Hey,
I’m a beginner-intermediate lifter with 1RM’s of 310 for squat, 420 for deadlift, and 215 for bench.
I like to test my maxes twice a year, and this is the first time that i’d like to do it by imitating a meet - as in, all lifts same day, instead of spread across a week as i’ve done before.
Today is the last day of my overreaching week, and I planned the “meet” to take place on thursday, june 22nd (because the usual saturday won’t work for me), so that I would have a 10-day taper leading up to it. I’ve always been doing my squat on mondays, bench on wednesdays and deads on thursday.
My plan is:
Next week monday: Squat opener + 3x3 w/90% of opener
Wed: Bench opener + 3x3 w/90% of opener
Thurs: Deads 3x2 w/90% of opener (I already tested the opener this week)
Monday the 19th: Squat and bench both 3x2 w/80% of the opener, no deads
Tues-wed: rest
Does this seem OK? I feel like i’ve been analyzing this for a tad bit too long already.
Thanks!
@mnben87 is a competitor - let me throw it to him!
What has worked well for you in the past? I don’t do super well if I take a whole week off before a meet like some do. I feel very off, and the weights feel heavy. Some claim to feel very strong after a week off.
The week before a meet, I’d typically lift on my usual schedule. I’d just warm up on each lift then do a sorta heavy single. Nothing to crazy, nothing that would drive a lot of fatigue. For bench I’d try to hit a single that was about 50 lbs less than what I was hoping for at the meet. Deadlift about 100 lbs less, and squat in between at like 75 lbs less.
I wouldn’t train the day before the meet even if just doing a single. Take that day off.
I don’t really compete anymore. I’ve been thinking of doing a push pull meet, but who knows.
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I see. In the past, all i’ve done before testing my maxes was take a few days off. I was of course weaker then, (and i’m not exactly super strong now), so I recovered a bit faster.
I just got confused, because I read like 10 different articles about peaking and tapering, and saw 10 different ways to do it. One thing many had in common, though, was that the last heavy deadlifts should be done further away from the meet than the last heavy squat/bench, but since my usual schedule is:
Mon - squat
Wed - bench
Thu - deads,
I’m then supposed to do the heavy deads early during the tapering week (next week), so that they would be sufficiently far away from the meet. But since I just did a MONSTROUS deadlift day yesterday, I don’t want to think of doing another DL session early next week. But if I do the deads next thursday (7 day out from my mock meet), they now seem to be too close to it.
Thus i’ve been thinking in circles for the past couple hours, not quite knowing what would be the perfect way to do it.
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Likely general recommendations. Works for a lot of people, but likely to general to be the best fit for you.
A single that is like 85% wouldn’t be too much for me. I’d feel fresh the next day I think. For sure if I had the next day off, I’d be feeling really strong two days after. YMMV.
Basically leading up to a meet, I want to feel something kinda heavy, but very little volume (one top single), that week. I don’t do much assistance, and no assistance on the last training day (just the single). I just don’t really buy that most will have a lot of fatigue or CNS fatigue from a couple of singles at 85%. At least for me, those singles were enough that I didn’t feel like I had super heavy weight during the meet.
I’d try to have my last training day at least two days from the meet. So if I was competing on a Saturday, I wouldn’t train on Friday (even if just doing a single). I’d aim to have Wednesday be my last day usually.
2 Likes
Thanks! 
Think I figured it out now.