12 Aug Jett Jackson Part 3: Surviving 10 Weeks of Competition and Peaking For Nationals
Article Rundown
- Managing 10 straight weeks of competition without burning out
- Building strength while controlling fatigue and workload
- Transitioning from volume work into a precise Nationals peak
- Arriving recovered, confident, and ready to perform
Surviving 10 Weeks of Competition and Peaking For Nationals
When I started working with Jett Jackson last August, the goal was to build capacity, attack weak points, improve how he moved, and give him a foundation that could actually support the strength he was developing. By January, he was sitting around 220 pounds, had added noticeable size, his squat was already over 500 pounds in training, and his bench and deadlift were steadily moving in the right direction.
Then we looked at the schedule. Jett was about to enter roughly ten weeks of high school weightlifting competition, followed by districts, regionals, state, and then about six weeks later, USA Powerlifting Nationals. The challenge was not just getting stronger. It was getting stronger without burying him before the meets that actually mattered.
Managing Weekly Competition Without Burning Him Out
Jett had a bench press competition every Wednesday, but that did not mean he needed to max out every Wednesday. Most weeks, he would do his actual bench workout in the warm-up room, then go onto the platform and take whatever he needed to win. Sometimes that was only 285 or 295 pounds. There was no reason to take 350 if 295 got the job done.
The squat and deadlift stayed focused heavily on volume. We used sets of five, four, and eventually three, along with paused squats, lunges, leg curls, suitcase carries, and plenty of core work. The goal was to keep building strength and movement quality while controlling fatigue.
Getting Creative With the Bench
The bench was the hardest lift to manage because Wednesday was both a training day and a competition day. We adjusted the workload based on how important each meet was, building through volume early and gradually bringing intensity up as districts, regionals, and state approached.
Eventually, Jett hit 355 pounds to qualify for state. His clean and jerk had also climbed from 255 to over 300 pounds. At state, he benched 375 and clean and jerked 305, finishing fourth in a very strong 220-pound class. More importantly, we got him through the entire season without overtraining him.
Turning the Focus Toward Nationals
After state, we had roughly six weeks to peak his squat, bench, and deadlift for USA Powerlifting Nationals. This is where the plan changed. Volume dropped, intensity came up, and execution became the priority. We were no longer trying to build a huge amount of new strength. We were trying to sharpen the strength he had already built.
The weekly split included a heavy squat and deadlift day, heavy bench, lighter speed squat and deadlift work, and speed bench. Because Jett still lacked confidence in his deadlift, I had him pull twice per week, with the second session being very light and focused entirely on technique and speed.
Keeping the Non-Negotiables in Place
Even as the lifting changed, the basics stayed the same. McGill Big Three, shoulder work, thoracic mobility, walking tall, sitting tall, and moving like an athlete instead of moving like a sloth. Those little things mattered because they helped keep him moving well while the competition schedule continued to beat on him.
We also had to keep his bodyweight up. At the state meet, he had backed off his food because training was lighter and ended up weighing around 211 instead of 220. With a two-hour weigh-in, that made no sense. Going into Nationals, the goal was to stay fueled, recover aggressively, and show up strong instead of depleted.
The Final Peak Was About Confidence
Three weeks out, we were working around 80 percent for quality sets of three. Then we moved toward heavier singles around 90 percent, while assistance work started falling away. By the final heavy week, we were taking two to three singles around 92 to 95 percent on the competition lifts.
The goal was never to grind. I wanted perfect setups, good bar speed, and confidence under heavy weight. The closer you get to the meet, the less you gain from trying to prove how strong you are in the gym. At that point, fatigue becomes a bigger threat than lack of work.
Meet Week: The Work Is Done
Once meet week arrived, there was nothing left to build. The strength was already there. The job was to recover, stay sharp, and get rid of the fatigue accumulated since February.
That meant walking, staying consistent with the Big Three and mobility work, eating aggressively, sleeping aggressively, checking bodyweight, and keeping confidence high. No hard conditioning, no testing, and no last-minute heavy lifts. The volume built the strength. The peak was there to reveal it.
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