Lower Body

The week (Phase 1 default)

Day	Session	Time
Mon	Push	6:00am
Tue	Z2 cardio (~35 min)	flex (AM or PM)
Wed	Pull	6:00am
Thu	Legs	6:00am
Fri	Z2 cardio (~45 min, longer)	flex (AM or PM)
Sat	Upper (accessory)	6:00am
Sun	Rest + family walks + weekly review	flexible

Active days: 6. Lifts: 4. Z2 cardio: 2. Full rest: Sunday. The Plan-grid on the Review tab overrides this template — set it Sunday nights, the Week tab reads it Monday morning.

The non-negotiables

1. Wake at 5:30 Mon-Sat, 7:00 Sun. In bed by 9:30, lights out by 10.
2. Phone up after dinner. 9pm Recovery-tab review is the last screen touch.
3. No alcohol within 3 hours of bed.
4. Real breakfast on lift days. Don't lift fasted at 6am.
5. One session at a time. Don't double up. Don't add a 7th day.

Rules of engagement

• Miss a day: skip it, don't make it up. Skipping legs hurts more than skipping Z2.
• Sick or under-slept (<6 hrs): swap lift for a Z2 walk.
• Hurts: stop. Most past stalls came from injury, not boredom.
• Life explodes: minimum viable week is 2 lifts + 1 Z2.

Why this shape

Hypertrophy-primary (4 lifts hit every muscle group ≥1x/week, chest+back 2x), with enough Z2 to maintain an aerobic base for the half-iron build that starts in September. Sleep is the keystone; lift volume above this requires sleep volume we don't have yet.

Schedule: Push/Pull/Legs + Upper accessory. 4 lifts/week. Default Mon/Wed/Thu/Sat — Plan-grid on the Review tab can move days around.

Weight convention: total lb for barbell + machine stack (BB/MACH badge). Per-hand lb for dumbbells (DB badge). The Workout tab shows the badge next to each exercise.

Push

#	Lift	Sets × Reps
A	Barbell bench press	4 × 6–8
B	Seated DB shoulder press	3 × 8–10
C	Incline DB press	3 × 10–12
D	Cable lateral raise	3 × 12–15
E	Cable tricep pushdown	3 × 10–12
F	Overhead cable tri extension	3 × 10–12

Pull

#	Lift	Sets × Reps
A	Lat pulldown (or pull-up)	4 × 8–10
B	Barbell bent row	3 × 8–10
C	Seated cable row	3 × 10–12
D	Face pull	3 × 12–15
E	DB bicep curl	3 × 10–12
F	DB hammer curl	3 × 10–12

Legs

#	Lift	Sets × Reps
A	Back squat	4 × 6–8
B	Romanian deadlift	3 × 8–10
C	Bulgarian split squat	3 × 10 / leg
D	Leg curl machine	3 × 10–12
E	Hip thrust	3 × 10–12
F	Standing calf raise	4 × 12–15

Upper (accessory)

Second hit on chest/back/arms — lighter than Push or Pull day.

#	Lift	Sets × Reps
A	Incline DB bench	3 × 8–10
B	Chest-supported DB row	3 × 10–12
C	DB lateral raise	3 × 12–15
D	Cable rear delt fly	3 × 12–15
E	EZ bar curl	3 × 10–12
F	Cable tricep pushdown	3 × 10–12
G	Farmer's carry	3 × 40 sec

12-week progression

Weeks 1–4 — Find the pattern. Use weights you could do 12 reps with, but stop at the prescribed range. Form, ROM, breathing. End every set with 2-3 reps in reserve. Establish honest starting weights — pretending you're stronger than you are is the #1 way to stall by week 6.

Weeks 5–8 — Start pushing. Add weight when top of the rep range feels clean. 5 lb on DBs / 10 lb on barbell. Last set: hard but clean, 1-2 RIR. Stall = drop 10% and rebuild.

Weeks 9–12 — Find your real numbers. Modest strength goals: bench bodyweight × 8, squat 1.25× bodyweight × 6, RDL 1.5× bodyweight × 8. Don't max out. Don't test 1RM. Visible body comp change should be showing by progress-pic Week 12.

Recovery rules

• Push → Pull → Legs → Upper. ~24-48 hrs between similar movements.
• Z2 cardio days are NOT recovery days for the legs — keep them low intensity (HR <135).
• Sleep < 6h: swap lift for a walk that day. No hero days.
• Bad week of sleep → bad week of lifts. The lifts aren't the problem, sleep is.
• DOMS in week 1-2 will be brutal — especially Legs. Walk it off. Normalizes by week 3.

Target: Half-Ironman in The Woodlands or Galveston, ~May 2027 (12 months out). 1.2 mi swim · 56 mi bike · 13.1 mi run. The Phase 1 program above is the *first* of three phases — get jacked + maintain a base, then transition, then specialize.

