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Designing A Peaking Block-JTSstrength.com — Transcript

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1:14[Music]
1:15Hey guys, what's up? Chad Willey Smith
1:17here. I wanted to talk to you about how
1:18to design a peaking block. So, peaking
1:21is one of the most important things you
1:22can do properly in powerlifting,
1:24weightlifting, really any sport. um is
1:26it's going to allow you to express all
1:28that hard work you've done for the last
1:30uh several weeks and months and years on
1:32the day that it actually matters, you
1:34know, the day of the competition the on
1:35the platform. So, I take a lot of pride
1:37in my ability to peak well. Uh my meat
1:40my training PRs
1:42uh subsequent to to my following meat
1:45PRs, my best squat in the gym was 863
1:48and I went on to sweat at 9:59 in the
1:51meet uh at 863 in that training cycle.
1:54My best gym bench was 525 before I went
1:58bench 567 in a meat. And before I pulled
2:01my PR deadlift of 810, I only pulled 775
2:05in that train. So, granted that that was
2:06on an Alco stiff bar, not on a deadlift
2:10bar. So, that one may be a little bit
2:11more
2:12misleading, but uh that holds true for
2:14almost my entire powerlifting career,
2:16getting about a 7 and a half% carryover
2:18from training to competition. And uh the
2:21stuff I'm going to talk to you guys
2:22about in this video is going to help you
2:24make sure that you're maximizing your
2:25performance on the platform and not
2:26leaving PRs in the
2:28gym. So first uh you know the goals of a
2:31good a well-designed peaking block are
2:34going to be to develop your technical
2:35prowess and sharpen your neural
2:38abilities to handle maximal loads to
2:40handle one rep
2:41maxes to retain general strength and
2:44muscle size from previous uh general
2:47strength and hypertrophy training
2:48blocks. and then to reduce fatigue while
2:51maintaining fitness. And that's really
2:54what we're trying to do with with the
2:56peaking block is to to create the
2:58optimal fatigue fitness relationship on
3:01a specific day. So a day where we have
3:03the lowest possible fatigue while
3:06maintaining the highest possible fitness
3:08at that specific competition. That's
3:10what's going to allow us to maximize our
3:11performance the most. So, as we're
3:13looking at different intensities,
3:14volume, and frequency, and how that's
3:16going to fit into a peaking block,
3:18intensity and a peaking block, right, on
3:20your overload days, your hard training
3:22days, and when I use overload, um, I
3:25don't mean a mechanical overload, all
3:27right, but but just the days that are
3:29going to push forward the adaptations
3:31that you're looking for in that specific
3:32training block. So, for a peing block,
3:34we're going to be looking at uh overload
3:37days at 85% and above our one rep max
3:41for sets of one to three reps. All
3:43right. That's going to differ from
3:44developing uh general strength, which
3:46you would have, you know, you could
3:48learn about in a in a previous video I
3:49did because when you're developing
3:51general strength in submaximal
3:54uh intensity, you know, 70 to 85% for
3:57maybe sets of three to six reps, that
3:59allows for a little bit of leeway in
4:01your technique that just can't happen
4:02under true maximum one rep max load. Um,
4:05you know, you could be a little out of
4:07position and still make your fourth or
4:09fifth rep, you know, with 80%. Uh but
4:12with the true 100% you're going for a
4:14new PR getting out of position the
4:17slightest bit is really going to hinder
4:18your ability to perform that
4:21lift. Uh volume during a peaking block
4:24is going to be very low. All right.
4:26Because the intensity is so high um
4:30that's going to induce fatigue. Right?
