Hi 20 years old and I’m a bit new to powerlifting I was mainly powerlifting for maybe a 1 year now and I did 2 meets already 1 of them was full meet and another one was Push/Pull. The program for the meets I did myself which helped me to increase 5kg to my lifts which I think its not that effective and that only was in the space of 2 months. My totals are;
Squat= 145kg
Bench= 100kg
Deadlift 177.5kg
I was just wanting to ask who are more experienced people to help me out and find the good program that I could stick to.
How do you like to lift?
Days a week?
Type of past programming?
Pure strength?
Muscle growth?
I mainly lift anywhere between 4 and 6 days a week I start with my main powerlifting movements and then go into more bodybuilding to build more muscle, my programming is mainly focus on percentages and increasing week by week and also increasing sets and decreasing reps, I would like to build strength and build muscle as well and my body weight is 80.1kg not sure what my body fat is but could be around 14% but not sure actually.
what’s the name of the program you were running?
5/3/1 is a good program. many variations for different goals. I’ve had more success with 5/3/1 than anything else.
If you choose 5/3/1, actually purchase the program, don’t go off of what people on the internet describe it as.
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Greg Nuckols wrote a great article outlining a basic DUP template for powerlifting a few years ago.
If I got into powerlifting, I’d probably follow something like that.
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I like 531 too. One thing it did for me over time was help me to develop my own programming and listen to my body. Tho I don’t follow it now, the basic principles are still the same.
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5/3/1 is probably your best bet unless you are going to hire a coach and get something totally customized. I don’t think that rep maxes are a good idea for someone who doesn’t have at least near perfect technique, and even then I would be cautious about using them regularly. What I would recommend is 5’s progression and 5x5 opposite first set last for squat and deadlift. You could also do OHP as the 2nd lift on the 2nd upper body day since you are actually training for PL, you could do close grip bench or just more benching for the first exercise.
Read through this thread:https://t-nation.com/t/what-s-the-best-powerlifting-program-for-me/240611
I suggest you do the same thing. If you have questions then feel free to ask.
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I think 5/3/1 is good, but I also like spending a lot of time doing 5’s. Have you done Texas Method?
I loosely use the framework that Greg Knuckols provides in his article - I like doing 5’s but not 10s and 12, and swap out variations based on my weaknesses or whatever I feel like committing to for a few weeks. I also added OHP and variations. I would say the way I do it is more “concurrent”.
I think there are plenty of awesome programs that are tried and tested for you to do like 5/3/1, Stronglifts, Starting Strength, Texas Method. Or you can take an attempt at doing your own programming. You have the entire rest of your life to train and make gains, so why not intelligently plan and try something for a month or two?
@chris_ottawa recommend that you use the program he designed for me. I made a spreadsheet if you want to use it. Definitely read the thread so you understand the whole program, but if you know the general outline the spreadsheet should help you out. It’s also with mentioning that I had it round to the nearest 5 because I use pounds. It appears that you use kilos, and rounding to the nearest 2.5 would be more appropriate. Normally I would try to edit the spreadsheet for you, but I’m very busy with school now, so I’ll leave that up to you.
Anyways, for a quick rundown of the program:
Day 1: bench for 3x5, light bench 5x5
Day 2: squat 3x5, light deadlift 5x5
Day 3: close grip bench 3x5
Day 4: deadlift 3x5, light squat 5x5
6 weeks work, 1 week deload (spreadsheet says deload every 4 weeks you can skip that)
5-3-1 5's progression FSL - Google Sheets
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