The challenge comes in not changing too many things at once. After making a change, give it time to breathe, gather some data, and make another small adjustment (the smaller the better in most cases).

Rinse, repeat, and progress.

The benefit to a particular training system is rigidity and consistency. “This is how we do it. It works. Don’t change it.” At some point, this becomes a flaw, when you, as a coach or lifter, realize some small changes could lead to better progression, and we adopt a systems based approach.

How you fill these categories (particularly secondary and accessory) should be based on what you or the athlete needs at any given time, and is generally based on weakness or limitations in the comp lifts.

At its core, a good powerlifting program breaks exercises into 3 categories:
-Primary: comp lift or comp-adjacent variation, heavy with <5 reps at RPE 7-10
-Secondary: comp-adjacent or barbell variation, less heavy than primary w/ 3-8 reps at RPE 6-10
-Accessory: DBs/machines 8-30 reps at RPE 9-10