Prioritization
Different periods of the training year are used to prioritize the different qualities that serve to improve a powerlifters performance. In my last post, I spoke about periodization and how hypertrophy and strength can and should be trained simultaneously throughout the year. While this is true, that doesn’t mean that hypertrophy and strength wont each be prioritized at different times of the year.
Closer to a meet, while the athlete is peaking, the ultimate goal is to be as strong as possible at the skill of a one-rep max squat, bench press, and deadlift. This is the time to do what you know works for you so ensure a solid peaking block leading into the meet. Farther away from a competition, also known as the “offseason”, powerlifters do not need to be as strong.
During the offseason, athletes should be prioritizing hypertrophy (muscle gain), improving their work capacity, allowing their bodies to heal from any minor or major injuries sustained while peaking for a meet, work to improve weaknesses, and also mentally take a break from the monotony of competition specific training. You might perform some less specific variations of the competition exercises and you might push your accessories a bit harder to gain as much muscle as you can before you decide to prioritize strength again.
This is an opportunity to experiment with different things in your training to find what drives progress so the next time meet prep comes around, you can make better decisions as to how to approach the last block of training leading into a meet. You will likely have some less successful training blocks and some more successful ones, but farther away from a meet is a better time to experiment.
Don’t worry so much about maximal strength in the offseason, and don’t worry about maximizing hypertrophy when you’re close to a competition.
The message I am trying to convey in this post is to understand your program and the intent behind what you are doing. This will allow you to make better decisions and lead to a better outcome.
