Getting started

If you've never done these lifts before, start with the empty bar on all four and let the fixed per-session increments (squat and bench +5 lb / 2.5 kg, deadlift +10 lb / 5 kg — a bit more than that in your very first sessions, before your first missed rep) carry you up from there. The first week or two is about learning the pattern with a weight you can control perfectly, not testing a limit.

No — if you have a real, current working weight for a lift, start there instead. The app also supports enrolling directly into the advanced phase with a declared one-rep max, if that actually matches your training history; see the advanced phase page for what that requires.

If your very first working set doesn’t move with clean, controlled technique, it’s too heavy — back off. It costs you nothing to start conservative on novice, since you’re adding weight every single session anyway.

The programming is free to read right here — the full novice, intermediate, and advanced phases, in the pages linked throughout this guide. Running it inside the Resolve app takes a paid plan; the app isn’t free, only the guide is.

Novice is 3 sessions a week. Intermediate and advanced both run three named sessions a week too, just with a different rep/percentage structure each day — see each phase's own page.

No. Just do the next scheduled session next time you train; the program doesn’t punish a missed day, only a lift that stops progressing across real attempts (see the stall and reset rules on the novice phase page).

A weight you’ve failed twice in a row usually means real fatigue has built up beyond what one rest day fixes. Backing off to 90% and building back up almost always breaks through faster than grinding the same number.

Yes — this program specifies the four competition lifts and, from intermediate onward, one accessory movement (Romanian deadlift). Anything else you add is your own call and isn’t tracked or required by the program itself; see the accessory work page for the real, narrow exceptions worth considering as a novice and when it makes sense to add more.

No. This program teaches four lifts — squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. Starting Strength’s own current edition, which this program’s structure draws on, teaches six barbell lifts, adding power clean and power snatch on top of those four. Resolve’s own exercise catalog does have power clean seeded as a real, usable exercise; it’s just never scheduled by this program’s novice, intermediate, or advanced phases specifically — a deliberate scope decision for this program, not a gap in the app.

Never automatically — both moves are your own decision inside the app, which only surfaces a signal (a lift resetting repeatedly) rather than forcing a transition. Full detail on the how-the-program-works page.

Two to five minutes, and it matters more than it sounds like it should: real research on rest and strength finds a genuine beginner can maximize gains with a shorter 60-120 second rest, but once you’re already resistance-trained, cutting rest under 2 minutes measurably costs you strength and muscle gains. See the warm-up and plate math page for the real numbers and which end of the range to lean toward.

A representative novice Day A — squat, bench press, and deadlift, warm-up ramps included — runs roughly 25 minutes when the weight is still light and closer to 40 once sets get genuinely heavy, the same seven working sets both times; rest is almost the whole reason it nearly doubles. If you’re actually pressed for time, cut rest between warm-up sets first (it costs nothing measured), not the ramp itself or a heavy set’s own working-set rest. See the warm-up and plate math page for the real worked breakdown and the full cut-first order.

No. A novice can often keep adding weight to the bar at maintenance, or even in a modest deficit, for a while — the program is unusually forgiving of that. See the nutrition-basics page for real numbers instead of a guess.

More than a sedentary person, meaningfully. See the nutrition-basics page for the real research range and where this app’s own defaults sit inside it.

Yes — Resolve’s Food tab has a Suggest targets tool that computes it from your own numbers, either from a formula or from your own logged history. See nutrition basics for how it works.

Only two have real, strong evidence behind them for this kind of training — creatine monohydrate and caffeine. See the nutrition basics page for real dosing and safety notes on both; everything else on a supplement-store shelf is optional at best for this program specifically.

A single moderate drink isn’t the real concern — a real 2014 study found a heavy, binge-level dose taken close to a session measurably blunts the exact muscle-repair process this program depends on. See the nutrition basics page for the real numbers and a genuinely moderate threshold.

Yes — adding weight almost every session is a real recovery demand, and under-recovery shows up directly as a missed rep and, after two in a row, a reset. See the sleep and recovery basics page for real sleep-duration guidance and the mechanism behind it.

