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Jonathan Forstall setting up a front squat in a dimly lit gym
The work is the program.

Built,
not bought.

Twenty years around the iron. Five or six days a week, two hours at a time. This isn’t a program I’m on — it’s how I live. Here’s the training, the food, and the mindset behind it.

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No coaching packages. No sales pitch. Just the system.

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The rhythm, by the numbers
0+YEARS
In the gym
5–0X
Training days / week
0+HRS
Typical session
2018
The year I reset
0+LB
Lost along the way
Section 03 — My story

Twenty years in.
Still building.

I’m Jonathan Forstall. Fitness has been part of my life for more than twenty years — including two years coaching CrossFit in California. Gyms have been the one constant across every city, every job, every version of me.

Training isn’t something I do. It’s part of who I am. That distinction is the whole thing.

Five to six days a week, often two hours or more. Strength and hypertrophy, HIIT, functional work, gymnastics, Olympic lifts, agility, sled, conditioning. I’m not chasing size — I’m chasing athleticism, definition and staying lean. I want to be able to do things, not just lift things.

Yes, I lost more than a hundred pounds along the way. That started in 2018 and it matters — but it’s a chapter, not the book. What changed wasn’t a magic workout. It was becoming consistent, then becoming intentional, and never stopping.

People kept asking what I do and how I train. So here it is. I’m sharing the system, not selling it.

Jonathan Forstall in 2018, before the transformation
Before — 2018
Jonathan Forstall in the gym today
Today
Training since
2005
Reset
2018
Down
100+ lb

“The goal wasn’t to become perfect. It was to become better than yesterday often enough that eventually I became a completely different person.”

Jonathan Forstall
Section 04 — The generator

Your body. Your goal.
My framework.

A custom GPT built on the same programming principles I use for my own sessions. Tell it what you’re training, what equipment you have, and how much time you’ve got.

Workout Builder

BriefToday I'm training Back / Pull. My goal is Definition. I have 60 minutes. I'm intermediate. Build me a workout using your standard framework: ~20 min warm-up, 5 supersets of 2 exercises with tempo and cues, a conditioning block, and a finisher.

Build My Workout

Powered by ChatGPT. Programmed around the same principles I use myself.

Always modify workouts to your ability, experience, equipment, and physical limitations.

Section 05 — How I train

The Program

Structure creates intensity. Variety keeps the body adapting.

The exercises change constantly. The architecture almost never does. Nearly every session follows the same four blocks — which is exactly why I can push hard inside it without thinking about what comes next.

Block 01 / ~20 Minutes

Warm-Up

Cardio + mobility + dynamic stretching

Raise temperature, improve movement quality, prepare the joints before anything gets loaded.

  • 10–12 min cardio, building not coasting
  • Joint-specific mobility for the day's pattern
  • Dynamic stretching, never static holds
  • Ramp sets into the first movement

The template stays familiar.
The movements don’t.

Rotating exercises keeps training from going stale — new stimulus, new angles, new weak points exposed — while the philosophy underneath stays identical. You always know what the session looks like. You just don’t know what’s in it.

Section 06 — The lifestyle

What It Actually Looks Like.

Not a challenge with an end date. A default setting — the same few decisions, made again and again, for years.

Train01

5–6 days

Two hours or more, most days. On the calendar like anything else that matters.

Eat02

Protein first

Whole foods, calories under control, room left for a real life.

Recover03

Non-negotiable

Sleep, mobility, hydration, rest. Training only works if recovery does.

Repeat04

For years

No end date. A default setting. That's the entire trick.

A representative week

5–6 Sessions
  1. MonPushChest, shoulders, triceps + conditioning
  2. TuePullBack, biceps, grip + engine work
  3. WedLegsQuad-dominant, long eccentrics, sled
  4. ThuConditioningHIIT, functional, agility, sprints
  5. FriArmsBiceps, triceps, forearms, grip
  6. SatPower / AgilityOlympic lifts, agility, mobility, or whatever the week was short on
  7. SunRecoverWalk, mobility, sleep, food prep

The split rotates and the movements never repeat for long. What doesn’t change is that most days, something gets trained.

Jonathan Forstall on the gym floor

Some days it’s two and a half hours and a sled. Some days it’s a walk and eight hours of sleep. Both count.

Section 07 — Philosophy

What I Train For

01

Definition Over Bulk

Build visible muscle while staying athletic and lean.

02

Time Under Tension

Controlled eccentrics, pauses, and intentional reps instead of mindlessly moving weight.

03

Functional Strength

Strength should carry over beyond a machine.

04

Conditioning

Strength without an engine is incomplete.

05

Athleticism

Agility, coordination, speed, mobility, balance.

06

Constant Variation

Avoid repeating identical workouts endlessly.

07

Intensity With Purpose

Hard does not mean reckless.

08

Progression

Improve load, volume, control, capacity, technique, or execution.

Jonathan Forstall under the bar in the squat rack

Your lungs should train too.

Section 08 — The library

Steal My Workouts.

These aren't theoretical workouts. This is how I actually train.

12 Workouts
  • 01Chest / Push

    Upper Chest Carver

    Incline-biased pressing with slow eccentrics. Built to fill in the shelf above the chest, not just move heavy weight.

