Pwnisher Q n A

Training Powerlifting
101

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Thanks P, I will put rubber mats on top, was already thinking this, just for the longevity of the wood, i’m also using rubber coated plates, that take some impact as well.

So, basicaly I’m aiming for 10-15 reps, with one rest pause, on the rest pause, do you stay straped to the bar, and just take a knee for 30 sec, or do you unstrap, and take a bigger break. On erring on the conserative side, ya I grew up on McRoberts, so I get that. The only problem I see, is that with my Deadlift there’s a huge drop off for me, between getting reps, and heavy pulls, ie; I can get around 10-15 reps with 385 ( fresh) but I’m lucky to get 5 with 405, and I managed to eek out 3 ugly reps with 455 the other day, followed by 9 with 385.

I think because I basicaly didn’t train legs for 10yrs, due to injuries, and life, but I was doing lots of rack pulls, BORs, chins. My back strength is far ahead of leg strength. Its all I can think of to explain the drop in strength, between high rep, and low rep work. So it’s just making it hard to pick a jump off point. I also haven’t been training my deads much the past year, so I’ll just play it by year. I think 405 might be the right weight, but I may have to do more than one 7 week cycle with the same weight, to get everything in order. We shall see, but as you can see, I’m fucking pumped. later ![/quote]

On the subject of high reps, I think you’ll find that it sort of works itself out as the ROM progression happens. You may do a cycle where you don’t lose a rep, or you may find yourself losing reps each week as you approach the floor, and in the case of the latter, starting with more reps is a boon, as you have some wiggle room.

I am actually similar, in that my rep strength on pulls is greater than my 1rm strength, but I find that improving my rep strength still has great carryover to 1rm, and since I am better at rep strength, I get to use what I am better at to continue to improve what I am weaker at. It’s pretty interesting.

405 sounds like a great starting point. I’m big on using plate milestone points. 405, 495, 585, etc. Best of luck!

102

[quote]DeathSoSwiftly wrote:
I’ve read somewhere on elitefts(i think it was another dave tate article) that you gotta reset the deadlift when repping. I used to just grab some air, tense my core, drop the bar, count to “avada kedavra” and lift. But the second lift was always easier and faster then the first. So then I began dropping the bar, stand up, get tense and do another rep, but that would take about 7-10 seconds between reps making a single set just under one minute. Felt like the angel of death breathed in my face as he passed. But if that’s the “right” way to rep deadlifts then I’ll just have to man up I guess.

Another deadlift question. When I compare pros to amateurs I’ve always noticed how low the pros drop their hips in comparison. When I’m lifting my body is almost parallel to the floor. When someone like Babyslayer lifts his hips are so low his body is at a 30-45° angle. What is the reason behind this?[/quote]

You wrote “another deadlift question” on your second paragraph, but I am unsure if your first paragraph is also a deadlift question or if you mean you are also asking me a deadlift question like others have.

In regards to your second paragraph, I would say your issue is that your shoulders are in front of the bar rather than behind it, which is most likely a result of the bar being too close to your shins when you are setting up. I think the bar should be in contact with ones shins at the start of the pull, but this means it should be away from the shins during start-up, so that you can reach down, grab the bar and set your hips/shoulders before you start pulling. Many trainees instead walk right up to the bar before the even bend down, and then have no room to get into place.

I posted my video on youtube titled “how I deadlift” which should help you with this problem. Basically, a close stance and rolling the bar to you will go far here.

103

[quote]LoRez wrote:
An important point I somehow forgot when I wrote that:

The number of 5Ks our cross-country team ran, in order to train for our 5K races… was zero. Zip. Nada.

We trained speed, we trained distance, we trained aerobic threshold, but we didn’t train what we competed. And we won, repeatedly, training that way.

So yeah, I see where you’re coming from.[/quote]

This and your above post are just awesome, thanks for contributing them. It is always interesting to discover just how many lessons we can apply from one discipline to another.

