Hey guys i am 18 and have been powerlifting for about a year.
I follow strong lifts and have access to barbells, power cage and all that but no spotter. I realize this is dangerous when benching.
I have been reading some Poliquin articles and see he generally favors dumbbells for pressing movements, seeing as i am comfortable and enjoy overhearing pressing with a barbell, would it be a big deal to alter my 5x5 program and use a dumbbell bench instead?
Poliquin is also not a fan of barbell rows, i currently do a pendlay row, and i have no interest in doing 1 arm dumbbell rows. In an earlier version of starting strength it appears chin-ups are and pull-ups are subbed for rows/powercleans, would it be wise to sub those in for my row?
To clarify, i am interest in functional strength, i value aesthetics but not to the point where i will do a bodybuilding template and abandon my interest in gaining strength. I also think it would be unwise of me to cling to the old school programs that use “less than optimal” exercise like the bench press or row especially given i have no spotter for bench, and Poliquin is a veteran coach.
Shouldn’t a power cage have adjustable spotter arms? These make benching and squatting by yourself fairly safe. Either way, you should absolutely find a way to retain barbell bench pressing.
i train 3x a week and don’t want to extend my workouts to long past 1 hour. I’m also not in great health as of now, can only really tolerate 1 small solid meal a day and live on liquids. Been this way for almost 2 years, don’t want to get into that now. I don’t think increasing workload would go over well yet, as i can just barely recover from my current program.
What the hell? Only 1 REAL small meal a day? If you can please elaborate as to why. Are you time constricted to only that hour and to a point where you can’t make or buy some food? Maybe the reason why you aren’t recovering well is because you aren’t in good shape like you stated, diet or sleep or other stress factors in your life. I understand life gets in the way sometimes but do your best. My dad works 12 hour shifts and he still manages 3 meals.
As for the benching being unsafe, you have a power cage. Now unless you’re flat back benching which is not the right way to bench, you should have pins that stop the bar from falling and crushing your neck. And if that doesn’t work, you shouldn’t collar the sides so that if and when you can’t press the bar back up, you can tilt it one side and let all the plates drop out. Do not replace dumbbells with the barbell, you are powerlifting right? There is no dumbbell bench in a PL meet.
As for the whole rowing thing, you can just alternate, it doesn’t really matter… Don’t over-complicate assistance work.
Poliquin is an expert and a long time coach, but that doesn’t mean everything he says is right for you. He isn’t coaching YOU directly, so he will not know what fits YOUR goals and what works and doesn’t work for you. The only way to find out is to just try.
i can’t eat more than 1 meal because i have what seems to be a intermittently paralyzed digestive track, this is from a severe C. diff infection that caused bad ulcerations everywhere in my GI tract and fucked the nerves of the gut. It is not a matter of motivation or desire or time, simply that i am in excruciating pain if i eat more than that and can’t function. i’m in pain now but can function.
[quote]lzqosoz94 wrote:
i can’t eat more than 1 meal because i have what seems to be a intermittently paralyzed digestive track, this is from a severe C. diff infection that caused bad ulcerations everywhere in my GI tract and fucked the nerves of the gut. It is not a matter of motivation or desire or time, simply that i am in excruciating pain if i eat more than that and can’t function. i’m in pain now but can function.
thanks for the lifting advice[/quote]
Jesus. Please tell me you’re actively being treated by a physician.
yeah seen the top GI specialists in America. Weil Cornell and went to Temple in Philly to see a highly regarded specialist. Its been mysterious this whole sudden decline in health, it was followed by my test dropping to 117 ng/dl, t3 dropping well below range, C-reaction protein was 25x the reference range as well. Just today i learned something huge, the tap water i have filtered (not for heavy metals) and been drinking at least 120oz of a day for 2 years has 24 ug/L of lead. Well above what is safe for public water sources, and about 5x that which is the upper limit of safe in bottled water.
Urine tests with DMSA have showed moderate/severe mercury levels and moderate lead levels. Though i suspect lead is more of a problem than i know. Lead poisoning would explain the intense stomach pain. All of this might sound outlandish and presumptuous but i have spent years with other conventional methods and testing, this is the only thing left that makes sense.
=/. On of the few people that has an excuse thats well…an excuse lol. I hope you’re able to find a solution because it’s extremely hard to make gains without proper diet.