Structuring Training at The Strength Fortress

At TSF, we typically program in five-week blocks and we are staunch on sub-maximal training. Understanding the “why” behind coaching decisions can help you as a lifter to attack your training with the intention that is built in to your program. If you don’t know why certain exercises are in your program or what the purpose of an intro/deload week is, it’s hard for you to execute them with the desired intention.

In this article I explain how we structure our training at TSF and in line with that, how you can best execute each week of your training block to achieve the best training outcomes.

Across a five week training period, we want to first recover from the fatigue accumulated in the preceding training block, then build training momentum across the block to launch us in to the next one. This is how we do it.

Intro Weeks (Weeks 1 & 2)

When we start a new training block our first objective is to get rid of the unwanted fatigue that we accrued in the preceding training block. At the start of a new block, we’ve just come off a heavy week five where we’ve pushed hard and slammed PBs. Our body is tired from the grunt work and we’re likely feeling some mental fatigue from the arousal we’ve needed to attack each session. Without shaking this off, we’re gonna have a hard time building across the block.

So, in our intro weeks

• Physically, we prescribe lower intensity training so our body gets some physical rest

• Mentally, we want to keep arousal low. Avoid putting on heavy music or getting highly stimulated. We’ll keep hype up protocols as the ace up our sleeve for hitting big weights later in the block.

Importantly, in these intro weeks we still want to attack our training with assertiveness and some controlled aggression. Many lifters will comment that their intro weeks felt harder than they expected. This is typically for two reasons: 1) They’re training with all the fatigue of the last training block and 2) They’ve underestimated the prescribed loads and not given them the effort they deserve.

We want to move these loads fast both to avoid accumulating more fatigue from grinding a load that should move quite easily and also to build confidence for the loads to come in the block. Nothing dulls your confidence like grinding a squat in week one.

In your intro weeks, your sessions should be quick, you shouldn’t be spending hours in the gym and you shouldn’t need hardstyle to get through your squats. You should treat the prescribed loads with respect, move them assertively, enjoy the brief break from hard training and use the time that you’re not spending in the gym for something else you enjoy, be it seeing a friend, making a nicer dinner or getting an extra hour of sleep.

These training weeks don’t directly make you stronger, but they enable you to recover so you can put in another hard training block — which will make you stronger.

Building Weeks (Weeks 3 & 4) 

These are the most important weeks of our training block — more important than week five. This is where we build momentum; we push hard but not harder than is productive.

In weeks three and four, we continue to train sub-maximally. We’re putting in the work to build for a heavy week five by training assertively, keeping bar speed high, moving loads well and building confidence.

The initial loads programmed for weeks three and four are guided by the lifter’s previous programs. However with coaches there to watch each set we often tinker with training loads during training sessions based on warm ups and previous sets to ensure training here is not too light, but also not too heavy. Again, the emphasis is on quality training, loads moving well, building momentum and not building excess fatigue.

We often tell our lifters not to marry themselves to the numbers in weeks three and four of their programs. We might dial them up, we might dial them back, whatever is required to achieve the objective of building momentum via quality reps. As a lifter, it will serve you well to keep this objective front of mind. It’s easy to get disheartened if you dial back loads in these weeks. Keep the long term goal front of mind. Hard training and productive training is not always the same thing. We want to train productively; not just hard.

Mentally, in the building weeks, for the most part keeping your arousal on the lower side is typically best. Focus and have controlled aggression, but for most training blocks you shouldn’t be launching an all out assault on week three. If you need a gee up in your training, keep it controlled and don’t give it too much energy. Save your high level arousal strategies for when you really need it.

Testing Week (Week 5)

The final week of the training block allows for lifters to be let off the leash a little and to push hard towards new training PBs. Your previous training weeks and the momentum you’ve gathered culminate at this point.

We will have prescribed numbers for the main lifts, but we will auto-regulate where it’s called for. If a lifter’s training has surpassed expectations or a volume PB is there for the taking, we might take it. This is both highly motivating, and can serve as a great indicator for how aggressive we can be in the training block to come.

Week five is where we want lifters to have a high level of arousal. This is where we want to be on and to reap the benefits of all our prior training weeks. Chuck on your favourite song; perhaps get in to some smelling salts to really heighten you. This is the time to show up.

Most lifters when they receive a new program look straight to week five. What am I building towards? What do I have to be nervous about? What do I have to be pumped for and inspired by? Knowing that’s how a lifter feels in week one, it’s time to bring that intensity in week five.

With all of this in mind, how can you improve how you show up for your training?

• Can you be composed in week one; to move your week one loads faster but without excessive aggression? 

• Can you be more objective in selecting the appropriate loads in weeks three and four; choosing the load that is more productive, rather than the one that is most egoistic?

• Can you bring more arousal and more aggression to week five, to shift some numbers you didn’t believe you could?

How can you be more mindful and directed with your efforts?