10 Week Beginner RPE Powerlifting Program (with Spreadsheet)

Powerlifting is a great way to increase your strength and stay in shape. However, many beginners can’t seem to figure out the best powerlifting program to become better at the sport.

In essence, if you are a powerlifter, you must work hard to improve your 1-Rep Maximum. Your 1RM is basically the maximum weight that you can lift for a particular exercise in a single repetition.

At first glance, it might seem that increasing your 1RM is all about consistent training and lifting more weights progressively.

It’s not that simple.

Powerlifters need to train hard, but they also need to give their body enough time to rest and recover. Their intensity needs to be just right for a specific program. Too many intense workotus over prolonged periods can lead to mental and physical exhaustion.

What follows is a total performance blackout on the day of a powerlifting competition.

So, apart from maintaining body strength, you must also regulate your training sessions. One way to measure the intensity of your workouts is to use the RPE scale, which uses numbers between 1 and 10 to signify the difficulty a lifter faces while working with a particular weight.

An RPE program is especially useful in the case of powerlifting for keeping your fatigue levels in check.

To help beginners out, PRs on the Platform devised a fool-proof 10 week powerlifting program. It follows RPE-based training sessions to allow a lifter to max out on their powerlifting performances quickly and efficiently.

Program Principles

The beginner powerlifting program developed by PRs on the Platform is spread over ten weeks and uses both – the RPE scale and 1RM percentage – to help a lifter gauge and track their progress.

The program follows a linear periodization approach to workout out, which is the most effective route for beginners. This is because beginner lifters do not need a lot of variations in their exercise and can progress quickly by making alterations in their intensity levels.

It is not a peaking program. Therefore, advanced lifters should look for other options if they want to max out on their potential before a competition. Instead, this RPE powerlifting program is merely a guide for beginners on how to grow.

As such, beginner lifters can follow this 10-week program back-to-back if they experience satisfying results.

Here is a run-down of the principles that this 10-week beginner’s powerlifting program uses for effective progression:

• Starts with high volume and low intensity and ends with low volume and high intensity to promote fast progression.
• Uses the RPE scale and 1RM percentages to track the intensity levels of training sessions.
• It makes use of an AMRAP set to track improvements in the lifter’s 1RM for squats and bench presses.
• Calculates improvements in 1RM for deadlifts with the help of the RPE scale.
• Uses both 1RM percentages and RPE to track and calculate training workload.

10 Week Beginner RPE Powerlifting Program

The program is distributed over a period of ten weeks. It consists of four training days in a week, leaving sufficient time for the lifters to rest and recover from fatigue and stress.

The lifting format is pretty standard to improve powerlifting performance – 2x squats, 2x bench presses, and 2x deadlifts every week make up the core of the workouts.

Other than that, there are 2-3 accessory exercises to help in improving performance and quickening progress.

Combining all of these together, this RPE powerlifting program offers a complete solution for beginners to keep increasing their 1RM capabilities. As this is not a peaking program, lifters can stick with it for as long as they want, following the same schedule back-to-back.

10-Week Beginner RPE Powerlifting Program Spreadsheet

As a beginner at powerlifting, you should get to work right away. The sport requires a lot of dedication, hardwork, and strategic training programs.

You can download the 10 week powerlifting program for beginners from here.

But hardwork and dedication are two qualities that you must promote on your own.

After downloading the spreadsheet, you can also find a guide on how to evaluate your workouts by using the RPE scale.

Don’t miss:

10 Week RPE Powerlifting Program (Meet Prep)
12 Week RPE Powerlifting Peaking Program
6 Week Russian Bench Press Peaking Program
Alan Thrall Program
Jonnie Candito Linear Program

Final Words

Powerlifting is a great sport, one that requires immense strength and discipline. It’s especially harder for beginners who might give up after months of not making any improvements.

To avoid getting into that situation, follow the program developed by PRs on the Platform and track your progress efficiently.