Austin Perkins Detailed Training Breakdown w/ Joe Stanek

Coaching Austin Perkins: Training Adjustments and Progress

This coaching case study features host Colton Phillips interviewing Joe Stanek about changes to powerlifter Austin Perkins’ training. After reaching an approximately 800 kg total, Perkins plateaued and dealt with a hernia and inconsistent training. Stanek says their work helped him resume progress. At the time of the interview, Perkins was described as having the highest DOTS score in the IPF.

Bench Press

Perkins’ bench was initially around 180 kg, and his best had reached roughly 214–215 kg by the time of the interview. When Stanek began coaching him, Perkins benched twice a week for about eight working sets. Stanek first spread roughly the same amount of work across three sessions, then increased the frequency to four and later five bench sessions per week. The higher frequency helped Perkins progress without immediately adding much volume.

Perkins initially reached about 195 kg. Stanek says a further breakthrough came from improving lifestyle and recovery consistency, rearranging sessions so Perkins was fresher for his primary bench day, and emphasizing hypertrophy work. Perkins benched 205 kg around the time of USAPL Collegiate Nationals in Texas. By the interview, his best was around 214–215 kg.

For the preparation leading into Worlds, they used four bench days instead of the usual five, partly to make more room for family life. Stanek increased the work per session to compensate, bringing the program to about 20 sets, mostly with lower reps. He expects to return to five days after Worlds, since Perkins’ best benches have come at that frequency. They have not moved to six days because they see no clear reason to do so.

Squat and Peaking

Squat took Stanek the longest to figure out. Perkins initially squatted three times a week but often felt weak during his main session. Reordering the week so the work built toward the primary squat day improved his performance.

After a difficult training cycle, they moved away from squat singles. Perkins told Stanek that he had made early progress without regular singles, so they returned to sets of four, then triples, and finally doubles as competition approached. Stanek says the triple block is a useful indicator of Perkins’ strength. A typical squat week also includes paused squats and ascending sets. The primary day centers on a heavy top set, a moderate back-off, and easier additional work.

Previously, Perkins’ final heavy squat double was about a week before competition, followed by a taper. Stanek says the heavy squat work contributed to a back flare-up before Sheffield: Perkins struggled to walk, could not arch normally on bench, and could not lift his deadlift opener. For the upcoming competition, they decided to keep training squat rather than tapering it in the usual way. Stanek says Perkins’ week-five squats have generally been strong and expects his next squat attempt to be around 15 kg above his most recent heavy double if the plan goes well.

Perkins’ training week is arranged unusually: his primary squat comes before heavy bench and deadlift work, and heavy deadlifts often follow the heaviest squat. Stanek says this sequencing works for Perkins and helps limit interference between squat fatigue and deadlift performance.

Deadlift

Perkins initially deadlifted once a week. Stanek increased the frequency and experimented with higher-rep work, but found that moderate-rep work on both the primary and secondary days was too much. The more effective setup separated the demands: a harder secondary session with relatively little work, alongside a higher-intensity primary session.

This approach helped Perkins reach a competition deadlift of about 337.5 kg at Memphis Nationals, where he totaled 851 kg. He has reportedly pulled 340 kg several times in training, but Stanek says they will not try to bring that training lift to the upcoming Worlds. Perkins’ lower back is a recurring fatigue concern, so the program aims to strengthen it while managing accumulated stress.

More recently, they added beltless conventional deadlifts on the secondary day, using ascending sets of fours or fives to train the back without making the session excessively fatiguing. Stanek says the change has been working well. At IPF Worlds, they also took a slightly larger final deadlift than strictly necessary to protect the result from a possible late challenge.

Blocks, Volume, and Accessories

Perkins generally uses five-week wave-loaded blocks rather than a standard four-week block followed by a full deload. Stanek says Perkins tended to feel flat after a conventional deload, so the wave-loaded approach better preserved the training stimulus. He emphasizes that deloads should be individualized: some lifters need a substantial reduction, while others need enough intensity and accessory work to avoid feeling underprepared.

Stanek prefers to adjust variables such as frequency, exercise selection, session order, and accessories before adding more volume. Bench volume rose from about eight sets when they began working together to roughly 12 within a year. In the current four-day preparation, it is around 20 sets; the higher set count compensates for having one fewer bench session.

Accessories vary throughout the training cycle. They include shoulder and triceps work, chest exercises, back and rowing movements, unilateral posterior-chain work, and hyperextensions. Stanek reduces accessory intensity as competition approaches, while using more challenging, often higher-rep work earlier in a cycle. He also sometimes uses tempos or pauses to provide a training stimulus with less load on the joints.

Advice and Closing Discussion

Stanek advises coaches to balance a consistent programming system with meaningful individual adjustments, rather than relying on rigid templates or changing everything for every athlete. His main advice for lifters is to pace their training: the first week of a block follows either hard training, a deload, or both, so it should not be treated as a time to prove a new maximum. Leaving room to adapt allows strength to build across the block.

The conversation closes with examples of experimental, very high-frequency training that worked briefly for some lifters but led to fatigue or a rapid loss of performance for others. Stanek uses these examples to underline that programming responses vary between athletes.

Presenters and Sources

• Host/presenter: Colton Phillips
• Guest: Joe Stanek
• Research and projects mentioned: Greg Nuckols’ reference to a frequency study; the Norwegian Frequency Project; Mike T.’s Project Momentum through Reactive Training Systems.