In preparing for a powerlifting meet I have seen lots of overthinking, overworking, and overstressing when it comes to people figuring out how be setup their training cycle to perform the best on competition day.  Even those that are not powerlifters should get something from the following article by seeing an extremely simple yet extremely effective method for maximizing performance for a specific day.  Although the system in this article is incredibly simple to put into place, it also happens to work like a charm every time.  I call it the 3, 2, 1, 0 Meet Countdown.

The first piece of the countdown has the athlete focus on dialing in what they are going to attempt at a meet.  They are forced to define those numbers (or close to) in advance of the meet.  It is important for a lifter to have these numbers defined before the meet so that they are not second guessing their attempts on meet day, allowing them to focus on their performance.  There is enough pressure on the day of the meet so anything you can solidify beforehand has a positive effect.   This is accomplished by the following progression:

• 3 weeks  out – Lifter attempts the Planned 3rd attempt at the meet or Max attempt

• 2 weeks out – Lifter works up to Planned 2nd attempt at the meet

• 1 week out – Lifter works up to Planned 1st attempt (opener) at the meet

• 0 weeks out – week of meet lifter makes no (0) attempts till day of meet

The second piece of the countdown manages the workout volume leading into the meet.  Combined with the overload and then deload in maximal attempts listed above we begin the ‘realization’ phase.  The realization phase is when you deload in a manner that your Central Nervous System and Muscular recovery is at a greater rate than the fatigue induced by further increased workload.   It is important that this is timed correctly so that you don’t also begin to lose the training response from your workouts that is what has developed your strength levels.  When applied properly the realization phase allows you to realize your full potential strength without also being overlaid with CNS and muscle fatigue. 

The second piece to the countdown is again mind numbingly simple and easy to remember and implement.  In a typical training session I let my athletes do no more than 3 assistance exercises per training session following their core lift (a recent article by Nick Horton articulates this fairly well albeit he does 3 total per session where we do a core lift followed by 3 assistance)

• 3 weeks out – Lifter continues using 3 assistance exercises after core lift

• 2 weeks out – Lifter drops to 2 assistance exercises after core lift

• 1 weeks out – Lifter drops to 1 assistance exercises after core lift

• 0 weeks out – Week of the meet the lift does no (0) assistance exercises and only light stretching

And there you have it, the 3,2,1,0 Meet Countdown.