Although it is getting somewhere. Thanks to Jugglife, Dr. Eric and Dr. Jordan for putting this on the radar for me. I suspect that with so many people being coached by Mike and RTS, at such a high level, we will see more of this come out. Great video!
- || TABLE OF CONTENT || • ABOUT TRADITIONAL METHODS 0:00:58 - Periodization Problems 0:02:38 - Periodization Science 0:07:14 - Quote I of Jhon Kiely 0:08:02 - Roots of Periodization Models 0:10:53 - Optimal Periodization Methods Debate 0:12:17 - Siciece and Periodization Assumptions • EMERGING STRATEGIES METHODOLOGY 0:13:24 - What is Emerging Strategies? 0:14:39 - Quote II of Jhon Kiely 0:15:19 - Seed of Emerging Strategies 0:17:48 - Bottom Up System or Emerging Strategies 0:18:29 - Framework for Bottom Up System 0:20:27 - Top Down System Vs Bottom Up System 0:21:19 - Bottom Up System Pros and Cons 0:22:52 - Review so far (Concepts of ES) 0:25:24 - Is Emerging Strategies a Periodization ? • PRACTICAL EMERGING STRATEGIES 0:26:50 - Framework No.1: Simplify, Don't Change the Stimulus 0:28:14 - Framework No.2: Monitor Results 0:28:44 - Time To Peak (TTP) 0:30:50 - Type of Peaking Response (Type 1, 2 and 3) 0:32:19 - Type 3 Difficulties 0:33:38 - Framework No.3: When to End Development Cycles 0:34:27 - Framework No.4: After development cycle 0:34:37 - Maintenance Phase 0:34:45 - Pivot Block/Phase or Restoration 0:36:57 - Window Time for Pivot Phase 0:38:48 - Review so far (Practial of ES) 0:39:16 - Time To Peak as Exposure (Roughly) 0:41:10 - Time To Peak as Important Notes 0:43:02 - Peak for Competition 0:44:44 - Strengths and Weaknesses of the Method 0:47:53 - Case Study: Liz Craven 0:51:14 - Review so far (General) • Q&A, HIGH VALUE QUESTIONS 0:55:53 - Do you Write Introduction cycles? 0:56:33 - Is the Same RPE for every workout and for every set? 0:57:51 - Can you Talk about hypertrophy a little bit more? 0:59:12 - How do you know thay something is actually working? 1:00:33 - How do you plan different blocks? 1:02:13 - What steps you take to better understanding what works? ------------------ • MORE INFO TIME TO PEAK 1) How To Find Your Time To Peak: ua-cam.com/video/XYUpc1NvYGw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 2) How To Manage "Your Time To Peak": ua-cam.com/video/wo9zL1vb4n4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 3) How to Peak With Emerging Strategies: ua-cam.com/video/1i9ObWxRFK4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 4) How To Maintain Your Peak: ua-cam.com/video/PV9X37Q9p5Q/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 5) 4 Reasons You Missed Your Peak: ua-cam.com/video/aYrz-taJvRM/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems DEVELOPMENT CLOCKS 1) How To Design Your First Developmental Block: ua-cam.com/video/2eXnxrWMSUo/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 2) How To Modify Your Developmental Blocks: ua-cam.com/video/vKdXY_PovLs/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems PIVOT BLOCKS 1) Unpacking Pivot Blocks Roundtable: ua-cam.com/video/XLP6JOkvg_Y/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 2) 5 Goals of a Pivot Block: ua-cam.com/video/uSJvQVhi_ME/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 3) Pivot blocks as a form of deloading: ua-cam.com/video/JH_D0uZKZMw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=JoshuaGibson 4) Should You Pivot When Strength Decreases?: ua-cam.com/video/J14b_9u3WOk/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 5) Pivot Vs Deload Weeks: ua-cam.com/video/nsnrvf1Bm_s/v-deo.html&ab_channel=BrazosValleyBarbell RPE 1) What Is RPE ?: ua-cam.com/video/YCz9YaM8bho/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 2) 3 Ways To Fine Tune Your RPE: ua-cam.com/video/JbRX-djdpTk/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 3) Get Better at Rating RPE: ua-cam.com/video/0JmrJJRjuC4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 4) Weekly Progression with RPE: ua-cam.com/video/Gn0ZmXB2mYQ/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems OTHER CONCEPS TO EXPLORE 1) Focus Blocks vs Exploration Blocks: ua-cam.com/video/evEIM-_v-LA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems 2) Selecting Starting Variables: ua-cam.com/video/tNlpfmvee4M/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
I've haven't heard anyone else discuss the combination of: control theory, Soviet politics extrapolated to programming, top down modelling. I appreciate your rational approach, and look forward to finding more similarities. Strong work; thank you for sharing
I think that part involves a weeee bit of over-extrapolation. My early sport coaches (in fencing) and most recent (in kettlebell sport) were FAR more focused on monitoring and response than the typical American sports system coach. I actually think "throw hell at them and see who survives" is way more of an american features. Also, underplayed one very important part of the emergence of periodization in soviet sports- Winter is Real Shit. There may be periods where you simply can't train outdoors for track, or where atheltes don't want to be inside during the summer etc etc.
@@selfcritical That's fair. In my defense, I've backed off of this in more recent presentations of this material. It's not necessary to make the point and, as you said, it's at best generalizing. I have a good friend of mine who grew up in Romania during the Soviet era. He was a near-olympic caliber fencer and now he's in the US coaching as well. His experience in the Soviet sport system is similar to what I described and he's done a lot of introspection about whether or not he wants to apply this type of approach to American kids. But, as you allude to in your comment, he finds that when consulted, many (most?) parents are happy to have their kids in a sink-or-swim style program. I just can't wrap my head around that. Seems crazy to me.
