Workout A — squat, horizontal push/pull, knee and ankle prehab

Workout A — Squat, horizontal push/pull, knee and ankle prehab Reps default to 12, with exceptions marked. A dash means no rep target. Rows marked P are prehab.
#	Exercise	Reps	Notes
1	Front Squat	5	One set of five. Elbows high, chest tall.
2	Barbell Squat	12	Heaviest axial item in the week. 12-rep squats three times a week are the largest sustained axial load in the plan — if something becomes the recovery bottleneck, it is most likely this.
3	Barbell Bench Press or DB Bench Press	12	Your choice, switchable any time. Either one occupies the slot on its own, so the cut line does not move. Push-ups are a separate slot at #9 and everyone does them regardless.
4	Barbell Rows	12
5	BSS (Contralateral Hold)	12/leg	DB in opposite hand, tight fist for balance.
6	Alternating DB Bench	12/arm	Non-working arm holds locked out at the top. Stays in whichever A2 variant you run — it is a different item doing different work.
7	Alternating Gorilla Rows	12/arm	Keep the non-working bell glued to the floor.
8	Hanging Windshield Wipers	—	Loaded rotation and anti-lateral-flexion. No rep target: progression comes from leverage. Leverage ladder knees tucked → bent → ½ straight → straight → straight + ankle weights
Cut line — stopping here is a complete session
9	Push-Ups	—	To near-failure. The rep count is the progression variable — beat last time.
10	Two-Legged Hamstring Curl	12	Bilateral — quick, low fatigue cost.
11	Triceps Pushdowns	12
12	Single-Leg Leg Press	12/leg	Safe quad pump.
P	Poliquin / Petersen Step-Ups	—	Knee-friendly terminal-range work. Light or bodyweight. Leverage ladder low box, bodyweight → higher box, bodyweight → higher box, 3s down → holding DBs
P	Wall Tibialis Raises	—	Easy pump. Leverage ladder both legs, feet close → both legs, feet mid → both legs, feet far → single leg → single leg, 3s down → single leg + weight
P	Lying Back Extension	—	Face down, lift the chest slowly and lower it slowly. Take it as hard as you like. Leverage ladder hands by sides → hands at temples → arms overhead → arms overhead, 2s hold at the top
P	Band Finger Extensions	~30 s	Both hands, about 30 seconds. Counterbalance to daily grip flexion — this program loads the hands every single session.

Workout A — Squat, horizontal push/pull, knee and ankle prehab Reps default to 12, with exceptions marked. A dash means no rep target. Rows marked P are prehab.

Exercise

Reps

Notes

Front Squat

One set of five. Elbows high, chest tall.

Barbell Squat

Heaviest axial item in the week. 12-rep squats three times a week are the largest sustained axial load in the plan — if something becomes the recovery bottleneck, it is most likely this.

Barbell Bench Press or DB Bench Press

Your choice, switchable any time. Either one occupies the slot on its own, so the cut line does not move. Push-ups are a separate slot at #9 and everyone does them regardless.

Barbell Rows

BSS (Contralateral Hold)

12/leg

DB in opposite hand, tight fist for balance.

Alternating DB Bench

12/arm

Non-working arm holds locked out at the top. Stays in whichever A2 variant you run — it is a different item doing different work.

Alternating Gorilla Rows

12/arm

Keep the non-working bell glued to the floor.

Hanging Windshield Wipers

—

Loaded rotation and anti-lateral-flexion. No rep target: progression comes from leverage. Leverage ladder knees tucked → bent → ½ straight → straight → straight + ankle weights

Cut line — stopping here is a complete session

Push-Ups

—

To near-failure. The rep count is the progression variable — beat last time.

Two-Legged Hamstring Curl

Bilateral — quick, low fatigue cost.

Triceps Pushdowns

Single-Leg Leg Press

12/leg

Safe quad pump.

Poliquin / Petersen Step-Ups

—

Knee-friendly terminal-range work. Light or bodyweight. Leverage ladder low box, bodyweight → higher box, bodyweight → higher box, 3s down → holding DBs

Wall Tibialis Raises

—

Easy pump. Leverage ladder both legs, feet close → both legs, feet mid → both legs, feet far → single leg → single leg, 3s down → single leg + weight

Lying Back Extension

—

Face down, lift the chest slowly and lower it slowly. Take it as hard as you like. Leverage ladder hands by sides → hands at temples → arms overhead → arms overhead, 2s hold at the top

Band Finger Extensions

~30 s

Both hands, about 30 seconds. Counterbalance to daily grip flexion — this program loads the hands every single session.

The cut line, after #8

Exercises 1–8 are the session. By the time the eighth is done, the squat, both horizontal patterns, the unilateral leg work and the loaded core are all in. Walking out there is a complete session, not an abandoned one.

It is still an exception rather than a routine option — off days, time pressure — and every use gets logged. Cut-line frequency is a diagnostic, not a failure count: more than two cuts a fortnight means the session is too long, recovery is short, or life has changed shape. Note also what a cut actually deletes here — the hamstring curl, the triceps work, the leg press and all three prehab items. Habitual cuts quietly remove those from the program while the table still claims them.

Slot #3 is your choice

The horizontal press at position 3 can be run either way, and the setting is switchable at any time without restarting anything:

Barbell Bench Press — one set, the load autoregulated like everything else.
DB Bench Press — one set, the load autoregulated like everything else.

Both options occupy the one slot, so the cut line stays after #8 either way, and Alternating DB Bench at #6 stays in regardless — swapping #3 does not replace it.

Reps are not blanket 12

The default is 12 and the exceptions are marked in the table. A dash means no rep target at all: naturally loaded movements — the windshield wipers, the wall tib raises, the step-ups — have their intensity set by leverage and position rather than by weight on a bar. The rep count is whatever the movement gives you that day, and progression comes from the ladder shown in the notes: longer lever, greater range, slower tempo.

Where there is a weight, reps may still float in a band of 8 to 16 to absorb equipment granularity — a leg press stepping 20 kg has no load that gives twelve reps at RPE 7–8 once twelve at the lower weight has gone easy. Reps and load are one ladder →