Ordinary novice fatigue is normal and usually self-corrects; the program’s own two-fail reset rule is the actual safety valve rather than a vague "listen to your body" instinct. See sleep and recovery basics for how to tell the difference.

Mayo Clinic’s real "neck check" rule: symptoms above the neck (runny nose, sneezing, a minor sore throat) are usually fine to train through, lighter than usual; a fever, chest congestion, or widespread muscle aches means skip the session. See sleep and recovery basics for the full rule and how to resume afterward.

Neither, and real detraining research backs that up: strength is largely held onto for up to about 4 weeks of inactivity, so a break of several days to two weeks isn’t a reason to start over. It’s also not a reason to assume your exact old working weight is automatically safe on your first session back. See sleep and recovery basics for the real research and the actual test to run instead of guessing.

A real randomized trial and a separate meta-analysis both found regularly icing right after a strength session measurably reduces the strength and muscle gains from that session — the opposite of what it’s marketed to do. See sleep and recovery basics for the actual numbers and mechanism.

Not for free — a real randomized trial found daily ibuprofen at the maximum over-the-counter dose measurably reduced muscle growth and strength gains over 8 weeks of training compared with a low, non-pain-relieving dose of aspirin. The trial tested daily use, not an occasional dose after one hard session. See sleep and recovery basics for the real numbers.

For a genuine beginner, almost nothing. The novice schedule is already sized for exactly those lifts; extra volume spends from the same recovery budget they need to keep adding weight. See the accessory work page for the two real, narrow exceptions coaches actually recommend.

Once the program’s own structure opens up room for it — intermediate’s Romanian deadlift and advanced’s by-feel overhead press are real, prescribed examples of that, not something you invent yourself. See accessory work for the full reasoning.

For chin-ups and back extensions specifically, no — they’re bodyweight work you do after the session’s tracked lifts are already done, with no top single to protect. Resolve’s own exercise catalog backs that up directly: every accessory and isolation exercise, including Romanian deadlift, has no warm-up family at all, so the app can’t generate a ramp for one even if you ask it to. For anything you add yourself at real added weight, run a couple of lighter sets first by feel, a shorter version of the same idea. See accessory work for the full, code-level answer.

Real research shows no meaningful effect on muscle growth, but a measurable one on leg strength specifically — enough to be worth managing, not enough to mean avoiding cardio. See the conditioning page for what the research actually shows and why.

Low-impact steady-state — walking, cycling, rowing, or swimming — costs the least against your squat and deadlift. Running works too in smaller amounts, but it loads the same hips, knees, and ankles the four lifts already use. See the conditioning page for how much and when.

A weigh-in first, where you declare your opening attempt for all three lifts, then squat, bench, and deadlift in that order, three attempts each, run as full rounds across your whole flight rather than one lifter doing all three lifts back to back. See the first-meet logistics page for a real, cited walkthrough.

The same attempt planner covered on the RPE/RIR page — a true max in, four attempts out, resolved to a weight your rack (or the meet’s own plates) can actually build. See the first-meet logistics page for how to think about picking a real opener specifically.

For a first meet, the lower-risk default is the class nearest your normal, well-fed, hydrated training weight, not a lower one you’d have to cut water to make. See the first-meet logistics page for the real USPA weight classes and a real, disclosed safety caution on aggressive weight cutting.

It prepares you for a raw or Classic Raw division — a singlet, an optional belt, and optional wraps or sleeves, nothing more. Every technique page on this site teaches unequipped lifting; a Single Ply or Multi Ply (supportive-suit) division is a different skill this program doesn’t cover. Which federation is mostly about what actually runs meets near you and whether you want a drug-tested result. See the first-meet logistics page for real examples of both choices.

Each lift has its own referee command sequence, and moving before or after the wrong one is its own disqualification, independent of technique — squat and bench both make you wait for a signal before you move, deadlift gives you none at all. See the first-meet logistics page for the exact commands, lift by lift.

A real, evidence-based carbohydrate refeeding rate for the short waits between weigh-in and lifting and between rounds, plus real ACSM hydration guidance — not a made-up meal plan. See the first-meet logistics page for the numbers and the sources behind them.