Definitely met coaches who were turned on by periodisation instead of tuned in. Anyway a very interesting video. Found it by watching a powerlifting to win video review.
Thanks for this, Mike. Great info. I will echo another question I saw in the comments that was unanswered. 1) How do you pick the initial training variables (excluding exercise selection) - namely intensity and volume - for the microcycle? I have done some version of RTS based programs, but it seems that those week-long microcycles build upon each other, especially looking at the generalized intermediate for a raw lifter. You organized (at one point) weeks into low, medium, high fatigue, combining these for varying degrees of recovery that at the end of the macrocycle would lead to some kind of peak performance. This is data I have, but I'm not sure how to translate this into finding one week that is repeatable. 2) How do you handle injury, illness and other types of uncontrollable performance issues in this style? Do you restart the Peaking Time "clock" or continue where you left off? 3) You've been using the "starting off with a single to establish a workout baseline" approach for yourself and it looks like a number of other lifters. Would you eliminate this for a more medium intensity driven lifter and if not, would you still use the data of the single to look for peak condition or would you focus more on the voluminous work? Thank you in advance. Hope the move is going well.
Woolite Mammoth regarding question 1, I was thinking the same thing. Did you ever get an answer on how to pick initial variables? I am just coming to the end of the generalised intermediate program and I am looking to design my first development block afterwards.
34:00 confusing. Mike says you can go 5-6 weeks for the peak. But he also pointed out that that athlete didn't peak until 10ish weeks and they would've been wrong to quit after 6 weeks...
TTP will vary from lifter to lifter. We have seen as short as 2 weeks and as long as 12 weeks. MOST people land in the 5-6 range. I would also say that we see more who are less than that than more.
Question. I understand the importance and use of RPE; no need to change it every weeks to alter the program because RPE by itself will regulate the external stress throughout the weeks by ajusting the weight on the bar according to your "feeling". But what about volume? What I mean by that is the weight on the bar will change according to RPE, but not the volume. So, if you have an athlete that responds well to high volume (found through many developmental blocks), you start him right away from week 1 on a high volume microcycle? Maybe its just me, but there is a case to be made about progessively increasing the volume throughout the weeks while keeping the other variables the same
I got a couple questions. How do you determine the success of a development block? End point relative to bests, or percentage increase over starting point? Did you see those massive increases in first development cycle in people not doing singles @8? What is an acceptable loss in e1RM after a pivot block? Is this criteria always based on the first week back or is it acceptable to have a considerable drop in the first week and regaining that in the second or third? What is an average amount a lifters e1RM will go up over the course of a development block?
That's a lot of questions... I'll see what I can do here. 1) There's not one simple metric that I have found yet. So far I've looked at ending e1RM, gain, and gain rate. All have their merits. It will probably take some kind of combined metric to distill into a single number, and that's problematic. For now, you look at those numbers and use it to formulate an idea of the best blocks. 2) Yes. 3) I usually look for about 5% loss during a pivot, depending on how well conditioned the athlete was prior to the pivot. How they gain it back depends on the response type of the athlete. 4) I don't know. It does vary widely. I've had blocks where e1RMs go down (failed dev cycles). Other times they come in slightly detrained and have spectacular dev cycles from a "gain" perspective. It varies from person to person too.
Let me rephrase the last question, What is an average amount a lifters e1rm will go up in a "successful" dev block assuming this is kind of a standard block for them? Thanks for the quick reply Mike, I really appreciate it.
Success varies quite widely. I can tell you that my gain on my bench over the last year has been around 20lbs in each block. But that's not 20lbs PR. That's gain over where I started. It varies a lot though.
Sir, what if you're running a developmental block and one lift is determined "ready to peak" before another, specifically the sq vs dl and it's time for a pivot block before the the other lift stalls? How do you approach that? It wouldn't seem that all the lifts would stall around the same time frame. Thank you for your time, still rewatching your videos and learning about emerging strategies!
Good question. I can only say that in practice this rarely happens. If it does happen, more often than not, I've messed up some key variable like volume or programmed something that flat doesn't work for the athlete. Most times, all the lifts peak within about a week of each other.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 Appreciate the reply. The reason I ask is because as an intermediate entering RPE based training for the first time I could imagine the data gathered from the first developmental block wouldn't be as accurate as someone whose been utilizing RPE for a while. For this scenario would it be a good idea to elongate/prolong some developmental blocks to gather a decent "picture", see where the lifts TTP lay, and have some sort of custom pivot block to get the lifts TTP into order? Thank you for your time sir.
Great video and a really great exchange of ideas and information here. Thank you Mike. And all the participants in this discussion. I do have a question that doesn't appear to have been addressed, and that is -- what to do with a lifter who continues to make gains during his development block on the squat and deadlift, but stalls out on the bench press. (3 microcycles no regression, but no gains)? Stay the course, or time for a pivot?
Hey Mike, this is golden. Are you programming the typical higher volume, lower intensity to people further away from competition, and increase intensity and lower volume closer to comp? Or do you just keep it the same year round (some changes i understand will be made, but in general)
How do you know how to optimally lay out your first development block in terms of volume/fatigue? I haven't run the rts generalized intermediate program so I have never used fatigue management before. Would it make sense to just pick out a week from that program and give it a shot?
Question on a detail at 36:48 (restoration cycles) what is meant by the "(repeat)" notation? Does this mean you repeat that same rep scheme twice in the same workout? Or does this mean you would repeat this same rep scheme in the following week? For example, the line: "High Bar Squat w/ belt x10 @6 x10 @7 x10@8 plus 1 down set (repeat)" It looks like you are suggesting to do this within one workout...(but correct me if I'm wrong) x10 @6, x10 @7, x10 @8, down set x10 @ 6 (probably with a lighter weight than last time if you want to hit rpe 6 again) x10 @ 7 x10 @ 8 down set (resulting in 8 total sets) Thanks!
