The exact same A/B split and per-session increments as Perseverance Barbell’s own novice phase, plus a real accessory block that trades Complete Barbell’s own erector slot for direct hip-thrust glute work and adds a dedicated shoulder-cap slot — this track’s own real emphasis, not a copy of either program’s accessory design.
New to this track? Read the session split and the two full templates below — that’s the whole phase. Where this fits in the whole track
Already running Perseverance Barbell or Complete Barbell? Jump straight to what’s different here, and how it’s dosed. The accessory block · How the accessory work progresses
The four main lifts run exactly as Perseverance Barbell’s own novice phase already defines them, the same unchanged mechanics Complete Barbell’s own Novice phase already reuses: two alternating workouts, 3 sessions a week, never the same workout twice in a row. Squat and deadlift train every session; bench press and overhead press alternate, one per day.
| Day | Main lifts | Sets × reps |
|---|---|---|
| Day A | Squat, bench press, deadlift | 3 × 5, 3 × 5, 1 × 5 |
| Day B | Squat, overhead press, deadlift | 3 × 5, 3 × 5, 1 × 5 |
The per-session weight increments, the two-fail stall rule, and the reset math are all identical too, for the same reason Complete Barbell’s own Novice page doesn’t restate them: restating a number here risks it drifting out of sync with the real one. See the novice phase page for the exact figures; everything on it applies to this track’s own four lifts unchanged. The one substitution, already named on this version’s own hub page: wherever that page assumes flat bench specifically, an incline barbell press is an equally valid choice here.
Complete Barbell’s own Novice phase closes four real gaps in the four main lifts’ pattern coverage — vertical pull, horizontal pull, erector work, and direct arm work — split two-and-two across the two days to respect squat and deadlift’s own near-every-session recovery draw. This track starts from that same two-slot-per-day cap, for the identical recovery reason, but trades one of the four gaps for the one this track’s own overview page names as its real priority instead: glute work.
| Day | Accessory added | Compared to Complete Barbell |
|---|---|---|
| Day A | Hip thrust, vertical pull | Hip thrust replaces the erector/lower-back slot |
| Day B | Horizontal pull, lateral raise, direct arm work | Lateral raise is new — a third slot, not a straight swap |
The trade on Day A is real and disclosed, not free: dropping the erector slot means this phase doesn’t give the lower back a dedicated range-of-motion exercise the way Complete Barbell’s own design does, even though squat and deadlift still brace it isometrically either way. That trade is deliberate — this track’s own overview page names glute work as a real priority for the male version specifically, the same way it is for the female version, and the sourcing section below lays out exactly why hip thrust earns the slot squat and deadlift alone don’t fill. Day B’s lateral raise is a genuine addition rather than a trade, the one place this phase’s own accessory total actually grows past Complete Barbell’s: this track’s overview names heavier shoulder volume as a real, deliberate difference from a general strength program, and this is where that claim becomes an actual exercise rather than a promise.
Ordering inside each session follows the ACSM’s own position stand directly, the same citation Complete Barbell’s own accessory design already uses: “large before small muscle group exercises” and “multiple-joint exercises before single-joint exercises.” Concretely, squat, the day’s press, and deadlift always come first, in that order, exactly as Perseverance Barbell already runs them — the accessory work for that day comes only after, never in front of or instead of a main lift.
The three main lifts on each day are exactly the sessions table above — squat, the day’s press, and deadlift, in that order, at the sets and reps already shown. What follows is the accessory work that comes after them. Every row is a movement pattern, not one fixed exercise — pick the column that matches what you actually have. See the overview’s own equipment table if you’re also running the main lifts without a barbell, and how the accessory work progresses below for what the rep range means.
