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How To Use The Program

Week To get the most from the next 12 weeks, you want to make sure that you fully understand

01
how to use the program. Once you’re on your way, it won’t be hard to follow all the way.

We have 4 columns to the program:

Day 1 Sets Reps Load RPE Notes

Under column 1, you will see all your exercises and under column 2 will be your sets.

Column 3 is load. For most exercises load will be empty. This is for you to fill out. NOTE: Do
not fill out anything other than the number you use. This will allow the calculations used
throughout the program to carry through.

When inputted incorrectly, you will see #VALUE! In your week 2 load column.

Column 4 is RPE which is a rating of how hard you should work out of 10. This can loosely be
thought of as “how many did you have left in the tank?”. In week 1, this is going to determine
your load. In subsequent weeks, these will largely be empty and you can fill them out as a
gauge for the coming weeks.

Column 5 includes any additional information I have about the exercise, and is a great place
for you to write notes to refer back to over the coming weeks.

My #1 tip in the first week of any block?

DO NOT OVERSHOOT RPE. Be conservative and
push later. If you overextend yourself this week,
the rest of the block will fall apart. This is NOT your
competition day, so don’t treat it that way.
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RPE
Week
01
In week 1, we are using RPE based training. Put simply, RPE is a judgement of how hard you are
working out of 10, with 10 being the most challenging load you could have possibly done. An
RPE of 9 would mean you could have done 1 more rep, RPE of 8 means you could have done 2
more reps, RPE of 7 means you could have... well, you get the picture. All you have to do is input
your numbers into the “load” column program and the numbers for week 2 will automatically
pop up.

Week The purpose of a peak

02
A peak simply refers to a period of your training dedicated to a particular competition or
testing day. Why can’t we just train normally up to the date, take a week off and have a rip in?
Well, you’ll be leaving upwards of 10% on the table for your performance on the day.
A peak takes you into a strong position to start a strength block, then you slowly
drop back accessory volume to focus more and more on the increasing intensity
of your main lifts. With all your energy (and recovery) focused on the big 3, you will
notice your numbers are well in excess of what you could do pre-peak. This is the
reason you will see top level competitors performing much less impressive lifts
during their offseason (or they hide that bit from you). The natural question then
becomes - why don’t you always work to a peak, deload and peak again? Well..... it’s
not that simple. Working through 3 major movements, and only focusing on those
for an extended period will cause your body to adapt to the stimulus, limiting
your progression and ultimately leaving training stale while you exist in lifetime
mediocre numbers.
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Principles of the squat
Week
03
Don’t feel like you need to be a hero on any day, just show up, put in the effort and reap the
rewards. Issues arise when motivation wanes, injury creeps up, you stop challenging yourself
week over week and all of a sudden, you’re back where you started. Don’t let the “experts”
make you question your form from 7 different angles to see if your body is moving as perfect as
humanly possible. In the end, the best thing you can do to improve a lift is practice that lift. That
being said, there are some general principles that are true for everyone, whether a complete
novice or a world class lifter:

1. Collapsed chest indicates quad strength is lacking. Front squats and high bar squats can help
with this.

2. Knees shooting forward with a very upright torso indicated an inability to use the posterior
chain (glutes, hamstrings, erectors) efficiently. Widening your stance and focusing on driving
the knees out could help here.

3. Excessive lumbar extension (bum sticking out) indicates an inability to brace into your back,
not just your stomach. See this drill to help with the proprioception of full-torso bracing.

4. A fast descent coupled with fails in the hole indicate a lack of eccentric control.
Tempo squats would be a good option if you struggle with this.
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Week The purpose of a peak

04
Bench is one of the most challenging exercises to perfect for a strength athlete. While it is
often the first resistance exercise we perform when we stepped foot into a gym, there is a
ton of nuance to getting this number to increase. Many just accept their bench is what it
is, justifying the thought by the potential increase on the total with an increased squat and
deadlift. Proportionately, bench press has the least influence BUT every kilo added to your
total counts just the same.
Here is a good starting point to use as a checklist for a solid foundation to improve
your bench:
• Your “leg drive” effectively shifts your bodyweight onto your traps AND
stabilizes your body from shifting left to right.
• Your butt touches the bench on the closes part of your hamstring, and you are
not lying on the meat of your glutes.
• Your shoulder blades are squeezed back as hard as you can and pulled as far
away from your ears as possible.
• You raise your chest to the bar as it descends, creating more and more tension
in your back, feeling as though you are “loading the spring”.
• Your elbows stay tucked under the bar throughout the lift.

