hey guys im doing my first meet in September and would appreciate any sort of help i can get so i made a training log also to keep track of my progress. This is my current split
Monday- Bench and Squat (8-15) sets (1-3) reps
Tuesday-Upper body hypertrophy day
Wednesday- Bench (8-10 sets) (3-5 reps) Deadlift (8-15 sets) (1-3 reps)
Thursday- Lower Body Hypertrophy Day, back, and biceps
Friday- Speed Bench(9 sets of 3) Box Squats (5 sets of 5?) not sure about this
Saturday- Deficit Deadlifts or Rack Pulls (8-10 sets, 3-5 reps) Shoulders,Triceps
i will start posting on monday
Can’t help much without knowing what kind of loads, what your technique is like, what things will look like closer to meet day, how you’ll peak etc.
All I can say on seeing what you posted is:
- that’s a lot of days to train
- there aren’t many reps but a lot of sets
- you would most likely do much better following something like Cube or 5th Set, or even 5/3/1 with close grip bench instead of press
Yeah i understand. A friend made this split for me because he has coached powerlifters before. I wanted the extra 2 days because I think i can handle the extra volume since I’m younger. I might drop those two days as i get closer to the meet. I’m using 80% or less of my one rep max for the three lifts. The week of the meet I will do my three lifts Monday-Wednesday but very light just to focus on form. Please let me know if I left anything out
Ok, there’s a lot you’re missing. Firstly, there’s no fatigue management. When do you deload? Also, why dont you do assistance work on the same day as your main lifts? Most of the time that’s how we train. It also removes the need for so many training days. How are you going to peak? When do you start peaking? In 12 weeks, you probably only need four four to five weeks to peak. How are you waving your loads?
Look, here’s something that might work better, and will keep working as you improve. It’s similar to what my coach uses.
Monday - squat plus assistance
Tuesday - bench plus assistance
Thursday - deadlift plus assistance
Friday - bodybuilding day (one week upper, one week lower)
Deload every fifth week (work four weeks, deload one week) - deload is 5x3x50%, no assistance. You do the bodybuilding day if you want
Here’s how a week looks:
USING 92.5% OF YOUR MAX AS A WORKING MAX
One lift 18-30 reps at 55-65% - usually something like 5x3, 1x10, 1x5 or 3x2, 2x3, 1x7 or 9x1, 1x10 but anything that has lots of sets for fewer reps and a higher rep set works. Have really short rests between seta, something like 5-15 seconds
One lift 12-24 reps at 70-80% - usually we do 4x2 and 1xmax reps for this one something like 5x1, 1x10, 1x5
One lift 10-20 reps at 80-90% - this one is usually 4x2, 1xmax reps, unless we did that for the 70-80 in which case we might go 3x2, 1x5 or something
Every week we cycle which lift we train at which load. Every lift is followed by a variation for one to three sets of three to 10 reps at something like 10-20% less than the main lift (so narrow squats, front squats, wide grip bench, board presses, snatch grip deadlift, etc), and then we do assistance which is usually dumbbell rows, goblet squats, single leg work, dumbbell raises, push-ups and dips and back raises.
On Friday we do a bodybuilding day. If it’s upper body, we start with 2x20x50% of bench or wide grip bench and follow it with chest and shoulder work. If it’s lower body we usually start with a single set of front squats for six to 10, then follow with quad, hamstring, lower back, rowing and ab work
To peak, it’s really simple. Five weeks out from meet day we start
Week one is 2x1x90% (squat and deadlift) and 3x1x90% (bench) followed by some easy assistance for around a quarter the usual volume. Friday is normal.
Week two work up to a small PR (maybe five per cent). That’s it. Friday just so some walking lunges, air squats and sit-ups
Week three is 2x1x90% (squat and deadlift) and 3x1x90% (bench) of your week two PR. That’ll be your opener on meet day. Follow with 2x3x65% (squat and deadlift) and 3x3x70% (bench) of a paused squat and bench and a snatch grip deadlift. No Friday
Week four is 3x1x80% (squat and deadlift) and 4x1x80% (bench) of your week two PR. Nothing else. No Friday
Week five seven days out from meet day 5x2x50% for squat, 4x3x50% for bench, 6x1x50% for bench. That’s it. Nothing more till meet day
If you want more information check my log from January this year onwards.
Yeah I guess I have a lot to learn still. I’m getting some different advice though. Someone said peaking is only for the day of the meet is that correct and what are your thoughts on it?
@jasdeep_12, @MarkKO just gave you “his thoughts”. Took A LOT of time to spell it out for you, and you STILL have questions?
You do have a lot to learn.
You are nowhere ready for a meet.
yea I understand. Was just sort of confused. @MarkKO sorry about that thank you for the help I really appreciate it
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You need to find this person who thinks peaking is for the day of the meet alone and drop a 45 pound plate on his foot a few times.
I don’t mind you asking more questions, because it’s obvious no-one has taken the time to explain how this shit works.
Very briefly, there are two phases to training to get stronger. One is accumulation. You accumulate fatigue. That’s the stimulus you recover from to get stronger. That’s why fatigue management is such a huge deal. Accumulate too much fatigue and you massively increase the risk of getting hurt, and also reduce the progress you can make. Accumulate too little fatigue and there isn’t enough stimulus to drive adaptation.
