Recreational Powerlifter Needs Guidance

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
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Hello all. As you can see my name is Bradley. I am a recreational lifter looking to get involved in competitive powerlifting once I am done with full time graduate school for dietetics. After I am done with my course work, I will go through an 8 month dietetic internship. On the side from school, I am a bartender part time. As you can see, I am totally not in the position to compete yet or to get insanely strong. I live in Queens, NY on the border line of Queens and Long Island. There are ZERO powerlifting or strength training oriented gyms in my area. The only one I can think of is Iron Island and that is not close to me. My plan for the next year and half is to gain as much muscle mass and strength that I possibly can while training in a recreational gym. I am 25 years old and each day I am becoming more and more interested in getting stronger and bigger. I do not like to sound like a weepy mush, but the sport of powerlifting seems so inspiring and intriguing. The feats of strength, the training, and the comradrie seems so different than what I was interested in before: bodybuilding. I know that my inquiry to you all is probably a little vague but here it goes. I do not really know how to get involved or who to speak to. My plan is to attend as many seminars as my budget and schedule allows the next two years to make some connections and to further educate myself. My “professional goal” is to be an entreprenuer in dietetics and nutrition. However, my other goal is to conduct REAL personal training to all kinds of people and to become involved in competitive powerlifting. I think all of these goals are largely complimentary to one another. I have the usual 20 something year old friends who “belong to a gym” but none of them are as involved as I am. I think these seminars that I plan on going to will widen my horizons. I learn VERY FAST and am willing to put the time in to compete in the future. I am also very disciplined with diet as well. I am currently following a modified Westside routine. It goes as follows.
Day one: Max effort bench press day

  1. Work up to a 3 to 5 rep max in a bench press varation or dips.
  2. Supplemental lift: Flat, incline, or decline barbell bench press
  3. Row variation
  4. Rear delt exercise
  5. Abdominal exercise

Day 2 Max Effort Squat/Deadlift day

  1. Work up to 3 to 5 rep max in a deadlift or squat variation.
  2. Some type of lunge
  3. Hamstring/lower back exercise
  4. Grip exercise

Day 3 Repetition Method Bench Press day

  1. 20 to 35 reps in first set, rest 60 seconds, do more reps, rest 60 seconds, do more reps. Any variation of dumbell or barbell bench presses or pushups or dips.
  2. Supplemental lift: Tricep extensions of any kind or dumbell floor presses
  3. Chinups or lat pulldowns
  4. Shrugs or delt exercise of any kind
  5. Abdominal exercise

Day 4 More leg bodybuilding type workout

  1. Quad exercise
  2. Hamstring and lower back exercise
  3. Second hamstring and lower back exercise
  4. Grip exercise
    As you can see, this is identical to the modified Westside version that Joe Defranco wrote for T-Mag months ago. I have been following this template for months with great results. I do not do any speed work or box squats yet as I would like to be coached somewhat in these methods before using them. I am not sure how to perform them correctly yet and as of now I would like to simply put on some more muscle. I was strongly considering trying a modified Metal Militia style workout for a recreational lifter such as myself but I am not sure how to modify it.

My diet looks like this:

  1. Egg whites and some yolks or whole eggs (sometimes I just can’t bring myself to not eat all the yolks ) with cheddar cheese
    oatmeal
    banana

  2. tuna with canola mayonnaise
    mixed nuts
    veggies

  3. chicken
    veggies
    peanut butter

  4. Mid workout shake with carb and pro powder
    Post workout shake with carb and pro powder

  5. Large bowl of pasta or brown rice
    Salad
    Salmon or lean red meat

  6. cottage cheese
    sunflower seeds
    tablespoon of flaxseed oil
    It comes out to about 3,500 calories. I cheat once or twice a week or when I feel that I just need more calories that day.

What do you guys think of my current workout plan? You guys think perhaps you can show how to modify an MM style for a recreational lifter who does not plan on wearing a shirt in training for about two years? How do you guys train the squat and deadlift. Am I making the right moves by simply attending seminars? How can I make more connections for the time being. I know this post has been very length, but you guys all seem quite friendly, intelligent, honest, and sincere. I hope I can meet some of you guys when I attend a seminar one day at Naz Bar. If anyone needs some diet tips feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Bradley

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Hey Bradley

I’m very much in the same boat as you, as I am attending chiropractic college now (which is grad level studies), even bartending a little on the side. also do martial arts.
I too am an avid recreational powerlifter looking to compete. Have been wanting to for sometime, but injuries and my numbers not being quite where I want them, along with heavy responsibilities have kept me thus far. Rest assured it will happen. I’m very passionate about REAL strength and power, and I lean towards functional training. My love of strength aside I am also very anti drug, in addition to being a purist, so juice is out of the question.
That said, I’ve tried most of the major methodologies out there, and all have their merits. However, most will not work indefinitely, not because of “plateaus” or a need for periodization, but because they are not geared towards normal endocrinology. This is accepted in bodybuilding with regards to 40 set-bodypart-blitz-FLEX magazine routines, but not as much in the stength world. Whether you wish to be clean or not is a personal matter, but know that just like Mr. O routines won’t work due to the juice factor, the same holds for Russian squat routines, German high volume, O-lifters who squat 6 times a week (11 of those guys got busted in Athens)etc. No preaching here, just keeping it real.
In recent times, I’ve gone back to High Intensity. If you have guts, drive, and passion for training, this is for you. I know that a lot of people in the lifting world give High Intensity a bad rap, but the fact is, the mainstream muscle media painted a skewed perception of it for politics, of course, but also by focusing on the wrong people as representatives. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but Mike Mentzer was an egocentric, solipsistic, methamphetamine head, who put the dogmatic spin on it that turned everyone off. Just like the T-Mag people, the real follwers of High Intensity are intelligent, and exist in the real world. You also have to go beyond the magazine rack to find the real deal, again like with T-Mag (and with anything else in this world FTM…)
The best people who are into Intense training are the ones that utilize a variety of methods, but stick to the same important gist-train hard. Hit it and quit it. There are many good people out there that espouse this, some appear in T-nation like Mike Mahler, and C.S. Sloan. The best high intensity people recognize that there is no “one way” to results. I know if you are a hardcore iron head a couple days a week might not seem enough, not because it does not work, but because this is our love, and extra minutes in the gym are our love (positive addiction, right?)But if you are in the position we are, I promise you it becomes necessity. That it is the real deal (for real endocrinology) is a bonus.

So,that rambling tangent aside, of late I have been going by some of the principles of the great Dr. Ken, who not only formerly owned Iron Island, but is an alumni from my school. He also has nearly 40 years in the trenches. He is THE MAN, and a good man at that. His office, which contains a hardcore, well equipped power gym in its own right, is in Nassau County, Valley Stream. If I were you, I would contact the man, see if he can help you out. I don’t know if he’s training people anymore, but anything he would give you would be a pearl. He’s listed in the book, Dr. Ken Leistner. I know it’s not right up the street (are you in Far Rockaway or something?), but it would be worth the trip. Maybe you could schedule a chiropractic adjustment, a must for all powerlifters. At the very least, check out some of his articles. He’s squatted 407x23 past 50 yrs old, weighing 160 lbs, no belt or wraps, ass to the ground. We’ll never be that intense!

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If you want some info on powerlifting, PM me and I will try to hook you guys up if I can.

Shawn Lattimer

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Gentlemen,

Check out any of the articles by Dave Tate on this site (just do a search).

His articles will take you pretty far up the road.