Spice things up in the Off Season!
In powerlifting, progress isn’t always about massive overhauls to your training. Sometimes, small, strategic adjustments can reignite your progression and keep you pushing forward. If you’ve been feeling stuck in your program, here are a few tweaks to consider that can help spark new progression.
1. Switch to Straight Sets for More Volume & Work Capacity
Many lifters structure their training around ascending sets or top set/back down work. While these methods can be effective, they sometimes limit your total workload. Moving to straight sets—where you perform all working sets at the same weight—can help increase your overall tonnage and improve work capacity.
For example, if you’re used to working up to a prescription of 1×6@7/2×6@-8%, you could implement a 3×6@7. This approach keeps your average intensity higher while accumulating more volume at a higher percentage your 1RM while also building work capacity.
2. Adjust Your Average Intensity on Secondary Days
A common mistake in programming is maintaining a static approach to intensity and rep ranges. If your secondary squat day always revolves around sets of 5-8, consider shifting to triples or fours to increase your average intensity. This will expose you to heavier loads more frequently without overly taxing recovery.
On the flip side, if both of your primary and secondary days are heavily focused on low reps (e.g., triples or doubles), adding in a day with slightly higher rep work (e.g., 6s or 7s) could allow you to find out if your recovery and preparedness would be better with having less heavy work throughout your training.
3. Rotate Your Accessory Movements with a Purpose
Instead of changing exercises randomly, assess which weaknesses need the most attention and cycle your accessory work accordingly. If your lockout is a struggle, pay particular attention to your tricep exercise selection. If your squat slows out of the hole,you may choose to target the quads or adductors in deep hip flexion to address this. Small tweaks like these can create new stimulus and drive continued progress as well as getting you bigger and stronger in all the necessary places.
Final Thoughts
Powerlifting progress isn’t always about drastic changes. Small but intentional adjustments—such as modifying your rep ranges, shifting from top sets to straight sets, intentional accessory selection or fine-tuning intensity—can make a big difference in your long-term development. Keep track of what works, stay consistent, and embrace the small changes to keep progressing.