Two of the simplest ways to accumulate fatigue without risking injury are to use submaximal loads at high volume (which is why we use 90-92.5% of our max as a working max) and deload regularly. The further into an accumulation phase you go, the less effective the deload becomes because the amount of fatigue we accumulate increases. All the deload does is make sure we recover just enough not to get hurt. Another part of the accumulation phase is technique practice. We do lots of first reps, and all at loads that will not compromise our technique. The supplemental exercise following the main movement is used to bring up weak points, so we rotate them regularly (weekly, fortnightly or every three weeks). The assistance work is bodybuilding, which helps us get bigger. A bigger muscle is essential to getting stronger. Four to eight months into accumulation is a good time to peak, which is the second phase.
Peaking is different to accumulation. The goal is no longer to accumulate fatigue to stimulate adaptation. The goal is to recover fully to bring the adaptation out into the open. So we drop volume massively. We change how we train: assistance exercises are almost entirely dropped, because we are no longer trying to grow or bring up weaknesses. The reason we set a small PR in week two is that we are still in a fatigued state. We know that fully recovered we will be capable of two to five per cent more than that fatigued max. This takes the guesswork out of meet day: that fatigued max is close to our second attempt; our opener is 90% per cent of that; and our third attempt is 102-105%.
After the meet, we rest for a week and then begin accumulating fatigue again. My coach likes us to spend six weeks doing hypertrophy work before going into the next accumulation phase, but that isn’t entirely essential. It’s just beneficial, because the volume is high but the loads are low. This allows our bodies to adjust to the new working max.
To be fair, his question makes sense given the shitty information he had been given. I explained how I train, not why and how it works.
Not that many people understand accumulation and peaking in powerlifting. The old school guys do, but they’re quieter online and in social media. The new breed of mostly raw lifters (like me) usually come into the sport with a skewed perspective and knowing jack shit. Take a look at facebook or instagram and the impression of powerlifting you’ll get is that’s it’s all about maxing out, low reps and making a show. Very few people post the important stuff, and even fewer want to do it because it doesn’t give instant gratification and is hard, boring work. I’m lucky I only took a couple of years to figure it out.
Also @jasdeep_12 I don’t agree with that. Do things right and you’ll be fine. Everyone starts somewhere. If you want to have a go at this sport just be aware it takes time. Ten years is aboit average to reach your peak. Focus on getting a little better every meet and going nine for nine whenever you compete.
The biggest thing you can do is get bigger. I don’t know what your height is, but if you’re over 1.75 metres you want to weigh AT LEAST 90 kg, and be muscular. If you’re over 1.85 metres, 110 kg.
I am 1.75 meters and about 72kgs but I’m only 13. I think I can put on some weight and compete in the 74kg weight class. I think the way you train is rally interesting and there’s a lot reasons to why you do what you do. It’s something I will try out for sure.
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Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.
If you are active and eat enough you will naturally put on a lot more weight. Don’t worry so much about training at this stage. It’s more important to let your body mature and grow for the next few years. If you can learn how to squat, bench and deadlift properly and get good at pull-ups and dips you’ll be ahead of the game.
Apply the accumulation principles to that.
Hey Jas welcome to the log section.
Mark knows his stuff, listen to him if you want to be a powerlifter.
You’ve only got 12 weeks to the meet,
First 4 weeks do some accumulation take a deload
next 3 weeks more accumulation take a deload week
then 2 weeks of peaking
one week deload and then the meet is there.
What Mark wrote for his programming is very detailed and mostly for someone who is a bit older (sorry dude) and not still growing.
You could though get something out off it.
Do NOT go heavy for the next long period of time.
Do submaximal weight and rotate weight like Mark said.
I would throw in some overhead pressing as well.
Do a lot of 1 - 3 rep sets, make the rests short like 5 seconds to maybe 30 seconds, all sets and reps should feel fairly easy, except the last one or two sets, where fatigue sets in.
Learn to squat, bench, deadlift, (overhead press).
Do a lot of pull ups, dips and even push ups (yes they are good).
Do some explosive movements as well boxjumps, broadjumps, throw some medballs from various position.
Most of all have fun, if you don’t like what you do, you’ll quit sooner or later.
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When y’all are done explaining the basic principles I’ll have a look at his technique lel
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Squat and bench day im weighing about 156 right now.
Back felt sort of tight from deficit deadlifts on Saturday so did light squats 8x3
Bench has been stuck for a while now last max was 155 so I wanted to see where I was now
I did band pull aparts to warm up
95x3
135x3
145x3
155x3
165x1
My spot noticed that I only have problems in the bottom range of my bench so it’s my shoulders but they don’t hurt at the moment and I warmed them up good. He said I should do some more incline and shoulder work to improve that. What do you guys think? He noticed that my right shoulder may be a little weaker than my left. Also should I consider getting a belt for squats and deadlifts last week I got 205 on my 13th set for squats and I pulled 295 for 1.
That was quite sensible
That was stupid.
You need to post videos of your lifts if you want any feedback on what need improvement.
Got it I will do that Wednesday when I deadlift. What are your thoughts on pause bench and speed bench to be stronger off the chest?
They work if that’s what you need. Which you probably don’t.
Technique is essential. You can do all the supplemental and assistance work you like, but if you have poor technique it’ll be wasted.
For what it’s worth, your bench weight is decent for your age and bodyweight. The two things what will drive your bench up the best right now are benching often with good technique and eating more.
My spot told me that I should work on the bottom range because I had to grind it out in that part but I was able to lock it out easily. I’ll try to get a bench video up sometime this week. On Wednesday I am doing 10 sets of 5 on bench with a 2 second pause on the bottom.