104

Lots of great weightlifting tips to be learned from Piano player’s :slight_smile:

105

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Lots of great weightlifting tips to be learned from Piano player’s :)[/quote]

Lol.

106

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Thanks P, I will put rubber mats on top, was already thinking this, just for the longevity of the wood, i’m also using rubber coated plates, that take some impact as well.

So, basicaly I’m aiming for 10-15 reps, with one rest pause, on the rest pause, do you stay straped to the bar, and just take a knee for 30 sec, or do you unstrap, and take a bigger break. On erring on the conserative side, ya I grew up on McRoberts, so I get that. The only problem I see, is that with my Deadlift there’s a huge drop off for me, between getting reps, and heavy pulls, ie; I can get around 10-15 reps with 385 ( fresh) but I’m lucky to get 5 with 405, and I managed to eek out 3 ugly reps with 455 the other day, followed by 9 with 385.

I think because I basicaly didn’t train legs for 10yrs, due to injuries, and life, but I was doing lots of rack pulls, BORs, chins. My back strength is far ahead of leg strength. Its all I can think of to explain the drop in strength, between high rep, and low rep work. So it’s just making it hard to pick a jump off point. I also haven’t been training my deads much the past year, so I’ll just play it by year. I think 405 might be the right weight, but I may have to do more than one 7 week cycle with the same weight, to get everything in order. We shall see, but as you can see, I’m fucking pumped. later ![/quote]

On the subject of high reps, I think you’ll find that it sort of works itself out as the ROM progression happens. You may do a cycle where you don’t lose a rep, or you may find yourself losing reps each week as you approach the floor, and in the case of the latter, starting with more reps is a boon, as you have some wiggle room.

I am actually similar, in that my rep strength on pulls is greater than my 1rm strength, but I find that improving my rep strength still has great carryover to 1rm, and since I am better at rep strength, I get to use what I am better at to continue to improve what I am weaker at. It’s pretty interesting.

405 sounds like a great starting point. I’m big on using plate milestone points. 405, 495, 585, etc. Best of luck![/quote]

I just realized I forgot to address the rest pause question you had. In general, I unstrap and restrap during that time, and I rest long enough so that I can get in another few reps. It can be anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, just whatever I need.

107

haha, Paul Carter had a big rant today about touch and go training making you weak, and it made me chuckle, not because I think he’s wrong, or your wrong, because I’ve been around long enought to know everyone is right ( both you guys have big deadlifts) it just made me chuckle because everyone thinks they’re right, and the other guys wrong. Why can’t people see there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and what ever works for you is right ! Better yet, what ever is working for you ‘‘right now’’ is right.

I know it gets confusing for kids, but what I tell my kids when the question comes up, about differing opinion’s, is that i’ve seen kids get really big and strong, on the shitiest programs, because they believed and worked they’re asses off, and I’ve seen kids on optimal programs, that didn’t get results, because of doubt, and lack of effort. Anyway thought you might get a kick out of it, over at lift-run-bang, and as much as I like his blog, I wish more people were more open minded, somtimes, about other possibility’s for getting strong, other than they’re own. I guess that wouldn’t make for a very entertaining blog, if everyone agreed all the time. later

Oh ya, thats it, I’ve changed my mind about starting that deadlifting program :slight_smile: it can’t possibly work for me

108

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
haha, Paul Carter had a big rant today about touch and go training making you weak, and it made me chuckle, not because I think he’s wrong, or your wrong, because I’ve been around long enought to know everyone is right ( both you guys have big deadlifts) it just made me chuckle because everyone thinks they’re right, and the other guys wrong. Why can’t people see there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and what ever works for you is right ! Better yet, what ever is working for you ‘‘right now’’ is right.

