Program
Soar and glide. A lighter approach to strength training.
Hawk is a general strength program designed with sustainability and flexibility in mind. It’s flexible enough to still be manageable during busy periods of the year. It’s ideal for anyone who enjoys lifting but doesn’t want to live in the gym.
The program consists of four workouts a week. Three of those workouts are essential and one is completely optional. The overall volume and difficulty are moderate to help with recovery.
Hawk is a lifestyle program. It’s great for getting stronger and more importantly, keeps you feeling fresher.
A commercial gym will have everything you need. However, if you have a home gym you’ll need the following as a bare minimum:
The ideal pattern is like this:
Mon – Main workout 1 (Squat focus)
Wed – Main workout 2 (Deadlift focus)
Fri – Main workout 3 (Bench focus)
Sat – Optional day
Try to get a day of rest before the main workouts for better recovery and performance. If you can’t then don’t worry about it just get the sessions in and move on.
A large feature of Hawk is the use of optional work. There are two main reasons for this.
The first is for scheduling and motivation reasons. Exercise programs will fail if they cannot adapt to the real-world changes in a person’s schedule.
Many people find sticking to four days a week over the long haul unrealistic. At the same time, there are periods when you might be a little more motivated and have a little more time. Optional work adds flexibility to manage this situation without going completely off-course.
Likewise, the last exercise of each workout is also optional to shorten the length of the session.
The second reason is to give a sense of choice and play. The optional slots are perfect for adding exercises to focus on your individual wants or needs. Workouts can be more enjoyable and easier to stick to when you can add things you like.
In short optional work allows for the following:
In the program below I’ve offered examples of what to put in the optional slots. If you can fit in the optional work and don’t want to think about it, then follow the program as written. However, feel free to change them. You can overdo it so follow these guidelines:
This program uses RPE to describe the intended difficulty of each set. It’s a number between 1 and 10 written after the “@”. When you see 5@7 that means 5 reps at RPE 7. If you see 3×10@8 it means 3 sets of 10 repetitions at RPE 8.
Here is the RPE scale
RPE |
|
| 10 | Could not do more reps or load |
| 9.5 | Could not do more reps, could do slightly more load |
| 9 | Could do 1 more repetition |
| 8.5 | Could definitely do 1 more repetition, maybe 2. |
| 8 | Could definitely do 2 more repetitions |
| 7.5 | Could definitely do 2 more repetitions, maybe 3. |
| 7 | Could definitely do 3 more repetitions |
| 6.5 | Could definitely do 3 more repetitions, maybe 4. |
| 6 | Could do 4 more repetitions. |
Why use a scale like this?
Because your strength and performance can fluctuate from day to day. You can come into the session with an idea of what weight you will lift, but after the first set, you might find it’s either above or below the intended difficulty. From there you can make adjustments to meet the target RPE.
Having trouble with RPE?
Just stick to the overarching intention of the program. Week 1 is the lightest and week 4 is the heaviest. When you repeat the block, go a little heavier if you can.
Eventually, you’ll start failing sets. Great! Now you know your limits. Make adjustments to adhere to the intention of the program.
It’s important to rest between sets for strength training. This ensures you are recovered enough to perform the next set with high quality. As a rule of thumb, rest about 2 – 5 minutes between sets for heavy lifts and 2 – 3 minutes for light lifts.
This is the breakdown of the “base” 4-week block.
Notation: Sets x Reps @RPE
Start light this week. Generally, it’s better to be a little too light than too heavy.
Week 4, Day 1 |
|
| Squat | 1×5 @5 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 |
| Narrow Stance Heel Elevated Squat | 2×10 @7 |
| 310 Tempo Bench | 1×3 @5 1×3 @6 2×3 @7 |
| Any Tricep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 1, Day 2 |
|
| Deadlift | 1×5 @5 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 |
| Romanian Deadlift | 2×10 @7 |
| Feet Up Bench Press | 1×10 @5 1×10 @6 1×10 @7 |
| Any Bicep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 1, Day 3 |
|
| Pause Squat | 1×5 @5 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 |
| Bench | 1×5 @5 1×5 @6 2×5 @7 |
| Weighted Dips | 2×10 @7 |
| Any Chest or Shoulder Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 1, Day 4 (Optional) |
|
| Choose any 3 exercises and stick with them for the 4 weeks. This is an example. | |
| Any Horizontal Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Any Vertical Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Ab Rollout | 3xAMRAP @8-9 |
Same as last week just a little heavier.
