More Volume Without More Injuries

If you are anything like me, I am getting pretty achy after a high volume training period. If there is a specific time I know I am at the highest risk for bothering the chronic tendinopathy in my left knee, it’s during or right after a volume phase. So if this is the case, what we can do different programming wise? Blood Flow Restriction training.

BFR training is slowly becoming more accepted within the Powerlifting community when it comes to direct arm training. After benching and low bar squats, direct arm work puts even more of a beating on those bicep and tricep tendons. With that being the case, many have made BFR training their go to for direct arm work, allowing you to still receive adequate volume and stimulation but without the same wear and tear. Research has been very promising for BFR training as well. At first glance, seeing some guy cutting off the circulation to his arms while doing some standing barbell curls looks like some weird new fetish fad, but once you look into the actual scientific backing, it starts to sound like that guy might be onto something. It has been shown that using as little as 30% of your 1RM while blood flow restricted can produce similar hypertrophy and strength gains, and it has also made its way into physical therapy protocols for rehabilitation purposes.

So if it is so widely accepted when it comes to biceps and triceps, why hasn’t it caught on for lower body work as well? That’s where I come in and propose for the use of BFR training during lower body accessory work, specifically knee extension based movements, to reduce the wear and tear of the powerlifting grind. The best fit for this type of training would be during these high volume cycles, when less competition specificity is needed and volume is high. It’s great way to produce similar hypertrophy, volume, and metabolite benefits of higher repetition work in a less aggressive way. Look below at the example of how this could be implemented, one showing the original template, the following showing blood flow restriction being introduced.

Example #1: Non-BFR

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight
Competition Squat	2	4	400
Competition Tempo Squat (3 second eccentric	2	6	315
Bulgarian Split Squats	3	8	200

Example #2: Blood Flow Restriction

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight
Competition Squat	2	4	400
Competition Tempo Squat (3 second eccentric	2	6	315
Bulgarian Split Squats (Blood Flow Restricted)	4	15	60

 

So looking at these examples, after our competition movement and competition variation, we originally had some additional leg volume added in with Bulgarian Split Squats. Again, this would be an example of a volume phase, so competition specificity is lower, with one reason being to reduce the wear and tear on the joints of the heavy competition movements. But the second example takes this one step further with adding in blood flow restriction to the Bulgarian Split Squats, as well as increasing the sets and reps to account for volume changes due to the lighter weight. While I will be the first to say example #1 would be optimal in regards to immediate benefit, as I have mentioned multiple times in my writing, it’s not about what we accomplish today, but instead what we can accomplish long term. There is a higher likelihood of injury when performing 3×8 at 200lbs on Bulgarian Split Squats, versus 4×15 at 60lbs blood flow restricted. And if we can get somewhat similar benefits, I’ll take the option that is going to improve my longevity based on my past injury history.

I used Bulgarian Split Squats as the example here, but let’s cover some exercise variations that would be useful with BFR training, and ones that may not be. First, let’s look at what may not be the optimal approach with BFR training with the lower body. While there isn’t research that I know of stating this, usually barbell squats and deadlifts are not the best exercise for BFR use. There are just too many variables and muscles at play there, specifically the lower back, and our goal is usually to isolate the blood flow restricted area as much as possible. For quads, I recommend exercises that do not require high loads and for the most part take the lower back out of the equation. Below is a list of good exercises to try with blood flow restriction for quads:

Bulgarian Split Squats (there is some low back involvement here, but with light loads it is minimal)

Walking or Reverse Lunges

Belt Squats

Leg Press

Leg Extensions

Sissy Squats

There are others as well, but these 6 exercises seem to work the best due to decreased lower back activation and the ability to increase the focus on the quads. For hamstrings, I will usually stick to isolation movements, as most compound hamstring dominant movements are going to involve the lower back. Below are examples of my recommendations for blood flow restricted hamstring dominant movements:

Seated, Standing, or Lying Hamstring Curls

Smith Machine or TRX/Ring Bodyweight Hamstring Curls

Furniture Slider Curls

If your body is rock solid and you are resilient to injury, this may not be for you. But if wear and tear has been a continual setback for you in the past, maybe this a new way of looking at your training. It is just another tool for your arsenal to implement in achieving maximal strength. With the benefit that has been seen in blood flow restricted arm training within powerlifting, I think it’s time to start experimenting more with BFR training for the lower body as well. Beware though, the pumps are insane!!!

