Hey guys, Just wanted a little Critique on routine. Im not sure if its too little volume/ too high/ bad exercise selection in general/ ect. Any feedback is appreciated. Goal is to stick with something more like linear progression and for raw powerlifting.
Monday Squat Day/Heavy/High Intensity Assist
3-5x5 Squats + Back off Set
Pause Squats 3x3
Good Mornings 3x6
Biceps
Calfs + Abs
Tuesday Bench Day/Dynamic/High Volume Assist
10x3 Competition Bench. Week 1/2/3…55/60/65%…150/160/175
Shoulders= OHP/Side Laterals/ Face Pulls
Triceps=Skull Crushers
Lats/Upper Back= Pull ups 3xFail
Wednesday Deadlift Day
Ed Coan Program
Thursday Squat Day/Dynamic/High Volume Assist
Dynamic Squat. 15x2…Week 1/2/3…50/55/60%…Repeat…185/205/225
Leg Extensions
Good Mornings
Biceps
Calfs + Abs
Friday Bench Day/Heavy
Ed Coan or Cube bench protocol
Looks good. Don’t know what your previous volume capacity is, but this more than likely won’t be too much. If you plan to compete raw, maybe ratchet up your squat volume a bit. I’d do your dynamic work at the end of your heavy squat day, and do higher rep squatting on Thursdays (3-10 sets of 10, depending on how far you are from a meet).
As for bench - if you are doing those percentages based off of westside barbell, switch your days. If not, or if you have certain reasoning for why you are doing speed your first bench day, carry on as-is.
Since you are benching raw, don’t spend too much time on rear delts (they make a difference more for bench shirts) and focus on crazy strong triceps instead.
Also, drop the calves and abs. If you are squatting and deadlifting enough and correctly, your abs get plenty of work. Aesthetically, diet will make the most difference. Also, calves don’t help the power lifts one bit–if anything, they could hurt your ankle mobility done incorrectly. They’ll gain in size simply from the eccentric of deep, high volume squats if muscle is your goal.
Again, not a bad split at all. All of my recommendations are assuming you actually compete and that you have previously built up to the volume level described in your post.
[quote]l-bomb10 wrote:
Also, drop the calves and abs. If you are squatting and deadlifting enough and correctly, your abs get plenty of work. [/quote]
I must respectfully disagree. After having spent years not directly training the abs and only relying on the squat and deadlift to accomplish my ab training, I found my abs were weak. I feel that direct training of the abs is pretty essential for anyone who has a goal of being bigger and stronger.
I switched the dynamic bench day to Friday, and decided to use the cube kingpin layout for the primary bench day on Tuesday. I added the ab work simply because I havnt trained them directly, only from squats and deads, so now would be a good time to actually get them up to par. Calfs, simply for aesthetics lmao…Only been squatting and deadlifting for 6 months atm, but current bests are 375/525 raw at 165. Literally all I did for my squat so far is once a week, 3x5, just adding weight, so since its still working, I don’t see any reason to change it. Gotta milk that linear progression gains lol.
From what I remember the Coan deadlift routine is pretty low volume but the intensity escalates real quick. I would no way be able to do dynamic squats the next day. When I use them they are generally the most grueling work of the week and I need to be fresh for them - at least 48 hours later - if I want to truly be fast for de squats, which is the goal. Can you power through them - of course. But this isn’t about endurance or even mindset - it’s about being fast and explosive. Rest before them.
FYI - I am 47 and getting older - but I wish I would have learned this earlier: work weeks in the gym don’t need to be 7 days. 10 day weeks work really well for me and for ambitious lifters who want to have enough time and recovery to run a balanced program - which it looks like you are after.
1 more thing:
I have never done calves consistently but I would NEVER nix direct, weighted ab work, ever.