Trying to Make Sense of it All

Research

Being a student and constantly searching for information I knew that resources were endless but I had no idea the scale to which people have been posting fitness content. I have been having trouble finding what is accredited and what is BS. On top of that everyone is different and what works amazingly for one person may not have the same results for another.

I am a big believer in practicing what you preach and I have not had nearly enough time to practice all the information I have been finding. I plan to slowly try out different ideas and make my own personal assessments. That being said I have found some resources that I think are worth while to test out which is half the battle. 

This generation loves their quick information. Google and social media are at the tips of our fingers and all the information is right there. This being said it is important to choose what you digest and are always critically thinking. One form of social media that I have been hooked on lately is Tik Tok. They are great for wasting time but there are some amazing content creators that provide easy to digest information and are seeking to improve others. My page is filled with physiques, lifting, and coaching which are constantly trying to push the next best thing or the tried and true ways of training.

Here is a short list of content creators that I feel are exemplary

Squat University

Red Performance

JPG Coaching

Peaking

Looking more closely at powerlifting especially as I begin prep for a meet in April I have been very curious about how to effectively Peak. I want to get the absolute most out of each of my big 3 lifts on competition day and have had my coach do the programming the last couple times. I have not quite wrapped my head fully around what peaking entails. 

What I knew initially was that I had to prepare my nervous system for maximal load and begin to slowly ramp up the intensity. It is no longer a strength focus but to output as much force as quickly as possible. Most of the programming begins to drop reps down to below 4 reps and increase the load based on the percent of 1 rep max. The goal tends to be practice singles often and have the body adapt. This being said it is ideal to do this once per week for each lift and keep the supplementary work load at a moderate to low intensity. All of the focus and resources should be put on the singles and recovery.  

The one thing that I am unsure of no matter how much I look at resources is what is the optimal length of a preparation. Some prep for 12 weeks while others see a 6 week prep period. I have a feeling that it is sub optimal to prep for less that 6 weeks because the body needs time to adapt. 

The one common thing between almost every resource I have found is that there is a deload period 4-7 days before meet or singles. The week prior to there is a work up to a top single for each of the lifts on separate days going to nearly maximal effort. This seems to be to allow the body to have adequate time to recover and expose the body to the top end of stimulus that it will see during the singles.

I certainly have a lot more research to do.

In the mean time here is an example of a peaking program I was able to find

Cast Iron Strength 12 Week Peak Program

Personal Update

Throwing a small change up and decided to touch on my own personal training to give some context to my own training and personal passion.

I am currently in my first week of meet prep for a competition coming up in April. I now have singles programmed at a low RPE to get use to warming up to a single and begin working on all the meet commands. For context there are commands at powerlifting competitions to make lifts successful. There are 3 judges and everything is standardized to ensure that lifts are legitimate. I have been working with a physiotherapist on top of my powerlifting coach to work on stability as much if not more than strength for the last couple months to ensure that my body is in a good place to being increasing intensity.

Any time intensity is increased there is a heightened change for injury. This being said it is my passion and I want to perform the best I can. It is important to listen to your body and seek out additional support when needed.

I will continue with little updates as we approach the meet date!

Webpage Launch!

 I have officially launched the webpage! 

I have been afraid that my webpage would not be perfect. I have been sitting on what is posted for nearly 2 weeks with minor changes and more focus on other things like programming and learning some new skills related to coaching. It was not until relaxing and playing some video games with a couple friends that they brought up the point that nothing will ever be perfect. This insight made me think that if I post my webpage I can start working on getting traffic to it and learn. I can always edit the webpage and publish the edited site at any time. My fear of feedback and not having it done perfectly the first time was holding me back. Having a friend group that gives you perspective is very important. 

Dedicated Development

Videos

In the last post I was sharing that I began an exercise library. This library is compiled of exercises for workouts but will always be growing. Waiting until it is finished to post would not be possible since it is always in revision and editing. The videos I have been making for it have been a lot of learning. I got feedback from some friends and strangers on the information that I have been providing. The overall feedback has been good but a lot of them say at the end of the positives that it seems robotic; I would have to agree. I looked back and I am monotone and walking through the exercise very unenthusiastically. If I am not happy explaining the exercise then why would someone want to do it?

From this point I had to step back and think about what I am going to do. I need to be more alive, more vocal, more exciting! This can be quite challenging talking at a screen. It made me think how do youtubers do it? They talk for hours on end to their live streams and in their videos but they are just that screens and cameras. I had to throw caution to the wind and not care if I felt dumb having a conversation with my phone to create the videos. This made them in turn just a little bit better. I need to get feedback to see if there truly was any progress in the eyes of the viewers but to me its a step.

Webpage

Looking into the domain name and that kind of stuff has been hurting my brain a little. I need to solidify this business and get the site domain down to something easy to find. I am not sure what type of pricing this entails or what I need to do but that will be one of the next steps in this journey.

What does Next Week Hold?

This upcoming week will be a focus on learning how to set up a prep for a powerlifting competition. I currently have an idea because I have been trained through a prep and will once again be starting one next week for April. This being said I have not coached anyone through one and want to make sure I have all my bases covered. This upcoming week along with the domain and business questions I have, I want to start to dive into Competition Prep for powerlifting.

I want to learn the specifics behind how much one should train, what they should focus on, the RPE, the percent 1RM, how to prime the nervous system, what one week out from competition should look, and all the little nuances in between. I want to ensure that I can not only help someone achieve strength and power goals but to help them achieve optimal results for a competition if that is what they desire.