Training for a powerlifting meet is like shooting at a moving target. It takes a delicate blend of art and science to be at your very strongest in all three lifts on one specific day.
A taper is a strategic reduction in training intensity and/or volume to reduce fatigue and improve performance on meet day. The length of your taper and degree to which you taper will vary based on your experience level, training history and personal preference. If you don’t taper long enough, you may find yourself overly fatigued heading into the meet. And if you taper too long, you’ll feel rusty and run the risk of actually losing of strength.
Why We Need to Taper
The reason we need to taper before a meet is because of the interplay between fitness, performance and fatigue. These three variables are constantly intertwined when we’re training. Here are some definitions:
Fitness: One’s physical ability to perform a specific task. For example, a powerlifter is very fit to lift heavy weights for low reps, but unfit to run a marathon.
Performance: How well you can demonstrate your fitness right NOW. For example, your performance is typically highest at the beginning of a workout and then diminishes as you train due to fatigue.
Fatigue: The acute effect of training that reduces performance but, when managed effectively, results in chronic improvements in fitness.
Banister’s Impulse-Response model illustrates this interplay for a single training session:
When we train, we induce fatigue on purpose to increase fitness. Our performance decreases temporarily as the result of the fatigue induced by the training session, which also acutely raises our fitness. If we rest and recover enough, fatigue decreases and performance increases.
A taper gradually reduces fatigue in order to maximize performance. We want just enough rest that performance peaks on meet day, but not so much that fatigue completely baselines and performance starts to decline.
What Gets Measured Gets Managed
How long is long enough? It’s impossible to know for sure. Humans are complex, dynamic systems that are highly unpredictable. We can pretend that we know exactly how someone will adapt to a given stimulus, but that’s both ignorant and arrogant.
However, as a coach to many competitive powerlifters, I’ve found a few useful strategies to help find the right length taper for each individual lifter. And it all comes down to carefully tracking and analyzing training data.
First, it helps to use some generalizations as a starting point. I’m no fan of dogma, but you have to start somewhere, then use the data to point you in the right direction.
In general, novice and/or smaller lifters need a shorter taper, and stronger and/or heavier lifters need a longer taper. The reason for this is simple: novice and/or smaller lifters don’t incur as much fatigue as more advanced and/or bigger lifters. The more fatigue you accumulate through training, the longer taper you need to get that fatigue to approach baseline.
For example, a lightweight novice female lifter might need no taper at all. They might be able to train just as they normally would right up until the meet. If the meet is on Saturday, they might take it easy on Thursday and Friday, but train just as they normally would Monday through Wednesday. They likely aren’t lifting heavy enough weights to need a longer taper, and likely aren’t skilled enough yet in the technical side of the lifts to warrant extended time away from challenging training, lest they start to get rusty.
On the other end of the spectrum, an advanced heavyweight male lifter will probably need a much longer taper. The fatigue they experience is much higher due to the heavier weights they use and their ability to “empty the tank” more readily than a less experienced lifter. Their advanced nature affords them the luxury of more time away from challenging lifts without technique degradation. An international-level powerlifter isn’t going to forget how to squat if they don’t squat heavy for 2-3 weeks.
I’m also using female vs. male examples here because of the distinct differences in biology between the two sexes. Again, you have to look at the individual data to find exceptions to the rule (I know small females who recover slowly and large males who recover quickly, but they’re few and far between). But in general, smaller females can tolerate more training volume and intensity than their larger male counterparts.
So what data am I looking at? I’m most concerned with the following:
Estimated 1-rep Max: A combination of weight on the bar, number of reps and RPE to predict the lifter’s 1RM
Time to Peak: How many exposures to the same stimulus (i.e., sets x reps @ RPE) it takes for a lifter’s E1RM to reach its highest point before regressing
Post-Deload Response: How does a lifter’s E1RM react when applying the same (or similar) stimulus following a deload? This response is critical to the duration and structure of their taper.
Finding a lifter’s time to peak makes it abundantly clear as to how long a taper should be. If a lifter takes 4 weeks to peak, then you arrange training so that the competition is the lifter’s fourth exposure. If it takes them 8 weeks, then the competition is the eighth exposure. So on and so forth. The only way you can discover a lifter’s time to peak is to set aside plenty of training time away from a competition to establish this data. Apply the same stimulus (sets x reps @ RPE) week after week until the lifter can no longer add weight to the bar. However many exposures it takes is their time to peak.
Awareness of a lifter’s post-deload response is also essential to a successful taper. Some lifters feel fresh, recharged and ready to crush weights after a deload. Others feel sluggish, rusty and need a few training sessions to get back in the swing of things. Lifters who feel great after a deload may benefit from a shorter taper with a true deload the week of the meet where training load and volume are greatly reduced. Lifters who don’t bounce back quickly after a deload might need a longer taper with a more gradual reduction in load and volume. Some lifters even do best when the week of the meet involves a subtle increase in training. Perhaps their deload is two or even three weeks out, with meet week being a ramp-up week that helps them rebound and peak at the right time.
The Two Most Annoying Words
The right length for a taper before a meet ultimately comes down to two annoying words: it depends. There are general recommendations but no hard-and-fast rules. It’s best to be data-driven and look objectively as the training log to figure out what will work best for the individual lifter. Track your E1RM, your time to peak and your post-deload response to get the most detailed picture of how you or your lifter responds. That will give you the answer you seek.