Week Principles of the deadlift

05
Well, block 1 is in the books. You have earned yourself a deload and it is time for the central
nervous system to rest, recover and allow your body to be fully prepared for the second, and
final, block of your peak. If loads feel a bit heavy this week, thats OK! You’ll go in with a bit
less motivation and adrenaline than week 4, where you would have been pushing some big
numbers. This week will have the first half with volume reduced significantly and loads reduced
moderately before ramping back up in the second half of the week to get ready for your second
block of the peak. Ah, the deadlift. While I am partial to this lift (for obvious reasons), it is the
area where most people can make the most ground to have a huge total.

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Week
05
While I have a whole 12 week virtual coaching block on deadlifts as there is heaps to unpack, I
will try to give the most vital principles to improve your deadlift:

• Your torso should be angled between 15 and 30 degrees above parallel (30-
45 degrees for sumo).
• The bar should be in contact with your legs throughout the lift.
• Flexing the upper back will help off the ground and hurt at lockout
• Low hips = tough off the floor, easy at lockout
• High hips = easier off the floor, tough at lockout
• Your shoulder blades should be rolled forward as to decrease the range of
motion of the lift
• Knees pushing over the bar = more help from the quads off the floor but risks
the bar falling away from you
• Knees back = posterior chain dominant off the floor but easier to keep the bar
close to you
• The bar will always be in line with your shoulder, so your shoulder must always
stay over the front of your shins.

Week The purpose of two-phase

06
While many systems (including coaches) program a single phase of peaking, I prefer to have two
distinct phases. This allows for a gradual adaptation of not just the muscular system, but the
central nervous system. Phase 1 is a strength block when it comes to your main movements,
but many accessories are still included. Early in the peak, where you are not pushing at RPE
9+ and your body is quickly adapting to the new stimulus, you should still include accessories
because it is well within your “maximum recoverable volume”. Phase 2 begins after a 1 week
reload and we have to accept our own individual limitations. While you will begin to PB, you
can’t have your cake and eat it too. In this case, you can’t maintain your accessory volume and
still have your major lifts improve. You simply will not be able to recover and you will begin to
go backwards. In the end, the intention is that in phase 1 you get ~90-95% as prepared as you
would in single phase peaking systems, and in phase 2 you get ~105% of a single phase peaking
system. 5% is often the difference between elation and disappointment.
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Week The three pillars of recovery

07
It’s week 7, you’ve passed the halfway point and you’re only 6 weeks out! We’re starting to
get into some serious work now but remember, you are only entering your second week of a
6-week block. This could be some of the hardest training you’ve done before but adhere to the
program and you will reap the rewards.

The Staples of Recovery

Recovery separates the good from the great. This is because recovery ultimately dictates
maximum recoverable volume (a strong indicator of who will progress faster). While some of
the factors of recovery are outside of our control (genetic), there are many things you can do
to improve your ability to recover. In brief, here are the 3 pillars of recovery:

Sleep
Everyone and their dog knows that sleeping well means better recovery, but exactly how
does sleeping well help? When we sleep, our parasympathetic nervous system takes over and
signals the body that it is time to “rest and digest”. In contrast, when we are awake our bodies
are often driven by our sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight mode”). This means we are
signalling to ourselves that we need to have all of our resources ready for the wooly mammoth
(or difficult boss) and it is no time to begin the repair process of our body. Hell, we don’t want
to go wasting precious supplies on recovery when we might need them any second!
Deeper, longer sleep means that our parasympathetic system has time to signal our body to
repair our tissues, reduce our systemic inflammation, drop our blood pressure and prepare
to smash our training the next day. So, how do you sleep better? Nothing you haven’t heard
before. A darker room, a regular night-time routine, limiting blue light before bed and keeping
your cell phone in a different room can all help. Waking up at the same time each day is also
integral to a healthy sleep pattern.

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Nutrition/hydration
Simply put, you can’t repair something if you don’t have the resources to repair it. Furthermore,
Week you can’t repair something if the resources are inaccessible or can’t enter the cell. You also can’t

07 repair anything if you can’t transport the resource to where it needs to go. Macronutrients
(protein, carbs and fats) are the resources you require. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)
make the resources accessible and help them to enter the cell. Blood (comprised mostly of
water) transports the micronutrients to the cell. If you are dehydrated, your body priorities
vital organs and doesn’t care how sore your quads are.
In short, eat lots, eat your fruits/veggies and drink your water and you’ll be fine.

