Ever wondered how to set up your training for the next year? Questioned how to determine when to compete and how to prepare? Not sure how to train in the weeks directly before or directly following a meet?
You're not alone. These are the questions that all powerlifters struggle with during their careers, constantly trying to refine their approach to in-season and off-season powerlifting training. One holistic approach to powerlifting is to program within an annual plan that accounts for all 52 weeks of the year tying together.
In this edition of Smitley's annual programming video series, the world-record holding powerlifter talks about your first meet of the year. If you're following his setup, by this point in the training plan, you will have already completed a GPP phase and specialized exercise phase, for 13 total weeks. Now it's time to move on to pre-meet planning.
Remember that this annual plan accounts for two meets: one minor meet to qualify for one larger meet. For the plan Smitley discusses in the video, let's assume that your minor or qualifying meet is week 27. Now that you're thinking about competitive training, you need to consider how many weeks out you are from your qualifying meet.
From weeks 14-20, you will continue to push hard in off-season mode. Then for weeks 21-26, during which time you will bring back the competition lifts, you will transition to meet preparation. This is intentionally a short period of time, in order to allow more off-season training, as this meet is the "minor" meet of the year.
This is the time to bring out your knowledge about what works for you.
WATCH: How to Design An Annual Programming for Powerlifting — Weeks 1-5 After A Meet
WATCH: Annual Programming for Powerlifting — Reintroducing Moderate Barbell Movements in Weeks 6-13
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