Me (Bob) and my training partner (Lentross) will be posting our training and preparation for our bench meet in september. It will be my second competition, and Lentross’ first. Our current stats are:
Lentross: 67 kg BW, 112,5 kg bench
Bob: 77 kg BW, 147,5 kg bench
We will both be using the Westside system (modified to our needs of course, as that is the point). We are both at our weakest off the chest, and the strongest in our lockout.
Our first training session for this log will take place tomorrow, on sunday 12th. That day will be devoted to a max effort bench press to see where we’re really at.
So far, we have mostly trained, using high volume routines (daily undulating periodization) with a lot of practice on the actual lift we compete in, but we have come to the point where technique is really solid (we are surrounded by several national level powerlifters here in our gym, so advice on technique is easy to get). We now both feel like it’s time to really start working weak points a bit more. Also, the max effort days will help to really teach us how to strain.
Some modifications we have done for ourselves:
-
every 4th or so speed workout day will be replaced with a volume day. Not neccessarily doing reps to failure, but just getting some slightly heavier practice with the main lift in there. For example: 7 sets of 4-5 with 75%
-
Throwing in extra workouts in between training sessions to bring up lagging muscle groups, and getting more work done for small muscles that tend to get neglected. For me, it’s the rear delts, for lentross it’s the triceps. We will only use the repetition method on this day. We will also add certain movements to prevent injuries.
-
Lower body is not our main focus, but we still want to train the lower body, as well as the lower back, which is why we will have one lower body day per week. Or reasoning is that it’s healthy to keep everything in balance. The main focus on this day will be squats, deadlifts, good mornings and occasional leg presses. We will use the cube method for lower body though, as it allows for more recovery, giving us more rest for our bench work.
And that’s about it. I’ll see if I can think of anything else. Tips are greatly appreciated.
First day went really well. I managed to get a 150 kg bench press (it was a touch and go type bench press. Will do presses with a longer pause next time), and Lentross got a 120 kg bench press (way more than expected). We then did some back off sets just to get some more volume in. After that, we did shoulder presses, rows and shrugs for about 3 sets of each. After that, we finnished off the workout with some work for the shoulder joint using bands to prevent injury, as well as foam rolling. In total the workout took about 3 and a half hour. This wedensday (possibly thursday) will be devoted to some volume work for the bench. We will also do some lower body max effort work on either monday or tuesday depending on my schedule. friday will then be devoted to working other things that need priority (for me it’s the glutes and quads).
I want to point out that the volume and length of our workouts is partly autoregulated. If we feel like crap we might just get into the gym, do the main lift of the day and get out, whereas other days we can do a shitload of sets per excercise. After all, overtraining doesn’t happen in one workout. Of course, if we trained like maniacs every single day for months to the point of chronic fatigue that would be a problem, but with the way we’re doing it right now, I think it’s OK to go nuts once in a while. You can always lower the volume on your next session if needed, or just rest an extra day or two.
So, today I trained deadlifts by myself. Worked up to a fast pull of 170 kg. It felt great. I then did some back off sets just to add in more workload (about 6 doubles at 120 kg). I feel like my deadlift did slow down a bit once the bar reached my knees. When I max out on deadlifts, I’ll probably do some sort of rack pull to overload the movement.
After I was done, I ended with some face pulls (I’m trying to add a little bit of mass to my rear delts/upper back to improve my posture from all the benching, so I will add these several times during the week). Wanted to do leg press, but 6 people were already using that machine.
I might do it tomorrow after my squats (I realize that the way in which our program is structured isn’t really westside, but we have implemented a lot of their principles, such as mixing in speed work and max effort within the same mesocycle. I never liked the idea of working in blocks where only one quality at a time is worked)