Honored Coach of Russia Surovetsky's percentage system: squat and deadlift rotate medium/light/heavy days on alternating weeks, climbing 4×4 and near-max singles, while bench is trained every session through a 12-session light/medium/heavy cycle. The plan is one 8-week block; run it twice, with new maxes, for the full 16 weeks.
Copy it to your plans in the free app. TopSet works out each set’s target weight from your training max or 1RM.
Download on the App StoreMedium day - bench press session 1 (light)
Light day - bench session 2 (light)
Heavy day - bench press session 3 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 4 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 5 (light)
Heavy day - bench press session 6 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 7 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 8 (light)
Heavy day - bench press session 9 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 10 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 11 (deload)
Heavy day - bench press session 12 (test)
Medium day - bench press session 1 (light)
Light day - bench session 2 (light)
Heavy day - bench press session 3 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 4 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 5 (light)
Heavy day - bench press session 6 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 7 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 8 (light)
Heavy day MAX OUT - bench press session 9 (medium)
Medium day - bench press session 10 (heavy)
Light day - bench press session 11 (deload)
Heavy day MAX OUT - bench press session 12 (test)
The Askold Surovetsky 16-Week Powerlifting Program is a free percentage-based cycle designed by Surovetsky, an honored Russian coach. It fits squat, bench press and deadlift into a "3 sessions per week" framework. The library holds one 8-week block: squat and deadlift swap priority every other week, each following a three-day structure of "medium day 4×4 / light day 4×6 / heavy day working up to a near-max single + back-off sets", with Week 7 squat and Week 8 deadlift each going after that day's max. Bench is trained in every session and progresses through a 12-session light / medium / heavy rotation, four of which add a 10-12cm above-chest pin partial. Run this 8-week block a second time with your new maxes and you have the full 16 weeks the title promises.
This program is credited to Askold Surovetsky, an honored Russian coach and European powerlifting champion. He released this triple-lift system for free, and this prescription is based on the version LiftVault rebuilt from his original spreadsheets, with all loads generated as percentages.
It doesn't try to take any one lift to its limit. Instead it lets all three competition lifts have their place within the same 8-week block. The core is the anchor the author keeps stressing, the "daily max": "the single you can lift in any training session", not an all-out historical PR. All percentages are calculated relative to this conservative anchor, so heavy-day top sets and pin partials naturally climb above 100%. That is part of the design, not a request to break records. The whole program has only the big three and no accessory exercises, and bench frequency is deliberately pushed to the maximum: you bench in every session.
Pros
Cons
The prescription has only three competition lifts, squat, bench press and deadlift, plus a bench-specific variation, the pin bench press (a pin partial pressed from a dead stop with the bar 10-12cm above the chest), which trains the mid-to-upper range of the bench and lockout strength. Loads above your full-range max, climbing to 100-107%, are normal. The program deliberately schedules no accessory work: with bench every day and squat and deadlift each having a priority, the volume of the big three is already high enough, and it is a better deal to concentrate recovery on the competition lifts. If you really need to, add a small amount of back maintenance on your own, but don't let it take over.
Squat / deadlift three-day structure (8-week block, loads relative to each lift's daily max)
| Week | Day 1 Medium 4×4 | Day 2 Light 4×6 | Day 3 Heavy: top sets → back-off sets | Bench sessions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Squat 75% | Deadlift 63.5% | Squat 2×1@93% → 3×7@71.5% | 1-3 |
| 2 | Deadlift 76.5% | Squat 64.5% | Deadlift 2×1@93.5% → 3×7@73.5% | 4-6 |
| 3 | Squat 78.5% | Deadlift 66.5% | Squat 2×1@93% + 2×1@96.5% → 3×5@78.5% | 7-9 |
| 4 | Deadlift 80% | Squat 68% | Deadlift 2×1@93.5% + 2×1@96.5% → 3×5@80% | 10-12 |
| 5 | Squat 85.5% | Deadlift 73.5% | Squat 2×1@93% + 2×1@100% → 3×3@85.5% | 1-3 |
| 6 | Deadlift 83.5% | Squat 71.5% | Deadlift 2×1@93.5% + 2×1@100% → 3×3@83.5% | 4-6 |
| 7 | Squat 89.5% | Deadlift 76.5% | Squat MAX OUT (work up to that day's max single) | 7-9 |
| 8 | Deadlift 86.5% | Squat 75% | Deadlift MAX OUT (work up to that day's max single) | 10-12 |
The medium day is a fixed 4 sets of 4 reps and the light day a fixed 4 sets of 6 reps, with the load stepping up in each priority week (see the table above). On heavy days, use warm-up ramp sets to get into position first, hit the near-max single, then drop to back-off sets. The reps shrink from 3×7 to 3×5 to 3×3 while the load rises from about 71.5% to 85.5%, matching the rhythm of the top sets climbing from 93% to 100%.
