Developmental vs Specialization Blocks

[brandondmelton]

I’ve been trying to pick up as much material about programming from good (though free, thus far) sources such as BBM content and templates, as well as some of the material RTS has available for free. As I’ve ran and thought through the way your templates are programmed, one of the main questions I have is: what distinguishes a hypertrophy block from a developmental block from a specialization block?

I’ve seen examples of what you term hypertrophy blocks in the Hypertrophy and Powerbuilding templates. Typically a ramp-up protocol with repeat sets or % drop backoff sets. Is there any utility in structuring a hypertrophy block for a powerlifter to follow something like this on the comp lifts:

[email protected]
-15% from [email protected] for 3-4 sets of 8 reps

Or does having the low-rep benchmark set make it a developmental block? Or is that a distinction without a difference, to some extent?

As far as specialization blocks go, does that have more to do with performing heavy singles on assistance exercises as compared to developmental blocks? Or more to do with working in lower rep ranges for volume work on the comp lifts and close variants?

Or am I completely off here on all of this? I’m trying to think through how some of these things are programmed so that I can begin to try making some adjustments as needed in the future, as I certainly can’t afford 1-on-1 coaching. Also I realize that maybe there’s no concise, forum-appropriate answer here. In which case do you have any recommended resources that might clarify some of these things for me?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Brandon,

It's going to be hard to answer this succinctly in a forum post, but I'll try to be as direct as possible.

In general, hypertrophy blocks will have higher rep ranges and even less specificity than developmental blocks, which will have higher rep ranges and less specificity than a specialization block. That said, our programming models are mostly concurrent periodization so we don't really go all-in on the rep range/specificity gig. Specificity will be unique to the goal or desired adaptations, of course. For example, in an individual who isn't going to test their 1RM's -either on the platform or in the gym- I rarely program singles in any phase. Rather, I'll just use heavier triples, (3 @ 8 or 3 @ 9) in a "specialization phase".

I would not program a hypertrophy block with sets of 3.

Hope this helps!

-Jordan

[brandondmelton]

Thanks, Jordan! That’s helpful.

I Don’t know if there’s any plans for this in the future, but I’d love it if you guys put together some more extensive program design content that fleshed out in more detail how you see some of these different concepts coming together. I’m sure it would be time-consuming to put together, but I’d bet lots of people would be willing to pay for that content. I know I would!

[brandondmelton]

One other quick follow-up question: for a powerlifter or someone motivated primarily by 1RM improvement in the S/B/D would it be fairly unlikely for you to program hypertrophy blocks at all (save for maybe a post-meet extended pivot block of sorts), but instead more developmental blocks?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

One other quick follow-up question: for a powerlifter or someone motivated primarily by 1RM improvement in the S/B/D would it be fairly unlikely for you to program hypertrophy blocks at all (save for maybe a post-meet extended pivot block of sorts), but instead more developmental blocks?

I would definitely program both hypertrophy blocks as well as blocks with very low specificity. People are in a huge rush to get "strong", but forget it's a really long process.