The PCS Exercise Index
Choose the task. Train the quality. Verify the transfer.
A practical exercise library for powerlifting and general strength, organized through Iron Brotherhood’s Periodized Conjugate System. Explore 60 exercises and variations across four collections. Each entry explains the movement, its likely training role, the mistakes that change the task, and the evidence worth recording.
Use the index as a selection tool alongside your program. The full PCS framework governs purpose, dose, allowable fatigue, evidence triggers, and the next decision. An exercise name alone cannot prescribe a session.
Browse the Collections
01 / Squat & Lower-Body Development
Competition, pause, tempo, high-bar, front, safety-bar, cambered-bar, box, and pin squats; belt squats, leg press, hack squats, split squats, reverse lunges, and leg extensions.
Explore 15 squat and leg exercises →
02 / Pulls & Posterior Chain
Conventional and sumo pulls, pauses, deficits, blocks, rack pulls, Romanian and stiff-leg deadlifts, good mornings, back raises, reverse hypers, glute-ham raises, inverse curls, Nordic curls, and leg curls.
Explore 15 pulling and posterior-chain exercises →
03 / Pressing & Triceps
Competition and long-pause benching, close grip, Spoto, floor, pin, board, incline, dumbbell and overhead presses; push-ups, JM presses, extensions, pushdowns, and lateral raises.
Explore 15 pressing and triceps exercises →
04 / Back, Trunk, Grip & GPP
Supported, barbell, dumbbell and cable rows; pull-ups and pulldowns; face pulls, pull-aparts, standing abs, hanging knee raises, rollouts, Pallof presses, carries, sleds, and aerobic work.
Read the 15 back, trunk, grip and GPP entries below, after the PCS selection guide.
The PCS Exercise Classes
CE — Competition Exercise: Your legal competition squat, paused bench, or deadlift with the intended technique and range. It provides direct skill practice and performance evidence.
SDE — Specialized Developmental Exercise: A close variation changes a defined feature such as pause, tempo, range, stance, or resistance while preserving substantial connection to the competition task. Examples include paused squats and Spoto presses.
SPE — Specialized Preparatory Exercise: A different movement develops muscular or physical resources relevant to the lifts. Examples include RDLs, belt squats, dumbbell presses, rows, and hamstring curls.
GPE — General Preparatory Exercise: Less-specific work supports broader capacity, conditioning, and preparation. Examples include general trunk work, carries, sled work, and aerobic exercise.
The classes describe the task, not an exercise’s worth. Tags in this library are practical defaults: changing execution or purpose can change the classification. A high-bar squat may be your CE or someone else’s variation.
The Effort Method Is a Separate Decision
ME — Maximal Effort: Near-limit exposure is justified by purpose, readiness, technical stability, and recoverable cost. The index does not require weekly maxima or encourage maxing unfamiliar exercises.
HE — Heavy Effort: PCS’s operational label for meaningful submaximal intensity with controlled cost. Keep the planned reserve and technical standard rather than escalating until every heavy session becomes ME.
DE — Dynamic Effort: Protect acceleration, velocity intent, and repeatable technique. Select load, repetitions, and rest that preserve the intended quality. A slow grinder does not become speed work because the program calls it DE.
RE — Repeated Effort: Build productive volume and local capacity. Failure is a choice with a cost, not a universal requirement. End sets according to the assigned reserve and execution standard.
GPP — General Physical Preparedness: Develop work capacity without consuming the resources needed for the primary strength task. GPE is an exercise class; GPP is a training purpose.
Let the Phase Change the Emphasis
Restoration: Choose manageable, tolerated work and rebuild repeatability. The task is to restore readiness, not demonstrate what you used to lift.
Accumulation: Emphasize recoverable volume and muscular preparation while retaining relevant lift practice. Select additions that fit the whole weekly workload.
Intensification: Increase the importance of force expression and useful specificity. Keep special exercises tied to a stated constraint rather than collecting harder variations.
Realization: Reduce accumulated fatigue and prioritize the actual performance task. Keep familiar competition work and highly relevant variations; avoid introducing demanding novelty close to the meet.
These are governing priorities, not four automatic calendar boxes. The athlete’s evidence determines whether to progress, hold, modify, or regress.
Select an Exercise With a Testable Reason
Check readiness and execution. A miss after poor recovery or a rushed setup may call for better preparation, not a new accessory.