Bench 12-session rotation (loads relative to the bench daily max, all sessions sharing the same six-step warm-up ramp ladder from 24% to 81%)
| Session | Type | Top working sets | Back-off / extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Light | 88%×3 | 81%×3(×2), 71.5%×4(×2) |
| 2 | Light | 93%×1, 95%×1 | 81%×4, 71.5%×5, 81%×4, each ×2; pin 100% 3×2 |
| 3 | Medium | 93%×3(×2) | 83.5%×6(×2), 71.5%×3(×2) |
| 4 | Heavy | 93%×2(×2), 95%×1, 100%×1 | 85.5%×3(×2), 81%×2(×2); pin 102.5% 3×2 |
| 5 | Light | 93%×3(×2) | 85.5%×4(×2), 81%×3(×3) |
| 6 | Medium | 93%×2(×2), 95%×2 | 85.5%×5(×2), 81%×3(×3) |
| 7 | Heavy | 93%×2(×2), 95%×2, 100%×1 | 88%×3(×2), 81%×2(×2); pin 105% 3×2 |
| 8 | Light | 93%×3(×2), 95%×2 | 88%×4(×2), 81%×3(×2) |
| 9 | Medium | 93%×3(×2), 95%×2, 100%×1 | 90.5%×3(×2), 81%×3(×3) |
| 10 | Heavy | 93%×3(×2), 95%×2, 100%×1 | 93%×3(×2), 83.5%×2(×2); pin 107% 3×2 |
| 11 | Deload | — | 71.5% 3×4 |
| 12 | Test | 100%×1 | Ramp 83.5%×3→90.5%×2→95%×1(×2)→new max single |
The pin partials appear only in Sessions 2, 4, 7 and 10, as 3 sets × 2 reps, with the load climbing from 100% to 107% within one pass. Session 11 is a pure deload, and Session 12 is a test that works up to a new max.
Within the block, progress doesn't come from fixed increments in pounds but from percentages stepping up week by week. On medium / light days, each priority week pushes 4×4 and 4×6 up one notch (see the table above), so volume stays the same while intensity rises. The heavy-day top sets follow a single wave toward MAX (93% → add 96.5% → 100% → MAX OUT), while the back-off sets shrink from 3×7 to 3×5 to 3×3, a classic "cut volume, raise intensity" peak. The bench pin partials climb from 100% to 107% within one pass, and the test session works up to a new max. The squat and deadlift MAXes in Weeks 7 / 8 and the bench Session 12 test give you new "daily maxes". Use them to reset the baseline and run the second round (Weeks 9-16).
Before starting, set a 1RM in the app for each of squat, bench press and deadlift, but what you enter is your "daily max", "the single you can lift in any training session", not your best-ever result and not a weight you can only lift by grinding (the author's own words: the weight you can do for 1 "in every training session"). Example: if your best squat is 160 but it isn't solid every day and you can always do 150, enter 150. The anchor is conservative, so having >100% in the prescription is what is normal (heavy days up to that day's max, pin partials up to 107%), which leaves room to go up. Starting too heavy is the most common mistake with this program, so err on the conservative side.
