I have been powerlifting for a few years now, and I keep tripping up on the same weak points I keep neglecting. So I am taking my favorite workout template, Dan John’s 40 day workout, and plugging in the lifts I suck at the worst. I never do these lifts, so I don’t care about poundage, but I will test on the following goals at the end of it all:
Beltless deadlift 475
Wrapless bench press 225
Without further ado,
Squat warmup to a set of 10
Good Morning 2x5
Eric Cressey rotator cuff workout:
A: DB Cuban press 3x8 (can’t do the bar)
B: DB L-raise 1x8
C1: lying 45 deg side raise 2x10
C2: band external rotation 2x10 (don’t have a cable stack)
Barbell curl 2x5
DB clean and press one set of 20-50
Abs:
Reverse crunch to hip raise one set of 5
10 crunches each way, forward, left, right
Tried a wider stance and wide grip on the squats. Usually I squat very narrow and go several inches below parallel. With the wider stance, toes pointing about 40 degrees out, I seem to be hitting just below parallel. “Wider” meaning a few inches more than shoulder width.
Good luck, but remember that the squat, bench and deadlift are what get the squat, bench and deadlift to increase. Any other training is non-specific and of limited benefit; infact, it could be detrimental… Don’t lose sight of your goal.
When you say wrapless bench, do you mean elbow wraps? They aren’t commonly used for bench in powerlifting anyway.
Squat, beltless doubles with 255, 275, 295, 315, 335, 355.
Used new wider stance. Looked OK at lighter weights, dodgy at heavier weights. I can tell upper back and glute strength will be limiting factors as well as just getting used to cutting the squats (relatively) high. Will be interesting to see where this is in a month with some practice via the daily warmups.
Reverse crunches in the captain’s chair, 3x10
Side bends 3x15x50
Barbell rotations 3x10x25 (5 each way) – didn’t mean to do so few, these were really hard.
I almost always center my training on the competition lifts, at the expense of assistance work… maybe that’s my problem. Well, I’ll find out in a couple months one way or the other.
Squat 135x10 – tucking the chin at the end like on deads seems to speed up lockout and engage hips more
GM 135x5, 175x5
RC workout, 5s
Curl 45x5, 65x5
DB clean/press 30x32.5s
Abs
Squat 185x5
GM 185x5, 205x5
RC workout, 7.5s
Curl 55x5, 55x5
DB clean/press 30x32.5s
BB rotations 10x25 (will do these instead of the crunches etc. going forward)
On the squats, there is some “folding” in the mid-back halfway through the descent that becomes more accentuated with heavier weights. Part of dealing with it will be continuing to cue chest up at the top of the rep. Part of it will be increasing mid- and upper-back strength to stay rigid throughout the descent. And part will be sitting back and staying tight to not dip too far down and relax in the hole. At least hips seem to be tracking correctly.