Powerlifting Peaking and Tapering Study Review

Article

Sharing an informative study review (above) that is worth a read from ETSU if you have an interest in maximizing powerlifting performance in a competition, like we do. Tapering/peaking is something we talk A LOT about with our clients. There’s nothing earth-shattering in this review, but it does confirm the methods we use to coach our athletes and it’s also good to see powerlifting get more specific attention in scientific studies and meta-analyses. There’s a lot of conflicting opinions out there among coaches so it’s always good to see more evidence-based information come out.

We’re getting back on top of our content game, since we’ve been slacking and we have a lot to share. We usually avoid posting too much scientific studies and info like this, because it honestly gets boring pretty easily, bu this one is particularly relevant considering most of our clients are competing before the end of the year! if you like this kind of content, let us know and we can share more stuff we find interesting.

Key Takeaway:

“Based on the evidence reviewed, strength athletes tapering to improve powerlifting performance should (1) reduce training volume by approximately 30–70%, (2) maintain training intensity ≥85% 1RM or reduce training intensity while (3) using either an exponential or step taper model to manipulate the distribution of work over a 1–2 week period followed by (4) a short-term training cessation spanning 2–7 days.”