Durata/Journeys/Leangains RPT in Durata: the heaviest set comes first
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Leangains RPT in Durata: the heaviest set comes first

Most programs walk you up to a top set. Reverse pyramid training does the opposite: the heaviest set is the first working set of the exercise, and everything after it is a back-off at a lower weight and higher reps.

That inversion changes what you have to pay attention to. The top set is the only one the progression rule reads, it carries an AMRAP, and the number written on it is not the number you need. Six weeks of it in the app is a good way to see why.

Finding the program

A fresh install opens on the first-run funnel: import an old log, build a profile, find a program, connect Health, or skip straight to logging. This run takes the program route.

Goal, experience and days a week produce a shortlist, and Leangains RPT comes back on top.

The program page lays out the shape before you commit: three sessions a week, and each lift written as a heavy top set followed by two lighter, longer back-off sets.

Durata first-run onboarding sheet
The first-run funnel. Import, profile, find a program, connect Health, or skip to logging. We take the program route.
Durata program finder with goal, experience and days per week answered
Three answers: goal, experience, days a week.
Durata finder results with Leangains RPT as the top match
Leangains RPT comes back as the top pick, adding 5 kg to lower-body lifts and 2.5 kg to upper.
Leangains RPT program detail screen in Durata
Three sessions a week, 22 sets, with each lift written as a top set and two back-offs.

Setting the openers

There are no training maxes and no percentages to calculate. The setup sheet asks for a working weight per lift, and that weight is the one you will put on the bar for the top set. The back-offs are computed from it.

This run opened with 100 kg on the squat, 130 kg on the deadlift, 75 kg on the bench, 65 kg on the weighted pull-up and 7.5 kg on the isolation work.

Open lighter than you think. The top set carries an AMRAP and the rule wants the top of the rep range, so a weight you can only just move for the written number will hold you still.

Leangains RPT setup sheet in Durata asking for a working weight per lift
A working weight per lift is the whole setup: 100 kg on the squat, 130 kg on the deadlift, 75 kg on the bench, 7.5 kg on the isolation work.
Choosing a start date for a Leangains RPT block in Durata
Scheduled to start 2026-08-03, with the cycle's session dates flowing from there.

Heaviest first, then down

The squat opens the session at 100 kg for the top set, and the two sets after it are lighter and longer. The order is the point: you meet the heaviest weight while you are freshest, and the back-offs collect volume at a weight you can still control once the hard set is behind you.

It reads oddly at first if you are used to warming up into a top set. The warm-ups still happen, they just are not working sets. Once the first working set is logged, the session is downhill by design.

A whole session comes to 180 kg of tracked volume across its logged sets, which is a smaller number than a five-set program produces and is meant to be.

Durata logger showing the barbell squat top set at 100 kg
Squat at 100 kg for the top set, 6 to 8 reps with an AMRAP, then back-offs at 90 and 80 per cent. The estimate reads 126.7 kg.
Durata session complete screen for a Leangains RPT session
The session tallied before it saves: 3 sets, 24 reps and 180 kg of volume.

The written reps are not the target

This is the part worth reading twice. The top set is written as 6 reps with a range of 6 to 8, and the rule that governs it wants 8. Log the six that are written on the screen and nothing moves. Reach eight and the app adds 5 kg to the next session.

So the prescribed number is a floor, not a target, and the AMRAP on that set is not decoration. It is the measurement the whole progression is made of. Every one of the back-off sets can be perfect and the weight will still sit where it is, because the rule never looks at them.

Six sessions in, the squat had gone from 100 kg to 105 kg on exactly that basis, with the estimate up to 145.7 kg.

Durata logger showing the barbell squat at 105 kg
6 sessions in: 105 kg on the top set, up from 100 kg, with the estimate at 145.7 kg.

The accessories run the other way

The isolation work is not on the same rule. It runs double progression instead: the weight stays put while you climb an 8 to 12 rep range, and only when every set reaches 12 does the load move by 2.5 kg and the reps reset to 8.

Two rules in one session sounds like a complication, and it is worth knowing which is which, because they fail in opposite ways. On the compound lifts a weight that will not move means you are not repping the top set out. On the accessories a weight that will not move usually means it is doing exactly what it should.

Durata logger showing a double-progression rule chip on an accessory lift
The accessory rule spelled out on the chip: hit 12 reps and the weight goes up 2.5 kg, with the 8 to 12 range restarting at the bottom.

