How to read your training plan

Find the focus that fits you

Foundation puts movement practice and a manageable routine first. Build focuses on muscle growth through compound lifts and supporting work. Strength puts the main lift patterns at the center of the plan.

Lean emphasizes lifting circuits, supersets, and short finishers, with shorter rests between supporting exercises. Hybrid develops strength and endurance through focused lifting sessions, intervals, and longer easy aerobic workouts. Short Hybrid schedules use finishers; schedules with more days give endurance work its own sessions. Tactical focuses on general work capacity, with carries, running, or rucking in some schedules. Your food-planning choices stay separate from your training focus; choosing Lean does not automatically lower your calories.

Lower-body goals

Glute Builder prioritizes glutes and legs with hip thrusts, hinges, and single-leg work, plus shorter upper-body sessions. It follows Build’s muscle-growth approach: progress reps, then weight, while keeping the prescribed rest.

Lower Sculpt combines lower-body lifting circuits with finishers and cardio. It follows Lean’s conditioning approach. Both goals are open to anyone, keep upper-body work in the plan, and adapt to your days, time, equipment, and experience. Neither promises a particular body shape or changes your nutrition targets.

Running-only plans

Military Run offers free four-, eight-, and twelve-week preparation for the running component of your service’s fitness test. Choose your service and event, then your current running level and recent comfortable weekly volume. Army uses a two-mile AFT run; Navy and Coast Guard have a 1.5-mile running option. Air Force and Space Force offer two miles or 20-metre HAMR; Space Force also requires an annual two-mile run. Marines use three miles for the PFT or 880 yards for the CFT. Always confirm the current event and instructions with your unit. These plans do not train the full fitness test, rucking, swimming, rowing, or cycling.

Running Endurance is a four-week marathon-base block, not a complete marathon plan or a guarantee of readiness. Beginners start with run/walk on three nonconsecutive days. Regular runners use easy running and at most one controlled interval session per week, with recovery weeks. Start from your actual recent running and walking, not your hoped-for distance. Repeat or reduce a week when needed.

Log actual minutes and optionally miles or kilometres for each running or walking segment. Distance is preserved with your workout and visible in history; the app does not track GPS or automatically assess race readiness.

Choose your schedule and equipment

Choose a training goal: Foundation, Build, Strength, Lean, Hybrid, Tactical, Glute Builder, Lower Sculpt, Military Run, or Running Endurance. Choose your available days, equipment, time, and experience. You do not have to train every day to use a plan.

Look through the workout before you start. The experience setting changes the exercise choices, but it does not assess your technique. Choose movements you can perform with control, and ask for instruction when you need it.

Sets, reps, rest, and effort

A rep is one repetition of a movement. A set is a group of reps before a rest. A target of 3 x 8-12 means three working sets, with eight to twelve reps as the target for each. Warm-up sets prepare you for the working sets; they are not a reason to start with your heaviest weight. Paired exercises use labels such as A1 and A2: alternate their listed sets, then finish any extra sets on their own.

Effort is shown as RPE, short for rate of perceived exertion, on a scale of 1 to 10. It tells you where to end a set: RPE 7 means about three good reps were left, RPE 8 about two, RPE 9 about one, and RPE 10 means no more reps were possible. Half points, such as 7.5, sit in between. Choose a weight that reaches the rep range at the target RPE, add a little next time if it felt easier, and use less if form slipped. It is your judgment, not a measurement of recovery. Keep the planned rest, and allow more time when you need it rather than rushing a heavy set.

Know the plan and record your workout

Use the rep ranges as targets, then enter the weights and reps you complete. Your last workout can help you choose a starting weight. New rep fields stay blank so you can record what happens today.

Follow your plan’s weeks to see how the sets, reps, effort, and conditioning change. Strength plans run four weeks; Military Run also offers eight or twelve weeks free. The final week reduces the work. These are starting templates you can personalize through the planner, rather than a one-to-one coaching assessment.

Work with the day you have

Use the shorter-session, lighter-day, or equipment options when your day changes. Review the updated workout before you begin, then log what you complete. The planner does not assess injuries or decide how recovered you are.

Missed a workout? Come back to a session that fits the day you have. You do not need to make up for time away with extra work. The planner rotates sessions; it does not manage a full training calendar for you.

Use your experience and your log

New or returning keeps the exercise choices and workload more approachable. Consistent assumes regular recent training. Advanced opens more demanding options; it does not assess whether a particular lift suits you. Choose based on what you can do now, including after time away.

For exercises using a rep range, reaching its top with controlled technique can support a small weight increase. A difficult session, missed reps, or time away can be a reason to repeat a comfortable load. More weight every week is not a requirement. Review the sets you completed before deciding what comes next.

Where the plans come from

I use my training experience, past plans, and research as inputs to BuildingRome. The baseline plans are organized around your goals, rather than the names of competitions I have entered. Specialist routines are not a requirement for getting started.

These plans are starting points, not an assessment of your technique, recovery, or health. The expanded exercise and workload options still need independent professional review. Ask a qualified trainer if you’re unsure whether a movement or workload suits you.