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Paragon Strength Cycles Fall 2025
Program Cycles

Strength Cycles – Fall 2025

When new training cycles begin Monday November 3rd, you get to “choose your own adventure” based on YOUR current goals.

Rather than having to choose between following a strength cycle or hypertrophy cycle, you get to “mix and match” the two as much as you desire!

Everyone will follow the same programming base, but you get to decide the if repeating movements are Strength or Hypertrophy focused.

We’ll list out the movement options and rep schemes, and then you get to pick what lifts you do and how many reps you perform.

*A little birdie ALSO told us that due to popular request, this cycle will have a slight glute focus!

  • Hate Squats, but love Deadlifts?
  • Going full send lifting heavy?
  • Want some hypertrophy AND some strength work?
  • The world is your oyster this cycle! (:
 

But no fret: there’ll still be tons of bodybuilding and accessory work either way, so you can maximize looking great AND getting strong.

And with our free cardio-add on program, you’ll still have the option to complete up to 1-3 cardio sessions each week, if you want to. You can run, bike, swim, or row.

More About This Cycle

This is a 5-week strength cycle designed to help you get stronger, build more muscle, hopefully hit some new PR’s, and improve your ability to lift heavy weight.

If you choose to do the optional cardio sessions, you can also expect to improve your endurance, engine, and cardiovascular health as well!


Workout Splits

    • 3-Day Full Gym Physique: lower, upper, full body
    • 4-Day Full Gym Physique: lower, upper, lower, upper
    • 5-Day Full Gym Physique: lower, push, pull, lower, upper
    • Home Physique: option to lift 3 or 4 days per week
    • DB Physique: option to lift 3 or 4 days per week
     

    Optional Cardio

    • option to complete up to 3 cardio sessions per week
    • you can run, bike, swim, row, ruck, etc
    • choose between zone 2 or zone 5

    Repeating Movements

    Here are some of the weekly repeating movements to look forward to during this strength cycle.

    As always, there will be movement swap ideas listed within the app if equipment isn’t available, you need to scale, or you just don’t enjoy doing that movement or lift.

    *For the purposes of keeping this blog succinct, we’ll only be listing out the programmed strength movements. But there will be plenty of hypertrophy swap options listed as well.

    • Barbell Back Squat
    • Barbell Front Squat
    • Barbell Deadlift
    • Barbell Split Squat
    • Barbell Bench Press
    • Barbell Overhead Press
    • Strict Pull-ups
    • Chest-Supported Row
    • Pendlay Row
    • Steep Incline DB Press

    Detailed Cycle Discussion

    Hey hey. Paragon Co-founder Bryan Boorstein here to discuss the new training cycles for Fall 2025.

    Beginning November 3rd, our Physique programs will be entering into a “Choose Your Own Adventure” Strength + Hypertrophy Cycle (except for 45-Minute Physique and DB Physique – more details below).

    You will have the option to follow a strength-focused track, a hypertrophy-focused track, or a combo of the two during this training cycle.
     
    This mostly pertains to the repeating movements from each training day, since the remainder of the training each day will be programmed with more of a hypertrophy focus. 
     
    The cycle will also have a bit of extra glute focus, as many of the movements are hip dominant, essentially making the glutes the primary fulcrum of rotation (the area achieving the most stimulus).
     
    The glute-dominance will expand beyond just the repeating movements each day and will also be apparent in some of the accessory work later in the day as well.
     
    Feel free to sub in hamstring or quad focused movements if that better suits your goals (:
     
     
    Example Training Day

    In parts A + B, choose between strength or hypertrophy.

    Whatever movement and focus you choose, make sure to stay consistent with week-to-week so you can progress these effectively over the course of the training cycle.

     

    A. Low Bar Back Squat

    STRENGTH Focus:
    2-4 warm-up sets, then:
    2 work sets x 4 reps
    Rest 2-3 min

    HYPERTROPHY Focus:
    2-3 warm-up sets, then:
    3 work sets x 6-10 reps
    Rest 2-3 min

     
    Strength Movement Swaps:
    *Barbell Back Squat – High Bar
     
    Hypertrophy Movement Swaps:
    *Machine Hack Squat
    *Glute Focused Leg Press
    *Heels Elevated Back Squat w/ Pause
    *Foam Roller DB Hack Squats
     

    B. Conventional Deadlift

    STRENGTH Focus:
    2-4 warm-up sets, then: 
    2 work sets x 4 reps 
    Rest 2-3 min 

    HYPERTROPHY Focus:
    2-3 warm-up sets, then:
    3 work sets x 5-8 reps
    Rest 2-3 min 

    Strength Movement Swaps
    *Sumo Deadlift
    *Trap Bar Deadlift

    Hypertrophy Movement Swaps:
    *Barbell RDL
    *Trap Bar RDL
    *DB RDL

    C. Glute Focused DB or Cable Step-ups
    1-2 warm-up sets per leg, then:
    2 work sets x 6-10 reps/leg
    Rest 1-2 min between legs

    D. Machine or Banded Leg Curls
    1 warm-up set, then:
    3 work sets x 6-10 reps 
    Rest 1-2 min 

    E. Weighted Plank Hold
    3 total sets x 30-45 seconds
    Increase weight each set
    Find HEAVIEST weight for 30-45 seconds
    Rest 1-2 min between sets

    F. Russian DB Twists
    2 work sets x 16-20 reps (8-10/side)
    Rest 1 min between sets

     
    Not Sure Whether to Choose Strength or Hypertrophy?
     