"Repeat" means to repeat the same load for the set. So same load as the x10 @8. If it was "load drop", then it would be less weight. If it was "rep drop" it would be fewer reps. There's a specific protocol to go with it that we instruct our athletes on.
Gotcha, so we would not repeat the whole rep scheme. It just refers to the last set. So the "down set" (sorry for my "drop set" typo - I've edited this now) would be a repeat of the same weight/reps you used for x10 @ 8, and would probably be just slightly harder than @ 8. PS- very thought provoking video, thank you so much!
So if I’m understanding this correctly, the concept is playing around with different frequencies, intensities, rep ranges and lengths of time spent, isolating variables and trying to dial in the most effective plan for the athlete.
Great video Mike, your philosophy on periodisation is fascinating to listen to. Just one question! How are you estimating 1RM from week to week? Velocity measurements? Cheers
Shouldn't you change anything at all? What is if the starting volume is too low or too high? The same with intensity, and is this not highly specific to the exact stimulus presented?
If starting volume is wrong... it depends on how much. The volume being wrong is a conclusion, not an indicator. Usually the indicator would be something like athlete is accumulating fatigue too rapidly, unable to recover. You may conclude that volume is too high. Or you may conclude that the exercises you've selected place too much strain on vulnerable joints, etc. The details will matter for your ultimate decision. Keep in mind that the first block isn't the goal (though IME it's often effective). The goal is to have a structured way to converge toward the best possible training style for each individual. That takes time and you'll necessarily get some stuff wrong, but over time you'll get more and more right.
I may be wrong, but I think you're also concerned that the ideal volume will depend on the intensity of training and you're right. While volume varies, stress stays pretty much the same. Look into Exertion Load by Robert Frederick for more insight on this.
Great video. I don't get one thing. How do you determine where the peak is? Since performance keeps going down and then back up again. You can always question after a drop in performance that maybe there's a higher peak around the corner. I would probably decide after first drop that I went past my peak already, time to deload.
Like many things, you'll never be 100% certain. You could always run another week and who knows what might happen. But for me if I'm training someone, things are going well, then we have two consecutive microcycles of declined performance, then that's good enough for me. One might be a bad workout. Two is enough for me to consider it a trend.
Awesome presentation. Maybe the best programming video ever! I have a question. Let's say a lifter peaks his squat and deadlift after 4 weeks but his bench in 5 weeks. How can you manage to peak him in both 3 lifts on comp day? Maybe start the dev cycle for bench a week earlier? Or just let him be peaked in 2 of the 3 lifts and try to maintain his bench peak, and how would you do this?
I would plan for the week that has a peak in the total. It would either be wk 4 or wk 5 depending on how things shake out. If it's 4, easy peasy just go as normal. If it's wk 5, then maintain the peak on the lifts that peak earlier.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 thanks for the answer, appreciate it! The only thing I don't get is how you maintain the peak. For example if a lift peaks on the 4th exposure but on 5th it usually drops, how can you maintain the peak from 4th to 5th? Maybe with a taper if a lifter responds well on it?
Taper is worth a try. Also, changing parts of the program (but not the entire program). So if you need to maintain for 1 week, maybe change the intensity on the comp lift, but leave everything else the same. Just one example.
Hi Mike. Assuming volume is a key variable for long term progress (perhaps you disagree), how would you fit volume progression here if the same microcycle is repeated again and again? Excellent talk! Kind regards.
The volume will increase as the loading increases. Most coaching think this is sufficient in the short term (and probably the mid term too). Then you could increase the programmed volume as needed from block to block. But then again, with this approach it doesn't really matter what drives your long term progress -- as long as it's working, you keep doing it. If it stops working, you move on to the next thing, which could certainly be more volume.
Hi, Very nice video, very informative You said that you try some higher and lower intensity blocks: do you keep the volume (reps*sets) and/or tonnage (reps*sets*load) the same? Because i was thinking that if you do the same number of sets but increase intensity, reps will go down so volume and tonnage probably too and if the lifter doesn't make any progress you can't know if it's just a lack of volume. But If you try to keep volume the same the number of set will have to increase a lot and it could be too much? Did I understand something wrong or is it a valid question? Thanks in advance.
Tonnage is not held constant. Holding tonnage constant at higher intensities is going to be far too stressful. The total stress of the training (measured by Stress Index or Exertion Load) should be relatively stable. But there's a deeper problem. You aren't trying to change only one variable at a time. There are some epistemological reasons why that we go into in the RTS Podcast on Transference vs Specificity with Jacob Tsypkin.
Under this framework, if a trainee responds well to say, undulation, or to progressively overloading volume over time, how would you detect that? (or what clues would drive you to try those approaches in a development block?)
Daily undulation is fairly easy to detect. That will be in the typical programming structure for most coaches. You can get weekly undulation with 1/2 microcycles frequency. I don't find myself using it a ton though.
Volume does get overloaded with time. Just not in the sense of adding sets every microcycle. I can't say nobody responds to that but if I think about adaptation and the additional workload that increasing load drives... I just can't see adding sets every week being necessary.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 I'm definitely over-projecting from my past training history, as my endurance training background and kettlebell sport competition has given me a lot of ability to add volume when i dedicate myself to it, and my engagement with powerlifting has always been shorter periods of focus
We are all coming from somewhere. :) It's really easy to lose sight of the goal or make assumptions about it. Lots of powerlifters travel the road if focusing on increasing volume, but the goal of powerlifting is increasing load. Are they connected? To some extent, yeah, but maximizing one doesn't maximize the other.
With the updated emerging strategies method, is the fatigue percent still waved up and down? If so does it wave each week (microcycle) or over the mesocycle? Or is it now held constant?
I think it depends on the person. I usually do sets across at a prescribed % each week. When your 1@8 drops significantly, you've hit your peak. The Fatigue Percent method just never vibed with me. May be different for you though.
