I used to be okay at pullups/chins but stopped doing them and favoured rows instead. I just do 50 reps of pulldowns in some fashion and that’s enough vertical pulling for me. I could do about 5 pullups properly then I started powerlifting and my relative bw strength went out the window. Not really one of my goals to be good at pullups and for me doing sets of 3 of them for ages to get in volume tired me out after benching. I can still do a few so if I fall out a building and am holding onto something I’m safe. Otherwise I don’t really care for them at all .
Very nice work! You’ll get that 400 kg total soon enough. Try slowing your squat descent a little, dropping like that often causes a loss of tightness that no amount of bounce out of the hole makes up for. You won’t lose stretch reflex by controlling your descent at all.
I think DL you got called for hitching when really you very, very slightly lapped the bar as you locked out (got your knees under it as your hips came through). Most meets I’ve been at you wouldn’t have been pinged, but now you know you can be you know to work on not doing it.
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Thanks Mark, my squats before this were a bit slower on the way down but this was 10kg over the most weight I’ve ever had on my back and wasn’t keen on having it there for too long. I’ll be going for that 400 total at my next meet, wanting a 170 dead and 100 bench for it. Thanks again.
That bench will be really difficult to get up to 100 while running that program in just seven weeks without putting on some bodyweight. I suggest you make a concerted effort to put on some mass over the next month since you have ample room to spare in your weight class. Wilks might go down at this next meet, but you’ll be way more likely to hit your goals and take that momentum into your next training cycle.
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I can definitely concentrate to put on mass, seems to be one of the things I’m good at. I’ll stay in 105’s and eat and train to get there. Thanks
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I think a good goal to have would be hitting a bodyweight bench press on your second attempt. The 90 did look clean enough where I think you probably could have hit bodyweight at this past comp. The jump from 90 to 100 is pretty big relatively speaking for the bench when 90 is already a PR. 10kg being an 11% jump in weight: imagine if someone hit a PR of 315 bench and then decided to jump all the way to 350 (+11%) for their next attempt. Especially without gear it simply isn’t plausible to make jumps like that in attempts for bench.
Writing that out made me wonder, did you consult with anyone in regards to what your openers and attempts should be for this past meet? Definitely always good to go in with a plan not just for openers but also different attempts depending on possible scenarios (e.g. failing an opener or conversely the weight flying up smoother than you expected, etc.)
I thought of opening really light at 80 then jumping up to 90 to get a competition pr. This moved quick enough and I was feeling good so went for 100 aiming to get nearer that 400 total. I could’ve maybe got 95 in hindsight definitely 92.5. I’ll re-evaluate and at my next push and pull to see what I can hit.
I’m no type a power lifter, know absolutely nothing about peaking or shit like that, so take this for what it is worth (literally nothing). You look like from your videos that you struggle right off the chest, so I would try and slam deadstop presses from the chest and do them all close grip. Hopefully others chime in, because I would love to hear other opinions on this
I had no idea what you meant but thank God for CT
Not sure where to put them in during that 6 week program so if anyone knows please say something. I do have 2 weeks of training till then as well.
Paused bench would also work. Plus focus on keeping straight wrists. I noticed they’re a bit bent back, and that’ll make it a bit harder. Your joints are stacked well, but if your wrists bend back the bar is more likely to drift out of your groove.
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I second Mark on the pause bench. You should honestly be at the very least pausing your first and last rep of all bench sets. If touch and go isn’t allowed in comps, why do it at all outside of higher rep sets.
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As other commenters said pause bench, dead-stop, and pin presses should all be in your arsenal as assistance exercises. I would also add in floor presses. Sometimes I like even doing pin presses as my warmup for high volume bench days. It lets me really hit the triceps hard as well as get a weight in my hands that is 100+% of my 1RPM
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Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I’ll definitely do all my work sets paused and do the overload deadstop presses on days where I’m not doing Bench again for a few days. Thanks again.
To be clear, I don’t think significant overloading on deadstop is very feasible. Overloading is more for pin presses.
So just do a few inches off chest then overload more weight inside a power rack.
Both the deadstop and pin presses will be done in the power rack. Their difference is just the height of the pins = a change in the range of motion; deadstop pins will be near your chest, pin presses higher up so that you are only working the lockout.
Since the general consensus is your biggest weak point is coming off of your chest, prioritize the deadstops.
OK will do so, thanks.
11/05/17
Volume Hypertrophy Upper - Horizontal Push and Pull
Shoulder Warm up things
Deadstop Press Set up 2 inches above Chest with arch
60 x 3
65 x 3
70 x 3
75 x 3
80 x 2 seems to be most I can do but CNS is still smashed anyway
60 x 3 x 5
Football Bar Bench done feet up
30 x 12
40 x 12
45 x 12
45 x 12
45 x 12
30 x 12
Bent Over Row
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 21 did the ask someone number between 12-50 and try to do that no. of reps
Incline DB Bench
9 x 12
10 x 10 shoulder said no
Cable Flys 12 one way then 12 other as one side is heavier
10 x 24
10 x 24
10 x 24
Meadow Row
20 x 12
20 x 12
20 x 12
20 x 12
DB Shoulder Press
9 x 20
9 x 20
9 x 20
Band Facepulls
50 reps throughout
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Plan
I have 12 days till I start that 6 week program and I’m going to cram in stuff as follows:
Main Strength Work: Bench, Deadstop, squat, deadlift,
Secondary Work(sort of supplementary): squat, deadlift or Bench variation, press
Volume Work: 1 day of upper will be horizontal mainly, other will be upper vertical mainly, more squats
Focus on food in in large quantity
12/05/17
Volume Hypertrophy Lower - Quad/Squat Focused
Low Bar Squat light sleeves, no belt
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 x 5
70 x 5 x 5 kept this fairly easy and focused on slow decent as Mark said and hip/chest rising at same rate
High Bar Squat
40 x 20
40 x 20
40 x 20 this set was brutal
Leg Press
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 14 amrap leg shaking after
Leg Extensions
30 x 12
30 x 12
30 x 12
30 x 12
Supersetted with
Ham Curls
25 x 12
25 x 12
25 x 12
25 x 10
Stair Sprints These are awful in a good way
29 steps up to first floor
29 steps down to ground floor
5 rounds of hell of these
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