A
Lower · squat & hinge
Snack 1 · morning
Goblet squat
3 × 8–15 · 20 kg
Snack 2 · midday
Kettlebell Romanian deadlift
3 × 10–15 · 20 kg
Snack 3 · evening
Reverse lunge
3 × 8–12 / leg · vest
⇄
Calf raise, 2 s pause at bottom
3 × 12–20 · vest
Three short sessions a day, six days a week, from 66 kg to 74 kg. A 16 kg and a 20 kg kettlebell, a 6–10 kg weighted vest and your bodyweight — plus 2–3 easy runs and 7–9k steps a day. Every number here comes from meta-analyses, trials or position stands. Where the research is thin, the page says so.
Muscle grows on its own clock. Eating more makes the scale climb faster, but the extra speed is mostly fat: in trained lifters a 15% surplus built no more muscle than a 5% surplus, and faster weight gain tracked with skinfold gain Helms 2023. So the plan sets the pace of the scale to match the pace of muscle — and that pace depends on how long you have trained.
| Your lifting history | Weekly gain | Start surplus | Scale reaches 74 kg | Lean mass by then | 6–8 kg of lean mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newer under 1 year of hard, consistent lifting | 0.35–0.5% of body weight 0.23–0.33 kg at 66 kg | +10% | 6–8 months | ~4–6 kg | ~1 year |
| Trained 1–3 years of hard, consistent lifting | 0.25–0.35% of body weight 0.17–0.23 kg at 66 kg | +5% | 8–11 months | ~3–5 kg | ~1.5–2+ years |
Weekly gain and surplus ranges: Iraki 2019 Helms 2023. Lean-mass figures are estimates from practitioner models Aragon, McDonald and a meta-analysis of training studies Benito 2020 — not promises. "Lean mass" also holds water and glycogen Bone 2017. Most data come from young men; women gain at a similar relative rate Roberts 2020.
Your full goal — 74 kg carrying 6–8 kg more lean mass — is about a 1-year project for a newer lifter and 1.5–2+ years for a trained one. The scale gets to 74 kg first. The months after that turn the weight into muscle: keep gaining slowly, then run a short cut to remove the extra fat.
Two bridge weeks at maintenance, then gain blocks of 12 weeks. The line is the middle of each pace range; the shaded band is the full range.
| Month | Newer lifter (range) | Trained (range) |
|---|
Leave the diet in one step. Raise calories to your estimated maintenance — your current intake plus your old deficit — and hold it for two weeks. A 2026 expert consensus did not favor slow "reverse dieting" Buechel 2026, and no trial shows it helps Trexler 2014. Expect a quick 1–1.5 kg jump from glycogen and water Bone 2017: not fat, not muscle. The flat 2-week average is your measured maintenance.
Add the surplus from the calculator and run the 12-week training block. Repeat. The bridge weeks double as weeks 1–2 of block 1. Newer lifters reach 74 kg in about three blocks, trained lifters in about four Iraki 2019.
Compare waist, photos and your training log with the start of the block. Strength up and waist creeping slowly: carry on. Waist up fast and strength flat: cut 100–150 kcal a day. If you feel too soft, a 4–6 week mini-cut is a common coaching tool, but no trial has tested it.
Growth rises as sets end closer to failure Robinson 2024, but going all the way adds little Refalo 2023. On sets above 15 reps, stop 0–2 short: people misjudge long sets Halperin 2022, and light loads only work near failure Lasevicius 2022.
At least 10 weekly sets builds more muscle ACSM 2026, and more still helps, with smaller returns Pelland 2026. This plan starts near 10–13 and climbs to 12–18 in the last weeks of each block.
Each exercise has a rep range. When every set hits the top of it, move one step up the ladder. Adding reps builds muscle as well as adding load Plotkin 2022. If a set passes ~30 reps, the weight is too light — step up Lasevicius 2022.
Rests longer than 60 s gave slightly more growth; beyond 90 s added nothing detectable Singer 2024. Alternating two exercises for different muscles (marked ⇄) counts as rest and saves time.
When weekly sets match, how you spread them makes little difference Schoenfeld 2019. Small trials found short daily bouts work as well as one session Häkkinen 1994 Zhai 2026. Those trials spaced bouts at least an hour apart; morning, midday and evening is easiest.
5 kettlebell halos each way (16 kg), 10 bodyweight squats, 10 arm swings, then one light set of the first exercise. No study sets a warm-up length; this is simply enough to move well.
Protein targets are well studied. The surplus has a sensible range. How you split the calories across the week matters much less than the weekly total.
| Day | Calories | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Snack day | Base: maintenance + surplus | Same protein every day of the week. |
| Snack day + run | Base + about 1 kcal per kg per km ≈ 260 kcal for 4 km at 66 kg | Covers the run so it does not eat the surplus Wilkin 2012. Add it as carbs, about 65 g: rice, bread, potatoes, fruit. |
| Walk day | Base — do not cut | Muscle protein synthesis stays raised for 24–48 h after training MacDougall 1995 Phillips 1997. The rest day is when you grow. |
No trial has tested calorie cycling while gaining; the weekly total drives the scale Slater 2019. If one number is easier, eat base + about 100 kcal every day instead of run-day extras. Your 7–9k steps are already inside your measured maintenance, so keep them steady. A much busier day costs about 25 kcal per extra 1,000 steps at 66 kg.
