GZCLP Program Explained

By Cody Lefever

GZCLP is a weightlifting program based on the GZCL principle, created by Cody Lefever. The GZCL name comes from his Reddit username - u/gzcl It's a great beginner program. You do it three times a week and it's based on something called the GZCL principle. It's a good next step after doing 3-6 months of a Basic Beginner Routine or Starting Strength. It's also good for getting a lot of practice with exercises, because you do more reps than most other beginner programs.

GZCL principle

Before diving in, here's some basic terminology:

  • Rep Max: This refers to the maximum weight you can lift for a given number of reps. For instance, if you can do 5 reps (and no more) with 100 kg, then your 5 rep max is 100 kg. When measuring this, you should not go to full failure, but stop when you can't maintain good form for another rep.

Now, let's talk about exercises. Exercises in GZCL programs are split into 3 tiers:

  • T1: These are main compound exercises (e.g., Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press ). These exercises involve the highest intensity (i.e., the largest weights, about 85-100% of your 2-3 rep max), but with lower volume (fewer reps and sets). Typically, you will perform 10-15 total reps, usually within 1-3 reps per set.
  • T2: These are secondary compound exercises (e.g., Front Squat, Romanian Deadlift, Incline Bench Press, etc). These exercises have lower intensity (lower weights), but higher volume (more reps and sets). You should pick exercises that will assist with your T1 exercises. For example, if you want to improve your Squat, you could do Front Squats as a T2 exercise. These exercises are performed with 65-85% of your 2-3 rep max, usually within 5-8 reps per set.
  • T3: These are isolation exercises (e.g., Leg Press, Leg Curl, Triceps Extension, Lateral Raise). These exercises have the lowest intensity (lightest weights), but highest volume (most reps and sets). The goal is to choose exercises that will assist with your T1 and T2 exercises. These are performed with less than 65% of your 2-3 rep max, usually with 8 or more reps per set.

A useful rule of thumb is the 1:2:3 rule - for every rep you perform in T1, do 2 reps in T2, and 3 in T3.

This is a very short description of the GZCL principle. For more information, and more details, I REALLY recommend to read Cody's blogpost.

Application of the GZCL Principle to GZCLP program

The GZCLP program has three workouts per week, but it's comprised of four different days - A1, A2, B1, and B2. So, you might do A1 on Monday, A2 on Wednesday, B1 on Friday, and then start the next week with B2 on Monday. You keep rotating through these workouts.

For T1 exercises, we utilize main lifts: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press . You start with 5 sets of 3 reps. The last rep should be as many as you can do (AMRAP), but don't push to total exhaustion. Stop when you feel you have 1-2 reps left. You'll know you're close to your limit when the bar gets much slower, or your form starts to go wrong.

If you manage to finish all sets, you add 5lb to the Bench Press and Overhead Press, and 10lb to the Squat and Deadlift. If you can't finish, you keep the weight the same, but move on to "Stage 2" - 6 sets of 2 reps. You keep adding weight following the same rules. If you still can't finish - you move to "Stage 3" - 10 sets of 1 rep.

If you can't manage "Stage 3", you either establish your new 5 reps max (5RM) and use that to restart "Stage 1", or you reduce your current weight by 10% and revert to "Stage 1".

So, to summarize:

  • Stage 1 - 5 sets of 3 reps, AMRAP on the last set
  • Stage 2 - 6 sets of 2 reps, AMRAP on the last set
  • Stage 3 - 10 sets of 1 rep, AMRAP on the last set

For T2 exercises, we also do the same main lifts as in T1: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press . When you're doing Squats as T1 exercise, you do Bench Press as T2. When Bench Press is T1, Squat is T2. You flip flop the T1 and T2.

There are also 3 stages in T2, but you don't do AMRAP on the last set. You use the same progression rules as in T1 - if you successfully finish all sets, you increase the weight by 5lb for Bench Press and Overhead Press, and by 10lb for Squat and Deadlift. If you couldn't finish all sets, you switch to the next stage.

