How To Program "Fatigue" Singles

Programming singles after a top rep set is nothing new. People have been doing that for who knows how long, and it is something I have been doing for years now, and other coaches did that well before me. But as of recently, this tool has developed into more of a system within my model of programming. And thanks to Wascar Carpio, he has coined it a "fatigue" single. The biggest issue with singles is when your model of programming is not designed around their implementation, for a multitude of reasons, they can be fairly disruptive to the overall training protocol when you start adding them in. I discuss the why of this in detail in my recent videos on Powerlifting Now, but in my latest KZbin video, I wanted to specifically touch on my current system of programming fatigue singles. I briefly touch on the reasons they can be disruptive, but more so take a statistical look into Wascar's training leading into Powerlifting America Nationals. I detail the pretty profound difference we saw in average intensity and total tonnage block to block as we transitioned from fatigue singles to prioritizing singles first. As well as I go over 3 different models of implementing fatigue singles over a full 3 block macro cycle.
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[@GR-em5lr]

The fact this knowledge is being given for free is wild. Thanks Steve

[@PRsPerformance]

My pleasure! (chick-fil-a pun intended)

[@TheSwolefessor]

First. Y’all aren’t trying to learn like me.

[@PRsPerformance]

Thanks boo

[@StrengthCorps]

I hate taking 🥈 but I’ll leave the comment for the algo 😒

[@Silvan_Wappel]

Ngl. been following for a long time now. But the fact that the videos are always improving is just great. No cookie cuter 3 min. content here. Not to mention the content on Powerlifting NOW. I salute you Sir!

[@PRsPerformance]

Thank you man!

[@StephColbertsonStrength]

Always quality info. Love the breakdown of how you found the reason for the drop off in performance.

[@PRsPerformance]

Thank you!!

[@ilyaskhalfoun677]

Crazy how your giving this knowledge away for free honestly the most underrated channel

[@PRsPerformance]

Just doing my part to offset the memes and inflammatory comments I make on IG and 2 White Lights haha

[@saz1471]

This is an awesome programming idea and I will definitely be implementing. Especially considering it seems like a great way to maintain the skill of heavy singles, while in volume or hypertrophy (5+ rep) phases. Also the mic upgrade is great!

[@PRsPerformance]

Mic was 🔑!!

[@anubislockward3750]

Fatigued Singles have helped me greatly. I use them on all compounds and variations, as well as cluster sets.

[@PRsPerformance]

Great to hear!

[@Hassan__Sobh]

Love this video can't wait to try this strategy out on one of my lifters post meet!

[@PRsPerformance]

Awesome, hope it works well!

[@lifter3455]

we missed you steve never leave youtube 🙏

[@PRsPerformance]

I won't be leaving, but I am pretty busy with all the Powerlifting Now videos, so YT will be a little less frequent.

[@SignaL2k10]

thank you! I just did my national meet and used single top set in all 3 blocks of the macrocycle for the prep and first block did a big pr squat(280kg) and after that every block was weaker and the backoff work was bad too and only squatted 265kg in the meet and i figured i dont need that single top set all blocks only in the last block because its making everything worse this way but after this video i will test this out its looks really promising in my case and for some of my lifters who responds to this similarly.

[@PRsPerformance]

Yep, that is what I see over and over and over again. In regards to my system of programming, and likely what you were doing, it is based around pushing rep work most of the year. So when you alter that come meet prep time, all too often you see that first and/or second block go great, and then things starting to sputter after that. And to clarify as well, you may only need that single the final block, I have plenty of people I do that with too. This video was just a programming strategy that can work for people who need that singles exposure, but need to make sure it is not over prioritized too soon.

[@Emresinho]

Finally good mic quality 😍 (coming from older videos)

[@PRsPerformance]

Camera and mic upgrades thanks to Powerlifting Now

[@PaigeYesLee]

Thank You!!

[@PRsPerformance]

You're welcome!

[@ShinSuperSaiyajin]

This actually worked for my bench. Thought it was ridiculous at first on the 1st 2 weeks. But on the 3rd week, voila!