Lean-mass gains flattened near 1.6 g/kg a day across 49 trials, with uncertainty up to 2.2 Morton 2018 Nunes 2022. You need less in a surplus than in a diet Jäger 2017, so aim for ~1.8: about 120 g at 66 kg and 133 g at 74 kg. Recalculate as you gain.
Spread it: 0.4–0.55 g/kg per meal over 4+ meals, 26–36 g at 66 kg Schoenfeld & Aragon 2018. A big meal is not wasted — 100 g in one sitting kept muscle building for 12+ hours Trommelen 2023 — so a missed meal can be made up. 30–40 g of slow protein before bed can be one of the four Snijders 2015 Reis 2021.
Fat 0.5–1.5 g/kg and at least ~20% of calories; very low-fat diets lowered testosterone in men Whittaker 2021. Carbs fill the rest — at least 3–5 g/kg, which is 200–330 g at 66 kg Iraki 2019 Kerksick 2018.
Both built the same muscle when protein was matched at 1.6 g/kg Hevia-Larraín 2021. Plant proteins carry less leucine, so mix sources (soy, pea, grains) and stay near the top of the range Pinckaers 2021.
Creatine monohydrate, 3–5 g a day: with training it added about 1.1 kg of lean mass on average Kreider 2017 Delpino 2022. Caffeine helps performance, not muscle. Skip BCAAs when protein is adequate Wolfe 2017. Take vitamin D only if a blood test shows you are low.
A heavy session after training (about 12 drinks) cut muscle protein synthesis by 24–37% Parr 2014. The dose was very high, but the direction is clear: keep heavy drinking away from training days.
Run A → B → C → D and pick up where you stopped. A and C train the legs, B and D the upper body, so each muscle gets about two days before its next hard session. Six snack days, then a walk day. Each workout comes around 1.5 times a week, so the legs and the upper body each get three sessions a week.
Every week has three upper days. Put your 2–3 runs on them.
At this dose, running does not cost muscle. Across 43 studies, adding cardio to strength training did not change muscle growth Schumann 2022. Interference showed up with longer, more frequent sessions Wilson 2012, and running may slightly slow fiber growth at higher volumes Lundberg 2022.
In adults under 60, mortality risk kept falling up to about 8–10k steps a day Paluch 2022. Your steps are already inside your measured maintenance, so keep them steady. If they drop while you gain, your surplus grows without you eating more — daily movement is a big part of why some people gain less fat when they overeat Levine 1999.
If your watch counts running steps, do not count the run twice.
Sets below are for weeks 3–6. Weeks 1–2: 2 sets. Weeks 8–11: one more set on every 3-set exercise. ⇄ means alternate sets of the two exercises; they train different muscles, so the switch counts as rest.
| Muscle | Weeks 3–6 | Weeks 8–11 | Main exercises |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quads | 13.5 | 18 | Goblet squat, lunge, split squat |
| Hamstrings & glutes | 13.5 | 18 | Both RDLs, plus lunges and split squats; swings on top |
| Back | 12 | 15 | One-arm row, gorilla row, pullover |
| Chest | 10.5 | 13.5 | Vest push-up, floor press |
| Shoulders | 10 | 12 | Press, pike push-up |
| Biceps | 12 | 15 | Curls, plus rows |
| Triceps | 11 | 13.5 | Overhead extension, plus all pressing |
| Calves | 9 | 12 | Calf raise |
Direct sets count 1, indirect sets 0.5 Pelland 2026. Per-side sets count once per side. Weekly = sets per rotation × 1.5, because six snack days cover A–D one and a half times. Target: 10–20 ACSM 2026.
2 sets per exercise, stop 3 reps short. Vest at 6 kg. Film one set of each new lift and compare it with the video. In block 1 these are your bridge weeks.
The sets as written. Stop 1–2 short (0–2 on sets over 15 reps). Add reps first, then climb the ladder.
Half the sets, same weights, stop 3+ short. Keep the snacks and runs easy. Experts deload every 4–8 weeks Bell 2023; a full week off kept muscle but cost some strength Coleman 2024, so train lightly instead.
One more set on every 3-set exercise. Swings 10 minutes. Vest 8–10 kg. Last set of each exercise to 0–1 short with clean technique.
