Meal Planner

Shop total: $79.95
Per meal, each: $2.86
Protein · aim 130: 90g/day
Hands-on Sun: 50min
Energy: 1750kcal/day

The week

Tap a meal for the method · weekly staple

Sun

The big cook-up

Lunch31 g

Dinner37 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Mon

Curry, night two

Lunch37 g

Dinner37 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Tue

Feta pasta

Lunch31 g

Dinner22 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Wed

Something different

Lunch37 g

Dinner42 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Thu

Sweet potato bake

Lunch31 g

Dinner47 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Fri

Out of the freezer

Lunch37 g

Dinner37 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Sat

Clear the fridge

Lunch31 g

Dinner30 g

Savoury7 g

Dip2 g

Sweet12 g

Gym

Five sessions · Technogym floor · no Friday

The week · 5 on, 2 off · Fri and Sun off

Mon		40 min
Tue		45 min
Wed		40 min
Thu		42 min
Fri	Rest	—
Sat		45 min
Sun	Rest	—

Everything gets trained twice a week — once on its own day and again in Saturday’s upper session. That is the point of the split: muscle protein synthesis runs about 48 hours, so twice catches a second wave that once does not. Friday and Sunday are the rest days, and they are real ones, not optional. Monday to Thursday runs four straight, which is fine because no two consecutive days train the same muscle as the primary. Abs land Tuesday and Thursday. The three machines you actually live on — Vertical Traction (their pulldown), Low Row and the Abdominal Crunch — are the spine of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so the week is built around what you are already using rather than around what a programme thinks you should.

Session: 40min
Working sets: 16
Exercises: 5
Heaviest first: 4sets

Order is deliberate. Heaviest compound while you are fresh, isolation after. Do not reshuffle it to get on a free machine — wait, or swap 03 and 04 only.

Machine diagram

Start Handles level with upper chest, elbows back and below the wrists
End Arms nearly straight, pressed up and slightly in

Incline Chest Press

Technogym Chest Press — Selection 700 or 900

Seated, upright back pad, two independent lever arms with handles beside your chest, weight stack behind you. Most Technogym floors have no dedicated incline machine: use the standard chest press with the seat dropped to its lowest setting, which raises the handles relative to your chest and gives you the angle. Failing that, an adjustable bench at 30° with dumbbells in the Pure area.

4sets8–10reps90srest2-1-1tempo

Set the seat so the handles sit at upper-chest height, not shoulder height. Too high and it becomes a shoulder press.
Press up and slightly in. Stop just short of locking the elbows — the tension is the point, not the lockout.
Upper chest is the part almost everyone under-builds, which is why it goes first while you are fresh.
Last two reps should be genuinely hard with form intact. If rep 10 is easy, the weight goes up next session.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Machine diagram

Start Handles at mid-chest, shoulder blades pinned back and down
End Arms extended forward, short of lockout

Chest Press

Technogym Chest Press — the same machine as 01

Raise the seat so the handles line up with the middle of your chest. Same machine, one pin change, completely different emphasis. Do not go and queue for a second one.

3sets8–10reps90srest2-1-1tempo

Shoulder blades pulled back and down into the pad, and keep them there the whole set. Letting them roll forward moves the work to the front delts.
Lower for a slow count of two. The stretched part is where most of the growth comes from and it is the part people rush.
Feet flat, no arching off the seat to move more weight.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Machine diagram

Start Arms wide, elbows soft and fixed at that angle
End Pads touching in front, squeezed for a full second

Pectoral Machine

Technogym Pectoral Machine — often a combined Pectoral / Rear Delt

The giveaway is the arms: vertical pads you press with your forearms, not handles you push with your hands. If it has handles pointing forward you are at the chest press. If it is the combined pec/rear-delt version, the arms have to be swung round to the front position before you sit down.

3sets12–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

A wide arc, elbows soft and fixed at that angle — if the elbow angle changes you are pressing, not flying.
Squeeze for a full second where the pads meet. This is the only point in the session where the chest is fully shortened.
Lighter than feels impressive. This is a stretch-and-squeeze exercise, not a load exercise.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Machine diagram

Start Pulleys at the bottom, arms down and out, one foot forward
End Hands together around collarbone height

Cable Crossover, low to high

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley, cable station, or Kinesis

Two tall uprights with a carriage that slides up and down and a D-handle on each cable. Slide both carriages to the bottom. If your gym has the wall-mounted Kinesis, that works too and the cables move more freely.

