matters: a bent knee shortens gastrocnemius and shifts the work to soleus, which is why a seated and a standing calf raise are different exercises rather than variants.
Bending the knee against resistance with the hip held roughly still, loading the hamstrings at the knee rather than at the hip. Deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts train the same muscles but do not belong here: they move the hip with a fixed knee, which is movement_pattern:hinge, and this is the inverse. Sharing a muscle group is not the test — Bourne 2017 found the 45-degree hip extension selectively activates biceps femoris long head while the Nordic curl preferentially recruits semitendinosus, so the two are not substitutes for one another.
Loaded movement with the feet in a staggered or split position, so one leg carries most of the work.
Pressing a load overhead from shoulder height, as in an overhead or landmine press.
Pressing a load away from the torso in the transverse plane, as in a bench press or push-up.
Drawing a load toward the torso in the transverse plane, as in a row.
Drawing the body toward an overhead anchor or a bar down toward the torso, as in a pull-up or lat pulldown.
Moving while supporting an external load, demanding trunk and grip endurance under locomotion.
Resisting movement of the spine and pelvis rather than producing it, as in a plank or anti-rotation hold.
Holding or recovering a stable position over a reduced base of support. Unlike the other patterns it is defined by what is resisted rather than what is moved: the work is in staying put, or in returning when displaced.
Leaving the ground and absorbing the return. The landing is the trained half: impact is what loads bone, and controlling it is what a fall demands.
Cyclic locomotion: walking, jogging and running, and the non-impact forms that do the same cardiorespiratory work, such as the stationary bike and the rowing ergometer. Named for the pattern its staples share rather than for the foot — a rower is not gait in the biomechanical sense, and lives here because this is the pattern an aerobic block fills.
10 formats a session can run as. The format decides the shape of a session — what repeats and how — while the protocol behind it decides the numbers.
As many rounds as possible inside a fixed time. The time cap is the prescription and the round count is the result, which inverts the usual contract: duration is authored, total volume is not.
Exercises performed in sequence with little rest between them, resting only after the round. Sets count rounds rather than sets of one exercise, which is why round_rest_seconds is required and rest_seconds is not.
A fixed amount of work started every minute, resting whatever the minute leaves. Rest is therefore a consequence of pace rather than a prescription, so rest_seconds is deliberately absent.
A position held for time rather than repeated, as in a stretch or a balance hold.
Repeated efforts of two minutes or more, separated by active recovery long enough to repeat them.
A very short bout, under a few minutes, repeated through the day rather than performed once.
Discrete sets of a resistance exercise separated by rest. The dose is sets, reps, load and rest.
Repeated efforts under two minutes, usually grouped into rounds with longer rest between rounds.
One continuous effort held at a roughly constant intensity for a set duration.
Two exercises performed back to back, resting only after the pair. Chosen when time is short: the second exercise occupies what would otherwise be rest, so a session covering the same patterns takes far less of the clock.
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