There're the following stages:

  • Stage 1 - 3 sets of 10 reps, no AMRAP
  • Stage 2 - 3 sets of 8 reps, no AMRAP
  • Stage 3 - 3 sets of 6 reps, no AMRAP

If you fail "Stage 3", you revert to your last weight from "Stage 1", add 15lb to it, and transition back to "Stage 1".

For the T3 exercises, we use Lat Pulldown, and Dumbbell Bent Over Row

There are no stages, just do 3 sets of 15 reps, with AMRAP as a last set.

Once you can do 25 reps or more - add 5lb to the weight.

Again, this is a brief overview. For comprehensive information and details, please read the original post with the GZCL applications.

Check the interactive playground below to see how the program works. Try to complete different reps and see how it updates the weights, or switches to different stages for T1 and T2 exercises. You can adjust your weights by clicking on the icon.

You can run the GZCLP program in the Liftosaur app.

Muscle Balance

Muscles used, relatively to each other
Glutes
100%
Hamstrings
70%
Back
70%
Shoulders
70%
Chest
70%
Quadriceps
57%
Calves
26%
Abs
26%
Triceps
26%
Forearms
13%

Try it out in interactive playground!

Tap on squares to finish sets. Tap multiple times to reduce completed reps. Finish workout and see what the next time the workout would look like (with possibly updated weights, reps and sets).

For convenience, you can finish all the sets of an exercise by clicking on the icon. And you can adjust the exercise variables (weight, reps, TM, RIR, etc) by clicking on the icon.

Day 1

Squat
Barbell

T1. It starts with 85% of 5RM (or approximately 75% or 1RM). You can adjust your 1RM by clicking the edit icon, and setting the 1 Rep Max value. There's the RM calculator there to help find it out if you don't know it

Set
Reps
lb
W
Warmup
5 × 50lb
5
×
50
W
Warmup
5 × 80lb
5
×
80
1
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
2
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
3
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
4
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
5
3+ × 75% 100lb
3+
×
100

Day 2

Overhead Press
Barbell

T1. It starts with 85% of 5RM (or approximately 75% or 1RM). You can adjust your 1RM by clicking the edit icon, and setting the 1 Rep Max value. There's the RM calculator there to help find it out if you don't know it

Set
Reps
lb
W
Warmup
5 × 45lb
5
×
45
1
3 × 75% 55lb
3
×
55
2
3 × 75% 55lb
3
×
55
3
3 × 75% 55lb
3
×
55
4
3 × 75% 55lb
3
×
55
5
3+ × 75% 55lb
3+
×
55

Day 3

Bench Press
Barbell

T1. It starts with 85% of 5RM (or approximately 75% or 1RM). You can adjust your 1RM by clicking the edit icon, and setting the 1 Rep Max value. There's the RM calculator there to help find it out if you don't know it

Set
Reps
lb
W
Warmup
5 × 50lb
5
×
50
W
Warmup
5 × 80lb
5
×
80
1
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
2
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
3
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
4
3 × 75% 100lb
3
×
100
5
3+ × 75% 100lb
3+
×
100

Day 4

Deadlift
Barbell

T1. It starts with 85% of 5RM (or approximately 75% or 1RM). You can adjust your 1RM by clicking the edit icon, and setting the 1 Rep Max value. There's the RM calculator there to help find it out if you don't know it

Set
Reps
lb
W
Warmup
5 × 70lb
5
×
70
W
Warmup
5 × 110lb
5
×
110
1
3 × 75% 140lb
3
×
140
2
3 × 75% 140lb
3
×
140
3
3 × 75% 140lb
3
×
140
4
3 × 75% 140lb
3
×
140
5
3+ × 75% 140lb
3+
×
140
You can use this program on Liftosaur - a weightlifting tracker app!
  • Log your workouts there, and have a history of all your workouts on your phone
  • It will automatically update weights, reps and sets for you from workout to workout - according to the program logic
  • And you can customize the programs in any way, change exercises, the exercise logic, sets/reps/weights, etc.
Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play