Mongoose how joining tables if one of them is multiple deep

Question

I am trying to make it so each user can only see their programs as part of a workout related fullstack app. However, the program schema is a connected to a workout schema, which is connected to an exercise schema, etc. I connected the userSchema to to the ProgramSchema like this:

const userSchema = mongoose.Schema({
name : { type: String, required: true },
email : { type: String, required: true },
password : { type: String, required: true },
id : { type: String },
}, {
    timestamps: true,
})

// a virtual link to the Programs model
// this is so we can see each task pertaining to a specific user
userSchema.virtual('programs', {
    ref: 'Program',
    localField: '_id',
    foreignField: 'creator'
})

Here is the ProgramSchema file:

const programSchema = mongoose.Schema({

    program_name:{
        type: String,
    },
    creator: { // the req.userId of the user
        type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
        required: true,
        ref: 'User'
    },
    workouts:[{
        type: mongoose.Types.ObjectId,
        ref: 'Workout'
    }]
})

And i am trying to query the user programs like this, but its not working! I am kind of stuck on how to query it correctly. Any help would be appreciated.

const getPrograms = async (req, res) => {
    try{
        await req.user.populate({
                        path: 'programs',
                        populate:{
                            path: 'workouts',
                            populate: { 
                                path: 'exercises',
                                populate: {
                                    path: 'sets'
                                } 
                            }
                        }
                    }).execPopulate()

        res.status(200).send(req.user.programs)
    } catch (e) {
        res.status(500).send(e)
    }

}