Progression previewer
Plan one exercise's progression cycle by cycle. Pick which variable you leave open, set cycle 1, set how the other two change, and see every cycle laid out.
A progression has three numbers per set: weight, reps and RIR (reps in reserve, how many more reps you could have done). You plan two of them and leave one open: that one is decided by how the set goes on the day. This is the same model the Program Builder uses.
Your cycles modeled
| Cycle | Sets | Weight | Reps | RIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 135 lb | – | 2 |
| 2 | 3 | 140 lb | – | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 145 lb | – | 2 |
| 4 | 3 | 150 lb | – | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | 155 lb | – | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | 160 lb | – | 2 |
Flags
Flags use the same rules of thumb as the Program Builder: load up more than 10% between cycles, RIR 0 for 2+ cycles in a row, RIR never below 3, and long plans with no deload. Those thresholds were chosen by us, not taken from a study.
Limits
- Every cycle after the first is arithmetic modeled. It assumes each cycle is done as written; real training rarely goes that way.
- RIR here is a target. People judge RIR better close to failure and worse far from it, so targets of 4 or more reps in reserve are rough (Zourdos 2016; Zourdos 2021). That evidence comes mostly from young trained men on barbell lifts.
- The page does not say whether a plan will work or is "optimal". It shows what you wrote, cycle by cycle.
- Nothing you type leaves your browser. The "copy link" button puts your numbers in the link itself, after the #, which browsers don't send to our server.