Fred Hatfield’s 12 week peaking program counts down to a meet date rather than up from week one. You enter your squat, bench and deadlift maxes plus the day you compete, and the spreadsheet lays out all 30 training days between now and then, including a meet attempt calculator for the day itself.
The training itself is unusually plain: five sets across the board, mostly triples and doubles at 80% to 85%, with squat and bench sharing a day and deadlift getting its own. What makes it Hatfield’s is the 120% overload work bolted onto the main lifts, and the fact that the percentages creep upward on a schedule rather than off what you actually hit.
It suits a lifter who already has a meet on the calendar and wants the whole runway mapped. It’s a poor fit if you don’t have a date, since the entire structure is built backwards from that date. Hatfield died in 2017 and his site is gone, so what follows is assembled from an archived copy of it and from the spreadsheet itself.
Table of Contents
Fred Hatfield 12 Week Peaking Program Spreadsheet
Enter your meet date and your three maxes at the top. Everything below the “do not type below this line” row is calculated. Spreadsheet via RamRodReviews.com.
Program Overview
- Length: 12 weeks (84 days) ending on meet day
- Training days: 30, scheduled by day number rather than by weekday
- Frequency: roughly every second or third day early on, stretching to every fifth day in the last month
- Structure: squat and bench share a session; deadlift gets its own
- Sets: 5 across on the main lifts
- Loading: 80% and 85% of max, plus 120% overloads
A typical early session is 5 sets of 3 at 85% on one lift and 5 sets of 2 at 80% on the other, with a 120% overload triple attached. Deadlift days are 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps at 80% to 85%. The reps drift down and the days spread out as the meet approaches, and the last four sessions land on days 66, 71, 76 and 83.
The 120% Overloads
The spreadsheet writes “B 120% x 3” and “S 120% Overload x 3” against bench and squat days without defining them. I don’t know for certain what Hatfield meant. The likeliest reading is a supramaximal hold: walking out a squat and standing with it, unracking a bench and holding it at lockout, or a heavy rack pull on the deadlift side.
Paul Leonard has written about lifting 120% of his 1RM with banded assistance and credits Hatfield with the idea, so if you have bands that’s a defensible interpretation too. Treat it as accessory overload exposure rather than a rep you’re trying to complete, and keep it short so the main work still gets done.
Hatfield’s Notes, Day by Day
These are Hatfield’s own instructions, from an archived copy of his site, quoted as written. The day numbers are his.
| Days | Hatfield’s instruction |
|---|---|
| Day 1 – 6 | Virtually ALL of your assistance exercises for the first 4 weeks of this mesocycle MUST be geared toward eliminating your perceived weaknesses. |
| Day 9 – Day 13 | Reduce percent bodyfat. General foundation of limit strength in all synergistic and stabilizer muscles. Modify your lifestyle to include therapies as directed, improved dietary manipulation and sleep habits. Technique errors must be corrected. |
| Day 29 – 33 | From here on, virtually ALL of your efforts MUST be directed toward amplifying your STRENGTHS. (too late to worry about your weaknesses anymore) [Note: This is by day 29, approximately week 4] |
| Day 36 – 59 | Limit strength in all prime movers of lifts. Continue following the five rules of good nutrition (important!). Assistance exercises are now all done with explosive concentric movement, with the eccentric movement reduced or eliminated. Three lifts are all performed with all-out compensatory acceleration (especially in 80% workouts). Supplements directed at tissue repair, recovery between workouts, and recovery between sets. |
| Day 59 | Eliminate all assistance exercises after this date. In other words, ONLY the three lifts are performed from here on. |
| Day 61 | All three lifts are done at each session (contest readiness). |
| Day 66 – 76 | Emphasis on perfect form and maximum acceleration–do NOT do singles or attempt lifts you’re not absolutely sure you’ll do for 2 reps (save your mental energy for the meet). |
On the 5 pound rule. Each 5 day period should see approximately a 5 pound increase in your 80% level. It may just as easily be 2 pounds or 8 pounds. The precise increase in poundage will vary from athlete to athlete and from muscle group to muscle group. Also, since there is a 5 pound increase assumed for your 80% level, there will be a commensurate increase in your ongoing 85, 90, 95, 100 and 120 percent levels respectively (see %Max Chart below). This basic scheme of periodizing your training intensity relative to anticipated increases in strength is applicable to any other exercise or muscle group. You must begin by calculating training poundages based on percentages of your current maximum in each of the three lifts.
The short version of that: your percentages are pegged to where you expect to be, not where you are. Every five day period assumes your 80% number goes up about 5 lb, and the 85, 90, 95, 100 and 120 percent levels move with it. If you’re not actually gaining at that rate, the back half of the program will be heavier than intended.
Hatfield Peaking Program FAQs
Who was Fred Hatfield?
“Dr. Squat.” He squatted 1,014 lb at 45 years old in 1987, co-founded the International Sports Sciences Association, and wrote extensively on periodization for powerlifting. He died in 2017.
What if my meet is more or less than 12 weeks out?
The sheet counts backwards from the date you enter, so a shorter runway means starting partway in rather than compressing the whole thing. If you have less than about 8 weeks, run a shorter block instead. Everything on the peaking programs page is sorted by length.
Why does the assistance work stop?
Hatfield is explicit that after day 59 you only perform the three lifts. The first four weeks are for fixing weaknesses, the middle stretch shifts to amplifying strengths, and the last month is specificity and nothing else. It’s an old-fashioned structure and it’s still a reasonable one.
Should I do the 120% work if I’m not sure what it is?
Skip it. Supramaximal holds and walkouts need a rack you trust and ideally spotters, and the program works without them. Nothing else in the block depends on that one line.
Is there a shorter Hatfield program?
Yes. His 9 week peaking program is on the site and runs on percentages rather than a meet date, which makes it easier to slot in.
Updates
- Converted to the block editor and added the program’s actual shape, which was previously only inside the spreadsheet: 30 training days across the 84, the squat/bench and deadlift split, 5 sets across at 80-85%, and how the sessions spread out toward the meet. Hatfield’s day-by-day notes are unchanged and now sit in a readable table. Three dead links removed or archived: his bodybuilding.com program explanation is gone with no archived copy, the bodybuilding.com forum thread was never archived, and the Josh Strength post on 120% work now points at the archive.
