Powerlifting Programs Powerlifting. To. Win. If you prefer to watch rather than read Every powerlifter on the planet has an opinion about what the best program is. Now, I could tell you what I think or I could attempt to teach you how to make that decision yourself. In this article and video series, we dont look at powerlifting programs and programming from the context of good or bad. We look at programs from the context of good, better, and best and yes, sometimes bad, too. The Scientific Foundations of Powerlifting Programming. To build a house, you have to lay down a foundation. Smolov is a Russian strength training routine designed by Master of Sports S. Y. Smolov. Smolov is guaranteed to increase your Squat. Increases of up to 100lbs in 13. The Squat is a full body compound exercise. You Squat by bending your hips and knees while the bar rests on your upperback. Squat down until your hips are below your. In Olympic lifting, squat strength matters more than anything else. The normal training week featuring a single squat day just isnt going to cut it anymore. The. In this article, the very underpinnings of good, proper powerlifting programming are covered and analyzed. Specificity, overload, fatigue management, and individual differences are all given their proper due and it is explained why they are so critical to powerlifting programming success. Critical Training Variables. It isnt enough to know what the core foundation principles are. You also have to know which variables must manipulated in order to satisfy them. Volume, intensity, and frequency are all covered in depth in this piece. In particular, the relationship they all share within another is examined. Training Organization. In the final foundational article of the series, training organization is discussed. You need to know how to fit the core foundational principles, and the respective training variables, into the context of an actual powerlifting program. This article touches upon the appropriateness of various periodization and programming schemes for different levels of athletes. Starting Strength Review. The Stronglifts 5x5 routine by Mehdi is a simple effective method to gain strength. Learn more in this Stronglifts 5x5 review. The Smolov powerlifting cycle is an extremely demanding system of training that is known for getting results. If you run Smolov for squats, do not deadlift of perform. Build an offseason strength program that is as productive in the long term as in the short. The program analysis begins If youre interested in finding out why I believe that Starting Strength is NOT optimal for powerlifting beginners, definitely read this one. I give my overall opinion of the program for use by novice powerlifters. Strong. Lifts 55 Review. I consider Strong. Lifts 55 an inferior beginner program. If youre interested in the reasons why, this is the article for you. Jason Blahas 55 Novice Routine. In this article, I analyze the utility of using Jason Blahas 55 Novice Routine for the purposes of powerlifting. Find out why I think it is a solid bodybuilding program, but not necessarily optimal for powerlifting. Jonnie Canditos Linear Program. Everyone loves to squat. This you already know. Its not only a great reflection of your strength and power, but also serves as a measuring stick to see how far you. In this installment of the powerlifting programming series, our analytical lens is focused upon Jonnie Canditos Linear Program. Canditos program is very, very solid. For trainees of the right level of advancement, I think the program is an absolutely excellent choice. For others, I dont think it is appropriate. Check out the article to find out which category you might belong to. Sheikos Novice Routine. Thats right Sheiko has a novice routine for powerlifters. Looking at what the foremost Russian powerlifting coach believes is optimal for novices is very instructive to helping us understand where we might expand our horizons in terms of American novice programs. If youre unfamiliar with Sheikos novice routine, Id highly recommend checking this article out even if youre not a beginner youll see something new. Grey. Skull Linear Progression. Lately Ive had a lot of people asking me, So, if you dont think Starting Strength and Strong. Lifts 55 are optimal, what LP do you suggest Well, the reality is that I dont believe there is anyone program out there is definitively optimal and there are currently no programs I explicitly recommend for novice powerlifters. However, I do believe that John Sheaffers Grey. Skull LP stands a cut above the rest of the linear progression options. In this article, I present my full argument as to why I believe this is the case. The Powerlifting. To. Win Novice Program. It is finally here The Official Powerlifting. To. Win Novice Program is covered in this piece. Click the link to get your free copy of the Powerlifting. To. Win Novice Program e. Book and Workout Calculator Spreadsheet. This is the single most informative and comprehensive piece of content on the entire Powerlifting. To. Win website. I guarantee that there isnt another program available that is better suited to producing a bigger total for powerlifting novices. This is a must read. Madcows 55. Moving right along in the programming series, it is time to begin reviewing