Structuring a Powerlifting Off-Season
So you just went through a grueling prep and competed in a meet, now what? Its time for an off-season. Yes, I said off-season. If you are a powerlifter, or any strength sport competitor for that matter, you should take time off away from your sport. Strength athletes need to take time off to prevent burnout, injury, and to prepare for their next prep cycle.
So, what goes into an off-season for a powerlifter? After competing in a meet there should be some sort of period where you are away from the gym entirely. This could just be a week or two but you shouldn’t step foot in a gym for at least a week. Don’t worry, you aren’t going to become a frail weakling during that time, you are going to heal and recover. Next, you should pursue some sort of other fitness for 4 weeks or longer. This could mean doing all the cool kettlebell stuff or bodyweight stuff you see on Instagram or going to a football field to sprint and jump. Go fulfill your fitness curiosity for a while. Once again, you aren’t going to lose massive amounts of strength during this time. You will build knew strength, mobility, and regain a love for fitness. After this period you should be chomping at the bit to get back to hardcore iron lifting. Now comes the GPP program period. GPP stands for general physical preparedness. This is the stuff that is going to allow you to not throw up when you have to do a set of 3 whole reps during your prep period. The higher your GPP is the more volume you can handle later on. More volume= More muscle. More Muscle=Bigger lifts. Bigger lifts= Winning meets. This period should last anywhere from 4-8 weeks. This period is used to gain muscle and work capacity while simultaneously preparing you for your powerlifting prep program later on.
So, what goes into a GPP powerlifting program? Hypertrophy, strongman, and conditioning should make up most of the program. Notice I didn’t say anything about doing SBD singles at an RPE of 6 multiple times a week? If you have hit a plateau in the big 3 then step away from the comp rack and the RPE chart and actually try to gain muscle. Remember, More muscle=Bigger Lifts. Anyways, lets break down the three main components of a GPP program.
Hypertrophy
“Gaining Muscle” for those of you who don’t know what hypertrophy means. Gaining muscle increases your strength potential. The more muscle you have, the more potential you have to generate force. Hypertrophy work should be used to increase muscle mass, mind-muscle connection, and to reinforce proper movement patters. Also, this period should be used to bring up lagging body parts. You know how your legs don’t fill out your singlet or how you just plain look like you don’t even lift? This is the time to fix that. The general guidelines for a GPP program are 4 days of lifting, two lower focused days and two upper focused days. This allows each muscle group to be stimulated twice a week without exceeding your max recoverable volume. Rep ranges are higher during this time to increase work capacity alongside building muscle. Rep ranges between 8-20 should be used. Multiple intensity techniques such as drop sets, isometrics, and the wonderfully horrible technique of myorep match sets can be used during this time. You should also use specialty bars such as safety squat bars and swiss bars as much as possible. For an upper focused day their should be 2-3 push movements and 2-3 pull movements along with some arm isolation at the end. The first upper day should be push focused and the second upper day should be pull focused. Lower body days are a little more complex since the differentiation of a hinge and a squat is quite hard and their is more strongman work on lower days. Speaking of strongman, that brings us to our next component.
Strongman Training
First, if you have not watched hours of World’s Strongest Man on Tv or YouTube, I advise you to go do that immediately. I promise, your development as a strength athlete and a human being won’t be complete until you do. Anyways, strongman training is a great way to increase work capacity, core strength, stamina, grip strength, and to simply learn how to manipulate objects. Strongman events that should be used in the off-season are farmer’s carry, sled work, yoke carries, and odd object carries.
Conditioning
This does not mean run on a treadmill. This is a strength and muscle building website, I would never recommend such a thing. The best conditioning for an off-season powerlifting program outside of strongman work is rucking. Put on a backpack and go hike some trails. This will increase your work capacity, ankle strength, and posture tremendously. Once or twice a week would suffice.
Technique Work
This is not mandatory for everyone in the off-season. Some people have amazingly efficient techniques and don’t need to take time to practice them in the off-season. However, some people would greatly benefit from technique work during this period to be better prepared to load it heavily during prep. When is comes to technique work, lots of sets of speed work seem to be the most beneficial. In the program below, speed deadlifts are used to develop technique, this practice can be applied to any of the big 3 if you need to work on technique.
At this point I presume you have simple scrolled past all the words above or are tired of me explaining things and just want to see a program already. Here is a sample 4 week GPP program.
