How to run the TSA 9-Week Intermediate program

Who Is This Program For?

The TSA 9-Week Intermediate Approach is for lifters with roughly one to three years of consistent barbell training who want to peak for a meet or a mock meet. TSA points anyone with under six months of experience to their Beginner Approach instead.

The program focuses on:

• Fitness and fatigue: weeks 1 to 4 build fitness and fatigue on purpose, week 5 removes the fatigue so the fitness shows
• Competition specificity: squat, bench, and deadlift with paused and competition-style variations, not a general strength grab bag
• Percentages then RPE: the volume block is percentage-driven for predictability, the peak block is RPE-driven so autoregulation carries you to a real max
• A hard deadline: nine weeks with a test at the end, not an open-ended progression

If you have run a linear progression into the ground and want a structured peak that ends with a number, this is a good fit.

Program Structure

The 3 Competition Lifts

Squat is trained twice per week, deadlift twice per week (competition style and paused), and pressing appears on every training day.

The 4-Day Split

A typical week looks like this. Days sit best on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Sessions run about 90 minutes.

The Three Phases

Week 5 is not optional. It is the mechanism that makes the peak work. Skipping it leaves you too fatigued to express anything in weeks 6 to 8.

Weeks 1 to 4: The Volume Phase

Everything in this phase is percentage-based off your entered 1RMs. Percentages climb roughly 2 to 3% per week while reps hold or fall slightly.

Squat, Day 1 (Top Set Plus Back-Offs)

Squat, Day 3 (Straight Sets)

Deadlift

Bench Press, Hypertrophy Day

Bench Press, Power Day

Week 1 should feel moderate and controlled. Nothing in week 1 sits above 80% and most of it is in the high 60s and low 70s. If you are grinding reps in week 1, your entered 1RM is too high. Drop it by 5 to 10% and restart the week rather than trying to survive the block.

Week 5: The Deload

Volume drops and intensity stays moderate. The point is to arrive in week 6 fresh, not to test anything.

Do not add sets. Do not "make up" the volume you feel you are missing. The whole block hinges on this week doing its job.

Weeks 6 to 8: The Peak

The structure flips. Top sets become RPE-based singles, and back-offs stay percentage-based. RPE targets climb one half point per week.

Squat

Deadlift

Bench Press, Day 4 (Strength)

Bench Press, Day 2 (Power)

Week 9: Testing

Days 1 to 3 are light prep work at moderate loads. Day 4 is the test or the meet:

Squat:    1 rep at RPE 10
Bench:    1 rep at RPE 10
Deadlift: 1 rep at RPE 10

Those three numbers become your inputs if you run the block again.

How to Hit an RPE-Based Single

The peak weeks tell you to hit a single at a target RPE, not a target weight. TSA's method is a short ramp with gauging sets.

The rule: subtract about 5% per RPE point below your target, and climb roughly 1 RPE per set.

Example, targeting a single at RPE 8.5:

Gauging set 1: single at RPE 6.5   (roughly 10% below the target load)
Gauging set 2: single at RPE 7.5   (roughly 5% below the target load)
Top set:       single at RPE 8.5

If gauging set 2 already feels like RPE 8.5, that is your top single. Stop there. The prescription is the effort, not the plate math.

Reading RPE

Progression: How Weights Increase

There is no session-to-session weight increase. You never add 2.5 kg (5 lbs) to last week's bar because it felt easy.

Progression is written into the nine weeks:

Everything is calculated from the 1RMs you entered at the start. Get those right and the block takes care of itself.

Get Your Form Right First

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.

Finding Your Starting Weights

You need a 1RM for squat, bench, and deadlift from a recent heavy set within the last three months. TSA is explicit about this: use current numbers or recent low-rep heavy sets, not theoretical maxes and not goal numbers.

If You Have Competed Recently

Use your best competition lifts.

If You Have Not

1. Take a heavy single, double, or triple at RPE 9 from the last three months
2. Convert with a 1RM calculator
3. A common formula: Weight × Reps × 0.0333 + Weight

Example:

You bench 100 kg (220 lbs) for 3 reps at RPE 9:
  Estimated 1RM = 100 × 3 × 0.0333 + 100 = 110 kg
  In pounds: 220 × 3 × 0.0333 + 220 = 242 lbs

If you are between two numbers, take the lower one. Week 1 is your sanity check: it should feel like work, not like a test.

Warming Up

Ramp into the first working set of each main lift.

Example: if your squat top set on week 1 is 80% of a 180 kg (400 lbs) max, that is 144 kg (320 lbs):

• Set 1: 20 kg (45 lbs) × 8
• Set 2: 57.5 kg (125 lbs) × 5
• Set 3: 87.5 kg (190 lbs) × 3
• Set 4: 115 kg (255 lbs) × 2
• Top set: 144 kg (320 lbs) × 3

In weeks 6 to 8 the warm-up and the RPE ramp merge. Take bigger jumps early and small jumps near the top so you can feel each load change.

Rest Times

Rest fully before a top single. An RPE call made on short rest is a rest reading, not a strength reading.

When Things Go Wrong

Week 1 Feels Brutal

Your 1RM is too high. Lower every entered max by 5 to 10% and restart week 1. This is the single most common failure mode and it is entirely fixable.

You Miss Reps in the Volume Phase

Cut one back-off set for that session and keep moving. If it happens twice in a week, lower the 1RM.

The RPE Single Comes In Light

That is fine and it is the point. RPE 7 in week 6 is supposed to feel easy. The program is walking you toward the max, not throwing you at it.

The RPE Single Comes In Heavy

Take the load that matches the effort, not the load you expected. If week 8's RPE 8.5 lands well under your projected max, your entered 1RM was optimistic. Adjust your expectations for week 9 rather than forcing plates onto the bar.

You Are Tempted to Skip Week 5

Do not. Weeks 1 to 4 deliberately bury you. Week 5 digs you out. If you carry that fatigue into week 6, every RPE target inflates and the peak is worthless.

You Miss a Session

Pick up where you left off. Do not double up two training days to catch up, especially in the peak weeks.

Program Duration

The program runs 9 weeks at 4 sessions per week, which is 36 total workouts across roughly two months.

Why 9 weeks?

• Four weeks is enough to accumulate meaningful volume without wrecking you
• One deload week is enough to shed that fatigue
• Three weeks of rising intensity is enough to sharpen without over-peaking
• Week 9 gives you a hard number to build the next block from

There is also a version 1.0 of this program that is purely percentage-based with no mid-cycle deload. TSA suggests alternating between 1.0 and 2.0 every few cycles so the loading style changes.

Access the Original Program

If you would like to get the original program:

TSA Intermediate 2.0 on The Strength Athlete's freebies page

The spreadsheet is free. It ships with an RPE guide, an FAQ, and a reference tab covering warm-ups and sports psychology.