I know it gets confusing for kids, but what I tell my kids when the question comes up, about differing opinion’s, is that i’ve seen kids get really big and strong, on the shitiest programs, because they believed and worked they’re asses off, and I’ve seen kids on optimal programs, that didn’t get results, because of doubt, and lack of effort. Anyway thought you might get a kick out of it, over at lift-run-bang, and as much as I like his blog, I wish more people were more open minded, somtimes, about other possibility’s for getting strong, other than they’re own. I guess that wouldn’t make for a very entertaining blog, if everyone agreed all the time. later

Oh ya, thats it, I’ve changed my mind about starting that deadlifting program :slight_smile: it can’t possibly work for me[/quote]
I read that also, and thought the same thing. He pushes for paused bench and yet from Nov 10th to Jan 31st, I did exactly 3 paused reps on bench, and they were on Dec 8th, yet I took my comp max from 292lb on Nov 9th to 303lb Feb 1st without “practicing”. But I took my TNG 295x3 to 305x4 in that same time frame, and I should hit 308 in a comp march 1st. All at a bodyweight of 148.8 lb.

109

Having read through the post that was mentioned on that blog, it leads me to the issue that I had to get over in my own training. When reading about training, we need to ask “why is that bad”. So many times we present claims that are supposed to be “self evident”, and in turn make arguments that are self referential in their own existence.

We say things like “touch and go deadlifts are inferior to deadstop deadlifts for developing a deadlift because it’s not training specificity”, and many people are willing to consider that a valid argument. However, we need to stop relying on dogma as authority and ask the question “why is it better to train with specificity than with not”, and when given the answer to that, ask “why is it X and not Y?”

I feel that we need to move away from universalisms and this notion of “training morality”, where things are inherently good and bad. Instead, as you have noted Jake, we have to understand that some of the things work for some of the people some of the time. You do yourself no favors by ruling things out before you try them, casting them aside as “worthless” or “bad” or “sub-optimal” or whatever term we decide to use that day. We constantly hear we should “train what we are bad at”, but then turn around and say to not train things that are bad.

We are forgetting the end goal here. We want to get bigger and stronger. We believe in the notion that specificity is necessary to achieve that, but then we get lost and change the goal such that instead of pursuing getting bigger and stronger, we are pursuing specificity for the sake of specificity. You see it all the time with trainees that are so fixated on achieving the MEANS that they totally forget about the END.

110

T3hPwnisher: Quick question regarding meet preparation. I think I remember you saying your competition weight was the 198 class. Is that right? Do you prefer to go above that in the offseason, then cut back, or maintain that bodyweight for most of the year? I don’t mean that you literally sit at 198, but maybe hover between 202-205 or so, and then an easy cut down for the meet, compared to attempting to gain as much muscle as possible in the offseason (hitting maybe 210+) then having a more drastic cut.

Perhaps an example will help elucidate my question. I picked a meet for October of this year. I’m currently ~164, and I plan on competing in the 165 class. I want to be competitive in my class, and the maximum amount of lean weight I could gain by October (maybe 5 pounds?) would put me towards the low end of the 181 class.

Would you suggest that I maintain this weight from now until October, or put on weight slowly then cut prior to the meet? I’ve often wondered which method would be ideal for strength gains, but I’m not sure there is a simple answer.

Also, I know you’re currently into Strongman competitions. Do you plan on returning to powerlifting at some point?

111

[quote]baugust wrote:
T3hPwnisher: Quick question regarding meet preparation. I think I remember you saying your competition weight was the 198 class. Is that right? Do you prefer to go above that in the offseason, then cut back, or maintain that bodyweight for most of the year? I don’t mean that you literally sit at 198, but maybe hover between 202-205 or so, and then an easy cut down for the meet, compared to attempting to gain as much muscle as possible in the offseason (hitting maybe 210+) then having a more drastic cut.

Perhaps an example will help elucidate my question. I picked a meet for October of this year. I’m currently ~164, and I plan on competing in the 165 class. I want to be competitive in my class, and the maximum amount of lean weight I could gain by October (maybe 5 pounds?) would put me towards the low end of the 181 class.

Would you suggest that I maintain this weight from now until October, or put on weight slowly then cut prior to the meet? I’ve often wondered which method would be ideal for strength gains, but I’m not sure there is a simple answer.