3sets12–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

Pulleys at the bottom setting. Sweep up and in, hands finishing around collarbone height.
Step one foot forward and lean in slightly. Standing straight up lets the cables pull you backwards.
The cable keeps tension on at the top where a machine loses it — that is the whole reason this is here and not a second press.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Machine diagram

Start Arms straight on the bars, chest leaning forward over the hands
End Lowered until upper arms are parallel to the floor

Assisted Dip

Technogym Selection Assisted Chin / Dip

Tall frame, pull-up bar on top, dip bars at waist height, and a padded platform for your knees or feet. The stack takes weight off you rather than adding it, so a higher number is more help, not less — that is backwards from every other machine here and it catches everyone out once.

3sets8–12reps60srest2-0-1tempo

Lean forward and let the chest lead. Staying bolt upright turns this into a triceps exercise — the forward lean is the entire difference.
Set the assist so you reach 8–12 with the last two genuinely hard. Reduce the assistance as the weeks go, that is the progression.
Stop when the upper arms reach parallel. Going deeper looks impressive and is where shoulders get hurt.
Lower chest gets hit here and nowhere else in this session, which is why it earns a slot.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Chest gets hit twice. Once here on Monday and again in Saturday’s upper session, which is what the split above is built around — protein synthesis runs about 48 hours, so twice a week catches a second wave that once does not.

Load and progression. Pick a weight where the last two reps are hard but your form holds. When you hit the top of the rep range on every set, add the smallest increment next session. That is the whole method — there is nothing cleverer, it just has to happen every week for months.

Where the photos come from. These are from free-exercise-db, an open dataset released into the public domain — free to use and redistribute, no attribution required. They show the movement on generic gym equipment, not on Technogym’s machines, so treat them as the body position rather than the exact kit. Scan the QR on the console for Technogym’s own video of your actual machine. The line diagram under each pair is mine, and shows seat and pulley setup.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in the shoulder joint means stop, not push through.

Session: 40min
Working sets: 16
Exercises: 5
One station: all 5

Every set on the cable station. Five exercises, one machine, three attachments — you move the carriage up or down and swap rope for bar. Nothing to queue for and no walking between sets, which is most of why this fits in 40 minutes. The cable also holds tension where free weights lose it, at the top of a curl and the bottom of a pushdown, which is exactly where arms do their work.

Start Rope at chest height, elbows tight to the ribs
End Arms straight, rope split apart at the thighs

Triceps Pushdown

Rope on the high pulley

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station. Rope attachment, carriage at the top. Elbows pinned to your ribs and kept there — the second they drift forward it becomes a shoulder movement.

4sets10–12reps60srest2-1-1tempo

Split the rope apart at the bottom and turn the knuckles slightly out. That last inch is where the long head actually works.
Triceps are two thirds of your arm. They get the volume and they get you while you are fresh.
Lean in a few degrees, but do not turn it into a standing press by rocking.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms down, cable already under tension
End Curled to shoulder height, elbows still at the sides

Standing Cable Curl

Straight or EZ bar on the low pulley

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station. Carriage all the way down, bar attachment. Stand a pace back from the column so there is tension on the cable before you even start.

4sets10–12reps60srest2-1-2tempo

This is the reason to curl on a cable rather than with dumbbells: the load never drops off at the top. A dumbbell goes weightless at the peak; the cable does not.
Elbows stay at your sides and still. If they swing forward, the front delts are taking it.
Stop just short of straight at the bottom and keep the tension on.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Rope behind the head, elbows bent and high
End Arms straight overhead, elbows still forward

Overhead Cable Extension

Rope on the low pulley

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station. Face away from the machine, rope over your shoulders, elbows pointing forward at the ceiling.

3sets12–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

Overhead is the only position that puts the long head of the triceps under a full stretch, which is why this is not just a repeat of the pushdown.
Elbows stay pointing forward and still. Only the forearms move.
Lighter than the pushdown, and lean forward slightly so the cable does not pull you backwards.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms down, palms facing each other
End Curled to the shoulders, palms still facing in

Cable Hammer Curl

Rope on the low pulley

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station. Rope attachment, neutral grip, thumbs up the whole way and never rotating.

