96 reviews for Phrak's Greyskull LP

Phrak's Greyskull Linear Progression Program (GSLP) is a popular beginner lifting program on Reddit and across the internet. It has an excellent balance of push and pull movements to help you develop a balanced physique.

The program is 3X a week, with 2 alternating days of whole body training. Weights increase every workout on the compound movements–squat, bench, deadlift, rows, and chin-ups–with a mix of bodybuilding isolation exercises at the end of the workouts.

Rules for GSLP:

  • Make sure to warm-up before entering into your working sets

  • Last set is for As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) with good form

  • Progress with 2.5 lbs for upper body lifts and 5 lbs for lower body lifts (automatically in the app)

  • If final AMRAP set hits more than 10 reps, consider doubling the weight increase

  • If you cannot do weighted chin-ups, use assisted pull-up machines or negative chin-ups until you can do bodyweight chin-ups, then slowly add weight

  • If you fail to get 5 reps in the final AMRAP set, stay at the same weight as last time. If you fail again, then deload by 10% and increase again.

  • The program can be run for as long as it is effetive, but at least 6 weeks is recommended

4.20 / 5

Charlie Manning

Man, 32
16 days ago

7 weeks complete

3 years of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

More than expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

Great routine for someone just starting out or getting back into the groove. I saw the most visible gains in my upper body, mainly chest and lats. Strength wise all my numbers went up. I was surprised at never hitting a plateau, particularly with bench press, a lift I've always struggled with. I did this program with my girlfriend who has never lifted before, and as such we sometimes made modifications based on what she was able to do or comfortable doing (changing an exercise to its machine variant, for example). She saw noticeable changes in her physique, mainly in her abs and lower body, and had major strength gains. Highly recommend this program.

Jose M.

Man, 36
24 days ago

7 weeks complete

6 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

Program is great to build a basis. I was bored of the gym and this worked well to motivate me and get me back on track.

Braydon S.

Man, 26
a month ago

3 weeks complete

1 year of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

More than expected muscle gains

No modifications

Relatively short time in the gym, recommended for beginners like me who need barbell practice. I added weight every week to the accessory lifts. I've lost 25lbs doing this program while also gaining muscular strength, size and endurance.

Nate

Man, 29
a month ago

5 weeks complete

3 years of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

More than expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

Still one of my all time favourites, if you need to add an arms/core day on a Saturday then do a little bit of extra hypertrophy work, but this is the most effective for putting on size and developing an impressive figure.

Mat Andrews

Man, 32
2 months ago

3 weeks complete

2 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

A great program to help me get back into the swing of things after taking off ~5 years from training. Currently on week 4 (plan to complete 6 weeks). Couldn't be happier with this simple program

christopher R.

Man, 30
3 months ago

3 weeks complete

8 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

I started this program after tearing a pec and taking 6 weeks off completely and now starting back with very light weight to slowly get back to where I was without a reinjury. It's a great newbie program and reintroduction to lifting

Winston J.

Man, 28
3 months ago

4 years of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

Less than expected muscle gains

No modifications

Saw that Phraks Greyskull LP was on boostcamp and had to pay homage to this program. This was the first structured program I ever ran and the linear progression model got me strong. It built a solid base of muscle using the big 3. Even though I’m not solely pursuing strength training anymore, I have to tip my hat to this program because I had a lot of gains, tough workouts and most importantly good times running this. Make sure to start thinking about accessory/limb work if you do have the intention of pursuing bodybuilding/hypertrophy after this program. Also, make sure to do your ladders and conditioning. You’ll be a beast. Thank you Johnny Pain & thank you Phrak

Leticia Solá

Woman, 31
4 months ago

7 weeks complete

3 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Significant modifications

changed or removed accessory exercises and used variants of main exercises

Man, 35
4 months ago

8 weeks complete

1 year of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

More than expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

Beautiful routine for a beginner like me. Very little thought required. Wonderful strength gains. I was smashing my 1RMs by the end of the program. The deloading protocol works excellently as well. Had to deload OHP once and saw my strength had shot up when I got back to my plateau. I dropped some of the accessories and swapped ohp over to dumbbells for a bit to accommodate joint pain. Even on a cut, a beginner will absolutely see strength gains. Highly recommended for beginners. I’ll probably do another run through greyskull until I hit my bulk phase.

Alexandre Guedes

Man, 19
5 months ago

8 weeks complete

1 year of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Marginal modifications

Really nice will be running untill I can't do LP probably (I changed deadlifts to rdls)