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How to Structure a Training Routine

Breaking a Routine Down Into Two Axes

Routine design appears to offer countless options, but in practice it reduces to combinations of a small number of axes. The most upstream are two: goal (what you are training for) and experience level (how long you have been training).

Your goal determines the rep range. Maximal strength calls for low reps at high load, hypertrophy for moderate reps, muscular endurance for high reps — the stimulus zone matching the adaptation you seek shows up as the rep range. Your experience level determines the starting point for weekly volume. Beginners grow even with little stimulus; from the intermediate stage onward, more stimulus variety and volume are needed.

Once these two axes are fixed, the remaining design decisions fall into place in a chain from them. Split and frequency are the container for distributing the fixed weekly volume across some number of training days; progression (double progression / linear progression) is chosen from goal and level; and deload is built in as the means of recovery when that progression stalls. This article traces the chain in order, from upstream down.

Goal Determines the Rep Range

A routine's goal determines the rep range it primarily works in. Classic training texts split the ranges into three goal-based divisions (ACSM, 2009).

The three divisions are a classification, not a prescription. Compound exercises (multi-joint movements) are easier to manage toward the low-to-moderate rep zone given the load on the joints and the lower back, while isolation exercises (single-joint movements) are typically run in the moderate-to-high rep zone. What the goal determines is the central zone of the routine as a whole; you adjust within it according to exercise characteristics. The details are covered in Selecting a Rep Range.

Experience Level Determines the Volume

Even for the same goal, the amount of stimulus to deliver per week differs between someone with little training history and someone with a long one. The design metric for weekly volume is volume landmarks (MEV / MAV / MRV) (Israetel et al., 2021).

These values vary with experience level. Beginners have a low MEV (they grow even with little stimulus) and a low MRV (their adaptation to high volume is not yet complete). Advanced trainees are the opposite: the greater their baseline stimulus, the higher their MEV rises and the greater their tolerance for high volume (a higher MRV). For this reason, a beginner's routine starts from a modest volume near MEV, while from the intermediate stage onward it operates in the MAV range — a difference in starting point. The meta-analysis by Schoenfeld et al. (2017, Journal of Sports Sciences) shows a dose-response relationship between weekly set count and hypertrophy, but this relationship is not unlimited; MRV can be understood as the per-muscle name for where that plateau sits.

The numbers in published tables are no more than starting points derived from group averages. Even at the same experience level and build, MEV and MRV vary greatly between individuals. Table values are "a starting point from which you calibrate with your own data," not absolute values. For details, see Volume Landmarks and MEV/MAV/MRV.

Frequency and Split Distribute Weekly Volume

Once your goal has determined the rep range and your experience level the starting point for weekly volume, the next step is to decide how to allocate that weekly volume across some number of training days. This is the role of frequency and split.

In the treatment of Progressive Overload, frequency (increasing the number of times a muscle is trained per week) is among the axes for applying overload (Stone et al., 2007). A split is the container that decides, without changing the weekly total volume, how many sessions you break it into. There are three representative forms.

The cleanest way to choose a split is to start from the number of days you can devote to training (frequency). Frequency is not a self-reported wish but is fixed as a fact of your schedule. With few days, you train the whole body each session to secure per-muscle frequency; with many days, you divide by muscle group to raise the concentration per session. Whatever the split, whether each muscle's weekly effective sets land within the volume-landmark band (the MEV / MAV / MRV appropriate to your experience level) is the criterion for judging whether the split is working. A split is a container for distributing weekly volume; it is not a means of increasing volume itself.

Building In Progression and Deload

Even once the split is fixed, it is no more than "the container for one given week." For a routine to grow over time, you need to build in how the load advances from week to week (progression) and how it recovers when that advance stops (deload).

The progression method is chosen from goal and experience level (progressive overload). For a maximal-strength goal or a beginner with less than a year of training, linear progression (raising the weight each session at fixed reps) is easy to manage. Because there is a large margin for neural adaptation, a simple advance method can elicit progress. For an intermediate with a hypertrophy goal, double progression becomes central. It is a two-axis operation — add reps within the rep range, then raise the weight one step once you reach the top and rebuild from the bottom of the range — which makes the stall judgment more lenient. Plotkin et al. (2022) showed that both a group allowed only to increase weight and a group that held weight constant while adding reps significantly increased hypertrophy and strength, reinforcing the grounds for the order "advance first by reps; raise weight as the cumulative result."

How hard you push is managed, separately from the rep range, with RIR (Reps in Reserve). Even at the same 8 reps, RIR 0 (reaching failure) and RIR 3 (leaving three in reserve) produce very different stimulus. RIR is the core unit of measurement for the autoregulation that adjusts the load to your condition on the day (Helms et al., 2016), and in the treatment by Helms et al. (2018), stopping most working sets in the RIR 1-3 range, short of failure, is held to be more favorable for reconciling weekly volume maintenance with long-term progress.

The means of recovery when the advance stops is the deload. When consecutive failures appear (repeatedly falling below the bottom of the rep range), you temporarily lower the load. The standard deload cut is -5% for double progression and -10% for linear progression; double progression, where the rep buffer makes the progress judgment more forgiving, gets by with the shallower reduction. In the volume-landmark framework of Israetel et al. (2021) as well, the basic structure is shown as an accumulation cycle that climbs from near MEV to MAV and, upon reaching MRV, resets with a deload. For details, see Deload Criteria.