Confirm a repeatable constraint. Compare similar exposures. A sticking location alone does not diagnose a weak muscle.
Write the purpose. Name the quality or position you intend to develop.
Choose the smallest useful change. Start with familiar CE/SDE work for skill problems and appropriate SPE work for muscular preparation.
Assign dose and a fatigue limit. Decide the load or effort, sets, repetitions, execution standard, and stopping condition.
Define the retest. Review a comparable competition-lift metric as well as progress in the exercise.
Example: If bench touch varies across ordinary sets, a controlled paused bench may let you practice and assess the touch. If it becomes repeatable, keep the useful change. Do not assume a pin-press record proves the original technical problem is solved.
Progress, Hold, or Rotate
Progress when the assigned work remains repeatable, recovery is acceptable, and the target quality improves. Change one meaningful variable at a time.
Hold when the exercise is still being learned or the evidence is mixed. Keeping a useful task stable makes comparisons possible.
Modify or regress when the task exceeds technical or fatigue limits, tolerance worsens, or the intended quality disappears.
Rotate for a specific reason: the phase changes, the constraint changes, the exercise stops serving its purpose, or the accumulated evidence supports another option. Rotation is planned selection; it need not mean unfamiliar exercises every week.
Bands, Chains, Partials & Isometrics
These are ways to change a movement, not prerequisites for PCS. Record band model, anchor position and tension setup; record chain loading and how much deloads; record pin, box, board and block heights. Different setups are different comparisons. Use stable equipment, tested safeties, and coaching when learning complex setups. Keep full-range competition practice when the goal is full-range competition performance.
Read the Entry, Then Write the Prescription
Each collection includes class, possible method roles, equipment, execution, common errors, progression, and a transfer check. Role suggestions are options—not a complete PCS program, fixed percentages, or guarantees that an exercise will improve your total. Start with the smallest selection that covers the actual task.
Record: exercise and exact setup · purpose · dose · effort and execution · fatigue or tolerance response · competition-lift anchor · next decision.
Coaching Sources & Editorial Approach
Dave Tate’s supplemental-movement teaching emphasizes finding builders that actually track with a lifter’s main lifts. elitefts also distinguishes movement-oriented supplemental work from more localized accessory work. This index uses PCS’s separate class and method labels so those teaching traditions can be compared without treating their terminology as identical.
Dave Tate: Supplemental movements → · elitefts: Accessory versus supplemental →
Westside’s exercise-selection and rotation articles supply practical coaching perspectives. Their specific schedules and loading examples belong to their approach; PCS makes the exposure conditional on state, purpose, phase, and response. Each collection links additional original teaching. External coaches and brands are sources, not endorsers of Iron Brotherhood.
Westside: Exercise selection → · Westside: Keep variation purposeful →
Independent Iron Brotherhood exercise library, aligned with PCS Draft 1.36. Coaching applications are hypotheses to test. Reviewed October 2026.
Books & PCS → · Strength Resources → · Explore Coaching →
Back, Trunk & GPP Exercise Library
Build the support system. Protect the strength work.
Fifteen pulling, trunk, grip and conditioning options. PCS assigns each movement a purpose and recoverable cost. A back exercise is not automatically a correction for a missed lift, and GPP is not permission to add unlimited fatigue.
PCS classes, methods, phases & selection rules →
Browse: supported rows · barbell rows · dumbbell rows · cable rows · pull-ups · pulldowns · face pulls · pull-aparts · standing abs · leg raises · rollouts · Pallof presses · carries · sleds · aerobic work.
01 / Chest-Supported / Seal Row
PCS role: SPE · RE
Equipment: Stable chest-supported machine or rated elevated bench and load
Purpose: Build upper-back pulling volume while reducing the need to hold an unsupported hinge.
Execution: Support the chest securely, leave room for the implement, and row through a repeatable elbow path. Lower without bouncing against the support.
Watch for: Lifting the chest to manufacture range, using an unstable elevated bench, or measuring only the weight.
Progress & verify: Record support angle, grip and range. Add controlled repetitions before load and check how the work fits bench and squat setup demands.
02 / Barbell Row
PCS role: SPE · RE or controlled HE
Equipment: Barbell and plates
Purpose: Develop horizontal pulling capacity with an additional trunk-holding demand.