4:32Right? Even though volume is a much more
4:34significant creator of fatigue than
4:36intensity is, once we're getting up to
4:38these 85, 90, 95, 100% uh weights,
4:42that's still going to create a very
4:44significant uh fatigue. And we need to
4:47make sure that fatigue isn't too high
4:50because if if fatigue is high is too
4:52high, you're not going to be able to
4:53actually perform those near limit lifts
4:56and training and and you know be able to
4:58develop that technical prowess and
5:00neural abilities that that we're looking
5:02at. So doing five to 10 overloading sets
5:05per lift per week is going to be
5:08sufficient for for most people watching
5:09this
5:10video. Frequency. So how often are we
5:13performing the lifts? All right. How
5:14often are we performing the lifts
5:17uh within the overload parameters? Uh
5:21peing blocks are going to have pretty
5:22low frequency because those high
5:26intensity uh high percentage lifts are
5:29so much more taxing to your nervous
5:31system and the nervous system SRRA curve
5:34the stimulus recovery adaptation curve
5:36of the nervous system is much longer.
5:38All right. So even though your muscular
5:40systems uh may be recovered sufficiently
5:43to do you know hard training again uh
5:47your nervous system is not going to be
5:49recovered fully enough and because one
5:51of our primary goals is to sharpen those
5:53neur neural abilities we need to make
5:55sure that that's pretty well recovered.
5:57All right. Since those take longer to
5:59recover than other systems like uh
6:03hypertrophic and technical SRRA curves,
6:08we might actually perform the lifts
6:10pretty frequently, but just uh filling
6:13in the other sessions with light
6:15sessions. So, the way that I organize my
6:18training, my picking block, uh Monday is
6:20my primary deadlift day, but I also
6:22squat a light session on Monday. And
6:24then Friday is my primary my overload
6:26squat session. So that extra day is just
6:29going to allow me to develop my
6:30technique better. Um retain some general
6:34strength and muscle size while not
6:37interfering with my ability to perform
6:39my overload squat sessions on
6:41Fridays. And those overload or sorry
6:44those light days probably going to be
6:46about 50 to 60% but still in the one to
6:48three reps per set range and and fairly
6:51low volume. Again, they're mostly
6:53designed for technique practice. They're
6:55also going to provide some uh some
6:57recovery for for those lifts as
6:59well. Now, specificity becomes of
7:02paramount importance in a peeking block.
7:04You're going to a competition to compete
7:06in the squat, bench, and deadlift. All
7:08right? No accommodating resistance, no
7:10specialty bars, no boxes, just you,
7:13straight bar, and the weights. So those
7:15are the lifts that need to be, you know,
7:18the overwhelming majority of your energy
7:20needs to be put towards those lifts
7:22during a peaking block.
7:24You don't want to, you know, and because
7:26the volume is going to be so low after
7:28you perform the the necessary volume,
7:30those five to 10 overloading sets per
7:33week of one to three reps at above 85%
7:36uh for each lift, you might not have
7:39much energy, much you know, leftover
7:42volume to dedicate towards, you know,
7:45other exercise variations or accessory
7:47work. And that's fine, right? You need
7:49to make sure that you're doing all that
7:51you need of the primary lifts, the most
7:53specific exercises before you worry
7:55about doing anything else because you're
7:56not trying to peak, you know, in the
7:58Cambridge bar box squat. All right?
8:00You're not trying to peak in reverse
8:02band bench press or in deficit deadlift
8:05or block pull. All right? Not that those
8:06are necessarily bad exercises. They're
8:08just not appropriate to use at this
8:11time.
8:12So make sure that you're putting
8:14overwhelming amount of your energy and
8:16attention towards the competitive lifts
8:18developing your technique in
8:21those. So as we look at the design of a
8:23peaking block, one of the main things to
8:25consider is the length of the total
8:27training cycle and then the factors that
8:29go into determining that
8:31length. So a peaking block is going to
8:33go anywhere from about 3 weeks uh for
8:36more beginner lifters potentially all
8:39the way out to 3 months long.
8:41Personally, I use a 9ineweek peing
8:43block. And
8:45uh and so the factors that you want to
8:48consider when deciding how long it
8:49should be for you or for your athletes
8:51are going to be lifter size, lifter
8:53strength, and lifter experience. All
8:55right, the bigger a lifter is uh both
8:57heightwise and muscularity means that
9:00they're going to require more time to to
9:03decay fatigue. All right, to be able to
9:05get rid of that fatigue. So if they're
9:07taller, the bar is moving longer. It's
9:09just more work for them to do, you know,
9:11a squat when the bar is moving three
9:14feet or four feet for a guy who's like
9:166' three rather than it is for, you
9:19know, a 52 kilo class female lifter
9:21who's 5t tall. The bar is just going to
9:23move farther and it's more work and
9:25that's going to induce more fatigue.
