Best Powerlifting Program For Me?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Hello everyone, let me first off say that I’m in no means a strict powerlifter, I’ve been working out for 3 going onto 4 years now and have mainly focused on bodybuilding and still base my splits off of it (6 days a week, each muscle twice a week). This past year has been when I’ve really looked into getting stronger while being able to work my bb splits. I had just recently done a 5,3,1 program.

Now I did mess up that program and did the wrong calculations (some people on here know this), but after doing some more research on it and other programs, I have read that 5,3,1 is a slow progress (again I could be ignorant on this fact its just what I read, if I’m wrong please correct me). I have done small programs here and there but was just based on bench press from what my father taught me, which was either 5x5 or 5x3 and adding weight on if i completed every set or sticking at the weight until I did.

Please keep in mind I don’t only want to train in powerlifting. For example Mondays are my heavy bench days so my day goes as such:
Heavy bench, incline bench, flat and incline dumbbell, then on to biceps. My idea for a program is to substitute my normal bench routine with the bench routine of the program and then go on and do what I’ve been doing. This would go with all my lifts: Squat, deadlift and OHP.

Program Lists:
5,3,1: (I would fix my mistake and continue on with it)

Pavel 5x5

A 5x3 Program (basically the same as the 5x5 just lower reps)

If anyone has other suggestions please feel free to post them.

Please take in consideration I am new to this so if I am completely wrong on anything then I’m sorry I’m not very knowledgeable on lifting programs. The main focus of this is to be able to keep my splits and still do all my bb while just substituting the main lifts with whatever the program has. For example a program which requires me to do certain accessory movements and thats it doesn’t fit into my bb routine.

If there is anything I did go over or make clear feel free to ask.

Thank you, hope everyone has a great day

2

You want us to recommend a program that you don’t want to use for powerlifting and intend to change in ways we don’t know? I don’t see how this is helpful but:

Greyskull, starting strength, candito lp, powerlifting to win move program, shieko novice, Paul Carter base building are all good simple programs

Madcow, Texas method, 5/3/1, Juggernaut, candito strength program, smolov, shieko, powerlifting to win intermediate, Westside for more advanced programming

Are all decent.

3

[quote]tsantos wrote:
You want us to recommend a program that you don’t want to use for powerlifting and intend to change in ways we don’t know? I don’t see how this is helpful but:

Greyskull, starting strength, candito lp, powerlifting to win move program, shieko novice, Paul Carter base building are all good simple programs

Madcow, Texas method, 5/3/1, Juggernaut, candito strength program, smolov, shieko, powerlifting to win intermediate, Westside for more advanced programming

Are all decent.[/quote]
I never said it wasn’t intended for powerlifting. You may have misinterpreted what I meant, and ill take blame for that. I want to introduce a powerlifting program INTO my bb program. As is on my bench, squat, deadlift and ohp days instead of just doing random rep ranges I follow a certain program. For example 5x5: On my bench day instead of doing a random rep range I stick to the 5x5, and continue it, whether it be I have to hit that same weight the next week since I didn’t complete all 5 sets of 5 or I do and I bump up the weight next week on heavy bench day. Same goes for squat and ohp. Deadlift on the other hand would be 1x5. I would have light days for bench,squat and ohp.

So with that being said what I’m doing is taking a basic program such as 5x5 and using that for my main lifts, after doing say bench on monday I go and do the rest of my bb routine for chest and bicep that day. Does that make more sense? This is what I did with the 5,3,1 just replacing the main lifts with the program and then doing my normal routine of bb that i’ve been doing for the past 3 years.

4

If this is confusing or hard to understand what my goal is, please tell me what part you are confused on or don’t understand and I’ll do my best to make it more simple. The best way I can put it is to be able to incorporate a powerlifting routine into my bb routine. As stated above I would take out my normal bb routine for bench press and use the powerlifting program for my bench press, AFTER benching I go and do my bb/hypertrophy work as in incline bench and dumbbell bench and/or flies, then I move on to the next muscle.

On squat day I take away my bb squat routine and put in the powerlifting routine for squatting after squatting I do and finish off with my normal bb routine for legs. And so on. Hope that makes it easier to understand. This is why I’m aiming toward a basic 5x5 routine that gives me the freedom to do my bb and doesn’t restrict me to only certain accessory movements and then im done. By no means am I saying I’m only going to be doing those lifts and thats it, I still will have my own accessory movements that I normally do, such as rows, box squats, dumbbell press, lateral raises ect. Is that a bit easier to understand? This is just for my own strength not for planning on competing at least at the moment I don’t plan to.