Run the 8-week block twice for the full 16 weeks: at the end of the first round (Weeks 1-8) you get new squat and deadlift MAXes and the bench test result, and after updating your "daily maxes" you run the second round (Weeks 9-16). No extra rest week is needed between the two rounds, since deloads are built in at bench Session 11 and on the light days. If you want to keep running the triple lifts after the 16 weeks, you can switch to a cycle with a different rhythm. "Smolov Squat (13 weeks)", which is also Russian percentage-based but a high-volume single-lift specialization, makes a useful comparison. Whatever you move on to, recalibrate first with your latest daily maxes.
Both are correct. The library holds one 8-week block, and the 16 weeks in the title means running it twice: the first round uses your current daily maxes, with the squat and deadlift MAXes and the bench test in Weeks 7 / 8. After updating your 1RMs with the new results, run the second round (Weeks 9-16) exactly as before. So the 8-week prescription you see in the app is correct, and the full cycle is two passes of it.
Enter the single you can lift "in any training session", not your historical PR and not a weight you can only lift by grinding. The author's own words are the weight you can do for 1 "in every training session". For example: if your best squat is 160 but it isn't solid every day and you can always do 150, enter 150. The anchor has to be conservative so that the percentages that follow don't crush you.
Because the percentages are relative to the conservative "daily max", not an absolute maximum. Heavy days reach 100%, and pin partials go up to 102.5/105/107%. As long as you entered your daily max and not your absolute PR, these >100% numbers are room left for you to push up, and are normal by design.
They swap priority every other week. In odd weeks squat gets the medium day (4×4) and the heavy day (working up to a near-max single + back-off sets) and deadlift only does the light day (4×6). In even weeks it's the reverse. As a result, squat heavy days fall in Weeks 1/3/5/7 with MAX OUT in Week 7, and deadlift heavy days fall in Weeks 2/4/6/8 with MAX OUT in Week 8. Each lift has a priority week and a breather week, and you never go to your limit on two big lifts on the same day.
That is a feature of the system: you bench in all three sessions to pile up upper-body pressing volume. But it isn't hard every day. The 12-session rotation of light / medium / heavy also has deload (71.5% 3×4) and test sessions mixed in, and in most sessions the top sets are at 93-100% while the burden is adjusted by varying the back-off reps, so although the frequency is high, the intensity is staggered between sessions.
Set the bench rack pins (safety pins) 10-12cm above the chest and press the bar from a dead stop on the pins, training only the upper half of the range and the lockout. It is a fixed 3 sets × 2 reps, with the load climbing from 100% to 107% over one 12-session rotation (the range is shorter, so going over your full-range max is normal), and it appears only in Sessions 2, 4, 7 and 10. If you don't have pins / safety pins, skip it for now and don't force in a substitute exercise.
This is deliberate: with bench every day and squat and deadlift each having a priority week, the volume of the big three is already very high, and concentrating your recovery capacity on the competition lifts is more efficient. If you really need to maintain the back, triceps and so on, you can add a small amount, but keep it from affecting the quality of the heavy-day singles and the bench sessions, which are the main line of this program.
Reset the anchors with the new results from the end of the first round: squat from the Week 7 MAX OUT, deadlift from the Week 8 MAX OUT, and bench from the Session 12 test. Convert each into a new "daily max", enter it back into the app, and run the 8-week block again exactly as before. It should still be your daily max rather than an absolute PR, and it's better to be slightly conservative.
The library runs System 1: the 12-session light / medium / heavy rotation, with pin partials, deload and test, arranged in more detail. The original also has a simpler System 2: only 6 sessions, no pin partials, working up to a new max at the end. Choose System 1 for more complete bench polishing; if it feels too dense, simplify along the lines of System 2.
Not really. It requires you to read percentage prescriptions and have stable technique in the big three, especially because on heavy days you have to work up to a single at 93-100% or even a MAX OUT on your own. Beginners who are still adding weight linearly progress faster on a simpler novice program. It is better to come back once you can reliably do near-max singles and understand the "daily max" anchor.
Program by Askold Surovetsky. TopSet is not affiliated with or endorsed by the program’s creator. Program names and trademarks belong to their owners. See the guide for original sources.
