Jeremy Ethier boils muscle-building down to a few fundamentals. Here's how a coach turns them into a program a whole roster can run.
Good program design isn't a secret routine - it's a short list of variables done consistently. Ethier's video is one of the cleanest summaries of that list, drawn from a decade of coaching and the researchers he trusts. This breakdown covers his argument in our own words, adds our honest take, and shows how to turn those fundamentals into a repeatable system - a workout builder and progress tracking - so you're applying them to clients instead of rebuilding a program from scratch every week.
By Markus Evers · September 2026 · a Coachway video breakdown
the short version
Ethier's video argues that muscle growth - and therefore program design - comes down to a handful of variables that keep showing up across a decade of coaching and the researchers he cites: pick the right exercises, split the week sensibly, train close to failure, progress over time, and stay consistent. The one thing a coach should do about it: stop building bespoke programs from a blank page and instead standardise those fundamentals into a reusable template you personalise per client - and can verify is actually progressing.
Jeremy Ethier - 10 Years of Muscle Building Advice in 23 Minutes
Source: Jeremy Ethier on YouTube - "10 Years of Muscle Building Advice in 23 Minutes". Watch on YouTube. We embed the public video and summarise it in our own words; the video, title and channel belong to Jeremy Ethier, and nothing here implies his endorsement of Coachway.
Who is Jeremy Ethier, and why coaches watch
Jeremy Ethier is a kinesiology graduate and NASM- and FMS-certified trainer based in Vancouver who founded Built With Science and runs one of the largest evidence-based training channels on YouTube - millions of subscribers. He is known for turning research into clean, calm, client-friendly explanations, which is exactly why so many coaches use his videos as onboarding material rather than debate fodder. This video is a little different from his usual single-topic breakdowns: it's a summary video, pulling a decade of advice and the points several researchers agree on into the fundamentals of building muscle - which makes it a useful lens on program design itself.
What Ethier actually argues (our summary)
This is our summary of the ideas in the video, in our own words - not a transcript. Watch the original for his exact examples, studies and wording.
- 1
The fundamentals beat the fads. The whole framing is that a decade of advice, and the researchers he trusts, keep pointing back to the same short list of variables. Muscle growth isn't unlocked by a secret routine or a trending method - it's the boring basics applied well, which is oddly freeing once it sinks in.
- 2
Exercise selection, then execution. Choose movements that train the target muscle through a full range with a good stretch under load, and treat clean technique as part of the stimulus rather than an afterthought. The exercise is only as good as the way it's performed.
- 3
The split matters less than the total. Full body, upper/lower, push-pull-legs - the label is secondary. What counts is that each muscle gets enough quality work across the week, in a schedule the person can actually keep. A plan you follow beats a "better" plan you skip.
- 4
Effort, then progression. Working sets have to be hard enough to matter - taken close to failure - and the program only "works" if the load, reps or quality creep upward over time. Progressive overload is the engine; without it, a well-designed plan just maintains.
- 5
Consistency is the real variable. The meta-lesson of ten years is that recovery, sleep and adherence quietly decide the outcome. The best program is the one that gets done for months on end - not the one that looks most sophisticated on paper.
Coachway's take
We agree with the core of it, and the "fundamentals beat fads" message is one every coach should internalise. Most program-design anxiety comes from thinking you need a clever, unique routine per client. You don't. Once the variables - exercise selection, split, effort, progression - are dialled, the work is mostly applying them consistently. Ethier is right to strip it back to that.
Where we'd add nuance is the jump from trainee to coach. Ethier is teaching one person how to train themselves. Your problem is different: you're applying these same fundamentals across a whole roster, and the bottleneck isn't knowing the principles - it's delivering them without your programming drifting into thirty bespoke spreadsheets that all say roughly the same thing. The fundamentals only compound if you can reuse them.
