GENERAL INFORMATION

The SNTNL Playbook

Everything worth knowing about building muscle, at home or in a gym. Read it, then ask the AI to turn it into your plan.

01 · Core Principles

Muscle is built by giving a muscle progressively harder work, close to failure, often enough to matter, and then feeding and sleeping enough to repair it. Everything else is detail.

Mechanical tension is the driver — heavy-ish loads taken near failure (0–3 reps in reserve).
Frequency: hit each muscle 2x per week; that beats one brutal session for the same weekly sets.
Volume: 10–20 hard sets per muscle per week is the productive range for most people.
Progressive overload: more reps, more load, better control or less rest — something must go up over time.
Consistency over intensity: 3 solid sessions every week beats 6 sessions you quit in a month.

Ask the AI: “How many sets per week should I do for chest and back?”

02 · Splits & Weekly Structure

Your split should be decided by how many days you can genuinely train, not by what looks impressive online.

3 days: Full body A/B/C — squat or hinge, push, pull, carry or core each session.
4 days: Upper / Lower / Upper / Lower — best balance of frequency and recovery for most lifters.
5 days: Push / Pull / Legs / Upper / Lower — the classic hypertrophy engine.
6 days: PPL x2 — only if sleep, food and stress are handled.
Always leave at least one full rest day or a low-intensity walk/mobility day per week.

Ask the AI: “Build me a 4-day upper/lower split around my schedule”

03 · The Movement Canon

Roughly 80% of your results come from a handful of patterns. Pick one exercise per pattern per session and get strong at it.

Squat pattern: back squat, front squat, goblet squat, split squat, Bulgarian split squat.
Hinge pattern: deadlift, Romanian deadlift, hip thrust, single-leg RDL, back extension.
Horizontal push: bench press, dumbbell press, weighted push-up, dip.
Horizontal pull: barbell row, chest-supported row, inverted row, seal row.
Vertical push: overhead press, dumbbell shoulder press, pike push-up.
Vertical pull: pull-up, chin-up, lat pulldown, band-assisted pull-up.
Isolation to finish: curls, triceps extensions, lateral raises, calf raises, hamstring curls, face pulls.

Ask the AI: “What are the best exercises for each muscle group?”

04 · Reps, Load, Rest & Tempo

Growth happens across a wide rep range as long as the set is genuinely hard. Use the range that suits the movement.

Strength: 3–6 reps at 80–90% of your max, 3–5 minutes rest.
Hypertrophy: 6–12 reps for compounds, 12–20 for isolations, 90–180 seconds rest.
Endurance / conditioning: 15–25 reps or timed circuits, 30–60 seconds rest.
Tempo: 2–3 seconds lowering, no bounce, full range, controlled squeeze at the hard position.
Rest matters — cutting rest short kills the load you can use, which kills the stimulus.

Ask the AI: “What rep range and rest should I use for arms?”

05 · Progression Models

Pick one model and run it for 6–10 weeks before changing anything.

Double progression: stay at a weight until you hit the top of the rep range on all sets, then add load and drop back to the bottom.
Linear progression: add the smallest possible increment each week — best for beginners.
RPE / RIR based: keep sets at 1–3 reps in reserve and let load float with how you feel.
Deload: every 5–8 weeks cut volume roughly in half for one week and keep the load.
Track it. A plan you don't log is a plan you can't progress.

Ask the AI: “Explain double progression with an example”

06 · Home vs Gym

You can build serious muscle at home. The variables change, the principles don't.

No equipment: push-ups and their harder variations, split squats, Nordic-style hamstring work, inverted rows under a table, pike push-ups, glute bridges.
Home overload: slow eccentrics, pauses, elevated feet, one-and-a-half reps, unilateral versions, shorter rest.
Minimal kit that changes everything: a pull-up bar, a set of resistance bands, one pair of adjustable dumbbells.
Gym advantage: precise load jumps, heavy hinge and squat work, machines for safe close-to-failure isolation.
Hybrid: heavy compounds on gym days, bodyweight and band pump work on home days.

Ask the AI: “I train at home with nothing — build me a plan”

07 · Eating For Growth

Training is the signal, food is the material. Get these four numbers right and the rest is preference.

Protein: 1.8–2.2g per kg of bodyweight daily, spread over 3–5 meals of 30–50g.
Calories: build on roughly +10% above maintenance; cut at roughly −20%; recomp at maintenance.
Carbs fuel the session — put the biggest serving before and after training.
Fats: 0.8–1g per kg to keep hormones and joints happy; the rest of the calories go to carbs.
Hydration and sodium: 30–40ml of water per kg per day; don't fear salt around training.
Plate template: a palm or two of protein, a fist of carbs, a thumb of fat, two fists of vegetables.

Ask the AI: “What should I eat to grow? Give me macros and meals”

08 · Recovery, Injury & Plateaus

Recovery is where the adaptation actually happens.

Sleep 7–9 hours — the single largest lever on strength and body composition.
Sore is not the same as damaged; sharp, joint-line or radiating pain means stop and reassess.
Stalled for 3 weeks? Check sleep, calories and whether you're actually training close to failure before adding volume.
Warm up with 5 minutes of easy movement plus 2–3 ramping sets of the first lift.
Injuries, pregnancy or medical conditions: see a qualified professional — SNTNL is coaching, not medical advice.

Ask the AI: “I've plateaued on bench press — what do I change?”

Want this turned into your plan?

Tell SNTNL Support where you train, how many days you have and what you want to build. It writes the full block, the food, and rewrites it whenever you ask.

Ask SNTNL AI