SURGE
The Ashton Rouska program
2024 IPF World Classic Champion · 105 kg
Build volume early.
Peak at the right time.
Ashton's program builds your base with sets of 8–10 when the meet is far out, then turns it into strength fast. Inside every block, squat and deadlift top sets climb about 5% a week, and reps drop as the meet nears, from heavy eights to triples and doubles. Train 3 to 6 days a week, built around a primary day that hits all three lifts.
Big week-to-week jumps on squat and deadlift
Sets of 8–10 early, heavy triples and doubles late
Primer singles before every competition bench session
105
kg
Ashton
Rouska
2024 IPF World Classic Champion
393 kg
Squat world record, 120 kg
2024
World Classic champion
3–6
days a week. Ashton trains four, around a primary day that hits all three lifts.
16
week cycle: four blocks of four weeks, ending in the peak.
~5%
a week on squat and deadlift top sets, inside every block.
8 → 2
top-set reps, from far out to the peak.
The cycle
Four-week blocks.
Each one climbs.
Four-week blocks into the meet. Longer cycles open with Work Capacity. Each block starts lighter than the last one finished, then climbs.
16 weeks
●●○
●●○
●●●
20 weeks
●●○
●●○
●●○
●●●
Work Capacity
Hypertrophy
Strength
Peak
●●● Dots show specificity: the more dots, the closer that block’s training sits to the competition lifts.
Cycles end on your meet, so the peak lines up on the right. A 24-week cycle opens with a second, more general Work Capacity block.
How the reps move
Reps fall
as the meet nears.
Squat and deadlift top sets drop a rep each block, from eights to doubles, and their work sets follow them down. Bench runs differently: primer singles, then work sets from eights to triples.
Each mark is a rep, in the order you lift them. Cyan marks are the top set and any single or back-off set; white marks are one work set.
Squat and deadlift
Hypertrophy ●●○
Top 8 · sets of 8
Strength ●●○
Top 4 · sets of 6
Strength ●●●
Top 3 · sets of 5
Peak
Top 2 · sets of 4
Bench
Hypertrophy ●●○
2 singles · sets of 8
Strength ●●○
3 singles · sets of 5
Strength ●●●
3 singles · sets of 4
Peak
3 singles · sets of 3
Main days across a 16-week cycle. Deadlift runs the squat’s scheme, 2% lighter or 1 RPE easier, and the primer singles sit at RPE 4–8.
The signature
Climb, reset,
climb again.
Inside every block, squat and deadlift top sets climb about 5% a week. The next block starts lighter and climbs again, so you get a fresh start every four weeks and a heavy finish.
Peak
The shape of a 16-week cycle, not your numbers: each bar is a week's squat and deadlift top set.
Their own week
Ashton's own week.
Yours fits your days.
Ashton trains four days himself: squat twice, bench three times and deadlift once, with a primary day that hits all three. Your program starts close to that, then fits your schedule.
Day 1
Primary day
Squat
Bench
Deadlift
Day 2
Bench
Day 3
Squat
Day 4
Bench
Days a week, at Ashton’s starting point
2×
Squat
3×
Bench
1×
Deadlift
Any program runs 3 to 6 days a week, with squat, bench and deadlift days anywhere from 1-2-1 to 3-5-2.
Exercise selection
Variations that
change by block.
Ashton’s second-day lifts move with the cycle: sumo and deficit pulls early, paused deadlifts late; touch-and-go and close-grip bench early, Spoto and 3-count pause bench later. Pull-ups, Pendlay rows and Y-raises round out the week.
Squat
High-bar squat on the second squat day
Hack squat
Single-leg leg press
Bench
Touch-and-go bench, then the Spoto press
Close-grip, then 3-count pause bench
3:1:0 tempo bench singles
Feet-up bench and cable flyes
Deadlift
Sumo deadlift in Work Capacity
Deficit deadlift in Hypertrophy
Paused deadlift in Strength and Peak
Back and shoulders
Pull-ups and Pendlay rows
Cable lat pullovers
Cable Y-raises and face pulls
Defaults for a balanced lifter. Tell the app your lifting style and weak points, and it swaps in the variations that target them.
Training philosophy
How Ashton
trains.
Ashton's program is built around a primary day that hits all three competition lifts, with the other days adding more squat and bench work. Deadlift follows the squat's structure, a little lighter.
Far from the meet, the main work runs sets of 8–10 to build a base. As the meet nears, the reps come down and the weight goes up, from heavy eights to triples and doubles.
The signature is the climb inside each block: squat and deadlift top sets jump about 5% a week, then the next block restarts lower and climbs again. A fresh start every four weeks, and a heavy finish.
Competition bench opens with primer singles before the work sets, and a lighter bench variation keeps higher reps all cycle.
01
Big weekly jumps.
Squat and deadlift top sets climb about 5% a week inside each block.
02
Reps fall as the meet nears.
Top sets go from eights to fours, triples and doubles across the cycle.
03
Tens when the meet is far out.
Longer cycles open with sets of 10 on all three lifts.
04
A primary day.
One day hits squat, bench and deadlift; the other days add focused squat and bench work.
05
Primer singles.
Competition bench opens with a few light singles before the work sets.
06
Deadlift built off the squat.
The same structure, a little lighter.
Make it yours
Their starting point.
Your program.
Ashton’s plan starts close to how he trains and found success. From there it’s built around you, and you can change any of it.
3 to 6 days a week
Every program runs on 3, 4, 5 or 6 training days. Pick yours when you start, and change it as your schedule does.
From 1-2-1 to 3-5-2
Set how often you squat, bench and deadlift each week, from once, twice and once up to three, five and two times. You start from the split Ashton uses.
Edit anything, anytime
Add or drop a day, add or remove exercises, and adjust the week-to-week progression. Your edits are saved and carried forward.
Check-ins that steer
At the end of every block, Workset reviews how each lift progressed and recovered, and suggests what to change. It steers you toward the plan that works for you, and keeps adjusting as you change. You choose what to accept.
Terms on this page
Top set
Your heaviest set of the day for that lift.
Back-off sets
Your work sets after the top set: the main volume for the lift.
Primer singles
One to three singles at RPE 4–8 before your competition bench work sets. Hit the RPE shown, not more.
Percentage
A percentage of your current max for that lift.
RPE
How hard a set felt on a 1–10 scale. RPE 8 means about two reps left in the tank.
Block
A run of weeks with one job: hypertrophy, strength or peak.
The captains
Four champions.
Four ways to train.
Every captain trains differently, and each program is built from how they do it. Stay with Ashton, or see how the others train.
105
kg
SURGE
Ashton
Rouska
2024 IPF World Classic Champion
You’re reading this one
Train on
Ashton’s team.
Early access is coming soon. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when you can start Ashton’s program.
Coaches can post updates for their team in the app. It isn’t one-on-one coaching.
Workset is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) or Powerlifting America. Titles and records are the athletes' own, from IPF results as of 1 October 2026.
Workset gives general training information, not medical advice. Strength training carries a risk of injury. Check with your doctor before you start a new program, and stop if something hurts. The coaches' results are their own; yours depend on your training, recovery and consistency.
Each coach is a paid partner of Workset. Some short text in the app, like session recaps, is written automatically, not by your coach.
© 2026 Skynet Coaching Inc. All rights reserved.