Looking for something for a meet that is 9 weeks out for my fiance. She currently is at around 240, 135, 265 for her lifts (in lbs), and she is 27, in the 148 lb class.
For me I would probably just run cube (with a week cut off), but I think something with more intensity might work better for a female lifter.
I have had her run the cube, and I think she had a hard time getting carry over from triples at 90%. I think she could do a triple at 95%.
Let me know what you guys would do for programming.
What she should do now will depend on what she has been doing up to this point, there isn’t an easy answer. The Cube is not something I would suggest, it is what an elite heavyweight male lifter (Brandon Lilly) used for himself. Girls can usually handle a lot more volume and recover faster, something with a little bit more frequency would be a good idea. And also girls can usually do more reps at a higher % of 1rm, as you mentioned, so most percentage based programs won’t work.
The basic idea of peaking is to increase intensity and reduce volume. You don’t need to change your whole program, especially if what you are doing is working. Greg Nuckols wrote an article on peaking a while back, look it up.
She was doing the Calgary barbell free 16 week intermediate program, and seemed to do pretty well with it.
Maybe I’ll just have her do the last 9 weeks. Or would it make sense to have a little more volume for just a couple of weeks?
If that program has you peak at the end then yes, it could work. It probably would have been better if she started over at the beginning and ran the whole program though, of course it’s too late now. I wouldn’t push volume too much so close to a meet, if she was going to have a volume block in this meet prep then it should be coming to an end right about now, this is the time to start ramping up the intensity.
Simple linear progression would work fine. If you have 9 weeks use 8s 5s 3s 2s. Spend two weeks on each. Squat at 240…Start at 140/150x8. 160/170x5 180/190x3 200/210x2. Open up at 210 and go from there. 2 sets each on the 8 and 5 weeks. 1 set each on the 3 and 2 weeks. Something like this…you can adjust the weights more to how the sets feel but running a longer cycle like this multiple times will work over the long haul for a very long time. 8 weeks total and take the week off or light work the week of the meet. All you’re really trying to do is get her body ready for the meet without being beat up and overtrained.
Worked for Ed Coan.