3sets10–12reps60srest2-0-1tempo

The neutral grip hits the brachialis, which sits underneath the bicep and pushes it up. It is the muscle that makes arms look thick from the side.
Pull the rope ends slightly apart at the top rather than letting them clash together.
No swinging. If your back is moving, drop a plate.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Bar at chest height, underhand grip
End Arms straight down, wrists neutral

Reverse Grip Pushdown

Straight bar on the high pulley

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station. Same setup as 01 with an underhand grip on a straight bar. Two sets to finish, nothing heavy.

2sets12–15reps45srestControlledtempo

Underhand shifts the work onto the medial head, the part of the triceps nothing else in this session emphasises.
Much lighter than the rope pushdown. The grip is weaker and the point is the angle, not the load.
Wrists straight, elbows locked to the sides, and squeeze at the bottom.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Where the photos come from. free-exercise-db, an open dataset in the public domain — free to use, no attribution required. They show the movement on generic equipment, not Technogym’s, so read them as body position. Scan the QR on the console for Technogym’s own video of your actual machine.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in a joint means stop, not push through.

Session: 24min
Working sets: 14
Exercises: 5
Loaded: 4of 5

Four of these five are loaded and that is deliberate. Abs are muscle and they grow the same way everything else does — by getting harder over time. Endless bodyweight crunches stop working the moment you can do forty. Start with the hardest movement and finish braced against a cable that is trying to twist you.

Start Upright, chest against the pad
End Crunched forward, ribs towards hips

Abdominal Crunch

Technogym Selection Abdominal Crunch

Seated, chest pad across the front, feet hooked. Loaded from a stack so you can measure progress.

3sets15–20reps45srest2-1-2tempo

Push through the chest pad, not the handles. Pulling with the arms is the standard way to make this machine do nothing.
Short range, controlled. This is not a sit-up and you are not trying to fold in half.
Higher reps here than the cable crunch — different stimulus, and it is the safer one to chase a burn on.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Kneeling tall, rope at the ears
End Elbows driven to the thighs, spine rounded

Cable Crunch

Technogym cable station, rope on the high pulley

Kneel facing the machine, rope beside your ears, hips fixed.

3sets12–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

This is the only ab exercise here you can add weight to, which makes it the one that actually grows the muscle. Abs respond to progressive overload like anything else.
Crunch with the spine, not the hips. If your bum is moving back towards your heels you are doing a hip hinge.
Round down through the upper back and stop when the stretch runs out.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Hanging straight, shoulders packed down
End Knees up past the hips, pelvis curled under

Hanging Leg Raise

Technogym Selection Assisted Chin / Dip, or a captain’s chair

Use the dip bars with your back against the pad, or hang from the bar above if your grip holds.

3sets10–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

Curl the pelvis up towards your ribs. Lifting the legs with a flat back is a hip flexor exercise and most people do it for years without realising.
Knees bent is the honest version if straight legs make your back arch. Progress to straight over time.
Slow on the way down. Dropping the legs wastes the half that counts.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Handle high and across, arms extended
End Pulled down to the opposite hip, torso rotated

Standing Cable Wood Chop

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley, handle set high

Pull down and across the body, rotating through the ribs and letting the back foot pivot.

2sets12 each sidereps45srestControlledtempo

Rotation is what the obliques are actually for, and nothing else in this session trains it.
Arms stay fairly straight — this is a torso movement, not a lat pulldown with a twist.
Let the back heel come off the floor. Fighting the rotation at the hip is how backs get tweaked.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Handle at the chest, stood side-on to the machine
End Arms pressed straight out, torso refusing to rotate

Pallof Press

Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · handle at chest height

Stand side-on to the column, feet shoulder width, handle clasped in both hands at the sternum. Step away until the cable is properly loaded.

3sets10–12 each sidereps45srest2-1-2tempo

The cable is trying to twist you towards the machine. The entire exercise is refusing to let it. Nothing about your torso should move.
Press straight out and back in. The further the handle gets from your chest, the harder the cable pulls — that is the rep.
Same job as a plank, bracing the core against a force, except you can add weight to it. A plank you can only make longer, which stops being training and starts being time.
Ribs down, glutes tight, breathe out as you press. If your shoulders rotate at all, drop a plate.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in a joint means stop, not push through.

With abs: 45min
Working sets: 17
Exercises: 5
Then abs: 01–03

Wide first, then narrow, then straight-arm. Three pulldown variations is not repetition — the grip changes which part of the lat does the work, and the straight-arm version is the only one your biceps cannot help with. Face pulls at the end are the insurance policy for every chest press you do the rest of the week.

