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Programming for Strength: Pauses for Powerlifting

Why would a Powerlifter pause?

No lift (apart from a short pause on the bench press) requires a pause during competition.

However, pausing during lifts can be an effective training aid for a powerlifter looking to break through a plateau or weak point. The key is understanding how to implement them in terms of your training session, week and overall periodised programme.

Today I am going to share with you how I recommend powerlifters go about programming pauses into their training, why they’re effective and how you might look to implement them.


What is a ‘Pause’?

You know when you’re watching a film and you press pause, the clip you’re watching completely stands still, until you press play again and it re-starts exactly where you left off. Well, that is exactly how pauses work with the powerlifts, you come to a complete stand still at a particular point in the lift, and then continue.

It’s important to understand the difference between pausing and ‘kinda’ pausing.

Hovering with the bar wavering up and down a litter is not pausing.

You need to come to a:

complete

dead

STOP


Why Pause?

Using a pause is a variant, but very specific variant to your competition lift, thus it has high carry over. They’re not easy and require a lot of concentration and technical proficiency, aiding your ability to break sticking points by developing strength right where you need it.

1.]  Develop technical proficiency

2.]  Build strength where you need it most

I’m not saying they should replace your compound heavy basic lifts, the weight on the bar is going to be lower due to the pause and so aren’t the best tool for developing strength, but they are one and when used right can really help. If you’re very new to powerlifting and haven’t already spent a lot of time working with the basic lifts, do not consider implementing pauses yet, do more of the heavy basics.


Where to Pause?

Now unlike watching a film you don’t just pause wherever you choose, rather you carefully place your pauses to your specific needs. The squat, bench press and deadlift can all be paused in a variety of places, but for most the following make good sense:

Screen Shot 2016-09-02 at 10.18.04

Identifying your weak-point

You’ll want to pause essentially at the range of motion you see most deceleration of bar speed, that is your weak point, not the point at which you’re slowest, but the point at which bar speed slows most (normally right before the bar moves it’s slowest). This is really important, as many presume where the bar moves it slowest is their weak point.

[bctt tweet=”your weakest point is where the bar decelerates the most” username=”revivestronger”]

Now by doing this you’re highlighting your weakness and you’ll find two things happening:

1) You’ll improve your positioning and therefore your technique, which is very important for building and peaking strength.

2) You’ll be directly building strength right where you need it most.

Those two things are going to help you bust through that sticking point.

==> Where: the place the bar decelerates most


How long to Pause?

You’ll find people pause anywhere from 1 second all the way up to 10 seconds, personally I find pauses of 1 to 5s to be the most appropriate and effective. Remember the only powerlift that requires a pause is a bench press, in competition this pause could be anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds in length.

In addition, if you have every tried counting: 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi…

…you’ll have found it pretty tough to do and still concentrate on your set.

mike t

Personally I have found programming ‘counts’ rather than seconds to be more appropriate (pretty sure I stole this from Mike Tuchscherer of RTS). Essentially you just count 1, 2, 3 rather than sticking to concrete seconds, each count is around half to 1 second in length.

So pausing for anywhere from 1 to 8 counts is a good idea, maybe more for bench press at times.

==> Pause: 1 to 8 counts


Reps/Sets for Pauses?

Utilising pauses on lifts isn’t really something that’s appropriate for developing muscle size.

It isn’t practical to programme pauses for multiple sets of 8+ reps, and personally I find pauses anywhere from 1 to 5 reps to be the most appropriate and beneficial. Thus, the volume you can practically perform is low, and volume is a key driver for hypertrophy [1].

[bctt tweet=”Pauses on lifts are not appropriate for growing muscle” username=”revivestronger”]

Now for sets, this will be dependent on your entire training programme, we have a limited recoverability and thus cannot just add more and more volume. When it comes to building general strength, which is where I would place pauses, you’ll find starting with around 6 to 10 sets per lift to be best, higher for squats and bench and lower for deadlifts. That would probably take up half of your Maximal Recoverable Volume (MRV) leaving room for some important heavy compound basic lifts.

==> Reps: 1 to 5 reps

==> Sets: 6 to 10 per week per lift (less when peaking)


Pauses within your Periodised Plan

Now you know where to pause, how long to pause and the sets/reps you should pause for I think it’s also important for you to understand where pauses fit within the context of your entire periodised plan. I’ve already touched on this briefly, as you know pauses are not a great tool for developing bulging muscles, and therefore would not be placed within a hypertrophy block.

[bctt tweet=”exercises need to get more specific as you edge towards your meet” username=”revivestronger”]

specificity depicted

Now as a powerlifter you also go through strength and peaking blocks, these could both be places for pauses. The difference will be the total amount of volume you put towards the paused lifts and the length of your pause. This is because as you get closer and closer to your competition the need for specificity increases. You want to be doing more of what you’ll do on the day of competition, this means non-paused squats, bench and deadlifts for lots of triples, doubles and singles.

I’ll be honest, I do not regularly programme pauses within my clients peaking cycles, I like to get specific in those last 4 to 6 weeks. I have a client example of how we peaked for a meet that you can read here.

==> Appropriate in strength & peaking cycles

Thus, during you peaking block the time you spend on paused lifts and the length of the pause will decrease, so you’re spending your time being more specific. Now during your strength block the paused lifts could be your core lifts, the ones you’re spending 50% to 75% of your time on, whereas during your peaking block they’d want to be closer to 10% to 25%.

==> Specificity dictates length of pause & volume must reduce as you near the meet

So in short, leave your paused lifts to strength and peaking blocks, decrease the time of your pauses and the total number of sets as your competition approaches.


Example – Lifter Weak Off the Floor Deadlift

Strength Block (4 Weeks)

Pause: 1 inch off the floor

Progressive Overload: Add 1 count each week, starting at 2 counts

– Volume: Done twice a week, 3×5 and 3×3

– Dropping reps if necessary to accommodate pause

Peaking Block (4 Weeks)

Pause: 2 counts week 1 & 2

Progressive Overload:Pause 1 count week 3 & remove pause week 4 (adding load)

Volume: Done once a week, 3×3 weeks 1& 2, 5×1 weeks 3 & 4

As you can see as we got closer to the competition specificity of programming increase:

  • Reduction in pause length
  • Reduced volume
  • Increased intensity

What Next?

  • Learn more about the importance of Periodisation, and how having a plan will heighten your results – HERE.
  • Want to get jacked and not too bothered about strength, have a read of this – HERE.
  • Fancy a free DUP strength based training programme? – Get it for free – HERE.

One more thing…

Do you have a friend who would love the above? Share this article with them and let me know what they think.

[bctt tweet=”Pauses for Powerlifting” username=”revivestronger”]


References

  1. B. Schoenfeld. Science & Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. Human Kinetics. 2016

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