Your Next PB Total
Why Aren’t You Pushing Up Your Total
A lot of lifters are stuck not being able to progress their total. In a study published in 2022 by Ugalde it was found that 11.7% of lifters made no improvements year on year to their total.
They had over 38000 data points in the analysis so that would account for over 4000 lifters not progressing.
But why is this?
Age was a factor in the study with those lifters over the age of 40 making up a large proportion of those that did not improve but there is more to it than just age.
I deal with a vast number of lifters who have become stagnant in their total progression, and age would be spread quit evenly between the group as well as sex differences. But one pattern is very similar.
They struggle to progress because of injury and a lack of understanding around the root causes of pain and underperformance. The majority would be in year 3+ of the lifters journey and have been exposed to very high frequency training to improve in the sport, so they are not beginners, and most have hit really impressive numbers in competition.
So why is the programming not working?
The Problem With Online Coaching
I write this next section knowing fully well I work in this space of online coaching.
But I believe it is a huge problem with how lack of progress is addressed and how progress would begin again for a stagnant lifter.
The models used to illicit progress in the sport appear to be based around the model of increased mechanical work completed i.e. can you continue to complete a certain number of repetitions at ever increasing intensities over the course of years. Now this approach is valid and will work very well in the first few years of competing (I would argue my own point here that anything would work in the first few years of the lifters journey). The reason it is popular for coaches is that it is easy to program for and requires very little nuance or holistic decision making on the steps needed to navigate slumps. You end up going through the same cycles hoping that it will create a different outcome, the problem is is that you have picked most of the low hanging fruit in that department.
The other problem is the lack of in-person contact time.
My background would have seen me coach professional athletes in person for 17 years and the amount of information you get from in-person coaching is 1000x what you get from the online video check in format.
You need assessments, and lots of them.
You cannot compete with the ability to view the lifter from all angles, give and receive feedback in real time and observe a truly three dimensional picture of how the lifter produces and transfers force through the bar.
But the majority of coaches (including myself) are online, so how would you combat a lack of athlete information and coach online successfully?
Achieving a PB total for me is bookended with the very beginning of the training process and the very end of the training process. People tend to get the middle part nailed. But to start;
You need assessments, and lots of them.
You Can’t Coach What You Can’t See
In professional sport physical profiling is an absolute must for the performance department to get results. You need to know current physical state (fitness, strength, flexibility, health) and you also need a detailed medical and injury history, where has the athlete broken down in the past and what are the residuals of that injury.
This all goes into the pot alongside the knowledge of the demands of the sport and the specific physical qualities that are essential for success. We would then work as a multi-disciplinary team to develop said qualities.
Within the Podium Program I have taken this model and adapted it for the online space. The main objective is to become as informed as possible about each and every lifter to make high value decisions regarding the comp preparation all the time.
Athlete onboarding forms (physical health, mental health, lifestyle, medical history, injury history, goals)
Joint Screening (assessing all the key joints related to the Powerlifting movements)
Strength Screening (isometric and isotonic testing of isolated muscle strength through certain movement patterns, plus a screen of the stabiliser muscles that contribute to the Powerlifts)
Technical Screen (video analysis of the 3 core disciplines from 4 angles to create a detailed picture of how the lifter moves functionally)
This screening process takes 3-4 hours plus another 3-4 hours of analysis but from that you have created a model that can highlight and help problem solve almost all issues that arise through the training process.
What you are ultimately trying to achieve with this process can be boiled down to 3 things;
Identifying roadblocks to performance
Ability to build more bespoke Powerlifting programmes
Tools to deal with setbacks as they happen while continuing to develop
Creating really deep foundations to build upon.
Foundations of a PB Total
With the assessments complete and the programs written it is now all about execution.
Consistency is the absolute core of a successful training block. You must get enough stimulus of lifting heavy weights to make yourself stronger. For this you have to stay healthy while also pushing the limits of your physiology.
Easier said then done.
Having the information from the assessments makes this a much more likely occurrence but you must spend enough time developing the mobility, isolated strength and technical proficiency to make this even more likely. The very last thing you want is for the intensity to rise and for you body to respond negatively.
I always prescribe 4-8 weeks of foundational work before moving onto the Powerlifting specific training. The wider the base the greater the capacity and health of the lifter. And to clarify, this work does not need to be easy or light. It can be incredibly intensive but hyper specific to the deficits found.
Do Your Best Work On The Platform
One of the biggest mistakes I see (and I blame instagram for this), is lifters lifting above and beyond what they end up producing on the platform around 2-4 weeks prior to the competition.
Your best work should be on the platform.
When referring to the title of the newsletter “Your Next PB Total” you must do a few things in the build up to the competition.
No/minimal fails (technical is different)
Minimal grinding reps
Maintain composure (very little psyching up)
This will keep the true maximal efforts in reserve for the day it is required. Psyching up especially is a skill and that skill once learned in the first few year of lifting can be put on hold until absolutely needed.
At the competition your focus must be on one thing and one thing only.
Go nine for nine.
As we are not talking about beginners the ability to progress on all three individually is insignificant when it comes to developing the total. You need 9 good lifts and they don’t have to be personal bests for you to progress the total.
If you can keep your powder dry and stay composed when it comes to attempt selection, you will finish with a PB total.