My Road Back to Being Freakishly Strong

Training Powerlifting
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My name is Chris Ballance and I am a United States Marine that has been doing competitive powerlifting since 1999. In 2010 I competed in the 2010 100% RAW world powerlifting championships where I won first in the 165lb open division and best lightweight lifter; my wilks score was a 431 and my total was 1300.7lbs.

However, due to deployments to Afghanistan and some back/upper leg problems I had to postpone my lifting for awhile. I’m back now though and I just got selected for a program that transferred me to The Ohio State University to get my degree in athletic training which of course also means I will be getting freakishly strong again. I will be posting workouts, videos, diet plans, and results.

Power Challenge
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You are officially my role-model on this board because your height and weight is about where I hope to stay at and you are absurdly strong.

Hopefully I will learn a lot from watching your progress!

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PAIN

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PAIN & DISCIPLINE FOR 6-10 May

Monday
1145-1345 Strength (Legs)
Back squats
5x170, 5x210, 3x255, 3x340, 3x360, >3x380 (got x4)
5 x 5 Box jump (5,4,3,2,1) superset with 4 x 10 Rope Crunch
3 x 5 Bear Complex superset with 3 x 10 oblique
3 x 5 O/H Squat superset with GHD ext. 3 x 6-10

Tuesday
0800-0900 O Lifts training / Sled work
1145-1215 Recovery Run

Wednesday
0800-0830 x5 (200m sprint, 12 pull-ups, 9 burpees, 6 hanging leg raises, 3 wall climbs) followed by a 2 mile run
1145-1345 Strength (Chest)
Flat Bench
10x100, 10x150, 8x195, 5x225, 3x255, 5x225, 3x255, 5x225, >3x255
2 x 8-10 Incline D/B superset with 2 x 8-10 Australian Pulls
Decline B/B 2 x 8-10 superset with 2 x 8-10 Australian Pulls
Weighted Dips 8,6,4,4 superset with 3 x 12 TTB

Thursday
0800-0830, 20 min drill (400m sprint/run with 10 pull-ups in between sprints) I completed 8 circuits
1145 â?? 1345 Strength (Back & Shldrs)
Deadlift 5x205, 5x255, 3x310, 5x385, 5x410, >5x435 (got x7)
3 x 6-8 O/H Press superset with 3 x 10 Oblique
2,2,2, of 4-8 Lat pulls superset with Rope Crunch 3 x 12
3 x 8 Upright row superset with 3 x 8 shrugs
3 x 8 B/O Row superset with 3 x 10 Hip thrusters

Friday
1145-1215 Recovery Run

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Today’s deadlift session
435x7

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[quote]magick wrote:
You are officially my role-model on this board because your height and weight is about where I hope to stay at and you are absurdly strong.

Hopefully I will learn a lot from watching your progress! [/quote]

Thanks for the support if you have any questions hit me up

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Following.

What are your current stats (ht/wt) and lifts?
When do you plan to compete?
Do you have specific goals?

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Great to have another Buckeye here. It looks like you’re training at the ROTC facility on campus?

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Love your deadlift form

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My current weight is 173 lbs and my current lifts are as follows:

Squat- 405
Bench- 295
Deadlift- 510

I’m looking to do a meet soon but nothing solid yet. I definitely need to hurry though so I can get started on hopefully qualifying for the Arnold Classic. I will also be updating these lifts soon due to the way my squat and deadlift workouts mirror Weindlers 5/3/1. I just got back to working out after a very long inactive stint so expect to see giant gains for about 1-3 months and then a slow down.

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[quote]cj_ballance wrote:
My current weight is 173 lbs and my current lifts are as follows:

Squat- 405
Bench- 295
Deadlift- 510

I’m looking to do a meet soon but nothing solid yet. I definitely need to hurry though so I can get started on hopefully qualifying for the Arnold Classic. I will also be updating these lifts soon due to the way my squat and deadlift workouts mirror Weindlers 5/3/1. I just got back to working out after a very long inactive stint so expect to see giant gains for about 1-3 months and then a slow down.
[/quote]

What weight class are you planning to compete at the Arnold at?