5

What you are asking for makes no sense. You already have your own program that you won’t stop doing because you want to do bodybuilding, etc. so what do you want someone to tell you? Do bodybuilders not squat bench and deadlift? Saying “hey, I’m going squat like a powerlifter today, then do 20 sets of leg extensions and calf raises for bodybuilding” doesn’t make sense. You sound like a confused bodybuilder. Just train for whatever your goals are.

6

Look up Dr. Mike Zourdos theory on Daily Undulating Periodaztion (DUP training). Many of the top raw natty power lifters use him for programming.

7

[quote]chris_ottawa wrote:
What you are asking for makes no sense. You already have your own program that you won’t stop doing because you want to do bodybuilding, etc. so what do you want someone to tell you? Do bodybuilders not squat bench and deadlift? Saying “hey, I’m going squat like a powerlifter today, then do 20 sets of leg extensions and calf raises for bodybuilding” doesn’t make sense. You sound like a confused bodybuilder. Just train for whatever your goals are.[/quote]
How does that not make sense? Since when did lifting heavy mean you can only lift heavy. Theres a thing called powerbuilding. My goals are to be able to lift heavy weight and be able to have a bb physique. A good amount of people do it. Being able to keep a bodybuilder physique while being able to lift heavy weight too. I dont understand how that doesn’t make sense mixing the two of them focusing your main lifts on powerlifting and then doing hypertrophy work afterwards. Who said I was going to be doing 20 sets of anything?

If you want to know what I do say for chest I go and do dumbbell presses after bench for anywhere from 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets, so I’m doing 3-4 exercises for chest after benching. Is that really that hard to understand? You don’t need to come on here being rude when I’ve clearly stated I was ignorant to programming and was the reason I posted this thread to find out what could work.

8

[quote]bigtom91 wrote:
Look up Dr. Mike Zourdos theory on Daily Undulating Periodaztion (DUP training). Many of the top raw natty power lifters use him for programming.[/quote]
OK cool thank you I will

9

Well seeing how apparently my idea of how I want to lift is a bit confusing to some, I’m deciding to just go with a 5x5 system for bench, squat, ohp, deadlift will be 1x5. On that note, the Pavel article I read stated that on bench press when bumping up the weight for the next week (if you make all 5 sets of 5) you bump up the weight by 10lbs (5s on each side).

That being said does that seem correct to anyone? I’ve seen other 5x5s saying you go up by 2.5s. Also if you were to base it off adding 10lbs would that mean you should add 10,15,or 20lbs to deadlift and squat seeing on how most programs have you adding a bit more weight to those movements than in your pressing movements.

10

[quote]ChrisM15 wrote:

[quote]chris_ottawa wrote:
What you are asking for makes no sense. You already have your own program that you won’t stop doing because you want to do bodybuilding, etc. so what do you want someone to tell you? Do bodybuilders not squat bench and deadlift? Saying “hey, I’m going squat like a powerlifter today, then do 20 sets of leg extensions and calf raises for bodybuilding” doesn’t make sense. You sound like a confused bodybuilder. Just train for whatever your goals are.[/quote]
How does that not make sense? Since when did lifting heavy mean you can only lift heavy. Theres a thing called powerbuilding. My goals are to be able to lift heavy weight and be able to have a bb physique. A good amount of people do it. Being able to keep a bodybuilder physique while being able to lift heavy weight too. I dont understand how that doesn’t make sense mixing the two of them focusing your main lifts on powerlifting and then doing hypertrophy work afterwards. Who said I was going to be doing 20 sets of anything?

If you want to know what I do say for chest I go and do dumbbell presses after bench for anywhere from 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets, so I’m doing 3-4 exercises for chest after benching. Is that really that hard to understand? You don’t need to come on here being rude when I’ve clearly stated I was ignorant to programming and was the reason I posted this thread to find out what could work. [/quote]

Since when did powerlifting only involve “lifting heavy” and no hypertrophy work? There are a million programs out there that have accessory work and high rep work - on the main lifts and variations too. The problem is that you don’t really understand what you want.

11

[quote]chris_ottawa wrote:

[quote]ChrisM15 wrote:

[quote]chris_ottawa wrote:
What you are asking for makes no sense. You already have your own program that you won’t stop doing because you want to do bodybuilding, etc. so what do you want someone to tell you? Do bodybuilders not squat bench and deadlift? Saying “hey, I’m going squat like a powerlifter today, then do 20 sets of leg extensions and calf raises for bodybuilding” doesn’t make sense. You sound like a confused bodybuilder. Just train for whatever your goals are.[/quote]
How does that not make sense? Since when did lifting heavy mean you can only lift heavy. Theres a thing called powerbuilding. My goals are to be able to lift heavy weight and be able to have a bb physique. A good amount of people do it. Being able to keep a bodybuilder physique while being able to lift heavy weight too. I dont understand how that doesn’t make sense mixing the two of them focusing your main lifts on powerlifting and then doing hypertrophy work afterwards. Who said I was going to be doing 20 sets of anything?