9:26Also, an athlete who has more muscle
9:28mass is able to cause more homeostatic
9:31disruption, uh, more muscle damage and
9:33that's just going to take longer for
9:34them to reduce soreness for them for
9:36their muscular systems to recover.
9:38Lifter strength is the second thing that
9:40we want to consider. The stronger a
9:42lifter is, the more significant the
9:44stimulus they're going to be able to
9:45present to themselves and the longer
9:46it's going to take for them to recover,
9:48right? The longer it's going to take to
9:49decay, fatigue, and even if we're
9:52looking at lifters of similar
9:54qualification in different weight
9:56classes, all right, the lifter who's
9:59lifting absolutely a higher weight, all
10:01right, so the one who's probably in the
10:02higher weight class, even if we're
10:04looking at two advanced lifters, is also
10:06going to need a longer peak. uh many of
10:09the reasons because of the lifter size
10:10considerations that they probably have
10:12more muscle, all right, and they are
10:14moving the bar a longer distance. But,
10:16you know, 700 lb is just more taxing
10:19than 500 lb. Even if the 500 lb lifter
10:22was a a 132 or a very, very elite lift
10:25for that weight class compared to a 700
10:28lb deadlift and maybe the 275s or 308s,
10:30still a very good lift. They're not as
10:33accomplished probably as the 132 lifter,
10:35but because it is simply more weight,
10:37it's going to take longer for them to
10:39recover. So, they're going to need to
10:40use a little bit longer
10:41taper. The third thing we want to
10:44consider is the lifter's experience. All
10:46right, beginner lifters will not require
10:48a very long taper and they wouldn't they
10:51wouldn't benefit from it. All right. As
10:53a lifter becomes more and more
10:54experienced uh and they're operating
10:57closer to their career peak, all right,
11:00their 100% is closer to their 100%
11:04abilities than a new lifter. So they're
11:08actually every lift they do is going to
11:10be more taxing to them because they're
11:11able to recruit more units that are able
11:13to cause more homeostatic disruption
11:15with every lift that they're doing.
11:18Uh, also those more experienced, better
11:21lifters, of course, they're stronger.
11:23They probably have more muscle mass, and
11:25that's going to cause them to have
11:26slower decay rates. All right? But
11:29conversely to that, it's also going to
11:30cause them to have slower, sorry, slower
11:33uh fatigue decay rates, but it's also
11:36going to allow them to hold on to their
11:38fitness longer. All right? The more
11:40muscle a lifter has, the longer it will
11:43take them to become drained. All right?
11:45that even though they're doing a longer
11:47peak and a longer taper and maybe have a
11:49longer period of of light training going
11:52into competition, they'll still be able
11:54to do really well with that because
11:56they're they're able to hold on to that
11:57fitness for a longer
11:59time. So, as we're looking at deciding
12:02how long of a taper, how long of a peak
12:04these these athletes need, there's
12:07basically three categories that we're
12:08going to divide them into. You can refer
12:10to the chart on the screen for uh to
12:13decide which category you're in. But for
12:16a category one lifter, all right,
12:18relatively beginner lifter in the low
12:20weight classes, they're probably only
12:22going to need a oneweek taper. All
12:24right, a category two lifter,
12:26intermediate experience, intermediate
12:28size and strength, right? They're going
12:30to need about a twoe taper. Category
12:32three lifter. Now we're getting into a
12:34bit higher weight classes, more
12:36experienced, stronger athlete. and about
12:38a three-week taper, right? And those
12:41taper lengths are going to be broken up
12:42into three different parts. All right?
