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Let's build your program

About twelve quick questions. Your answers personalize everything, starting with where you begin, your schedule, your equipment, and any modifications your joints have earned. About two minutes.

Which version do you want?

Two programs, same principles. Pick the one you want — you can switch at any time.

The women's version
Written for women in midlife, around and after menopause The men's version
Written for men in midlife and beyond

First, what's your main goal right now?

This one answer shapes your whole program. You can change it anytime.

Get strong, bones and muscle Lose weight, without losing muscle Both, get strong and lose weight

1. How old are you?

One number. It changes your jump progression and how fast your program adds weight.

2. A few quick heart questions first

The same ones any good trainer would ask. Check any that apply to you:

I get chest pain or unusual pressure during physical activity I've fainted or had unexplained dizziness in the past year I have a heart condition my doctor monitors I've had a heart attack, a stent, or bypass surgery My blood pressure is high and not currently controlled A doctor has told me I shouldn't exercise without supervision None of these apply to me

Talk to your doctor first, then come back

None of what you checked means you can't lift. For most men it means the opposite, and heavy training is usually recommended. What it does mean is that your physician should see this program before you start.

Four questions to bring them: Is heavy resistance training appropriate for me? Should I avoid holding my breath through a heavy rep? Are short interval sessions appropriate, and how hard? Do any of my medications change how I should train?

Your program will remove its heaviest three weeks and hold your effort target one notch easier, automatically.

I've talked with my doctor and they're on board

2b. A few things about a normal day

This program was written for men who manage daily life on their own two feet. These questions tell us whether it actually fits you. Check any that apply:

I need my hands to push up out of a chair I use a walker or a cane, or I hold furniture to move around indoors I cannot walk for 10 minutes without stopping to rest I have fallen more than once in the past year None of these apply to me

2c. Have you been treated for prostate cancer?

We ask because it changes your program in ways that matter, not to rule you out. Lifting is well supported for men in your situation.

No Yes, treated — but not on hormone therapy Yes, and I am on or have been on hormone therapy
Androgen deprivation therapy — Lupron, Eligard, Firmagon, Orgovyx, Zoladex, or similar

Your oncology team needs to see this first

Start with the good news, because it is real. Across 30 randomized trials in more than 2,000 men with prostate cancer, resistance training improved muscle mass, cut body fat, and improved fatigue, energy, and quality of life — with no effect on PSA. Hormone therapy causes exactly the muscle and bone loss this program is built to fight. You are not a man who should train despite his treatment.

Here is the honest limit. Those trials used supervised, moderate lifting. Nobody has tested the heaviest version of this program, or jumping, in men with treatment-related bone loss. So your program starts on the 2-day version, drops its heaviest three weeks, and holds the jumps until you have an answer about your bone density.

Five questions for your oncology team: What is my bone density and fracture risk? Am I on a bone-protective medication, or should I be? Do I have bone metastases, and are there loads or movements to avoid? Is jumping appropriate for me? Anything about my cardiovascular risk I should account for?

I've talked with my oncology team and they're on board

3. Do you know your bone density (DXA scan) results?

Most men have never had one. That's a normal answer here.

Normal Osteopenia (lower than normal) Osteoporosis I've never been tested

4. Any of these in your history?

Check all that apply:

I've broken a bone after age 40 from a fall from standing height or less I've taken oral steroids (prednisone or similar) for more than 3 months I take a GLP-1 medication (semaglutide, tirzepatide, or similar) None of these

4b. Are you currently using any of these?

It changes the numbers in your program, not whether you get one. Your answers never leave this device.

None of these Testosterone or similar, prescribed by a physician Anabolic steroids or SARMs, not prescribed Prefer not to say

You get the same program. One thing worth knowing: the loading and recovery in it assume ordinary physiology. If you recover faster than it expects, that is why — and piling extra volume on top is how tendons get hurt, because they do not adapt any faster than anyone else's.

4c. Which is closest to how you eat right now?

Men get asked this far less than women do, which is why it is here.

I eat enough to cover my training I often skip meals, or eat well under what my training asks I cycle between bulking and cutting I honestly do not know

5. Which one describes your lifting history?

Read all three before you answer. Most men pick wrong the first time.

I've never trained with weights, or never with a barbell I used to lift, but not consistently in the last two years
High school, college, your thirties — if you stopped and haven't been back, this is you I'm training now, at least twice a week for most of the last year

This is the answer that changes your program the most, so here's the reasoning. Strength comes back fast — faster than you expect. Tendon does not. It adapts over months where muscle works in weeks, which opens a window around week three where you can produce force your connective tissue hasn't seen in fifteen years. That window is where torn tendons happen, and the men it happens to felt good the day before.

So your first six weeks are not optional, and they are not shorter than a beginner's. They are for the tissue that connects your strength to your bones. Picking "I'm training now" to skip them defeats the only safety rule written specifically for you.

5b. Have you ever torn any of these?

A full or partial tear, whether or not it was repaired. Check all that apply:

Achilles tendon Patellar tendon or quadriceps tendon Distal biceps (at the elbow) Pectoralis (chest) Rotator cuff None of these

6. How many lifting days can you realistically commit to?

Pick the one that fits your actual week. All three are complete programs, and you can change this later.

2 days a week 3 days a week 4 days a week

7. Do any of these currently bother you, or have they in the past 6 months?

Check all that apply:

Knee (pain with stairs, squatting, or kneeling) Shoulder — outside or front, worst reaching overhead, aches at night Shoulder — a sore point right on top, worst on bench and reaching across Low back (recurrent pain, sciatica, or a disc or degenerative finding) A cranky tendon (heel, hip, elbow, or knee) None of these

8. What do you have to train with?

Gym, barbells, machines, the works
Recommended. The setup the bone research used Dumbbells only, at home or at a gym
Works. Your program will tell you honestly where it runs out of room

9. What's your daily step floor?

A number you can hit even on a bad day, not your best day.

4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000

10. Last one. Why are you doing this?

One line, in your own words. Week 12 asks you to read it again before you look at a single number.

What's your first name?

11. One thing to acknowledge

I understand this is educational fitness content, not medical care, and that using it does not make me Dr. Allred's patient. I'll talk with my own physician before starting, especially if I have a medical condition.