intermediate style programming. The first program that will fall under our analytical lens is Madcows 55. Madcows is one of the single most popular training programs of all time. But is popularity any indication of its quality In this review, I look at the effectiveness of applying Madcows programming to the lifter primarily interested in improving his powerlifting results. My conclusion might not be what you were expecting. The Texas Method. Continuing with our intermediate program reviews, the Texas Method is next up for dissection. I am simultaneously a big fan of the Texas Method and a hater. I find the programmatic structure to be ideal, but I also find the generic version of the template to be greatly lacking in terms of specificity. If you want further information on my recommendations with regards to the Texas Method, this is the review for you. Beyond 531. To be fully honest, I think the original 531 program sucks for powerlifting. The volume is too low, the frequency is too low, you dont handle heavy enough weights often enough, and the program just lacks overall specificity to powerlifting. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the massive upgrades to the original 531 program that are contained within Wendlers new book Beyond 531. If youd like to learn more about the changes Wendler made, and why I think theyre such vast improvements, this article should pique your interest. The Cube Method. I am not a fan of The Cube Method. Now, dont me wrong, this is not a bad program. In fact, it is probably better than a mere good program. The Cube is a well thought out, well organized program that I think the vast majority of trainees would experience some degree of success on. However, I have some fundamental disagreements with the overall structure of the programming that lead me to believe it is sub optimal. If youd like to find out why, this is the article for you. The Juggernaut Method. You might not be able to stop The Juggernaut, but you can at least review the program Terrible jokes aside, this program is far from terrible. I was presently surprised by how intelligently constructed this program is. Chad Wesley Smith clearly knows his stuff. In fact, Id go as far as to say that The Juggernaut Method is like a more scientifically valid, scientifically supported version of 531. If youd like further analysis of The Juggernauts merits and faults as a powerlifting program, read this article. Westside Barbell Method. Louie Simmons is one of the most important figures in the entire history of the sport of powerlifting. I have the utmost respect for what the man has done for the sport and what his group of lifters have accomplished. That said, if youre a natural, raw lifter, I couldnt possibly recommend against using Westside more strongly. In one of the most comprehensive reviews in the entire programming series thus far, Powerlifting. To. Win takes Westside apart piece by piece addressing why the program simply isnt well constructed to create optimal results for the raw lifter. Sheiko Routines. Sheiko Routines have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Off Season Strength Building for Cross. Fit Dos and Donts. As I sit and write this article, we are 3. Regionals. For the majority of Cross. Fit athletes, the off season is now in full swing. For many athletes, the off season represents a time to get back to the barbell and build strength. This isnt necessarily a bad thing. Strength is, after all, an important component of the sport, and the limiting factor for many an athlete. However, there are some common mistakes that most athletes taking this approach seem to make. Below are some dos and donts to help you build an off season strength program that is as productive in the long term as in the short, and is geared toward developing strength specific to the sport of Cross. Fit. Do. Do start with a base building phase. Its likely that leading up to and during the Open, your strength training was not organized in a conventional model. You probably had a little more intensity and variance, frequent sport specificity, and a little less volume. Training like this is an important component of the competition season, but it means that you could probably do with some time refining technique on the big lifts, building specific work capacity, and preparing your joints for high volume strength training. Start the off season with a 3 6 week base building block. Focus on explosive, technically perfect reps with controlled rest periods. Keep the average intensity around 7. Do vary your strength inputs. Its easy to get caught up with the barbell and for good reason. It is, without a doubt, the best tool we have available to us for developing maximal strength. Its also highly sport specific. In 2. 01. 