12:45We're looking at normal training. So, as
12:47we said, 85% plus for sets of one to
12:50three reps, five to 10 overloading sets
12:52per week. All
12:53right? Then, as we get into part two,
12:56that's going to be a drop in volume and
12:59at least equal intensity, if not
13:02increased intensity. All right? And then
13:04part three is going to be what you would
13:07normally really associate with as a
13:09taper. All right, that's when we're
13:10going to reduce volume and intensity.
13:13And the duration of that is going to be
13:15dependent again upon the category.
13:17Category one lifters, we're going to be
13:18looking at, you know, zero to three
13:20days, 1 to three day reduction in volume
13:23and intensity before the competition.
13:25Category two lifters, four to five days,
13:28and category three lifters, six maybe
13:31out to nine or 10 days. And obviously on
13:33the chart there, uh, the category three
13:36lifters, it ended at just 220 plus. All
13:39right, there's a lot of weight classes.
13:41There's a lot of people above 220. So,
13:44even though the chart doesn't show like
13:45a category four or category five lifter,
13:49um I'm I'm going to kind of get into
13:51that idea as I talk about my own my own
13:54peak as obviously I'm a lot heavier than
13:57220 and uh you are lifting weights even
14:02much more higher qualified than than
14:04even like the top classifications in in
14:06like a USPA classification system. And
14:09that's the one that I would suggest to
14:10use. USPA classification is is really
14:13good and up to date and a lot better
14:15than some of the older elite class one
14:18class 2 uh stuff which was kind of
14:20single ply lifting that then got carried
14:22over to multiply lifting but uh so the
14:25USPA ones are really good I'm sure
14:26USAPPL has good ones as
14:28well so as I look at the design of my
14:31own peaking block right so I use a a
14:34nineweek block so basically two two
14:36months and a little bit of change all
14:37right so I train on a three up one down
14:40schedule So, three weeks hard, then a
14:41oneweek de lo in the peaking block. Uh,
14:44the structure of that changes a little
14:46bit compared to what I what you guys
14:48have seen me do in the strength block
14:50where week one in the peaking block is a
14:53heavy week, maybe medium heavy. All
14:55right. Then week two is a medium week.
14:58Week three is very heavy. And then week
15:00four is the D load, a light week. All
15:02right. And that just allows me to manage
15:04fatigue a little bit better to get the
15:06number of highintensity lifts in that I
15:09need to develop that technical prowess
15:10to sharpen neural abilities. All right.
15:13And it allows me to do enough
15:15volume to retain muscle size throughout
15:18that two-month block. All right. So, and
15:22I still use relatively the same, you
15:25know, structure, the the
15:27medium or heavy, medium, light, heavy,
15:30medium, light. Uh, but some changes in
15:32in frequency as I referred to before.
15:34I'm now just have one primary squat day
15:38per week and one light day. So, I'm
15:40going Mondays is my primary deadlift day
15:42with some light squatting after.
15:45Wednesdays are primary bench day. Friday
15:47is primary squat day. And uh Saturdays
15:51is is another primary bench day. And the
15:54the benches are just kind of rotating
15:56through as I go. And uh you know some
16:00considerations that I'm making that are
16:01unique to me, right? That yeah, I know
16:05from my own experience that this is what
16:06works for me. And obviously, as you guys
16:09become more and more uh, you know,
16:12accomplished and more experienced as as
16:14lifters, you're going to know what works
16:15better for you. And that's
16:39Nice, Chad.
16:41So, you want to make sure that you're
16:42taking ownership of what you're doing in
16:44your training. You're not just copying
16:45what I'm doing word for word. Uh because
16:48unless you're, you know, 350 lb lifter
16:50with a very, very elite total, this will
16:52probably be too long of a taper for you.
16:54You know, exactly what I do. and cause
16:56you to decay too much general strength
16:58and muscle size. Uh so decay too much
17:01fitness before your competition. Even
17:04talking to other very high level
17:05lifters, I probably use one of the
17:06longest tapers. Uh probably the longest
17:09that I've heard of, but again, I don't
17:12think there's anyone else who's
17:13consistently getting 7 and 12%, you
17:16know, sometimes more than that carryover
17:18from training to competition. So I'd
17:20like to think that I do this very well.