If you want to know what I do say for chest I go and do dumbbell presses after bench for anywhere from 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets, so I’m doing 3-4 exercises for chest after benching. Is that really that hard to understand? You don’t need to come on here being rude when I’ve clearly stated I was ignorant to programming and was the reason I posted this thread to find out what could work. [/quote]

Since when did powerlifting only involve “lifting heavy” and no hypertrophy work? There are a million programs out there that have accessory work and high rep work - on the main lifts and variations too. The problem is that you don’t really understand what you want.[/quote]
I know exactly what I want lol. I don’t understand whats so hard to grasp that I just want to change out bench, deadlift, squat and ohp for a powerlifting routine and go and do my own accessory movements. I know a lot of people who do that. Just because I don’t want to follow a programs accessory movements doesn’t mean I don’t understand what I want. I want the freedom to do my own accessory movements. My friend whos a powerlifter does that too. He use to have to follow certain accessory movements and that was it, he didn’t like that so he just does whatever he feels like after his heavy lifts. Whats hard to understand that? mixing a bb routine with powerlifting is something a lot of people do, but they dont always follow. Whats hard about understanding that I do 5x5 with bench press and after doing it I go and do my normal chest routine? But whatever I’m done on this topic, i guess ill just make my own shit up.

12

Honestly this thread is done. No need to comment or post anything on here. My minds been made up. Thank you

13

I know we live in an age where folks see a few YouTube videos of a depleted bodybuilder in contest prep and assume that is how they always train but at least the old school guys would generally work heavy with limited assistance for a large chunk of the year.

14

[quote]tsantos wrote:
I know we live in an age where folks see a few YouTube videos of a depleted bodybuilder in contest prep and assume that is how they always train but at least the old school guys would generally work heavy with limited assistance for a large chunk of the year.

http://megliofitness.com/wp-content/themes/OptimizePress/timthumb.php?src=http://megliofitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tomplatzsquat.jpg[/quote]
I understand what you mean, maybe I came off wrong with this, maybe I shouldn’t have stated I wanted a powerlifting program but maybe more of either a routine or rep/set scheme for building strength if that makes sense. What my idea was is just to go back to when training bench press is to just do 5x5 and increase weight from there instead of just walking in the gym and hoping on bench and saying “ill just see what i can do today for heavy bench and thats it” but to actually try to progress in strength. So i understand the confusion of me saying I wanted to get on a program, i could have phrased it differently

15

Having read through this thread a couple of times, three programs come to mind that you may like:

Paul Carter’s Base Building
Greyskull LP with bodybuilding ‘plugins’
Cube (there are a few versions)

Cube is more of a dyed in the wool powerlifting program than the other two but I still think you may like it.

16

[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Having read through this thread a couple of times, three programs come to mind that you may like:

Paul Carter’s Base Building
Greyskull LP with bodybuilding ‘plugins’
Cube (there are a few versions)

Cube is more of a dyed in the wool powerlifting program than the other two but I still think you may like it. [/quote]
Ok cool, thank you for the suggestions I’ll have to take a look at them

17

My suggestion is to give 5/3/1 another try and correct your mistake. What I highly recommend is to buy the 5/3/1 book and read it. You’ll find that it aligns with what you want to do. Lift heavy with the 5/3/1 rep scheme for the main work and then do what supports the main lifts and your goals. As long as you have balance in your assistance work then you’ll be fine.

18

[quote]lift206 wrote:
My suggestion is to give 5/3/1 another try and correct your mistake. What I highly recommend is to buy the 5/3/1 book and read it. You’ll find that it aligns with what you want to do. Lift heavy with the 5/3/1 rep scheme for the main work and then do what supports the main lifts and your goals. As long as you have balance in your assistance work then you’ll be fine.[/quote]

Sound advice.

19

^

I’m not going to look it up myself, but on this site Wendler has an article where he lays out several templates for 5/3/1 including one geared for bodybuilding. From what I remember, cardio was reduced to brisk walking and there wasn’t much in the way of explosive work and there were more accessory movements from more angles and isolation work.

By the way, 5/3/1 can be either slow or fast progression. If your all out last set really starts to go into super high reps, just find out your maxes using a 3-5RM and then re-plug that into the program. Voila, 5/3/1 now accommodates those who quickly progress on it. If only I were so lucky haha.

5/3/1 isn’t a do for 6 weeks and watch the gainz bra kind of program. You need to stick with it for many months to properly evaluate it.