[@PRsPerformance]

Good to hear! I forgot to mention this in the video, but a rep set prior to a single does not fatigue the single that much either, especially on bench. People will be fairly surprised how well they can still do on that single even after hitting a hard rep set.

[@ShinSuperSaiyajin]

@@PRsPerformance can attest to this! That primary rep set acted as a primer for me to hit that fatigue single hard and fast

[@ArtlantisDE]

New Steve Video = Many programs are going to change until the next video

[@PRsPerformance]

😂😂😂

[@jessevanmourik3437]

I interacted with an instagram post of yours and just got around to watching your video. Firstly I'd like to get out of the way I agree with most points/premises you present here. You say that a single should not fatigue a lifter too much and I agree, a single @6-7 should indeed not be too exhausting. Instead you explain the difference in repwork weight done after a single with an adrenaline drop-off or an idea from the lifter that the repwork is less important than the single. If this is the issue causing repwork to be of lower quality, why not coach the lifter in such a way that you instill in them that the singles should not be overhyped and that the repwork is also very important, this way you can still keep the single as a first set. This would be beneficial since there seems to be evidence that doing some heavy lifting before repwork improves subsequent work through post activation potentiation. My next idea about fatigue singles would be that they potentially are less effective than "fresh" singles since neural adaptation response is lowered by fatigue. Fatigue also matters more on heavier weights than it does on repwork, so being fatigued during back off volume would matter less than being fatigued during a heavy single. I hope that I have clearly formulated my points and am curious what your thoughts are on these.

[@PRsPerformance]

It’s not as easy as telling a lifter to simply take that rep work more serious. I told that to Wascar almost every single week of blocks 2-3. There are many lifters you can tell that to over and over but it doesn’t change a thing, as you have to account for lifter psychology within programming. One of the most important things I’ve learned as a coach is to dictate programming to leverage a lifters psychology, vs forcing them into what you want. Perfect science would dictate a lifter should be able to adapt and change their focus, but that’s not how things always go. And while I’d have some counters to the neural adaptation argument, my point as a whole is that I am willing to take a 2% hit on a top single to increase the average intensity and total tonnage by 6% in this scenario. The majority of the work being done is not the single, it’s all the rep work. So if the lifter has 20+ other repetitions during the workout, I’d prefer those to be take a 6% bump in this scenario vs. over prioritizing 1 singular rep that may take a 1-2% hit. Lastly, as mentioned in the video, this is based on my system of programming where I prioritize repetition work over singles through the vast majority of the year. If your system prioritizes singles as a primary tool for gaining strength through the majority of the year, then that makes a pretty notable difference to the approach you’d take. Lastly as shown, I have multiple examples of how you can periodize the priority of that single based on the lifter. I am by no means saying always keep the single after the rep set.

[@jessevanmourik3437]

@@PRsPerformance I fully agree that it's not as simple as telling a lifter to just change their behavior and using programming to influence psychology is a good tool. but there are other tools to manage this, for example, the emerging strategies protocol from RTS, where the backoffs arent based on RPE, but based on the estimated 1rm calculated from the single, this way the load selection is not done by the athlete, but by the performance. on your point of choosing to prioritize a 6% gain in tonnage on rep work while sacrificing 1-2% on a single, I think that is very valid and 51 out of 52 weeks in a year I would do the same. My issue however is that volume work after a single doesn't need to have such a big tonnage drop-off, if any. I will agree with you that if you need to choose between a slightly better single or a big improvement in tonnage lifted on rep work and this is the way to do it, that it's a very valid protocol.

[@PRsPerformance]

Well again my point through this whole video is it is not as easy as just saying prescribe a load after the top single and it’s all the same. Then it’s very possible that due to the adrenaline dump, that assigned load becomes much harder than planned. In this example the lifter wasn’t sandbagging purposefully, the RPE and velocity showed that the rep work was simply suffering from what he did in blocks prior when he did rep work first.

[@jessevanmourik3437]

@@PRsPerformance I get what you're saying. And I don't think your lifter was purposely sandbagging back-offs. But you noted that the fatigue single now is a staple within your protocols. I find your reasoning in this case study very logical, but for other cases I wouldn't be so quick to apply the same protocol, since for other lifters the single before volume might not have a negative impact.

