Here’s the deal, I need to know if I have any chance of ever becoming slightly competitive at meets. Me and my training partner have been training for over three years (most of which were wasted BBing… we’ve been training with a powerlifting mindset for about 10 months now). Tonight we went for totals at the gym to see how we progressed. This evening I was at a bodyweight of precisely 152 lbs, and I’m pretty sure that I’m in the single digit bodyfat numbers (clearly defined 6-pack and overall good definition).
Bench - 195 lbs (new PR, it used to be 185)
Squat - 250 lbs (new PR, but by only 5 lbs)
Deadlift - 315 lbs (current PR is 335, but I’m coming back from a lower back injury)
Total - 760 lbs
All lifts were raw.
So, what do you think? I’m only 18 years old and have many years ahead of me to train. But at the moment, supposing I geared up to inflate my total, would I stand a chance in competition? My guess is that I’d need to gain some more mass, but I’m not really willing to get JACKED in the way Dave Tate describes it (Oreos!). I also practice parkour in the summer and I need to remain small and agile for it.
I think you are in a great starting point. There is a 148 lb weight class that you could enter, try to be in the drug free, raw division. Plus there is a teen and junior (20-23) division which makes it easier to ease into competing. You aren’t going to win (in the open) with those numbers but they are fine.
PL is a more friendly sport anyway where people root each other on, so I say go out and do it and that will motivate you to go and workout even harder, plus you might meet somebody who could give you even more advice. You are just 18, you have tons of good years ahead of you, start competing early and by the time you get pretty good you will have the experience and you will be ahead of the game. My .02 cents.
[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
I think you are in a great starting point. There is a 148 lb weight class that you could enter, try to be in the drug free, raw division. Plus there is a teen and junior (20-23) division which makes it easier to ease into competing. You aren’t going to win (in the open) with those numbers but they are fine.
PL is a more friendly sport anyway where people root each other on, so I say go out and do it and that will motivate you to go and workout even harder, plus you might meet somebody who could give you even more advice. You are just 18, you have tons of good years ahead of you, start competing early and by the time you get pretty good you will have the experience and you will be ahead of the game. My .02 cents.[/quote]
Great post!
I just read something somewhere about how the top PL guys are in their 40’s…lots of time under the bar, getting to know their bodies and learning the ins and outs of training hard for the long haul.
To the OP: It’s awesome that you’re getting into it at 18. Eric Cressey is a great example of a guy who is fairly small body-wise but is wicked strong, so you’re not barking up the wrong tree here or anything.
Exactly like the above have said cant really be to small or to weak etc for PLing to be a PLer though you need to do a meet not just talk about and think about it do the damn thing. You get experince, you’ll get advice and just keep getting better every day aim to get better that may mean going up in a weight class etc that will all fall into place in time under the bar.
Those are fine numbers for your first meet. Just make sure you have somebody with competitive experience look at your lifts prior to the meet, in particular the squat, to help ensure you can get lifts passed.
At this point, don’t try to be a 148, just show up and lift at whatever BW you are at that day.
You really shouldn’t worry about stuff like that until you get close to qualifying totals or anticipate an ability to place at the meet you are attending.
I have a lifter similar in size to you. His first meet he totaled 640 RAW at 148. He was 16 and skinny as a whip.
He will be attending USAPL Teen/Junior Nats this year and we expect him to go 1150+ at 165 equipped which should place him top 3 in his category. His current RAW nums are approximately 340, 195, 390. He is now 18.
Bottom line, don’t worry about how much you lift, worry about getting a total.
At the moment I’m trying to bulk up a bit, and will be mixing up high/low reps over the next few weeks. I’m eating 5 solid meals per day and one or two workout shakes and overall I believe I know what I’m doing. I’m aiming to get to 160 and then start working on strenght again, most likely with a westside template of some sort.
I’ve always squatted slightly below the point where my upper leg is paralel with the ground, which generally puts my knees a bit higher than the thighs and hips. Is that the correct depth for a competition squat?
If you havn’t already, check out elitefts.com. There is a great Q and A section there and everyone on that site has tons of experience and are willing to help out anyone with a desire to lift big weights. Good luck and have fun with it.
Like the other posts say there are quite a few weight classes so I really wouldn’t worry so much about being too small to enter a meet.