17:23Um, so as we look at those category 1,
17:26two, and three, um, I would put myself
17:28in the category beyond that, maybe
17:31category four or five even. Um, and
17:34where that's really going to play a big
17:35difference is as we get into part three
17:38of of the peaking block, right? The
17:40reduced volume and intensity with the
17:42category 3 lifters using six to maybe
17:45nine or 10 days. I have about a 14-day
17:47period of significant reduction in
17:50volume and intensity. So, I'm training
17:52my 3 weeks hard peing block, oneweek de
17:55lo, and then it's another three weeks
17:57hard, a oneweek de lo, and then what I
18:00would refer to as a priming week, which
18:03is actually the week of competition. So,
18:05as we, you know, you guys can see my
18:06whole peing block up there on on the
18:08screen. The first
18:10uh the first four-week period, I'm
18:12focused on, you know, heavy doubles
18:15um in the bench press and the deadlift.
18:18I do some doubles or sorry, the bench
18:20press and the squat. I do some doubles
18:21in the deadlift, but I stay with singles
18:23longer for that just because I, you
18:26know, with experience, I've seen that I
18:28don't get quite as much out of training,
18:30you know, doubles that my position
18:31changes too much. And then my ability to
18:33do a heavy double is really reduced uh
18:36too too low compared to the ability to
18:38do singles. So, I just not training the
18:39qualities that I need quite as much.
18:42So yeah, those first three weeks we're
18:44doing heavy doubles and then we take a D
18:47load and then it's three weeks focused
18:48on heavy singles. Feel like that gives
18:51me sufficient amount of time to to focus
18:53on yeah developing that technique,
18:56feeling the weight, feeling what the
18:58real pressure of, you know, near maximum
19:01one rep max loads feels like. And then
19:04I'm taking again a 14-day
19:06uh significant reduction of volume and
19:09intensity before the competition. So
19:11that first week is is just a a regular
19:13dload load week for me. Um where I'll
19:16stay on the same training schedule. So
19:18two days of bench, one day of deadlift,
19:20one day of squats.
19:22And you looking at about 50 to 70%
19:27intensity during those. And
19:30uh going down to about 50 to 70% volume
19:33of what the previous week was. A very
19:36very common mistake I see lifters
19:37making, even very experienced, very
19:40accomplished lifters, is doing too much
19:42volume in those in that deoid period
19:45right before a meet. All right? And
19:46maybe they think that they're just going
19:47to go in and get a pump. All right? And
19:50and it's a light workout, but you have
19:53to consider the total volume of work
19:55you're doing because let's say we have
19:57someone who's a 400 lb bencher, right?
20:00and they want to go and in their last
20:02week um of the overload during the peak,
20:06you know, they work up to 400 for one in
20:09the bench press. All right? So maybe
20:11that entire workout, you know, taking
20:13out warm-up sets would have
20:16been 315 for three, 335 for two, 365 for
20:22one, 385 for one, 405 for one. All
20:25right. Very, very low volume there. All
20:27right.
20:28Um, but as we get in but as they go into
20:31the D load week, they think, "Okay, I'll
20:33just go in and do some light work. I'll
20:35do 225 for three sets of 10." All right.
20:38And on the surface, that looks like it's
20:41a very easy workout and it's not going
20:42to hinder their ability to perform, but
20:45225 for three sets of 10 is
20:47significantly more volume than what they
20:49did during the end of the overload
20:52portion of their peaking block. and it's
20:54actually going to cause them to
20:55accumulate fatigue in a time that
20:57they're trying to decay fatigue. So,
20:59make sure you take five minutes, do the
21:02math, make sure that you're reducing
21:05volume uh in in that last portion of of
21:09your peaking block, not increasing it.
