In the past I’ve been awful about writing down my training, so this is my attempt at keeping myself honest. Also an attempt at forcing myself to be a little more consistent and organized with training lifts other than my squat.
So just a tiny background- I’m a 148, and I competed in my first powerlifting meet in April of 2013. I went something like 297/225/340 or 360. Immediately fell in love, and have been competing ever since. I’ve changed jobs several times since then, so things have been a tad complicated training-wise and being able to go to meets, but my last meet was in June, where I went 355/255/420. Barely missed 370, got stapled on 260 (more on that later), and pulled 420 twice (got a debatable red light 1 to 2 on the first attempt).
So, basically my squat had been creeping up slowly over the course of the year, my deadlift shot up and then moved fairly slowly, and my bench flew from 225 to 260 overnight, before completely stalling and then losing steam and literally not moving anywhere since. I had moved between different programs, doing some conjugate training, then moving to 5/3/1 for a good while. My squat started to move a bit better, my deadlift and bench went nowhere.
That brings me to where I’m at now. While trying to watch videos of some other lifters in my weight class, I stumbled on an article about the GZLC method. I’m about 8 weeks into using it somewhat loosely (I’ve stuck to it for squat, with a couple of my own tweaks), but haven’t been able to pull lately and have been going an entirely different direction for my bench (volume, volume and more volume. Had spent a lot of time benching heavy and going nowhere already). So far, I’m really liking it for my squat, and can’t wait to start using it with my deadlift. So, here’s today’s lift, which is week 3 of the second block:
Weighed in at 155, which is right where I like to be when not peaking for a meet.
Squat Warmup- 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1
Back Squat-
- 1x3- 335
- 2x2- 345
- 3x1- 355
Pit Shark Squat-7x3- 720
Weighted Chins- 7x3- 45
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats- 4x8- 95
BB Bent Over Row- 4x10- 115
GHR’s- Closest and Highest Setting- 4x8
Standing Cable Row- 4x8
Standing Cable Crunch- 4x10
The RFE’s were the first time I’ve done any single leg work since summer of 2013, and man did it show. One of my issues has been fighting the grinch aka knee cave at heavy weights (I was a distance runner from 8 to 23, so abduction isn’t exactly my forte), so I figured some single leg work would help. From how my butt feels right now, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it did at least something.