Team! We are currently starting a new Powerlifting program and this new cycle will be featuring some changes! First off the training days are going to be shifting a bit, your new training schedule will be set up so your rest day is Wednesday rather than Thursday. This will help us get an extra rest day between your squat and deadlift days during the week. Our Tuesday session will now be a full SBD day (Squat, Bench, Deadlift in the same session). Again, we are making these changes to accommodate the volume and frequency we think works best and also allowing you guys to have adequate recovery between lifts and sessions on a weekly basis.
You will also notice some more changes, for instance most of our training is now going to be RPE based, there will still be programming based off your 1RM percentages but the bulk of training will be programmed off of RPE. Now I know some of you are used to this and enjoy it and some of you have a hard time with it. Stick with it!!! It gets easier and the freedom of being able to auto regulate and go heavier when you feel good and go lighter when you had a bad day at work or weren’t able to sleep enough will keep you progressing more in the long term. If you’re not sure exactly how to read the RPE rep ranges or just want more info check out this blog post. The goal with this new block and the program going forward is to try and allow for more variability to accommodate the needs of a larger group of lifters, RPE is one aspect of this but you will also see training days that have different exercise options for you to perform. So for instance you might see a deadlift movement programmed with the option of making it a heavy row if your back feels fatigued. The goal here is to give you more flexibility to accommodate training within your day to day life and ultimately keep everyone healthier and training more!
Lastly, the new program will be split into two 8-week blocks with a transition week in between them. The goal is to have everyone ready to max out or compete on the weekend of 8/5 or 8/6> (You should all know this so you can plan accordingly). There is currently a USAPL meet scheduled for that day which we would suggest you guys sign up for but if you can’t compete, still plan that weekend out as your MAX OUT day!!!