    Consider choosing more strength options if…

    • you miss lifting super heavy
    • you feel a little bored by your workouts right now
    • you miss doing the “big” lifts (squats, deadlifts, etc)
    • you want to get stronger and hit new lift PR’s
    • you’re newer to lifting, never done a strength cycle before, or been training hypertrophy for quite some time

    Choose more hypertrophy options if…

    • #1 goal right now is to improve your body composition and you want to maximize looking your very best
    • you are currently dieting to lose body fat OR eating in a big calorie surplus to try and gain more muscle
    • you are doing lots of running right now and find you struggle to recover from heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, etc
    • you’re currently recovering from an injury or coming back from surgery or pregnancy 
    • you’re in a super stressful or busy szn of life
    • you plan to be traveling and working with limited equipment the next few 5 weeks

     
    More Details of the Strength Cycle
     
    The strength protocol this cycle will utilize an extremely popular and scientifically-backed method simply called Linear Progression.
     
    This is one of the simpler forms of progressive overload to implement and is also backed by science as the most effective way to increase strength over a training block.
     
    Each week throughout the 5-week cycle, the target reps will decrease, signaling a coordinated increase in weight week to week. 
     
    A 2009 study on women by Prestes and colleagues found that Linear Periodization provided significantly more strength improvements on movements like Bench Press, Cable Pulldowns, Cable Curls, and Leg Extensions when compared to alternative methods.
     
    If you want to read more, click the link below:
     
    Programming Schedule:
    Week 1: Sets of 5 Reps
    Week 2: Sets of 4 Reps 
    Week 3: Sets of 3 Reps 
    Week 4: Sets of 2 Reps 
    Week 5: Testing to a 1-Rep Max 
     
    Throughout the course of the cycle, the proximity to failure will decrease across both strength and hypertrophy programming.
     
    This means the cycle will start with around 4 reps in reserve, and then finish with a single rep near failure for the final testing week. 
     

    Hypertrophy will follow a similar protocol for reps in reserve, but the rep range targets will remain more in the hypertrophy range (~5-12 reps/set in most cases). 


    Warm Up Guidelines (when building to your working weight)
    • 50-60% of working weight x 6-10 Reps
    • 70-75% of working weight x 3-5 Reps
    • 85-90% of working weight (optional) x 1 rep

    ^ then perform your challenging working sets as listed 


    Movement Swap Options
     
    In prior cycles, the alternative movement swaps swaps listed in the app have been written specifically around equipment access (for example: alternate dumbbell swaps, barbell swaps, machine swaps, etc)
     
    In this cycle, the alternative movement swaps will be listed based on whether they apply to a strength rep scheme, or the hypertrophy rep scheme. 
     
    This is because certain movements are only applicable for hypertrophy, given that they would not be a productive choice to “build to a 1-rep max” at the end of the cycle. 
     
    For example, a Leg Press machine is a great quad exercise that is listed as a swap option for Low Bar Back Squats. However, we would never want to test a one-rep max on a Machine Leg Press.
     
    The same applies to other hypertrophy-specific swaps, such as Cable Pulldowns instead of Pull-ups, Machine Overhead Press compared to Barbell Overhead Press, etc.
     
    But you can always use the strength movement for any hypertrophy rep range. 
     
    For example: maybe you enjoying deadlifting, but would prefer to NOT to do them for really heavy sets of super low reps. You can definitely do Deadlifts for higher rep sets, as listed for the hypertrophy option in the programming.

     
    DB Physique & 45-Minute Physique
     
    As with prior strength cycles, DB Physique always remain in hypertrophy and will not follow the strength cycle programming.
     
    This is because much like some machine exercises, DB-specific exercises aren’t always conducive to building to a one-rep max.
     
    For example: it makes sense to max out on a Barbell Deadlift or Barbell Back Squat, but it wouldn’t really make sense to max out on a DB Deadlift or DB Front Squat.
     
    Those lifting with dumbbells also may not have access to a wide variety of weights and may only have a few pairs of dumbbells at their disposal. 
     
    45-Minute Physique also remains in hypertrophy during our strength cycles at Paragon.
     
    It takes so much time to warm up for the “big barbell movements” like squats, deadlift, etc that members with less time might only get through 2-3 movements in a 45 minute training session. Hypertrophy rep ranges are much more productive when someone is short on time.

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    LCK and Bryan from Paragon Training Methods

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