Thoughts On New Program...

Training Powerlifting
1

I have been thinking about some new goals for the new year. I want to reach the maximum absloute strength possible in explosive and floor lift movements while keeping or improving my 30 and 60 meter sprint times in preperation for bobsled competitions in 4 months. So, I want to get down to 10%BF or less, I need to gain lean mass to up my absolute strength potential and I want to train max strength, explosive, sub-max repetitive effort etc…to realize those gains in the form of absolute strength increases.

Is it asking too much of the body to do a routine that incorporates power, max strength and hypertrophy workouts in the same microcycle or even workout?

Here are my current numbers:
BW: 106 Kgs 230ish Lbs
BF%: 21.0 according to shitty electric device but I think its less.
Bench: 165 Kgs 360ish lbs shoulder width
Squat: 215 Kgs 470ish lbs
Deadlift: 180 Kgs raw (I’m working on it)

I was thinking about doing the following:

M: Two of the following for 7-10 sets of 3 with 60% of max done for speed. Either Snatch, Cleans or Deads and Box Squat, front squat, or step ups. Done A1 A2 format minimal rest PC and Quad dominant respectively. Then accesory work for hypertrophy and strength endurance, 4x6 Back Squat 4030 tempo roughly, 4x10-12 glut-ham raises 3020 tempo, calf raise 3231 tempo B1 B2 B3 format minimal rest. Then pull-throughs, weighted crunch for 3x10-12.
Then either immediately after or a few hours later:
Sprints: 5 x 10m, 5x 20m, 5x30m, 5x40m

T: Chest, Back A1 A2 7-10x3 60-80%1RM minimal rest push-pull exercises shoulder width grips explosive(vert or horiz planes). Then wide grip chest / back for 4x6 4030 tempo B1 B2 format (different plane). Then accessory exercises like face-pulls, incline DB press with cross-over cables adding to adduction for 3x10-12. Abs, Reverse crunch and saxon side bends etc… 3x10-12 C1 C2 C3.
Then either immediately after or a few hours later:
Sprints: 5x30m, 5x40m, 5x50m, 5x60m

W: 10x 4kg med ball throws backward and forward (light but explosive). Forward Launching with med ball throw 10x8Kg. Then GPP, 20-30 minutes varying calistenic formats, no sprinting.

Th: Max effort box squat, and deadlift. 10 sets each working up to a PR attempt. Squat then deadlift next. Followed up with 4x10 of squat variation(different from Monday) and PC exercise like RDL,SLDL,GM, etc… Then accesories like reverse-hyper, twisting abs, calf raise 3x10-12 A1 A2 A3 format.

F: Max effort bench, and back exercise (row or pull-up). 10 sets each working up to a PR attempt. Followed up with 4x10 of wide grip incline chest and back exercises (different from tuesday) or shoulder press instead of chest. Then accessory for upper back, rotator cuff, and abs 3x10-12 A1 A2 A3 format.
Then either immediately after or a few hours later:
Sprints: 5 x 10m, 5x 20m, 5x30m, 5x40m

Sat: OFF

Sun: Bobsled starts 25 or so.

Basically I’m doing a modified WSB format with some 5-6RM or 10-12RM hypertrophy work after the max speed/max effort work then finishing up with the assistance exercises. And adding sprints for additional GPP. Am I trying to put too many different fruits in this basket? Or am I the fruit?

Thanks for reading and all opinions are welcomed…

2

Poloquin said that the three lifts that correlate best to bobsled are power clean, Shoulder width stance front squat and I think it was 45% medium grip incline press.

I just thought front squats and inclines might be good.

3

mertdawg: thanks for tip, its easy enough to use those exercises in my format.

4

Sorry, I erred. I looked it up and it was front squats, power cleans and bench press (although for him bench press is fairly close. You obviously already planned to use these anyway. Here’s a quote:

I strongly believe in what I call “predictor lifts.” In other words, for every sport, there are certain key lifts, that once they’re performed by the athlete, you can tell how well he’ll do in that sport. For example, in bobsleighing, you can add his best power clean, bench press, and front squat and I can tell you how fast he can push a bobsleigh. It’s pretty accurate.

Now I would be interested in a few things:

  1. What’s your vertical if you know. If its pretty good (28+) I would have you consider slower negatives and or maximal weights. If its relatively poor (<24) then Explosive triples with 60-80% and possibly with bands.

  2. Have you ever used bands with weights?

3)In bobsled, do you guys ever do any form of overspeed training? I’m asking if there is a need to and if its common-do you ever feel like the sled is getting ahead of you? If not, I wouldn’t worry about fat at all, if so, dropping fat should help.

  1. I also thought snatch grip deads, and Zercher style deads out of the rack might be good depending on where you’re strongest.

Just some random ideas.

5

Oh, yea, I was also thinking, if you ever push from the side rather than from the back, some rotational/stabilization work might be good like single dumbell bench presses, 1 arm pushups, 1-arm non-support dumbell rows, woodchoppers, or you can take an old tire and throw it with a rotational type throw, like an olympic hammer throw.