    • Upper Chest
    • Front Delts
    • Triceps
    Time
    110 min
    Goal
    Hypertrophy
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 02Back / Pull

    Back Width & Biceps

    Vertical pulling for width, horizontal rowing for thickness, and controlled biceps work that doesn't turn into a swinging contest.

    • Lats
    • Mid-Back
    • Rear Delts
    Time
    120 min
    Goal
    Hypertrophy
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 03Quad-Dominant Legs

    Quad Separation

    Long ranges, slow eccentrics and a lot of time in the bottom. This one shows up in the mirror and in the stairs the next day.

    • Quads
    • Glutes
    • Adductors
    Time
    120 min
    Goal
    Hypertrophy
    Level
    Advanced
  • 04Arms

    Vein Buster

    Short rest, high quality, occlusion-style finishing work. Arms only — and they will know it.

    • Biceps
    • Triceps
    • Forearms
    Time
    75 min
    Goal
    Definition
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 05Power

    Drain the Tank

    Olympic-adjacent power work up front, then a conditioning piece that decides how honest you were about the warm-up.

    • Full Body
    • Posterior Chain
    • Shoulders
    Time
    105 min
    Goal
    Performance
    Level
    Advanced
  • 06Conditioning

    The Engine

    Thirty minutes of honest functional conditioning. No strength work, nowhere to hide, done before you can talk yourself out of it.

    • Full Body
    • Cardio
    Time
    45 min
    Goal
    Conditioning
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 07Posterior Chain

    Posterior Rebuild

    The back of the body is what makes you fast, keeps you upright and holds everything together. This day pays that bill.

    • Hamstrings
    • Glutes
    • Lower Back
    Time
    110 min
    Goal
    Strength
    Level
    Advanced
  • 08Chest / Push

    Shoulder Architecture

    Round delts are built with volume, angles and patience — not one heavy press. Lots of lateral work, controlled.

    • Delts
    • Traps
    • Triceps
    Time
    90 min
    Goal
    Definition
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 09Agility

    Feet Don't Lie

    Change of direction, foot speed and deceleration. The stuff that keeps you an athlete instead of just a guy who lifts.

    • Legs
    • Hips
    • Calves
    Time
    60 min
    Goal
    Athleticism
    Level
    Intermediate
  • 10Core

    Midline Tax

    Anti-extension, anti-rotation and real flexion work. Abs are trained, not just revealed — but you still have to eat like it.

    • Abs
    • Obliques
    • Deep Core
    Time
    45 min
    Goal
    Definition
    Level
    Beginner
  • 11Full Body

    Full Send

    One session that touches everything — push, pull, hinge, squat, carry, and an engine piece at the end. The travel day workout.

    • Full Body
    Time
    120 min
    Goal
    Athleticism
    Level
    Advanced
  • 12Conditioning

    Levee Sprints

    Hills, wind and no machines. The simplest hard workout there is — and the one most likely to get skipped.

    • Legs
    • Posterior Chain
    • Cardio
    Time
    50 min
    Goal
    Fat Loss
    Level
    Intermediate

Every one of these is a session I’ve actually run. Adjust loads, movements and volume to your own body and equipment.

Section 09 — Nutrition

Eat Like You Have a Goal.

There’s no perfect diet, and I’m not a nutritionist. What I have is a set of rules that survived years of real life — travel, holidays, bad weeks and a hundred pounds. None of it is complicated. Most of it is boring. That’s the part that works.

A high-protein meal
  1. 01Build every meal around a protein source.
  2. 02Mostly whole foods. Not exclusively — mostly.
  3. 03Control calories. You can't out-train arithmetic.
  4. 04Eat foods you actually like or you won't keep eating them.
  5. 05Leave room for flexibility. Plan it in.
  6. 06Consistency matters more than any single meal.
  7. 07Adjust intake to your goal and your activity, then reassess.
  8. 08Never turn one bad meal into a bad week.

Dietary needs differ from person to person. These are the rules that work for me — treat them as ideas, not prescriptions.

Section 10 — The 80/20 mindset

You don’t
need perfect.

A transformation that depends on never missing a workout, never eating dessert and never having a bad week isn’t a transformation. It’s a countdown.

What works is duller and far more durable: build a life where the overwhelming majority of your decisions point the same direction. Not all of them. Most of them. I missed workouts. I ate the king cake. The other eighty percent kept showing up.

Jonathan Forstall between sets with a dumbbell
01Consistency>Perfection
02Years>Weeks
03Systems>Motivation
04Discipline>Mood

You don’t need another fitness challenge. You need consistency.

Section 11 — Non-negotiables

My Rules.

  1. 01

    Show up first.

    You cannot optimize a workout you never start.

  2. 02

    Control the weight.

    If momentum is doing the work, the target muscle probably isn't.

  3. 03

    Earn intensity.

    Movement quality first. Then turn up the volume.

  4. 04

    Don't chase soreness.

    Chase progress.

  5. 05

    Conditioning matters.

    Being strong and being fit are not the same thing.

  6. 06

    Change the exercises. Keep the system.

    Variation prevents stagnation.

  7. 07

    Recovery is training.

    Sleep, mobility, hydration and rest matter.

  8. 08

    Better than yesterday.

    Small wins compound.

Jonathan Forstall at the bottom of a barbell front squat

Now go
do the work.

You don’t need my exact workout. You need a system you can actually follow. Use mine as a starting point, change what needs changing, and start stacking days.

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