Written by: Kevin Cann
Over the course of the last 4-5 years we have gone from running a very “Sheiko-esque” program, to switching gears a bit and making it more intensity focused. Don’t get me wrong, there are still lots of influences from Sheiko within our programs.
I still am big on technique being the most important aspect of training. A Sheiko program was very big on building technique with repetition based training. Sets very rarely went over 85% of 1RM and when they did the ROM was often manipulated.
We saw very good results using this type of training. However, when weights became near maximal, the lifters technique would breakdown. I also noticed that the lifters would get very nervous when the weights got heavy. These nerves definitely played a role in this breakdown in technique.
I had this belief that we make technique efficient with lots of repetitions with lighter weights, but we were not practicing the situations that the lifters are put in during maximal lifts and competition. I knew I needed to use weights large enough to create an emotional response within the lifters.
I manipulated variations more and we loaded them up. These variations would hopefully punish technical inefficiencies and force the lifters to perform the lifts with better technique. Over this period of time I noticed we got stronger and stronger the heavier we lifted.
When I was implementing this, I figured the warmups would be enough sets in those lighter weight zones to get the repetitions/practice needed to improve technique. Reps are important for these reasons. I think of strength training as a balance between brute strength and technique.
The variations and the repetitions working up to top sets should help technique, and the heavy top sets should develop the brute strength necessary to move more weight. We are definitely moving more weight.
Yesterday Doug, a 66kg lifter who finished 10thin the Juniors at Nationals last year, squatted 460lbs on a wide stance box squat. This is 55lbs more than he squatted last October, and 40lbs more than he squatted at the end of April. These types of jumps are not that uncommon.
To change courses just a bit here as I feel it is an interesting observation. Oftentimes when these large jumps level out, we get a longer stagnation period. This is what made me interested in complex theory and power-law relationships.
This may be why most coaches want 5-10lbs at a time. It might keep motivation higher by constant increases in performance. I do not agree with this philosophy. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, take what is there now.
Mike D’amico put 50lbs on his squat from Regionals of last year to Regionals this year. It just so happened he did it from January to April and it has leveled off since then. This is very good progress on one lift in a year from someone that has been lifting for more than 5 years. Progress is not linear, however.
These periods of stagnation are important. The Russians have a saying, the weights and workloads must mature and ripen and then we add more. In complex theory, in order to have an “avalanche” the system needs to reach a point of criticality.
What we see with these large PRs is a large avalanche, a small PR would be a small avalanche. There are no differences between the causes of large and small PRs. Once the avalanche is over it takes the system time to build up to a state of criticality.
During this period, the lifter gets to use the same weights and workloads over and over as strength slowly builds in the background. This allows those weights to mature and ripen as the Russians say.
In terms of stress, training is pretty stressful when those PRs are happening frequently. Constantly hitting newer and newer weights in all kinds of positions becomes very tough training. As it levels off, the stress is lowered as the weights become more and more familiar. The same psychological arousal is not necessary to handle the same weights anymore and technique becomes more consistent.
I have said in the past that these periods of stagnation are necessary. They are a normal trend in complex systems for a reason. The reason is far outside of our understanding, but we can use this time period to our advantage.
Many lifters struggle to realize this for some reason. If they go a month or 2 or 3 without seeing progress on a lift, after having very good progress for a period of time, they think progress has stopped. Too often lifters look into the day to day instead of the longer term trends.
There is a reason why most high level coaches say you cannot peak for more than 1-2 competitions in a year. Progress is not linear. A few months is not a long time in the giant scheme of things. Periodization tries to account for these “down” times by phasing out training. The problem with that is we cannot predict when those “down” times are going to occur.
These periods allow us to refine technique because more weight is not being added to the bar, so brute strength is taking a backseat. On paper this all sounds great and I stand by the science. However, lifters do not necessarily make the best decisions on a day to day basis.
We talk frequently, but to develop this skill it will take years. I got lifters that will just max out every day they come into the gym. These lifters are maniacs. The program calls for a top set between RPE 8.5-9.5.
If you feel like shit, keep it at an 8.5 and maybe take an extra set there, or not. Feeling good, push it a bit. These should still be submax weights that the lifter can control. There will be some breakdown, but we learn from errors.
When we get closer to an RPE 10 more frequently, our technique will change in ways we cannot account for with variation. Lifters will begin to squat slower and bring the bench press down slower. The lifter will lose some pop off of the floor with deadlifts that could be due to position, or just being a bit fatigued. The fatigue I don’t worry about as much.
I needed to find a way to keep this in check as well as making sure we are not just maxing out every day. If we did not work full-time jobs and live in a culture that fears fatigue, we would be able to push those RPE 10 lifts much more often.
One thing I have been doing over the last year when a lifter gets stagnate in a lift, and begins to lose confidence, is adding in a block of “speed lifts.” These basically follow Prilepin’s chart with shortened rest. Many times we took 90% singles for a handful of sets.
Prilepin’s chart has some downfalls to use as a main tool for deciding intensities and volumes. For one, it was for weightlifters and not powerlifters. However, it is a good starting point for the lifter to get quality reps. We can increase the difficulty by decreasing the rest.
A lot of Sheiko’s program would fit nicely into Prilepin’s chart. The intensities were made greater by adding a pause or accommodating resistance. The total volume would often exceed the recommendations of the chart.
Adding in this “speed work” occasionally can have some big benefits. In chaos theory some small perturbations can create large outcomes. These are not predictable, but I think this can help a lot.
For one, these weights are a nice psychological break from lifting heavier more often. An example would be 8-10 sets of 2 reps at 80% to be completed within 25-30 minutes. This will be hard, but hard in a different way than what each lifter is used to. The intensities will range from 75% to 90% for 1 to 4 reps for 6-12 sets.
These weights will allow lots of practice with lighter weights, while keeping effort high. It will also get the lifters in and out of the gym. Too often lifters will take very long rests between sets and end up lifting for 2-3 hours. 2 lifts in a “speed day” should have them in and out of the gym within 1 hour. This allows for more time to recover and to get other life things done. Time becomes a stressor for lifters because we all have lives outside of the gym and we need to get shit done sometimes.
My implementation of it will not be each week. To start I will add in a “speed week” every 3rdweek. Most lifters can push really hard for 2 weeks when they know we will be pulling back. I will give them more freedom here to go harder on some of those days as well.
If they feel good, we will send it. I think this is a nice compromise between myself and those lifters I have that live the RPE 10 lifestyle. I also think it gives everyone a bit more flexibility in training.
I feel adaptations are more likely to occur when we do extreme things. Doing extreme things, comes with higher risk for consequences as well. I think this will be a nice way to get some extremes into training while mitigating some of the consequences. Guess we will see. The early feedback so far has been very good from the lifters.
Seems to build confidence and momentum while working on technique with relatively heavy weights.
Precision Powerlifting Systems 