Also, I know you’re currently into Strongman competitions. Do you plan on returning to powerlifting at some point?[/quote]

I actually compete in the 181 class, not 198. In the off season, I get up to around 202lbs, and then start cutting weight around 3 months out from the meet, shooting for about 1lb of weight lost each week. When I get to walking around at 190, I cut the remaining 9lbs for weigh in the day of.

I’m not necessarily putting on maximal muscle in the off season like a bodybuilder bulk/cut cycle, 202 is just a much more comfortable weight for me to train at. When I’m cutting weight, I have to put my conditioning on hold and reduce my training volume to make up for my lack of calories, whereas when I eat more, I can train more.

I can’t really say what will be best for you. Cutting weight is a skill in and of itself. I have a background in wrestling which really helped me out, but some folks can’t cut any water, whereas some can cut 20lbs for a weigh in and still be plenty strong the next day. If I were in your situation, I wouldn’t worry about putting on more muscle in training, but instead just focus on getting stronger in the off season, and doing whatever it takes to achieve that. Maybe you need more muscle, or maybe you need more conditioning, or more frequency, or variety, or whathaveyou. Don’t automatically assume that scale weight will equal bar weight, sometimes, it can do the opposite.

I definitely have plans to do another powerlifting meet in the future. I was up in North Dakota for 5 years, and had very little chance to do any outdoor competitions due to the winter, so right now I’m loving my time with strongman, but I am a much better powerlifter than a strongman, and would like to do another meet. I don’t know if I’m going to cut down to 181 for my return to the sport, but might just weigh in wherever I do for fun.

112

What kind of benefits do you find crosstraining Strongman and PL?

113

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
What kind of benefits do you find crosstraining Strongman and PL?[/quote]

I wouldn’t really say I’ve been crosstraining at this point. Though I’ve been competing in strongman, I haven’t really done any training for it. In many cases, the day of the competition is the first time I handle the implement, and I just try to figure it out as I go. This last competition I did, it was the first time I ever did a power clean with a barbell, flipped a tire, or pulled a truck, and the only other time I did a yoke walk was the competition before that.

On the same side, I’m not really training for powerlifting either. I don’t really understand tapering or peaking, and instead I just keep getting stronger and then deload before the competition. I think the 4 lifts of 5/3/1 are great choices for simply developing strength as a whole, and it’s what I focus on and find helps me achieve my goals. However, if I were to get more seriously invested in strongman, I think I would move bench to just assistance work and focus more on my overhead press (and especially learning leg drive) and dedicate a day to events/athleticism, because it’s my weak point.

Since I am a far better powerlifter than I am a strongman, I’d say that the benefits of powerlifting to strongman is having a great foundation of maximal strength. At both of the strongman comps I’ve gone to, I was never worried about if I was strong enough to complete an event, but only if I was skilled/fast enough. I feel like it’s much faster to develop skill/speed compared to maximal strength, and many competitors just didn’t have the strength to complete an event, despite having all the other tools necessary. My technique isn’t pretty, but I can Hulk a lot of events.

Knowing how to deadlift well is a great skill too, and deadlift strength especially carries over to a lot of events. However, I honestly think the tool most responsible for any success I have in strongman is the safety squat bar. It is probably one of the most perfect stone loading training tools around.

I also think powerlifting opening my eyes/mind to all sorts of fun toys to play with helps as well. I might not have all the events available for me to train in my home gym, but I do have a lot of variety to work with that can make a pretty close approximate.