Week One
Lower Day One
Hamstring Curl: 8,15,25 (drop weight each set)
SSB Squat: 3x10
Romanian Deadlifts: 3x15
Belt Squat: 2x20
Reverse Hyperextension: 2x20
Reverse sled drag: 200 total yards
Upper Day One
Chest-supported row: 4x12
Lat-pulldown: 4x12
DB row: 3x12 each side
DB floor press: 4x8
Dips: 3xMax (if you can do more than 15 with bodyweight add weight)
Band triceps extension: 3x20
Incline Curl: 3x20
Lower Day Two
Box jump: 3x3 (40in)
Speed deadlifts: 8x3 (55% of 1RM)
Hack Squats: 4x12
Back extensions: 2x15
Walking Lunges: 2x20
Farmer’s carry: 4x50yd carries
Upper Day Two
Swiss bar bench press: 4x8
DB incline bench: 8,12,15 (drop weight with each set)
Cable flies: 3x15
Chest-supported row: 3x15
DB shrugs: 8,15,25 (drop weight with each set)
DB reverse fly: 3x15 (chest supported)
Cable triceps extensions: 3x20
Conditioning Day One
Ruck 1-2 hours
Week Two
Lower Day One
Hamstring Curl: 8,15,25 (drop weight each set)
SSB Squat: 3x10
Romanian Deadlifts: 3x15
Belt Squat: 2x20
Reverse Hyperextension: 2x20
Reverse sled drag: 200 total yards
Upper Day One
Chest-supported row: 4x12
Lat-pulldown: 4x12
DB row: 3x12 each side
DB floor press: 4x8
Dips: 3xMax (if you can do more than 15 with bodyweight add weight)
Band triceps extension: 3x20
Incline Curl: 3x20
Lower Day Two
Box jump: 3x3 (40in)
Speed deadlifts: 10x3 (55% of 1RM)
Hack Squats: 4x12
Back extensions: 2x15
Walking Lunges: 2x20
Farmer’s carry: 4x50yd carries
Upper Day Two
Swiss Bar bench press: 4x8
DB incline bench: 8,12,15 (drop weight with each set)
Cable Flies: 3x15
Chest-supported row: 3x15
DB Shrugs: 8,15,25 (drop weight with each set)
DB reverse fly: 3x15 (chest supported)
Cable triceps extensions: 3x20
Conditioning Day One
Ruck 1-2 hours
Week Three
Lower Day One
Hamstring Curl: 8,15,25 (drop weight each set)
SSB Squat: 3x10
Romanian Deadlifts: 3x15
Belt Squat: 2x20
Reverse Hyperextension: 2x20
Sled Push: 200 total yards
Upper Day One
Chest-supported row: 4x12
Lat-pulldown: 4x12
DB row: 3x12 each side
DB floor press: 4x8
Dips: 3xMax (if you can do more than 15 with bodyweight add weight)
Band triceps extension: 3x20
Hammer curl: 3x20
Lower Day Two
Box jump: 3x3 (40in)
Speed deadlifts: 12x3 (55% of 1RM)
Hack Squats: 4x12
Back extensions: 2x15
Walking Lunges: 2x20
Yoke Zercher carry: 4x50yd carries
Upper Day Two
Swiss Bar bench press: 4x8
DB incline bench: 8,12,15 (drop weight with each set)
Cable Flies: 3x15
Chest-supported row: 3x15
DB Shrugs: 8,15,25 (drop weight with each set)
DB reverse fly: 3x15 (chest supported)
Cable triceps extensions: 3x20
Conditioning Day One
Ruck 1-2 hours
Week Four
Lower Day One
Hamstring Curl: 8,15,25 (drop weight each set)
SSB Squat: 3x10
Romanian Deadlifts: 3x15
Belt Squat: 2x20
Reverse Hyperextension: 2x20
Sled Push: 200 total yards
Upper Day One
Chest-supported row: 4x12
Lat-pulldown: 4x12
DB row: 3x12 each side
DB floor press: 4x8
Dips: 3xMax (if you can do more than 15 with bodyweight add weight)
Band triceps extension: 3x20
Hammer Curl: 3x20
Lower Day Two
Box jump: 3x3 (40in)
Speed deadlifts: 14x3 (55% of 1RM)
Hack Squats: 4x12
Back extensions: 2x15
Walking Lunges: 2x20
Yoke Zercher carry: 4x50yd carries
Upper Day Two
Swiss Bar bench press: 4x8
DB incline bench: 8,12,15 (drop weight with each set)
Cable Flies: 3x15
Chest-supported row: 3x15
DB Shrugs: 8,15,25 (drop weight with each set)
DB reverse fly: 3x15 (chest supported)
Cable triceps extensions: 3x20
Conditioning Day One
Ruck 1-2 hours