Iron Raven · Articles
Practical guides on meet day, tapering, RPE, points and autoregulation, from the team behind the Iron Raven powerlifting app.
Most bombed-out meets and missed PRs come down to attempt selection, not strength. Here is how to pick an opener you will make on a bad day, a second that secures your total, and a third that gives you a real shot at a PR.
7 min readA taper lets the fatigue from a hard block clear without losing the strength you built. Get it right and you walk onto the platform fresh. Here is how long to taper, what to cut, and what to keep.
7 min readRPE is a way of measuring how hard a set was by how many more reps you could have done. Used well, it lets your training follow how strong you are today, not how strong a spreadsheet assumed you would be.
6 min readPoints formulas let you compare lifters of different bodyweights. There are several, and they don’t agree. Here is what DOTS, IPF GL and Wilks each do, who uses them, and which one you should use.
6 min readYour first meet should be about going 9 for 9 and enjoying it, not about a PR. Most first-meet problems are avoidable: missed commands, the wrong kit, or getting the timing wrong. This checklist covers them.
8 min readA good meet warm-up gets you to your opener sharp, not tired, and on time. The two things to get right are the ladder (how you build up to your opener) and the timing (when you take each warm-up).
6 min readYou don’t need to test a true max to know roughly what it is. A hard set of a few reps, rated honestly, gives you a good estimate without the fatigue and risk of a maximal single.
5 min readAutoregulation means letting your training adjust to how you are actually performing, rather than following fixed numbers written weeks in advance. Done well, it means you train hard on good days and back off on bad ones.
6 min readiOS and Android — try program generation and session readiness free