 

Most Common Individual Difference In Deadlift Programming

While there are an infinite number of minute differences in programming from person to person, something I wanted to touch on is the most common difference I see in deadlift programming. In my experience, deadlifts seem to be the most drastically different person to person. Fairly universally, people tend to respond better to lower comparative intensities and volume on deadlifts than for squats and bench press. But within that I have found some major differences, and to get more precise, I find people fit into 1 of 3 categories when it comes to deadlifts.

1.) There is the average person that responds to middle of the road deadlift programming. Which for my programming style would be somewhere around twice a week frequency, one main day and one variation day, at reasonable volumes and relative intensities ranging from 4-8 RPE in the 70-85% range, with most of the work being done in the 5-7 RPE range. I’d say 70% fall into this category. The other 30% are complete opposites though.

2.) 20% will require extremely low intensities, doing most of the work in the 2-5 RPE range around 65-75% while handling fairly high volumes of work. They can handle the volume, they just can’t handle the intensity. You might ask, “Why not just decrease the volume and increase the intensity then?”, but for these people it doesn’t work like that. Any high relative or absolute intensity works just seems to beat them down. I fall into this category myself as well as one of my athletes Joe. Give us one week of heavy deadlift work, and the following week our 1RM goes down 40-50lbs., no exaggeration.

3.) The final 10% are the exact opposite. They get immediately beat down by any type of higher deadlift volumes, but give them a bunch of singles and doubles and they feel great. While I don’t have a great idea of the lifter prototype that fits into numbers 1 and 2, number 3 is typically short arm lifters who have to go through a significant range of motion. Which that makes sense. When you track total work completed, the true calculation would also include distance traveled, so a set of 5 for a short arm lifter is in reality more volume than for a long arm lifter due to more distance traveled.

So what I hope this information helps you with is if your deadlift is stalled and you are not sure why, take a look at your programming and possibly see if you may fall into a different category than you think. I can say in my experience I have never had someone with deadlift respond to high volume and high intensity, so most likely you are going to be in 1 of these 3 categories.

What Percentages Of Your 1RM To Use On Variations

I know a big question I had when I first started powerlifting was what percentage of my 1RM should I be able to do on different variations, and I don’t think I am alone in that. As powerlifters we know our 1RM competition squat, bench, and deadlift, but for all the variations and bar placements changes, it’s usually just a guess. But over my course of coaching experience, I’ve programmed for enough athletes now that I’ve started to see general trends on what percentage 1RM most athletes can perform these variations at. These are not universal and there will 100% be outliers above and below what I recommend, so it always comes down to finding your own individual differences and programming based off that. But I hope the below information can at least give you a starting point, because as far as I know, there is not another article online that breaks this down in this manner. If you would like to dive deeper into how to program these variations, make sure to check out my YouTube video detailing exactly how to implement these within your training: How To Program Variations

Squat (assuming you are a low bar squatter):	% of Competition Squat 1RM	Notes
High Bar	90.0 – 97.5%	The biggest thing that will dictate where you will fall within this range is femur length. Shorter femurs equals a higher % of 1RM on high bar, longer femurs equals a lower %.
Safety Bar	87.5 – 90.0%	This seems to be fairly universal, but there is a learning curve. Most athletes will have to start lighter but as they build up they should be able to tolerate around 90.0% of their 1 RM.
Buffalo Bar	97.5 – 100%	Buffalo bar could very well equal 100% of your 1RM comp squat, but just because it has a slightly different feel, I will typically stay conservative and go with 97.5%.
Cambered Bar	90 – 92.5%	This seems to be fairly universal, but there is a learning curve. Most athletes will have to start lighter but as they build up they should be able to tolerate around 92.5% of their 1 RM.
Tempo Squat	87.5 – 92.5%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 5 Reps or less it will fall more towards 90-92.5%, and anything over 5 reps will be around 87.5%
Pause Squat	92.0 – 94.0%	This seems to be fairly universal.
Pin Squat	87.5% – 90%	If someone can perform these correctly, athletes usually can do around 90% of their 1RM, but the fact is most people cannot do these correctly and will use more weight than they should. Typically long femur lifters have a harder time with pin squats and short femur lifters will have an easier time.
Front Squat	80.0 – 87.5%	I do not program these often, so I would say I am less confident on the accuracy of this, but generally this is where I have found front squats to be.