4, the barbell made an appearance in five of five Open events, five of seven Regionals events, and six of thirteen Games events. However, in our pursuit of mastery of this most hallowed of strength training tools, it can be easy to forget that in competitive Cross. Fit, you need to be strong in a variety of modalities which respond best to specific training. The barbell should be at the center of any effective strength program, but dont be afraid to dedicate some time to improving your proficiency with strongman training, heavy kettlebells, and other, less conventional, tools. Remember that strength isnt just about moving weight. A sound strength base in gymnastics movements is crucial, and this is the time to nail it in. Work on strict variations, tempo development, weighted exercises, and technical progressions. Lastly, spend time strengthening movement patterns and ranges of motion that may fall by the wayside during the high volume and relatively narrow focus of training later in the year. Rotational exercises, unilateral squatting, pulling and pressing variations, and unconventional exercises can all fit into a well rounded off season strength program. Do maintain existing skill sets. High rep weightlifting, kipping pullups, and handstand walking are all skills, and skills take practice to maintain and refine. During off season strength building, its important to keep working at these abilities, typically at lower volumes and intensities, so that you dont need to spend more time than necessary rebuilding them as you move into later parts of the year. Keep in mind that changes in strength can change the way your body moves, and by continuing to practice technical skills as these changes occur, you can smooth the transition. This is especially true if your strength cycle induces substantial weight gain and hypertrophy. Do maintain your aerobic base. Perhaps the single most common mistake made by Cross. Fit athletes looking to build strength is to completely drop low intensity steady state training, and heavily bias very short, very high intensity pieces for their conditioning. Superficially, this seems sensible. After all, aerobic adaptations occur on the opposite end of the energy systems spectrum from strength adaptations. Not to mention the substantial caloric impact of low intensity, moderate to long duration cardiovascular training. However, these short term differences dont tell the whole story. We must consider the global impact of foregoing intentful low intensity aerobic training during a strength building phase for the Cross. Fit athlete. Firstly, we must consider the impact of hypertrophy on perfusion. Perfusion is the process of the body delivering blood to capillary beds in biological tissue. Sufficient perfusion is how the athlete shuttles blood and all the things that blood brings into muscles during exercise. The importance of sufficient perfusion for any athlete competing in endurance events is clear. Perfusing mass is a longer, more difficult process when there is more mass to perfuse. So by maintaining the aerobic system during strength building phases, an athlete avoids the much harder task of, effectively, building a new aerobic system. Its true, of course, that this may make the strength and mass building process slower. But thats the name of the game. And fortunately, with the right strategy, aerobic training doesnt need to affect your strength development nearly as much as you may think. Check out The Hybrid Athlete by Alex Viada for the best resource out there on concurrent strength and endurance development. Dont. Dont jump into Program X. High volume weightlifting and powerlifting programs like Smolov, Sheiko, and Hatch may all have value, applied for the right athlete. However, these programs are not designed for the Cross. Fit athlete. When planning your off season strength development, its crucial that you consider both the context of the sport, and long term training impact. Can you afford to reduce the volume of everything else you do in order to bring your squat up If not, can you afford the increased risk of overuse injury brought on by undertaking a very high volume squat program while also trying to maintain other facets of your game There are certainly cases where an athlete genuinely should drop everything in an effort to get stronger. But in my experience, they are few and far between. The wiser approach is to develop a program suited to your sport, not someone elses. Dont overdo the HIIT. Interval training is a fantastic tool, but high intensity comes at a high cost. Intervals may be closer to strength development on the energy systems spectrum, but they are much harder to recover from. Anaerobic intervals in particular use up precious glycogen stores, which require roughly 4. During strength building phases, I prefer to keep the intervals to what I refer to as aerobicbase intervals. In this type of work, the work period is significantly longer than the rest 3 1 or greater. This allows the athlete to work at higher intensity than a steady state piece, while staying aerobic and practicing pacing strategies. Dont try to build strength with your WODs. Let your strength program do its work. The occasional heavy metcon is fine, but dont try to build it in as part of your general strength development. If anything, spend more time with light weights and bodyweight movement, to allow your joints to recover from the heavy loading. There are exceptions to this rule, particularly with high level athletes who need to develop this specific ability. But typically, these athletes already have sufficient base strength and need to carry it over into the sport. In this case, a program based around heavy WODs is what they need. Most people are not this athlete. Dont stop practicing your sport. You are still a Cross.