Hypertrophy 101 - Be in shape

We just finished a post-meet GPP phase. I outlined a few things in my

previous blogs about it and

Christian wrote up quite a bit as well. Needless to say many folks on the powerlifting team struggled, and rightfully so.... you should be pushing yourself. HIIT workouts and GPP should be tough. Sure, if you give a half effort, it's not so bad, but everyone here worked hard. As we began the hypertrophy phase, a funny thing happened. Well, not funny to us as coaches because we know why we program things this way. Several people commented, "Man, if we hadn't gone through that GPP phase I'd be dead right now." NO CRAP!! The body's ability to deliver oxygen, recover and do more work is a trained thing! Volume, rep work, hypertrophy/bodybuilding training, just like getting stronger, is something that your body has to be trained for. I programmed this portion of the hypertrophy phase for us and the powerlifting team. We are back to doing squat and bench variations that are far away from competition stuff. Accessories were chosen based on weak areas, mainly posterior chain work as we had gotten away from some key PC exercises. As an example, here is what Day 1 consisted of: GHR - warm up hammies SSB Low or parallel box squat 3x5 - I wasn't too concerned with the height of the box I just didn't want anyone squatting high. The idea was to make it more difficult, lessening the load that needs to be used. Stuck to around an RPE 8 as I didn't want anyone to fail or miss reps. Leg press 4x12 - this was added for some volume work for the legs, time under tension Step-ups superset with pullups - single leg work bc we all need it in the off season. Worked on loading hamstrings and glutes eccentrically. Pullups were added for extra back work bc you can never have too much back work. It also acts as a spinal decompressor after squatting. SSB goodmornings - normally i wouldn't put this exercise so late in a program (unless it was banded goodmornings) bc I knew we'd be smoked. But I still wanted some load to be used and for the newer lifters who had never really done it, it was a great introduction to this move so we can work to keep loading it in the future. Abs - bc if it's not in the program, no one will do them. That was our major lower body day with a brief explanation of why things were chosen. Hopefully that gives everyone some insight into how my brain works for this type of training. Stay tuned!