I’m not gonna waste time with an intro. We’re gonna go right into the heart of the issue with 16 of the most frequently asked questions I get about Heavy Light Medium Programming. If you don’t know what HLM programming is you can look it up in Practical Programming for Strength Training or search my blog for a bunch more articles (including a history/summary/overview) of the entire program.
Should I do high intensity or high volumes on Heavy Days?
You should do both. However you can arrange this in two different ways. The first method is to do a combination of intensity and volume in the same session. What I advise is working up to ONE top set in the 1-5 rep range. Following this, I’d suggest 3-4 back off sets of that are are between 75-85% 1RM of between 3-6 reps per set. An easy to understand example might be 1 x 3-5 @ ~85% 1RM, followed by 3-4 x 4-5 @ ~80% 1RM. The other option is to train at a higher volume for a set period of time followed by an alternate block of higher intensity and lower volume for the heavy day. So perhaps the lifter trains for 4-6 weeks using 5 x 5 on the heavy day and then switches to 3 x 3 for a period of 3-4 weeks to try and really move some heavier loads. In this instance, the lifter may consider a very slight increase in volume of the light and/or medium day. Very simple alterations like this between volume and intensity can work very well for long periods of time. Except for when we may drop volume on purpose for the sake of increased loading, I generally aim for 20-25 reps or about 5 working sets on the heavy day. We may drop to just 3-4 working sets for the recovery impaired (older trainees or athletes), but we want volume fairly high today as it’s our primary stressor of the week.
How much volume / intensity should I do on a medium day?
As a general rule I like around 20 total reps for a medium day (4×5, 5×4, 3×6, or 10×2) all can work well on medium days. 4 sets of 5 reps is generally my “go to” middle of the road protocol for a strength athlete. Intensity will be about 5-10% lower than an equivalent amount of reps on the heavy day. For bigger/stronger athletes or recovery impaired trainees, I like a 10% drop in load from the heavy day equivalent. For sets of 5, this is generally work in the 70-75% range.
How much volume / intensity should I do on a light day?
As a general rule, I like around 15 total reps for a light day. 3 sets of 5 reps is the simplest way to achieve this unless there is a compelling reason not to. Intensity will be 10-20% lower than the heavy day at an equivalent rep range. If a 20% offset is used today, a 10% offset will be used for medium days. If a 10% offset is used for light days, a 5% offset will be used for medium days. For sets of 5, light day work is generally in the 60-70% range.
Should I do the same 3 lifts all 3 days of the week or use variations of the lifts?
For a new intermediate, keep it simple. Back Squat all 3 days until you get things figured out in terms of exact volume/intensity, etc that works for you. After you feel comfortable with the programming, then look at maybe adding Front Squats as a Light Day Squat or something like Paused / Box Squats for Medium Days. Change only one variable at a time.
For Pressing, decide whether you want to focus on Bench Press or Overhead Press. Place the focus lift on the Heavy Day and the Medium Day (Mon & Friday most likely). Place the other lift on the “light day” or middle day of the week but train it heavy and for higher volume (so heavy 5×5 instead of light 3×5). Technically a violation of HLM in some instances if you want to be pedantic. But we don’t want to be pedantic so its okay. For medium day benching you can use Inclines, Close Grips, or Paused Benches as simple variants.
For pulling, Deadlift heavy on the heavy day, but keep the volume down to just 1 main set. On the medium day, deadlift again but lighter and for more volume (usually 3-4 sets). Or you can stiff leg dead here. Light pulling days are best served by exercises that give the low back a rest – chins or rows rather than more deadlifts.
How “heavy” should the light and medium variations be trained?
Generally these lifts are trained “maximally” within the designated set/rep range. The nature of the loading of the lift itself (i.e. inclines use less weight then bench, front squat uses less weight than back squat, etc) will reduce stress so you don’t have to worry about “going light” or “going medium” or using %’s or RPE or any of that shit. If the program says “Incline 4 x 5” then just Incline for 4×5 with as much weight as will allow you to complete the volume in good form.
Should I do all the heavy work on one day (i.e. heavy day) or spread the heavy work through the week?
Unless you are a competitive athlete in another sport (more on this later) then it makes more sense to spread the stress around the week. Training the Squat / Bench / Deadlift all heavy in the same workout sucks big time for anyone but a beginner and it takes more time than most of us have. Instead you might do something like Monday: Heavy Squat / Medium Bench / Medium Deadlift; Wednesday: Light Squat / Heavy Overhead Press / Chins; Friday: Medium Squat / Heavy Bench / Heavy Deadlift. You can play around with this, but you get the idea.
How do I know if my volume and intensity is set up correctly?
Are you more or less making regular weekly progress on the Heavy Day and not feeling beat to shit?
If you are making regular progress on the heavy day (are you setting a PR in some rep range?) then you are creating enough stress to drive adaptation. If you are making progress but feel like death, then perhaps you could be making the same progress with a bit less work. If you are not making progress then either (1) your program is too stressful (2) your program is not stressful enough. Which is it? Use common sense and instincts. If you are squatting 12 sets per week (M-5, W-3, F-4) then you don’t need more sets. Maybe you need more intensity on light or medium days. Do they feel too easy? They should be doable but challenging. Are your light/medium days ball busters? Missing reps? Drop the intensity. Or your programming strategy is just bad / unrealistic / non-existent.
