949strength

20/05/2026

Take the training programme wholesale from another powerlifter and you will run workouts that don’t transfer to your platform performance.

You see someone hit a massive total. You ask what programme they ran. You copy it set for set, week for week. Their weak points, training history, and response patterns are not yours. What built their squat might maintain yours. What drove their bench progress might stall yours completely.

Every programme prescription is shaped by the individual who ran it. Their squat sticks at lockout. Yours breaks at the bottom. Their bench responds to volume. Yours needs intensity. Their training age is 8 years. Yours is 2.

Extract the principles instead. Block periodisation structures sequential adaptation. Exercise classification forces specificity and transfer. Volume landmarks guide dosing. The principles hold across lifters. Adaptation is always individual.

Then build from your context. Your sticking points. Your asymmetries. Your recovery capacity. The best programmes start from validated principles and get shaped by the individual running them.

Link in bio. The Sticking Point newsletter has a full breakdown.

12/05/2026

Sub-junior and junior powerlifting has improved dramatically. Athletes in their mid-teens are lifting totals that would have won world championships a decade ago.

This is genuinely impressive. But it also tells us something important about how these young lifters are training. High frequencies. High volumes. High intensities. And no roadmap for what comes next.

In any other professional sport, there would be a Long-Term Athlete Development framework in place. A systematic process to bring athletes through the ranks without breaking down and without burning out.

Powerlifting has no LTAD model. We have talented juniors with impressive numbers and no pathway for how a 16-year-old becomes a 25-year-old world champion, or how that champion continues competing as a masters lifter at 45.

THE FRAMEWORK

Stage 0 (Ages 10-13): Foundation. General athleticism. Movement patterns without load. Multi-sport participation.

Stage 1 (Ages 13-17): Basic Training. Technical proficiency. Strength foundation. Intensity capped at 80-85%.

Stage 2 (Ages 17-21): Specialisation. Sport-specific strength. Peak volume phase. Intensity builds to 90-95%.

Stage 3 (Ages 21-28): Peak Performance. Maximum competitive performance. High intensity, targeted training.

Stage 4 (Ages 28-40): Maintenance. Extend peak performance. Injury prevention work doubles to 15%.

Stage 5 (Ages 40+): Masters. Competitive longevity. Injury prevention reaches 22% of training.

The training decisions made at 18 determine what is possible at 35. The structural integrity built in the foundation years determines whether a lifter can still compete at 50.

If you want to learn more head to link in bio and head to The Sticking Point newsletter for a full breakdown.

06/05/2026

A study of 548 competitive powerlifters just revealed what actually works in powerlifting programming.

THE FINDINGS

Over 97% of competitive powerlifters use barbell variations and accessories alongside competition lifts. Only 1-2% train competition lifts exclusively. The idea that elite lifters simply grind squat-bench-deadlift all year is fiction.

BOTTOM-RANGE WORK DOMINATES

The most common variations: pause squats (85%), long-paused bench (84%), pause deadlifts (80%). Lifters are targeting strength where lifts fail, the hole of the squat, chest on bench, initial pull in deadlift.

DIFFERENT EXERCISES, DIFFERENT PARAMETERS

Competition lifts span 1-7 reps at RPE 6-10. Variations cluster at 4-7 reps, RPE 6-8.5. Accessories live in 8+ rep territory. Each category serves a distinct purpose.

SPECIFICITY INCREASES NEAR COMPETITION

88% modify competition lift programming closer to meets, increasing load and RPE. 72% reduce variation volume. The pattern is clear: cast a wide net early, narrow focus as competition approaches.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS MATTER

Lighter lifters tolerate higher frequency. Heavier lifters need more recovery. Moderate-level lifters benefit most from variation work. Raw lifters emphasise bottom-range strength. Equipped lifters emphasise lockout.

No single correct model exists. Both exercise rotation and consistent selection work, the key is increasing competition lift specificity near competition.

If you want to learn more head to link in bio and head to The Sticking Point newsletter for a full breakdown

02/05/2026

Training Fast-Twitch Powerlifters: What You Need to Know

Not all powerlifters are built the same. Some are naturally explosive (fast-twitch dominant), while others are grinders. Here’s the key to training explosive lifters:

How to spot a fast-twitch lifter:
• Extremely fast bar speed on first attempts
• Quick performance drop-off between sets
• Longer recovery needs between sessions
• Under 7 reps at 80% 1RM (Hatfield Test)

Training Guidelines:
• Lower overall volume
• Less frequent training sessions
• Higher average intensities
• Longer recovery periods

Technical Approach:
• Faster squat descent
• Narrower bench grip
• Quick, explosive deadlift setup

28/04/2026

22/04/2026

Most powerlifting programmes fail because they try to do everything at once.

You can’t build muscle, develop maximal strength, and peak for competition in the same training block. Your body doesn’t work that way. Conflicting adaptations interfere with each other.

The solution is block periodisation combined with exercise classification.

Block periodisation sequences training into concentrated phases:

- Foundation: Movement quality and asymmetry correction
- Accumulation: Work capacity and hypertrophy
- Intensification: Maximal strength and weak point overload
- Realisation: Peak performance and taper

Each block builds the next. You develop the engine before expressing the output.

