The B.O.S.S System

Powered by
BALLISTIC MANAGEMENT
THE B.O.S.S
SYSTEM
BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES
SIMPLE, WEIRD, UNSETTLING, EFFECTIVE
BY COACH CHRISTIAN THIBAUDEAU
© 2023 Ballistic Management Inc. All Rights Reserved
Without limiting rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, introduced into a
retrieval system, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including without limitation photocopying, recording, or
other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. The scanning, uploading, and/or
distribution of this document via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and is punishable
by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials.
THIBARMY.COM T
« hibarmy” and Thibarmy logo are trademarks of Ballistic Management Inc. For more information, visit us at www.thibarmy.com or
contact us at info@ballisticmanagement.com
DOCUMENT SECTIONS
CHAPTER 1
THE GENESIS OF THE B.O.S.S APPROACH 3
CHAPTER 2
WHAT IS THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM? 8
CHAPTER 3
DESIGNING A B.O.S.S TRAINING CYCLE 17
CHAPTER 4
EXERCISE SELECTION TO BE A BOSS 27
CHAPTER 5
ADAPTATIONS TO THE BOSS PLAN 45
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION 53
THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 2

CHAPTER 1
THE GENESIS OF THE B.O.S.S APPROACH
Roughly 12 years ago I was talking to Tim Patterson (owner of the T-nation website)
and he asked me what my favourite set/rep scheme was. My guess is that he was
expecting something special like clusters (which I do love), rest/pause or wave
loading. Because when I told him the answer, he laughed.
“I like to do singles”
Sure, I write about all sorts of advanced (and effective) loading schemes. But at the time (and for a pretty
long time prior to that) the bulk of my training involved performing sets of 1. Lots of them.
That might be why my “official” favourite loading scheme is clusters. Clusters are a way to make singles
more “socially acceptable” because, after all, clusters are simply a set made up of several micro-sets of
1 repetition (e.g. 1 rep / rest 30 sec / 1 rep / rest 30 sec. / 1 rep / rest 30 sec / 1 rep / rest 30 sec / 1 rep /
end of set).
A CLIENT WALKS BY…

I always joke that I invented Crossfit because when I worked with
female body composition clients I trained them using circuits
utilising various types of movements (easier variations of the
Olympic lifts, rowing, KB swings, sled pulls, prowler work and basic
strength exercises).
Years ago, when I was working as a personal trainer, one of my

female body comp clients walked by while I was training military
press.
She stopped to watch me lift.
I proceed to do one repetition.
She stares, confused.
“That’s it? Why can’t I train like that?” she joked.
Obviously, our goals were completely different. But regardless,

someone doing a whole training plan using mostly singles will be
shocking for most.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WILD WEST…
Around 10 years ago, I was in Colorado training
at the Biotest / T-Nation headquarters. I was If you are into strength and performance your
training the bench press and as per usual, I was workout may look more like this:
doing singles.
I first ramped up to my training maximum for the • Bench press 5 x 5 (25 reps)
day (the heaviest I could lift that day with good • Incline bench press 5 x 5 (25 reps)
form) and felt good so I decided to lower the • Floor press 4 x 8 (32 reps)
weight to around 80-85% and do “a bunch of • DB shoulder press 4 x 8 (32 reps)
skilled singles”, as many quality reps as I could
with that weight.
You have a total of 112 reps.
I ended up doing 100 “sets” of 1 rep with 365-
While all of these workouts are what I would call
375lbs.
“high volume”, they are not unreasonable at all.
“100 sets? Are you crazy?!” I hear you say…
Which puts my 100 sets of 1 workout in to
context. It’s much less outlandish than it seems
Maybe. But when you think about it, the whole
when you look at it objectively.
workout was 100 total repetitions plus whatever
it took me to ramp up to my training maximum
By the way, two days after that 100 “set” workout
(let’s say 10 reps).
I hit a personal record on the bench press. So it
clearly did not represent and excessive amount
That’s a total workload of 110 reps for the
of work for me at the time.
workout. Certainly a high volume of work; but
was it really higher than a normal workout?
Don’t worry though. The B.O.S.S system will
not have you do 100 singles in a workout, much
If you do a German Volume Training session
less on a single exercise. That story is just
(10 sets of 10 reps) you’ll get 100 reps… for
to illustrate that doing a very high number of
one exercise. There are normally two of
singles, provided that the intensity is properly
those exercises in a workout as well as two
adjusted, is a perfectly reasonable way to train.
more exercises done for 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
That’s gives you a total workload of 260-270
repetitions in that workout.
Let’s also look at a typical “bro” chest workout:
• Bench press 4 x 8 (32 reps)

• Incline bench press 4 x 10 (40 reps)
• Dips 3 x 12 (36 reps)
• Cable cross-over 3 x 15 (45 reps)
You reach a total of 153 reps, including 108 on

big lifts.

WEIGHTLIFTING ORIGINS
The period of my “training career” that had the I will not mention my pitiful deadlift.
greatest influence on my methodologies was
my time spent training for weightlifting (often But my performance was erratic. I could snatch
referred to as “Olympic lifting”). 140kg but then miss 60kg five times in a row.
Perhaps this is simply because I actually This made me a very bad competition lifter.
stuck with it for 6 years non-stop (normally I Which was made worse by the fact that I get
can’t stick to a type of training for more than over amped under high adrenaline conditions,
2 months), coupled with the fact that when which negatively affected my timing and made
I’m into something I want to learn everything me tight.
about it. So I devote all my brainpower to
finding new techniques and strategies and then The last mistake that I made was training
experimenting. That’s what excites me. with straps too much on the competition lifts
themselves. I have small hands and therefore
So by sticking to something for 6 years it allowed lifted significantly more with straps. Instead of
me to experiment, a lot. fixing the issue by working on my grip I chose
the easy solution (using straps), which did not
I will confess that I was a shitty lifter and an allow me to perform at my best in competition
even worse competitor. I was strong but not (where straps are not allowed).
good technically. This was due to learning the
Olympic lifts too late in life (at 20), not having To give you an idea of how bad of a platform
great mobility and not having any coaching lifter I was, one year at the Canadian National
until the last part of my “career” (there were no Championships (2000 I think) I was in great
Youtube videos on how to snatch and clean & shape. This is when I snatched 142.5kg and
jerk back then). clean & jerked 170kg in training. But, knowing
that I sucked on the platform I decided to start
I did get strong by national weightlifting safe on the snatch and open with 115kg.
standards at the time:
I easily hit my last warm-up of 115kg in the warm-
• 600lbs high bar squat up area. I then proceeded to bomb out (missing
• 550lbs x 5 high bar squat all three snatch attempts at 115kg). I went back to
• 485lbs front squat the warm-up area and did a set of 3 easy power
• 500lbs zercher squat snatches with 115kg. While crying.
• 315lbs x 5 push press
That marked the end of my weightlifting “career”.
• 315lbs snatch
• 275lbs x 3 power snatch from blocks
• 375lbs clean
• 365lbs jerk
• 340lbs x 3 power clean from the hang
(All done at a bodyweight of 187 – 207lbs and

years before I used steroids)

THE WAY I TRAINED
It was when I switched from training for football of my love of history, especially the history of
to training for weightlifting that I switched to strength. I loved how old-school strongmen saw
very low reps training. Even though I had always training as “practice”. They basically practiced
been a low reps guy anyway. their “show” lifts; which meant doing mostly
submaximal singles.
When I trained for football I mostly did sets of 5
repetitions on the big lifts and 8 on single-joint That and I also just really enjoyed doing singles!
movements.
While that may seem like an unimportant factor,
When I switched to weightlifting I started out it is not. When choosing between two effective
doing sets of 3-5 on the strength movements ways of training, the one that feels the best for
(squats, deadlifts, military and push presses) you will yield the best results, as it will keep you
and 1-3 reps on the snatch/clean/jerk variations. more motivated.
After about a year it moved down to 1-3 reps When I wanted to do more reps per set (to build
for the strength movements and mostly singles muscle for example) I used clusters of 5 reps.
for the Olympic lift variations. This was in part These still have that ‘singles” feel while giving
because of a Bulgarian influence (although I you a repeated bout effect on hypertrophy.
did not max out as often) and also because

THE MISTAKES I MADE
Nobody gets it perfect the first time. 2. I didn’t adjust volume or intensity; I basically
just lifted until I felt drained. This prevented
The story above happened more than 20 me from peaking as I always came into
years ago; I was just starting out as a coach. competitions completely run down. I would
I know that this is hard to imagine with today’s only “deload” when I was forced to because I
information overload, but back then it was was too burned out to train.
really hard to find quality information online,
especially for weightlifting training. There were 3. I had no exercise selection strategy. I
a few good websites that I frequented such as basically did the same movements over
T-nation (even before I wrote for them, I was an and over. 6 months away or 1 week out from
avid reader), Dr.Squat/Fred Hatfield’s website a competition my exercise selection was
and forums, Charlie Francis’ forums and the pretty much the same.
goheavy.com weightlifting forum. But reliable 4. I didn’t have a structure. My style was
information was genuinely hard to come by. basically push as hard as you can until you
break.
While I did get strong, it certainly wasn’t perfect
and I would have had better results had I been 5. Not devoting a period of time to improving
more knowledgeable and experienced at the technical mastery. I felt that if I didn’t go up to
time. at least 90%, it would be a wasted effort.
Here are some of the mistakes I made:

All of the above contributed to my suboptimal
competition performance and also frequent
1. Going too heavy too often. At the time,
bouts of burning out.
in my mind, singles meant near-maximal
or maximal weights (as it does for most
I was somewhat able to survive and progress
people). While I didn’t max out daily like the
because I was 20, living with my parents and
Bulgarians, I always went to 90% or more on
didn’t have much stress. But training like that
my singles. This led to me burning out and
today would kill me.
my technique degrading.
YOU WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES THAT I MADE

It is those mistakes, which are in turn great To get the most out of this system and become
lessons, that influenced the BOSS training consistently stronger while being a paragon
methodology. of neurological efficiency over the long term
(without ever burning out), we need to carefully
Honestly, the name says it all: your training is cycle volume, intensity and exercise selection.
simply doing a bunch of skilled singles on a few
big basic lifts. But don’t worry; I will make it super easy for you
to apply. After all, I need to justify charging you
You really cannot get any simpler than that. money for this ebook!
Although the reality is a bit more complex.

CHAPTER 2
WHAT IS THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM?
The BOSS system is a form of block periodization in which you develop strength
(and even some size if you wish to) by training almost exclusively using single
reps (sets of 1 repetition).
No, this doesn’t mean always maxing out, or While it is a block approach it is also somewhat
even being close to it. Singles can be extremely linear in application, with intensity gradually
effective even with submaximal weights, if you increasing within each block and volume going
do enough of them and do them the right way. down.
Each cycle consists of 4 training blocks lasting Before we get to the specifics of the system,
2-3 weeks. A whole cycle is 10 weeks. let’s look at why I opted for sets of 1 repetition
instead of 2, 3, 4, or 5.
The number of exercises, training split, type
of exercises, volume and intensity changes
with every block because each block serves a
specific purpose.
WHY SINGLES?
I’m not gonna lie, the main reason for basing this
program on singles is because that’s what I like
to do. This e-book is my ultimate training wet
dream!
The same approach would work very well with

sets of 2 repetitions and could even work with
sets of 3 (although some of the benefits will be
lessened). I will explain how to adapt the plan for
this later on in the book.
What are the benefits of training with singles

reps?

