From Coach-Controlled to Athlete-Driven: Why APRE Changes the Game
#21 - Strength & Speed Coaching – Pursuing Your Best ⚡
Percentages Controlled By Coaches Aren’t Enough — APRE is the Future of Strength & Speed
If you’ve been around Strength & Speed for any length of time, you’ve probably used percentage-based training. It’s a staple in our profession:
Take an athlete’s 1-rep max (1RM),
Plug it into a spreadsheet,
Assign percentages for every lift.
It feels organized, precise, and scientific. But here’s the truth:
Athletes don’t live in spreadsheets.
Percentages are based on one moment in time—that day they hit their max lift. But athletes’ readiness changes daily:
One day they’re rested, focused, and ready to attack the bar.
The next day they’re tired, stressed from school, drained from practice, or lacking sleep.
Yet percentage-based training treats every day like it’s the same.
If you’ve coached long enough, you’ve seen what happens:
Some athletes undertrain because they’re capable of more than the assigned percentage.
Some athletes overtrain because they’re forced to hit numbers their body isn’t ready for.
This leads to frustration, plateaus, and injuries—and it kills athletes' sense of ownership in their training.
What Athletes Really Need: Autonomy and Ownership
If we want athletes to grow—not just as lifters, but as competitors and people—we need to teach them to take ownership of how they train.
To learn when to push and when to pull back.
To understand how their body feels and how to adjust accordingly.
To develop confidence, self-awareness, and accountability—on the platform and in life.
That’s what Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise (APRE) gives us.
APRE: Training That Adjusts to Athletes, Not the Other Way Around
APRE flips the script. Instead of telling an athlete how much to lift based on a number they hit weeks or months ago, APRE lets them adjust training based on how they perform that day.
If they’re ready to push, they earn the right to add weight.
If they’re drained, they adjust down and live to fight another day.
No more guessing. No more rigid percentages. No more forced training that doesn’t fit the athlete.
This Is a Coaching Mindset Shift, Not Just a Program
When I talk about APRE, I’m not just talking about sets and reps. I’m talking about a mindset shift:
From coach-controlled percentages to athlete-driven adjustments.
From “Here’s what’s on the sheet, do it” to “Here’s how to train smart today—based on how you feel and perform.”
From compliance to ownership.
Our goal as coaches should be to build autonomous athletes—athletes who understand how to train, how to adjust, and how to make smart decisions.
That’s what Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise makes possible.
Before we dive deeper, I think it’s important to understand how APRE was originally developed and used. Over the next four installments, I’ll walk through what we’ve learned, what we’ve adapted, and how APRE has become a driving force in our Strength & Speed program.
You’ll see not only where APRE started, but how it can evolve to fit your setting too.
Where APRE Comes From: The Shift from Fixed to Flexible Loading
APRE has deep roots in strength training. It was originally developed in the 1940s by Dr. Thomas DeLorme to help rehabilitate injured soldiers returning from World War II. The concept was simple:
Adjust resistance based on what the athlete could handle that day, rather than following a fixed progression.
Use a final working set to gauge effort and determine weight adjustments for the next session.
Decades later, Dr. Bryan Mann refined the method for sports performance, making it one of the most effective ways to individualize training for athletes in a team setting. While percentage-based programs still have their place, APRE solves many of the problems that come with daily fluctuations in strength, fatigue, and recovery.
The Key Difference:
Traditional Percentage-Based Training: Uses a fixed progression model based on a one-time test of an athlete’s max strength.
APRE Training: Adjusts the weight each session based on real-time performance, ensuring that athletes are always training at the right intensity.
This is why many Strength & Speed coaches—including myself—use APRE exclusively for adjusting load or volume by rep performance rather than sticking to rigid loading schemes.
Breaking Down APRE: Bryan Mann’s Original Variations
APRE isn’t a random rep scheme—it was designed with specific training goals in mind. Bryan Mann established three core APRE variations, each aligned to a distinct adaptation: hypertrophy, strength, and power.
Here’s how he broke it down:
APRE10 – Hypertrophy & Muscular Endurance
Focus: Building muscle size, work capacity, and technical movement under load.
