It is common knowledge that beginners and more advanced athletes need to approach strength development differently. Beginners tend to need more volume to practise the skill of the lifts, whereas more advanced lifters need greater intensity to drive strength gains. We can see this in the contrast between basic programmes like Starting Strength and something like the Texas Method.

So does a prescription like “build to a heavy set of five back squats” actually help your typical general population athlete coming into CrossFit classes? Building to a heavy set is about expressing strength rather than developing it — but there are situations where this can be a very useful prescription.

More explosive or fast twitch athletes might find the volume of something like 5×5 too much and counterproductive from a recovery standpoint. And we are not always in a strength development phase with every athlete — there will be times when qualities are on maintenance but the lifts still need to be practised.

In this episode we discuss the utility of a prescription like “build to a heavy,” where it has its drawbacks with beginner lifters and where it can be useful in other situations. We also get into what different types of athletes need and respond well to it, and how to manage something like adaptation currency to maximise long term strength gains.

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