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The Ramp is how Activebodyhabits writes training. Four phases, a planned deload, and three reviews. The load goes up when the work on the floor says it can. It comes down when fatigue, travel, or a noisy joint says it should.
A cycle is twelve weeks on purpose. Long enough for a squat and a row to move. Short enough that we still remember the screen you did in week one. We write the work in four phases so you are not asked to peak in week two and then grind the same session until you stall.
Progression is earned. If a set looks the same as last week and the effort note is lower, we add load or density next time. If the positions slip, we hold. If you miss a week, we rewrite the remaining days rather than stacking catch-up sessions on tired tissue.
The deload in weeks eleven and twelve is scheduled. It is a lighter week with the same patterns, not a blank diary. That is how the next cycle can start from a higher baseline instead of from leftover fatigue.
Each phase has a job. You should be able to say, in one sentence, what this block is for. If the week feels confusing, the phase has drifted and we rewrite it at the next review.
Learn the patterns we will load later. Collect starting numbers on the squat, hinge, press, and one conditioning piece. Volume is moderate. The effort should feel repeatable the next morning. You leave these two weeks with a sheet that has real numbers on it, not guesses from a form.
The movement screen is still close in memory. If a pattern is ugly, we spend these days cleaning it rather than adding plates.
Add sets. Keep the loads in a range you can hold with the same depth and tempo. This is where attendance matters most. Missing two Build weeks is harder to hide than missing a Peak day. Accessories get a little denser. Conditioning stays at an effort you can talk through in short phrases.
The week-four review sits here. We look at whether the plan still matches the days you actually trained.
Raise intensity. Fewer back-off sets, heavier top sets, tighter rest on the engine work. Positions must stay honest. If depth or bar path breaks, the extra kilograms do not count as progress and we drop back a step.
Week eight is the second review. We decide whether Peak will be a test week or a tidy consolidation if life has been noisy.
Week eleven is the proof: a benchmark lift and a conditioning piece you have seen before. Week twelve is the deload. Volume drops. You still come in. You leave fresher than you arrived in week ten, with notes for the next Ramp.
The week-twelve review writes the following cycle. If you are stopping, you leave with a four-week hold plan.
We add weight, pace, or volume when the last session hit the target RPE with the prescribed range, and when you slept and ate well enough to repeat it. One good day is a data point. Two in a row is a green light. We add the smallest jump that the equipment allows, often 2.5 kilograms on a barbell or a small damper change on the bike.
We cut load when positions slip, when a joint stays angry after the session, or when attendance has dropped below the days we wrote. Cutting is a decision, not a failure. A held week with clean reps is worth more than a forced personal best that you cannot walk on the next morning.
Tempo changes count as progression. A slower eccentric at the same load is harder. We use it when adding plates would break the pattern.
The planned deload is weeks eleven and twelve. Extra deloads happen if you land a heavy work trip, a fever, or a flare-up. Tell us early. We would rather rewrite five days than watch you grind through Load on three hours of sleep.
Cancel at least six hours ahead so the slot can go to the waitlist. A missed session is logged as missed. We do not invent catch-up hours that wreck the next morning. If you miss a full week, the following week starts at the last quality session, not at the week number on the calendar.
The training log is a paper sheet plus a short digital note after each hour. You see the lift, the load, the RPE, and a one-line comment. Coaches write in the same place. That log is what we open at reviews. We do not ask you to remember week three from memory.
Each review is a conversation with the sheet in front of both of us. We look at strength markers, the conditioning benchmark, attendance, and the mobility screen. We ask what the week actually looked like outside the studio: sleep, travel, meals you could control.
Week four is a course correction. Week eight is a decision about Peak. Week twelve is a full rewrite or a clean exit. You should leave each review knowing the next block’s main lift, the days you will train, and one habit to hold between sessions.
If the cycle is not going to plan because of injury, a secondment, or illness, we pause or we write a reduced Ramp. Training around a doctor’s advice is normal here. Pretending the original sheet still applies is not.
The first Ramp starts after the movement screen. Bring the days you can keep.