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GZCLP

Beginner 4 days/week Rotation progression Powerlifting

GZCLP is Cody Lefever's linear-progression application of the GZCL method: three tiers of work every day, four days a week, and a ladder you drop down when you stall rather than a calendar you follow. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load.

What this program is

Every GZCLP day is the same three tiers. T1 is one main lift, heavy and low-rep, with the last set taken for as many reps as you can. T2 is a second main lift for moderate volume. T3 is accessory work at high reps, last set all out again. Across the four days each of squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press appears once as a T1 and once as a T2, so every lift gets both a heavy day and a volume day inside one week.

Day 1 T1 Squat T2 Bench T3 accessories Day 2 T1 Press T2 Deadlift T3 accessories Day 3 T1 Bench T2 Squat T3 accessories Day 4 T1 Deadlift T2 Press T3 accessories

The ladders, and why they are a choice

GZCLP does not change on a schedule. It changes when you FAIL. The T1 ladder runs 5x3, then 6x2, then 10x1; the T2 ladder runs 3x10, then 3x8, then 3x6. You stay on a rung until the reps stop coming, then drop to the next one, and the two ladders move on their own timetables. Encoding those transitions against week numbers would put a promise in the program that the program cannot keep, so in Ægir Iron the stage is something you pick when you load it. Stall, come back, and load the next rung, or just edit the sessions in place, which is faster.

At a glance

DisciplinePowerlifting
Experience levelBeginner to early intermediate
LengthEight four-day rotations of runway
Training days4 per week
EquipmentFull power gym
LoadingPercentage of a training max, resolved live from your four main maxes, with the T1 all-out set driving the bump each rotation.
PriceFree for individual lifters and rostered athletes

Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.

How it works in Ægir Iron

GZCLP as written adds weight every time a lift is trained, which is a jump in pounds a template cannot know. What it can carry is the thing that jump is for: each lift moves up once per rotation, off the reps you earned on the T1 all-out set. So each four-day rotation is its own cycle in Ægir Iron. Finish one and the app offers to advance your training maxes, sized by what the top set actually produced, and the next rotation reprices itself. Set your squat, bench, deadlift and press maxes on the PR page, or add quick estimates as you load, and every T1 and T2 set is priced and rounded to the plate. The T3 accessories carry no percentage, because GZCL does not prescribe one for them.

Pick your T1 and T2 rungs when you load it, and turn the T3 accessories off if you would rather add your own. Everything stays editable afterwards.

Start GZCLP

Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerlifting, then choose GZCLP from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.

Load GZCLP free →