179 reviews for Matt Vena Intermediate Powerlifting Program
Version 3.0 of program
From champion powerlifter and coach Matt Vena, this program is a generalized powerlifting routine for intermediate lifters, focusing on squats, bench presses, and deadlifts with specific variations and accessory work. Here's a concise breakdown:
Squats:
Day 1: Regular squats and tempo squats (4-second descent, 0.5-second pause).
Day 3: Paused squats (1-second pause at the bottom).
Bench Press:
Day 1: Larsen press and dumbbell incline bench for hypertrophy.
Day 2: Tempo bench single (4-count descent) and back-off sets.
Day 3: Primary bench day with long pause bench (2-second pause).
Day 4: Regular bench press and close grip bench press (2-3 finger widths narrower).
Deadlifts:
Day 2: Romanian deadlifts for hinge work and posterior chain hypertrophy.
Day 4: Paused deadlifts (1 inch off the floor, 1-second pause).
Accessory Work:
Triceps: Included on three bench days.
Back and Biceps: Back work on day 2, biceps on day 1. First set to failure, remaining sets to RPE8.
Progression Scheme:
Microcycles: 3-week cycles, adding a rep each week, then resetting reps and adding 3% weight.
Singles: Cycle through RPE 6-7-8 over the microcycles.
Taper Week: One moderate day, one light day, then max out with RPE6-8-10 jumps.
Focus on consistent form, controlled tempos, and autoregulating based on daily performance. Adjust weight and reps as needed to avoid overshooting and ensure steady progress.
Read the full guide on the website for full program details:
big C.
Man, 295 weeks complete
7 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Great results on Squat, variatons and frequency seemed perfect. Deadlift also solid results with Bench somewhat lagging comparatively. Overall good program, would recommend. Modifications were adding some leg accessories and a back biceps day.
Shane B.
Man, 6012 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
59 yo male. Started at 87kg BW 12 weeks later 85kg. Currently week 12 but am not testing lifts on same day. Previously i did a different programme and all my maxes dropped. So anyway my maxes from that reduction were DL 190KG SQ 150KG B 110KG. During training in Wk 10 (i think) i hit 200kg in the DL. Thats a 10kg improvement and only 15kgs off my pre injury best of 215kg. Its in sight!. I hit Bench today after being sick for 3 days and got 112.5kg then 115kg. A 5kg improvement and 5kg off my all time best of 120kg. I tried 117.5kg but was too fatigued and lack of food for last few days. Had I not been sick then i believe 120kg was achievable. Last time I achieved 120kg i weighed 100kg....so not bad! I have yet to test squat but will update this next week. Aiming for 155-160kg depending how im feeling. Ill then take a week off and resart this with my adjusted totals. Solid programme. EDIT: Attempted 155kg squat today and got it. Will increase my caloric intake and rerun this again and attempt to break my all time PRs.
Serg S.
Man, 313 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Sexy programme fatigue so managed
Derek A.
Man, 533 weeks complete
5 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
So far so good. Finished week 3 and this survey popped up. It’s a good program. Making progress without being too much volume. I don’t do low bar squat just high bar when it does call for squats. Added ab roller, dips, lat raises and pull ups.
Alessandro R.
Man, 215 weeks complete
1 year of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Wtf? S: 190 -> now 210 kg B: 120 -> now 135 kg D: 195 -> now 210 kg In just 6 weeks. Yes I’m natty.
P S.
Man, 319 weeks complete
6 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Second time running this program. A very good one, highly recommend.
Tim D.
Man, 433 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
Less than expected strength gains
Less than expected muscle gains
More instruction required. I expected to have more guidance around the warm ups/ top set. It's a bit unclear.
Hagar Yousry
Woman, 363 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Squat 95kg to 105kg Bench press 60kg not change the same weight Deadlift 120kg not change the same weight
Man, 22
4 years of prior experience
Less than expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
This did not work well for me at all. The main issues with the program are the percentages for example dropping the weight by only 3% on tempo squats EVEN IF you’re doing two less reps per set is no where near enough if you actually maintain that four second eccentric (not to mention you’re doing the movement pre fatigued with regular squats) and I had to reduce weight by around 7-8% to make sure the rpe on the tempo sets weren’t higher than the sets before. I had that issue with the majority of the variations in the program. The volume itself I think is recoverable assuming you make significant changes to the weights used especially on variations otherwise by week 6 you’ll be doing rpe 9 sets of long paused bench and tempo squats and struggling to finish the actual workouts let alone recover for your next ones. Squats and deads actually progressed quite well for me on this program but bench was terrible mainly because I feel like I wasn’t able to recover properly and by the time I made changes to the weights used it was too late and I was already in a hole. If you read other reviews there’s a similar pattern of people not having their bench progress as much as expected so it’s probably safe to say this isn’t a good program for it. Finally, I think long programs like this where instead of deloading every 4-7 weeks you go on for this long with varying intensities through the microcycles are harder to follow (harder doesnt mean better here). It’s easier to overshoot intensity and dig too deep a hole to get out of and becomes harder to manage fatigue without that easy deload to fall back on. I think even though in theory a program like this could be better, in actual practice for almost everyone I think it’d do worse. I also wanted to mention that so many including myself have made great progress doing way less volume than this and it really makes you wonder if its worth to be doing 6 sets of bench or squat each of their respective days when you could likely do less and progress nearly just as much.
Chomsky Honk
Man, 309 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
The older version of this program was better but I think it does a decent job segmenting each powerlifting training exercise without major fatigue. I do think in general some muscles and movements are neglected (bicep, overheads etc) but modification helps. I also would prefer a return to percentage bases vs RPE for such calculated movements. But I did gain strength, my 1 rep maxes increased.