Written by Kevin Cann
All training programs need to include all of the methods in order to be effective. This includes the max effort method, the dynamic/submax effort method, and the repetition effort method. Training programs that neglect any of these will work until they don’t.
I learned powerlifting from the legendary Boris Sheiko. I started coaching by utilizing his system. His system worked extremely well in Russia and led to a 7 year unbeaten stretch at the International level. The mistakes that I made were due to my lack of experience, even though I hold multiple degrees in this field. Experience matters, and coaches need to lift with commitment and consistency for a period of time to truly understand training. Those that have limited experience lifting, have limited understanding of knowledge. This is even more true as many do not even possess educational backgrounds in strength training. A coach doesn’t have to be strong, but he needs formal education and years of experience to achieve wisdom.
The idea behind Sheiko’s programs are that by repeating the movements over and over and over you develop a greater level of neuromuscular efficiency. This “frees up” more motor units to be able to push your maxes to new levels. This repetition was done without repetiton as load variability made up a major piece of programming. 60% of the volume came from variations of the lifts and only 20% came from the competition lifts themselves with the rest coming from accessories.
The submax effort method was the primary area of focus within Sheiko’s program. His programs are higher frequency. This makes fitting in max effort work very difficult because max effort work will require 72 hours for recovery. Can’t hit a max effort squat on Monday and expect to have a quality deadlift day on the following training day 24-48 hours later.
Sheiko would organize training into high, medium, and low stress training days. High stress requires 72 hours for recovery, medium stress 24-48 hours, and low stress is 12-24 hours. There would even be the occasional very low stress days in there. Average intensity was tracked and kept within the range of approximately 70% plus or minus 2%, with volumes also tracked.
For Sheiko to get in his max effort work we would typically deadlift off blocks at 90%, use a Slingshot on bench or boards to lift 90%, and squats might use chains. Max effort work can be 1-3 reps at 90% or above. The closer to max you get the more the coordination demands increase and the stronger the stimulus.
When I incorporated this with my lifters, who were beginners for the most part, we saw increases in strength for a solid 3 years. I learned quickly that we needed to lift a bit heavier as a group than what Sheiko recommends. We need to keep in mind Sheiko was coaching national level lifters with a lot more experience. With that experience comes the ability to fire more motor units at once.
Technique would look good under lighter weights and then fall apart under heavier weights even as we got stronger. We chalked this up to “This is just how it is.” However, there was an eventual breaking point where strength just would not increase anymore and technical efficiency was stuck at a beginner level. You can be strong with shitty technique, but most people will not.
What happens is as the body increases efficiency at lighter weights it becomes easier. We got much better at using submax weights because of the focus on the submax effort method. However, under heavier weights we did not see an improvement in technique and lifters felt they needed a lot more time to recover from near max exposures.
Theoretically a double at 85% is similar in time and motor unit firing as a max effort single, but it is not the same. Sure, psychological pieces play a role here because people get more nervous when they haven’t maxed their lifts frequently, but the motor units and the level of coordination required for a max single have not been trained and come with much higher physiological demands and recovery costs. My inability to adapt and understand this was why we stopped seeing results.
Executing a max single comes with high levels of coordinative demands and the highest amount of noise in the system. The noise decreases as weights decrease and also decrease as speeds decrease. We used a lot of pauses to train the lifts. This decreases the noise due to lighter loads AND lighter speeds. The coordinative demands were just too small. Again, my lack of experience and understanding in creating these programs.
When we began transitioning to conjugate, we saw a massive change in technique under heavy loads. I have posted a few of the max competition lifts the last month and you can see that there is very little breakdown, even under an 800lb raw squat. This is because we use the max effort method to train those coordinative demands every single week.
The dynamic effort method requires us to use lighter weights and move them at full force. This speed brings noise into the system similar to max weights. This day plays a critical role in developing coordination as well. This includes the ability to reach peak force faster as you are limited by time to complete a lift.
Work capacity needs to increase over time for the lifter to keep raising his or her levels. This becomes impossible to do with the competition lifts because the stronger you get the greater the recovery cost of each rep and the more time needed to recover between sets. You would run out of time and energy, and eventually the body will breakdown. Accessories, the repetition effort method, continues to let us raise our work capacity by using exercises that are more joint friendly and target specific areas important to execute the lifts and stay healthy. A stronger muscle is capable of sending a greater signal so when they are included in the more complex movements we can see better utilization of the appropriate muscle groups.
This does not mean the submax effort method is not useful. Sheiko’s success proves it is. There just needs to be the appropriate amount of max effort work and repetition effort work for the individuals in which the program targets. Beginner and intermediate lifters can get away with more competiton lift volume because they haven’t developed certain abilities yet. However, as that lifter continues to train hard, there needs to be a greater emphasis on training the coordinative aspects of max singles and sprinkling in enough submax effort work as needed. The dynamic effort work can take precedence as it is lighter/different axial loading, takes less time, and builds more important qualities at that point.
This matters for those that run more “specific” higher frequency programs. Look at your programs and see where they are lacking in terms of the methods and I am sure some questions to lifter’s lack of progress can be answered. Understand the recovery costs associated with each effort and lay out the plan.
Precision Powerlifting Systems 