Are Priming Sessions Just For The Advanced Athlete?
Short answer: Priming sessions — short, submaximal bouts performed hours before a key effort to boost performance — aren't exclusively for advanced athletes, but the research suggests stronger, more experienced lifters tend to get the most out of them. The benefit is influenced by your strength level, so newer athletes are usually better served building a solid base first.
Key Takeaways
- ⚡ A priming session is a short, low-volume, submaximal bout done hours before competition or key training to potentiate performance.
- 🏋️ Research indicates the performance boost from priming is influenced by an athlete's strength level — stronger athletes tend to respond more favorably.
- 🧮 For newer athletes, the same session can create more fatigue than benefit, so a strength base comes first.
- 🕐 Keep priming short and submaximal and schedule it well before the main effort to avoid leftover fatigue.
Episode 137 of The Garage Gym Athlete Podcast is up!
Are Priming Sessions Just For The Advanced Athlete?
This week's study is on priming sessions. Jerred, Joe, Ashley, and Kyle dive into the study and give you the nitty gritty on whether or not you should use priming sessions in your training. This week's topic is a book review. The coaches go over the book Ingredients by George Zaidan. They give you their best loved moments, good takeaways, and their barbell rating for this one. Lastly, this week's Meet Yourself Saturday workout is called Thousand. Try and get this one done under the time cap if you can!
What the research says
The featured study of the week examined how an athlete's strength level influences the performance enhancement from resistance priming. Priming refers to a short, submaximal session performed several hours before a main effort, with the goal of potentiating later performance rather than building fatigue. The study's focus on strength level is the key point: the response isn't uniform across everyone. Stronger, more trained athletes tend to benefit more, likely because their higher training age lets them absorb the priming stimulus without accumulating excess fatigue. For less-experienced athletes, that same bout can tip toward fatigue instead of potentiation — which is why priming is best layered in once a dependable strength base is in place.
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IN THIS 62-MINUTE EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
- Priming Sessions
- Strength
- Ingredients
- THOUSAND
- Barbell Rating
- Tips For MYS
- Updates and Announcements
- And A LOT MORE!!
Diving Deeper…
If you want to go a little bit deeper on this episode, here are some links for you:
Study of the Week
Garage Gym Athlete Workout of the Week
Related reading from Garage Gym Athlete
- What To Do For A Warm Up To Better Perform
- Choosing Your Own Weight Can Lead To Greater Strength
- Is It Better To Do Strength First Or Hypertrophy?
Want priming, strength, and conditioning programmed for you so you never have to guess? That's exactly what we do every day inside Garage Gym Athlete.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a priming session?
A priming session is a short, low-volume, submaximal bout of training performed several hours before a competition or key workout. The aim is to potentiate — or "prime" — later performance without creating fatigue.
Are priming sessions only for advanced athletes?
Not strictly, but research on strength level and resistance priming suggests stronger, more experienced athletes benefit most. Newer athletes may accumulate fatigue rather than a performance boost, so building a strength base first is wise.
When should you do a priming session?
Typically several hours before the main effort, kept short and submaximal so the stimulus enhances performance instead of leaving you tired.
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Thanks for listening to the podcast, and if you have any questions be sure to add it to the comments below!
To becoming better!
Jerred
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