Every jargon term used across this site’s pages has a short definition, in one place, linking back to wherever it’s actually explained in full — see the glossary.

Not usually. A minor ache that doesn’t change how the lift feels or moves is normally fine to keep training through and just note. Pain during a specific set is different — Resolve has a real pain-scale gate for exactly that, with a plain continue/modify/stop advisory.

That’s when to start a real injury log rather than keep logging individual sore sets — track what aggravates it versus what you tolerate, and let the exercise-substitute tool flag options accordingly. See the training around minor aches and injuries page for the full decision tree.

It’s the Valsalva maneuver — a forceful attempt to exhale against a closed airway that raises pressure through your whole trunk and stabilizes your spine under a loaded bar. A belt supports the same brace; it doesn’t replace it.

For most healthy lifters, yes — a working set’s brace lasts a few seconds. It’s a real, disclosed caution for anyone with high blood pressure, heart disease, or a similar condition. See the bracing and Valsalva maneuver page before using it on a heavy set if that’s you.

Maybe, but check technique first. Stance and knee position usually fix a shallow squat, and grip/bracing cues usually fix a press that arches the lower back. If you’ve already fixed those and the position still isn’t there, a real range-of-motion limit in the ankle, hip, or shoulder is the more likely remaining cause.

Resolve’s Recovery tool has a real library of eleven named stretches and drills across five joint regions, each with a coaching cue, available to any signed-in user — not something you need to invent or find elsewhere.

A brief hold, well under a minute per side, is fine right before you train. A real, peer-reviewed review found a static stretch held 60 seconds or longer per muscle group does measurably reduce the strength and power that follows it — save a longer, dedicated flexibility session for after your lifting is done.

No. The same stall-and-reset progression runs for every lifter, checked directly in the app’s own code — there’s no age- or sex-aware rule anywhere in it. What changes is how the real, sourced considerations for each group apply on top of that one shared set of rules.

Both, per the NSCA’s own position statements on each: resistance training is described as safe for older adults when properly designed, and safe for children and teens when properly designed and supervised. Neither statement is a substitute for a doctor’s clearance if you have an existing condition.

Two separate systematic reviews looked for a real answer and both came back the same way: the group-level evidence is too small and inconsistent to support a specific training rule by cycle phase, so individualizing based on how a session actually feels is the honest recommendation, not a fixed protocol. See the special-populations page for what the research actually found.

This program runs the same progression either way, with no menopause-aware logic anywhere in it. What real, credentialed research does find is worth knowing on its own: resistance training in postmenopausal women is linked to improved bone density, better-preserved muscle mass, and reduced hot-flash frequency across several systematic reviews, with the strongest bone-density results coming from higher-intensity, low-rep training this program already runs in its advanced phase. See the special-populations page for the actual studies and their honest caveats about evidence quality.

There’s a real, genuine tension in the official guidance itself, not a single yes or no — see the pregnancy and postpartum page for what two real professional bodies each say about strength training specifically, and ACOG’s own real cautions worth knowing (including one that directly touches this program’s own bench press).

Specialist guidance describes a phased return tied to how the tissue itself heals, gated by real symptoms — not a fixed week number. See the pregnancy and postpartum page for the real timeline and the specific signs worth stopping or scaling back for.

A real theory, not just this program’s own design choice: Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome, and Practical Programming’s own application of it, hold that how close a lifter already is to their physical potential decides how fast the same training stress produces real adaptation — days for a novice, months for an advanced lifter. See the stress, recovery, and adaptation page for the actual theory.

Yes — the same theory’s third stage, exhaustion, is the real basis for backing off before a stall becomes genuine overtraining rather than after. See the stress, recovery, and adaptation page for how that connects to the reset and deload rules already covered elsewhere.

No. Accumulation and Intensification alternate for as long as you keep training here; a Peak and taper only ever substitutes for one cycle before a competition, then hands back to the same two-block rotation. There’s no built-in fourth stage.

Running the same two-block rotation for years while competing regularly is a completely normal, sustainable way to run this program — not a failure state. If it genuinely stops working once recovery, food, consistency, and technique are all real and checked, the standard next step in competitive strength sport is a coach adjusting your programming to you specifically, not a bigger app.