Notes from the bar.
Strength training writing by Coach V.
Read the top set. Program the back-offs.
The top set is a measurement, not just a load. Read what it cost you today, then set your back-off sets from the reading instead of a fixed percentage.
Accessories are not optional for raw lifters
The big three are the test, not the program. For raw lifters, accessory work builds the durability and structural balance that keeps SBD progressing.
Bar speed is the cheapest autoregulation you own
Velocity based training does not require a device. The speed of your last rep already tells you what the spreadsheet cannot. Here is how to read the bar.
Double progression, after the bar stops moving every week
When linear progression dies, most lifters reach for a new program. They need a new rule first: add reps before you add weight, and keep the reps honest.
You schedule the deload. The signals only move it.
Most lifters wait to feel beat up before they deload. By then they're late. The deload belongs on the calendar first; the signals only move the date.
Heavy is the health intervention
The longevity feed lands on walking and zone 2. Neither does what the bar does. Heavy lifting is the actual intervention for the things that fail with age.
Heavy and low-rep, even when the goal is size
Light weight to failure builds muscle. The research is real. For a lifter who already trains hard, the equivalence is still a trap. Here is why I train heavy.
What an early novice powerlifting program actually needs
At 70 kg and an 80/65/100 total, the program name does not matter. The first block is three things, and a lifter can write it on an index card.
Coaches I wouldn't refer my own clients to
Three quiet red flags I look for when a lifter asks me about their strength coach. Not the cartoon villains. The ones serious lifters actually meet.
RPE without the calibration is just a guess
RPE only works when the lifter has calibrated it against their own bar. Without that, the number on the spreadsheet is a feeling pretending to be data.