Start Arms overhead, shoulder blades lifted
End Bar at collarbone, elbows down by the ribs

Vertical Traction

Technogym Selection Vertical Traction — their lat pulldown

Seated, thigh pad clamped down, wide overhand grip.

4sets10–12reps75srest2-1-2tempo

Pull the elbows down to your ribs and think about that rather than the hands. The bar follows.
All the way up at the top, letting the shoulder blades rise. That stretch is half the exercise and it is the half people skip.
Chest up, slight lean back, no swinging the weight down.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms extended, shoulder blades forward
End Handle at the ribs, blades squeezed back

Low Row

Technogym Selection Low Row, or the seated cable row

Chest against the pad if there is one, feet braced.

4sets10–12reps75srest2-1-2tempo

Row to the bottom of the ribs, not the chest. Elbows stay close to the body.
Let the shoulder blades travel forward at the front, then pull them back. That travel is the exercise.
No leaning back to finish. If you need to, the weight is wrong.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms overhead on the V-handle
End Handle at the upper chest, elbows down and back

Close-Grip Pulldown

Technogym Vertical Traction, V-handle

Same machine as 01 with a narrow V-handle instead of the wide bar.

3sets10–12reps60srest2-1-2tempo

Narrow and underhand-ish hits the lats lower down and brings the biceps in, which is why it follows the wide version rather than replacing it.
Drive the elbows down and back, and let the bar come to the upper chest.
Same machine, one attachment change. Do not go and queue for another.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Rope at eye height, arms straight and forward
End Rope at the thighs, arms still straight

Straight-Arm Pulldown

Rope on the high pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Stand back from the column, rope at eye height, arms locked straight the whole set.

3sets12–15reps60srest2-1-2tempo

The only lat exercise here with no elbow bend, so the biceps cannot take over. By now they are tired and they would.
Hinge slightly at the hips and keep the back flat. Sweep the rope to your thighs in an arc.
Light. This is a squeeze, not a pull.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Rope at eye height, arms extended
End Hands beside the ears, elbows high and wide

Face Pull

Rope on the high pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Rope just above eye height, pull towards your forehead with the elbows flaring high and wide.

3sets15–20reps45srestControlledtempo

This is the single best thing you can do for shoulders that spend the week under a chest press. Rear delts and the mid-back are what hold the shoulder in its socket.
Pull the rope apart as well as back, and finish with your hands beside your ears.
High reps, light weight. Nobody has ever needed a heavy face pull.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Then abs, 14 minutes. Open the Abs session and do 01 to 03 — hanging leg raise, cable crunch, abdominal crunch. That takes this to about 45 minutes. Abs pair with this session because nothing here pre-fatigues them and they pre-fatigue nothing that follows.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in a joint means stop, not push through.

With abs: 42min
Working sets: 15
Exercises: 5
Then abs: 01–03

One press, then four raises. The press is the only heavy movement here; everything after it is light and high-rep, because delts are small and respond to volume rather than load. Side delts get two exercises because they are what make shoulders look wide and a press barely touches them.

Start Handles at ear height, elbows under wrists
End Arms extended overhead, short of lockout

Shoulder Press

Technogym Selection Shoulder Press

Seated, back flat against the pad, handles starting at ear height.

4sets10–12reps75srest2-1-1tempo

Press up and very slightly in. Elbows flared straight out to the sides is the position shoulders get hurt in.
Ribs down, no arching the lower back to get the weight up. If you are arching, it is too heavy.
Short of lockout at the top.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arm down across the body, cable loaded
End Arm out to the side at shoulder height

Cable Lateral Raise

Single handle on the low pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Stand side-on, cable running across the front of your body, handle in the far hand.

3sets12–15 each sidereps45srest2-1-2tempo

The side delt is what makes shoulders look wide, and a press barely touches it. This is the exercise that does.
Lead with the elbow, not the hand, and stop at shoulder height. Higher brings the traps in.
Cable rather than dumbbells because the load holds at the bottom, where a dumbbell gives you nothing.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Dumbbells at the thighs, elbows soft
End Arms out to shoulder height, elbows still soft

Dumbbell Side Lateral

Dumbbells · Technogym Pure rack

Both arms at once, very light, standing tall.

