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Utilizing Prilepins Chart

My f irst experience with Prilepins chart was in the summer of 1993. I had entered my f irst powerlif ting competition in the spring of that same year and had bombed out in the squat. I didnt give up and did the right thing by seeking out prof essional help, not psychiatric mind you (although I may have needed it). I sought out a powerlif ting coach. My search brought me to Mikes Olympic Gym in Mechanicsville, Virginia. I had a job painting houses that summer and worked 10 hours a day. I lived an hour (one way) f rom Mikes so I knew that if I were going to get any stronger, Id have to go where the strong go. In Richmond, it was Mikes. My training up to that point was progressive overload. I would do a set of eights one week, and depending on how I f elt, I would go up f ive to 10 pounds f or the next week when I went to a set of seven. At the time (and I think to this day), Mike Craven would handwrite all of the programs f or his members. Mike is without a doubt the most passionate and intense person I know when it comes to strength training. He networked with individuals like John Gamble (f ormer strength coach f or UVA who is now with the Miami Dolphins) and Fred Hatf ield (otherwise known as Dr. Squat). T his was all well bef ore the internet so networking wasnt nearly as easy. He gave me my program, and there were percentages all over it. I was amazed. Af ter a f ew weeks, I got up the courage to ask where he got his inf ormation. He showed me Managing the Training of Weightlifters by Nikolai Petrovich Laputin and Valetin Grigoryevich Oleshko and explained that the inf ormation was based on experiments with thousands of lif ters in the f ormer Soviet Union. I trained at Mikes f or a f ew years and then lef t to try my hand at bodybuilding. Af ter seeing the error of my ways, I went back to powerlif ting. I read Powerlifting USA and had seen Louies articles on training and was interested in his ideas. However, af ter seeing his ad f or the reverse hyper and then an article about one of his own products, I was disenchanted and believed that he was simply trying to sell something. Fast f orward to 1998, I was working as Virginia Commonwealth Universitys f irst strength and conditioning coach and had spent the last f ive years looking f or Prilepins chart. T hen low and behold, I received a new edition of PLUSA. In it, Louie had an article titled, HIT or Miss? which discussed percentage training and beside that, Prilepins chart. I knew once I saw the f amous chart in Louies article that he did know what he was talking about and wasnt f ull of it. T his revolutionized my training as well as the way I trained VCUs athletes. T here have been articles written in the past about Prilepins chart. However, it has been over 10 years since this inf ormation was reviewed. Ive been asked several questions about the chart and how it can be used with beginners.

What is it ?
Prilepins chart gives set percentages of ones max to be used in training. Heres what it looks like:

PRILEPINS CHART

Basically, the Russians would take a percentage of your contest max. Lets say 70 percent. T hey assigned reps and sets to this percentage and would then have a lif ter perf orm the classic lif ts at this percentage. T hey looked at what happens to the speed of the bar, the lif ters f orm, and the lif ters next contest max. From this

research, they decided what sets and rep schemes would work with a given percentage. For instance, if they had a lif ter perf orm 70 percent of his contest max, they f ound that if the lif ter did 36 reps per set, he would get a positive training result (i.e. he had good f orm, his bar speed was good, and his max went up). T hey also f ound that if the lif ter only did two reps per set it wasnt enough. Either there wasnt enough of a stimulus (there wasnt enough weight on the bar) or the bar would move too f ast (kind of like trying to throw a ping pong ball as hard as you can). Because of this, the lif ters f orm would break down. T hey also f ound that if the lif ter did more than six reps per set, the lif ters f orm would break down f rom f atigue, which would in turn train bad habits, and the bar would move too slow (if you train slow you become slow). T he Russians f ound that a lif ter could do anywhere f rom 28 sets depending on how many reps per set the lif ter did. In other words, a lif ter could do: 8 sets of 3 (24) or 2 sets of 6 (12) or 4 sets of 3 (12) or 5 sets of 3 (15) T he combinations are nearly endless. Why the broad range? Well, the Russians realized that everyone reacts dif f erently to a training program. So, if I react better to higher reps, I would do six reps per set. But if you react better to low reps, you would do three reps per set. Prilepin also knew that in training there will be good days and bad days. If you were scheduled to do six sets of three but youre killing it, you can keep it going and do up to (but not beyond) eight sets. T he same holds true if things arent going your way. For example, you had a rough night of sleep or the kids kept you up. Whatever the case may be, if youre grinding it out, only do f our sets. Considerations T hese experiments were done on Olympic weightlif ters. Why is that important? Because thats all they did. T hey didnt run. T hey didnt play f ootball. T hey didnt throw baseballs. T hey lif ted. So you need to account f or this in your program design. In other words, youre probably better of f going toward the low end of the total rep range rather than the high end. However, you can look at where you are in your season as well. If our athletes are in-season, well go even lower than the prescribed number of total reps. For out of season, we bring it back up toward the higher end of the range. T hese percentages are based of f of a contest max. T he lif ters were lif ting as if (and sometimes it was true) their lif e depended on it. So the Bulgarians actually use two separate sets of maxestheir contest max and their training max. T he training max is something done in the gym. Im sure youve heard of thisyou have your contest max and your gym max. Your contest max should be higher than you gym max. If it isnt, you could be conservative, your gym lif t may be questionable, or your training may be f lawed. You also should take into account that when the power lif ts (squat, bench, and deadlif t f or those of you who ST ILL dont know) are done f or a max move, they are done much slower than with the Olympic lif ts. T his can be more taxing on the CNS.