| Slot | Barbell | No barbell — DB/KB | Cable / full gym | Sets × reps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hip thrust | Barbell hip thrust | DB or single-leg hip thrust, glute bridge | Hip thrust machine | 2 × 10-15 |
| Vertical pull | — (no barbell pull pattern) | Chin-up, pull-up, or assisted chin-up | Lat pulldown | 2 × 8-12 |
| Slot | Barbell | No barbell — DB/KB | Cable / full gym | Sets × reps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal pull | Barbell row | DB row | Seated cable row | 2 × 8-12 |
| Lateral raise (shoulder cap) | — (barbell presses train mostly front delt) | DB lateral raise | Cable lateral raise | 2 × 15-20 |
| Direct arm work | Barbell curl | DB curl and DB triceps extension | Cable curl and cable pressdown | 2 × 12-15 |
Direct arm work runs a curl and a triceps extension as one combined slot, the same real design Complete Barbell’s own Day B uses and for the same reason: two pressing lifts already load the triceps, and squat, deadlift, and the horizontal row already load the biceps and forearms isometrically, so one combined slot closes the gap without adding a fourth accessory slot to an already-fuller day. This phase’s own honest limit, said plainly rather than overstated: that keeps direct arm volume matched to Complete Barbell’s own dose, not yet the heavier arm volume the overview page names as this version’s eventual real difference — see what’s not built yet.
This version’s own hub page lays out the full sourcing for keeping hip thrust in a program built for men, including the honest disclosure that the two studies behind the exercise-selection case — Contreras, Vigotsky, Schoenfeld, Beardsley & Cronin (2015) and Plotkin, Rodas, Vigotsky et al. (2023) — were run on women or a female-heavy sample, bridged to men through the sex-general mechanism Miller et al. (1993) and Van Every et al. (2025) already establish. This page doesn’t re-derive that reasoning a second time — it applies it to one real Novice-phase slot, dosed lighter (2 sets, not 3) than the female version’s own Foundation phase, matching this phase’s own general accessory-volume cap.
The four main lifts keep Perseverance Barbell’s own fixed-weight-per-session increment, completely unchanged. The accessory work runs on its own separate rule instead, the same one Complete Barbell’s own Novice page and the female version’s own Foundation phase both use: double progression.
Take the hip thrust’s 2 × 10-15 prescription as the worked example. Start at whatever load lets you complete both sets at 10 reps with 2-3 reps still in reserve. Add one rep per set, session to session, until both sets hit 15 — then add a real, modest load increment (the smallest realistic plate-stack, dumbbell, or cable-pin jump your gym actually has) and drop back to 2 × 10 at the new weight. The same cycle runs on every accessory row on both tables above.
| Session | Prescription | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 × 10 | Completed with reps to spare — add a rep next time |
| 2 | 2 × 11 | Completed — keep climbing |
| 3 | 2 × 12 | Completed |
| 4 | 2 × 13 | Completed |
| 5 | 2 × 14 | Completed |
| 6 | 2 × 15 | Top of the range hit — add load next session |
| 7 | 2 × 10, new (heavier) weight | Cycle restarts at the bottom of the range |
Missing the top of the range on a given session just means the same prescription repeats next time — there’s no reset math here the way there is for a stalled main lift, because this block isn’t testing a neurological ceiling. The rep ranges themselves sit inside what the ACSM position stand recommends for hypertrophy, and the wider isolation ranges lean on Schoenfeld, Grgic, Van Every & Plotkin (2021), which found “similar whole muscle growth” across “a wide spectrum of loading ranges” provided sets are taken close to real effort — the same citation already grounding Complete Barbell’s and the female version’s own accessory-work rep ranges, reused here rather than re-derived.
One honest limit, same as Complete Barbell’s own disclosure: no source studies this exact accessory design or Perseverance Barbell’s own four lifts by name. The pattern-priority reasoning and the rep-range sourcing are both real; the specific choice to trade an erector slot for hip thrust and add one lateral-raise slot is this page’s own reasoned judgment call, not a citation.
Said plainly: this was the first of what’s becoming a Novice/Intermediate/Advanced arc for this version, matching Perseverance Barbell’s and Complete Barbell’s own three phases. Intermediate is now written in full — a redesigned accessory split for a session shape that no longer runs Day A and Day B separately, with real, sourced progress on both gaps named above: direct arm work now runs past Complete Barbell’s own dose for the first time in this sub-track’s own arc, and hip thrust’s per-session dose climbs, though its frequency stays once a week rather than reaching full parity with the female version’s own Foundation phase — that page discloses exactly what closed and what still hasn’t, rather than claiming more than it built.