Ghost

01Why the ceiling is low

Most strength programs push to 90–95% of training max with heavy singles. That's a lot to ask of a recovering nervous system. Ghost keeps the ceiling at 80% and the rep floor at five, which means you're never grinding a set and never holding your breath through a max effort.

There's a double buffer in the numbers. Your training max is already 90% of your estimated 1RM, and Ghost's heaviest working set is 80% of that — about 72% of your true max. There is a lot of daylight between this program and anything dangerous.

All of your main lifts run every session. No split to track, no accessory list to manage. Two days a week, three lifts, done. The simplicity is the point: when cognitive load is part of your symptom picture, a program you can hold in your head is a program you'll actually finish.

02Full specification

Cycle length

8 weeks — two identical 4-week blocks

Strength days

2 per week, never back to back

Conditioning

4–5 days available

Main lifts

2–3, every session

Peak intensity

80% TM — never higher

Rep floor

5 — no singles, no doubles

Tempo

20X2 – 20X3

Rest between sets

3+ minutes, including between lifts

Autoregulation

Neuro-RPE, dual-track

Deload

Weeks 4 and 8

Accessories

None

Equipment

Garage gym — rack, barbell, bench

Default lifts are back squat, bench press and deadlift. Substitute freely — the generator carries thirty-one lifts, including bodyweight-loaded movements like weighted pull-ups and dips, which it handles by adding your bodyweight into the training max calculation.

03The eight-week cycle

Two identical four-week blocks. Each climbs from 70% to 80%, then drops to a deload. Every percentage below is a percentage of your training max, not your 1RM.

Ghost has no intensity week. Sentinel and Ironhide both introduce one; Ghost deliberately does not. The 80% weeks are as heavy as this protocol ever gets, and they're still capped at RPE 7 — three reps left in the tank.

04Calculate your weights

The table above is the shape of the cycle. This turns it into your actual numbers. Enter one recent working set per lift and you'll get every weight for all eight weeks.

05Running a session

Schedule

Two days a week, spread evenly — Monday and Thursday, or Tuesday and Friday. Never back to back. The 72-hour gap isn't about muscle soreness; it's nervous system recovery, and it's the part people skip first.

Tempo: 20X2 – 20X3

Lower over two seconds. No pause at the bottom. Lift explosively. Hold two to three seconds at the top.

That hold at the top is the part that matters. It's your reset window: exhale, release the brace, breathe, re-brace, then start the next rep. Breaking the Valsalva between reps stops intracranial pressure from stacking across a set. It also controls bar speed and takes a lot of the injury risk out of the lift.

The RPE cap governs

The percentage tells you what to load. The cap tells you whether to keep it. If the prescribed weight comes in above the week's cap, drop the load — the cap wins, every time. On Ghost you should never be closer than three reps to failure.

Neuro-RPE tracks two things at once: muscular effort and neurological symptoms. Whichever score is higher is the one that governs the session. The full scale and the pre-session symptom check are in the training guide.

06Conditioning

Ghost gives you the most conditioning freedom of any tier — four to five days are available on your off days. This is the tier to build an aerobic base on, because the lifting demand is low enough to leave room for it.

Prowl Protocol

Steady-state aerobic work at a conversational pace, heart rate roughly 120–150 BPM. Jogging, cycling, rowing, swimming, rucking. Thirty to sixty minutes. This is your primary conditioning method on Ghost.

Extended Zone 2

One longer session per week at that same easy pace. Forty-five to ninety minutes — a long run, a ruck march, an extended bike ride. Builds the aerobic engine without taxing the nervous system.

Ghost does not program Hunt Protocol intervals. Save those for Sentinel, where the lifting volume drops enough to absorb them.

07When to move on

Between cycles, add 5 lbs to your upper body training maxes and 5 lbs to your lower body training maxes. That's it. Progress here is slow on purpose.

When to hold instead

If your Neuro-RPE hit 8 or higher on more than two sessions in the cycle, don't increase. Run the same training maxes again until your neurological tolerance catches up.

When to step back

If the 48-hour rule triggered more than twice in one cycle, drop your training maxes by 5–10% and repeat. That isn't failure. That's the autoregulation working exactly as designed.

Moving to the next tier

Run 2–3 full Ghost cycles — 16 to 24 weeks — before you consider Sentinel or Ironhide. You're ready when you've completed those cycles with no 48-hour rule triggers and Neuro-RPE scores at or below target each week. If you're not sure, run another Ghost cycle. There is no prize for advancing early.

08Medical disclaimer

• Stop immediately if you experience a sharp headache, nausea, disorientation, or worsening symptoms.
• Talk to your doctor before starting any new training program.
• Never test a true 1-rep max.