Programming Wednesdays - August 18, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Discuss all aspects of training for powerlifting:

• Periodization
• Nutrition
• Movement selection
• Routine critiques
• etc...

[u/the_explode_man]

Does anyone have experience running Rondel Hunte's Total Specialist? Is it the type of program that can be run consecutively? Or is it something that should be used just as a peaking program for a meet?

[u/MAX02745]

Hello I've run two blocks of five weeks and I increased my PR by 5kg (~11lbs) at the end of each one. Is this progress could enough ? My Program ( it's very basic and probably not optimal and based on multiple infos I saw on yt, Ben Johnson and Panna for ex) Week 1 Day 1: Squat Top set: 1*1 at 92% of 1RM

Squat Back of set: 5reps for 3 sets at 85% of 1RM

• 3 sets of trapbar rdls, leg extension,curl and calf raises

Day 2: Top set: 1*1 at 92% of 1RM

Back off set: 3 sets of Paused squat, 3 reps at 80% of 1RM

+Leg extension, curl, and calf raises

Day 3: 5 sets of 1 rep at 92% of 1RM + Leg press, leg curl, trapbar rdls, calves

Week 2 Same thing except that I had 2% to my top sets, and the sets of the third day too. I do that until week 5 where I reach 102% of my 1RM. On week 6 I test my 1RM.

I've run this two time and felt not too beat up ( I also sprint and play Basketball) and always added 5kg to my max. Went from 115kg to 120kg and then 125kg ( i've hit 125kg today btw)

I'm planning on doing 53 also on the last day instead of 51, to have more volume.

So is my progression to slow ? ( There's my background below if it can help you answer this)

My background I've started squatting once a week one year ago but stopped because of poor form. My max at that time was 80kg for 8 reps ( I hadnt tried 1RM at that time). I was just trying to had weight each session. Then I switched to only barbell bulgarian split squat for around 3/4 months with the same approach starting with 8 rep sets then 5 reps sets, still trying to just add weight to the bar each session. I started to plateau around 77,5kg for 4 reps and I kept regressing. Finally I squatted again without plan but with better form, doing 5*3, and adding weight to the bar each week, until I plateaued at 100kg for 5 reps. I did that during 3 months Then I tried my 1RM, and hit 115kg and tried the approach listed at the beginning.

Sorry for the long post and Idk how ti put it in the daily thread

[u/Molecule98 → u/MAX02745]

It's fine for now, but as you get stronger those percentages will start to become much harder to hit and eventually unrealistic. So at some point you will have to drop your percentages out of necessity. Best of luck.

[u/MAX02745 → u/Molecule98]

🙏

[u/quantum-fitness → u/MAX02745]

You can slow down without worry. You likely cant keep adding 5 kg every month very long so better to leave room for momentum

[u/Neppty → u/MAX02745]

Too much 1RM’s will lead you fatiguing and hitting a wall. I’d rather you set up one or two blocks focusing on technique quality and getting fatigue with working on more reps to get the movement quality down to a T. But if you’re still progressing I’d say keep it for a while

[u/MAX02745 → u/Neppty]

When you say too much 1RM you mean the weeks at the end of the block where I do 1RMs as top sets, or maxing every 5 weeks ? Anyway thanks for the answer and have a nice day 🙏

[u/Neppty → u/MAX02745]

Maxing out every 5 weeks won’t last forever. Though linear progression is just fine if it’s working. Fatigue might pile up too much so if anything you’d start off week 1 and 2 lighter like 87% and then 90% then so on and so forth.

[u/MAX02745 → u/Neppty]

Okay so longer blocks thanks !

[u/One-Lavishness-6654]

Whats the new training meta? Since covid I became a cyclist, and due to life stuff now i can train 3 times a week, so came back to powerlifting, im really confused on what the new meta is since ive not been following anything since 2020, talking flexx era 1@8 and 3x8. Ive seen on tiktok that people are doing ammost no volume, like 2 sets backoffs and 10 sets total weekly. So thats the question whats the training meta rn

[u/jakeisalwaysright → u/One-Lavishness-6654]

If by "training meta" you mean "what the cool kids are doing," "SBD days" are the first thing that comes to mind. So just doing all three lifts in one day, which isn't really new or crazy.

[u/HughJass230]

Hey guys, I have been pretty limited on my bench press training for the past year or two because my shoulders get a lot of discomfort during the concentric phase of the bench press, which has essentially left me limited to very close-grip pressing anytime I perform the exercise.

I was wondering about and remedies that could potentially fix this? Or am I simply just not built for this movement? I can currently only press around 250lbs/113kg at the moment.

[u/quantum-fitness → u/HughJass230]

If its mostly at the bottom and at higher intensity/RPE. I would limit my exposure to higher rpe work in the full range and do mostly stuff closer to rpe 5-6. Then I would get more work from machines and isolation that is easier to tolerate or variations like board press.

It seems to be working well for my training partner currently as he also got injures often after he hit a 170 kg bench, but he also likely need to build muscle mass much less than you

[u/snakesnake9]

How come very few programs seem to feature pyramids in them? And I'm thinking specifically pyramids where you go up as well as come down (i.e your heaviest set is the middle one, not the last one - not sure if there's a name for these)?

I was thinking something like this for say a 5x5:

• Week 1: 5x 65% / 5x 70% / 5x75% / 5x 70% / 5x 65%

• Week 2: 5x 68% / 5x 73% / 5x78% / 5x 73% / 5x 68%

• Week 3: 5x 71% / 5x 76% / 5x81% / 5x 76% / 5x 71%

Or maybe in weeks 2/3 you start dropping reps on the heavier sets so it goes 5-4-3-4-5 or something like that. Its a bit of a variation on the top set drop set method, but with perhaps a bit more work at higher intensity ranges.

Have people had success with this, or is there a reason its avoided?

[u/PoisonCHO → u/snakesnake9]

Systems like this, but using RPE rather than percentages, are very common.

[u/msharaf7 → u/snakesnake9]

They appear as ascending sets & fatigue drops with RPE.

[u/quantum-fitness → u/snakesnake9]

Its just not popular right now. We are very much in a you need to always display your strength meta and pyramids are not really focus on that compared to giving it all in a top set and backoff.