3sets12–15reps45srest2-0-2tempo

Both arms together after the single-arm cable work — different resistance curve, same muscle, and it doubles the volume in half the time.
Thumbs level or very slightly down. Turning the thumbs up turns it into a front raise.
Go lighter than you think. This is the most commonly overloaded exercise in any gym and the extra weight all goes to the traps.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms crossed in front, cables under tension
End Arms swept wide and back, blades squeezed

Cable Rear Delt Fly

Both handles, pulleys at shoulder height, cables crossed · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Stand in the middle, grab the opposite handle in each hand so the cables cross in front of you.

3sets12–15reps45srest2-1-2tempo

Rear delts are the half of the shoulder nobody trains and the half that stops you rounding forward.
Sweep the arms out and back, not down. Squeeze the shoulder blades at the end.
Arms almost straight, soft elbows, and light enough that you feel it behind the shoulder rather than in the back.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Bar at the thighs, arms straight
End Bar at chest height, elbows level with the shoulders

Upright Cable Row

Straight bar on the low pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Bar at thigh height, hands about shoulder width — not narrow.

2sets12–15reps45srestControlledtempo

Shoulder width, never narrow. A narrow-grip upright row is the classic way to grind a shoulder joint over years.
Stop when the elbows reach shoulder height. Above that there is nothing to gain and a lot to lose.
Two sets to finish. Traps and side delts, and a good place to stop.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in a joint means stop, not push through.

Session: 45min
Working sets: 17
Exercises: 6
Arm sets: 6

No legs. Pull, push, pull, press, then six sets of arms to finish on the cable station. Biggest movements first, and nothing trained twice in a row. Use this on a day you only get one session in.

Start Arms overhead, shoulder blades lifted
End Bar at collarbone, elbows down by the ribs

Vertical Traction

Technogym Selection Vertical Traction — their name for the lat pulldown

Seated, thigh pad down, wide overhand grip.

3sets10–12reps75srest2-1-2tempo

Pull the elbows down to your ribs and think about that rather than the hands. The bar follows.
Chest up, slight lean back, no swinging.
All the way up at the top and let the shoulder blades rise. That stretch is half the exercise.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Handles at mid-chest, elbows back
End Arms extended forward, short of lockout

Chest Press

Technogym Chest Press — Selection 700 or 900

Seat set so the handles line up with mid-chest.

3sets10–12reps75srest2-1-1tempo

Shoulder blades back and down into the pad, held there all set.
Short of lockout at the front.
If chest day is also in your week, keep this a notch lighter — it is here for balance, not as a second chest session.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms extended, shoulder blades forward
End Handle at the ribs, blades squeezed back

Low Row

Technogym Selection Low Row, or the seated cable row

Chest against the pad if the machine has one, or feet braced on the plate.

3sets10–12reps75srest2-1-2tempo

Row to the bottom of the ribs, not the chest. Elbows stay close.
Let the shoulder blades travel forward at the front, then pull them back — that travel is the point.
No leaning back to finish the rep. If you need to, the weight is wrong.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Handles at ear height, elbows under wrists
End Arms extended overhead, short of lockout

Shoulder Press

Technogym Selection Shoulder Press

Seated, back flat, handles starting at ear height.

2sets10–12reps75srest2-1-1tempo

Press up and very slightly in. Do not flare the elbows straight out to the sides.
Ribs down, no arching the lower back to get the weight up.
Two sets only — the chest press already gave the front delts plenty.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Arms down, cable under tension
End Curled to shoulder height, elbows fixed

Standing Cable Curl

Bar on the low pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Carriage down, stand a pace back so the cable is loaded before you start.

3sets10–12reps60srest2-1-2tempo

Arms are the focus, so they get real sets here rather than being an afterthought at the end.
Elbows at the sides and still.
The cable keeps tension at the top where a dumbbell goes weightless.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

Start Rope at chest height, elbows tight
End Arms straight, rope split at the thighs

Triceps Pushdown

Rope on the high pulley · Technogym Dual Adjustable Pulley · cable station

Same station, carriage to the top, rope attachment.

3sets10–12reps60srest2-1-1tempo

Elbows pinned to the ribs.
Split the rope at the bottom and turn the knuckles out.
One station for 05 and 06 — move the carriage, swap the attachment, no queueing.

Scan the QR on the machine console with the Technogym app for their own video of the movement.

General training guidance, not coaching. Sharp pain in a joint means stop, not push through.