Phase 1 — Engine + Body (now → mid-Aug 2026, ~13 wks)

Lifts: 4 / week (PPL + Upper). Cardio: 2 Z2 sessions (HR ≤135), one short (~35 min) and one longer (~45-60 min). Mode flex — run, bike, row, stair, walk. Sleep is the keystone.

Phase 1 graduation markers: visible body comp change vs the baseline pic · Z2 HR drift down (same pace at lower HR) · 60-min Z2 session feels easy · all 4 lifts trending up week-over-week through weeks 5-8.

Phase 2 — Base build (Sep → Nov 2026, ~13 wks)

Lifts drop to 3 / week (maintenance: Upper / Lower / Full body). Cardio scales to 3-4 sessions / week: 1 swim · 1 bike · 1 long run · 1 tempo or brick. Total weekly volume comes up gradually — bump distance/duration, hold a week, bump again.

This is when the dedicated weekly run UI (separate from Z2) comes back into rotation. Run distance ramp resumes from where Z2 left it. Open-water swim weekly if a pool is dialled in by then.

Phase 3 — Race specificity (Dec 2026 → race, ~16 wks)

Lifts drop to 2 / week (full body, maintenance). Cardio scales to 5-6 sessions / week — race-pace runs, longer rides, brick workouts (bike-to-run), open-water swim. Peak weekly volume ~12 hrs.

~3-week taper into race day. The lifting program here is just keeping muscle on the frame, not building it.

Pattern across all phases

• Bump, hold, bump, hold. Tendons adapt slower than muscles. Especially true for running volume.
• Z2 is always the floor, not the ceiling. If HR drifts above the target, walk. Tempo sessions belong in Phase 3 only.
• Sleep ≥ 7 hrs averaged is non-negotiable across all phases. Under-sleeping = under-recovering = under-adapting.
• The Plan-grid on the Review tab is the actual program. This roadmap is the strategy; the Plan-grid is the tactics each week.

Run-specific (when applicable: Z2 mode=run, Phase 2/3 runs)

• Surface: crushed granite where possible — ~80% less impact than concrete.
• Form: land under hips, don't reach. Quick cadence (~170-180 spm). Tall posture.
• Pace: Z2 = avg HR ≤ 135 = conversational. If you can't talk full sentences, you're too hard.
• Skip when: sleep <6 hrs · knee pain >3/10 · >95°F humid.
• Doctor when: knee pain >5/10 unresolved in 48 hrs · sharp (not dull) · worse during run, not better after warmup · pain that radiates.

The single highest-leverage habit in this entire plan.

Target: 8 hrs, 6+ nights/week · Math: phone up after dinner → 9pm review → in bed 9:30 → lights out by 10 → wake 5:30.

Phone up after dinner

Goes to the kitchen counter, not the bedroom. At 9pm, check the Recovery tab to tick the wind-down items off — that's the last screen touch of the night.

The 9pm review

• Lights down (overhead off, lamp only).
• 5 min mobility: couch stretch, hip openers, child's pose.
• No alcohol within 3 hours of bed.

9:00–9:30pm: wind down — book, conversation, quiet time. Same every night. Boring. Predictable.

In bed by 9:30pm

Lights out by 10. Phone is not in the room. Can't sleep within 20 min: get up, sit in dark elsewhere for 10 min, try again. Don't lie in bed frustrated.

Wake at 5:30am

Same time every day, weekdays minimum. Sunday is a softer 7am. Consistency > total hours.

Caffeine

Last cup by 12:00pm (6-hour half-life). Push to 10am if struggling.

Alcohol

Nothing within 3 hours of bed. Even one drink destroys deep sleep.

Toddler factor

Some nights she'll wake. You can't control that. Don't doomscroll. Keep lights as low as possible. Up >30 min and not sleeping again? Accept the night, move on.

Honest truth

You won't be perfect. Goal is 5 nights a week at 7+ hours. Two great nights and five mediocre ones is worse than seven solid ones. Consistency beats heroics.

Photos catch what the scale and the mirror don't.

Schedule

Re-baseline at the program pivot (May 17, 2026) since the new lift-focus is a materially different stimulus than the prior Lower/Upper/Run program.

Date	Milestone
Sun May 17	Baseline (program pivot)
Sun Jun 14	Week 4
Sun Jul 12	Week 8
Sun Aug 9	Week 12 — Phase 1 graduation

How

• When: Sunday morning, before food/water, after bathroom.
• Light: same window/lamp, ~9am.
• Wear: same shorts every time. No shirt, no shoes.
• Poses (4 photos): front · right side · left side · back. Arms relaxed.
• Camera: phone on tripod, eye-level, self-timer.
• No flexing.

Storage

Dedicated iPhone Photos album titled "Phase 1 Progress". Private. Not in synced family albums.

How to compare

Don't compare week-to-week — bodies don't visibly change in 4 weeks. Compare baseline → week 12. Side-by-side screenshots back to the album.