The Role of Top Singles In A Powerlifting/Strength Program
Something Ive always been a big fan of in both my own training and coaching my athletes is practicing and implementing singles regularly into a training program.
When I initially was learning powerlifting, I heavily studied the teachings of Westside barbell and the max effort method- and the very first program I ever ran was “Squat Every Day” by Cory Gregory, which implemented the Bulgarian method of daily squats which also introduced me to the idea of a conservative “daily max” which in other words is a sub-max single that you can essentially hit any day of the week with minimal hype.
Over the years as I have become more calculated in my approach and have began to spend more time in the “building” phase, using sub-max volume and calculated accessory work to build strength in the big 3 lifts- heavy singles are something that never really went away and I have still found ways to implement them into my programs year round with major success.
Heres some of the benefits of training top singles beyond just maxing out and having fun of course👇
1- Practice how you play:
Specificity is a big driver of progress in powerlifting, love it or hate it.
Nothing is more specific in training than hitting singles.
Now, I NEVER program true max singles in the gym. But singles in the 85-95% range can be found very often in my training programs, whether its on a main lift or on a variation (IE, a pause squat, bench press, deficit deadlift etc).
Getting used to the setup, mindset and aggression it takes to hit one GREAT rep is a really important skill to develop for a lifter, so the more often a lifter is exposed to this, the better.
2- Monitor training progress
Singles are a direct indicator of how strong we are right NOW.
So within a training cycle, we can use these training singles to see where we are at, expose potential weaknesses/areas of opportunity and use the degree of difficulty to judge future training loads (especially if used within an RPE or % based system).
3- Stay Ready+Adapt To Heavy Loads
Ive always loved the idea of staying ready and being able to essentially peak anywhere, any time, as opposed to having to take 12-15 weeks to get ready for a meet and re-acclimate to handling heavy loads.
This is time consuming and can really mess with a lifters confidence overall.
By keeping singles in our training strategically, we give ourselves the ability to stay ready, stay adapted and shorten the time to peak, should we feel good and decide to hop into a meet when given the opportunity.
Staying ready is NEVER a bad idea.
How To Apply Top Singles To YOUR Program:
Like I mentioned above, I rarely, if ever program a true max single in training programs, unless someone is programmed to max out.
Rather, I either use submax training singles following sub max volume on the competition lifts, or a daily max on a close variation, similar to how the “max effort” method would be applied in a conjugate/westside system.
Example 1: Submax Single Following Volume Work
Comp Bench Press:
3x4- 78%
1x1- 87%
Example 2: Submax Single Preceding Volume Work
Comp Squat:
1x1- 85%
2x5- 77%
Example 3: Conservative Max On Close Variation
High bar Squat w/ 3 sec Pause:
Work up to top single at an RPE 8.5-9
Certainly, there are other reasons singles in training are useful, and even some other arguments for why they are NOT.
But regardless, one of my goals as a coach is to have my lifters prepared for competition. And what better way to get ready than practice EXACTLY what you’re doing on the platform?
-Coach Bryk
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