Why are t he percent ages in t he West side t emplat e so dif f erent f rom Prilepins chart ?
Olympic lif ters dont wear supportive gear. Ever seen someone in a snatch shirt? Although it would be f unny, I dont think it would be ef f ective. So what you say? You must lower your training weights when not wearing your gear. Lets look at this practical situation. Your best raw squat = 400 lbs 70% of 400 lbs = 280 Lets say you get 100 lbs out of your squat suit and your knee wraps (which is def initely possible even in the USAPL), which moves your contest max to 500 lbs. 500 lbs X 70% = 350 T hats 70 more pounds that you dont have f rom the gear. So you move the percent down. 500 lbs X 56% = 280 Many of the programs that the Westside lif ters use incorporate band and chains. When accounting f or this, Louie Simmons and Dave Tate count only the band tension at the bottom. So lets say you get 50 lbs of band tension at the bottom. Now we need to drop our training weight down to about 230 lbs. 500 lbs X 47% = 235 = our f irst week of dynamic box squats 500 lbs X 47% = 235 + 50 pounds of band tension at the bottom = 285 285 = about 70% of your non-equipped max If you ever go to one of the EliteFT S seminars or have the opportunity to talk with Louie or any of the staf f f rom EliteFT S, they will explain all of this to you. But it can get conf using.

So how do you use t his wit h at hlet es?

So that I dont lose the reader, Ill only discuss the use of Prilepins chart with beginners in regards to the squat. First a couple of def initions: Beginner: someone who hasnt lif ted f or one f ull year at VCU Intermediate: someone who has had at least one f ull year of training with us at VCU or is advancing quickly (training age, maturity, previous collegiate lif ting experience) We f ollow the basic Westside template with our intermediate athletes, and we have a lower and upper max ef f ort day and a lower and upper dynamic day (f or more inf ormation on this, read Dave Tates Periodization

Bible parts I and II). Beginner athletes will f ollow progressive overload f or three weeks. T he coach will handwrite the weights based on how the athlete did that week with a given weight. If their technique looks good, we go up. If they have dif f iculty with the weight or the technique, they stay at that weight until the technique is mastered. We then test using anywhere f rom a three to a f ive rep max (I know its not a true max, but it give the coaches and the athlete something to go by). We start of f on a box because we f eel its easier to teach technique and break it down as f ollows: Week 1: Both the dynamic and max ef f ort workouts are done with a box. Max ef f ort is in quotes because its nowhere near the true max ef f ort. Week 2: We use a box on speed day, which is done f irst in the week. On max ef f ort day, we take the box away. We remind our athletes that nothing changes. We still sit back, keep our chests up, and go below parallel. We test on f ree squats because its only appropriate to squat in the same manner that youre going to test. Once we have a max, well do a three-week wave with the box going up by about 10 percent per week on our max ef f ort day. We start at 65 percent. Af ter this, we go to f ree squats f or three weeks to give our athletes time to adjust to not using the box.

Our max ef f ort day would look something like this:

Max ef f ort day

Week Percent Sets/reps Total reps Prilepins recommendations

Done on a below parallel box 1 n/a 6 3 18

Free squat 2 3 4 n/a n/a Test 6 6 2 1 12 6

Done on a below parallel box 5 6 7 65% 75% 85% 6/3 6/2 6/1 18 12 6 1830 1224 410

Free squat 8 9 10 11 12 75% 85% 95% 95% Max 5/3 5/2 4/1 (down week) 15 10 4 1 1224 1020 410 11

We adhere to Prilepins recommendations. We do keep the total number of reps in a workout toward the low end. T he numbers of reps per set are kept low to keep f orm f rom breaking down and to provide more coaching time. T he athlete does 23 reps, and we tell them what they did right and wrong. T hey then do another set and repeat the process. Our dynamic day would look something like this:

Dynamic ef f ort day

Week Percent Sets/reps Total reps Prilepins recommendations

Done on a below parallel box 1 2 3 4 n/a n/a n/a none 10 10 10 2 2 2

Done on a below parallel box 5 6 7 55% 60% 65% 10/2 8/2 8/2 20 16 16 1830 1830 1830

No box, no pause 8 9 10 11 55% 60% 65% Rest 10/2 8/2 8/2 20 16 16 1830 1830 1830

12

Max

Our reps per set on the dynamic day are lower than what Prilepin would recommend. T his is based on Louies recommendations that you should keep the reps lower than normal to keep the bar speed high. Remember that the experiments were done on Olympic lif ts, not power lif ts. T he power lif ts can take longer to perf orm. For weeks 13, we use a box to help teach technique. Week 4 is a down week (rest.) For weeks 57, we use a below parallel box, and f or weeks 810, we take away the box to allow the athlete time to get use to f ree squats. Week 11 is a down week. So f or the last 34 weeks the athlete will do all f ree squats (no box, no pause). T hese templates dont take into account any interruption in training (i.e. non-traditional seasons, etc.). Probably the most important thing that we emphasize to our athletes is moving the bar f ast. If you have an athlete under 70 percent and they move the bar like it is 70 percent, they wont get a training ef f ect. Personally, my biggest problem when I started using Prilepens chart was that I didnt understand my capabilities. A f ew ways of combating this is to put the athlete to a stopwatch. Time the concentric portion of the lif t only. T his always gets them competitive. Have them coach one another. Look at their f aces. Ive never seen someone who pushes with 100 percent ef f ort look pretty. If their f acial expression doesnt change, theyre not pushing hard enough. I hope this will give coaches a new perspective on training their beginning athletes. If you have any questions on any of the material presented, f eel f ree to contact me at Kontosstrength@mac.com or takontos@vcu.edu.

Ref erences
1) Craven M (1994) Personal communication. 2) Laputin P, Oleshko V (1982.) Managing the Training of Weightlif ters. Kiev: Z dorovya Publishers. 3) Simmons L (2001) HIT or Miss? Westside Barbell. http://www.westside-barbell.com. Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.