Stressd your resources and you can’t direct any of them to resting and repairing. Getting
your home life in order, working a fulfilling job, meditation and taking time to unplug are great
places to start if stress is a regular issue for you. No, you don’t have to cool your palms or jump
in an ice bath. No, cryotherapy isn’t required, and you don’t need compression leg sleeves.
Massage, acupuncture, dry needling, stretching and “adjustments” are mostly crap (according
to peer reviewed evidence), so don’t feel the need to spend your money on these things! If
they feel good then go for it, but make sure your pillars are in order before getting fancy.
My #1 recovery method, that reduces stress, increases blood flow and helps me to
sleep better - non-negotiable 10,000 steps per day.

Guide to neural fatigue

Week
08
We have 4 more weeks of pushing hard before you’re going to discover what you are truly
capable of. Last week we addressed recovery, the sympathetic nervous system and the
parasympathetic nervous system. In large part, this is an extension of the same discussion.
When you push harder and harder with very high efforts, you are driving your sympathetic
nervous system to its max. You are demanding a lot from an individual system over and over,
and eventually it simply gets stale. You are unable to get yourself into the same head space
and the bar feels twice as heavy. The goal in learning about systemic fatigue is to nip it in the
bud before it affects your training at all. The early signs of systemic fatigue often begin with
irritability. Then comes generalized fatigue coupled with poor sleep. While this is individual in
exactly how these things creep up, it is fairly reliable that this will start before it dramatically
impacts your training. At this stage of prep, the best thing you can do to mitigate neural fatigue
is to improve your recovery methods (see week 7).
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Mental Resilience
Week
09
As you go through a prep, you hit a point where you’re touching some weights you’ve never
handled before. You think to yourself “xxxxx kg/lbs is so much for me”. You get into your head
about what you’re capable of. The only problem with this is comparing yourself to who you
USED to be. By being good enough, every day, you’re proving that you are far from the person
who hit your old PB’s. Embrace the new YOU.

Mental resilience is one of the most valuable things an athlete can have, in any sport. I define
mental resilience as the ability to recognize a challenging circumstance, accept the impacts and
create a plan that best addresses the challenge. You don’t pretend no challenge is too large for
your plan, and you recognize your own limitations (which are often greater than many people
believe). Mental resilience means you don’t need the perfect song, training environment or
competition environment to thrive. You don’t need your lucky traditions and perfect pre comp
meal. It is a recognition that external variables may play a small role in performance, but your
psychological reaction to those external variables has a much larger impact. Mental toughness
tells you that nothing will change your outcome. No circumstance will knock you from your
path and your targets. This is great in principle, but it sets you up to be very tough, until you’re
not tough at all. Here’s an example: 1 week pre-comp, you tear a hamstring. A grade 1 tear that
you can feel but isn’t a major worry. Mental resilience - “I’ll drop back my 250kg squat target
to 240kg, a very comfortable weight.” Mental toughness - “time for a battle, no way I’d drop my
squat. 250kg it is. Let say in both cases you go 3/3 on squats.”

What’s the likelihood of tweaking the hamstring again with the max squat of the “mentally
tough” version of you. Pretty good. Then come deadlifts, where the mentally resilient version
of you again opts for the smart choice, a 5kg PB of 270kg. The “tough” version of you opts for
the 280kg planned when you started your peak, 12 weeks ago. Maybe you get it, and maybe
you don’t. Lets say you do, despite the hamstring damage. OK, so the mentally tough version
of you might have come out on top, but at what cost? Now your hamstring tear is a grade 2.
Hinging at all is irritating for 4 weeks, and it takes 8 weeks to deadlift regularly again. Congrats,
you’ve just wasted 15% of your training year to be tough. 12 weeks later, you are back to your
comp numbers, while the resilient version of yours increase their strength 5% and tested again,
completely healthy, hitting a 262.5kg squat and a 294kg deadlift (+26kg on the “tough” you).
These numbers aren’t unrealistic, and this case study isn’t farfetched. Things like this happen
ALL THE TIME. Look around at the people who progress and those who don’t. The guy who
always goes guns-a-blazing, is he progressing quickly? What about the steady, consistent girl
who hasn’t missed a training day in years? The proof is always in the pudding.
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Maximizing your total
Week
10
Only 2 weeks left to push forward, 3 weeks to the comp. This week brings some much-needed relief as
most volume and accessories have dropped off. Believe it or not, 95% of your hard work has been done,
and at this stage of the program the focus should be on exposing that strength without the interference
of fatigue or extra volume. Powerlifting is a sport, a game, and there is a game within the game that
you must play to maximise your total. While on the surface it seems like there you simply go out there,
max out 3 times and go home, the amount of variability is through the roof. What are your attempt
selections? Are you hoping for a new squat PB? How will that affect your deadlift? You failed your bench
opener, now what? The name of the game is to have the highest total possible. Not a kick ass squat or a
300lb bench. For the vast majority of people, your weight selections should look like this:

• Opener: 90-93% of projected max

• 2nd attempt: 95-97% of your projected max
• 3rd attempt: 98-102% of your projected max (based on how you feel)

To add another layer on this, you must consider how a high effort squat will affect the rest of your day.
You don’t want to win the battle but lose the war. In this case, you must do the following calculation:
(Successful attempt - new attempt) (probability of success) = projected increase (benefit) You must
then compare that number to the chances it affects the rest of your performance: (Projected bench +
projected deadlift) (estimated impact of max squat) = projected decrease (cost) Let’s say you’re 70%
sure you can squat 140kg after you just squatted 130kg. This means your projected benefit would be
(140 - 130) * 0.7 = 7kg You’re honest with yourself and say that this will likely impact the rest of your
day by 5%, and you projected to bench 90kg and deadlift 165kg. (90 + 165) * (0.05) = 12.75kg In this
example, there is no way attempting the squat would be worth it despite how you might feel foregoing a
third attempt. You (or your coach/handler) must be disciplined enough to play the game of powerlifting
and sacrifice the battle for the war. Of course, it would be ridiculous to expect anyone to be doing
calculations during a powerlifting meet, but it illustrates a very powerful point that even a *probable*
10kg improvement might not be worth it. In this example, even a 100% guarantee of adding 10kg on the
squat wouldn’t be worth it with a cost of 12.75kg.
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Strategies to outperform strong athletes
Week
11
I find much more enjoyment in the hard work of the process than I do in seeing the result
itself. Cherish the last of the heavy loads you’ll lift before comp, refine your technical cues and
remember that after comp, volume is coming!
You can’t rock up to every comp and be the strongest guy there. Or you might be the strongest
but less experienced or less skilled. In the end, you have to prepare to not be the favourite to
come out on top on the day. Even if this is the case, your preparation could be the difference.
Here are the major points of importance for a comp:

• DO NOT change any habit, warm up sets, activation exercise,

pre comp meal etc because of what you see someone else
doing. I’ll give you the tip: 90% of experienced lifters are just
doing what they saw someone else do and it ended up feeling
good for them. There are no secrets here.
• DO NOT water cut more than 5% (3 hour weigh in) or 7.5%
(24 hour weigh in) as this will have more cost than benefit (see
week 10)
• DO NOT eat a fistful of candy at the beginning of the day. The
blood sugar spike will not last past bench press
• DO NOT wig out about the judging, squatting ass to grass
because you think the left judge is strict will kill you. Either you
prepared properly, or you didn’t. If you get called on tech, that’s
why you have 2 more attempts.
• DO NOT implement those little tips and tricks on the day
• DO NOT listen to what other people are planning on hitting, as
the “plan” is almost always BS
• DO speak to everyone you can, pick up little tips and tricks
• DO focus on enjoying yourself and immersing yourself in the
community
• DO have light, complex carbohydrates (ie crackers) and sugar
free electrolyte replacement to snack/sip on during the day
• DO take some time on the platform to soak it up, you have a
bunch of
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Thank you!
Week I hope this has given you the tools and resources to be able to build your body and

12
your strength to align with your goals. You can follow along the program and the nutrition,
but it is important to me that you understand the “why” more than the “what. Building
muscle and getting stronger doesn’t have to be complicated. Difficult, yes. Complicated,
no.

I would love you to send over your feedback to

info@mitchellhooperstrongman.com to let us know
what you thought about the program.

If you haven’t already, check out our clothing at www.

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