"Peaking is supposed to hurt"

"Peaking is supposed to hurt"

I take particular issue with this statement. This summarizes a rhetoric that has been present from the moment I became interested in the sport and long long before. The idea that athletes SHOULD be subject to discomfort/pain/mental strain and a host of other ailments during their “peaking” phase almost as a rite of passage. Sounds rather barbaric and off putting right? 

To understand if that particular sentence holds any weight, we’ll need a definition for the word peak and its applications to powerlifting (yes there are more than one). To peak, is to “reach a highest point, either of a specified value or at a specified time.” So with the goal of powerlifting competition being, squatting, benching and deadlifting as much weight as possible through a particular rule set, the term peak within the context of powerlifting would solely apply to the aforementioned ultimate goal of powerlifting right? Well, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong in thinking so, however, the term peak has far more application than that in powerlifting.

Powerlifting is non-linear. You are not going to go from the start of a training cycle to the end of a training cycle through a straight line forming a convenient peak in terms of improvement, as much as the traditional linear periodization model would have you believe. There are peaks and valleys, and the truth of the matter is that those peaks and valleys are hugely important data points that you would be doing yourself a great disservice to ignore.

We at Odyssey Strength and everyone else that uses a bottoms up approach, such as the pioneers of the method in powerlifting, the RTS guys with emerging strategies, apply the word “peak” to powerlifting as follows;

We separate our training cycle out into specific blocks, where a certain adaptation is the goal. As coach Nathan Keenan talks about here, in part one of his multi-part series on bottoms up periodization. (I will be keeping this more general, so if you would like specifics, please give his article a read.) The time it will take an athlete to get the most out of each training block, is totally individual and we refer to this as “time to peak” (Some people may take 8 weeks to reach peak adaptation, some people may take 3 weeks). Ooohh, weird right.. The term peak being used in a non-specific hypertrophy block, almost seems sacrilege, as you may find out if you give Nathan’s article a read, it is worth opening your mind to.

And this brings me nicely back to the original sentiment I take great issue with. Peaking is NOT intended to hurt you, and to hear this utterance come from a coach as a means of explaining away an athlete’s individual needs is angering. Peaking, within the context of powerlifting, is a descriptive term we use for the trends we see in certain markers. A peak in pain is something I am yet to find myself trying to elicit from an athlete. If you find yourself in pain during a competition peak block, communicate this with your coach, there is always a means of improving a training block to an individual, and a competition peak block is no different. There does however, exist individuals who will peak into competition best while feeling beat up, but this shouldn’t be explained away with that original statement.