Execution: Establish a stable hinge and brace. Row to a consistent target, then lower with control. Choose and document whether repetitions are strict or deliberately reset from the floor.
Watch for: Turning every repetition into a hip-driven heave or adding it after pulling without counting the extra trunk cost.
Progress & verify: Log torso angle and repetition style. Improve the same task while monitoring fatigue before the next squat or deadlift.
03 / One-Arm Dumbbell Row
PCS role: SPE · RE
Equipment: Dumbbell and stable support
Purpose: Provide unilateral pulling work with a simple, adjustable setup.
Execution: Support the free hand securely, establish a balanced stance, and pull the elbow through a chosen path. Lower through the intended range while keeping the torso controlled.
Watch for: Rotating to move an excessive load, chasing implement height rather than the task, or comparing differently supported versions.
Progress & verify: Keep support and range consistent. Match productive work across sides and judge whether the volume fits your back-training budget.
04 / Seated Cable Row
PCS role: SPE · RE
Equipment: Cable row station and suitable handle
Purpose: Accumulate horizontal pulling volume with adjustable grip and support.
Execution: Set a stable seat and foot position, reach through the assigned range, and row without abruptly throwing the torso backward. Return deliberately.
Watch for: Turning it into repeated lower-back extension or shortening the return as the stack gets heavier.
Progress & verify: Record handle and torso strategy. Progress clean repetitions; change grip for a defined purpose rather than novelty.
05 / Pull-Up / Chin-Up
PCS role: SPE · RE
Equipment: Rated overhead bar; assistance or additional load when appropriate
Purpose: Develop vertical pulling and grip capacity.
Execution: Choose an overhand, neutral or underhand grip you tolerate. Start from the agreed position, pull without uncontrolled swinging, and lower to the same finish. Use assistance when needed to preserve the task.
Watch for: Kipping in a strict assignment, craning the neck to reach a target, or comparing assisted and weighted work as one exercise.
Progress & verify: Record body mass, grip, assistance and range. Add consistent repetitions before reducing assistance or adding external load.
06 / Lat Pulldown
PCS role: SPE · RE
Equipment: Pulldown station and suitable handle
Purpose: Offer scalable vertical pulling volume when pull-ups are unavailable or difficult to dose.
Execution: Secure the thighs, choose a comfortable grip and pull in front of the body toward a consistent upper-chest region. Control the return. Justin Harris demonstrates an upright version that limits leaning back.
Watch for: Jerking the torso, pulling behind the neck unnecessarily, or cutting the return to move more stack weight.
Progress & verify: Keep seat, grip and torso angle consistent. Progress controlled repetitions and track the total vertical-pulling workload.
07 / Cable / Band Face Pull
PCS role: SPE or GPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: Cable rope or intact band with secure anchor
Purpose: Provide upper-back and rear-shoulder preparation with light, controllable resistance.
Execution: Set the anchor around face height, establish a stable stance, and draw the hands toward the face through a comfortable elbow path. Return without losing balance.
Watch for: Leaning back to overpower the resistance, forcing shoulder rotation, or treating light preparation as a maximum test.
Progress & verify: Record anchor height and resistance. Build repeatable volume that supports pressing tolerance without exhausting the shoulders.
08 / Band Pull-Apart
PCS role: GPE or SPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: Intact resistance band
Purpose: Add accessible shoulder and upper-back preparation.
Execution: Hold a manageable band in front of the chest with a consistent elbow bend. Spread the hands through a controlled range and return slowly, keeping the torso quiet.
Watch for: Arching to finish, snapping the band, or assuming more daily repetitions are automatically better.
Progress & verify: Record band, grip width and range. Progress only when the intended motion and next-session shoulder readiness remain intact.
09 / Standing Cable Abdominal Pulldown
PCS role: SPE or GPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: High cable and rope attachment
Purpose: Train deliberate loaded trunk flexion in a standing setup.
Execution: Hold the rope near the upper chest with tension established. Bring the chest toward the torso using the abdominals, then return under control. Westside stresses avoiding an arm-dominant pulldown.
Watch for: Pulling mainly with the arms, dropping into a squat, or using momentum instead of the intended abdominal action.
Progress & verify: Standardize stance and rope position. Progress controlled range and repetitions before load; check that trunk soreness does not disrupt bracing practice.