"Squat w/belt x1 @8 drop to 70%x5x4 (-23%)" means that you do 70% of that x1 @8, right? What about "(-23%)" at the end? What does that mean? Thank You for the grreat presentation.
No. If you look at an rpe chart, x1 @8 has an intensity of about 92% of your estimated one rep max that day. So load drop of 23% = 92% x (100% of this x1@8weight minus 23%) =92%x77%= ~70%. So the sets are 70% of your e1RM ;) Generally all training percentages base on your e1RM. Just the load drop percentages refer directly to your heaviest work set that day.
Could these principles apply for bodybuilding/hypertrophy ? I mean for hypertrophy what would you consider peak , BW/muscle mass increase or Increase in strength at the specific exercises??
The observations underpinning this seem to me to be linked to adaptation processes. So they should work for bodybuilding too. The extent to which they do isn't something I've tested a lot yet though. There are a lot of questions, not least of which is how would you gauge the peak (as you mentioned).
This channel is awesome you guys should check out Bryce lewises TSA channel they just dicussed some issues about periodization and athlete coaching relationship
You know, the math models of the geocentric view (and even flat earthism) are more complicated than the models we now think are adequate representation of reality...
Can anyone point me to the material he mentions here: ua-cam.com/video/WdGP120e4B0/v-deo.html Cant understand the name (or how to spell it) - i am a thrower and might be interested in the material Thx
what about percentage based programing with ample accessories that works for me and everyone in my gym obviously if you feel an injury coming work around it this vid is a lot of science saying that well if you're a little tired don't go so hard well if you're not rested day of comp you have to nut up sooooo I guess that should be your training
Your pivot block is not really a light day or light week. Yes the intensity is going down but your volume load is going way up due to the fact you are knocking out multiple sets of 10. we know that volume plays a large role in metabolic fatigue and the fact your pivot block is probably going to be higher volume than anything you just did in the developmental block makes me wonder how much fatigue is actually going to dissipate? This is where many people go wrong, they look at just the intensity and not the volume. Mike said this in the video "you can see the intensity is going way down" my question to that is what about the volume going way up? Not only that but if you run this pivot block for 2-3 weeks, that's a straight up Hypertrophy/Strength Endurance Phase.
Volume and intensity interact to form the stress cost of a session. Intensity goes way down. Reps per set go up, but the number of sets is also down. Net effect is stress is about half of what it is during a development block.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 In your dev block you are doing squats for 4 x 4 @ 80%. In your "restoration cycle" you are doing 4 sets of 10 reps. How would you not deem this more stressful? The volume load is going to sky rocket, you are doing much more work in this case. Even if you were doing 5 x 5 in your Dev cycle, which would be very stressful, the multiple sets of 10 you are performing in your pivot block still would not be considered an offload. So i'm not sure by going off your examples in the video how the net stress is going down when you are performing more work. Not to mention if you haven't been performing sets of 10 in your dev block and now you are performing sets of 10 in your pivot block, muscle soreness is probably going to become an issue. Which I don't think you want in a restoration cycle.
@@joeyhitchcock5550 I wouldn't think of it as a "restoration" cycle, but I get what you mean. The thing is the dev cycle has several sessions all targeting squats and deadlifts (lower body knee/hip extension musculature) with multiple sets. The pivot block has a couple slots. You're right that 4x10 is not a joke workout, but it's only one slot. A deadlift slot makes two. Then there's some other stuff that's fairly "fluff". The training that is done is real training, but it's considerably less stress than the development block when you look at the whole week. I've done the training and the math -- it's without a doubt less work and easier to recover from as a whole. I assure you I mean this amicably -- I think you put too much emphasis on the tonnage being done. Tonnage =/= training stress. I use a stress index calculation. You could also use Exertion Load or even simply counting number of hard sets (though this can be a bit low-resolution). You're right that the 10's will probably generate some soreness, but that's not really a problem. A bit of novel movement soreness isn't all that disruptive. Finally, this is all a starting point. If I was coaching you and you were concerned a pivot that looked like this was too much work, I'd reduce it. Then we'd walk it in based on athlete response. If you were too beat up, we'd reduce it. If strength wasn't sufficiently maintained, we'd increase it or modify the work in some way. Hope that helps!
I can't believe this information is on UA-cam for free. There is so much here its unreal.
and less than 1M views... goes to show how many want to learn and how many want a quick fix from bodybuilding.com
This is LITERALLY the best video on programming i've ever seen ... and hardly anybody will watch it
Thanks!
Although it is getting somewhere. Thanks to Jugglife, Dr. Eric and Dr. Jordan for putting this on the radar for me. I suspect that with so many people being coached by Mike and RTS, at such a high level, we will see more of this come out.
Great video!
is the 70%x5x4-------- 5 sets of 4 reps OR 4 sets of 5 reps
@@cv0669 4 sets of 5 reps
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 Why 70%x5x4 ? Why not something a little bit more stressful?
- || TABLE OF CONTENT ||
• ABOUT TRADITIONAL METHODS
0:00:58 - Periodization Problems
0:02:38 - Periodization Science
0:07:14 - Quote I of Jhon Kiely
0:08:02 - Roots of Periodization Models
0:10:53 - Optimal Periodization Methods Debate
0:12:17 - Siciece and Periodization Assumptions
• EMERGING STRATEGIES METHODOLOGY
0:13:24 - What is Emerging Strategies?
0:14:39 - Quote II of Jhon Kiely
0:15:19 - Seed of Emerging Strategies
0:17:48 - Bottom Up System or Emerging Strategies
0:18:29 - Framework for Bottom Up System
0:20:27 - Top Down System Vs Bottom Up System
0:21:19 - Bottom Up System Pros and Cons
0:22:52 - Review so far (Concepts of ES)
0:25:24 - Is Emerging Strategies a Periodization ?
