What to expect

The world of strength training needs a serious rethink. The latest science emphatically demonstrates that it’s in incredibly powerful driver of overall health and athletic ability.

Yet the strength industry is dominated by either bro-ish brands with ludicrous images of people clearly taking steroids or apps telling you that doing a few star jumps at home will get you looking like a Marvel actor. Neither of those options appealed to us. What we wanted from a plan was to:

  1. get physically stronger and look great whilst ensuring our workouts and nutrition were going to keep us healthy throughout our lives.

  2. to stop wasting time and get results from fewer hours in the gym.

  3. eat a diet that was going to provide our bodies with everything we need to train and look great whilst being exciting to eat and looking out for the planet.

So that’s why we created Strongly and that’s what you can expect from your plan.

Structure

Strongly is a practical 3 month guide to increasing your strength.

All you need to do is:

  • 3 workouts a week

  • follow our simple food guide

  • track your results

Workouts

Your workouts are carefully designed to:

  • Make you stronger

  • Work your whole body

  • Help you stop wasting time at the gym

  • Learn lifelong skills

Exercises

Core 3 exercises

Each workout starts with one of your three key compound movements: squat, deadlift and bench press. These exercises are the best of the best engaging a wider range of muscle groups; allowing you to lift heavier weights and stimulating the maximum response from your muscles. These are also the exercises which allow for the most progression over time which is a key factor in making you stronger.

Supplementary exercises

Each workout is then followed by a series of complementary exercises designed to target specific muscle groups and provide the perfect number of reps and sets (volume) to make your muscles adapt and grow stronger.

Sets & reps

Strongly uses two main types of sets:

5x5

This is where you do 5 sets of 5 reps. This is the perfect range for increasing strength. Because the number of reps is relatively low, you can lift heavier weights. With 5x5 you also take longer breaks between sets (>1min), allowing you to recover for the next set. 5x5 is used for your core exercises (squat, deadlift and bench press) and should be done at the start of your workout when you have maximum energy.

15,12,10

These sets are all about fatiguing your muscles to stimulate growth. For these sets you are doing higher reps but fewer sets and with shorter breaks between sets (1min). Each set should be performed to (or close to) failure but because the number of reps decreases with each set, you’ll be able to continue pushing your muscles hard each time.