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165 maybe 148

looking to hit around 1400 lb total

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[quote]cj_ballance wrote:
165 maybe 148

looking to hit around 1400 lb total[/quote]

173 down to 148 would be rough!

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Yeah, I’ve done it before. I haven’t been dieting at all and that weight wouldn’t be the goal until the Arnold which is about a year away. I’ll probably end up mid to low 165 though.

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PAIN & DISCIPLINE FOR 13-18 May

Monday
1145-1345: Strength (Legs)
Back squats
5x175
5x215
3x260
5x325
3x370

1x410 (got it 2x failed on the 3rd)
5 x 5 Box jump (5,4,3,2,1) superset with 4 x 10 Rope Crunch
3 x 5 Front Squat superset with 3 x 10 oblique
3 x 5 O/H Squat superset with GHD ext. 3 x 6-10

Tuesday
0800-0900: CF drill (10 tire flips, 10 sumo deadlifts, 10 box jumps, 10 power cleans, 200m sprint)x4
1145-1215: 5 mile Recovery Run

Wednesday
0800-0830: CF WOD (TBD)
1145-1345: Strength (Chest)
Flat Bench
10x100
10x150
8x195
5x225
3x255
5x225
3x255
5x225

3x255
3 x 8-10 Incline D/B superset with 2 x 8-10 Australian Pulls
Decline B/B 3 x 8-10 superset with 2 x 8-10 Australian Pulls
Weighted Dips 8,6,4,4 superset with 3 x 12 TTB

Thursday
0800-0830: CF WOD (TBD)
1145 ? 1345: Strength (Back & Shldrs)
Deadlift
5x215
5x270
3x325
3x430
3x455

3x485
3 x 6-8 Push Press superset with 3 x 10 Oblique
2,2,2, of 4-8 weighted pullups superset with Rope Crunch 3 x 12
3 x 8 Upright row superset with 3 x 8 shrugs
3 x 8 single b/o Row superset with 3 x 10 Hip thrusters

Friday
0800-0830: CF WOD (TBD)
1145-1215: Run

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Great workout today! Hit 410 for 2 and couldn’t quite got out of the whole with the third. After that me and my partners followed up with some box jumps and accessories. It felt real good to jump and land on a 4ft platform after those heavy squats. We will be cutting back on the core intensive accessories during these 531 peak workouts. Its a challenge to do them on our 5 rep and 3 rep workouts but its nearly impossible to finish them on the 531 week. Next time we will switch them over to hack squats and leg press. Ill be posting pics/vids soon. Also used Enhanced by Physique Enhancing Science (PES) for the first time, it is an outstanding pre to no doubt helped me break those PR’s today. I definitely recommend y’all give it a try when you run out of your current pre

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[quote]cj_ballance wrote:
Great workout today! Hit 410 for 2 and couldn’t quite got out of the whole with the third. After that me and my partners followed up with some box jumps and accessories. It felt real good to jump and land on a 4ft platform after those heavy squats. We will be cutting back on the core intensive accessories during these 531 peak workouts. Its a challenge to do them on our 5 rep and 3 rep workouts but its nearly impossible to finish them on the 531 week. Next time we will switch them over to hack squats and leg press. Ill be posting pics/vids soon. Also used Enhanced by Physique Enhancing Science (PES) for the first time, it is an outstanding pre to no doubt helped me break those PR’s today. I definitely recommend y’all give it a try when you run out of your current pre[/quote]

Good to see you back at it man. Where are you these days?

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My buddy just corrected me it was just shy of 4ft

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Columbus Ohio at OSU. The Marine Corps selected me for the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning and Educating Program so I get to go to take a break from deploying and go to college for 3 years.

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I am definitely going to follow you log man. I am 164 right now, about 5’10 and 18 years old and my goals are basically be able to throw up some sick numbers like yours. solid work man.