Mapping to DELT's Four Starter Templates

As combinations of the principles above, DELT provides four starter templates. The templates cover representative combinations of "experience level × goal × split," spanning beginner through intermediate, both the strength and hypertrophy directions, and the three splits full-body, PPL, and upper-lower. Below we map which bundle of the above principles each template represents.

The four starter templates and their corresponding design principles
TemplateRep range (goal axis)Volume (level axis)Split / progression
Beginner · Full-bodyHypertrophy's 6-12 at the center (rep range)Modest volume near MEV, for beginners (volume landmarks)A split that repeats full-body work. Compound-centered, structured so that even beginners can readily elicit progress
Intermediate · PPL (hypertrophy)Hypertrophy's 6-12 at the center (rep range)Operated in the MAV range, for intermediates (volume landmarks)The three-way Push / Pull / Legs split. Narrows the muscle groups and manages progression with double progression and RIR (double progression, RIR)
Intermediate · Upper-lower (hypertrophy)Hypertrophy's 6-12 at the center (rep range)Operated in the MAV range, for intermediates (volume landmarks)The two-way Upper / Lower split. Narrows the muscle groups per session to devote volume to each muscle
Intermediate · Upper-lower (strength)Maximal strength's 1-6 at the center (rep range)Low volume, high intensity (volume landmarks)The two-way Upper / Lower split. Major-compound-centered, structured around the low-rep, high-load work suited to maximal strength

All four templates are no more than specific combinations of the principles tied together in this article. You may take a template as your starting point, or, having understood the principles, build your own routine from scratch. A template is not a "prescription" but a "starting point."

Weights as a Process, Not a Value

DELT's starter templates present exercises, rep zones, and splits, but do not enter specific weights (kg) as default values. Because the right weight varies greatly by exercise, individual, training history, and day-to-day condition, presenting a particular number without grounds would violate DELT's principle of "not making unsubstantiated claims."

What we give you instead is a process — how to find the weight. For an exercise with no history, start light and, over a few sets, search for and adjust to a weight that leaves a few reps in reserve (RIR) within the target rep range (e.g., 6-12). This is precisely the idea, covered in RIR and Autoregulation, of making the relative value of subjective intensity — not the absolute value of the load — the unit of the program (Helms et al., 2016). From the second session on, the person's actual records become the starting point for the next time. A record-based estimate is the most honest recommendation.

Handing over a process — "how to find the weight that suits you" — rather than a value — "lift this many kg" — is DELT's consistent stance in routine design.

Putting It Into Practice

The flow of building a single routine is easiest to organize by tracing from the two upstream axes down.

  1. Decide your goal and level: Confirm the adaptation you mainly want from this routine (maximal strength / hypertrophy / muscular endurance) and your training history. The goal sets the central rep range; the level sets the starting point for weekly volume.
  2. Choose a split from your frequency: Confirm, as a fact, how many training days you can secure per week, and choose a split that fits it (full-body / upper-lower / PPL). Check that each muscle's weekly sets land within the volume-landmark band appropriate to your experience level.
  3. Decide progression and deload: Choose a progression method according to your goal (linear / double progression) and manage how hard you push with RIR. Decide in advance the deload cut for consecutive failures (-5% for double, -10% for linear).
  4. Fill in weights through the process: Do not enter default weights; find them in the first session from your target rep range and RIR. From the second session on, use a record-based estimate as your starting point.

A routine is not a fixed blueprint but a framework meant to be rewritten through records and calibration. For both templates and self-built routines, the most reproducible approach is to follow the recommendation faithfully for the first few cycles and adjust only once your own data has accumulated.

Frequently Asked Questions

When building a routine, what should you decide first?
Two things: your goal and your experience level. Your goal (maximal strength / hypertrophy / muscular endurance) determines the rep range (maximal strength 1-6 / hypertrophy 6-12 / muscular endurance 12-20; ACSM, 2009), and your experience level determines the starting point for volume (MEV/MAV/MRV vary with experience level, and beginners are set lower; Israetel et al., 2021). Once these two are fixed, the split, frequency, and progression follow from them.
How do you choose between full-body / upper-lower / PPL?
A split is a container for how you distribute your weekly target volume and frequency. How you design the weekly set count and frequency is determined by goal and level (volume landmarks, progressive overload), and the split handles how that total is allocated across the training days of the week. With lower frequency you train the whole body each session; with higher frequency you divide it by muscle group.
Should a routine come pre-loaded with weights?
DELT does not enter specific weights into a routine as default values. Because the right weight varies by exercise, individual, and day-to-day condition, we do not present a particular number of kg without grounds. Instead, we hand you a process: start light and search for a weight that leaves a few reps in reserve within your target rep range. Using RIR (Reps in Reserve), you can adjust the load to your condition on the day (Helms et al., 2016).
How do you build progression and deload into a routine?
For hypertrophy, double progression (add reps within the rep range, then raise the weight when you hit the top) is central (Plotkin et al., 2022); for maximal strength, linear progression is easier to manage. When you stall or fail repeatedly, you temporarily lower the load — that is a deload, and the standard cut is -5% for double progression and -10% for linear progression.
How does routine design differ between beginners and intermediates?
Volume and progression method change with experience level. Beginners have a low MEV and grow even with little stimulus, so they start from a lower volume, and because they have a large margin for neural adaptation, linear progression is efficient (progressive overload). Intermediates need more stimulus variety, so volume operation in the MAV range and double progression become central.

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