6

wow, lots there.

i will nick some of this. thanks!

what about plyometrics/other throwing(sandbags etc) or will they be in the GPP setion.

also, for my benefit, could yououtline a propsed GPP circuit.

KR

7

[quote]mertdawg wrote:

  1. What’s your vertical if you know. If its pretty good (28+) I would have you consider slower negatives and or maximal weights. If its relatively poor (<24) then Explosive triples with 60-80% and possibly with bands.
    [/quote]
    Vert is 27", so I could up it a bit.

No, not yet. I’ll research it though.

No, but its a great idea.

Yes, the smaller guys have a higher max velocity at 35+ meters than I do

Great ideas, Zercher deads out of the rack should fit with the predictor profile, my snatch grip dead is pretty strong, my weakness is narrow stance deads.

8

[quote]mertdawg wrote:
Oh, yea, I was also thinking, if you ever push from the side rather than from the back, some rotational/stabilization work might be good like single dumbell bench presses, 1 arm pushups, 1-arm non-support dumbell rows, woodchoppers, or you can take an old tire and throw it with a rotational type throw, like an olympic hammer throw.[/quote]

Mertdawg: excellent stuff!

I do incorporate woodchoppers, hanging pikes, hangin side pikes, and single leg squats, SLRDL, etc… but not so much unilateral upper body as of yet. Great idea though…I do some single arm snatches for speed 3x3 before my 7-10x3 of DL and FS. I was also thinking of adding bent press and some of CT’s shoulder exercises (lean presses) and some single arm V-presses as some supplemental work.

9

[quote]miniross wrote:
wow, lots there.

i will nick some of this. thanks!
[/quote]

No problem as I have nicked all of it in one form or another :wink:

We do standing jumps, barrier jumps, med ball throws etc… before our sprint workouts but its not terribly organized.
Depth jumps might be a good idea though.

[quote]
also, for my benefit, could yououtline a propsed GPP circuit.

KR[/quote]

Sure, I like to do any of Waterbury’s GPP ASAP routines

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=468125

I also do some rope training, just 3 minute rounds with a minute of med ball exercises (abs, low back, rotational throws etc…) for strength endurance light to medium weight higher reps ranges 15+)

I also like to do Coach Davies renegade style complexes (Muscle-snatch etc… with light weight) as well as slow deads, bench, pulldowns light weight in a circuit no rest for 2-3 minutes or so, then active recovery on the t-mill or stair stepper. I just make shit up and make it hurt (in a good way) and try to work major muscle groups while getting out of breath.

10

Don’t want to get too crazy here, but possibly try benches with an uneven weight-say maybe 3 plates on one side and only 2 on the other-but work up to it and alternate sides. I can imagine that this would require great rotational stabilization.

If you might want to try overspeed sprints, the textbook method is to find a hill with between a 2-6% grade and about a 60 yard stretch. Such a hill would rise to about your eye height every 50-100 yards. Jog down about 20 yards nice and smooth and then take off all out for the last 40. I am not a fast sprinter but after years of running 60 yards in 7.9-8.1 (my whole life) I got down to 7.5 in just 6 weeks. I did 6-8 downhill sprints 2x/week. That’s all. I can’t promise you won’t pull a hamstring though.

I would also suggest trying to incorporate bands on you squats. It turns them into a full extension exercise.

11

I think I know a spot that will work for some overspeed work.

Thanks for the tips, lots of good stuff to add in.

I just finished day 1 yesterday and it was a bit much for much current capacity. Not sure if it is a conditioning thing or a CNS thing. If its the former I’ll just keep at it until I can up my work capacity, the latter means some workload modification but either way I’m gonna stick it out for 3-4 weeks and see. Maybe even end up with some crazy overcompensation after an easy week or two.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

12

Update:

Been following the program as outlined except for the DE leg days I do it after med ball training and explosive drills for PC, I’ve also added some sled dragging after max effort legs and a 40% 2x20 recovery workout the day after and day before ME and DE days.

Squat is now up to 225kgs.
Dead is 210 kgs
Bench is same.

I have really noticed an improvement in my posterior chain movements and sprinting endurance. I think the extra workload is paying some dividends. Gonna keep it up for another week then take a back off week.

Bodyweight is up to 108.6 Kgs with noticably less fat. Lower back is feeling much stronger as well. Shoulders still feel a bit iffy with the max weights but I’ve added Rcuff and more face-pulls and delt work as accessory instead of additional chest work.

13

On your Monday.

A 60% snatch or clean does not equal a 60% box squat or front squat. Remember the OLs are already dynamic. You don’t have to lighten the load and make them dynamic like you do speed box squats or deadlifts. A 60% clean is really 30-40% deadlift. Don’t confuse explosive lifts with strength lifts. Take a look at my WSB OL program on this forum, maybe I can give you some ideas, PM me if needed.

14

Thanks for the heads up. I haven’t added in any heavy OLY lifts yet but I’ll probably work up to 90-95% with sets of 2 then singles for about 5-7 lifts at 85-95% before my DE squats.

I’ll pm with a few q’s.