Sunday cook-up

Four batches · the whole week in one afternoon

This is a bigger Sunday than usual — four batch dishes plus two bakes — but it buys you a week with almost no weekday cooking. Order matters more than it has before, because the oven has to climb and the chickpeas need soaking first.

Dough and the chickpea soak, before anything else
Focaccia dough needs three hours. Put the oil in it this time. Then quick-soak about 300 g of dried chickpeas: cover, hard boil five minutes, off the heat, stand an hour. That gives you the 400 g cooked for the curry and 400 g for the pasta. The cannellini are off the list — the dish they belonged to is now the lamb curry.
Banana bread — first into the oven, and it is the long one
Four bananas mashed, fifth split for the top. No butter and no oil. Rest the batter ten minutes before the tin — the coconut flour keeps absorbing. 170 °C, check at 55, expect 65. Five bananas is a lot of moisture and a hot oven sets the outside while the middle stays raw.
Burrito potatoes can start while the bread bakes
Diced small, in oil, in a wide pan on the cooktop. Fifteen minutes to properly crisp. The oven is busy and this is the long cooktop job, so they overlap neatly.
Chickpeas on to simmer, and fold the dough at 45 minutes
45–50 minutes until tender but still holding shape. They have to be fully cooked before they go anywhere near the curry — chickpeas will not soften in coconut milk or anything acidic, so plain water now is the only chance you get. Wet hand on the dough, not floured.
Burrito filling — potatoes first, and brown them hard
Diced small, fifteen minutes, properly crisp at the edges. Then onion, chiles, spice. Scramble the eggs soft and underdone; they cook again on reheating. Then let it all go completely cold before you roll anything — warm filling steams the wrap and you get eight soggy burritos.
Lamb curry — the long one, start it early
Fry the paste until the oil splits out of it, brown the lamb hard in batches, then coconut milk and a bare simmer for two hours. A hard boil curdles coconut milk and there is no fixing it. Cooked chickpeas in for the last twenty minutes, spinach off the heat at the very end.
Peanut bowls — and the dressing goes in its own jar
Sear the 750 g of thigh, cook the rice and spread it on a tray to cool fast. Assemble the six bowls dry: rice, chicken, raw cabbage and carrot. Nothing gets dressed. Dressed slaw is limp inside a day and that is the whole reason these keep four days.
Oven up to 220 °C — focaccia last
Heaps of oil in the tray. Oiled fingers, press through to the base. Rotate the topping this week — fennel seed and sea salt, or za’atar. Twenty-two minutes.
Whipped feta, two minutes
100 g feta, 100 g yoghurt, lemon, pepper, oil, blitzed until completely smooth. If it is still grainy it eats like crumbled cheese and the point is lost.

The oven only goes up now: 170 for the banana bread, then 220 for the focaccia. Dropping the pumpkin loaf took a whole temperature step out of the afternoon, and about an hour of oven time with it. Everything else is cooktop and happens around the dough proving.

What moves where

Twenty-six portions, seven days

Almost all of this is cooked today, so the real work is portioning it correctly before you sit down. Four days is the limit on cooked egg and cooked chicken; anything later than Wednesday goes in the freezer tonight.

Unpacking — one job
The lamb goes straight into the curry today, all of it, and it is the long cook so start it early. Chicken splits two ways: 750 g out for the bowls, 250 g straight to the freezer for Wednesday’s quesadillas. Three days raw in the fridge is the limit and Wednesday is past it.
Burritos — four and four
Wrapped individually. Four to the fridge for Sunday, Tuesday; four to the freezer for Thursday and Saturday. From the fridge they are 8 minutes in the air fryer; from frozen, 25 at 170 °C.
Curry — two, two and two
Two eaten tonight, two to the fridge for Monday, two to the freezer for Friday. Six days in the fridge would be well past it. Curry genuinely improves overnight, so Monday’s is the best of the three.
Bowls — six dry, one jar
All six assembled and lidded, dressing separate. They are Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunches.
Bakes
Focaccia cut into 12, half fridge half frozen. Banana bread cools completely before it is cut — a fat-free loaf cut hot tears and goes gummy. Ten slices is one each a day for five days, and it stales faster than a buttered loaf, so slice and freeze from Wednesday and toast it from frozen.
Thursday night
Wednesday’s quesadilla chicken is already eaten by then — nothing to move. Take the last focaccia out of the freezer for Friday’s curry.
Thursday night
Nothing to thaw. One portion of the bake to the fridge — it is Saturday’s protein, and the fried rice has been thin without it.
Saturday — the gap
Twenty-six batch portions against twenty-eight slots. Saturday’s dinner is deliberately undefined: whatever is left, fried rice. If the fridge has given you nothing with protein in it, add two eggs or a tin of beans rather than eating a bowl of rice.

