I think if you and I compared actual plans we would be very close…its just in the wording. And as long as volume and frequency are controlled, and adequate time is taken between similar workouts (at least 72hrs) and recovery weeks are used as needed, recovery will not be an issue.
I suspect that is that is the case in a number of aspects-in terms of similarities, commonalities. My main issue with recovery is, if he is in an off-season program without other training concerns then for sure the weights can be pushed more but if he is doing other training, the progressions have to be more gradual and carefully monitored.
I agree that every workout cannot be maximal in terms of intensity. In fact, I think you can make great progress NEVER lifting maximally. But by that I mean intensity, or 1RM. I think you can make great strength gains doing doubles with your 3RM, maybe pushing to an actual 3RM or even a 2RM every three or four workouts. BUT, I think you need to lift close to failure, or close to the rep max, in most work sets.
I agree that gains can come about from lifting rarely or never maximally as you point out though I would certainly want the athletes to perform maximally in some blocks just not frequently. I don’t believe it is necessary to lift close to failure throughout a block but only towards the end of the block and if it is late enough in a comp. season in a sport, staying a bit under the the max. levels is enough of a stimulus to maintain strength from and to increase power outputs. This taking place while in a main. phase late taper while not overly taxing the body so the performance in the sport itself is not negatively affected.
I’m not counting those sets used to pyramid up to a weight, but you should quickly get up to your work sets and they should be performed at a very high effort with a load close to the rep max you are using. Another way to put it would be to leave only one rep in the tank on your work sets, and occasionally leaving none.
As above, while there is a time for maximal or near maximal efforts, it’s not, in my opinion, necessary or advantageous to do so during a comp. phase except perhaps in early season but when done only occasionally as the other stressors will be overly taxed. Now in the situation of a true off-season with limited or no other high intensity components to consider, the efforts can be much more intense.
However, when most athletes think in terms of submaximal, they are also thinking in terms of effort, so I believe it is important to make the disctinction and why I think you need to be careful with the term ‘submaximal’.
Submaximal efforts should be applied but intensified throughout the block. As you say, I do apply the concept of seeing how many reps left they have after each set and utilize a chart for athletes to get a feel for how many reps they “could have done” a different percentages of the set-rep maxes so they can ensure they are approx. where they are supposed to be in the cycle at any given time. The athletes know they should never start a block struggling to get the indicated sets/reps in week one and use such as chart to stay on course. Only week 3 or 4 are the times we finish a set with zero to one rep remaining though it’s not in every block.
When I think in terms of submaximal, I think in terms increasing the number of reps to say 5 per set (for strength) or to around 8 for hypertrophy. This higher rep scheme requires a lower load, but that does not mean the effort can’t still be very high. I like to back off slightly in week 1 as you do, because there is a jump in volume from the recovery period. After that, its high effort lifting for 2-4 weeks or until the next recovery week is necessary. However, anytime you feel strong in the gym, I think you should take advantage of it. I have hit many PRs, including a recent PB after a long layoff, when I had expected to go in and just have a good solid workout.