10 / Hanging Knee Raise / Leg Raise
PCS role: SPE or GPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: Rated pull-up bar or supported knee-raise station
Purpose: Train controlled trunk and hip-flexor work with a scalable lever.
Execution: Begin with bent knees if necessary, keep the hang or support stable, and raise the legs with a deliberate pelvic movement. Lower without swinging into the next repetition.
Watch for: Using a pendulum, losing shoulder support, or extending the legs before the bent-knee version is controlled.
Progress & verify: Record support, knee bend and range. Progress repetitions or lever length one variable at a time, while monitoring grip and trunk fatigue.
11 / Ab-Wheel Rollout
PCS role: SPE or GPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: Ab wheel, knee pad and clear floor; wall stop optional
Purpose: Challenge trunk control as the body lengthens away from the support.
Execution: Start kneeling, brace and roll only as far as you can preserve the intended torso position. Pull back under control; a wall can define a repeatable endpoint.
Watch for: Letting the lower back extend to gain distance, collapsing on the return, or jumping directly to standing rollouts.
Progress & verify: Record the endpoint and starting position. Extend controlled range before adding repetitions, and stop the set when the position cannot be maintained.
12 / Pallof Press
PCS role: GPE or SPE by purpose · RE
Equipment: Cable or intact band secured around chest height
Purpose: Practice resisting a rotational pull with a measurable stance and lever.
Execution: Stand sideways to the anchor with soft knees. Hold the handle at the chest, brace, and press the hands forward while keeping the torso facing ahead. Return deliberately.
Watch for: Rotating toward the anchor, shifting the feet to escape tension, or confusing stack weight with controlled performance.
Progress & verify: Log anchor, stance, distance and hold duration. Progress one variable while preserving position; do not assume this alone resolves a heavy-lift technical fault.
13 / Farmer / Suitcase Carry
PCS role: GPE; SPE when a specific grip or trunk resource is targeted · GPP or RE
Equipment: Dumbbells, kettlebells or carry handles; clear route
Purpose: Develop loaded locomotion, grip and task-specific trunk capacity.
Execution: Pick up securely, stand balanced, and walk with controlled steps. Farmer carries load both hands; suitcase carries load one side. Put the load down deliberately before grip or balance fails.
Watch for: Racing with an unstable load, allowing equipment to strike the legs, or making every carry a maximal grip challenge.
Progress & verify: Record implement, load, distance and rest. Match the dose to the purpose and protect grip readiness for deadlifts.
14 / Sled Drag / Sled Push
PCS role: GPE; SPE when a selected muscular resource is targeted · GPP or RE
Equipment: Sled, secure straps or handles and unobstructed route
Purpose: Provide adjustable locomotion and conditioning work with multiple movement options.
Execution: For forward or backward drags, keep straps secure and use controlled steps. For pushes, choose a manageable handle position and drive without losing balance. Introduce one direction at a time.
Watch for: Comparing weights across different surfaces, sprinting before control is established, or turning recovery-oriented work into exhaustive intervals.
Progress & verify: Log sled type, surface, direction, load, distance and rest. Progress only the variable that serves the assigned goal; monitor the next lower-body session.
15 / Easy Aerobic Bike / Walk / Row
PCS role: GPE · GPP
Equipment: Stationary bike, safe walking route or rowing ergometer
Purpose: Build general work capacity with a dose that remains subordinate to strength training.
Execution: Choose a familiar modality and an easy, sustainable pace. On a rower, use a controlled leg drive and return; select walking or cycling when rowing technique adds unwanted complexity.
Watch for: Calling exhausting intervals recovery, making sudden duration jumps, or ignoring leg fatigue from conditioning.
Progress & verify: Record modality, duration and perceived effort. Increase gradually only when recovery and strength-session quality remain acceptable.
Use the Exercise to Serve the Lift
Write purpose, dose, allowable fatigue, evidence trigger, and next decision before adding work. Class and method tags are options, not a complete prescription. Introduce unfamiliar movements with manageable loads. Keep the competition task in view, and seek qualified help when symptoms or complex setups require it.
Independent Iron Brotherhood educational synthesis, aligned with PCS Draft 1.36. Source links provide additional coaching context; external coaches do not endorse this library. Reviewed October 2026.