WHY SINGLES? (CONTINUED)
1. Improves your capacity to recruit fast-twitch fibers.

Recruiting fast-twitch fibers is a motor skill. The Single reps will typically be performed with 80%
more often you recruit those fibers, the better 1RM or more. This is the threshold to reach full
you become at bringing them into play. muscle fibre recruitment.
This is due to better central and peripheral Doing lots of singles with 80% or more is the
activity. Firstly, the motor patterning that recruits best way to program the nervous system to
those powerful fibers in a specific movement recruit fast-twitch fibers because all of the reps
becomes better but also at the local level, a fiber you do rely on those fibers.
that gets recruited more often becomes more
sensitive to being activated. Motor learning isn’t just about the quantity (and
frequency) of the “good” reps but about the ratio
By the way, that last part is the reason why between positive and negative reps.
electromyostimulation (EMS) works. The direct
current sent to the muscles is a substitute for the For example, if I do 50 great golf swings and 5
CNS and preferentially recruits the fast-twitch poor ones I will improve my technique more than
fibers. This then makes those fibers more easily if I do 70 great swings but 30 poor ones.
recruited during voluntary muscle contractions.
This is why EMS can make you stronger and It’s kinda the same thing with muscle fibers: the
more powerful even without hypertrophy or more “fast-twitch dominant” reps you do relative
CNS improvements. to the total reps you are doing, the faster the
improvement in fast-twitch recruitment will be.
2. They provide the highest ratio of maximally effective reps (if using 80% or more).
A maximally effective rep is a rep in which AT THAT MOMENT. But it took you 5 reps of
all of the recruitable fibers are brought into lesser efficacy to get there.
play. This happens when the load you have to
lift represents 80% of your capacities at the Singles allow you to train at 80% or above and do
beginning of that repetition. a lot of work there. That way you can accumulate
a lot of maximally effective repetitions without
When you have 80% on the bar, you automatically the fatigue that can have drawbacks if your goal
have a maximally effective rep. If the weight is is strength (but can be beneficial if your goal is
less than 80% then you need to accumulate size, more on that in the next point).
fatigue during the set to reach that point.
Let’s say that you are doing a set of 10 repetitions.

You will likely use 65 or 70%. If you create 3%
of fatigue per rep then after 5 reps or so you
will enter the maximally effective reps zone (if
you started with 65%) because now the weight
represents an 80% effort relative to your ability

3. Little to no negative muscle fiber conversion.

With singles there will be less conversion of Let’s hear it from the man itself:
the fastest, strongest fibers (IIx) into the less
powerful fast-twitch sub-type (IIa). In fact, there
probably won’t be any. As you increase the
reps per set, you also increase the conversion
towards a IIa fiber profile. Which is actually a
good thing for maximizing muscle growth but
suboptimal for maximal strength, speed and
explosiveness.
This conversion takes place when you impose

a significant level of fatigue during fairly intense
work (fatigue with the absence of relatively
heavy loading will increase the ratio of slow-
twitch fibers).
The more fatigue you build up in a set (or a

workout), the more likely you are to lose the most
powerful IIx fibers. That’s why sprinters have
naturally gravitated towards extremely long
rest periods between sprints (up to 10 minutes).
Probably not because they understood the
physiology, but rather they noticed that longer
rest periods made them faster.
This is not a book about clusters. But it illustrates
It’s the same thing with clusters. They are what I meant by minimizing fatigue with high
often studied in a fatigue-management setting; intensity work as a way to optimize a fast-twitch
comparing sets of clustered reps (pause profile (developing the fast-twitch fibers without
between each rep) and normal sets (no rest losing IIx fibers).
between repetitions within a set). Even with the
same weight and reps, the clusters are superior. By the way, this is where sets of 3 reps can
They provide an equivalent strength gain but start to become less effective than singles or
lead to a higher rate of force development and doubles. You either get more fatigue or you have
acceleration. Chris Beardsley has postulated to lower the weight to stay at the same fatigue
that this is due to the fact that the clusters led level. So you either get more IIx to IIa conversion
to less fatigue for the same loading parameters, or less fast-twitch recruitment.
meaning less IIx to IIa conversion.
It’s likely not a dramatic difference and may
even be a good modification to the system
if hypertrophy is your main goal rather than
strength and power. But it’s worth noting.

4. Targets the muscle fibers and 6. Promotes a higher average focus

energy system involved in maximal per repetition.
strength and power.
It is easier to focus 100% on each repetition
If you are a competitive powerlifter or from a motivation, effort and technical mastery
weightlifter nothing is more specific to your standpoint if you only have to sustain that focus
sport than singles. That’s the whole premise for one rep. You also have a period before every
behind the Bulgarian system. The system is repetition to get into the proper mindset and a
amazingly effective (a lot of the most dominant period after each repetition to think about what
weightlifting countries have adopted it). I just you did properly and what could have been
feel that using maximum singles too often is not better.
possible for natural lifters who are not genetic
exceptions that can tolerate such a high level of 7. Provides a coach with more
effort. But it doesn’t mean that, when properly
used, singles cannot be one of the best ways for
occasions for feedback and technical
a strength athlete to train. corrections.
There is nothing worse than coaching while a
5. Removes faulty technique and lifter is doing a set. It can mess up their focus
recruitment patterns that stems from and won’t do much besides make the coach feel
intra-set fatigue. important.
Even the most skilled lifters are likely to have When the coach gives feedback during the set
technique degradation and compensation as (especially during a rep) it takes too long for the
fatigue builds up during a set. brain to understand and program it. Worst case
scenario, it messes up their timing, best case
I like what Dr. Aaron Horshchig (Squat scenario it does nothing.
University) said: “Your last repetition should look
like your first one only slower”. But as mentioned above, when you do singles,
However, that becomes harder to accomplish as the coach has a period prior to the lift to tell the
reps increase; especially when some muscles athlete what to focus on and a period afterwards
fatigue faster than others. to tell them if they did it properly or not.
You know what is the best way to make sure that

your first and the last reps look the same? 8. It’s the easiest way to track and
adjust volume and intensity.
Only do one rep.
The more variables you change, the harder it is
to assess exactly what is affecting stress and
stimulus and to what extent. By using only using
sets of 1 repetition you remove one variable
making it a lot easier to assess and program.

Now, that all sounds like sunshine and rainbows but basing a whole training plan on singles
is so unconventional, especially in a world where we often associate struggle and fatigue
with gaining, that a lot of people will critique the approach. Some of their concerns are valid
(no system is perfect for everyone) and others are based on misconceptions.
LET’S EXAMINE THE MOST LIKELY ARGUMENTS AGAINST THIS APPROACH:
1. Can more easily burnout.

This is very possible, IF people go off plan and Rock, Iron, Steel) is another who recommends
always do maximal/near-maximal singles at a submaximal singles as the primary training
high volume. This is the most common opposition method.
I get when talking about the system. People
automatically associate singles with 90%+ 1RM Remember what I said about old-time strongmen;
weights. Which is not the case here. Russian they didn’t train, they practiced. They practiced
weightlifters do plenty of singles work in the by doing single lifts with a weight they could lift
75-85% range. In fact, that is often the bulk of perfectly.
their work. Steve Justa (author of the awesome
2. You can’t get enough volume to grow.

This is largely a misconception because people of the reps is better too. It is absolutely possible
think in terms of sets rather than total repetitions. to develop muscle mass with singles. It’s only a
In their mind, a typical sets/reps recommendation matter of doing enough of them to accumulate
is normally based on 1 to 6 sets per exercise (the the proper volume. BUT, there is a minimal load
crazy ones can go up to 8 or even 10). They think that can work. Singles with 50, 60, 65 or even 70%
that even a high number of sets (6) is insufficient aren’t likely to work very well.
to trigger muscle growth if using sets of 1. And they
are right, 6 x 1 would not provide enough total reps Why?
to trigger maximal hypertrophy. You likely need
at least 20-25 maximally effective repetitions to Because to be maximally effective, a repetition
get maximal growth. So 6, or even 10 singles is far needs to recruit all the recruitable fibers. This
from making the cut. happens when the load is 80% relative to your
capacities at the beginning of a repetition.
The problem is that if I tell them to do 20 or 30
singles on an exercise (which would be sufficient With a multiple-rep set the fatigue build-up from
to trigger maximal growth) they freak out. rep to rep makes you weaker, which means
that after a few reps a weight that was 70% will
“Dude, that’s 20 sets! That’s way too much!” represent 80% of your capacities at the beginning
of the rep, then 90% and eventually 100%. But with
Is it really, though? From a recovery perspective singles you can’t get that because you recover
is doing 20 x 1 @ 80% really worse than doing 4 after every repetition. So you need singles loaded
x 5 @ 80%? Or is doing 30 x 1 @ 75% really more between 75 and 90-95% 1RM to get a large number
demanding than doing 3 x 10 @ 75%? Of course of maximally effective reps (when using 75% we
not! In fact, in those situations the singles are use a higher number of singles and shorter rest
easier from a recovery standpoint and the average periods to at least get to a 5% fatigue level, leading
quality, rate of force development and speed to maximally effective reps).

3. Potentially time-consuming.
Again, this stems from the misconception that Considering that 1:33 also included the gradual
after a set you must rest 2-4 minutes. Well, with warm-up, I’d say that it’s quite manageable,
singles, unless you are doing a near-maximal or especially for my highest volume session.
maximal effort you don’t need to do that because
the repetition doesn’t cause much fatigue. If I go up to 70 total singles, which is the absolute
limit I would use, it might take the workout time
You do however need enough rest to ensure you up to 1:45. Reasonably long, but not outside of
capitalise on the benefits mentioned earlier. I an acceptable timeframe.
will cover that in the programing section.
What I did to achieve this was group singles in
But to give you an example, my highest volume to extended cluster sets; essentially clusters
squat workout (the hardest movement from a with a lot of rest. I would do 5 singles with 45-60
recovery standpoint) took me 1hr33minutes. seconds in-between each and then rest 90-120
Not short by any means, but considering that seconds after every 5 singles.
the workout consisted of:
• 30 x 1 Frankenstein squats
• 15 x 1 Back squat
• 15 x 1 Front squat
4. Can be boring for some

With a very high number of singles, the workout But a lot of people will be excited by it.
might feel repetitive and some could find it hard
to stay motivated. What can I say? If it’s not your cup of tea, you
probably didn’t buy this book in the first place.
This one is true. I can’t argue. Some will find it
boring. Just like I personally find 5/3/1 boring.
Just like some will find traditional bodybuilding
training boring.
5. Less stimulation of intermediate and slow-twitch fibers.