One miss holds, two would cut

At session 9 the squat reached 110 kg and the top set came up short. Under this rule a missed session does not cost you the weight. It holds it: same load next time, another attempt at the range.

The rule chip is a button, and tapping it shows the case being made. One miss of the two it allows, and a second miss at the same weight would cut it by 10%.

That patience turned out to be right. 110 kg was held at session 12, cleared, and the block carried on to 115 kg and then 120 kg. Nothing was ever cut. The instinct to strip weight off the bar after one bad session is the instinct this rule exists to overrule.

Squat (Barbell) top set across the block

  1. 100S3 Session 3 — start
  2. 105S6 Session 6
  3. 110S9 Session 9 — short of the range
  4. 110S12 Session 12 — held, then cleared
  5. 115S15 Session 15
  6. 120S18 Session 18
Six appearances. One miss at 110 kg, the weight held rather than cut, and the climb resumed from there.
Durata logger showing a missed top set at 110 kg
110 kg bites: only 5 reps on the top set, short of the range. The weight is held rather than pushed, with the estimate at 151.7 kg.
Durata rule chip explaining why the weight is being held
Tap the chip and the app shows its case from this slot's own history: 105 kg, then 110 kg, and a 10% cut waiting if 110 kg is missed twice.

Six weeks of it

18 sessions on the calendar, three a week, with the held session sitting in the middle of the run rather than at the end of it.

The weekly volume figures show the shape of an RPT week: 300 kg and 570 kg on the bigger days, less on the lighter ones. These are small totals next to a high-volume program, which is the trade reverse pyramid makes. Fewer working sets, all of them heavy enough to matter.

Durata history calendar at the start of a Leangains RPT block
The first session lands on the start date: 3 sets, 180 kg, and the calendar starts filling.
Durata history showing 18 logged sessions
18 sessions over 6 weeks, with per-day volumes from 300 kg up to 570 kg.

Where it ended up

The squat finished the block at 120 kg on the top set, with 125 kg queued for the session after. Its estimate went from 142 to 248 across the run, and the one flat stretch in that line is the session that was held.

The strength view puts it at 228 kg at the top, well clear of everything else, which is what following one lift hard for six weeks looks like. Across the whole block the run moved 16283 kg over 87 sets and 864 reps.

Durata strength analytics across a Leangains RPT block
The block's strength index: 228 kg at the top, then 16.7 kg and 15.8 kg on the lighter work.
Durata estimated one-rep max chart for the barbell squat
The squat's estimate across 18 sets, climbing from 142 to 248 with one flat stretch where the weight was held.
Durata logger showing the barbell squat top set at 120 kg
120 kg on the top set, 5 kg up from the 115 kg before it, with the estimate at 228 kg.

The payoff: first top set against last

The same lift and the same first-and-heaviest working set, six weeks apart, with one held session in between and nothing ever cut.

Session 3 Durata logger: barbell squat top set at 100 kg
100 kg → 120 kg
+20 kg

Every step decided by the reps logged on the top set, and none of them by the back-offs.

Session 18 Durata logger: barbell squat top set at 120 kg
FAQ

Common questions

What is reverse pyramid training?

A set scheme that puts the heaviest set first. Instead of working up to a top set, you warm up, do your hardest working set immediately, then drop the weight for two back-off sets at roughly 90% and 80% of it, with the reps rising as the weight falls.

Why is my weight not going up when I hit the prescribed reps?

Because the prescribed number is the bottom of the range, not the target. The top set is written as 6 reps with a range of 6 to 8, and the rule wants 8 before it adds weight. That is what the AMRAP on the top set is for: it is the measurement the progression is made of.

Do the back-off sets affect progression?

No. The rule reads the top set only. The back-offs are there for volume, and doing them well is worth doing, but they will never move the weight on their own and a bad one will never hold it back.

What happens when I miss the top set?

The weight is held, not cut. You get the same load next session and another attempt at the range. Only after a second miss at the same weight does the app cut it by 10% and restart the climb from there.

How much weight does it add?

5 kg a session on lower-body lifts and 2.5 kg on upper-body lifts, each time you reach the top of the range on the top set. The isolation work runs a different rule: double progression up an 8 to 12 range at a fixed weight, moving 2.5 kg once every set reaches 12.

Is Durata free?

Yes. Durata is free to use, with the full program catalogue, rest timers, rule chips and PR tracking. Everything in this walkthrough is in the app.

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