This is the longest and most complete program in the catalogue: seven exercises covering horizontal and vertical pressing, pulling, legs and core in a single session. Twelve weeks, four levels, and six marks you have to clear at the same time to move up.
Six of the seven exercises gate the level at once. The plank is the exception: it's there to hold your core up across the twelve weeks, but it never blocks progress. Every mark is for a single set.
| Exercise | Sets | Target | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push-up | 3 | 6 | 75 s |
| Pike Push-up | 3 | 3 | 75 s |
| Declined Pike Push-up | 2 | 3 | 75 s |
| Dips | 3 | 4 | 75 s |
| Pull-up | 3 | 2 | 75 s |
| Squat | 3 | 12 | 75 s |
| Plank | 3 | 20 s | 45 s |
| Exercise | Sets | Target | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push-up | 4 | 10 | 90 s |
| Pike Push-up | 3 | 5 | 90 s |
| Declined Pike Push-up | 3 | 4 | 90 s |
| Dips | 3 | 8 | 90 s |
| Pull-up | 3 | 4 | 90 s |
| Squat | 4 | 20 | 90 s |
| Plank | 3 | 30 s | 45 s |
| Exercise | Sets | Target | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push-up | 4 | 16 | 2 min |
| Pike Push-up | 4 | 7 | 2 min |
| Declined Pike Push-up | 3 | 6 | 2 min |
| Dips | 4 | 12 | 2 min |
| Pull-up | 4 | 6 | 2 min |
| Squat | 4 | 30 | 2 min |
| Plank | 3 | 45 s | 1 min |
| Exercise | Sets | Target | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push-up | 4 | 22 | 2 min |
| Pike Push-up | 4 | 10 | 2 min |
| Declined Pike Push-up | 4 | 9 | 2 min |
| Dips | 4 | 16 | 2 min |
| Pull-up | 4 | 9 | 2 min |
| Squat | 4 | 40 | 2 min |
| Plank | 3 | 60 s | 1 min |
All four levels are laid out on this page. Inside the app, levels two and up are part of Tatakae Pro.
Each exercise is there for a different pattern, and removing one leaves a hole.
Push-ups are horizontal pressing. Pike push-ups and their declined version are vertical pressing, with the declined one as the bridge towards handstand push-ups. Dips add deep pressing under much heavier load. Pull-ups are the pulling pattern, which nothing else in the program touches. Squats are legs. And the plank closes out the core.
It’s the closest thing to a complete gym session you can run with a bar and a set of parallel bars.
Moving up demands clearing six marks at once. At the Basic level that’s 10 push-ups, 4 pike push-ups, 3 declined, 5 dips, 2 pull-ups and 18 squats.
That demand is what turns the program into a season plan rather than a month’s routine. Pull-ups are usually the bottleneck: plenty of people reach the other five marks weeks before they manage the two pull-ups of the first level.
If that’s you, there’s no point waiting. Train pulling separately with Your First Pull-up and come back once the bar stops being the brake.
The order isn’t arbitrary: whatever demands the most strength comes first, while you’re fresh, and whatever tolerates fatigue comes last.
Horizontal pressing, vertical pressing, dips, pull-ups, legs and core. Rests climb from 75 seconds to two minutes as the levels advance, because the Advanced level has sets of 22 push-ups and 16 dips, and those don’t recover in a minute.
The plank goes last, with shorter rests, because it’s the only thing that isn’t competing with the rest for recovery.
This is the program that will have you moving the phone most, and it’s worth accepting that up front: the framing for pull-ups doesn’t work for crunches.
One order that works is grouping by place. First everything done on the floor, phone low and to the side. Then the bar and parallel bar work, phone higher and further back. Reordering exercises within the session by where they happen saves a good amount of dead time.
It’s for someone who has already finished one or two single-goal programs, has access to a bar and parallel bars, and wants twelve structured weeks rather than chasing one number.
It isn’t a good first program. If you’re starting out, The Forge covers the same patterns with four exercises and no equipment.
For training at home two or three times a week, full body pays more. On a split, each muscle group gets trained once a week, and that frequency is low for progress. Here everything gets worked every session.
Three, on alternate days. The session is long and touches the whole body, so it needs at least one rest day in between. Four sessions only make sense at the Basic level.
Between 45 and 60 minutes at the first levels and over an hour at the last ones, mostly because of the two-minute rests. It's the most time-hungry program in the catalogue.
A pull-up bar for the pull-ups and parallel bars for the dips. The rest is done on the floor. It's the program with the most equipment requirements, and there's no way to replace the bar without removing the pulling half.
You can train the ones you have, but the level won't open until all six marks are cleared. If you don't have a bar, a single-goal program that doesn't need one makes more sense.
Because it's supporting work, not a goal. It's there so your core can hold up the push-ups and pull-ups of the higher levels. Gating on it too would stretch the program without adding anything to the result.
