First Powerlifting Meet

Jim, or whomever has experience in this area,

I’ve decided to participate in my first powerlifting meet in Spring 2015 which is the USAPL Texas State meet. For that last few month’s, I’ve been using 3/5/1 with a single at training max. For next cycle in about two weeks, I was going to start adding FSL’s with pauses on the Squat and Bench in addition to the Jokers at TM. For accessory work, I was just going to do Pro 5’s with another lift such as block pulls on Squat day and Front squats on Deadlift day. I’ve played with different schemes for a while and I feel good about this set up and don’t expect to post mind numbing numbers since I’ve only been lifting consistently for 11 months.

So, I guess my real question is should I stick with this format or is there some other tweak this or just any advice in general.

Follow the program as written you are still a ways out, I would stay away from block pulls ,consider deficit pulls and would not use jokers until 8 weeks out and use them as your opener and second.

I feel like anything you believe in (such as what you have written out) will work. From an outside perspective though your exercise selections seem sound.

The only thing I did special was add a single at 100% TM 8 weeks out and at 4 weeks out I added knee wraps and did singles above TM to feel out how much they added.

I opened with my current TM, my second lift was my current 1rm and my third was a new PR.

Check out the Strength Challenge on page 88 in the book. It shows you how to program some singles and taper to a peak.

BUMP!

I have a question about week 11 and 12.

Week 11 is just 5/3/1 sets and reps with no other work done and week 12 is a testing (meet) week.

I am programming the template so that my meet falls on week 12 (the meet being on a Saturday). So what do I do week 12? What’s the best way to go about it?

Rest on week 12. The taper and rest cause your body to super-compensate. Your body is accustomed to recovering from a certain training load and when you reduce the load it temporarily over-recovers.

What I did the week prior to competing was load up some light bars (225/135/225 respectively) and do 10 easy singles (minimum 1 minute between sets) to drill my setup/walkout. I found it helped mentally prepare me without adding too much fatigue.

[quote]some_dude wrote:
Rest on week 12. The taper and rest cause your body to super-compensate. Your body is accustomed to recovering from a certain training load and when you reduce the load it temporarily over-recovers.

What I did the week prior to competing was load up some light bars (225/135/225 respectively) and do 10 easy singles (minimum 1 minute between sets) to drill my setup/walkout. I found it helped mentally prepare me without adding too much fatigue. [/quote]

Thanks man. Focusing on set up/walkout sound like a great idea!