Can’t argue there either. This is, after all, a That having been said, less stimulation of
methodology focused on maximizing IIx ratio the intermediate fibers CAN lead to less
and staying as strong and explosive as possible. hypertrophy.
Which entails a lower stimulation of the IIa and
hybrid (I/IIa) fibers. Of course, the slow-twitch If your main goal is hypertrophy, I will show
fibers are stimulated even less. you how to adjust the program. It essentially
means doing all the singles of an exercise as a
But that’s like criticizing sprinting for not being giant cluster using only 30-45 seconds of rest.
a good way to improve your marathon running. But I’ll get to that in the chapter on program
That’s not the purpose. modification for specific goals.

6. Poor motivation for lifters who enjoy a good pump.
Or those who prefer a strong mind-muscle But again, if you are a “pumper” or mind-muscle
connection and feeling tired. Again, there is no kinda guy you probably did not buy this book or
program that will motivate everyone. Don’t try to make it this far. So, let’s move on.
fit a square block into a round hole.
7. Might not properly address imbalances.

Imbalances are muscles that are proportionally However, many of these imbalances can be
weaker than their counterparts. This can fixed by using the proper “big lift variation”. For
become problematic if a muscle is significantly example, lagging triceps can be addressed with
weaker than its antagonists. In which case the close-grip bench press, lagging deltoids with
risk of injury increases. high incline bench press and lagging pecs with
wide-grip decline bench press.
Any imbalance can hurt your performance. A
lagging muscle involved in a lift can become But yes, sometimes single-joint work is needed.
its limiting factor. Since we all have our own
dominances/weaknesses, when our program While this program is based almost exclusively
is based exclusively, or almost exclusively, on on variations of the big lifts, I normally include
big basic multi-joint movements, the dominant one single-joint exercise per session, obviously
muscles will tend to progress more than the not done using singles, with the purpose of
lagging ones. addressing the weaker muscle in the lift trained
that day.

8. Some people perform better on their 2nd or even 3rd rep of a set than the first.
When that is the case, they might be leaving to be easy, but you decrease it too much.
something on the table by only doing singles. Then on the 2nd rep you overcompensate by
producing a lot more force than is necessary
To which my retort would be, wouldn’t it make and the weight goes up faster/more smoothly
sense to practice singles to become better on (hence why it feels easier).
that first repetition? • On the first repetition your motor pattern can
be suboptimal and the CNS adjusts on the
If you are a powerlifter (or a weightlifter) you 2nd and 3rd repetition. The more technically
only do one rep on the platform. So don’t you and neurologically efficient you are, the less
want to have your best performance on the first this happens.
rep of a set?
• There can be some form of activation going
Those who are better on their 2nd or 3rd rep are on with the first rep, which in turn potentiates
normally those who aren’t great at transferring the next one. But in reality, this would rarely
strength gains to a max effort lift. be the case because maximal post-tetanic
potential lasts for up to 5 minutes. You
Why would someone be better on their 2nd or wouldn’t become more activated with each
3rd rep (and it often happens)? new set. So if your second and third rep is
better on all of your sets, it is likely not an
Let’s look at the possibilities: activation issue. If it is, then the singles with
a short rest period will still give you that
activation.
• They could subconsciously be leaving
something in the tank on that first rep to • It can be a confidence or a mental thing.
make the following reps easier.
Now, I personally feel that doing lots of singles
• The first rep of a set, even of a low reps set, is and doing them with the intent to dominate the
submaximal. You don’t need to push as hard weight will make you better at that first repetition.
as possible to make it. The CNS feels this
when unracking the bar. The CNS will adjust I prefer to address an issue rather than work
force production to give you just enough to around it. But that’s me.
lift the weight. But sometimes it can actually
reduce force production too much and the For those who prefer to find a way around their
rep feels a lot harder than it should. 1st rep problem, I will provide a 2 reps per set
• Sometimes you reduce force application adaptation later in this ebook.
voluntarily because you expect the first rep

THE TAKE HOME MESSAGE
There is no program that is perfect for everyone
and every goal. Anyone who claims that their
program is the best for everyone is lying or
misguided.
It is important to understand what a specific

approach can and cannot do. It’s benefits and
potential drawbacks. Even more importantly,
you need to be excited/motivated by it.
I mean, if you are a pro athlete earning millions

for playing a sport, you can force yourself to
train the way your strength coach wants you to.
But most of you reading this book aren’t pro

athletes or earning a living from your body.
As such, being excited and motivated to do
a program plays a big role in your training
consistency, efforts, focus and results.
I absolutely do not believe in forcing someone

to train (or eat) against their preference to “build
character/discipline”.
If you can find a way to design a plan that is

physiologically sound relative to the desired
results and that excites and motivates you, then
that’s how you should train.
I personally love doing singles. As I mentioned,

I wrote this book for me. It’s my training wet
dream. And I know that there are plenty of
people out there who feel the same about single
rep training.
This is a book to show you how to get results by

doing what you naturally love to do.
If you are excited, then let’s get on with it. If not,

go find a Muscle & Fitness magazine (if such a
thing still exists).

CHAPTER 3
DESIGNING A B.O.S.S TRAINING CYCLE
In this chapter I will cover the essentials of program design using the base BOSS
system. But before we go on, I want to make one thing clear:
The name of the system is Bunch Of Skilled Singles. This means that proper execution
of each single is important. One of the main benefits of singles is that you can fully
concentrate on proper technique, execution and the intent of each lift.
Using improper form, not having the intent to kill But those who breeze through these easier
the weight and not devoting 100% of your focus repetitions are those who will give the program
to the lift as soon as your hands touch the bar is a bad name and say that it didn’t work for them.
a huge mistake.
Those who execute each repetition as if it were
Every rep should be treated with the same a max effort, will progress immensely.
respect as a max effort. The natural tendency
will be to cruise through these reps because Okay, let’s get on with it.
until phase 3 each rep will feel easy and you will
be able to dominate it. The first thing I want to present you is a table that
breaks down each phase in a very broad way.

VOLUME PROGRAMING
TOTAL NUMBER OF LIFTS PER WORKOUT FOR EACH BLOCK

Accumulation Intensification
Realisation Block Peaking Block
Level Block Block
85% - (2 weeks) 90% - (2 weeks)
75% - (3 weeks) 80% - (3 weeks)
Beginner 50 – 70 30 – 50 20 – 30 10-15
Intermediate 60 – 80 40 – 60 30 – 40 15-20
Advanced 70 – 90 50 – 70 40 – 50 20-25
There are three key bits of information in this table.

1. The division of the training cycle: it lasts a inaccurate as you get stronger. In a future
total of 10 weeks, divided into four phases table I will explain how to adjust intensity
over which intensity gradually increases. relative to your pre-cycle maximums from
2. The volume for every workout on each block: block to block.
This refers to the total number of singles in
the whole session, not the number of singles Note that all singles in a workout are done with
per exercise. There is a range for each block, the same weight. As for the weight used, this
but in a second I will present it on a week-to- will depend on the block. Sometimes you keep
week basis. the same weight on all the weeks of a block
3. The intensity of work: the intensity refers to (accumulation and intensification), but the
the real intensity. Because you get stronger volume increases weekly. While during other
from block to block we cannot keep using blocks the load increases weekly while the
a % of your maximum because it becomes volume decreases.

VOLUME PROGRAMING (CONTINUED)
Here is a weekly breakdown of the volume.
TOTAL NUMBER OF LIFTS PER WORKOUT FOR EACH WEEK

Level Accumulation Intensification Realisation Peaking
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2
Beginner 50 60 70 30 40 50 30 20 15 10
Intermediate 60 70 80 40 50 60 40 30 20 15
Advanced 70 80 90 50 60 70 50 40 25 20
As you can see both the accumulation and They come from the number of lifts per session/
intensification blocks use an ascending volume mesocycle for different levels of weightlifter
of work. This will allow you to keep getting (Olympic lifting) from the book “Managing the
stronger and develop muscle mass even without Training of Weightlifters” by former Russian
adding weight during the block. Now, if the coach Robert Roman.
weights really feel “too light” you can add some
weight. But I highly recommend that you do at Of course, these numbers normally led to
least one full cycle as planned before playing fewer sets than I am recommending as more
with load as most will tend to increase weight exercises and higher reps per set were used.
too much and/or too often. But the optimal number of lifts per level of lifter
still applies.
Where does the prescription for the number of
lifts come from? I also decreased the total workload to
accommodate the fact that you are likely not
Don’t worry these are not random numbers I using steroids and are not a full-time lifter.
pulled out of my behind.

INTENSITY PROGRAMMING
Earlier I mentioned that we must account for You have two options:
strength gains that occur from block to block. 1. Follow the recommendations of the table
If you test your maximum at the beginning of below, which assumes a certain rate of
your cycle, by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th block your progression based on your level.
maximum will be higher, even if you have not
tested it. So, using a percentage of your pre- 2. Test your maximum at the end of each block.
cycle maximum might not be optimal. This would extend the length of the training
cycle to 13 weeks (the maxing out would be
done as a training session for the lift you are
testing. I will explain how to structure that
below).
RELATIVE VERSUS REAL INTENSITY

Assumed
Level Accumulation Intensification Realisation Peaking
block progress
% RM %TM % RM %TM % RM %TM % RM %TM
Beginner 5% 75% 75% 80% 85% 85% 92.5% 90% 100%
Intermediate 2.5% 75% 75% 80% 82.5% 85% 90% 90% 97.5%
Advanced 1.25% 75% 75% 80% 81.25% 85% 87.5% 90% 93.75%
IMPORTANT: I want to make it clear that I am The same thing then applies with the realisation
AGAINST maxing out at the end of every block. block; which uses an 85% intensity level. In
As we will see it has a lot more chance of hurting reality, you have to use 90% of your pre-cycle
than helping. It can totally destroy what we are maximum, to account for the strength gains
trying to build. But I know that no matter what I of both the intensification and accumulation
say, some will want to do it. blocks.
For example, let’s say that you are an intermediate The benefit of this approach is that you don’t tax
lifter (most of you reading this ebook are likely at your recovery more than is planned or needed
that level). On the accumulation block the 75% and you can keep the cycle shorter.
is correct as you just did your testing.
The drawback is that we are estimating strength
However, by the intensification block the 80% gains, so we could be slightly off. But it’s still
prescription will require you to use 82.5% of your better and more accurate than sticking with
pre-cycle maximum, to account for strength fixed percentages.
gains made during the first block.

