Lessons From Coach Prilepin: Training at 90% Effort

The standard needs to be to train at 90% effort when developing the neurological network of absolute strength.

Coach-Innovator

A.S. Prilepin, a Soviet Olympic weightlifting coach, revolutionized strength training by introducing specific constraints for resistance, volume, and frequency. His methodology propelled Soviet weightlifters to unprecedented success between 1975 and 1985, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest weightlifting coaches in history.¹ Among his many achievements, Prilepin left us strength practitioners with his now-famous chart.

Prilepin’s Chart outlines the optimal sets, reps, and resistance based on an Olympic weightlifter's contest max, providing a framework still widely used in strength training today. He developed this chart through extensive observations and analysis of Soviet weightlifters' training—what we at Absolute like to call "skin-in-the-game" research.

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"—Albert Einstein

And for all the evidence-based training nerds out there asking, "But where’s the peer-reviewed paper?"—Prilepin was an innovator and a coach. His evidence? Five gold and three silver medals at the 1980 Olympics. Additionally, his coaching led to the USSR securing 20 gold medals at senior world championships and 24 gold medals at junior world championships throughout his career. His work speaks for itself.²

1980 Olympic Gold Medal that Prilepin’s Soviet Weightlifting team won. Source

The Standard: Training at 90% Effort

To break new ground, we must adhere to the standards discovered by those before us—thanks to A.S. Prilepin and the lifters. One such standard is training to elicit 90% effort.

Training at this threshold pushes an athlete’s neurology and biology to the very edge of chaos—a phase state that stimulates adaptation. At this level, the nervous system’s "livewire"³ forms new and stronger connections, generating new neurological synergies that enhance the neurological ability to voluntarily output.

Simultaneously—in conjugation, the biology is being pushed to the limits of what the nervous system can voluntarily output—preparing tissues to experience, firsthand, the true potential of maximal neurological output.

Training at 90% effort also cultivates a deep well of psychological resilience: the ability to focus all momentary energy to overcome and displace external resistance through sheer determination.

This training work generates a transfer of training effect that not only enhances physical capacity but also transforms the athlete’s psychological will in special and multifaceted ways. It forges the critical mental edge required to aggressively confront challenges both on and off the field—challenges that are inevitable, and that the nervous system will ultimately perceive simply as resistance.

The Prilepin Lesson

If we aim to develop the neurological network of absolute strength to world championship and Olympic-caliber standards, the standard is clear: we must train at 90% effort.⁴

Training at these levels is both safe and effective when executed correctly. It builds the neurological infrastructure⁵ necessary for strength, allowing the athlete to reach the threshold of being as strong as necessary (Point B). Once this strength standard is achieved⁶, we shift our focus to stimulating biological ecologies that unleash the neurology’s capacity to explore its outermost degrees of freedom at the level of competition.

This approach is the key to breaking free from the stagnation of sport.

Practical Guidelines for Training at 90% Effort