• PRACTICAL EMERGING STRATEGIES
0:26:50 - Framework No.1: Simplify, Don't Change the Stimulus
0:28:14 - Framework No.2: Monitor Results
0:28:44 - Time To Peak (TTP)
0:30:50 - Type of Peaking Response (Type 1, 2 and 3)
0:32:19 - Type 3 Difficulties
0:33:38 - Framework No.3: When to End Development Cycles
0:34:27 - Framework No.4: After development cycle
0:34:37 - Maintenance Phase
0:34:45 - Pivot Block/Phase or Restoration
0:36:57 - Window Time for Pivot Phase
0:38:48 - Review so far (Practial of ES)
0:39:16 - Time To Peak as Exposure (Roughly)
0:41:10 - Time To Peak as Important Notes
0:43:02 - Peak for Competition
0:44:44 - Strengths and Weaknesses of the Method
0:47:53 - Case Study: Liz Craven
0:51:14 - Review so far (General)
• Q&A, HIGH VALUE QUESTIONS
0:55:53 - Do you Write Introduction cycles?
0:56:33 - Is the Same RPE for every workout and for every set?
0:57:51 - Can you Talk about hypertrophy a little bit more?
0:59:12 - How do you know thay something is actually working?
1:00:33 - How do you plan different blocks?
1:02:13 - What steps you take to better understanding what works?
------------------
• MORE INFO
TIME TO PEAK
1) How To Find Your Time To Peak: ua-cam.com/video/XYUpc1NvYGw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
2) How To Manage "Your Time To Peak": ua-cam.com/video/wo9zL1vb4n4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
3) How to Peak With Emerging Strategies: ua-cam.com/video/1i9ObWxRFK4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
4) How To Maintain Your Peak: ua-cam.com/video/PV9X37Q9p5Q/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
5) 4 Reasons You Missed Your Peak: ua-cam.com/video/aYrz-taJvRM/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
DEVELOPMENT CLOCKS
1) How To Design Your First Developmental Block: ua-cam.com/video/2eXnxrWMSUo/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
2) How To Modify Your Developmental Blocks: ua-cam.com/video/vKdXY_PovLs/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
PIVOT BLOCKS
1) Unpacking Pivot Blocks Roundtable: ua-cam.com/video/XLP6JOkvg_Y/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
2) 5 Goals of a Pivot Block: ua-cam.com/video/uSJvQVhi_ME/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
3) Pivot blocks as a form of deloading: ua-cam.com/video/JH_D0uZKZMw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=JoshuaGibson
4) Should You Pivot When Strength Decreases?: ua-cam.com/video/J14b_9u3WOk/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
5) Pivot Vs Deload Weeks: ua-cam.com/video/nsnrvf1Bm_s/v-deo.html&ab_channel=BrazosValleyBarbell
RPE
1) What Is RPE ?: ua-cam.com/video/YCz9YaM8bho/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
2) 3 Ways To Fine Tune Your RPE: ua-cam.com/video/JbRX-djdpTk/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
3) Get Better at Rating RPE: ua-cam.com/video/0JmrJJRjuC4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
4) Weekly Progression with RPE: ua-cam.com/video/Gn0ZmXB2mYQ/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
OTHER CONCEPS TO EXPLORE
1) Focus Blocks vs Exploration Blocks: ua-cam.com/video/evEIM-_v-LA/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
2) Selecting Starting Variables: ua-cam.com/video/tNlpfmvee4M/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ReactiveTrainingSystems
I've haven't heard anyone else discuss the combination of: control theory, Soviet politics extrapolated to programming, top down modelling. I appreciate your rational approach, and look forward to finding more similarities. Strong work; thank you for sharing
I think that part involves a weeee bit of over-extrapolation. My early sport coaches (in fencing) and most recent (in kettlebell sport) were FAR more focused on monitoring and response than the typical American sports system coach. I actually think "throw hell at them and see who survives" is way more of an american features. Also, underplayed one very important part of the emergence of periodization in soviet sports- Winter is Real Shit. There may be periods where you simply can't train outdoors for track, or where atheltes don't want to be inside during the summer etc etc.
@@selfcritical That's fair. In my defense, I've backed off of this in more recent presentations of this material. It's not necessary to make the point and, as you said, it's at best generalizing.
I have a good friend of mine who grew up in Romania during the Soviet era. He was a near-olympic caliber fencer and now he's in the US coaching as well. His experience in the Soviet sport system is similar to what I described and he's done a lot of introspection about whether or not he wants to apply this type of approach to American kids. But, as you allude to in your comment, he finds that when consulted, many (most?) parents are happy to have their kids in a sink-or-swim style program. I just can't wrap my head around that. Seems crazy to me.
Definitely met coaches who were turned on by periodisation instead of tuned in. Anyway a very interesting video. Found it by watching a powerlifting to win video review.
This is a great perspective to have. You are really on to something here. It's just a revolutionary as RPE. Great autoregulation technique.
Wow, the best presentation on programming I've seen. Every powerlifter/coach/strength athlete should watch this!
"you can never be totally certain, but the more data you have the more certain you can be" (paraphrasing)
Ahhhh, science!
Thanks Mike :)
All these comments are those of praise, so I'm looking forward to listening to this one.
This is amazing content! Mike T, you're a living legend! I hope that someday I can get some coaching from you. This is THE video on programming.
Hey Mike,
How would you program strength training for a bjj athlete ??
Epic, thank you.
Thanks for this, Mike. Great info. I will echo another question I saw in the comments that was unanswered.
1) How do you pick the initial training variables (excluding exercise selection) - namely intensity and volume - for the microcycle? I have done some version of RTS based programs, but it seems that those week-long microcycles build upon each other, especially looking at the generalized intermediate for a raw lifter. You organized (at one point) weeks into low, medium, high fatigue, combining these for varying degrees of recovery that at the end of the macrocycle would lead to some kind of peak performance. This is data I have, but I'm not sure how to translate this into finding one week that is repeatable.
