HOW TO (INTELLIGENTLY) IMPLEMENT FREQUENT MAXING FOR RAPID STRENGTH GAINS

HOW TO (INTELLIGENTLY) IMPLEMENT FREQUENT MAXING FOR RAPID STRENGTH GAINS

By Shane Robert

THE VIRAL RISE OF DAILY MAXING

In the early days of social media, when Instagram was still wearing swaddling clothes and Facebook only had about one-fifth of the users it has today, when the iPhone was a mere three years old and YouTube barely more than five, it was not as easy for an idea to go viral.Yet, in 2010, this is exactly what happened when American Weightlifting coach John Broz introduced a paradigm-shifting concept to a new and enthusiastic generation of lifters—frequent (or even daily) maxing on lifts.

A BRUTAL BLUEPRINT: THE BULGARIAN INFLUENCE

The idea of daily maxing wasn’t new, of course. It had been conceived and implemented by the infamous Bulgarian Weightlifting coach Ivan “The Butcher” Abadzhiev. The Bulgarians of the 1970s through the 1990s trained under Abadzhiev’s system by working up to a max single on the snatch, power snatch, clean and jerk, power clean, squat, front squat, and, sometimes, pulls, every day, multiple times per day, followed by some back off work for low reps, often working back up to more max singles. This brutal system broke bodies, crushed spirits and (for those lifters who could handle the training), absolutely demolished world records. All of the surviving lifters were aided, in the words of Abadzhiev, by “little pink pills,” ultimately leading to the downfall of Bulgarian dominance once the IOC started implementing stricter drug testing.Antonio Krastev, a Bulgarian superheavyweight lifter and world record holder—and one of Abadzhiev’s protégés—mentored a young John Broz, who lived with him for a time.It was from Krastev that Broz developed his own similar philosophy that he brought back to the internet generation in America.

Under normal training conditions, volume, frequency, and intensity (percent of 1 rep max) are three dials that can be adjusted at different times to achieve specific training objectives. Generally, one of these can be high while the other two are moderate to low; maybe, maybe, two can be high at once, but the third better be low. Bulgarian style training said, “Yeah, heard. But what if we turn all the dials to 11?” It turns out that it is very darn effective at making you very darn strong very darn quickly. That is, if you don’t break down mentally or physically first. 

LIVING THE METHOD: MY EXPERIMENT WITH DAILY MAXES

When Broz’s articles and YouTube videos came out, it didn’t take much to convince me that this was the holy grail of strength training I had been searching for. It also helped that there were other coaches and lifting authorities, like Matthew Perryman, advocating for similar styles of training. My natural disposition is chaotic, and I’ve always struggled with sticking to training plans, especially long-term. Nothing suits me better than having the guideline of simply maxing out all the time. Suddenly, there were people saying go ahead and embrace that and see if it's possible to get too strong. Needless to say, I dove headfirst into daily maxes, sometimes multiple times per day, with backoff volume. In short order, I started to see PRs fall left and right on my three powerlifts, eventually culminating in 455 pound high bar “No, No, No” squat (that is - no belt, no knee wraps/sleeves, no spotters) from a starting max of around 365, a 285 pound bench, and 530 pound deadlift. All while weighing right around 180 pounds. 

BURNOUT AND BREAKDOWN

While I have eclipsed those numbers for bench and deadlift, that is still the best high-bar squat I have ever hit. I was also a total wreck. My hip flexors were so tight and tired that I couldn’t lift my leg over the seat of my bike, instead getting on very awkwardly from the back. Every part of my body ached, and I only started to feel somewhat human after painfully working my way up to 315 on squats for a few paused reps. I had no appetite and had to force myself to eat even moderate amounts of food. My sleep was a complete mess; many nights, I would be exhausted but couldn’t fall asleep. On the other nights, I’d fall asleep, only to wake around 2 or 3 am, unable to fall back asleep. All of these are classic symptoms of overtraining. Who cares about that? Eat when you’re old and sleep when you’re dead. I had records to beat! 

Like all good things, this had to come to an end. And end it did. I left for an 18-day trip to Thailand two days after the 455 squat. When I came home, I was weaker than when I had started, not even able to squat 365. Likely, I could have gotten back and beyond that in no time if I had the fortitude to go full Broz-arian again, but alas, I couldn’t muster the courage to put myself through that all over again. 

At least not so soon and not like that. 

HOW TO AVOID PITFALLS

High frequency and high intensity lifting is an incredibly powerful tool for rapidly increasing strength. Frequently working with max or near-max loads increases neurological efficiency of a movement. In other words, it makes you much better at doing that specific movement under those specific conditions, i.e., displaying maximum strength. Unfortunately, the benefit that greater efficiency imparts starts to plateau rather quickly. Since volume is the main driver of (long-term) adaptation, the only solution that’s left to a lifter using this tool is to do more backdown sets and/or increase the frequency even more. This is why it becomes somewhat common to see protocols asking for 2, 3, and even 4 max sessions per day. These additional max-out sessions and added backoff sets become untenable at some point, even for someone popping little pink pills like they were M&Ms. 

Another issue that tends to creep up for lifters trying this style of training is overuse injuries. Since the tissues of the body are being loaded day in and day out with the same exact movement(s), with very similar loads, it can start to cause joint issues. One way to avoid this is to make changes, even subtle ones, to the movement itself. Changing the exercises to avoid these very issues has been a staple of Westside Barbell training for decades, and they only max once per week.

SMARTER APPLICATION FOR LASTING GAINS

Understanding that both training volume and frequency have limits—and that benefits from increased frequency tend to plateau quickly—is an advantage for anyone exploring this style of training. It allows us to design a phased layout that strategically adjusts frequency, volume, and exercise selection to avoid burnout and promote long-term adaptation.

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15 WEEK HIGH FREQUENCY, HIGH INTENSITY PROGRAM

Since, likely, you aren’t currently maxing even once per week, there is no need to start maxing every day. We will get there eventually. Below is a phased program of high frequency, high intensity, and eventually, high volume, that will peak you to whatever specific exercise(s) you may want to use it on. 

BLOCK 1

This block uses the same movement(s) each training day. Since we are still building frequency, it is less of a concern that the movements repeat (note: this block is heavily influenced by the great, Minimal Dose Training study conducted by Dr. Pak Androulakis-Korakakis).

The last week of this block acts as a taper week to test a new max. It is almost a guarantee that you will hit some PRs before this. That is kind of the point of this type of training. What we are hoping is that we can even eclipse those numbers on the last week. After testing, it’s time to spend a block, at least 6 weeks, of more traditional training. You can maintain higher frequency, but the intensity should be significantly lower. Something like Easy Strength is a great option. 

High frequency/high intensity training can bring rapid strength gains. It can also really mess you up if you aren’t smart about how you do it. It’s possible to avoid the pitfalls of this training if you implement it in a smart, phasic way. The 15 week program that was shared is a great example of how to do just that. The point of this training, of course, is that it lends itself to autoregulation very well, so don’t fear making adjustments to the program. Just don’t lose sight of what it’s trying to accomplish.