Written by Hamza J
Based on Cody LeFever's GZCL method, with some minor adaptations.
Twelve weeks, four days a week, one main lift a day. The whole block is one long trade: volume falls week after week while intensity climbs, from a ten rep max in week one to a genuine single in week ten. It tests your max twice, once in the middle and once at the end, and both tests are part of the program rather than something you do afterwards.
Jacked & Tan 2.0 is for the advanced lifter who already knows the GZCL tier system and wants a full twelve week block that builds size in the first half and strength in the second.
It suits you if:
It is not a beginner or early intermediate program. A ten rep max squat followed by drop sets is a session that will bury someone who has not built the work capacity for it, and the back half asks for singles at genuine maximums four days a week.
| Tier | What it is | Intensity | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | The main lift of the day | 85 to 100% | 10 to 15 total reps |
| T2 | Supporting compounds, two of them | 65 to 85% | Higher |
| T3 | Isolation, two of them | Under 65% | Highest |
The T2 slot splits into two here, and they behave differently. T2a is straight sets at a fixed weight. T2b is a rep max followed by max-rep sets. Knowing which is which is most of knowing how to run this program.
| Day | Main Lift |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Squat |
| Day 2 | Bench Press |
| Day 3 | Deadlift |
| Day 4 | Overhead Press |
Each day runs a T1, a T2a, a T2b and two T3 movements. T2 and T3 selection is yours within the rules: T2 is a close variation of that day's pattern, T3 is isolation for the muscles that pattern uses.
| Week | T1 | T1 drop sets | T2a | T2b | T3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10RM | 2 × 6 @ 50% | 4 × 10 | 15RM | 20RM |
| 2 | 8RM | 2 × 6 @ 60% | 4 × 8 | 12RM | 18RM |
| 3 | 6RM | 2 × 4 @ 70% | 4 × 6 | 10RM | 16RM |
| 4 | 4RM | 2 × 4 @ 80% | 5 × 4 | 8RM | 14RM |
| 5 | 2RM | 3 × 2 @ 90% | 7 × 2 | 6RM | 12RM |
The T1 drop set percentages here are of your training max.
Read down any column and the shape is obvious: everything gets heavier and shorter at the same time, week after week, with no reset.
T1 only: work up and attempt a new one rep max. No T2a, no T2b, and a single lighter T3 exercise at a ten rep max to keep some blood moving.
The number you hit here is what the second half of the program runs on.
| Week | T1 | T1 drop sets | T2a | T2b | T3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 6RM | 4 × 3 @ 85% of the 6RM | 6 × 5 | 12RM | none |
| 8 | 4RM | 4 × 2 @ 85% of the 4RM | 5 × 5 | 10RM | 18RM |
| 9 | 2RM | 4 × 1 @ 85% of the 2RM | 5 × 4 | 8RM | 16RM |
| 10 | 1RM | 5 × 1 @ 90% of the 1RM | 5 × 3 | 6RM | 14RM |
| 11 | 1RM | 5 × 1 @ 90% of the 1RM | 5 × 2 | 4RM | 12RM |
The drop sets change base here. In phase 1 they are a percentage of your training max. From week 7 they are a percentage of the set you just took. That is why they get heavier even in weeks where the top set does not.
T1 only again: a new one rep max on all four lifts. No T2a, no T2b, one T3 exercise at a ten rep max.
Those four numbers are the inputs for your next cycle.
Most sets in this program prescribe an effort, not a weight. "10RM" means work up to the heaviest weight you can take for ten reps today.
The rule:
Missing the target is fine. Beating it is also fine. A 10RM set that gives you 8 reps tells you the same useful thing as one that gives you 12: it tells you where you are today. What is not fine is picking a weight you know is easy and stopping at ten, because the whole program calibrates off these numbers.
Leave the last rep in the tank on the higher rep weeks. Grinding an ugly tenth rep in week 1 buys you nothing and costs you week 2.
Use the standard rep max chart to convert from a one rep max:
| Target | % of 1RM | Target | % of 1RM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1RM | 100% | 12RM | 70% |
| 2RM | 95% | 14RM | 67% |
| 4RM | 90% | 15RM | 65% |
| 6RM | 85% | 16RM | 63% |
| 8RM | 80% | 18RM | 60% |
| 10RM | 75% | 20RM | 57.5% |
Those are suggestions to warm up toward, not prescriptions. Note that they land exactly on the tier bands: a 6RM to a 1RM is 85 to 100%, which is T1, and a 15RM to a 6RM is 65 to 85%, which is T2.
T2b and T3 both work the same way and it is not the same as T2a.