2) How do you handle injury, illness and other types of uncontrollable performance issues in this style? Do you restart the Peaking Time "clock" or continue where you left off?
3) You've been using the "starting off with a single to establish a workout baseline" approach for yourself and it looks like a number of other lifters. Would you eliminate this for a more medium intensity driven lifter and if not, would you still use the data of the single to look for peak condition or would you focus more on the voluminous work?
Thank you in advance. Hope the move is going well.
Woolite Mammoth regarding question 1, I was thinking the same thing. Did you ever get an answer on how to pick initial variables? I am just coming to the end of the generalised intermediate program and I am looking to design my first development block afterwards.
Mike is the brightest mind in powerlifting, hands down.
34:00 confusing. Mike says you can go 5-6 weeks for the peak. But he also pointed out that that athlete didn't peak until 10ish weeks and they would've been wrong to quit after 6 weeks...
TTP will vary from lifter to lifter. We have seen as short as 2 weeks and as long as 12 weeks. MOST people land in the 5-6 range. I would also say that we see more who are less than that than more.
Thank you@@ReactiveTrainingSystems
Question.
I understand the importance and use of RPE; no need to change it every weeks to alter the program because RPE by itself will regulate the external stress throughout the weeks by ajusting the weight on the bar according to your "feeling".
But what about volume? What I mean by that is the weight on the bar will change according to RPE, but not the volume.
So, if you have an athlete that responds well to high volume (found through many developmental blocks), you start him right away from week 1 on a high volume microcycle?
Maybe its just me, but there is a case to be made about progessively increasing the volume throughout the weeks while keeping the other variables the same
I got a couple questions.
How do you determine the success of a development block? End point relative to bests, or percentage increase over starting point?
Did you see those massive increases in first development cycle in people not doing singles @8?
What is an acceptable loss in e1RM after a pivot block? Is this criteria always based on the first week back or is it acceptable to have a considerable drop in the first week and regaining that in the second or third?
What is an average amount a lifters e1RM will go up over the course of a development block?
That's a lot of questions... I'll see what I can do here. 1) There's not one simple metric that I have found yet. So far I've looked at ending e1RM, gain, and gain rate. All have their merits. It will probably take some kind of combined metric to distill into a single number, and that's problematic. For now, you look at those numbers and use it to formulate an idea of the best blocks. 2) Yes. 3) I usually look for about 5% loss during a pivot, depending on how well conditioned the athlete was prior to the pivot. How they gain it back depends on the response type of the athlete. 4) I don't know. It does vary widely. I've had blocks where e1RMs go down (failed dev cycles). Other times they come in slightly detrained and have spectacular dev cycles from a "gain" perspective. It varies from person to person too.
Let me rephrase the last question, What is an average amount a lifters e1rm will go up in a "successful" dev block assuming this is kind of a standard block for them? Thanks for the quick reply Mike, I really appreciate it.
Success varies quite widely. I can tell you that my gain on my bench over the last year has been around 20lbs in each block. But that's not 20lbs PR. That's gain over where I started. It varies a lot though.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge Mike!!
Sir, what if you're running a developmental block and one lift is determined "ready to peak" before another, specifically the sq vs dl and it's time for a pivot block before the the other lift stalls? How do you approach that? It wouldn't seem that all the lifts would stall around the same time frame. Thank you for your time, still rewatching your videos and learning about emerging strategies!
Good question. I can only say that in practice this rarely happens. If it does happen, more often than not, I've messed up some key variable like volume or programmed something that flat doesn't work for the athlete. Most times, all the lifts peak within about a week of each other.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 Appreciate the reply. The reason I ask is because as an intermediate entering RPE based training for the first time I could imagine the data gathered from the first developmental block wouldn't be as accurate as someone whose been utilizing RPE for a while. For this scenario would it be a good idea to elongate/prolong some developmental blocks to gather a decent "picture", see where the lifts TTP lay, and have some sort of custom pivot block to get the lifts TTP into order? Thank you for your time sir.
Amazing content! Thank you so much
Keeping the log record is a real key!
Great video and a really great exchange of ideas and information here. Thank you Mike. And all the participants in this discussion. I do have a question that doesn't appear to have been addressed, and that is -- what to do with a lifter who continues to make gains during his development block on the squat and deadlift, but stalls out on the bench press. (3 microcycles no regression, but no gains)? Stay the course, or time for a pivot?
Hey Mike, this is golden.
Are you programming the typical higher volume, lower intensity to people further away from competition, and increase intensity and lower volume closer to comp? Or do you just keep it the same year round (some changes i understand will be made, but in general)
How do you know how to optimally lay out your first development block in terms of volume/fatigue? I haven't run the rts generalized intermediate program so I have never used fatigue management before. Would it make sense to just pick out a week from that program and give it a shot?
Question on a detail at 36:48 (restoration cycles)
what is meant by the "(repeat)" notation?
Does this mean you repeat that same rep scheme twice in the same workout?
Or does this mean you would repeat this same rep scheme in the following week?
For example, the line:
"High Bar Squat w/ belt x10 @6 x10 @7 x10@8 plus 1 down set (repeat)"
It looks like you are suggesting to do this within one workout...(but correct me if I'm wrong)
x10 @6,
x10 @7,
x10 @8,
down set
x10 @ 6 (probably with a lighter weight than last time if you want to hit rpe 6 again)
x10 @ 7
x10 @ 8
down set
(resulting in 8 total sets)
Thanks!
"Repeat" means to repeat the same load for the set. So same load as the x10 @8. If it was "load drop", then it would be less weight. If it was "rep drop" it would be fewer reps. There's a specific protocol to go with it that we instruct our athletes on.