The second option is to do a testing week at the Why I DO NOT like the maxing out
end of each block. option
In that week you test your main lift (we will talk Don’t get me wrong. If anyone likes maxing out,
about exercise selection in a moment, but you it’s me.
have 2 to 4 exercises per workout). The non-
main lifts are trained at the usual load but you But testing yourself at the end of each block has
only do half the reps to compensate for the many limitations.
maxing out.
1. It can mess up recovery. The whole premise
For example, let’s say that the last squat workout of the plan is to avoid burning out, and maxing
of the accumulation block was: out will take a lot out of you.
2. While you will get stronger even during the
• Back squat 40 x 1
accumulation block, you haven’t yet practiced
• Front squat 20 x 1
lifting with near-maximal weights. You can
• Zercher squat 20 x 1 be stronger but not better at demonstrating
(remember, this looks like a lot but it’s still less strength in a max effort. If you test your max
volume than a GVT session or what most people after the first two blocks, the results might
do in a traditional leg workout) be underwhelming (not because you are not
getting stronger, but because you are yet to
In your peaking week you would do: practice maximal lifting) and that can kill your
motivation and trust in the system
• Back squat: work up to max
3. The plan is designed to gradually develop the
• Front squat: 10 x 1 capacity to handle heavy weights. Maxing
• Zercher squat 10 x 1 out too early can undo a lot of the good work
being done.
Why not just work up to a max at the end of the
last week of each block?
For all of these reasons I cannot emphasize
enough that:
Well, if you are talking about using the last week
of the block to max out on the main lift during
I am personally against the “every block testing”.
the regular workouts, then it just doesn’t give
I feel like it can do a lot more harm than good and
you enough time to build strength before testing
hinders the proper progression of the plan. The
it. Even with an awesome program, you will not
only people who should even consider it are
gain a lot of strength in 2 weeks.
those with amazing technical efficiency and a lot
of experience with heavy lifting. But even then:
The other option would be to do a testing session
at the end of the week (on Sunday). But you likely
PLEASE STICK TO THE PREDICTON TABLE
will not be fully recovered and performance
AND NOT THE “EVERY BLOCK TESTING”.
won’t be great, especially if you test yourself on
the 4 main exercises.
Why even present it then? Because no matter
what I say, some people will decide to max out at
the end of every block, so I want to let them know
how to do it while damaging their progression
the least.

TRAINING SPLIT
The plan uses two different training splits to From a focus and recovery standpoint this is
better suit the nature of the workouts and the more effective and allows for a larger volume
need for recovery. of work in a session because you’ll have more
recovery time before hitting the same lift again.
We start with a lift-specific approach, which
allows us to do a lot more work for a specific Let’s look at the table below.
movement. Essentially we bombard one lift per
workout by using a main lift and then specific
variations of that lift to target weaknesses.
TRAINING SPLITS – BASIC STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT

Accumulation Intensification Realisation Peaking
Workout
Block Block Block Block
Workout 1 Squat variations Squat variations Squat/Bench Squat/Bench
Workout 2 Bench press Bench press

variations variations Deadlift/Overhead Deadlift/Overhead
Workout 3 Deadlift variations Deadlift variations Squat/Bench Squat/Bench
Overhead Overhead
Workout 4 Deadlift/Overhead Deadlift/Overhead
variations variations
Note that this is the “basic strength” split. I will present other options in the chapter about how to adjust
the plan.
Depending on the phase, the number of exercises per workout, the number of assistance exercises per
lift and the ratio of work for the main lift versus assistance work will change.

TRAINING SPLIT (CONTINUED)
NUMBER OF EXERCISES* PER SESSION

Number of exercises 4 3 4 (2 for each) 2 (1 for each)
% of the reps devot- 50% 60%

ed to the main lift(s) 70% 100%
*Ideally, all exercises are variations of the main lift (so that you limit the number of warm-up sets). For
example, if you have 3 exercises in a squat workout, you could pick the front squat as your main lift and
your assistance exercises could be frankenstein squat and zercher squat.
The assistance exercises can also be segmented parts of the lift. Worse case scenario, you can use an
unrelated movement if it’s the only way to address your specific weakness.
Note that just like with the main lifts, you keep the same assistance exercises for the whole training
cycle. After all, the main mechanism behind the program is neurological efficiency on the trained lifts.
This is hard to accomplish if you switch assistance exercises around too often.
The weight on the assistance lifts is a little bit more open and you have to be honest here and not go
crazy and max out or use too much weight. The assistance lift reps should feel, difficulty/effort-wise,
exactly the same as the main lifts. You can also use ratios comparing your assistance lifts to your main
lifts or your max if you know it.

Let’s look at how to design your workouts.
Look at the accumulation block. Each workout is • Back squat 30 x 1

focused on one lift (as we saw earlier). There are • Frankenstein squat 10 x 1
4 exercises in the session. This means the main • Front squat 10 x 1
lift and three assistance exercises. • Top half squat from pins 10 x 1
50% of the volume is attributed to the main lift.
Or …
If we have 60 lifts in our session this means
that you “give” 30 of those lifts to the main
• Back squat 30 x 1
movement and the 30 others are spread over
the 3 assistance exercises. • Parallel box squat 20 x 1
• High box squat 5 x 1
A session could look like this: • Low box squat 5 x 1
• Back squat 30 x 1 There is no wrong way to distribute the volume

• Front squat 15 x 1 for the assistance exercises, as long as you
• Zercher squat 10 x 1 respect the total number of reps reserved for
• Top half squat from pins 5 x 1 the assistance work.
The number of assistance exercises decreases

Or…
from block to block and the proportion of work
devoted to the main lift increases.
NUMBER OF ASSISTANCE EXERCISES PER SESSION

Main lift(s) 1 1 2 2
Assistance lifts 3 2 1 0
There will be a full chapter on assistance exercise selection and loading.

Selecting rest periods
The rest periods will vary from block to block. That workout took me exactly 1h37 minutes
Obviously if you have to perform 60 “sets” in a counting from my first warm-up set.
workout you can’t take traditional rest periods
of 3-4 minutes unless you feel like spending the This was an accumulation block so it was
whole day in the gym! possible to keep the rest periods short because
of the lighter relative load (75% zone). In fact, you
I’ll give you an example. Just prior to working want shorter rest periods here to accumulate a
on this section of the book I did a power snatch small amount of fatigue so that more of the reps
workout which consisted of: will be maximally effective reps.
• Power snatch from blocks above knees 30 x Let’s look at my recommended rest periods and
1 we’ll discuss them afterwards.
• Power snatch from blocks below knees 15 x 1
• Snatch deadlift to hip crease with 3 sec hold
15 x 1
REST PERIODS
Block (75%) Block (80%) Block (85%) Block (90%)
Rest 45-90 seconds* 75 sec - 2 minutes* 2-4 minutes or as

2-3 minutes needed
*extended cluster approach
The accumulation block has the shortest rest In a typical cluster you rest 25-30 seconds
intervals. Firstly, because you don’t need a between reps. Here however you will rest 45-60
lot of rest as 1 rep with 75% of your max feels seconds.
easy, even if you compensate by trying to kill
the weight with acceleration. You actually want I divide the reps I have to do in to groups of 5.
to build-up some fatigue to get the strongest This is one cluster. Between the reps of each
training effect possible, but not so much that cluster I rest 45-60 seconds, as needed.
you start converting IIx fibers to IIa… essentially
no rep should feel hard.
The way I personally plan the rest periods during

an accumulation phase is to use clusters with
extended rest.

Once I’m done with a group/cluster of 5 I take a bit more rest, normally 75-90 seconds.
So, it would look like this:
Power snatch from blocks above knees
1 rep / 45 sec / 1 rep / 45 sec / 1 rep / 45 sec / 1 rep / 45 sec / 1 rep / 75 sec of rest
1 rep / 60 sec / 1 rep / 60 sec / 1 rep / 60 sec / 1 rep / 60 sec / 1 rep / end of exercise
Total “rest time”: 27 minutes

Estimated exercise time: 9 minutes (this will vary depending on the lift, how long it takes you to set up,
etc.)
Total exercise time: 36 minutes
Personally, I go by feel and sometimes take longer to set-up because I mentally rehearse the lift or
stretch something, so in reality, it took me 40 minutes. But it gives you a good idea. Since this is half of
the daily volume, the theoretical training time would be 1h20 minutes. It actually took me 1h37 because
of a bathroom break and changing the exercise set-up.
As you progress through the cycle, the rest periods increase to accommodate the greater loads.
I still recommend a similar cluster approach for the intensification block, with 75-90 seconds between
cluster reps and 2 minutes between groups.
For the realisation and peaking phases, the volume is low and the loads are higher so we increase rest
periods to be fully rested before every repetition. Since the loads are now above 80% (85-90%) even if
you are fully rested, each rep is still a maximally effective rep.

CHAPTER 4
EXERCISE SELECTION TO BE A BOSS
Let’s not kid ourselves; the BOSS
system is about building strength.
Sure, you will gain some muscle mass

from it, especially if you apply the
modifications outlined in the chapter
on how to adapt the system. But it
was never designed to be a maximum
hypertrophy program.
I won’t pee on your leg and tell you it’s

raining!
Anyone who claims that their training approach

is the best for everyone and every goal is either
lying to you to take your money (hey, you already
bought the book, no sense in lying to you now)
or has a program that will do poorly on every
front (jack of all trades, master of none).
That’s why this system is based on the big basic

lifts. They might not always be “the best” option
to develop each individual muscle group, but
they are better suited to maximize strength
gains and to perform singles work.
Now, you are free to select any exercises you

want. The plan will work with any big, basic lift.
But let me propose five solid options to you.

MAIN LIFT SELECTION
We will start by looking at what are the best options to use as your main lifts.
Some of you have more freedom of choice (if you are simply training to be big and strong) while others
will have to stick to a set of exercises (if you are competing in a strength sport with specific lifts).
Once we are done with the main lifts we will cover the assistance movements.
Option 1 – General strength building 1
General strength building refers to focusing on becoming as strong as possible, all over. This allows you
a lot more leeway in your exercise selection because you don’t have to maximize performance on a few
select lifts (like powerlifting, for example).
Let me present the following table and then we’ll discuss it.
MAIN LIFT SELECTION – GENERAL STRENGTH

Main lift one Main lift two Main lift three Main lift four
General type Squat pattern Vertical press Hinge pattern Horizontal press
Best options Back squat Military press Deadlift Bench press

Front squat Push press Sumo or hybrid Low incline (15 deg)
Zercher squat High incline bench deadlift Decline bench
(45-60 deg) Trap bar DL
Other options Frankenstein squat Seated shoulder Snatch deadlift Floor press
(these will nor- Box squat press Rack pull below Close-grip
mally be used Safety bar squat Behind neck press knees Spoto press
more often as
assistance exer- Heels elevated Wide-grip military Rack pull above Wide bench
cises) squat Narrow-grip mili- knees Board press
Wide stance squat tary Deficit deadlift Half bench from
Half squat RDL pins
I want to mention that any of the exercises But besides that, all the top exercises will
presented here can be used as a main lift if your be equally effective. It’s a matter of personal
heart desires and if it’s a lift you really want to preference and priority when it comes to which
increase. But the top three options remain the ones you choose.
best in most cases. The “other” lifts tend to tend
to be better suited for emphasizing a potential Now, there will be some slight differences in
weak point (we will address that in the section muscles developed. But nothing that will make
on assistance exercises). or break the program and you always have the
assistance exercises to compensate.

MAIN LIFT SELECTION (CONTINUED)
Option 2 – General strength building 2
MAIN LIFT SELECTION – GENERAL STRENGTH

General type Squat pattern Press Hinge pattern Pull
Best options Back squat Military press Deadlift Pendlay row

Front squat Incline bench Sumo or hybrid Bent over row
Zercher squat Bench press deadlift Pull-up
Trap bar DL
Other options Frankenstein squat Push press Snatch deadlift Neutral grip pull-
(these will nor- Box squat Seated shoulder Rack pull below ups
mally be used Safety bar squat press knees Narrow close-grip
more often as
assistance exer- Heels elevated Behind neck press Rack pull above pull-ups
cises) squat Wide-grip military knees Seal row
Wide stance squat Narrow-grip mili- Deficit deadlift Deadlift row
Half squat tary RDL Supinated Pendlay
Floor press row
Close-grip bench Supinated bent
Spoto press over row
Wide bench EZ bar bent over
Board press row
Half bench from EZ bar supinated
pins bet over row
This second option offers a slightly more balanced approach because we substitute one pressing
workout with a pulling one. This is likely the best option for most.
If you are doing option one, I will recommend doing a few sets of rowing once or twice per week
(something like 2-3 sets of 5, more on that later).