How should I progress on the heavy day?
I like training up to one top set between 1-5 reps and then back off with 3-5 x 5 at about a 5% backoff from whatever my best set of 5 is. Here is an example of cycling between 5s, 3s, 1s, on the heavy day top set and then cycling the volume up in 3 week waves.
Week 1: 5 x 80%, 3 x 5 x 75%
Week 2: 3 x 85%, 4 x 5 x 75%
Week 3: 1-2 x 90%, 5 x 5 x 75%
In week 4 you can scrap the %’s and just bump everything up by 5 lbs and repeat the cycle. There is about 9,872 ways to perform a heavy day. This is just one of my faves that is very effective and very simple in practice.
Can HLM be used with other sport training and/or conditioning?
Yes, and it’s one of my favorite programs for combining with sports, conditioning, or military/LEO demands. The main thing that interferes with barbell training (mainly the squat) is running. So if an athlete has to run as part of their sport or training for their sport, then we simply need to arrange the week so that the Heavy Squat Day can be placed after a day of complete rest or the lightest day of the week in terms of running/conditioning/practice. If the athlete has to run prior to a light/medium day it’s usually no big deal. Decrease the % offset as needed to deal with the fatigue so that you can hit your light/medium day volumes without misses or insane amounts of effort. Use the day prior to your heavy day (hopefully a rest day!) to really focus on carbohydrate intake in order to make sure you are glycogen loaded. Carb loading on a rest day prior to heavy training is far more effective than carb loading the day of the heavy training event. Not sure why performance athletes continue to screw this up.
Can HLM be used for powerlifting / weight lifting?
Yes. Setting the program up for Power lifting is relatively easy. For weight lifting, you can use HLM concepts for Squatting and Pressing, but the competition lifts probably need to be trained heavier and more frequently than a standard HLM program calls for.
Can HLM be used for bodybuilding / mass gain / physique training?
Yes. I recommend using a wider variety of exercises than the standard template calls for and focusing on volume pretty much across the board. Something like Monday: Squat/Bench/Rows; Wednesday: Press / Deadlift / Front Squat; Friday: High Bar Paused Squat / Incline Bench / Pull Ups
Can I do assistance work on HLM training?
Yes, but just watch your soreness patterns and recovery. High volume of assistance work is difficult to recover from on a 3-day per week full body routine. Add 1 movement per day, adapt, and then add a little bit more as work capacity improves. Tip: reserve all direct tricep work for Fridays when you have 2-days to recover.
How can I focus equally on Pressing and Benching? Do I have to prioritize?
Some lifters have gotten better progress on their pressing exercises by adding a 4th “1/2-session” on Saturdays. So if a lifter is doing this: Mon-Bench 5×5; Weds-Overhead Press 5×5; Friday-Medium Bench 4×5….then on Saturday he can go in and do a light-medium Overhead Press workout for 3-4 x 5 (-5-10%)
In a recent HLM training cycle in my Baker Barbell Club Online, I had my members run an HLM pressing cycle that went like this:
Mon: Heavy Bench, Weds: Heavy Press, Fri-Medium Bench
Mon:Heavy Press, Weds: Heavy Bench, Fri-Medium Press
It worked really well.
What about the use of the olympic lifts with an HLM program?
Power Cleans and Power Snatches work well for the general strength or power athlete and fit perfectly in an HLM template. Deadlift on Heavy Day, Power Snatch on Light Day, and Power Clean on Medium Day. I have run that variant for years at my gym with track and field athletes, football players, Crossfitters, and general strength athletes who just like the olympic lifts, etc.
Can I use HLM principles with other intermediate programming, like the Texas Method?
Yes. Many lifters don’t have success with the Texas Method for their Squats and Pulls, but really like it for Benching and/or Pressing. In this case, when using a 3-day per week full body plan, it’s easy to blend the two approaches. Squat and Deadlift according to an HLM model, and Bench and/or Press according to the Texas Method.
Can I train with HLM just 2 days per week?
Dr. Jonathan Sullivan at GreySteel Strength & Conditioning has had success with his Master’s athletes running an HLM program across a two day week like this: Mon-Heavy, Fri-Light, Mon-Med, Fri-Heavy, repeat.
My preference is simply to train Heavy once per week and then Light/Medium on the other day of the week if you can only get into the gym twice per week.
Still have more questions????
My Garage Gym Warrior Program is an easy to use Heavy Light Medium Program that is essentially “done for you” in terms of sets and reps. It’s my best selling program and reviews are 99% positive in terms of improvements in strength. This is a great way to get your feet wet with HLM. Go here: Garage Gym Warrior HLM Program
Want me to design a Heavy-Light-Medium Program for you???
I can do that. I can design a completely custom HLM program just for you.
Go here: Custom Program Design Services
After your purchase you will receive an intake form that will gather all the info I need to design a program for you. Follow receipt of your program, we’ll have unlimited email communication for the first month of your program and weekly communication thereafter for the next 8-12 weeks as needed.