2 sets per exercise. Max reps: goblet squat 20 kg, one-arm row 20 kg, vest push-ups. Do the block checkpoint, then start the next block one ladder step higher.
| Pattern | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squat | Goblet 16 kg | Goblet 20 kg | Goblet 20 kg + vest | Double front squat 16 + 20 kg |
| Hinge | RDL 20 kg | Double RDL 16 + 20 kg | Double RDL + vest | Needs a 24 kg bell |
| Single-leg hinge | SL-RDL 16 kg | SL-RDL 20 kg | SL-RDL 20 kg + vest | Needs a 24 kg bell |
| Swing | 20 kg, 12 / min | 20 kg, 15 / min | One-arm 20 kg, 10 / side / min | Needs a 24 kg bell |
| Row | 16 kg | 20 kg | 20 kg, 2 s squeeze at top | Needs a 24 kg bell |
| Push-up | Vest 6 kg | Vest 8 kg | Vest 10 kg | Vest 10 kg, hands on blocks (deficit) |
| Press | Half-kneeling 16 kg | Standing 16 kg | Clean & press 16 kg | Half-kneeling 20 kg |
| Single leg | Bodyweight | Vest | Vest + 16 kg goblet | Vest + 20 kg goblet |
| Curl | 16 kg, horns | 20 kg, horns | 20 kg, 3 s lowering | Two bells, 16 + 20 kg |
| Calves | Two legs, vest | Single leg | Single leg + vest | Single leg + vest + 16 kg |
Your equipment has a ceiling. Light loads build muscle only when sets go close to failure, and below about 30% of your max they work less well Schoenfeld 2017 Lasevicius 2022. Hinges, swings and rows run out first. Plan to buy a 24 kg bell around block 2–3, and 28–32 kg later for two-hand swings and deadlifts. Squats and presses last longer thanks to single-leg and vest options.
No guideline fixes a number of rest days. With weekly sets matched, training 1 or 6 days a week built similar muscle ACSM 2026. The walk day gives joints, tendons and your calendar a break: steps yes, snacks and hard runs no.
The lower/upper rotation gives each muscle about two days before its next hard session. Muscle protein synthesis stays raised 24–48 h after a session MacDougall 1995 Phillips 1997, and sets taken to failure need 24–48 h to recover Morán-Navarro 2017.
Week 7 and week 12 of each block are light. Cut sets, keep the weights Bell 2023. Do not stop completely; a full week off cost some strength Coleman 2024.
Adults need at least 7 hours Watson 2015. One night without sleep cut muscle protein synthesis by 18% and testosterone by 24% Lamon 2021. Sleep is the cheapest growth tool on this page.
…a joint hurts, reps drop on the same lift two sessions in a row, you slept under 6 hours, or you are ill. The rotation simply waits: do the same workout the next day.
Every morning, after the toilet, before food. Use the 7-day average Iraki 2019. Daily numbers swing with salt, carbs and water.
Compare the average with your gain target. Below target two weeks running: +100–150 kcal a day, mostly carbs. Above target: −100–150. The step size is practice, not a trial result.
Waist at the navel, relaxed, in the morning. Photos in the same light. Your log of reps × weight on the main lifts.
Water and glycogen shift their readings, so short-term changes mean little Slater 2019 Bone 2017.
| Scale (2-week average) | Waist | Strength | Do this |
|---|---|---|---|
| On target | Slow rise | Going up | Keep going |
| Above target | Rising fast | Flat | −100–150 kcal a day |
| Below target | Flat | Flat | +100–150 kcal a day; check sleep and that sets are hard |
| Below target | Flat | Going up | Fine for now; recheck in 2 weeks |
Each link opens a YouTube search for that exact technique — pick a recent video from a certified kettlebell coach (StrongFirst, RKC, Mark Wildman are reliable names).
A hip hinge, not a squat. Hike the bell back high between the thighs, snap the hips, arms are just ropes.
Watch technique →Eyes on the bell the whole way. Learn the steps with a shoe balanced on your fist before using the 16.
Watch technique →Keep the bell close, "zip up the jacket" — it should land softly on the forearm, never bang the wrist.
Watch technique →Push the hips back, soft knees, bell skims the thighs. Stop at a strong hamstring stretch with a flat back.
Watch technique →Bell in the hand opposite the standing leg. Hips stay square to the floor; reach the free leg back like a lever.
Watch technique →Bells between wide feet, hinge over. Row one while the other hand presses into its bell for support.
Watch technique →Flat back, free hand on a chair or knee. Drive the elbow toward your hip, not your shoulder.
Watch technique →Squeeze the glute of the down knee, ribs down, press up and slightly back so the bell ends over your ear.
Watch technique →Upper arm touches the floor softly at about 45° from your body, pause, press. The floor protects the shoulder.
Watch technique →Hold the 16 by the horns behind your head, elbows pointing up and close. Lower until the forearms pass parallel, then extend.
Watch technique →Rear foot laces-down on a chair, most weight on the front foot, torso slightly forward for glutes.
Watch technique →Bell held by the horns at the chest, elbows inside the knees, sit straight down between your heels.
Watch technique →Hips high in an upside-down V. Lower the head forward of the hands to make a triangle with them.
Watch technique →Pullover: on your back, bell held by the bell's body, arms soft, lower behind the head. Halo: circle the bell close around the head.
Pullover video →Halo video →Each source was checked against its abstract or full text in October 2026. Links go to the DOI or PubMed record.