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I’ve always squatted slightly below the point where my upper leg is paralel with the ground, which generally puts my knees a bit higher than the thighs and hips. Is that the correct depth for a competition squat?[/quote]
Nobody can give you meaningful feedback relative to this on the internet. You need somebody to eyeball your squat who knows what the requirements are for the fed you will compete in.
Literally, if I added 10#'s to my total for every time a newbie lifter told me they squat “ass to grass”
and then stopped by to train with us to give them feedback before the meet and they were not even to parallel, I would be kicking ass in the SHW’s as a 220.
Nope, you are not too light for powerlifting. I wouldn’t worry about your weight at all, especially at 18.
As everyone above said, just come on out, you will be surprised at how supportive a PL meet is and at how competitive you can be, at just about any level.
I know of a couple of meets in Ontario that you could enter in the next little while, and could probably help you find some in Quebec if you’d like. Shoot me a PM if you’re interested!
I’ve always squatted slightly below the point where my upper leg is paralel with the ground, which generally puts my knees a bit higher than the thighs and hips. Is that the correct depth for a competition squat?
Nobody can give you meaningful feedback relative to this on the internet. You need somebody to eyeball your squat who knows what the requirements are for the fed you will compete in.
Literally, if I added 10#'s to my total for every time a newbie lifter told me they squat “ass to grass”
and then stopped by to train with us to give them feedback before the meet and they were not even to parallel, I would be kicking ass in the SHW’s as a 220.
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This is some very good advice. Each federation has different requirements for lifts, equipment used, drugs that can and cannot be in your system, etc.
Find a powerlifting type gym in your area, or watch some videos of powerlifters over and over again to gauge form, depth, etc.
Also, if you’re thinking about competing, go all out. Yes, there are many different ways to train, but a powerlifter that does bicep curls has no idea what he or she is doing. You wanna get good at the three lifts, you have to train the three lifts…
Don’t worry, last time I did a bicep curl must have been more than two months ago… And even then it was just to test a 1RM concentration curl because I felt like I hadn’t done biceps for ages and wanted to see if they had improved (Oooh big surprise! +10 lbs!).
I think I am going to wait at least 8-10 weeks before I make a move towards competing because my training partner and best friend has had a surgery today and will be out of the game for a little while. We share the same ideals on training and we talked about competing many times, so I think I’ll wait for him to recover. Thanks a lot for offering your help though, W.E.C.
And thanks to all of you who responded here. I actually thought that I didn’t have a chance and would be doomed to train as hard as anyone else while never being strong enough to compete.
I can’t really imagine you doing parkour and powerlifting both competitively. If you gain a lot of mass during PLing, you’re gonna have to lean down during parkour season again if you want to be good at it. Look into lighter divisions of powerlifting.
[quote]sciencewolverine wrote:
I can’t really imagine you doing parkour and powerlifting both competitively. If you gain a lot of mass during PLing, you’re gonna have to lean down during parkour season again if you want to be good at it. Look into lighter divisions of powerlifting.[/quote]
As of now, my parkour abilities have augmented immensely since I started training for strength. My strength to weight ratio is the best it has ever been and if the bulking doesn’t reduce it, then it shouldn’t affect my parkour negatively. You see, the ability to squat heavy transfers directly to absorbing the impact from big drops.
As long as I keep doing flexibility and mobility work, and opt for a clean bulk, I should be able to remain efficient in parkour.
You’re not too light for PL because, as has already been stated, you compete in weight classes. Also, the friendly and helpful advice you’ve received so far is an indication of how PL competitions are. Much different than BB.
[quote]
I just read something somewhere about how the top PL guys are in their 40’s…lots of time under the bar,
To the OP: It’s awesome that you’re getting into it at 18. Eric Cressey is a great example of a guy who is fairly small body-wise but is wicked strong, so you’re not barking up the wrong tree here or anything. [/quote]
the strong men competing is powerlifting too right?
savickas is in his 20’s … there is only one guy in his late 40 (early 50’s?) and everyone is surprised he’s still there … but that’s in the europe - baltic events so …
[quote]OneDay wrote:
Yes, there are many different ways to train, but a powerlifter that does bicep curls has no idea what he or she is doing. You wanna get good at the three lifts, you have to train the three lifts…
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This statement is a bit over the top for me. Why can’t you get good at PL and get good at curls at the same time?