August 2026 Lifting Club (and Book Club)
- 30minutephysique
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Let's dive right in because none of us have time to waste, am I right, partner?
For the lifting club, I'm sharing 3 options (all are available on my app, for a monthly fee of $29, if you want the bells and whistles of app tracking and me checking in with you, having direct 1-to-1 access to chat with me within the app. If you like the 15PPL plan, you can get access to that on the app for free, if slots are currently available. Or, you can just take the programs as written here and do it on your own, sans-app. Either option works fine for me).
Warm up before each session with 1-2 sets of an ab isolation,glute bridge or clam shells, rear delt flyes
Pull
Ex 1: pullups-4x5-10
Ex 2: single arm row or inverted row-4x6-15
Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls, concentration curls, or any other curl-4x6-12
Push
Ex 1: incline DB bench press, flat DB bench press, pushup variation, or 1 arm bridge press-4x6-12
Ex 2: lateral raise or overhead press-4x10-15 or 4x6-12
Ex 3: tricep isolation (cable pushdown or skull crushers)-4x8-15
Legs
Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats, standard split squats, or box step ups-4x6-12
Ex 2: single leg RDL, single leg hip thrusts, or kettlebell swings-4x6-12
Ex 3: calf raise-2x10-15
Ex 4: shrug variation-2x10-15
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12 sets per session
Each session will likely take 30-40 minutes. Depending on rest periods, could take a little shorter (like 25 minutes – though I don't recommend limiting rest to less than 1.5-2 minutes between sets – or longer – likely not more than 45 minutes, though.
Train 3-6 days per week. Any frequency within that range works. Volume per session (4-8 sets per muscle per session) is high enough for just 1 day per week frequency per muscle group (so 3 total days), but if recovering well, can train as frequently as 6 days per week. I generally find a 3 days on, 1 day off OR 2 days on, 1 day off schedule works best for me (physically and mentally).
Generally just 3 exercises per session, but on leg day we add a couple sets of shrugs and do only 2 sets of calves, giving us 4 exercises but still just 12 total sets.
This program is super fun and super productive for me.
If doing overhead press on push day, use that as exercise number 1 and move the bench press variation to exercise 2.
Option 2: FB6X
Warmup briefly before each session with 1-2 rounds of: calves, abs, glute bridges/clam shells
Session A
Ex 1: pullups or neutral grip chins-2x6-12
Ex 2: single leg box squats or reverse lunges or Bulgarian split squat or step ups-2x6-12
Ex 3: overhead press variation or lateral raise variation-2x6-12 or 2x10-15 if lateral raise
Ex 4: kettlebell swing or single leg hip thrust or RDL variation-2x8-15
Ex 5: bicep curl variation-2x6-12
Ex 6: tricep isolation variation-2x8-15
Session B
Ex 1: single arm rows or inverted rows-2x6-12
Ex 2: single leg box squats or reverse lunges or Bulgarian split squat or step ups-2x6-12
Ex 3: bench press variation or pushup variation-2x6-12 or 2 x as many reps as possible if pushups
Ex 4: kettlebell swing or single leg hip thrust or RDL variation-2x8-15
Ex 5: bicep curl variation (preferably hammer or zottman)-2x6-12
Ex 6: tricep isolation variation or shrugs-2x8-15
Train 2-3 days per week with this plan.
Option 3: (Contingency Plan): 15PPL
Warm up before each session with 1-2 sets of an ab isolation,glute bridge or clam shells, rear delt flyes
Pull
Ex 1: pullups-2x5-10
Ex 2: single arm row or inverted row-2x6-15
Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls, concentration curls, or any other curl-2x6-12
Push
Ex 1: incline DB bench press, flat DB bench press, pushup variation, or 1 arm bridge press-2x6-12
Ex 2: lateral raise or overhead press-2x10-15 or 2x6-12
Ex 3: tricep isolation (cable pushdown or skull crushers)-2x8-15
Legs
Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats, standard split squats, or box step ups-2x6-12
Ex 2: single leg RDL, single leg hip thrusts, or kettlebell swings-2x6-12
Ex 3: calf raise-1x10-15
Ex 4: shrug variation-1x10-15
This is the same plan as PPL 3X, just a lower volume option. Each session is 6 total sets, making it half the volume as PPL 3X, which has 12 sets per session. This is a contingency, meaning, back up plan. If you're short on time or energy, this 15PPL template will work extremely well. Since the volume per session is low, it pairs especially well with higher frequencies (like 5-6 days per week, while PPL 3X can work very well with as little as 3 or 4 days per week, but can still work for some people with a 5 or 6 day per week frequency).
Book Club
I've got several books in the works right now. Some I'm just thumbing through, casually. Some are fiction that I'm reading through, intentionally. Others, you could consider more like daily meditations or readings — 1 or 2 pages per day, taking away some thoughts.
Fiction
I've got 2 fiction books lined up for this month.
Book 1: "The Perfect Match," by Christian Mihai
Book 2: "A River Runs Through It," by Norman Maclean.
Nonfiction
"Pirates, Raiders & Invaders of the Gulf Coast," by Ryan Starter and Josh Freeman
I picked this book up yesterday while I was checking out the Fort Morgan museum, in Fort Morgan, Alabama, down the road from Gulf Shores, Alabama, where I was spending some time for a quick beach getaway.
This is an interesting historical topic for me that I really don't know much about. So I figured a book covering the history of the people that inhabited, fought, and eventually became responsible for Gulf Coast culture seemed pretty interesting.
Physical Culture
"The Complete Keys to Progress," by John McCallum
This is a collection of essays and articles by physical culture extraordinarre, John McCallum. I tend to pick this up on and off and read through a couple essays here and there over time. I feel this resource is best suited for this manner of reading rather than powering straight through it, in traditional style.
That's all for this month's lifting and reading plans.
Enjoy the month!
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