Gotcha, so we would not repeat the whole rep scheme. It just refers to the last set. So the "down set" (sorry for my "drop set" typo - I've edited this now) would be a repeat of the same weight/reps you used for x10 @ 8, and would probably be just slightly harder than @ 8.
PS- very thought provoking video, thank you so much!
So if I’m understanding this correctly, the concept is playing around with different frequencies, intensities, rep ranges and lengths of time spent, isolating variables and trying to dial in the most effective plan for the athlete.
outstanding, Mike you really are on some next level shit
Great video Mike, your philosophy on periodisation is fascinating to listen to.
Just one question!
How are you estimating 1RM from week to week? Velocity measurements?
Cheers
Excellent
Shouldn't you change anything at all? What is if the starting volume is too low or too high? The same with intensity, and is this not highly specific to the exact stimulus presented?
If starting volume is wrong... it depends on how much. The volume being wrong is a conclusion, not an indicator. Usually the indicator would be something like athlete is accumulating fatigue too rapidly, unable to recover. You may conclude that volume is too high. Or you may conclude that the exercises you've selected place too much strain on vulnerable joints, etc. The details will matter for your ultimate decision. Keep in mind that the first block isn't the goal (though IME it's often effective). The goal is to have a structured way to converge toward the best possible training style for each individual. That takes time and you'll necessarily get some stuff wrong, but over time you'll get more and more right.
I may be wrong, but I think you're also concerned that the ideal volume will depend on the intensity of training and you're right. While volume varies, stress stays pretty much the same. Look into Exertion Load by Robert Frederick for more insight on this.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 Thank you sooo much!
Great video. I don't get one thing. How do you determine where the peak is? Since performance keeps going down and then back up again. You can always question after a drop in performance that maybe there's a higher peak around the corner. I would probably decide after first drop that I went past my peak already, time to deload.
Like many things, you'll never be 100% certain. You could always run another week and who knows what might happen. But for me if I'm training someone, things are going well, then we have two consecutive microcycles of declined performance, then that's good enough for me. One might be a bad workout. Two is enough for me to consider it a trend.
Sounds reasonable to me. Thanx for the answer.
Awesome presentation. Maybe the best programming video ever! I have a question. Let's say a lifter peaks his squat and deadlift after 4 weeks but his bench in 5 weeks. How can you manage to peak him in both 3 lifts on comp day? Maybe start the dev cycle for bench a week earlier? Or just let him be peaked in 2 of the 3 lifts and try to maintain his bench peak, and how would you do this?
I would plan for the week that has a peak in the total. It would either be wk 4 or wk 5 depending on how things shake out. If it's 4, easy peasy just go as normal. If it's wk 5, then maintain the peak on the lifts that peak earlier.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 thanks for the answer, appreciate it! The only thing I don't get is how you maintain the peak. For example if a lift peaks on the 4th exposure but on 5th it usually drops, how can you maintain the peak from 4th to 5th? Maybe with a taper if a lifter responds well on it?
Taper is worth a try. Also, changing parts of the program (but not the entire program). So if you need to maintain for 1 week, maybe change the intensity on the comp lift, but leave everything else the same. Just one example.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 thanks again!
Hi Mike. Assuming volume is a key variable for long term progress (perhaps you disagree), how would you fit volume progression here if the same microcycle is repeated again and again? Excellent talk! Kind regards.
The volume will increase as the loading increases. Most coaching think this is sufficient in the short term (and probably the mid term too). Then you could increase the programmed volume as needed from block to block. But then again, with this approach it doesn't really matter what drives your long term progress -- as long as it's working, you keep doing it. If it stops working, you move on to the next thing, which could certainly be more volume.
Thank you so much Mike for replying. I will implement your ideas in my next development cycle. All the best!
Hi,
Very nice video, very informative
You said that you try some higher and lower intensity blocks: do you keep the volume (reps*sets) and/or tonnage (reps*sets*load) the same?
Because i was thinking that if you do the same number of sets but increase intensity, reps will go down so volume and tonnage probably too and if the lifter doesn't make any progress you can't know if it's just a lack of volume.
But If you try to keep volume the same the number of set will have to increase a lot and it could be too much?
Did I understand something wrong or is it a valid question?
Thanks in advance.
Tonnage is not held constant. Holding tonnage constant at higher intensities is going to be far too stressful. The total stress of the training (measured by Stress Index or Exertion Load) should be relatively stable. But there's a deeper problem. You aren't trying to change only one variable at a time. There are some epistemological reasons why that we go into in the RTS Podcast on Transference vs Specificity with Jacob Tsypkin.
thks, i will watch this podcast then
Under this framework, if a trainee responds well to say, undulation, or to progressively overloading volume over time, how would you detect that? (or what clues would drive you to try those approaches in a development block?)
Daily undulation is fairly easy to detect. That will be in the typical programming structure for most coaches. You can get weekly undulation with 1/2 microcycles frequency. I don't find myself using it a ton though.
Volume does get overloaded with time. Just not in the sense of adding sets every microcycle. I can't say nobody responds to that but if I think about adaptation and the additional workload that increasing load drives... I just can't see adding sets every week being necessary.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 I'm definitely over-projecting from my past training history, as my endurance training background and kettlebell sport competition has given me a lot of ability to add volume when i dedicate myself to it, and my engagement with powerlifting has always been shorter periods of focus
We are all coming from somewhere. :)
It's really easy to lose sight of the goal or make assumptions about it. Lots of powerlifters travel the road if focusing on increasing volume, but the goal of powerlifting is increasing load. Are they connected? To some extent, yeah, but maximizing one doesn't maximize the other.
With the updated emerging strategies method, is the fatigue percent still waved up and down? If so does it wave each week (microcycle) or over the mesocycle? Or is it now held constant?
I think it depends on the person. I usually do sets across at a prescribed % each week. When your 1@8 drops significantly, you've hit your peak. The Fatigue Percent method just never vibed with me. May be different for you though.
