Contents
Program Summary
This is a 17 week powerlifting peaking program broken up into 3 different training blocks: hypertrophy, strength, and peaking. It uses 4 training days per week: squat, bench press, deadlift, and another bench press training session.
The hypertrophy block works in the 60% to 67% range, the strength block works in the 70% to 80% range, and the peaking block works in the 87% to 95% range – nothing fancy here, pretty standard intensity ranges for each block.
Week 17 calls for one rep max testing at 105% of the original 1RM for each lift.
Through all 3 phases additional accessories are recommended to help address weak points and build up key muscle groups for each primary movement. These are customizable within the spreadsheet and you can even add your own accessories if you’d like – what is provided is merely a suggestion.
Deload Weeks
Every fourth week a deload is programmed.
Brad provided the following suggestions for properly executing a deload week:
- Reduce intensity
- Reduce volume
- Reduce rep range
- Reduce number of sets
- Increase amount of rest time
He begins talking about deloading around minute 9:00 in the video below if you’d like to learn more.
Spreadsheet
Source, with some enhancements made by Lift Vault.
17 Week Block Periodization Powerlifting Program by Brad Arbic | LiftVault.com
Customizing Accessories
You can customize your own accessories by overwriting the “custom accessory” cells in the spreadsheet. These lists are located to the right of each accessory log section on the “Accessory Log + Options” tab. This was added by Lift Vault for ease of use and was not part of the spreadsheet that Brad originally shared.
VIDEO: Program Overview by Brad Arbic