21:11Even if it feels like or looks like on
21:13paper what would be an easy workout,
21:15make sure that you're actually taking
21:16the time to do the math and and that you
21:19are reducing uh the total volume during
21:21that. So, I go through through that de
21:24lo week, a traditional de lo week, just
21:26like I do pretty much after all my other
21:28blocks. And then I have what I refer to
21:31as a priming week during the week of
21:33competition. So, depending if it's a sun
21:35uh Saturday or Sunday meet, uh if it's a
21:37Saturday meet, I do my priming days on
21:39Monday and Wednesday. A Sunday meet, do
21:41them on Tuesday and Thursday. And this
21:43is very very very low volume uh moderate
21:47intensity work just to to get me feeling
21:50a little bit of weight. sharpen the
21:52neural abilities, stay in touch with my
21:54technique. Uh, you know, when you're
21:56going, if you go too light, all right,
22:00uh, it just doesn't give you a realistic
22:01feel of the technique that you're going
22:03to use in the meat. If you don't do
22:05anything the week of a meat, tend to
22:07just feel stale and stiff. So, you want
22:10to be active. All right? But you want to
22:12be promoting recovery the whole time,
22:14reducing fatigue the whole time. So, say
22:17I'm I'm have a Sunday meet coming up on
22:20Tuesday. is the heavier of the two
22:22priming days. I'll go in and and usually
22:25do three singles in the squat between 60
22:27and 70%. Three singles in the bench
22:30between 70 and 80% and three singles in
22:33the deadlift between 50 and 60%. And
22:36then on Thursday, I'll repeat that same
22:39day, but reduce everything by 10 to 15%
22:42intensity, which is three singles in
22:44each in each uh competition lift. move
22:47the bar explosively, practice my
22:49technique, hone it in, make sure that
22:51I'm feeling sharp, as sharp as possible
22:53for the meet. Then those last two days
22:55going into the meet. So the Friday and
22:56Saturday, I'll do very light warm up,
22:59maybe stretch a little
23:00bit. Again, you don't want to just be
23:02laying around all day. You want to have
23:04a little bit of activity and and and get
23:07moving, but don't create any fatigue for
23:09yourself. And of course, make sure that
23:11you know you're sleeping well, eating
23:13well.
23:14This is kind of a topic for another
23:16video, but I'll touch on it real
23:17briefly. Uh, I tend to avoid the use of
23:22passive recovery means like ice bath or
23:24contrast showers during any overload
23:28portion of my training. So any any of
23:30the real, you know, the non-do weeks and
23:32I reserve all that stuff for the de lo
23:34weeks and priming weeks. So when you are
23:37in that week before a meet, you know, if
23:39you can do it multiple times a day, a
23:41contrast shower would be a great option
23:43for you. I tend to do those as three
23:45minutes hot, one minute cold for three
23:47rounds total. So it' be 12 total
23:49minutes. And it's basically just as hot
23:51as you can stand and as cold as you can
23:53stand. And that's just going to help
23:54you, you know, feel fresher, feel feel
23:56more recovered, and feel the best that
23:59you can on the day that matters most,
24:00the day of competition. So that's kind
24:02of a rough outline of the way that I set
24:05up the peaking block peaking blocks. If
24:07you want to go more in depth to this,
24:09make sure you go check out scientific
24:10principles of strength training. Dr.
24:12Mike Isel goes very very in-depth to all
24:14this. Um you can see more information
24:18about you know what
24:21uh how you want to adjust volume and
24:23intensity during the three different
24:25parts of the peaking block.
24:28um and and just give more insight on
24:31exercise selection during these times.
24:33Uh how to best manage fitness and
24:35fatigue and put your best uh your best
24:38performance on the platform. Also, make
24:39sure to check out my article, the
24:41complete guide to putting PRs on the
24:43platform at
24:45jtsstrength.com. Please subscribe to the
24:46channel and thanks for watching.
24:54[Applause]
24:58[Music]
25:00Come
25:01[Music]
25:05[Applause]
25:08[Music]
25:08[Applause]
25:12[Music]
25:12[Applause]
25:15[Music]
25:19on. Sure.
25:23[Applause]
25:23[Music]
25:34Not
25:41[Applause]
25:42[Music]
25:45just
25:48chest tight.
25:53[Applause]
25:56and
25:59[Applause]
26:01we're going

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