[@PRsPerformance]

A staple by no means entails everyone I coach does this. Just that it’s developed into a multi-block, multiple version system that a quarter to maybe half of my lifters now utilize in some way. Versus before it would usually be a singular block tool that I used very sporadically. As well as it’s lift dependent. You may use this for only 1 lift.

[@catedoge3206]

might try these. edit: it's a great autoregulation technique so i dont overshoot my heavy single for the week. usually, i'd go too heavy then I'm too gassed out for my back off sets. implemented these and i can now finish my deadlift sessions lmao

[@PRsPerformance]

🪨🇺🇸🦅

[@kevinAdobo]

Can you make a video "how to fix hip rising first in squatting" that's one of my weaknesses

[@PRsPerformance]

I probably wouldn’t do a specific video on it, as all my other squat videos in summation show how to fix it

[@benjaminlair]

Regarding the case study, why did block 3 single started so low compared to block 2 first week after finishing block 2 on a massive PR. Did strength take a huge hit between blocks or was it voluntary?

[@PRsPerformance]

As I mentioned, this was all condensed to make it easy to explain. Block 1 and 2 had introductory weeks where he started light as well, so week 1 that is shown is actually week 2. Whereas block 3, week 1 was the actual week 1 where he was taking a notable pullback due to the heavy week prior. There is also secondary day squat data that shows a similar pattern, but for the simplicity of teaching this, it would have made it too cluttered.

[@powerlifter1450]

An interesting concept; thanks Steve. Do you think the main benefit here is being able to perform better on the rep sets? - Or, for example, if you find someone actually performs better on the reps after the singles - would you keep them doing it that way ..... or are there enough other benefits to doing the singles in a fatigued state that you'd still utilize this concept on some blocks?

[@PRsPerformance]

It’s more so to keep priority on the rep sets in the scenario where the lifter typically has a larger drop off proportionately when they do the single first.

[@powerlifter1450]

@@PRsPerformance - makes sense; thanks!

[@ilyaskhalfoun677]

What would be the difference between programming backdowns with the same reps as the top set vs them being 1-3 reps more than your top set and why would you do either one?

[@PRsPerformance]

That’s what this months video on Powerlifting Now is about, so check that out.

[@ilyaskhalfoun677]

@@PRsPerformance bet thank you so much!

[@themidgetgorilla]

On the Option 3 Block 3, is the 16% drop from top set meant to be the single or the triple? I'm asking because you've mentioned that you reduce 3% per rep increase on backoffs so it would make sense if it's from the triple. And also options 1 and 2 the triple is before the single and the 16% drop is the same.

[@PRsPerformance]

It is a 10% drop plus 6% for the rep change, and when I say top set I am referring to the top rep set.

[@themidgetgorilla]

@@PRsPerformance Thank you, glad my hunch was correct.

[@stefanoscodina241]

What the secondary squat day looks like for Wascar?

[@PRsPerformance]

SSB in the 5-7 rep range

[@yourforklift1436]

Why not just do rpe on backoffs?

[@PRsPerformance]

Because then you are leaving the entirety of the program up to the subjectivity of the lifter. If you give 10 lifters the same RPE only program, you will likely find all 10 execute it in a different ways.

[@user-mw1xp4fs4y]

How many days a week do I have to do squats??

[@PRsPerformance]

Most people will likely start at 2

[@user-mw1xp4fs4y]

@@PRsPerformance Thank you for your reply.

[@WoutVereecke]

You should make podcasts

[@PRsPerformance]

I can't tell if this is serious or sarcasm

[@WoutVereecke]

@@PRsPerformance i’m serious haha

[@PRsPerformance]

So I have 2 podcasts, 2 White Lights and Powerlifting Now. Also been a guest on many others that you could check out, including Fully Biased Powerlifting, Weakly Weights, Massenomics, Adam Peeler Fitness Podcast, and The Strong Suit Podcast.

[@WoutVereecke]

@@PRsPerformance Did not know this, but will check them out! Thank you.