Option 3 – Powerlifting-specific
MAIN LIFT SELECTION – POWERLIFTING

General type Squat pattern Horizontal press Hinge pattern Pull
Lift Back squat (com- Bench press Deadlift Pendlay row

petition style) (competition style, or sumo depend- Bent over row
with longer pause ing on competition Pull-up
on chest) style
With powerlifting, you don’t have as much choice because you must be strong on the competition lifts.
So, right off the bat, they represent three of the four main lifts.
In the fourth workout I like to do upper back work which is helpful for the bench and deadlift.
Option 4 – Weightlifting-specific
MAIN LIFT SELECTION – WEIGHTLIFITNG

Lift Snatch Jerk Clean Back squat
The BOSS system might actually be even better for weightlifting than for general strength and
powerlifting! Due to the higher skill level involved in the movements, the high number of singles will be
a very effective approach. Contrary to what is believed, submaximal singles are way superior than a
higher number of light reps sets to develop technique because with singles:
• You can focus 100% on each lift

• You can think of what to do before every lift and reflect on how you did it after each rep
• You don’t have intra-set fatigue affecting your technique
• The coach has more opportunities to correct you
Like with powerlifting, you need to train the competition lifts as your main lifts because you must become
great at them. But you will see that the assistance exercises offer a lot of choices depending on your
weaknesses.

Option 5 – Hybrid strength
MAIN LIFT SELECTION – HYBRID STRENGTH

General type Snatch Press Clean & jerk Squat
Best options Snatch Military press Clean & jerk Back squat
Power snatch High incline bench Pwr.clean & jerk Front squat
Bench press Pwr.clean & push Zercher squat
press
Other options Snatch from hang Seated shoulder Clean hang Frankenstein squat
(these will nor- Snatch from blocks press Clean blocks Box squat
mally be used Pwr.snatch hang Behind neck press Pwr.clean hang Safety bar squat
more often as
assistance exer- Pwr.snatch blocks Wide-grip military Pwr.clean blocks Heels elevated
cises) Narrow-grip mili- Power jerk squat
tary Behind neck jerk Wide stance squat
Floor press Behind neck push Half squat
Close-grip press
Spoto press
Wide bench
Board press
Half bench from
pins
Low incline (15 deg)
Decline bench
This is a pretty cool training approach. It combines elements of powerlifting/general strength training
and weightlifting. As a result, it will not only get you strong but powerful too.
This could be a decent approach for an athlete training for a power/speed sport like football, rugby,
baseball, hockey, sprinting etc.
Since you are not competing in either powerlifting or weightlifting, you aren’t limited to the competitive
lifts as your main movements. So you have even more options to add with the assistance exercises

ASSISTANCE LIFTS SELECTION
Selecting mains lifts is simple: you pick big basic Let’s look at it in table format first and then
lift variations that you want to be strong at, or discuss the value of each of the recommended
that you need to be strong at. assistance exercises.
But assistance work is a bit more complex Instead of presenting 10,000 tables, I will put all
as it should be selected to help fix a specific the assistance exercises into one big table. Note
weakness in your main lift. You might have a that the table also includes exercises that are
proportionally weaker muscle holding your lift main lift recommendations (if you don’t pick one
back or maybe you are simply weaker in one as a main lift, it can still be used as an assistance
part of the range of motion. movement).
Regardless of your situation, the success of a

program will be highly dependent on the proper
assistance exercise selection.
ASSISTANCE EXERCISES
Horizontal Vertical
Squat Hinge Snatch Clean & jerk Pull
press press
Back squat Bench press Deadlift Military press Pwr.snatch Front squat Pendlay row
Front squat Low incline (15 Sumo or hybrid Push press P.snatch hang Pwr.clean Bent over row
Zercher squat deg) deadlift High incline P.snatch block P.clean hang Pull-up
Frankenstein Decline bench Trap bar DL bench (60-75 Snatch hang P.clean block Neutral grip
squat Floor press Snatch deadlift deg) Snatch block Clean hang pull-ups
Box squat Close-grip Rack pull be- Seated shoul- Overh.squat Clean block Narrow close-
Safety bar Spoto press low knees der press Snatch DL Clean DL grip pull-ups
squat Wide bench Rack pull Z-press Roy deadlift Clean RDL Seal row
Heels elevat- Board press above knees Tall kneeling Snatch RDL Clean pull Deadlift row
ed squat Half bench Deficit deadlift press S. high pull Clean pull hang Supinated bent
Wide stance from pins RDL Wide-grip S.high pull Clean pull over row
squat Thick bar military hang block EZ bar bent
Half squats deadlift Narrow-grip S.high pull Push press over row
Rigert squat military blocks Pwr.jerk
Behind the
neck jerk
Behind the
neck pwr.jerk
I will not describe in great detail all of these exercises. It’s outside the scope of this e-book. Anyway, a
4-second search on YouTube can give you all the info you need about the proper execution of these
movements.
Instead, I want to highlight which weak point each of these assistance exercises can address.

SQUAT ASSISTANCE
Front squat Half squats
Slightly more quadriceps (especially if the heels If you go down to a 90 degrees knee angle (which
are elevated) and core. Also less adductors is nowhere near parallel) you put more emphasis
on the quads while using a significantly greater
Zercher squat overload. Can be useful if you bend forward or
Best core strengthening squat variation. Also lose your tightness at the end of the squat. Also
useful if your upper back loses tightness during effective if your “weakness” is being intimidated
squats. by heavy squats. If you go down to just above
parallel, contrary to what people think, it’s great
Frankenstein squat (no hands/arms in front, to fix weak glutes or to strengthen the mid-range
front squat) if your sticking point is there.
Second best core strengthening squat variation.
Also a great form reinforcer as you can’t cheat Rigert squats (goodmorning into squats)
with forward lean at all. If you tend to bend For this one I’ll give you a bit of a description.
forward when you start standing up from a You start the exercise as an arched back
squat, this one can be useful. goodmorning until the torso is close to parallel
to the floor with only a slight knee bend. That’s
Box squat the first part of the lift. Pause a second then
Effective if you tend to over-rely on the rebound lower your hips down into a squat while trying
at the bottom of the squat or lose your tightness/ to keep your shoulders and head at the same
position when you start to stand up from a squat. height (they will come down a bit, but it helps if
A low box will focus more on the adductors and you imagine that they are your pivot point), now
a higher box on glutes and other hip muscles. you are in your normal bottom squat position.
That’s the second part. You then reverse the
Safety bar squat movement: lift your hips up while keeping the
Similar to the front squat in that it puts a bit more shoulders/head at the same height. You are now
stress on the quads and core. Easier on the back to the goodmorning position. From there
shoulders, so might be a good option if you have come back to the starting position. That’s your
tight shoulders. repetition. This is a great exercise if the lower
back and glutes are your weak point.
Heels elevated squat
Increases quad bias/focus. Can help you get
more depth or stay more upright in the low
position.
Wide stance squat

Puts more focus on the adductors and a bit more
on the glutes and hamstrings (but not as much
as people think).

HORIZONTAL PRESS ASSISTANCE
Low incline (15 deg) bench Spoto press
A good variation for the pectoral-dominant lifter. Here you lower the bar to 1” from the chest.
Shifts more emphasis to the deltoids without Pause briefly then press up (without lowering
having to diminish the load as much as in a the bar to the chest). This is a good exercise if
regular incline bench press. Also “feels” more you tend to fail in the bottom 1/3rd of the range
like a bench press, so the gains are more easily of motion.
transferable to the bench than with a higher
incline. Wide-grip bench
To reduce the contribution of the triceps and
Decline bench (slight decline) focus more on pecs and delts (good for a
To emphasise the pectorals more and reduce triceps-dominant presser).
the focus on the deltoids (good for a deltoids-
dominant lifter). Board press
Can be used at various heights to strengthen
Floor press a specific weak point in the lift. To address a
Can help focus more on the shoulders and sticking point, pick a board height that is slightly
triceps (good for pectorals-dominant lifters). below where you fail your lift (the sticking point
is normally lower than where you fail because
Close-grip bench press that’s where the bar starts to decelerate).
To focus more on the triceps. Note that this
can be done on a slight incline (for a pectoral- Half bench press from pins
dominant lifter) or a slight decline (for a deltoids- Similar to the board press. Is a bit harder to
dominant lifter). transfer to the bench than the board press, but
is gentler on the joints and tendons.
HINGE ASSISTANCE EXERCISES

Trap bar deadlift In the starting position the hips are low and there
The TBDL is actually not a great exercise to is a lot of knee flexion and you lift the weight off
strengthen the deadlift but it can be used to the floor by extending the legs first and foremost.
overload the legs a bit more. So, a lifter who is
not good at driving with the legs can benefit As you lift the bar off the floor, the torso angle
from it. I see it more as a way to lower the stress should not change until you pass the knees. It is
on the lower back when you already have a lot of a good movement if your leg drive is the weak
other hinge exercises. point in your deadlift. It will also challenge your
back more as you have to work harder to keep
Snatch-grip deadlift the lats engaged.
A snatch-grip deadlift is a squat more than a
hinge pattern. If you have short legs and a long Rack pull below knees
torso it is almost exclusively a squat and if you This is a great exercise if your sticking point is
have long legs, it will become a hingey squat. around knee level (remember, a sticking point
is normally not the problem area… the problem
But the point is that it uses different mechanics area is a bit below, where you start to lose
to a conventional deadlift. speed).

HINGE ASSISTANCE EXERCISES (CONTINUED)
Rack pull above knees
This can be an effective exercise if your weak Romanian deadlift (RDL)
point is locking out the lift. But to be effective The go-to exercise if hamstrings and glutes are
it must use the exact same mechanics as your your lagging muscles. Lifters with a long torso
regular deadlift. A lot of people cheat this and short legs should use this as one of their
movement by wedging their knees under the bar assistance exercises pretty much all the time.
to leverage the weight up. That won’t work.
Thick bar (axle) deadlift
Deficit deadlift The obvious benefit of deadlifting with a 2” bar
You stand on a platform/plate that is no more is that it challenges the grip more and will make
than 2 – 2.5” high. There is no sense in using a it stronger. But another benefit is to strengthen
larger deficit, as it will change the mechanics of the lower back more as the center of mass of the
the movement too much. This is probably the barbell is a bit further away from the body. In that
best exercise to strengthen a weak start off the sense, you could even use straps on the thick
floor. But, once again, you must use the same bar if your goal is to strengthen the lower back/
mechanics as when you do a regular deadlift. core and not your grip.
VERTICAL PRESS ASSSISTANCE EXERCISES

Push press
Here the leg drive allows you to bypass the Seated shoulder press
weaker area (start) and allows you to overload I honestly don’t like this movement much. You
the top of the range of motion. It can either be can’t overload as much as in the high incline
used as a way to get used to pressing heavier press and you don’t get the postural involvement
weights over your head, or if your sticking point of a military press. It’s essentially a military press
is at forehead level. If it’s the later case then only with fewer benefits. Of course, as a bodybuilding
use a small leg drive and still focus on pushing as movement it’s fine. But within the scope of this
hard as possible with your arms in all parts of the plan it can be redundant and often offers no
range of motion. specific benefit.
High incline bench (60-75deg) Z-press

Very good exercise to strengthen the start of This is an overhead press while you are seated
the military press as you can use significantly on the floor, with no back support and with the
more weight than in the standing military press legs fully extended. The main benefit of this
but the angle is still fairly similar (especially if exercise is to strengthen the core’s stabilizing/
you use a 75deg angle). It is actually one of the fixating function in the overhead press. A more
best, if not the best assistance exercise for the effective core creates a stronger base to push
military press. The limitation is that it doesn’t from and improves performance.
strengthen the core and does not use the full
shoulder range of motion that the military press
uses. If you have limited shoulder mobility or a
weak core you need to be aware that the gains
from the high incline might not transfer well to
the military press.

