@australianstrengthcoach: Here’s a snippet from one of the weekly education calls I host for my mentorship group. I thought this was worth sharing here because it’s one of the simplest, yet most effective programming strategies I use for long-term success. One of the biggest mistakes I used to make was trying to get the absolute most out of myself in week one of a new program by attempting to push as hard as I could. No matter how advanced you are, week one is usually a little rusty. New exercise order. Different rep ranges. New exercise variations. Different levels of fatigue and volume. Even the best lifters in the world need time to familiarise themselves with a new training phase. This is exactly why I never train to failure in week one. Instead, I use one of the most valuable programming tools I’ve learned over 20+ years of coaching elite athletes and breaking down my own training - Periodising effort. The goal is to start with conservative loads to allow room for progression. A simple example across a 4-week mesocycle: Week 1 - RPE 7 Week 2 - RPE 8 Week 3 - RPE 9 Week 4 - Send it! Ana analogy I use is to think of it like a marathon. If you sprint from the start it will negatively impact the entire race. You need to pace yourself to set yourself up for a successful entire race. This strategy has been one of the most successful tools I’ve used for myself and the athletes I coach, regardless of whether the goal is strength or hypertrophy.

Sebastian Oreb

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Thursday 28 May 2026 00:13:11 GMT