Every RepCanvas program - whether you adopted it from the catalogue or built it yourself in the program builder - uses the same layered structure. Understanding the layers makes the editor predictable and the workout logger feel obvious.
The hierarchy reads top-down: a program contains mesocycles, a mesocycle contains microcycles, a microcycle contains training days, a day contains exercises, and an exercise contains prescribed sets. Each layer has a role, and decisions made at one layer flow down through the rest.
Microcycle - one training week
A microcycle is one training week. It contains the days you train (Monday, Wednesday, Friday - whatever you have configured) and within each day the exercises and the prescribed sets for each one. A typical eight-week program is eight microcycles laid end to end.
Each microcycle carries a week type that scales loads and volume relative to the program’s reference week. The default options are:
- Pre-load - calibration. Light loads, full range of motion, find your starting points without grinding.
- Train - the working block. Progress weight or reps each week according to your program’s progression mode.
- Peak - highest intensity. Top sets at or near maximum prescribed effort.
- Deload - forced recovery. Reduced volume and reduced load, deliberately.
The week type is informational on a custom program. On a template that ships with periodisation built in, the type drives the prescribed load and volume for that week.
Mesocycle - a block with intent
A mesocycle is a sequence of microcycles that share an intent. The classic eight-week mesocycle runs as one pre-load week, five training weeks, one peak week, and one deload - but other patterns exist for different program lengths and goals.
Long programs may chain multiple mesocycles together: a hypertrophy mesocycle followed by a strength mesocycle, for example, or a specialisation block layered on top of a base split. The mesocycle is the unit you usually compare strength trends across - “how did I progress on bench through the last training mesocycle” is a more meaningful question than “how did I progress in week three.”
Program - the container
The program owns the mesocycles, the day labels (push-pull-legs, upper-lower, days of the week, custom), the location you train, and your set-and-rep defaults - default rep range, RIR target, tempo, rest, and progression mode. These defaults seed every new exercise and microcycle so you set them once and they propagate.
Day labels
Days inside a microcycle have human labels. Push, pull, legs, or Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, or numeric day one through five - whatever helps you read the program at a glance. RepCanvas offers preset label schemes (push pull legs, upper lower, bro split, days of the week, numeric) and lets you override individual labels when one preset doesn’t quite fit your split.
Why the structure matters
Because every level has the same shape across catalogue templates and custom programs, the rest of the app stays predictable:
- The workout logger always knows which microcycle and day you are in.
- The strength progress tracker can roll volume up to the mesocycle or down to a single training day.
- The workout history calendar keys off the microcycle’s actual training date, not when you opened the app.
- Editing one week, or all weeks, propagates predictably - covered in editing your program.
The structure is invisible most of the time. When you do notice it, it is usually because you needed to make a change and the layered model made it obvious where to look.
Where to read next
- Editing your program - what propagates when you change something.
- The exercise library - how exercises plug into days.
- Building a custom program - the wizard that lays the structure out for a new program.