VERTICAL PRESS ASSSISTANCE EXERCISES (CONTINUED)
Tall-kneeling press regular military press. The wider grip reduces
This is a progression from the Z-press. Instead the contribution of the triceps and focuses more
of pressing from a seated position, you get on the deltoids. It also strengthens the bottom
on your knees and align the hips with the portion of the military press.
knees. Essentially you are “standing up” but on
your knees instead of your feet. This further Narrow-grip military press
challenges stability by also bringing the glutes Take a grip that is roughly 1” closer than usual
into the action. on both sides. This puts more emphasis on the
triceps and strengthens the finish of the military
Wide-grip military press press.
Take a grip that is roughly 1” wider than normal
on each side. The execution is the same as a
SNATCH ASSISTANCE EXERCISES

Power snatch weights that are much heavier than your snatch.
A good exercise if pulling power is your Strictly from a biomechanical perspective, it’s a
weakness. good exercise to strengthen the leg drive off the
floor and develop the quadriceps.
Power snatch from hang or blocks
The most effective exercises if you lack Roy deadlift
acceleration during the second pull (you don’t This is a snatch-grip deadlift where you only
see a sharp difference in speed during the 1st bring the bar from the floor to the hip crease.
and 2nd pull) and tend to rely on jerking the When the bar is in the hip crease the knees
bar off of the floor. Also a very good option should still be slightly bent and the shoulders
to increase snatching volume, but with less directly over the bar or even a bit in front (so still
neurological demands. a bit bent forward). When you are there, hold
the position for 1-3 seconds and come back
Snatch from hang or blocks down. To do this with any kind of decent weight
Good assistance exercises to learn to move you must really lock in your lats in the starting
under the bar faster and have a better transition. position, rather than waiting until the bar is
moving to engage them.
Overhead squat
This is an effective exercise to strengthen and Snatch-grip Romanian deadlift
improve the stability of the overhead, low squat I like this exercise for lifters with a long torso and
position. Can be a great place to start if your short legs. They have a tendency to raise their
power snatch maximum is similar to your full torso upright too soon meaning when the bar is
snatch maximum. in the hip crease the shoulders are behind the
bar. This gives them worse leverages to explode
Snatch-grip deadlift and impart momentum into the bar. They do
While not as transferable to the snatch as the this because of a relatively weak lower back
Roy deadlift, it can be useful to train yourself not and glutes/hamstrings versus their quads. This
to start too fast from the floor. It can also improve RDL not only strengthens the lagging muscles,
your confidence by allowing you to handle it trains the action of staying over the bar longer.

SNATCH ASSISTANCE EXERCISES (CONTINUED)
Snatch-grip high pull (hang, blocks) under the bar. Personally, I see the high pull more
The main benefit of these two exercises is to as a psychological exercise and as “specific
develop more strength and power to execute bodybuilding”: it gives you more confidence in
the second pull. The danger is that it can tend your snatch as you are handling more weight
to teach people to use their arms too much and with speed and it can be used to build the
stay at the top position too long before moving muscles needed in the Olympic lifts.
CLEAN & JERK ASSISTANCE EXERCISES

Front squat more leg drive than hip hinge. It is more like a
I would argue (as would most weightlifters and squat with a bar in your hands. This is a good
coaches) that the front squat is the most valuable exercise if you have mental/confidence issues
assistance exercise for the competition lifts. It when you do heavier cleans, or to strengthen a
builds leg strength, improves core rigidity and weak pull off the floor (this can be the case if you
trains the specific front squat catch position and clean more from the hang or blocks than from
recovery. If you have problems standing up from the floor).
your cleans, you need to get your front squat
stronger. Chinese coaches say that if your front Clean-grip RDL
squat is 10kg/22lbs stronger than your clean & Well, this is a normal RDL really. It’s a great
jerk, you have a 50% chance of making a max exercise to strengthen the glutes, lower back
attempt at the C&J. If it’s 20-30kg/44-66lbs and hamstrings (thus useful for short-limbed/
your chances improve to 75-80% and anything long torso lifters) and to train staying over the
more than 30kg gives you almost certainty that bar (shoulders on top or in front of the bar) for
you will make your attempt, provided that there longer. The movement was actually invented by
is no technical issue. a weightlifter, Nicu Vlad, who was a Romanian
world-champion. Hence the name “Romanian
Power clean (floor, hang, blocks) deadlift”.
these are one of the main assistance exercises
and are used to increase pulling power and Clean pulls (floor, hang, blocks)
improve a problematic pull. As with the power In a clean pull you don’t try to create as much
snatch, doing them from the hang or blocks height as in a snatch pull. You basically shoot
is especially useful for those who don’t have for lifting the bar just above your navel. It is a
a big speed difference between their first pull good exercise to fix a weak pull. A weak pull will
and “explosion” and who rely on creating speed typically be seen in lifters who:
directly from the floor (which will typically leaves
the bar a bit forward). * Are more explosive than they are strong (big
jumps for example). Their lifts with 70-85% look
Clean from hang or blocks super-fast but when they get to 90% or more
as with the snatch, these are used to train they seem to morph into a different lifter.
moving under the bar faster.
* Have short limbs/a long torso.
Clean-grip deadlift
This is not a traditional deadlift (which typically If you are a combination of both you will need to
has your hips higher in the starting position). perform pulls and/or RDLs.
Your hips are fairly low at the start and you use

CLEAN & JERK ASSISTANCE EXERCISES (CONTINUED)
Push press Now, Jacques was 5’4”. I’m 5’9” and my friend
You have two main types of push presses was 6’0 but with long arms. And we had to do
(although, to the untrained eye they almost look a coordinated effort to lower the bar from the
the same): overhead position, down to his shoulders (like
in a squat). I mean, that’s an almost free-falling
1. In the first one, which is mostly useful to 332lbs that you have to lay gently on a man’s
strengthen the military press, you only use a spine! Let me tell you, it wasn’t a pleasant
slight leg drive. Just a little “cheat” to bypass the experience!
weak starting position. The arms still do 80% of
the work. Another Canadian lifter, who was one of the
most promising young lifters in the country (he
2. In the second one is more of a jerk assistance medaled at the Junior World Championships
exercise. Here you use the strongest leg drive and was clean & jerking 190kg in the 85kg class
possible (as if you were jerking). Even though at 18), essentially ended his career because of
you are pushing hard with your arms, the legs the behind the neck jerk. Not the exercise itself,
still do up to 75% of the work. A friend of mine, but bringing the bar down to his shoulders.
who was a national champion weightlifter, could
jerk 200kg/440lbs but (to my surprise) had Now, it is a great exercise, if you have jerk blocks
trouble military pressing 70kg/154lbs. Yet his to do it on. If you don’t (and if you don’t know
push press was 150kg/332lbs; illustrating how what jerk blocks are, it means that you don’t
much he was using his legs when push pressing. have them), don’t take any chances and avoid
this exercise.
Power jerk
In the power jerk, unless you have amazing For those who have the equipment to do it, it is
mobility, you have to drive the barbell higher a solid exercise to get used to handling heavier
than in a split jerk. Thus, the power jerk, like weights in the jerk as you will be 5-10% stronger
the power clean or power snatch, trains your than in your regular jerk. Both because of a
capacity to produce more height on your lifts. stronger position to drive from (a back squat is
Specifically here, it trains the power of the dip stronger than a front squat) but because the bar
and drive with the legs. is already in the right “lane” (behind your ears).
Because of that last point, it can also be a good
Behind the neck jerk movement for lifters who tend to jerk the bar
Ok funny story. The scariest spot I ever gave too far forward as it helps them feel the proper
a lifter was on this movement. The athlete was position.
Jacques Demers (former silver medalist in the
75kg class at the L.A. Olympics) and my friend
and I were spotting him during a set of 5 reps on
the behind the neck jerk with 150kg/332lbs.

PULLING ASSISTANCE EXERCISES
I feel weird labeling these “assistance pulling grip is pulled to your stomach/navel and will hit
exercises” as they are all on the same level, the biceps and lats more while the pronated
really. grip is pulled more toward the bottom of your rib
cage and will hit the upper back and rear delts
Pendlay rows more.
These are perfect for the “singles” approach,
that’s why they are more often than not the main EZ bar bent over row (supinated)
lift I recommend. The bar starts on the floor. It’s no different to the barbell version from a
Your back is flat and the whole torso (back) is muscle recruitment perspective, but a lot of
parallel to the floor and stays parallel to the floor people report a higher quality contraction from
during the rep. A Pendlay row is not simply a row it. Especially those with limited external shoulder
where the bar starts on the floor. It’s a row where rotation and forearm supination mobility. The EZ
the back stays parallel to the floor. This is a great bar makes it easier to be in a “supinated” (it will
exercise to strength the whole upper and lower be more of a semi-supinated position) position.
back and it has some strengthening effect on I also think that it is safer for the biceps than the
your deadlift and even Olympic lifting posture. barbell version.
Bent over barbell row (pronated or supinated) Pull-up series (supinated, pronated, neutral,
This is your more traditional rowing exercise. I various grip width)
still don’t want any cheating. This means that the These are all good to build the lats and biceps.
torso angle doesn’t change during the lift. The Some upper back too. They are one of the best
main difference compared to the Pendlay row is exercises you can do, if you are strong enough
that the torso is higher than parallel (thus the bar to do them. Another benefit is the hanging itself.
doesn’t start from the floor). The more upright Hanging from a pull-up bar is one of the best
you are the more traps/rhomboids dominant things you can do for your shoulder health. It
it becomes. So I like to stay at roughly 15-30 opens up the gap through which the rotator cuff
degrees (parallel to the floor being 0 degrees muscles’ tendons go and reduces impingement
and upright being 180 degrees). The supinated risk.
NOTE ON ASSISTANCE EXERCISES

These are not the only assistance exercises you Since the plan relies mostly on neurological
can use. Any movement can work; although a adaptations, I prefer to go with exercises with
machine single-joint exercise might not be the a higher neurological involvement and free-
best choice. But even a machine exercise like weights are superior to machines in this regard.
the leg press, hack squat or chest press/row
can work. But you can apply the concept to some
machines if you want to (to reduce neurological
I prefer barbell work because it better fits the stress), but if you do, please keep them to the
“spirit” of this program and makes the plan more assistance work.
useful for people with home gyms (you can do it
with a bar and a rack).

