Intensity targets and timed holds

Cleanpull turns a reusable program into an athlete’s prescription by combining three pieces:

Exercise settings × the week’s progression scheme × the athlete’s assignment target

This page explains each part and the cases where the calculation changes.

From percentage to working load

For a normal weighted exercise, the program’s intensity is a percentage. The assignment target supplies the athlete-specific base:

Working load = assignment target × weekly intensity

If the target is 150 kg and the week is 80%, the working load is 120 kg. Cleanpull rounds prescribed loads to the unit system’s practical loading increment.

Targets represent the athlete’s intended end-of-program max for that slot. They are not necessarily today’s tested max, and they remain editable during the assignment.

Select an athlete in Projected loads to check how the scheme resolves against real targets or maxes.

Choose what intensity reads from

On a weighted exercise, open its Target control to choose the intensity basis.

This lift

This is the normal choice. The percentage reads the athlete’s target or max for the exercise itself—for example, Back Squat percentages use their Back Squat value.

When you assign the program, Cleanpull seeds the target from a tracked, manual, or estimated max when one is available. You can accept it, edit it, or clear it.

Other lift

Use another lift when a variation should scale from a lift the athlete actually tests. For example, Pause Bench Press can read from the athlete’s Bench Press max.

Choose Other lift, then select the source from the exercise library. The assignment target is seeded from that source, and the builder’s projected-load view labels the relationship. This is useful for variations that should not maintain their own independent max.

Bodyweight

Use Bodyweight for movements whose loading is relative to the athlete’s body mass.

• 100% means bodyweight.
• Below 100% represents assisted or reduced total load.
• Above 100% represents added load; Cleanpull shows the total prescription and the added-weight breakdown.

The athlete needs a bodyweight on their profile for Cleanpull to seed and preview this target. You can still edit the assignment target afterward.

Assignment targets are optional

The builder can use an athlete’s maxes to preview a program before it is assigned. Once you are assigning it, the values on the Targets screen become the source for that assignment.

• Keep the seeded target to scale the program from the athlete’s existing max or bodyweight.
• Edit the target to aim the block at a different end point.
• Clear the target when the athlete should select the load on the day.
• Apply to other slots to copy a target when the same lift appears more than once.

With no target, Cleanpull does not silently prescribe a load. The athlete enters their working weight, and the last-used value can carry into the next session.

The athlete’s assignment resolves each reusable percentage into the loads shown in their weekly prescription.

RPE targets

Add a Target RPE to an exercise slot when effort should guide an unweighted prescription. Cleanpull supports RPE 5–10 in half-point steps.

The athlete sees the RPE target when the exercise has no assigned weight. This works well for accessories, unfamiliar movements, autoregulated work, or any slot where a fixed percentage would imply more precision than you want.

If you provide both an assignment weight and an RPE, the weight drives the prescribed load. Clear the weight target when RPE should be the primary instruction.

Timed holds

Mark an exercise as time-based with the clock control, or choose a library movement tagged Hold. A timed slot changes how the scheme is interpreted:

• The assignment target is a duration in seconds, not a weight.
• Intensity scales that duration.
• Sets controls how many holds the athlete performs.
• Reps does not apply to the timed slot.

For example, a 45-second hold target at 80% produces a 36-second prescription. At 120%, it produces 54 seconds.

Each timed slot starts with a 45-second assignment target, which you can edit. Timed targets are kept separate from weight targets when you switch or reassign programs.

Week ranges and per-exercise overrides

Applies controls the first and last week in which an exercise appears. Use it for phased variations—for example, a tempo squat in weeks 1–4 and a pause squat in weeks 5–8—without creating extra training days.

An exercise normally inherits intensity, reps, and sets from its scheme. To make a weekly exception:

1. Choose the pencil on the exercise.
2. Open Progression.
3. Select Intensity, Reps, or Sets.
4. Select the week and change the value.

Overrides affect only that exercise and week. Cleanpull highlights them in red in previews. Revert a single week to reconnect that value to the scheme, or choose Reset to remove all overrides for the exercise.

A practical setup pattern

For a straightforward strength block:

1. Create Primary, Secondary, and Accessory schemes.
2. Make the shared week-to-week pattern correct before adding exceptions.
3. Put each exercise on the closest matching scheme.
4. Use Other lift for variations such as paused or tempo versions of a tested lift.
5. Use RPE with a blank assignment target for athlete-selected accessory loads.
6. Use timed slots for planks, hangs, and other duration work.
7. Preview several athletes, including one with missing maxes, before saving.

Return to Build a program for the complete creation and assignment workflow.