Like any sport, powerlifting lends itself to arguing about methods and principles. It’s a sport where many methods work, some work better than others, and coaches and lifters will fight to the death to defend their preferred methods. That said, block periodization, a specific style of strength training planning, has both its super fans and naysayers.
Periodization, which is quite simply the planning of training, can be an extremely complex topic if you allow it to be. Some coaches and sports scientists are in favor of periodization and very specific planning, while others claim that periodization as we’ve come to define it doesn’t work and isn’t supported by research. However, I will argue that planning of any kind is better than no plan at all. This is perhaps the most obvious statement I’ve ever made on this website.
Here’s a quick recap of the definition of periodization taken from our Optimizing the Big 3 online course.
While this article isn’t intended to be an exhaustive piece on all types of periodization, I’ll touch on the training principles that are consistent in virtually all types of periodization, and explain why block periodization works well for many lifters.
Types of Periodization
There are three main types of periodization:
- Block Periodization: a style of planning that moves from general training to specific training with a specific competition in mind. Block periodization often splits training into phases that focus on different strength qualities (i.e., hypertrophy, strength and power).
- Concurrent Periodization: a style of planning that focuses on all strength qualities at once, with no shift in training specificity or specific timeline. Training philosophies such as CrossFit (i.e., give equal time and energy to strength, power, endurance, etc.) and Conjugate (i.e., frequently rotating through main lifts and giving equal attention to strength, speed and hypertrophy) fall into this category.
- Concurrent with Emphasis: a style of planning that combines the phasic structure of block periodization with the multiple training goals of concurrent periodization. This style of training works on hypertrophy, strength and power, and uses both specific and general exercises, but shifts the emphasis depending on the proximity to competition.
If I could very simply summarize these training styles, it’s that athletes who train using block periodization are only ready to compete at one very specific time (such as the Olympics every four years or one specific powerlifting meet), athletes who train using a concurrent approach aren’t really ready for anything (or are always kind of ready for several things, depending on how you look at it), and athletes who use concurrent with emphasis can be ready at a few week’s notice.
Elements of Periodization
No matter how to try to spin it, all types of periodization are more similar than they are different. They all share similar elements, which are implemented and changed at different times to make each type of periodization unique.
- Linearity: Progressive overload is the governing principle of getting stronger. Therefore, all styles of periodization aim to increase intensity and/or volume over the course of a given period of time.
- Undulation: Undulation means varying the training stimulus by manipulating intensity and volume within a specific time frame, such as a training week or a training month. All types of periodization vary the stimulus either within a single training week or week-to-week. For example, you might have a heavy squat day and a light squat day within the same week, or you might squat heavy and deadlift light one week then squat light and deadlift heavy the next week. Conjugate lifters have max effort days (i.e., heavy days) and dynamic effort days (i.e., light days), and even the most strict block periodization disciples probably have days within a training week where they go lighter for higher reps and then go heavier for lower reps.
- Variation: All types of periodization use at least subtle variations in exercise selection. No useful program is going to have you doing the exact same exercises in perpetuity. Some more rigid programs keep exercises very similar for a long time, while many concurrent programs change the exercises on a daily basis.
So you can see that all types of periodization have similar elements, adjusted at different times to make the lifter stronger. Block periodization tends to change these variables in a more slow-and-steady approach, working backward from one specific date to prepare for competition. I like this approach because the longer you draw out a lifter’s training, the more sustainable the results. Just like a crash diet vs. building steady nutrition habits, one gets you quick results with an even quicker weight gain rebound, and the other can last a lifetime if done right.
How Block Periodization Can Work
Block periodization, or at least the concept of splitting training into longer phases and shifting from general to specific exercises, can work well if implemented and coached correctly. The kicker here is that there must be room for course correction – calling audibles and course correcting with the plan doesn’t go according to plan.
Many programs based on block periodization that you might see in textbooks use percentage of 1-rep max to plan out training. The problem here is that block periodization is designed to take a long time – up to 4 years if you’re an Olympian. Percentage-based training only works if your 1-rep max is recent and accurate. The older your max, the less effective it is for calculating training loads.