PUTTING THE PLAN TOGETHER
Honestly, if you follow the tables, it is extremely easy to put the plan together. That’s why I went with
tables rather than using a descriptive approach. The only real decision you have to make is which
exercises you want to use. The rest is plug and play. Let’s stick with the table-for-teaching approach
and see how the program is put together.

PROGRAM DESIGN SKELETON - BEGINNER
Realisation Peaking
Block Accumulation Block Intensification Block
Block Block
Upper/lower each Upper/lower each
Split Lift specific Lift specific
session session
Duration 3 weeks 3 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks
Intensity 75% 80% 85% 90%
% of pre-cycle
1RM 75% 85% 92.5% 100%
# of exercises
per session 4 3 4 2
# main
exercises 1 1 2 2
# assistance
exercises 3 2 2 0
# lifts/workout 50/60/70* 30/40/50 30/20 15/10
% main lift 50% 60% 70% 100%
% assistance 50% 40% 30% 0%
Reps main lift 25/30/35 18/24/30 21/14 15/10
25/30/35 (for all assis- 12/16/20 (for all assis- 9/6 for all assistance
Reps assist. work 0/0
tance combined) tance combined) combined
45-60 sec (cluster) 60-75 sec (cluster)

2-4 minutes, as needed-
Rest periods 75-90 sec (between 90-120 sec (between 2-3 minutes session
session
clusters) clusters)
* This refers to the different weeks of training.

For example, 50/60/70 means: Week 1 = 50 reps, Week 2 = 60 reps, Week 3 = 70 reps
In the following table is a template on how to build the workouts. You simply have to plug in the exercises
of your choice.
PROGRAM-BUILDING TEMPLATE - BEGINNER

WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 1 WEEK 2
M.25x1 M.30x1 M.35x1 M.18x1 M.24x1 M.30x1 M1.11x1 M1.7x1 M1.8x1 M1.5x1
A1.9x1 A1.10x1 A1.13x1 A1.6x1 A1.8x1 A1.10x1 M2.10x1 M2.7x1 M2.7x1 M2.5x1
A2.8x1 A2.10x1 A2.11x1 A2.6x1 A2.8x1 A2.10x1 A1.5x1 A1.3x1
A3.8x1 A3.10x1 A3.11x1 A2.3x1 A2.3x1
75%/ 75%/ 75%/ 85%/ 85%/ 85%/ 95%/ 95%/ 105%/ 105%/
max max max max max max max max max max
M = Main lift, M1 = Main lift 1, M2 = Main lift 2, A1 = Assistance 1, A2 = Assistance 2, A3 = Assistance 3

PROGRAM DESIGN SKELETON - INTERMEDIATE
Realisation Peaking
Block Block
session session
Intensity 75% 80% 85% 90%
% of pre-cycle
1RM 75% 82.5% 90% 97.5%
# of exercises per
session 4 3 4 2
# main
exercises 1 1 2 2
# assistance
exercises 3 2 2 0
# lifts/workout 60/70/80 40/50/60 40/30 20/15
% main lift 50% 60% 70% 100%
% assistance 50% 40% 30% 0%
Reps main lift 30/35/40 24/30/36 28/21 20/15

session
clusters) clusters)

of your choice.
PROGRAM-BUILDING TEMPLATE - INTERMEDIATE

A3.10x1 A3.11x1 A3.13x1 A2.6x1 A2.4x1
75%/ 75%/ 75%/ 82.5%/ 82.5%/ 82.5%/ 90%/ 90%/ 97.5%/ 97.5%/
max max max max max max max max max max

PROGRAM DESIGN SKELETON - ADVANCED
Realisation Peaking
Block Block
session session
Intensity 75% 80% 85% 90%
% of pre-cycle
1RM 75% 81.25% 87.5% 93.75%
# of exercises per
session 4 3 4 2
# main
exercises 1 1 2 2
# assistance
exercises 3 2 2 0
# lifts/workout 70/80/90 50/60/70 50/40 25/20
% main lift 50% 60% 70% 100%
% assistance 50% 40% 30% 0%
Reps main lift 35/40/45 30/36/42 35/28 20/15

session
clusters) clusters)

of your choice.
PROGRAM-BUILDING TEMPLATE - ADVANCED

A3.10x1 A3.11x1 A3.13x1 A2.6x1 A2.4x1
75%/ 75%/ 75%/ 81.25%/ 81.25%/ 81.25%/ 87.5%/ 87.5%/ 93.7%/ 93.7%/
max max max max max max max mx max max

A QUICK REMINDER ABOUT THE NUMBER OF “SETS”
Even though I mentioned it several times already, it bears repeating: the very high number of “sets” is
misleading because these are divided into cluster sets of 5 reps (give or take a few). Due to this, the
workouts in those high-volume phases do not “last forever”. Normally they take 1h30 to 1h45. Certainly
not short. But not crazy long either.
Yes 40 x 1 looks brutal and opens the door to trolls who will likely want to ridicule the program. But it’s no
more physically demanding than doing 4 sets of 10. In fact, it is a lot less demanding than doing 4 sets of
10 because you accumulate very little fatigue.

CHAPTER 5
ADAPTATIONS TO THE BOSS PLAN
While I do recommend doing the program “as is” at least once before using an
adaptation, feel free to use one of the options I present here if they excite you more.
I will present a few different approaches as well as some loading strategies you can
use to change the stimulus without really changing the basic BOSS system.
DIFFERENT APPROACHES
I have four additional variations of the system effort and repetition effort method in every
that you can use. For three of those you can training week is not conjugate. It’s concurrent.
use the volume and reps guide for main and
assistance work per block pretty much as The part of Westside that is conjugate is the
is. One will be different in how you select the constant rotation of exercises. That’s what
assistance exercises and the other one in the conjugate is: frequently changing the exercises
number of reps per set. to get a greater overall training effect.
The third option will require some reshuffling of To make the BOSS system “conjugate” we need
the training split and exercises ratios. two things:
Variant #1 Conjugate BOSS 1. a frequent change in assistance exercises

2. more emphasis on the assistance exercises
Most of you likely associate “conjugate”
with Westside barbell. Westside is, in part, a
conjugate system. As for the emphasis, we will simply change
the ratio of reps devoted to the main lift(s) and
But more precisely it is a concurrent-conjugate assistance lifts in a workout. When you know the
approach. total number of reps, it is then easy to calculate
how many “sets of 1” you should do for each
However, the thing we associate the most with exercise.
Westside: combining a max effort, a dynamic

DIFFERENT APPROACHES (CONTINUED)
The exercises number and ratios become:
CONJUGATE BOSS TEMPLATE

Number of 4 3 4 (2 main, 4 (2 main,

exercises 2 assistance) 2 assistance)
% of the reps
devoted to the 30% 40% 50% 60%
main lift(s)
% of the reps
for the 70% 60%
assistance 50% 40%
work
I won’t redo all the templates given for the With the conjugate approach it would become:
basic system but I’ll give you an example of
how the programing will change from a volume # of reps: 60
distribution standpoint. # of reps for main lift: 18 (30%)
# of reps of assistance work: 42 (70%)
In the classic/basic system if you have 60 reps
to do on an accumulation workout for overhead A. Military press 18 x 1
press, it could look like this: B. Wide-grip military press 14 x 1
C. Close-grip military press 14 x 1
# of reps: 60 D. High-incline press 14 x 1
# of reps for main lift: 30 (50%)
# of reps of assistance work: 30 (50%) The second modification is that you can change
the assistance exercises at will. Personally,
A. Military press 30 x 1 I prefer to keep the same ones for the whole
B. Wide-grip military press 10 x 1 block and change them on the next block. But
C. Close-grip military press 10 x 1 if you need more variation, it is perfectly fine to
D. High-incline press 10 x 1 change some or all of them every week.

Variant #2 The Double BOSS Can I do sets of 3? You can, but I don’t fully
recommend it. The main goal of the system is
This is the easiest modification to the system. It to accumulate as little fatigue as possible and
consists of doing sets of 2 instead of sets of 1. do the freshest reps possible. This is to improve
Everything else stays the same except that you the average repetition performance as well as
might want to extend the rest intervals slightly. technical efficiency, but mostly to avoid type IIx
conversion that will happen as you create more
You just need to take the volume allocation and fatigue.
spread it over sets of 2 instead of sets of 1. If the
allocated number of reps is uneven, you can Variant #3 Boring but BOSS (Hello Jim
either round up and do one more set or do a set Wendler)
of one when you have an unallocated rep.
Not much explaining to do here. Drop the
For example, let’s use the same example as assistance work, do all the allocated reps for the
above. main lift. Don’t reduce the number of allocated
reps; just give the assistance work reps to the
In the classic/basic system if you have 60 reps main lift.
to do on an accumulation workout for overhead
press, it could look like this: This is the ultimate neurological efficiency
builder, or what Pavel calls the “Grease the
# of reps: 60 Groove” approach. It works best if you are a very
# of reps for main lift: 30 (50%) balanced lifter without any obvious weak areas
# of reps of assistance work: 30 (50%) because you won’t fix them by only doing the
main lifts.
A. Military press 30 x 1
B. Wide-grip military press 10 x 1 Variant #4 Workman strength-skill circuit
C. Close-grip military press 10 x 1
D. High-incline press 10 x 1 I once wrote a T-nation article that had one of
the workouts performed with this approach.
In the double BOSS variant, it would become:
Essentially you pick 3 or 4 exercises covering the
# of reps: 60 whole body and you do them as a circuit, doing
# of reps for main lift: 30 (50%) only sets of 1 rep (you can do a 2 reps variation
# of reps of assistance work: 30 (50%) too). Only resting long enough to slowly walk to
the next station and set-up properly.
A. Military press 15 x 2
B. Wide-grip military press 5 x 2 The downside is that it requires 2-4 bars (if you
C. Close-grip military press 5 x 2 can use the same bar for several exercises, only
D. High-incline press 5 x 2 modifying the weight that might be better), which
might not make you popular in a commercial
As I mentioned, you take a bit more rest between gym.
sets to compensate for the greater fatigue.

