This is a powerlifting for beginners program my fiance and I have been doing for about two and a half months. So far we are getting great results and we are quite pleased with it. I was wondering if it is missing anything particularly important?
I have noticed overhead movements get mentioned quite frequently in threads like this one. I am not sure if they would useful to this program.
Monday
Squats: 5x5
leg extensions: 3x8-10
Glute/Ham raises: 3x8-10
Calves: 3-4 sets, to failure
We also do grip work after every workout (2-handed pinch, wrist roller, grippers).
I apologise in advance if I have asked something stupid/flameworthy without realizing it. I have been reading threads/articles with enthusiasm lately so I understand that I will make gains as long as I am lifting.
I just want to make sure that a year from now I don’t go “WTF do you mean I am supposed to have a muscle there?”
The overhead movement being mentioned would be shoulder presses with barbell, obviously works the shoulders and helps bench. If things are working for you and you are making progress, that’s great, eventually you will stop or slow down with the progress. Leg extensions are not neccessary for PL, might want to add some ab work in, and something for rear delt like face pulls. you might want to start bringing your 5x5 on the main lifts down to 1 or 2 reps, also a real good suggestion is go to www.elitefts.com and read the articles on there, the conjugate method, it will explain DE, ME and RE methods of training. Also it’s great your fiance is training with you also, that’s cool!!!
What the above poster said is correct, however, do to your training experiance (2.5 months) the necessary structural adaptions have not occurred yet to safely justify the increased risk to gains ratio. Frequency and repetition are extremely important for beginners to better facilitate ‘learning’ the movements. Also lighter weights (not taken to failure) allow you to maintain tighter form. During your 1st 6 months, just ‘playing’ in the weightroom and serious diet alterations can lead to significant body comp/ strength changes.
Add in overhead pressing and drop the leg extension, throw in a compound posterior chain exercise instead (SLDL, RDL) and you’ll be set. You are a lucky bastard to have a GHR.
-k
Oh, I actually forgot to mention the ab stuff we do, sorry about that. We usually do 3 ab excersizes after every work out. (thin tummy, side raises, crunches)
Thanks a lot for the advice, I really appreciate it, but I will pester you for further detials.
With the shoulder press is there any particularly rep/set set up I should go for, or will it not really matter at this stage?
I have no clue what all those abbreviations mean. If someone could explain DE, ME, RE, SLDL, RDL, and GHR to me that would be great.
Again thanks a lot for the advice. This elitelifts page is awesome.
Program looks pretty good but like someone mentioned you definitely need to include more lat work, way low on that. Remember the lats help in the beginning of the bench press. An easy rule of thumb is for every set of chest you do you should do a set of lats. You can probably skip the hyperextensions given you are doing deads on one day and legs on another. Depending on your arm strength you may need more for triceps and perhaps biceps. I would also ditch the barbell curl and use an EZ bar if you want to save your wrists and elbows in the long run.
Here is a list of muscles you are currently not giving much attention to. This doesn’t mean it needs to be rectified immediately, but if you don’t fix it for a while it can end up leading to imbalances and problems.
DE= Dynamic effort (where you are trying to maximize bar speed)
ME= Maximum effort (what the name implies)
RDL= Romanian deadlift
SLDL= Stiff-legged deadlift
GHR= Glute-ham raise
I read through your program, making notes along the way on what to add and what to delete. But the responses you’ve gotten have pretty much covered the bases. We’ve got a great crew here.
The only thing I might add to what has been said is lose the calf work. Squats and deadlifts will take care of that. I also want to stress adding some overhead work and lots of lat work. The overhead work will not only add strength, it will help keep your shoulders healthy. The lat work will definitely help your bench.
DPH, I searched around for information on what a high board press is and I couldn’t find anything. If you could direct me to something I would appreciate it.
Looks better, thanks for being flexible and able to make some changes. Don’t be afraid to change up your secondary exercises every month or so, for example front squats for a month and then weighted lunges and then step ups and then back to front squats, that way you get a little more variety and keep hitting the body more. Good luck with it.
[quote]Taran wrote:
DPH, I searched around for information on what a high board press is and I couldn’t find anything. If you could direct me to something I would appreciate it. [/quote]
video example of 4 board press:
(IMO) 3,4,5, and 6 board presses, with pinky on the ring or closer, are a much better tricep exersize for powerlifters than tricep extensions…
remember, concentrate on pulling the bar apart while doing all types of barbell bench presses…
Ok, so I reread all this advice a few more times and let it digest for a bit. From what you guys are saying there are actually more changes that need to be made. I really want to include as many of the suggestions as possible. Not taking advice from people who are both more experienced and more succesful than you is a symptom of stupidassholitis, as disease I wish to avoid.
NPTITIM, my arms are quite weak what would you suggest for additions?