The rule underneath all of this: cooked dishes get eaten within about three days or they get frozen, and anything frozen thaws in the fridge overnight rather than on the bench. For actual times and temperatures, Food Standards Australia New Zealand rather than a meal plan.

Note to Claude

For next week’s plan

Anything you want changed, added or dropped. Write it as it occurs to you — mid-cook, in the aisle, after dinner — and it will be waiting when the next plan gets built.

What should change

Checking how this copy can send…

Coming soon

Shells only — no logic yet

One-off recipes

Not wired

For meals outside the weekly plan — a birthday dinner, guests on the weekend. Kept separate so they never disturb the shop or the Sunday sequence.

Occasion Serving Recipe or rough notes

To wire: store against a date, flag whether its ingredients merge into that week's shop or stay separate, surface it on the day it falls.

Cook what's in the fridge

Not wired

Photograph what's actually on the shelf, get back a recipe that uses it. Aimed at the Thursday problem — half a cabbage, three eggs, some rice, no idea.

Take a photo or drop an image

JPG / PNG · fridge shelf, bench, pantry

Must use up first

To wire: identify ingredients from the image, cross-check against what the plan says should still be in the fridge, rank by what expires soonest.

Three days, then freeze. This plan assumes cooked dishes get eaten within about three days. That's deliberately conservative — portion and freeze anything past it rather than pushing your luck.
Cool fast, then fridge. Shallow containers, spread out. A full hot pot straight in warms everything around it.
Rice needs care. Cool it quickly, refrigerate promptly, reheat once only until steaming. That's why Saturday's fried rice wants properly chilled rice.
For actual internal temperatures and fridge and freezer times in Australia, check Food Standards Australia New Zealand or your state health authority — not a meal plan.

Page updated — · pull down to refresh

Chicken thigh — seared	cumin, smoked paprika, lime, coriander raw at the end
Lamb — slow curry	laksa or curry paste fried until it splits, ginger, lime and fish sauce last, coriander raw
Peanut dressing	soy, sesame oil, lime, honey, raw garlic, chilli — loosen with warm water
Green chile + cheddar	cumin, coriander stems, lime, a little smoked paprika
Eggs — scrambled, for batching	underdone, salt late, chives or coriander raw
Potato — diced and browned	cumin, paprika, oregano — and real heat, which is the actual seasoning
Tomato + feta, roasted	chilli flakes, whole unpeeled garlic, lemon zest, basil or parsley raw
White beans	bay, oregano, garlic, their own starchy cooking water
Banana, baked	cinnamon, dark chocolate, a pinch of salt — black bananas mean no added sugar at all
Cabbage — raw slaw	lime, sesame, chilli — dressed at the table, never in advance
Rice — fried	garlic, white pepper, sesame, soy down the side of the hot pan
Focaccia	fennel seed and sea salt, or za’atar — rotate it weekly

The week

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Recipes

What lifts what

Gym

The week · 5 on, 2 off · Fri and Sun off

Incline Chest Press

Chest Press

Pectoral Machine

Cable Crossover, low to high

Assisted Dip

Triceps Pushdown

Standing Cable Curl

Overhead Cable Extension

Cable Hammer Curl

Reverse Grip Pushdown

Abdominal Crunch

Cable Crunch

Hanging Leg Raise

Standing Cable Wood Chop

Pallof Press

Vertical Traction

Low Row

Close-Grip Pulldown

Straight-Arm Pulldown

Face Pull

Shoulder Press

Cable Lateral Raise

Dumbbell Side Lateral

Cable Rear Delt Fly

Upright Cable Row

Vertical Traction

Chest Press

Low Row

Shoulder Press

Standing Cable Curl

Triceps Pushdown

Sunday cook-up

What moves where

The shop

Weekly Shop

Protein & chilled

Dairy

Bakery

Pantry — new this week

Produce

Assumed already in the cupboard

Note to Claude

Coming soon

One-off recipes

Cook what's in the fridge