***If you squat high bar, the real main thing that changes is that your Safety Bar squat will now be at 95% of your 1RM.

Bench Press:	% of Competition Bench Press 1RM	Notes
Close Grip	96.0 – 98%	This is with the assumption of a standard width bench press for most powerlifters. If an athlete’s grip is already close, this % goes up. If they are a max comp width grip, this could very possibly go down. But for the most part 95-97% of their 1RM on close grip bench press will be fairly accurate.
Wide Grip	92.5 – 97.0%	This is with the assumption of a standard width bench press for most powerlifters. If an athlete’s grip is already wide, this % goes up. If they use a close grip though, I have found that some people really struggle with wide grip and may have to decrease the percentage down to possibly 92.5%
Tempo	90.0 – 97%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 3 Reps or less it will fall more towards 94-97%, 4-6 reps around 92-94%, and anything over 6 reps will be around 90%
3 Second Pause	92.5 – 97.0%	This range will be based on how many reps you are performing. 4 Reps or less it will fall more towards 95-97%, and anything over 4 reps will be around 92.5-95%
Spoto Press	92.5-95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. Grip width can change this to an extent, but not by much.
Pin Press 1/2-1 inch off chest	92.5 – 95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. Those who train with a pause consistently in training tend to be better at pin press, and those who touch and go have a harder time with it.
T-Shirt Touch Press	92.5-95.0%	This seems to be fairly universal. If an athlete soft touches they typically will be better with t-shirt touch press, and if they sink they typically will be worse at it.
Feet Up Or Larsen	90.0 – 95.0%	People tend to be able to do a bit more Larsen than Feet Up, so generally ends up somewhere around this ranged dependent on the variation you use.
Slingshot	100.0 – 107.5%	This will be based off the purpose of the movement. If it is to overload, typically people can handle up to a 7.5% increase over their comp bench press 1RM, sometimes even 10%. If it is used for extra volume work though, or to work around a shoulder/pec injury, then I plan it to equal an athlete’s comp bench press 1 RM.
1 or 2 Board	100.0 – 107.5%	This will be based off their proficiency through this range of motion. Typically athletes can handle over their 1RM on board presses, but that is not always the case. Typically on a 1 board I will program based off their 1RM, but for a 2 board I will start to assume a slight increase up to 7.5% over their comp bench press 1 RM.

Deadlift:	% of Competition Deadlift 1RM	Notes
Pause off the floor	90.0 – 95.0%	Depending on your positioning off the floor, some people are just really good at this, and some people are really bad. Find which one you are, then program the percentage range based off that.
Pause just below the knees	92.5 – 95.0 %	Typically a bit easier than pausing just off the floor, so there is less deviation here between athletes.
2″ Deficit	90.0 – 95%	This is for conventional deadlifters. I have never programmed deficit for sumo pullers, nor really would recommend it, so I do not know a % of 1RM for that.
2 Inch Block Pulls	97.5 – 107.5%	If you conventional deadlift, this will be pretty similar to your comp deadlift strength, as 2 inches doesn’t drastically change the movement. Sumo deadlift though you will definitely see a boost, which is the reason for up to 105%. Short arm lifters have the most to gain from those 2 inches, so they possibly could program over their 1RM comp deadlift.
Rack Pulls just below the knee	100-110%	An athlete should be able to rack pull more than they can comp deadlift, but that range is based off of what these are programmed for. I typically do not program these for lock out work, but rather added posterior chain volume, so I usually keep the % of 1RM fairly close to their comp deadlift. This may also change if you are doing these conventional when you typically pull sumo.
Trap Bar	105.0 – 110.0%	Most athletes can trap bar deadlift more than their sumo or conventional deadlift, but typically I have found conventional deadlifters are better with a trap bar, so that is the reason for the percentage range.
Romanian Deadlift	75.0 – 85.0%	This seems to be fairly universal, but if there is a difference, I would say conventional deadlifters tend to be a bit better at RDLs in comparison to their 1RM than sumo pullers