So workout Version 3
warm up
(abs: thin tummy, crunches, side raises)
Monday
Squats: 5x5 front squats
Glute/Ham raises: 3x8-10
So the changes look good, to me anyways, though I am little concerned about the imbalance with days (3 lifts on monday 8 on friday). Have I grouped any lifts inapropriately?
DPH, I am totally down for switching my tricep pulldowns for board presses. I will need a more detailed description of exactly what is going on before I can do them.
It looked to me like the board was being held between him and the bar to limit his RoM? So do you mean that the top RoM areas of bench press work your triceps well? If I am interpreting that video properly, what sizes of board should I be using. I will continue to look around for more specifics on it, but if you can point me to an article that would be great.
Thanks for the video though.
Defender, I read through both of those articles. They were quite interesting, if a little intimidating. Is that something I should be implementing at this stage(as a beginner)? Or is it just something I should be keeping in mind and developing a better understanding of as I progress?
Actually, I’ve only been trying my hand at powerlifting for only a few weeks now. I’ve been lifting for a year but have focused on full body workouts just to get myself used to lifting and to lose a lot of unwanted fat. My main goal is bodybuilding, but I lack strength right now so that’s my focus. I’m learning all about this as well.
I liked Dave’s articles. He has a few more at elitefts.com (and probably here as well) that talk about his preferred method of periodization. I just tossed them out as food for thought because they contain so much information. Plus Louie Simmons has written some good articles at
I’ve found that I get the most out of reading this stuff when I blast through it the first time and pick out the main points. Then with each subsequent reading I try to find another nugget or two. I agree that it’s just too much for a newbie to digest in one sitting. But the resources are very thorough, which helps a lot.
Defender, thanks for the link that page seems to have some really great stuff. Yeah I certainly didn’t absorb all the information from the periodization articles but I did learn a lot. I will reread them every once and a while to make sure i really “get it”.
Konstantine, is this http://www.bodybuilding.net/training-forum/dft-5x5-854.html the workout you are talking about? I am only asking b/c the poster refers to it as the “animal mass’s version” and I want to be clear we are on the same page. That work out certainly seems to fill some of the holes I have in mine. Are you suggesting I totally switch to it?
I would do 2-3 exercises for your arms, like triceps: Board press, skull crushers, pushdowns and biceps: EZ Curl, DB Hammer Curl, EZ Reverse Curl just to name a few.
Personally your days now are getting a little out of whack, Wed is super long and Monday is short. Here is how I would set up your days for what it is worth:
Monday - Legs and Lower Back
Squat
Deadlifts
Front Squats
GHR or GM or RDL
Calves
Wed - Push
BP
DB Incline Press
Military Press
Lateral Raise - optional
Board Press or Closegrip
Skull Crushers
Tricep Pushdowns
Fri - Pull
Pull-ups
Bent Over Row
DB Row
Rear Delts
EZ Curl
DB Hammer Curl
Reverse EZ Curl
A few notes, hypers don’t do much for you, use them occassionaly; doing regular deads and stiff deads are rough to do all the time together, pair them up occassionaly and also try RDL, more effective and safer; I disagree with what someone said earlier about SQ and DL hitting the calves effectively, calves work very little on those exercise, basically non-existent on the DL, so if you want to work on them you do need to train them. On your previous workout you were doing back twice a week (Wed and Fri), unnecessary if you don’t do other stuff twice a week so just stick with it once a week. I added in more arms since you requested info on that.
Finally I would vary the rep scheme. Personally I like to do 1 week of 12’s, 1 week of 8’s, and a week of 5’s. You can do anything you want but constantly doing one thing (like 5x5) gets old.
Let me know if you have any more questions. Exercises are listed in the order they should be performed.
[quote]nptitim wrote:
Program looks pretty good but like someone mentioned you definitely need to include more lat work, way low on that. Remember the lats help in the beginning of the bench press. An easy rule of thumb is for every set of chest you do you should do a set of lats. [/quote]
I’ve never seen any powerlifter do that much lat work. Maybe it works for you, however I would say to recommend that to just anyone is a bit odd. I would do one lat exercise on your wednesdays and fridays. Lats do help in the bench press, but they are far less important than shoulders and triceps.
Secondly if you want to work your calves, that’s fine, but they won’t really help you in powerlifting. If your main goal is big numbers in the big three, drop the calf work.
Great that actually looks like a much more thurough and structured work out than what I was doing. Thanks a lot man. I realize that my set/rep options are quite varied and at this stage.
I will progress with just about anything. My concern is though that as I am not particularly familiar with most of these lifts I may end up doing something stupid. If there are any rep/set do’s and don’ts I should know about I would appreciate the tip.
Cap’nsalty, thanks for the advice. My real intention isn’t to be an actual powerlifter in the sense of competing. I more saw powerlifting as a good road to gaining strength. My goal isn’t to win anything or to look good. I want to be as strong as I can possibly be. Which is why I also do a fair bit of grip work. I really don’t want to miss any part of my body. Again thanks for the advice.