The other thing the video quietly assumes is that the trainee will track their sessions and push the numbers up. When you're coaching yourself, that's automatic. With clients, it's the single most common point of failure - not the design, the follow-through. Progressive overload isn't a principle you write into a plan once; it's something you have to see every week. If you can't pull up what a client lifted last session in a couple of seconds, you're guessing, and the whole engine stalls.
So our version of his advice is: keep the fundamentals exactly as he describes them, but encode them once as a reusable template, personalise the edges per client - swaps for equipment and injuries, volume for training age, the split for the days they've got - and put the logging somewhere you can actually read it. That's what turns "good program design" into a thing you deliver at scale instead of a thing you re-solve every Sunday night.
Fundamentals, built once and reused
The gap between Ethier's fundamentals and a coaching business is delivery. Inside Coachway, the workout builder is where you encode the fundamentals once - your exercise selections, supersets, AMRAP finishers, alternatives for equipment or injuries - and save them as templates you reuse and personalise per client instead of rebuilding from a blank page each week. That's how "good program design" stops being a per-client chore and becomes a system.
Then client progress tracking handles the part the video assumes happens on its own. Weight, measurements, photos and full workout history are logged automatically, and one-click exercise history means you can see what a client lifted last session the moment you open their profile - so progressive overload becomes something you verify at every check-in, not something you hope for. If you want the longer methodology, our guide on how to create a workout program for a client walks the same fundamentals top-down.
The client program-design checklist
Ethier's fundamentals turned into a repeatable order of operations for building a client's program. Copy it into your notes or your intake doc and work top-down: constraints first, then structure, then the training variables, then the part that actually makes it work - progression and tracking.
Client program-design checklist
1. Constraints (before you write a single set)
- ☐ Pin the primary goal - muscle, strength, fat loss, general health - and pick one to lead.
- ☐ Note training age and lifting experience; a beginner and an intermediate get different volumes.
- ☐ Confirm days per week the client can realistically train, and session length.
- ☐ List equipment access and any injuries, limitations or movements to avoid.
2. Structure (the split)
- ☐ Choose the split from the available days, not from a favourite template (full body, upper/lower, PPL).
- ☐ Make sure every major muscle gets trained with enough quality work across the week.
- ☐ Sanity-check it against adherence: will this person actually show up for it?
3. Exercise selection + effort
- ☐ Pick movements that load the target muscle through a full range with a good stretch.
- ☐ Balance pushes and pulls, and include a substitute for anything equipment- or injury-dependent.
- ☐ Set rep ranges from the goal and define effort - working sets taken close to failure.
- ☐ Write a short technique cue on the lifts that matter most, so execution is consistent.
4. Progression + tracking (where programs live or die)
- ☐ Write the progression rule: how the client adds reps, then load, week to week.
- ☐ Make logging effortless so last session's numbers are always visible.
- ☐ Set a review cadence (weekly check-in) to confirm the numbers are actually climbing.
- ☐ Plan a deload or reset for when progress stalls - don't just add weight forever.
- ☐ Save the finished plan as a reusable template; personalise the edges for the next client.
CLIENT PROGRAM-DESIGN CHECKLIST (via Coachway) 1. CONSTRAINTS (before you write a single set) [ ] Pin the primary goal - muscle, strength, fat loss, general health - and pick one to lead. [ ] Note training age and lifting experience; a beginner and an intermediate get different volumes. [ ] Confirm days per week the client can realistically train, and session length. [ ] List equipment access and any injuries, limitations or movements to avoid. 2. STRUCTURE (the split) [ ] Choose the split from the available days, not from a favourite template (full body, upper/lower, PPL). [ ] Make sure every major muscle gets trained with enough quality work across the week. [ ] Sanity-check it against adherence: will this person actually show up for it? 3. EXERCISE SELECTION + EFFORT [ ] Pick movements that load the target muscle through a full range with a good stretch. [ ] Balance pushes and pulls, and include a substitute for anything equipment- or injury-dependent. [ ] Set rep ranges from the goal and define effort - working sets taken close to failure. [ ] Write a short technique cue on the lifts that matter most, so execution is consistent. 4. PROGRESSION + TRACKING (where programs live or die) [ ] Write the progression rule: how the client adds reps, then load, week to week. [ ] Make logging effortless so last session's numbers are always visible. [ ] Set a review cadence (weekly check-in) to confirm the numbers are actually climbing. [ ] Plan a deload or reset for when progress stalls - don't just add weight forever. [ ] Save the finished plan as a reusable template; personalise the edges for the next client.