But if you can do it, it works great. It’s kinda like a Now what changes?
manual labour session.
The following will need to be adapted:
Since we use a different workout structure and
because every exercise is equal to the others, 1. The training split
we must change how we build the workouts 2. How you spread the volume on each session
slightly. (# of lifts per exercise)
3. The number of exercises per session
Let’s first look at what doesn’t change compared 4. The rest periods
to the original/basic BOSS system.
Let’s start with the training split:
1. The number of blocks (accumulation,
intensification, realisation, peaking)
2. The volume allocation (total reps per sessions
for each block)
3. The intensity/loading
TRAINING SPLIT COMPARISON – BASIC STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT

Type of system
Basic BOSS Lift-specific Lift-specific Whole-body Whole-body
1 main lift with 3 1 main lift with 3 1 main lift for upper 1 main lift for upper
similar exercises similar exercises 1 main lift for lower 1 main lift for lower
And 1 assistance
for each
Workman Whole-body Whole-body Whole-body Whole-body

BOSS
1 push 1 push 1 upper push 1 upper push
1 hinge 1 hinge 1 lower body 1 lower body
1 pull 1 pull 1 upper pull 1 upper pull
1 squat 1 squat

Contrary to the basic BOSS system, the volume The rest periods would be a lot more instinctive,
(which is the same for both approaches) is use just enough to go from station to station and
spread evenly between all exercises (even if feel ready to kick ass. You can potentially take
that means rounding up by 1 or 2 reps). longer after a completed circuit.
For example, in the classic/basic system if you Regarding exercise selection: you can use
have 60 reps to do on an accumulation workout the same exercises for all the workouts, but I
for overhead press, it could look like this: suggest rotating at least some of the exercises
across all 3 or 4 sessions per week. This will
# of reps: 60 allow you to get the same variety as if you were
doing a lift-specific approach and thus get more
A. Military press 30 x 1 complete development.
B. Wide-grip military press 10 x 1
C. Close-grip military press 10 x 1 The main advantages of the workman approach
D. High-incline press 10 x 1 are:
For a workman BOSS workout it would become: 1. The workouts are shorter for the same
workload
# of reps: 60 2. You hit every muscle/movement pattern
more frequently, which is great for gains
A. Military press 15 x 1 overall
B. Rack pull below knees 15 x 1 3. It’s a lot less boring and mentally palatable
C. Pendlay row 15 x 1
D. Front squat 15 x 1 The only issue is that it can be complicated
unless you have a home gym and several bars.

LITTLE TWEAKS YOU CAN USE
Once you are comfortable with the system, you The first third of the reps are done at prescribed
can start to play with various forms of loading. weight – 10lbs, the second third is done with
the prescribed weight and the last third with
In the basic BOSS system and its variants, you prescribed weight +10lbs.
keep the same weight throughout a block, only
increasing the weight if it is too easy. 4. The doublé: This works mostly for the first two
blocks: you replace the last assistance exercise
When you are more advanced and have a well- with the main lift. For example if your lifts were:
adapted nervous system you can introduce
more variation to trigger new progress. Main: Military press
1st assistance: Wide-grip military press
Here are some options: 2nd assistance: High incline bench
3rd assistance: Close-grip military press
1. The 10lbs wave: if a block has 3 weeks, in the
first week start 10lbs lighter than the prescribed You would go to:
percentage, in the second week use the
prescribed load and in the third week use 10lbs Main: Military press
more than prescribed. If you have 2 weeks, go 1st assistance: Wide-grip military press
5lbs below the prescribed weight for week 1 and 2nd assistance: High incline bench
5lbs over for week 2. 3rd assistance: Military press
2. The intra-workout wave: use three weights It can also be done during the realization phase.
per workout for a lift: prescribed weight -10lbs, A workout becomes:
prescribed weight, prescribed weight +10lbs
and wave the weight up and down from set to 1st main: Pin pull below the knees
set (for example 200, 210, 220, 210, 200, 210, 2nd main: Military press
220, 210, 200, etc.) 1st assistance: RDL
2nd assistance: Military press
3. The intra-workout step-loading: divide the
number of singles you have to do on a lift by 3.
CAN I USE IT FOR HYPERTROPHY?

I’d love to tell you that this is a great plan to Don’t get me wrong; you will build muscle with
maximize muscle growth. It would be awesome it. But more in a thick, powerful physique kinda
for business. way.
But sadly, if your main goal is building as much There are some modifications that you can make
muscle as possible. Or to get that classic to increase the amount of muscle you will build
bodybuilder look, this is not really the plan for while still getting a good portion of the strength
you. gains from the program. But it will never be a
“bodybuilding” plan.

CAN I USE IT FOR HYPERTROPHY? (CONTINUED)
What are those modifications? The simplest 4. Adding 2-3 single joint exercises at the end
ones are: of each session during the realization block.
These are done for 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps.
1. Using a more even distribution of the volume I recommend not doing single-joint work
between the main and assistance exercises. during the peaking block.
The adjustment made for the Conjugate
BOSS plan is where I’d start. These modifications should allow you to get a
2. Switching from singles to doubles or even pretty solid physique improvement and good
triples (sets of 3). strength gains from this system.
3. Adding 1-2 single joint exercises at the end
of each session during the accumulation
and intensification blocks. These are done
for 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps.
WHAT DO I DO IF THE WEIGHTS GET TOO EASY?

I almost don’t want to answer that question. I’m 1. Slow down the eccentric. By going down
tempted to tell you: stick with the prescribed slowly you make the lift more demanding,
weight as that is the right answer 9 times out of especially on lifts where you start with the
10. Even if the weight “looks light” for one week, eccentric such as bench variations and squat
it will not hurt your gains. I will propose several variations. This is as opposed to the deadlift,
strategies to get the most out of an easy rep. military press, Pendlay row and chin-up on
which you start with the concentric. So, you
If I tell you that if the weight feels too light, just go might have guessed it, this strategy is best
a bit heavier, most of you will be almost maxing used on bench and squat variations.
out in a matter of weeks when you should be 2. Create more acceleration during the
hitting 80% weights. This will completely ruin concentric. Force equals mass times
the program. The fact of the matter is that if the acceleration. If you accelerate a lighter
weight really is too easy then yeah, you can add load you can produce just as much force
some weight. But I’m talking 5-10lbs, not 20- as if you were lifting a heavier load. This is
40lbs. By too easy here I mean that it feels like called compensatory acceleration training
you are not putting any effort into the lift and that (CAT). This is an approach that I personally
it is significantly easier than the preceding week. love because I don’t just want to be strong; I
also want to be explosive. But this might not
But there are other ways to get the most out of be the best method if you only care about
an easy set/rep: maximal strength and muscle size.

WHAT DO I DO IF THE WEIGHTS GET TOO EASY? (CONTINUED)
3. Tense up more. “Make an easy lift feel speed strength/maximal strength. Make an
hard”. Create more overall tension to easy lift feel hard so that hard lifts feel easy.
compensate for the lack of load. This is 4. Reduce rest intervals. By shortening the
called compensatory tension training (CTT). rest intervals, you accumulate more fatigue
For example, in a military press squeeze so that after some reps it will feel heavier and
the bar as hard as you can. Imagine getting heavier.
punched in the stomach and make your abs
rock hard and then some. Squeeze your
glutes like your life depends on it. Grab the I would personally recommend using one of
floor hard with your toes. Try to vigorously those (or two at the same time) before playing
spread the bar apart as you press. You just with the weight.
made a light lift almost feel like a max effort
while getting a stronger neurological training
effect and getting a better transfer to slow-

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
Unconventional? Absolutely.
Boring? To some, yeah.
Effective? Without a doubt.
This plan will get you super strong as well as But this program works and is scientifically
improve your technique and explosiveness. sound even though it looks weird and will
Despite what seems to be a monstrous amount undoubtedly attracts tons of hate.
of volume in the first two blocks, it is in fact very
easy to recover from and will not trash you at all. In fact I almost titled this e-book “The BOSS
System: the most effective program that
I’m not gonna lie, I wrote this book for me. This nobody will do”.
is literally my training wet dream and it took me
years to accept training that way. It is so outside If you made it this far, there might at least be two
the norm that taking the leap can be frightening. who to do it!
Even a well-respected coach like myself is prone Be.Less.Bad.

to bias. Even if we want to innovate and explore,
we still have boundaries that we hesitate to
cross.
A system can be different and novel, but still

based on traditional thinking.
It’s hard to accept going into the “the internetz

will laugh at me” zone. Also known as “going full
Seedman”.

Christian Thibaudeau
ABOUT CHRIS
Christian Thibaudeau: has been involved in the
business of training for over the last 20 years.
During this period, he worked with athletes
from 28 different sports. He has been “Head
Strength Coach” for the Central Institute for
Human Performance (official center of the St.
Louis Blues). His work method enabled him to
lead several successful athletes in a multitude
of different disciplines. Christian is a prolific
writer with three books published, each of which
translated into three languages (The Black Book
of Training Secrets, Theory and Application of
Modern Strength and Power Methods, High
Threshold Muscle Building). He also co-wrote
the book Maximum Muscle Bible (2017) with Paul
Carter. Christian is also a senior author and head
writer for the E-Magazine T-Nation. His articles
are read by over 200,000 people every week.
As a lecturer, he has given conferences and
seminars around the world, to audiences ranging
from amateur athletes to health professionals
and coaches of all types.
Christian Popularized the

Neurotyping System
Neural optimization supersedes hormonal
optimization because the neural response
affects the hormonal response. This is essentially
the founding principle and inspiration behind
Christian Thibaudeau’s Neurotyping System.
The bottom line is simple: you are more likely
to train hard, be focused, and stay motivated if
you like the type of training you are doing. The
training that goes against your nature causes
a higher stress response that hinders optimal
progression.
Learn more at thibarmy.com

The B.O.S.S System

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The B.O.S.S System

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Powered by

BY COACH CHRISTIAN THIBAUDEAU

© 2023 Ballistic Management Inc. All Rights Reserved

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 2

A CLIENT WALKS BY…

Years ago, when I was working as a personal trainer, one of my

She stopped to watch me lift.

I proceed to do one repetition.

She stares, confused.

“That’s it? Why can’t I train like that?” she joked.

Obviously, our goals were completely different. But regardless,

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 3

Let’s also look at a typical “bro” chest workout:

• Bench press 4 x 8 (32 reps)

You reach a total of 153 reps, including 108 on

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 4

(All done at a bodyweight of 187 – 207lbs and

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 5

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 6

Here are some of the mistakes I made:

YOU WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES THAT I MADE

Although the reality is a bit more complex.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 7

The same approach would work very well with

What are the benefits of training with singles

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 8

1. Improves your capacity to recruit fast-twitch fibers.

Let’s say that you are doing a set of 10 repetitions.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 9

3. Little to no negative muscle fiber conversion.

This conversion takes place when you impose

The more fatigue you build up in a set (or a

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 10

4. Targets the muscle fibers and 6. Promotes a higher average focus

You know what is the best way to make sure that

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 11

LET’S EXAMINE THE MOST LIKELY ARGUMENTS AGAINST THIS APPROACH:

1. Can more easily burnout.

2. You can’t get enough volume to grow.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 12

4. Can be boring for some

5. Less stimulation of intermediate and slow-twitch fibers.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 13

7. Might not properly address imbalances.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 14

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 15

It is important to understand what a specific

I mean, if you are a pro athlete earning millions

But most of you reading this book aren’t pro

I absolutely do not believe in forcing someone

If you can find a way to design a plan that is

I personally love doing singles. As I mentioned,

This is a book to show you how to get results by

If you are excited, then let’s get on with it. If not,

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 16

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 17

TOTAL NUMBER OF LIFTS PER WORKOUT FOR EACH BLOCK

There are three key bits of information in this table.

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 18

Here is a weekly breakdown of the volume.

TOTAL NUMBER OF LIFTS PER WORKOUT FOR EACH WEEK

THE B.O.S.S SYSTEM (BUNCH OF SKILLED SINGLES) 19

RELATIVE VERSUS REAL INTENSITY