However, if you take the phasic elements of block periodization (i.e., hypertrophy, general strength and peaking phases) and prescribe loads based on RPE and RIR (you can read in-depth articles on these here and here), you can benefit from careful planning AND have the luxury of adjusting training loads based on a lifter’s day-to-day readiness.
Assuming that you’re prescribing training loads in a way that allows for autoregulation (RPE or RIR instead of percentage of 1RM), here are a few reasons why I like block periodization:
1. Accountability
Working backward from a specific competition or testing day holds you accountable to gradually adding weight to the bar over time. Yes, it’s important to have the adaptability of going lighter on a day you don’t feel awesome OR going heavier on a day where you feel like a million bucks. But the general knowledge that you have a specific day where you have to bring your A-game is important for keeping lifters consistent and on-task. You can’t get away with always going light because you’re “not feeling it,” and you also can’t always go for broke or you’ll burn yourself out or get injured.
Also, knowing that there are heavier weights in the future can help lifters become more engaged in less specific phases, such as a hypertrophy phase. I know many lifters who get really excited about heavy singles, but less excited about doing sets of 8-10. However, if those lifters can delay gratification and know that they’ll eventually get to lift heavy, they’ll often embrace the less exciting high-volume, low-intensity work that they know will make them better in the long run.
2. Discover Rep Ranges with Strong Carryover
Believe it or not, not all lifters respond best to heavy, low-rep training. Some lifters see the best carryover to their 1-rep max from moderate-range sets, like 5-8 reps. And some lifters simply need to get bigger to keep getting stronger, and see rapid strength improvements after a hypertrophy block. This flies in the face of specificity (i.e., lift heavy for low reps to get better at lifting heavy for low reps, which is the essence of powerlifting), but these lifters often respond best to the combination of higher volume (i.e., more practice and muscle gain) and less intensity, which leads to better recovery and less mental stress. And you would never know if you respond well to this kind of training unless you do it.
Block periodization exposes you to more rep ranges with your competition lifts (or close variations), which can help you stumble upon something that works well for you that you might not otherwise experience. If you’re squatting, benching and deadlifting in some capacity for three 12-week blocks, and you start with sets of 10 and gradually work your way down to sets of one, somewhere along the line, something is going to click. Especially if you’re using RPE to choose the weight on the bar, you may find one training block where you’re smoking everything, and you’re able to add weight to the bar week after week while maintaining the same RPE. If you keep a detailed training log, you’ll be able to pick up on these patterns and lean on these specific rep ranges in future training to make the most progress.
3. Physical and Mental Break of an Off-Season
Imagine if football players played year-round. If they played 52 games a year, beating the shit out of each other every Sunday, there would be a lot of hurt football players, right? A football game is kind of like a powerlifting meet: a brutal, all-out effort that you can’t do all day, every day. Football players have a long off-season where they focus on other qualities, like strength, speed and conditioning, without the physical and mental beatdown of competition. Powerlifters need this too to avoid physical and mental burnout.
Block periodization builds in a natural off-season where you can work on different qualities, specifically hypertrophy. The weights are lighter, the exercises are less specific, and you take time to build some additional body armor to get ready to take on heavier weights in the future.
You also get a mental break from lifting heavy all the time. The best lifters in the world will tell you it takes tremendous mental preparation to lift world-class numbers. It’s not sustainable to always have to get your mind wrapped around a heavy top set each day that could make or break your training block. Phasic training reduces the need to arousal, which speeds up recovery. It makes training more productive, more fun and less of a chore or job.
Don’t Block It ’til You Try It
Block periodization isn’t the be-all, end-all of powerlifting training. There have been countless lifters who have reached high levels of performance using different types of concurrent training. However, we at The Strength House have found many lifters to benefit from the slow-and-steady approach of block periodization, taking the time to focus on hypertrophy, general strength (getting strong in the 3-5 reps range), and finally peaking toward new 1-rep maxes.
That’s why we’re psyched to announce the release of three new 12-week online programs: Hypertrophy, General Strength and Peaking for Powerlifting. Designed to be run consecutively and built upon the principles discussed in this article, these programs are the culmination of working with hundreds of lifters and boiling down the methods that have stood the test of time.
These programs go on sale this Friday, so click below to get alerted when the sale goes live AND to get a special discount code for additional savings!