114

I was looking over the results page, for RUM 7, and there’s a lifter, Tee Cummins, that looked alot like you, thought mabey you started lifting under an alias, anyway if you go to LIFT.net, for the RUM results there a bunch of pic’s of him with various people, and he’s got this tight lipped smirk, same as you have on any pic’s I’ve seen of you, same haircut same build, and posted 1879@218, so he’s a strong motherf$ker as well. Good for a laugh, Later

115

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
I was looking over the results page, for RUM 7, and there’s a lifter, Tee Cummins, that looked alot like you, thought mabey you started lifting under an alias, anyway if you go to LIFT.net, for the RUM results there a bunch of pic’s of him with various people, and he’s got this tight lipped smirk, same as you have on any pic’s I’ve seen of you, same haircut same build, and posted 1879@218, so he’s a strong motherf$ker as well. Good for a laugh, Later[/quote]

Haha, I can see a slight resemblance, although I think the haircut helps. I tend to hear that I look like Matt Damon, although recently a young lady told me she thought I looked like Emmett Cullen from the Twilight series.

I had to use google incognito mode to image search that person because I didn’t want it in my search history, but I think the end result was that she thought I was cute, haha.

116


Haha, googled and found this

117

Alright, now that IS uncanny.

118

Thats what happen’s when I go from lifting 6 days a week to 4 days a week, I get board,

Anyway having a hard time finding full meet results from RUM 7, I found highlights, but I was wondering how Nera, Byrd, and Kade did, there’s no results I can find other than some world records that got broke. Nera especialy was training injured, and could only squat with areound 60% right up to the meet, doing his own form of EDT, condencing the squating work with 450 into 25min chunks, right up to the meet rathert than handling max weights. I was wondering how that wroked out for him, and young Kade getting 700x10 in the deadlift leading into the meet. Anyway if anyone knows how to find full results, love to know the link, Thanks

119

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Thats what happen’s when I go from lifting 6 days a week to 4 days a week, I get board,

Anyway having a hard time finding full meet results from RUM 7, I found highlights, but I was wondering how Nera, Byrd, and Kade did, there’s no results I can find other than some world records that got broke. Nera especialy was training injured, and could only squat with areound 60% right up to the meet, doing his own form of EDT, condencing the squating work with 450 into 25min chunks, right up to the meet rathert than handling max weights. I was wondering how that wroked out for him, and young Kade getting 700x10 in the deadlift leading into the meet. Anyway if anyone knows how to find full results, love to know the link, Thanks[/quote]

Is this what you’re looking for?

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/files/results/Raw%20Unity%20Meet%207%20results.xls

It downloads straight away as an excel file

120

[quote]baugust wrote:
T3hPwnisher: Quick question regarding meet preparation. I think I remember you saying your competition weight was the 198 class. Is that right? Do you prefer to go above that in the offseason, then cut back, or maintain that bodyweight for most of the year? I don’t mean that you literally sit at 198, but maybe hover between 202-205 or so, and then an easy cut down for the meet, compared to attempting to gain as much muscle as possible in the offseason (hitting maybe 210+) then having a more drastic cut.

Perhaps an example will help elucidate my question. I picked a meet for October of this year. I’m currently ~164, and I plan on competing in the 165 class. I want to be competitive in my class, and the maximum amount of lean weight I could gain by October (maybe 5 pounds?) would put me towards the low end of the 181 class.

Would you suggest that I maintain this weight from now until October, or put on weight slowly then cut prior to the meet? I’ve often wondered which method would be ideal for strength gains, but I’m not sure there is a simple answer.

Also, I know you’re currently into Strongman competitions. Do you plan on returning to powerlifting at some point?[/quote]
I know you directed the question at Pwnisher, but I wanted to share my opinion with weight cutting from the perspective of a smaller guy. First off, any cut less than 4 lbs is super easy. Just google water loading, and you will find specific directions. With that, I would focus on trying to gain that 4 or 5 lbs of lean body mass before October because most likely you will be competing against guys in the 170’s that cut down to be in the 165. Then as you get closer to meet, you can gauge where you are at, and make minor adjustments. If you enter meet week 7 days out at around 170 that would be perfect. Also, does the organization have morning of or day before weigh-ins? Day before is much much easier to cut even more if you have to. Another tidbit is that as soon as you weigh in, and start replenishing your fluids, do some pushups and bodysquats just to activate the muscles. This will help them pull fluids in faster. Good luck.