BUILT
The Joe Borenstein program
2025 IPF World Classic Champion · 83 kg
Strong,
and built to show it.
Joe's program trains like a powerlifter and builds like a bodybuilder. Main lifts climb steadily by effort in the 4–7 rep range. Then a high-volume accessory load covers quads, hamstrings, glutes, chest, back, shoulders, arms and core, pushed close to failure. Train 3 to 6 days a week.
A high accessory load across nine muscle groups
Main lifts that climb steadily by effort, in the 4–7 rep range
Paused bench and deadlift all cycle, paused squats early
83
kg
Joe
Borenstein
2025 IPF World Classic Champion
890 kg
Total world record
219 kg
Bench world record
3–6
days a week. Joe trains five, benching four times.
5–7
accessories a session in Joe's own week, on machines, cables and dumbbells.
9
muscle groups with direct work, from quads to core.
RPE 6 → 9
top sets inside each block. Everything runs on effort, not percentages.
The cycle
Build the base,
then sharpen it.
Four-week blocks that open with Work Capacity, build through hypertrophy and strength, and end in a four-week peak into the meet.
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 12-week cycle runs hypertrophy, strength and the peak, and 24 weeks adds a more specific hypertrophy block.
How the reps move
Heavy, but
repeatable.
The top set drops to a single as the meet nears, while the work sets stay moderate: squat from sevens to fives, bench from sixes to fours. The accessories keep the higher reps.
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. A hollow mark is the top of a range.
Squat
Work Capacity ●●○
Paused 4–5 · sets of 7
Hypertrophy ●●○
Top 4 · back-off 5 · sets of 7
Strength ●●○
Top 3 · back-off 4 · sets of 6
Peak
Top single · back-off 3 · sets of 5
Bench
Work Capacity ●●○
Top 4 · single · sets of 6
Hypertrophy ●●○
Top 3 · single · sets of 5
Strength ●●○
Top 2 · single · sets of 4
Peak
Top single · single · sets of 4
Deadlift
Work Capacity ●●○
Sets of 6–7
Hypertrophy ●●○
Sets of 5–6
Strength ●●○
Sets of 5
Peak
Top single · sets of 4–5
Main days across a 16-week cycle. Work Capacity squats are paused, and the deadlift saves its top single for the peak.
The signature
Direct work for
nine muscle groups.
Joe pairs the competition lifts with a bodybuilding-sized accessory load on machines, cables and dumbbells, pushed close to failure.
01
Quads
02
Hamstrings
03
Glutes
04
Chest
05
Lats
06
Side delts
07
Biceps
08
Triceps
09
Core
Every block covers all nine.
Their own week
Joe's own week.
Yours fits your days.
Joe trains five days himself: squat twice, bench four times and deadlift twice, with five to seven accessories a session. Your program starts close to that, then fits your schedule.
Day 1
Squat
Bench
Day 2
Deadlift
Day 3
Bench
Day 4
Squat
Bench
Day 5
Bench
Deadlift
Days a week, at Joe’s starting point
2×
Squat
4×
Bench
2×
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
Paused early.
Machines all cycle.
Work Capacity opens with paused squats and sumo pulls, and paused deadlifts take over from Hypertrophy on. The accessories lean on machines, cables and dumbbells.
Squat
Paused squat in Work Capacity
Paused squat on the second squat day in Hypertrophy
Belt squat, leg press and Bulgarian split squats
Bench
Pause-bench singles every block
Feet-up, then touch-and-go bench
DB incline and DB overhead press
Pec deck and cable flyes
Deadlift
Sumo and beltless pulls in Work Capacity
Paused deadlift from Hypertrophy on
RDLs to the floor and hamstring curls
Accessories
Narrow-grip pulldowns and rows
T-bar rows and hip thrusts
Curls, pushdowns and lateral raises
Side planks
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 Joe
trains.
Joe's program trains like a powerlifter and builds like a bodybuilder. The competition lifts are paired with a bodybuilding-sized accessory load: direct work for quads, hamstrings, glutes, chest, lats, side delts, biceps, triceps and core.
The main lifts run on effort, not percentages. Top sets climb across each block, and work sets stay in a moderate rep range even in strength blocks, so the main work stays heavy but repeatable.
Accessories are where Joe pushes: higher reps on machines, cables and dumbbells, taken close to failure, with the hardest week right before the block eases off.
Paused work runs through the cycle: paused squats in Work Capacity and Hypertrophy, pause-bench singles in every block, and paused deadlifts from Hypertrophy to the peak.
01
A big accessory load.
Mostly machine, cable and dumbbell work, five to seven exercises a session in Joe's own week.
02
Nine muscle groups.
Direct work for quads, hamstrings, glutes, chest, lats, side delts, biceps, triceps and core.
03
Accessories pushed hard.
Most sets end a rep or two short of failure, and the hardest week comes right before the block eases off.
04
Pause-bench singles.
Paused singles as skill work before the secondary bench.
05
Paused work, block by block.
Paused squats early, pause-bench singles every block, paused deadlifts from Hypertrophy on.
06
A steady climb every week.
All set by RPE.
Make it yours
Their starting point.
Your program.
Joe’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 Joe 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
RPE
How hard a set felt on a 1–10 scale. RPE 8 means about two reps left in the tank.
Top set
Your heaviest set of the day for that lift.
Work sets
Your main volume for the lift.
Pause-bench singles
Paused singles before your secondary bench work sets: a full three-count pause, or two-count in Strength and Peak, then press.
Accessory effort
Push these. Most sets end one or two reps short of failure, and week 3 goes right to the edge. Week 4 backs off.
Block
A run of weeks with one job: work capacity, 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 Joe, or see how the others train.
83
kg
BUILT
Joe
Borenstein
2025 IPF World Classic Champion
You’re reading this one
Train on
Joe’s team.
Early access is coming soon. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when you can start Joe’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.