Just finished my max out week. I’m exactly 10 weeks out. I am very happy with the pr’s I hit.
Squat: 405 (up from 365, heaviest set was 355x4) (so happy with this)
Bench: 225 (up from 205, heaviest set was 200x4)
Deadlift: 385 (up from 335, heaviest set was 325x4)
Special thanks to @flipcollar for telling me to get my head right on deadlifts, I think this is part of what allowed me to hit a 50lbs pr without training over 85% of what i got when I maxed out.
I will be taking a deload this week, and then getting on with meet prep (after one day of attempting the school trap bar deadlift record). I think I could redo the candito program for my peak, but maybe it wouldn’t be optimal because the heaviest set of the program is 1-4 reps on each lift 1 week out. There is no practice doing singles. I’m not sure what I would do if I didn’t repeat the candito program. Probably not ideal to start a long term type program like 5/3/1 and use it to peak right away. Maybe it is though lol. I don’t have any experience with RPE programs, but maybe I could try one.
Also a side note in the 18 and under 74kg category, the world record squat is about 500lbs, and the 83kg canadian record is also around 500lbs. I’m not gonna end up at IPF worlds to break the world record, but I could maybe unoffically break it or break the Canadian 83kg record. I know super refined category records are dumb lol but it would be cool from the perspecive as me, a dumb teenager, to say I broke a record. That being said, I’m not going to restrict my weight because of the 74kg record. I’ll still try to gain weight and train the same.
I’m open to all suggestions for program selection! except maybe conjugate lol I feel like i’d need more practice with the competition lifts, also my gym has no bands, chains or specialy bars.
If you had pulled some heavier weights in training it’s possible that you would have pulled even more when you tested your max. I wouldn’t worry too much, either way you are making some good progress.
You don’t necessarily need to do singles when you are peaking, if you were to do some hard doubles towards the end that would be fine. You would probably benefit from doing some work over 90% of what you plan to attempt at the meet. I don’t have a program to suggest for you, but if I was you I would start off with some heavy 5’s and gradually add weight from there depending on how things go. Like maybe take a weight you could do 7-8 reps with and do 3 sets of 5, add 5-10lbs the next week, and of course do some assistance work.
Do you have videos of your max attempts?
I unfortunately don’t.
I gave making a peaking program a go, not too sure how good it would be. It starts off with 3x5 increasing weight for 3 weeks, then a week of 3x3, a week of 4x3, a week of 3x2, then a week of 2x1, then my opener, deload, and compete. I’m still figuring out what to do with my secondary bench day. I’m also still figuring out accessories, especially lower body ones. I was thinking I could do an easy triple of deads after my squat day, and vice versa. Anyways, here’s a link. Let me know what you think.
Something like that could work, you don’t necessarily need to have all the numbers planned in advance because it looks like you can make progress very fast at this point. Just don’t cut volume too much when you get close to the meet, you could end up losing some muscle mass as a result and not performing well. If you are going to work up to 2 singles then it would be a good idea to do some a couple backoff sets after.
If you were doing well with squatting twice a week, and right before deadlifting, then you can keep that setup. When you get closer to the meet you could switch to some lighter technique work for the 2nd squat session, like a few singles or doubles with 60-70%.
I can give you some more specific advice later, right now I have some people bugging me. But here’s a few basic ideas:
-Do more benching, the Candito program is very low in bench volume and has more OHP than necessary. 2-4 sets of OHP per week is plenty.
-Wide grip (for 6+ reps, paused) is very good for building strength off the chest, you might want to do that for your 2nd bench day. On top of that, close grip bench and dips are good as well.
-Pause squats are useful for most people
-Instead of an easy DL triple on your squat day you could do RDL/SLDL or speed deadlifts. Speed deadlifts seem to carry over well for conventional and is a good way to get some technique practice.
-Do barbell rows on lower body days, save your back for when you need it.
-You probably don’t need too much of a taper/deload before the week, I would do openers on Monday or Tuesday before the meet but not much other than that for that week.
It would be a good idea to record your work sets, not necessarily for Instagram like but just so that you can make sure that you are performing the lifts correctly. It’s easy to get into certain habits like squatting high, lifting your ass off the bench, or not locking out your deadlifts. Unless you have a coach or experienced training partner watching you, your best bet is to get it on video so that you are aware of any issues that may arise.
What exactly were you doing on top of the comp. lifts in the Candito program? I see it has optional exercises and deadlift variations, what were those?
Since you got such good results on your squat and deadlift it might not be a bad idea to run this program again. Taking something that worked and changing too many things might end up with a worse result. The main thing I would suggest is substituting OHP on one day for more benching. If you are weak off the chest then paused wide grip bench would be good, you can do it for the same reps as prescribed for OHP. If you are sticking at the top (which I am assuming is not the case) then close grip bench would be better.
My main criticism of this program is that it goes from high reps to a max in too short of a time, but if it works for you then its fine. You could spend then next couple weeks until you start the program doing some high rep work and just go from there. I could help you set up a peaking program but if you have something that is already working then it’s unlikely that anything else will be much better. After the meet is the time to try different stuff and focus on the long term, right now it’s better to play it safe.
The other option, or my basic idea of how to approach this, would be to start off with some moderately heavy 5’s and add weight each week, like 3 sets of 5 and after a couple weeks you will be doing 3-4 on the last set or two. Then switch to triples, and in the last 2-3 weeks you could work up to a heavy double or single.
That sounds like a good idea to me. I’ve been thinking about it, but avoiding it because I like my music lol. I won’t have music on meet day, so not having it in training could help.
I started off doing RDL’s for about 3 weeks as my only lower body optional exercise, but reread the pdf that comes with the program and saw that the list of recommended lower body optional exercises were as follows:
- Calf Raises On Leg Press
- Any other form of calf raise.
- Leg Curl
- Leg Extension
- Isolation Glute Exercises
- Single Leg Press
- Single Leg curl
So I decided to do leg curls to help improve my lagging deadlift. I never did 2 optional exercises (maybe I should have). That is something I could change this time around. For my deadlift variation, I did deficit deadlifts.
Makes sense. I think I’ll probably end up running it again because I have the security of knowing It’ll work.
Also, my new (approximate) meet goals:
Bodyweight: at the very least 160lbs/72.5kg, but I’ll eat as much as I can in attempt to hit bigger PR’s (I have no commitment to the 74kg class, in fact long term 83kg probably makes more sense for me based on my height)
Squat: 429lbs/195kg
Bench: 237lbs/107.5kg
Deadlift: 407lbs/185kg
These goals aren’t as big PR’s as last time I ran the program, but I want to be certain to lift to a good standard (CPU bench pause length, squat depth) in all my training. If that seems to be easy early on, I’d love to raise these goals. A 200kg squat would be huge for me.
In the 3 weeks before restarting the candito 6 week, should I do something along the lines of 3x8 on main lifts, benching 3x per week, squatting 2x per week, deadlifting 2x per week? this is similar to the first 2 weeks of the candito program. It’s also obviously high volume, which could give me a chance to gain some weight (as muscle) before volume starts reducing
You could even do sets of 10 if you can manage that with decent technique.
You don’t need to be too conservative on your goals for the meet, just open light. 87% of a realistic planned 3rd attempt is a safe bet, or something you could manage for a triple on a bad day. Just make sure it’s a weight that you know will be easy no matter what.