As an Elitefts coach, I get a lot of questions from lifters – and that’s awesome, because there’s no better way to Live, Learn, and Pass On than by answering them! So just by reaching out, y’all are making my job easier, and I appreciate it.

I received a great question here, and I want to share it with everyone, because I think it's a great example of how to do exactl what everyone wants: to find the perfect powerlifting program.

Brandon is following my Unf*ck Your Program course (available through the link to my website on my main blog page) and had some questions about the core concept: making small changes to improve over the long term. I really loved his email, not only because of how methodically he's going about finding his perfect program, but also because of how he asked for help.

See, the thing is, I can’t answer questions I don’t know the answer to. And so often, I get questions about lifting that are a little… “incomplete.” Or the question itself might be very clear, but I simply don’t have enough information to answer it in a way that’s valuable. So I can try my best, but you’ll probably end up still having more questions, or maybe even be more confused than you were to begin with.

Here's how Brandon avoids any of those issues:

  • First, Brandon lays out exactly who he is and how he’s gotten there. He’s a competitive powerlifter who’s knocking on the door of advanced status (at just 19!) and he’s following a program I’m obviously very familiar with. That background info is hugely important, because I’d give different advice to a beginner than to an advanced lifter.
  • Second, Brandon’s already done the heavy lifting, by identifying what he wants to work on. As I mention below, it would be great to know how he arrived at those issues as his main weaknesses in the first place. It’s clear to from his note that he has enough awareness of his own body for me trust that he really does know what the problems are and where they’re coming from – but I don’t have that same awareness! If I knew the underlying reasons for these weaknesses, I might give different advice than I would otherwise.
  • Finally, Brandon’s already proposed solutions to the problems! That gives me a starting point to work with, so that we can find a solution that’s most likely to be appealing and fit with the way that Brandon likes to train.

Breaking It Down

Here’s Brandon’s question, along with my own comments.

Hey Ben,

Just read your article on supplements, thanks for all of the great info. I read all of your articles.

I'm completing the high frequency phase of UYP this week and then entering the conservative peak phase for a mid-September meet. I have a question about tweaking the peaking phase program slightly to better suit what I know I need to work on.

For reference, I'm 19, in the 75kg class, and I just squatted 429.9lbs yesterday and benched 255lbs (albeit the bench was not to comp standards at all- but I had failed my first attempt at it with the comp pause, so I hit it TNG because I knew I could). My DL max is set for tomorrow and it should be around 500 for sure but hopefully 515. Last max was 485 and it was very fast.

So I know Brandon is a competitive powerlifter, and I have a good idea of how strong he is. It would be good to know more about his meet experience and goals (short- and long-term).

On to the question: I know the three things holding me back right now are- an underdeveloped back, especially lats, failure to maintain optimal tension in the hole (I think I might squat too deep/ and loosen up on the bottom of bench), and weak triceps for bench.

This is the key: Brandon has already worked to identify his weaknesses, just like I explain in the course. Again, I could use a little more information, and if I were coaching him one-on-one, we’d break down some videos of his lifts in detail and design a plan to address each one using incremental changes…

I know the mantra of UYP is to make level-headed, calculated changes, and I think I've figured out a way to do that, but I would like your opinion. 

…exactly like Brandon plans to do on his own. Honestly, that’s a better approach, because in the long term, the goal is always to learn to coach yourself.

To proceed in order of issue/solution:

1) Underdeveloped back- I think I can help bring my lagging upper/mid back up by adding in some high volume work on day 3 of each peak program week. I won't kill myself, but I'm thinking 3 exercises or so, 12-20 reps, four sets each. It'll help with hypertrophy, and I'll have time to rest up before squat day on the following week.
In my opinion, this is too much work during a peak. Three exercises for 4 sets of 20 reps each is a whopping 240 reps – sky-high volume added to a peaking program, when (in theory) volume should be decreasing. Instead, I’d use this opportunity to identify one exercise that is extremely effective at targeting the upper back and that carries over to the competition lifts. I would do this by rotating among different movement choices each week, performing that for 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. This will add just 30-50 reps in total – which is still a lot, but the exercises you choose should not be very demanding in terms of recovery resources.

2) Tension - This isn't an issue on my deadlift, but more on my bench and squat. I was thinking either I could add pause squats/spoto press to my warm ups, all the way up (to a certain point, not above 90%), or perhaps 2 5-8 rep drop sets at 60ish% of what the working sets were on a given day to each lift. I don't think it would burn me out and I think it would really help nail form down before the meet.

Great reasoning here, and those are perfect exercises to address the issue, but I would suggest implementing them a bit differently. Your goal for your warmups is to prepare your body for your top sets, and for that reason, it’s very important to make each and every warmup set and rep as close as you possibly can to competition style. In this case, if you warm up with pause squats, you might end up trying to pause during your heaviest sets, and that could easily lead to a missed rep.

So, instead, I would use these as variations of your competition lifts to be performed on light days or after your competition lifts. You’ll get all the benefits without the drawbacks.

3) Weak tris- I'm going to work them more, but by specifically implementing pre-bench tricep work. I have found that it helps me a lot to hit banded tricep extentions in very high reps to get blood flowing before I start benching. I use a very light band and I'm looking to do 100-150+ reps to warm myself up before even touching the bar. This also helps keep down elbow inflammation for me, which used to be an issue before I widened my grip.

Whoa! I think this is way too much work, and again, you don’t want to wear yourself out before your heaviest training. A good warmup shouldn’t take more than about 10-15 minutes, and 150(!) reps of pushdowns is a workout in itself. I would suggest choosing bench variations that will overload the triceps (for example, benching with a Slingshot or to a board). However, I would also choose just one issue with the bench to address – either the lack of tightness or the tricep weakness – but not both at the same time.

I hope this didn't read as rambling. Just let me know what you think, if it might be too much to add at once, or what, but in reality I'd only be adding a few extra sets to the program. I think I'm conditioned enough to add all of it at once for sure though.

This is a common sentiment, but remember: you’re a powerlifter. You can have all the conditioning in the world, but unless you figure out how to translate that conditioning into top-end strength, it’s not going to be of much benefit. It’s almost always a case of “less is more” – but hey, I get it. You enjoy lifting and want to do more! That’s not a bad thing, but oftentimes, progress requires finding the discipline to quit when you’re ahead. That’s what I’d recommend here.

If You Need Help

Brandon ultimately came back to me with a revised plan that was a lot more moderate and, in my opinion, likely to be a lot more effective. His next meet hasn’t rolled around yet, but based on the thoroughness of his question and his own analysis, I have no doubt that he’ll put up some big numbers there, and continue to do so as long as he remains in the sport.

If you have a question of your own, please shoot it to me via email. Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to respond in any sort of useful detail on social media, assuming I see your message in the first place. You don’t have to go into as much detail as Brandon, but the more information you provide – whether it’s to me, to your coach, or to someone else – the better.