Hi Mike! Do you use emerging strategies just with advanced athlete or also with beginners and intermediate?
I would use it with everybody. I don't see a reason not to.
"Squat w/belt x1 @8 drop to 70%x5x4 (-23%)" means that you do 70% of that x1 @8, right? What about "(-23%)" at the end? What does that mean? Thank You for the grreat presentation.
No.
If you look at an rpe chart, x1 @8 has an intensity of about 92% of your estimated one rep max that day. So load drop of 23% = 92% x (100% of this x1@8weight minus 23%) =92%x77%= ~70%.
So the sets are 70% of your e1RM ;)
Generally all training percentages base on your e1RM. Just the load drop percentages refer directly to your heaviest work set that day.
@@YajoX is the 70%x5x4 5 sets of 4 reps OR 4 sets of 5 reps
Sorry guys but in the down sets how much load should I drop?
And what that -13%(or 23%) means after the drop set?
Ps very interesting dissertation!
Load drop usually starts at 5%. The additional percentages are helpful info for how to get from the top set (x1 @8) to the volume work.
What is Mikes background? He knows his stuff about research but I'm getting some strong engineering vibes too
Not an engineer, but I've had a fair amount of engineering courses. I went to an engineering school.
Could these principles apply for bodybuilding/hypertrophy ? I mean for hypertrophy what would you consider peak , BW/muscle mass increase or Increase in strength at the specific exercises??
The observations underpinning this seem to me to be linked to adaptation processes. So they should work for bodybuilding too. The extent to which they do isn't something I've tested a lot yet though. There are a lot of questions, not least of which is how would you gauge the peak (as you mentioned).
This channel is awesome you guys should check out Bryce lewises TSA channel they just dicussed some issues about periodization and athlete coaching relationship
Does 1 rep @8 RPE mean you could've done 3 reps?
How about "RPP
Yes to your first question. Would like to know what RPP stands for too, can't find it anywhere. I guess maybe RPE point drop or something...
After consuming all things RTS during the past week I found a comment by Mike in which he explained that RPP
wow thanks so much man
A set of 3 @8 could equal 1-1,5 reps in reserve, a set of 10 @8 is probably 2 reps in reserve.
So RPP is simple "Rate of Perceived Pain" then it would seem.
I wonder what emerging strategies and autoregulation would look like in education.
I kinda use it in all aspects of life not gonna lie hahahaha
You know, the math models of the geocentric view (and even flat earthism) are more complicated than the models we now think are adequate representation of reality...
Can anyone point me to the material he mentions here: ua-cam.com/video/WdGP120e4B0/v-deo.html
Cant understand the name (or how to spell it) - i am a thrower and might be interested in the material
Thx
Bondarchuk
Derek Evely
Martin Bingisser
14:56 The need for the coach to be turned on.
hahaha
Give him a break 😅😅
Also, bottom up allows for life to happen to the athlete...
Exactly!!!
what about percentage based programing with ample accessories that works for me and everyone in my gym obviously if you feel an injury coming work around it this vid is a lot of science saying that well if you're a little tired don't go so hard well if you're not rested day of comp you have to nut up sooooo I guess that should be your training
P
Your pivot block is not really a light day or light week. Yes the intensity is going down but your volume load is going way up due to the fact you are knocking out multiple sets of 10. we know that volume plays a large role in metabolic fatigue and the fact your pivot block is probably going to be higher volume than anything you just did in the developmental block makes me wonder how much fatigue is actually going to dissipate? This is where many people go wrong, they look at just the intensity and not the volume. Mike said this in the video "you can see the intensity is going way down" my question to that is what about the volume going way up? Not only that but if you run this pivot block for 2-3 weeks, that's a straight up Hypertrophy/Strength Endurance Phase.
Volume and intensity interact to form the stress cost of a session. Intensity goes way down. Reps per set go up, but the number of sets is also down. Net effect is stress is about half of what it is during a development block.
@@michaeltuchscherer9322 In your dev block you are doing squats for 4 x 4 @ 80%. In your "restoration cycle" you are doing 4 sets of 10 reps. How would you not deem this more stressful? The volume load is going to sky rocket, you are doing much more work in this case. Even if you were doing 5 x 5 in your Dev cycle, which would be very stressful, the multiple sets of 10 you are performing in your pivot block still would not be considered an offload. So i'm not sure by going off your examples in the video how the net stress is going down when you are performing more work. Not to mention if you haven't been performing sets of 10 in your dev block and now you are performing sets of 10 in your pivot block, muscle soreness is probably going to become an issue. Which I don't think you want in a restoration cycle.
@@joeyhitchcock5550 I wouldn't think of it as a "restoration" cycle, but I get what you mean. The thing is the dev cycle has several sessions all targeting squats and deadlifts (lower body knee/hip extension musculature) with multiple sets. The pivot block has a couple slots. You're right that 4x10 is not a joke workout, but it's only one slot. A deadlift slot makes two. Then there's some other stuff that's fairly "fluff". The training that is done is real training, but it's considerably less stress than the development block when you look at the whole week. I've done the training and the math -- it's without a doubt less work and easier to recover from as a whole. I assure you I mean this amicably -- I think you put too much emphasis on the tonnage being done. Tonnage =/= training stress. I use a stress index calculation. You could also use Exertion Load or even simply counting number of hard sets (though this can be a bit low-resolution). You're right that the 10's will probably generate some soreness, but that's not really a problem. A bit of novel movement soreness isn't all that disruptive. Finally, this is all a starting point. If I was coaching you and you were concerned a pivot that looked like this was too much work, I'd reduce it. Then we'd walk it in based on athlete response. If you were too beat up, we'd reduce it. If strength wasn't sufficiently maintained, we'd increase it or modify the work in some way. Hope that helps!