When to Use: Early training stages, general prep, off-season base building.
Why It Matters: Lays the foundation for strength and teaches athletes how to control weight with good technique.
APRE6 – Maximal Strength Development
Focus: Increasing raw strength and force production.
When to Use: Intermediate phases, when athletes are technically sound and ready to push heavier weights.
Why It Matters: Strength is the foundation for speed, power, and resilience against injury.
APRE3 – Max Strength & Power Development
Focus: Peak strength and explosive power, moving heavy weight fast.
When to Use: Advanced athletes, late off-season or pre-competition phases.
Why It Matters: Prepares athletes to translate strength into high-speed sport movements.
Key Point for Coaches:
These variations create a progression system—moving from higher reps and lighter weights to lower reps and heavier loads—matching the athlete’s level and needs. And since APRE adapts to daily readiness, athletes are pushed when they're able, and backed off when they’re not, without losing training effect.
How APRE Works: A Simple Example (Bryan Mann’s Traditional Method)
So what does traditional APRE actually look like in practice?
Here’s a breakdown using APRE6, one of the most common variations for strength development, as originally intended by Bryan Mann.
Example: Squat using APRE6 (Strength Focus)
Set 1: 10 reps at ~50% estimated 6RM
Warm-up and primer
Set 2: 6 reps at ~75% estimated 6RM
Final warm-up, ramp-up to working weight
Note: I found when I was at NWMSU working with some of our strongest athletes we would need an additional warm up set or 2.
Set 3 (Money Set - AMRAP):
As many reps as possible (targeting around 6).
This is the performance set that determines load adjustment.
Set 4 (Adjustment Set - AMRAP):
Adjust the load based on how many reps were completed in Set 3.
Perform as many reps as possible again at this new adjusted weight.
Adjustment Example (Bryan Mann’s APRE6)
If an athlete hits more than 6 reps on Set 3:
Increase load by 5-10 lbs for Set 4 and increase weight next session.
If an athlete hits 6 reps on Set 3:
Stay at that same weight for Set 4 and next session.
If an athlete hits fewer than 6 reps on Set 3:
Reduce load by 5-10 lbs for Set 4 and adjust weight down for the next session.
Why This Works:
Individualized: If an athlete is ready to push, they progress faster. If they are fatigued, they naturally adjust without breaking down.
Real-time feedback: Instead of following rigid percentages, weight is adjusted every session based on actual performance.
Simple & efficient: No need for constant 1RM testing—performance in Set 3 tells you everything you need to know.
Final Thoughts: A Smarter Way to Train
APRE isn’t just another way to program sets and reps—it’s a principle-based system that allows athletes to develop at their own rate without compromising movement quality or safety.
If you want to implement APRE effectively, start with one action this week:
Introduce a APRE-based adjustment system—stop guessing percentages.
Educate athletes on the "why" behind APRE so they understand progression and readiness.
Track performance and patterns—use that data to guide future training decisions.
What’s Next in the Series?
Next, we’ll take a deep dive into how we’ve adapted APRE to fit our athletes, setting, and goals—building on Bryan Mann’s foundational work while making practical adjustments for high school Strength & Speed.
Next up: How We’ve Modified APRE for Our Strength & Speed Program
Why we moved from percentage-based loading to reps-by-volume autoregulation.
How we teach APRE to athletes—from first exposure to advanced progression.
How we choose the right APRE variation (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10) depending on the athlete and training phase.
If you’re curious how APRE can work in a real-world team setting—and how to make it simple and effective for your program—this next issue is for you.
If this newsletter was helpful, forward it to a coach, PE teacher, or administrator who might benefit. The better we educate, the stronger our programs become.
Until next time—keep pursuing excellence!
— Preston ⚡️
P.S. Need Help Implementing APRE in Your Program?
If you’re ready to take your Strength & Speed program to the next level with adaptive, athlete-driven training, I offer consulting for PE teachers and coaches.
Whether you’re looking to:
Structure APRE within your program
Adjust for different levels of athletes
Balance progression with injury prevention
… I can help you design a plan that fits your athletes and your setting.
Interested? Hit reply and let’s discuss how to get your program moving forward.