If something works in your training, it’s easy to cling to it and “squeeze it for all it’s worth”, right? What happens when that formula you’ve cooked up stops working? In my experience, most lifters will run specific progression models/programs for much longer than they should – clinging to the results that the modality used to deliver while ignoring the
If something works in your training, it’s easy to cling to it and “squeeze it for all it’s worth”, right?
What happens when that formula you’ve cooked up stops working?
In my experience, most lifters will run specific progression models/programs for much longer than they should – clinging to the results that the modality used to deliver while ignoring the lackluster progress that they are making.
For an intermediate lifter that used to be able to progress weekly with two sessions, the recovery time from heavy session to the next heavy sessions becomes longer and longer – eventually cresting to a duration longer than the 7 days between sessions that a weekly progression model would allow for.
This lack of balance between needed recovery time and overload session timing leads to:
- unplanned over-reaching (most powerlifters will never properly reach true over-training),
- injuries
- plateaus
- sometimes even regression in strength
The simple answer here would be to just cut back on how often you go heavy and only do heavy sessions every couple weeks, right?
Sort of…
At the surface level that is completely valid but how you fill the void from the lack of heavy sessions (in the additional 7 days for this example) is really where the art and science of powerlifting programming and periodization come into play. If you were to just skip that heavy session or do a deload session, your total training volumes and average intensity would likely drop off too much and you would detrain over time.
Instead, we can fill that space with a relatively challenging session, but not neccesarily overloading where we go for a PR or similar.
So, in the original example, our lifter would do a heavy session early in the week followed by a medium intensity session later in the week. When we progress to the new “alternating” model where there is overload every couple weeks instead, we would need to to add in a session in place of the week 2 overload session where the goal is to maintain fitness (strength) without digging into recovery too much. As a simple rule of thumb, for a progressing intermediate lifter, you can program the session at ~ 85-95% of your peak intensities/volumes from the week 1 overload session.
The second weekly session (medium session) can be trained at the usual progression/intensities week over week as it acts primarily as a weak point building session or even just a recovery day.
Below you’ll see a sample spreadsheet showing example 1 compared to the alternating model.
The name of the game as you advance as a powerlifter is finding enough time for recovery between heavy training sessions where you are pushing PRs WHILE maintaining your baseline strength. If you just went heavy once a month with nothing in between you would undoubtedly get weaker, so keeping your baseline strength up in between heavier work is the key.
The more you advance and the stronger you get, the tougher this juggling act is.
Do you struggle to progress every week in your training?
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