Biggest Misconception About RPE Training

“RPE” is not a training program.

The single biggest misconception about RPE training is that it is a training program, and it 100% is not. Just like Conjugate or DUP, it is a training principle, not a program. And in reality you could have a Conjugate DUP program that is RPE based. They are all just tools within programming.

So what is RPE? It is a subjective loading parameter. Percentages and weight on the bar are objective loading parameters, meaning exact numbers, but RPE is a subjective way to rate the load on the bar. 3×3 at 80% and 3×3 @ 6 RPE are essentially stating the same thing, so let me explain further. (If you are unfamiliar with RPE training in general, make sure to read What is RPE training? before reading on)

To go deeper into this, let’s say you have a 3×3 at 80%. You are stating the objective load at 80%. Going further, if your 1RM is 400lbs., then you are performing a 3×3 at 320lbs. Both of these mean the same exact thing, and when written in an “Instagram post”, they are relaying the objective difficulty and/or load of the set(s) being performed. There is one big issue in my opinion with that first example though of stating 3×3 at 80%. That issue is that 80% for a set of 3 is not the same for everyone, so it really isn’t stating the difficulty of that loading parameter in relation to you. There was actually a study done recently where trained participants performed an AMRAP with 70% of their 1RM on squats. The average number of reps completed was 15, but there was a range of 8 reps all the way to 25! The main correlating factor? Femur length. Shorter femurs tended to get more reps, longer femurs less reps. So at any given percentages, each individual will have a deviation in how many reps they can perform.

So how does this relate to RPE? If we use the example of 3×3 at 80%, the majority of people can get about 7 to 8 reps with 80% of their 1RM. So this could very well be written as 3×3 @ 6 RPE. It means in sense the same thing. But the difference with those two programming methods is that if I give you 3×3 at 80%, that gives you a set number that I am using based on the average person and the average difficulty of 80%. But what if you don’t fit into that category? What if you could perform 10 to 12 reps with 80% of your 1RM, or maybe you are on the opposite end of the spectrum and you could only get 5 reps with 80%? Then that 80% means something different than what was intended.

That is where RPE is used as a subjective loading parameter. For the average person, 3×3 at a 6 RPE will be 3×3 at 80%. But for the examples of those outliers, or maybe on a day where you may feel weaker or stronger than normal, the 3×3 at a 6 RPE allows for variable loading parameters to adjust for individual differences and is why it has become a popular tool in modern day programming. Even if you haven’t used RPE intentionally as a tool in your programming, the fact is unintentionally you have. Let’s say you performed that 3×3 at 80% and you wrote in your “Instagram post” that you smoked it and it was super easy. With that thought process you are subjectively rating the difficulty of that set. The only difference between that and RPE, is that RPE is giving a set subjective parameter to describe the difficulty.

What it comes down to is whether you have 3×3 at 80%, 3×3 at 320lbs., or 3×3 @ 6 RPE, all 3 are in reality the same and all 3 are just different ways of writing the same loading parameter. 2 of those being objective and set, 1 being subjective and variable. There is a time and place for both. All of these principles are just tools for progression in strength and the application is based on individual preference and need.

Sumo or Conventional: Which Deadlift Is Right For Me?

A question I know a lot of people have is how do you decide if you should pull sumo or conventional? And the answer is…..there is no real good answer.