T Nation

Meet Nearing, Strength Leaving?!

Powerlifting
#1

I have a Push-Pull meet on Sun 25th May. In the last two meets I benched 309 lbs. This time my goal was at least 320 lbs.

Training has been good. For a few months I did once a week competition style bench (3x5-8) and once a week either incline or floor press (3x3-8). Two weeks ago in competition style bench I moved to singles by benching very easily 4 singles with 309 lbs. and later in that week hit my all time best set in floor press. A week ago I benched 4 easy singles with 314 lbs., but later in week was weaker than normal in inclines. Yesterday I had planned in my last heavy workout to bench a few quite easy singles with 320 lbs., but already 309 lbs felt heavy and I badly failed 320 lbs.

Other than bench exercises are moving well. I think I just have fatigued my “bench press CNS”. How could I revitalize it in 11 days? Lots of rest and a few easy bench workouts with 70-80% of 1RM leaving many reps in tank? What kind of experiences you have in turning quick regress back to progress?

#2

My recommendation would be to do a deload day of bench about half way between now and the comp. Work up to 3 sets of 5 at about 185 lbs.
stay light, and rest. You won’t get weaker taking a break.

#3

You’re not really gonna do shit in 11 days from a physical standpoint. Whatever strength is there is already there. Do your normal incline/floor press workout this week and go by feel with a weight you will not fail with. Don’t worry about what that weight is; it doesn’t matter at this point.

You’ve built all the strength and muscle you’re gonna build before the meet at this point, so you just need to make sure you are mentally and physically prepared. Then next Tuesday do your bench with lighter weight focusing entirely on ingraining your form. Then just rest up till the meet on Sunday.

Between now and meet time you just need to get your mind right. Trust in your training and don’t think about feeling weaker. Just make sure your form is on point and trust that the strength will be there after your deload.