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ShredSmart Novice Routine: Instructions


Hello and thank you for joining the ShredSmart Main Training Routine! This guide will explain the progression model you should use to make the best strength and muscle gains.

This is the routine you have in the app:

Monday – Upper Body

  • Incline Bench Press – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Weighted Chins – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Seated DB Shoulder Press – 3 sets of 7-8 reps
  • Machine Chest Press – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Standing DB Curls – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Cable Triceps Pushdowns – 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Wednesday – Lower Body

  • Barbell Squats – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Romanian Deadlift – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Leg Press – 3 sets of 7-8 reps
  • Seated Calf Raises – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
  • Standing Calf Raises – 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Friday – Upper Body

  • Incline Bench Press – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Weighted Chins – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Seated DB Shoulder Press – 3 sets of 7-8 reps
  • Cable Rows – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
  • Standing DB Curls – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Cable Triceps Pushdowns – 3 sets of 10-12 reps

RPE Guidelines:

Set 1 – RPE 7-7.5

Set 2 – RPE 8-8.5

Set 3 – RPE 8.5-9.5

You should follow this routine until you reach intermediate strength standards. During that time it will have to be modified slightly. If you find you no longer enjoy doing some of the exercises, replace them with a similar variation to bring excitement back into your training. Here is the routine again, this time with different exercises.

Monday – Upper Body

  • Flat Bench Press – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Weighted Pull-ups – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Standing Shoulder Press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
  • Machine Chest Flyes – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Standing Barbell Curls – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Skullcrushers – 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Wednesday – Lower Body

  • Front Squats – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Deadlift – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Bulgarian Split Squats – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
  • Seated Calf Raises – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
  • Standing Calf Raises – 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Friday – Upper Body

  • Flat Bench Press – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Weighted Pull-ups – 3 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Standing Shoulder Press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
  • Barbell Rows – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
  • Standing Barbell Curls – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Skullcrushers – 3 sets of 10-12 reps


Notes For The Routine:

  • Legs usually grow faster than the upper body and one workout per week is usually enough to develop them. However, if you want to develop your lower body more, you can do the lower body workout twice per week. In that case you can do Monday – Upper Body, Tuesday – Lower Body, Wednesday – rest, Thursday – Upper Body, Friday – Lower Body.
  • Rest 2-3 minutes between sets for the compound exercises and 1-2 minutes for the isolation exercises.

How To Progress With This Routine


For this routine we’re going to use a double progression model. You can see that all exercises have a rep range, for example 5-6 or 8-10. When you hit the top of the rep range in all sets, increase the weight by 2.5 kg (5lbs) on all sets the following workout and go back to the bottom of the rep range. Over the following workouts aim to add one rep to each set until you reach the top of the rep range. At that point you increase the weight again by 2.5 kg or 5 lbs and restart the process.

For example, let’s say this Monday you did 3 sets of 6 on bench press with 65 kg or 145 lbs.

Set 1 – 6 reps with 65 kg / 145 lbs

Set 2 – 6 reps with 65 kg / 145 lbs

Set 3 – 6 reps with 65 kg / 145 lbs


On Friday you add 2.5 kg (5 lbs) to all sets and do sets of 5 instead:

Set 1 – 5 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 2 – 5 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 3 – 5 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs


Next time you do bench press you will focus on adding reps to each set until you hit 6 again. You may do:

Set 1 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 2 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 3 – 5 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs


Next time you may do:

Set 1 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 2 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs

Set 3 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs


At this point you increase the weight by 2.5kg (5 lbs) and decrease the reps to 5 to restart the process.

Don’t worry if you can’t add reps one workout. You can’t be stronger every single time you hit the gym. Focus on making good progress each month instead of getting frustrated you did not perform well one workout.

How To Use RPE


In order to make predictable progress, you should stay away from failure. Failure is the point where you fail to complete a repetition with good form or you have to ask someone to help you lift the weight back up. That shouldn’t happen. At the end of each set you should be able to perform at least one more repetition with good form. This will ensure easy, predictable progress every week.

In the gym where I train I still see some people training past failure and doing forced reps. They do reps until they can no longer lift the weight by themselves and then have someone help them ek out 2 or 3 more reps (usually on bench press). That is counterproductive. Not only is progress slower when using forced reps, it’s also really hard to track since you never know how strong you really are.

Ideally, you should never fail to complete a repetition. In order to ensure that doesn’t happen, we’re going to also track RPE.

RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. The goal of RPE is to allow you to measure how close you get to failure at the end of a set. RPE is based on repetitions in reserve – basically how many reps you think you could have done with a given weight.


I feel it would have been way easier to understand RPE if the scale was reversed and 9 RPE become 1 or 8 RPE became 2 to signify the reps remaining. But most people in the fitness community use 10 RPE to signify technical failure so I use this scale too in order to avoid confusion.

The ShredSmart workouts are all based on doing straight sets – all sets are done with the same weight. RPE allows you to predict whether you’ll be able to complete all the reps with the weight you’re using before actually performing all sets.

In order to be able to complete 3 sets of equal reps with the same weight, the first set needs to be around 7 RPE, meaning you could have done around 3 more reps when you stopped that set. Then your second set is going to be around 8 RPE because you’re more fatigued and finally your last set is going to be around 9 RPE.

If your first set has a 9 RPE it’s clear you won’t be able to lift the same weight for the same number of reps for two more sets. That tells you need to lower the weight in order to complete the required reps.

For optimal progress you should follow these RPE guidelines:

Set 1 – 7 to 7.5 RPE

Set 2 – 8 to 8.5 RPE

Set 3 – 8.5 to 9.5 RPE

On big leg exercises (such as squats, deadlifts, leg press, hip thrusts) the RPE is reduced to 5-6 RPE in set one, 6-7 RPE in set 2, and 7-8 RPE in set three. Training close to failure on these exercises is dangerous because there’s a high risk of injury.


Sticking to these RPE guidelines is more important for strength progression than pushing to complete the required reps. For example if your third set asks for 6 reps and a 9 RPE, the RPE takes priority. If on the fourth rep you already hit 9.5 RPE (meaning you know you probably couldn’t do one more rep) it’s best to end the set there instead of trying to push for 6 reps and inevitably fail. So the exercise that workout might look like this:

Set 1 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 8

Set 2 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 8.5

Set 3 – 4 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 9.5


Your goal for the next workout is to add reps in the last set while making sure you stay below 9.5 RPE. Your next workout could turn out like this:

Set 1 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 7

Set 2 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 8

Set 3 – 5 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 9


Or it could turn out like this:

Set 1 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 7

Set 2 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 8

Set 3 – 6 reps with 67.5 kg / 150 lbs RPE 9.5


Besides ensuring good progress, using RPE also promotes good form and helps prevents injuries. Most people get injured (joint pain, muscle tears, tendinitis, muscle pain, etc) when they compromise exercise form in order to do more reps than they can actually handle. If you teach yourself to stop each set 1 to 3 reps before failure you will be much safer in the gym and will avoid injuries that would have otherwise stopped you from training for a few weeks or months.