GZCLP

Is this a fit?

GZCLP is Cody Lefever’s linear progression for lifters who are new to the barbell or coming off Starting Strength or StrongLifts. It adds weight every workout like those programs, and uses changes in rep scheme to handle missed base volume before a reset. Lefever wrote it in 2016 as the entry point to his GZCL method. The name is his Reddit handle plus “LP”.

The three tiers

Every workout has three slots.

“+” means the last set is as many reps as you can. On T1, stop at 10 even if you have more; Lefever: “Do not push AMRAP sets beyond 10 reps even if there’s enough gas in the tank to do so.” Every set in a tier uses one weight. “Do not add weight set to set for any of the workouts.”

One thing Lefever’s notation trips people on: he writes weight × reps × sets, so his “3x5+” is five sets of three. Everything on this page is sets × reps.

The four workouts

The second pass swaps the tiers so each lift is trained heavy one day and for volume another. Run them in order, A1, B1, A2, B2, and keep going. Three days a week is the original: week 1 is A1, B1, A2; week 2 is B2, A1, B1; and so on, with each workout coming round every four sessions. Four days a week, which Lefever’s own app version offers, is the same four workouts every week.

Starting weights

• New to the barbell. Start with the bar on everything. Lefever: “Squat x Bar (or Last LP Weight) x 3 x 5+”. The increments will find your weight within a few weeks.
• From Starting Strength or StrongLifts. Use your last working weights for T1. For T2 pick a weight you can do for 3×10 with a rep or two to spare.
• From a 5RM. T1 starts at 85% of the 5RM, which is also how every new cycle starts after a reset. The calculator does this when you choose 5RM. T2 is still yours to pick; Lefever never gives a formula for it.

Whatever the start, be conservative. From his app page: “Be conservative with the weights as you’ll be progressing very quickly.”

Increments

Every time a lift appears in a tier and you hit base volume, add weight the next time it appears in that tier:

Squat T1 and squat T2 are separate tracks. Hitting 5×3+ on Monday’s squat does not change Friday’s 3×10 squat; that one moves when it hits its own base volume.

T1: 5×3+, 6×2+, 10×1+

Base volume is sets × reps: 15 at stage 1, 12 at stage 2, 10 at stage 3. You hit it when your total reps across the sets reach it; the AMRAP set counts whatever you get. You miss it when they don’t.

Lefever’s cheat sheet adds one rule people skip: “Only dropping bases when weight can no longer be added to the current one. Means don’t drop bases if you’re still getting extra reps on the AMRAPs.” A stage drop is for when the weight has beaten you, not for a bad day.

The 5RM test is a workout of its own. Warm up with sets of 10, 5, 3, 2 and then singles up to about the weight you last did for 10 singles, then take that for 5. If it goes up easily, add 5 to 10 lb and take it again. “Each successive repeat through 3x5+ will be shorter due to the lifter now being stronger.”

T2: 3×10, 3×8, 3×6

There is no AMRAP in T2. After “two to three cycles” of this, Lefever suggests moving the T2 to a variation (incline for press, for example), which is the start of a full GZCL program.

T3

Three sets of 15, last set open. “Once the weight can be lifted for 25 reps on that last set an increase in weight should occur.” Use the smallest plate you have; T3 movements move in small steps. If you cannot get 15, 15, 15, drop the weight 10 to 15% and build back. Lat pulldown and dumbbell row are the starting movements; a pull-up works if you can do 15.

Calculator

Enter the T1 and T2 weight for each lift and where each sits in its stages, or enter 5RMs and let it set the T1 starts. It projects the next 12 workouts assuming each one hits base volume, with plates per side.

Worked example

A lifter starts at squat 185, bench 135, deadlift 225, press 85 on T1, and 115, 95, 135, 55 on T2, three days a week.

Now the misses. Bench T1 at 150: reps 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 is 14, one short. Next bench T1 is 6×2+ at 150. That goes 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, so bench moves to 155, still at 6×2+. Weeks later at 165 the lifter gets 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, eleven reps. Next bench T1 is 10×1+ at 165. At 180 only nine singles come up. Rest, test: 185 × 5. The new cycle starts 5×3+ at 155, which is 85% of 185 rounded to 5.

On the T2 side, squat 3×10 at 155 gives 10, 10, 8. Next squat T2 is 3×8 at 155. When 3×8 fails at 175 it becomes 3×6 at 175, and when 3×6 fails at 195 the lifter restarts 3×10 somewhere between 160 and 175.

Mistakes

• Adding weight between sets. All five T1 sets are at one weight. The ramp is across workouts, not within one.
• Pushing the AMRAP past 10. Lefever caps it. Twelve reps on set five of 5×3+ is fatigue you pay for on Friday.
• Changing stages without checking base volume. Follow the missed-volume rules above for that tier. The calculator does not require two failed attempts before a stage change.
• Treating 6×2+ as a demotion. It is the same weight with a rep scheme you can progress on. Lefever designed the drops so the bar keeps moving.
• Starting T2 heavy. 3×10 at a weight that stalls in week two means you spent the easy progress before you began.
• Skipping T3. It is the hypertrophy work, and the back work that keeps the pressing balanced. The 25-rep rule gives it a progression; use it.

How long to run it

Until the T2 has been through its three stages two or three times, which is Lefever’s own marker. Use the 5RM retests to compare cycles rather than treating a fixed number of months as a deadline.