Exercise classification forces specificity:

- CE (Competition Exercises): The actual lifts
- SDE (Special Developmental): Close variants targeting weaknesses
- SPE (Special Preparatory): Builds relevant strength without mimicking the lift
- IP (Injury Prevention): Joint health and structural resilience

The ratio of these categories shifts as you progress toward competition.

Early blocks cast a wide net, high SPE to build capacity. Later blocks narrow to a laser focus, high CE to express that capacity on the platform.

Foundation uses 45% SPE and 30% CE. Realisation flips to 70% CE and 10% SPE.

This is how you structure long-term progression without burning out or spinning your wheels.

The block tells you what adaptation to target. The exercise classification tells you which exercises drive that adaptation.

No guesswork. No conflicting goals. Just systematic progression toward platform performance.

If you want to learn more head to link in bio and head to The Sticking Point newsletter for a full breakdown

31/03/2026

The most predictable moment in a powerlifting career is when the thing that worked for 18 months stops working.

You add sets, add frequency, push intensity. The bar stays where it is.

That is diminishing returns showing up.

Volume has a dose-response relationship with strength, but the payoff shrinks as you get stronger. Ten sets to twenty sets is not a 2x result.

Four paradoxes show up in advanced training.

**The Volume Paradox:** A novice can gain 40kg on a squat from 10 sets per week. An elite lifter might need 20 sets per week for a 5kg gain.

**The Specialisation Paradox:** Early on, variety builds skill and tissue tolerance. Later on, you need more work on fewer variations, closer to the competition lifts.

**The Capacity Paradox:** Having the capacity to complete 30 sets does not mean 30 sets is the best choice. Session quality across the week matters.

**The Age Paradox:** Volume tolerance follows a bell curve. At some point, maintaining the same performance takes less total work and better exercise selection.

If you want the full breakdown, head to the link in bio and read The Sticking Point newsletter.

18/03/2026

I watched The Bear while working and travelling with the Spanish National rugby team. Seventeen flights in two months meant I could work through 3 seasons in quick succession.

The show is about a chef transforming a sandwich shop into something worthy of Michelin stars. A sign hangs in the kitchen: “Every Second Counts.”

In a Michelin-starred kitchen, every second of prep, every degree of temperature, every moment of communication actually matters. The difference between excellence and good often comes down to those seconds.

In powerlifting, the equivalent is this: Every rep counts.

PROGRAMMING: WRITING THE MENU

Every exercise must justify its existence. Why this movement? Why this rep range? Why this intensity? Why now? If you cannot answer those questions, you are filling space on a spreadsheet.

EX*****ON: WORKING THE LINE

Nothing is a tick-box exercise. Warm-ups are preparation and assessment. Activation work is priming motor patterns. Accessories drive functional changes. If it is in the programme, it deserves your complete focus.

REVIEW: TASTING THE DISH

Did the session achieve its intended stimulus? Were the technical focuses executed? How did your body respond? The review closes the loop and informs the next cycle.

THE TEAM

You will not find a great powerlifter operating in isolation. Coach, training partners, medical support, mentors. This is not weakness. It is the structure required for sustained excellence.

Every rep counts is not a motivational slogan. It is an operational philosophy.

If you want to learn more head to link in bio and head to The Sticking Point newsletter for a full breakdown.

11/03/2026

The margin for imbalance gets smaller the further you progress in powerlifting.

Not because better lifters are magically more disciplined, but because they’ve done the work to become more complete.

A well-rounded powerlifter isn’t just built on one great lift. It’s built by reducing weak points, improving positions, developing qualities that carry over, and bringing every part of your game up.

At a certain level, progress isn’t about having one standout strength.

It’s about having fewer obvious weaknesses.

If you want to keep moving forward, you can’t just rely on what you’re already good at.

You have to build yourself into a more complete lifter.

06/03/2026

Dynamic Effort training has virtually disappeared from powerlifting gyms, but is that a mistake?

In the late 90s and early 2000s, it was EVERYWHERE, bands, chains, and lifters moving submaximal loads with maximum intent. Then autoregulation and RPE-based training took over, and percentage-based methods fell out of favour.

The problem? Dynamic Effort doesn’t translate well to RPE. How do you rate moving 55% as fast as possible? Is it a 6 because the weight is light, or a 9 because you’re giving maximum effort?

But at 949strength, we still use Dynamic Effort regularly, especially close to competition or when managing fatigue while maintaining intent.

The method combines three brilliant innovations:

- Soviet classification of strength types (maximal, speed-strength, strength endurance)
- Dr. Fred Hatfield’s Compensatory Acceleration Training
- Louie Simmons’ addition of accommodating resistance

Consider this comparison:

Repeated Effort: 3×6 at 70% = 2,520kg total load (hypertrophy focus)

Dynamic Effort: 8×3 at 50% = 2,400kg total load (speed-strength focus)

I believe Dynamic Effort offers a unique training stimulus that isn’t found at higher intensities. It’s not outdated, it’s misunderstood and underutilised.