Jeremy Ethier and program design - FAQ
Who is Jeremy Ethier and why do coaches watch his training videos?
Jeremy Ethier is a kinesiology graduate (BKin) and NASM- and FMS-certified trainer who founded Built With Science and runs one of the largest evidence-based fitness channels, with millions of subscribers. Coaches watch him because his videos translate research into clean, client-shareable 'how to' explanations - the kind of content you can send a new client during onboarding without worrying it's gimmicky. This particular video is his attempt to compress a decade of training advice, and the consensus of several respected researchers, into the handful of variables that actually move the needle.
What are the fundamentals of designing an effective training program?
In our reading of the video, program design comes down to a short list that keeps reappearing no matter who you ask: pick exercises that train the target muscle well through a full range of motion, organise the week into a split the person will actually follow, train with enough effort (close to failure on your working sets), and then progress the load or reps over time. Underneath all of it sits adherence - a program only works if it gets done. For a coach, those are the fundamentals you apply to every client; the personalisation lives in the details, not in reinventing the framework each time.
How do you apply program-design fundamentals to clients, not just yourself?
The gap between programming for yourself and programming for a roster is delivery and follow-through. The fundamentals don't change per client, so the efficient move is to build them into a reusable template, then personalise the edges - exercise swaps for equipment or injuries, volume for training age, the split for the days someone can train. The part the video assumes will happen on its own - tracking and progressing - is your actual job with clients. If you can see last week's numbers instantly, progressive overload becomes something you verify each check-in instead of something you hope is happening.
Full body, upper/lower or push-pull-legs - which split is best for clients?
Ethier's framing is that the split matters less than most people think. What matters is that each muscle gets enough quality work across the week and that the client can realistically stick to the schedule. A three-day full-body plan can beat a 'better' six-day split that someone skips half of. As a coach, choose the split from the client's available days and lifestyle first, then fit the volume and exercise selection into it - not the other way round.
More training-science breakdowns
- · Dr. Mike Israetel on how many sets per muscle - sizing weekly volume with the MEV/MAV/MRV landmarks.
- · Jeff Nippard on how often to train each muscle - training frequency and distributing weekly volume.
- · The full roundup: fitness YouTubers coaches should study.
Keep sharpening your programming
all guidesHow to Create a Workout Program for a Client (2026)
Creating a workout program for a client is a top-down method, not a blank page: fix the goal and training age first, let those set frequency and split, then select exercises by movement pattern and prescribe sets and reps from the goal before building progression in. The exercise-selection and set-and-rep methodology, run for clients you coach remotely.
Read the guidePersonal Trainer Programming: A Coach's Framework (2026)
Personal trainer programming is the deliberate arrangement of six variables - specificity, overload, volume, intensity, frequency and progression - into a plan that drives one chosen adaptation. The framework behind good program design, run for clients you coach remotely.
Read the guideProgressive Overload: What It Is & How to Apply It
Progressive overload is gradually increasing the demands on a muscle over time so it keeps adapting. The six methods, how coaches apply them across a program, and how to break plateaus.
Read the guideFree tools for this: Macro Calculator · One-Rep-Max Calculator · Warm-Up Set Calculator
Build the program once, then coach it at scale
Ethier's fundamentals only compound if you can deliver them without rebuilding from scratch. Coachway's workout builder saves your programming as reusable templates, and progress tracking shows you exactly what each client lifted last session - so progressive overload is something you verify, not hope for. Start your 14-day free trial and program a client end to end.