Week 2, Day 1 |
|
| Squat | 1×5 @5.5 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 |
| Narrow Stance Heel Elevated Squat | 2×10 @7.5 |
| 310 Tempo Bench | 1×3 @5.5 1×3 @6.5 2×3 @7.5 |
| Any Tricep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 2, Day 2 |
|
| Deadlift | 1×5 @5.5 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 |
| Romanian Deadlift | None this week |
| Feet Up Bench Press | 1×10 @5.5 1×10 @6.5 2×10 @7.5 |
| Any Bicep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 2, Day 3 |
|
| Pause Squat | 1×5 @5.5 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 |
| Bench | 1×5 @5.5 1×5 @6.5 2×5 @7.5 |
| Weighted Dips | 2×10 @7.5 |
| Any Chest or Shoulder Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 2, Day 4 (Optional) |
|
| Choose any 3 exercises and stick with them for the 4 weeks. This is an example. | |
| Any Horizontal Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Any Vertical Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Ab Rollout | 3xAMRAP @8-9 |
This week normally feels good. Lift a little heavier than last week but don’t max out on the main squat, bench and deadlift.
You can push the narrow stance heel elevated squat and weighted dips.
Week 3, Day 1 |
|
| Squat | 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 1×5 @8 |
| Narrow Stance Heel Elevated Squat | 2×10 @8 |
| 310 Tempo Bench | 1×3 @6 1×3 @7 2×3 @8 |
| Any Tricep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 3, Day 2 |
|
| Deadlift | 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 1×5 @8 |
| Romanian Deadlift | 2×10 @8 |
| Feet Up Bench Press | 1×10 @6 1×10 @7 2×10 @8 |
| Any Bicep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 3, Day 3 |
|
| Pause Squat | 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 1×5 @8 |
| Bench | 1×5 @6 1×5 @7 2×5 @8 |
| Weighted Dips | 2×10 @8 |
| Any Chest or Shoulder Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 3, Day 4 (Optional) |
|
| Choose any 3 exercises and stick with them for the 4 weeks. This is an example. | |
| Any Horizontal Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Any Vertical Pull Exercise | 3×10 @7-8 |
| Ab Rollout | 3xAMRAP @8-9 |
This is peak week when you push the squat, bench and deadlift. Take longer rests between sets if needed. There are also 2-3 fewer sets each day to keep the session length the same. The reduction in sets is intentional to help with recovery as you cycle back into week 1.
Week 4, Day 1 |
|
| Squat | 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 1×5 @8.5 |
| Narrow Stance Heel Elevated Squat | None this week |
| 310 Tempo Bench | 1×3 @6.5 1×3 @7.5 2×3 @8.5 |
| Any Tricep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 4, Day 2 |
|
| Deadlift | 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 1×5 @8.5 |
| Romanian Deadlift | None this week |
| Feet Up Bench Press | 1×10 @6.5 1×10 @7.5 1×10 @8.5 |
| Any Bicep Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 4, Day 3 |
|
| Pause Squat | 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 1×5 @8.5 |
| Bench | 1×5 @6.5 1×5 @7.5 2×5 @8.5 |
| Weighted Dips | None this week |
| Any Chest or Shoulder Exercise (Optional) | 2×8-12 |
Week 4, Day 4 (Optional) |
|
| Choose any 3 exercises and stick with them for the 4 weeks. This is an example. | |
| Any Horizontal Pull Exercise | 2×10 @7-8 |
| Any Vertical Pull Exercise | 2×10 @7-8 |
| Ab Rollout | 2xAMRAP @8-9 |
This program follows a flexible structure. It is easy to modify to suit your needs.
Here are a few exercise substitution examples
To include overhead presses, substitute any of the pushing exercises with overhead exercises. They can also be one of the exercises on day 4.
Weighted dips are a great exercise, however they cause shoulder pain for some. Good alternatives are the dumbbell bench press or close-grip bench.
The narrow stance heel elevated squats are an exercise to target the quads. This is what I do as I work out from home and don’t have access to machines. Alternatives are leg presses, belt squats and front squats.
After each 4-week book review how it went. Then plan what the next block will look like.
After completing 1 or 2 blocks with modifications cycle back to the original base program.
Here’s a fictional example.
Example Plan |
Example End of Block Review |
| A quick individualised plan for your next 4-week block | These are personal reflections on the 4-week block. |
| Block 1: Establish a baseline of weights for the “base” program Execute the program exactly as planned. Figure out the load jumps between the weeks. |
This block was spent finding the right weights. I started on the light side and the jumps between weights were all over the place. Now I’ve got a better idea of the jumps between sets and weeks. |
| Block 2: Tune the baseline weights Repeat the base block and adjust the Week one weights starting slightly heavier. Update the jumps between sets and weeks. |
The block went well. Progress on all lifts. Feel like I could either repeat it one more time or push into a heavier cycle. |
| Block 3: Heavy 3s for the main lift Adjust the reps for the main lift from sets of 5 to sets of 3. Adjust the reps for the other exercises by 1 or 2. |
Went well. Did not have as much control on the squat and would like to improve my technique under high loads. |
| Block 4: Back to the original program. Try tempo squats to help the technique Replace the 3×5 Pause squat to 4×3 Tempo squat. |
As you can see, it’s a process of small adjustments giving 4-8 weeks to test to see what works.
That’s it. Enjoy the process.
If you have questions, email me at phil@wildbarbell.com