You will get fewer reps on the second set and fewer again on the third. That is the point. Fatigue accumulation is the stimulus, and matching the first set on all three means the weight was too light.
T2a is different. It is straight sets at a fixed weight, and every set should look the same. If the last set of a 4 × 10 breaks down, the weight was wrong for the week.
There is no session-to-session increase and no weekly percentage climb on a fixed number. Progression comes from three places.
1. The rep max target falls. Week 1's 10RM and week 5's 2RM are the same effort at very different loads, and the weight you can take for two is far more than the weight you can take for ten. The bar gets heavier because the target gets shorter.
2. The drop sets climb. 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% across phase 1, then a percentage of an ever-heavier top set across phase 3.
3. The tests reset everything. Weeks 6 and 12 give you real numbers, and the next block is calculated from those instead of from an estimate.
At the end of week 12 you have two data points four weeks apart on every lift, which is more information than most twelve week programs give you.
Everything below assumes your form is already solid. Finding your working weight, adding weight, chasing reps, all of it only works if you can perform the lift correctly. While your form is not locked in, that is your only job. Make good form the goal of every set, not the weight on the bar. Drilling the movement with an empty bar beats loading plates onto a lift you cannot control yet.
To learn, don't hesitate to search Google and YouTube (there is a lot of good free material) and record yourself from the side to compare against a proper demonstration. In general, good form means a full controlled range of motion, a braced neutral spine, no bouncing or momentum, a consistent setup every rep, and ending the set when technique breaks down rather than grinding sloppy reps.
You need a current one rep max for every movement in the program, including the accessories. That sounds like a lot and it is the price of a program that prescribes everything as a rep max.
For the four main lifts, use a real number: a recent test, a competition lift, or a heavy triple converted with Weight × Reps × 0.0333 + Weight.
For the T2 and T3 movements you will not have tested a one rep max on a leg curl, and you should not. Estimate instead:
Example:
You do leg curls with 45 kg / 100 lbs for a hard set of 10:
Estimated 1RM = 45 / 0.75 = 60 kg
= 100 / 0.75 = 133, round to 135 lbs
Round down everywhere. The first two weeks of this program are the highest-rep weeks in it, and an inflated number turns week 1 into a session you do not recover from before week 2.
Warm-up sets are never counted in the working sets above.
| Set | Weight | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Empty bar (20 kg / 45 lbs) | 8 | 45 seconds |
| 2 | ~40% of the target | 5 | 45 seconds |
| 3 | ~60% of the target | 3 | 60 seconds |
| 4 | ~80% of the target | 2 | 90 seconds |
| Work sets | As prescribed | As prescribed | See rest table |
On a rep max set the warm-up and the ramp are the same thing. Take smaller jumps near the top so you arrive at the target set warm rather than pre-fatigued, and never take a warm-up set to failure on a week where the target is fifteen or twenty reps.
| Tier | Rest Period |
|---|---|
| T1, weeks 1 to 5 | 3-4 minutes |
| T1, weeks 7 to 12 | 4-5 minutes |
| T2a | 2-3 minutes |
| T2b | 2 minutes between the max rep sets |
| T3 | 60-90 seconds |
The T2b rest is short on purpose. Two minutes is not enough to fully recover, and not fully recovering is what makes the second and third sets do their job.
If you miss the rep target on a T1 set, you have not failed anything. Record what you got and carry on. This program does not have a weight you can miss, only a target you can land above or below.
If you land far below the target three weeks running, your estimated maxes were too high. Recalculate from what you have actually been lifting and continue from where you are.
If week 5's 2RM feels lighter than week 4's 4RM, you are picking your weights too conservatively. Add to the target and be honest with the next one.
If you are wrecked rather than tired, cut the T3 work entirely for a week and keep everything else. T3 is the highest volume in the program and the cheapest thing to remove.
If you have to miss a session, pick it up where you left off rather than doubling up. The block only works in order.
The program runs 12 weeks at 4 sessions per week, which is 48 workouts. Weeks 1 to 5 build, week 6 tests, weeks 7 to 11 sharpen, week 12 tests again.
After week 12, take a few easy days, plug the new maxes in and run it again, or move into a peaking block if you have a meet.
If your week 12 numbers barely beat your week 6 numbers two cycles running, the answer is a different program rather than a third cycle.
The GZCL method and its applications are published on Cody LeFever's blog:
Enter your maxes once and Virtus Athlete works out all twelve weeks: the rep max suggestion for every tier every week, the drop sets off the right base in each half of the block, and the weeks where T2 and T3 drop out. Every set logged so your week 6 and week 12 tests sit next to each other in the same chart.
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