What’s up guys, I’ve recently decided to devote my time in the gym to be geared towards powerlifting. Just finished off my run at “how I would westside” by chad smith. I’ve also tried out juggernaut’s training outline prior to my last routine. Currently I’ve been reading a lot about Fred Hatfield and his approach to powerlifting routines
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I was thinking about giving a run at this program with a 2 day on then 1 day off appoarch. The first day will consist of squats and deadlifts, while the second day will consist of bench press. So in general each full week of the routine will be done in a 9 day period.
As far as assistance work I was thinking about structuring the two workouts like this.
Lower body day:
1.Squat/Deadlift- I will alternate the order of the two lifts each workout.
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Quad focused exercise “pick 1”: leg press, hack squat, front squats
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Posterior chain exercise “pick 1”: sumo deadlift, rack pulls, GHR, seated good mornings
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Single leg exercise “pick 1”: step ups, lunges, single leg squats
Upper body day
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Bench press
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Horizontal pull “pick 1”: BB row, chest supported row, DB row
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Vertical press “pick 1”: DB or BB shoulder press
4.Vertical pull “pick 1”: Pull Ups or Lat pulldowns
- Arms/Upper back: pick 3 exercises- either one for
each the triceps,biceps,upper back or devote one muscle group for that day.
Final Notes: some form of jump training will be devoted for explosiveness. Core work will be done 1-2 days per week. Sled work will be done twice a week.
My biggest concern is if I am leaving anything out and if this will be too much volume for the set up.
Thanks for the Input!
Maybe you should just do Fred Hatfield’s 80 day training cycle as written. You have 70/2 and 75/2 for every single workout, what’s up with that? You need to either increase percentages or increase the numbers you are basing them off (as Hatfield recommended) or you will not get very far.
It looks like you have too much heavy lower body assistance, if you squat, deadlift, front squat, do some rack pulls, and then some single leg work you might be dead at the end. And you have a lack of bench-specific assistance work. You can do upper back work on every day, especially since you’re not training too frequently. It would be much better to have another bench variation rather than overhead pressing if you only choose one.
Finally, what are your current maxes? Hatfield’s idea of only training at 80%+ and with lower frequency was so that he would be recovered from the next workout and not spend time working with light weights because he felt he gained nothing from training light. That’s also part of the reason why squat and deadlift are not in the same workout. If you are not very advanced then you can probably train heavy more often than he recommends. And that leads to the next question: Why so much work at 70 and 75%, and what is for which lift?
Chris thanks for the reply,
I believe from the article that the 70/75% sets are just for warmup as the last percentage for each workout is followed with additional number of sets. The big 3 follows the exact same percents,reps, and sets scheme. The article suggests doing all three lifts on one day, but for performance wise I don’t know how efficient that would be.
Current Max: No belt or straps
Squat:405
Deadlift:455
Bench: 315x4
OK, the way you had it written down I didn’t understand what was going on. Where is this article? Don’t link it because it will probably be removed, just give the name and website.
I thought this was based on Fred Hatfield’s 80 day cycle. That would probably be a better choice and is the best known program of his. I was asking what your maxes are because if you are a novice the frequency is too low, it would make more sense to do 5x5 or something like that. You can do all 3 lifts every day but deadlifting somewhat heavy more than twice a week doesn’t work well for a lot of people. If you are going to do this program I would advise simply doing it as written and adding minimal assistance work. You could alternate between something like rows, leg press, and a tricep exercise on one day and then chin up/pulldowns, a single leg movement, and flys or dumbbell press. You don’t need a ton of posterior chain work if you are deadlifting 3x/week.
By the way, what is your body weight? And why no belt?
About jump training, watch this video. Hatfield was Josh Bryant’s mentor. He normally programs jumps during squat warmups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOk9A01S8qA
I just searched Fred Hatfield’s name and found the article, “The Wisdom Behind Soviet Training and your Powerlifting Cycle”.
And yes, he suggests that older lifters split up the workouts as you have planned. My suggestion is that if recovery is an issue for you then maybe consider deadlifting every other workout (or once in 9 days, whatever), just drop the 80/2/6 days.
Also I weigh 215-220 at 6’1 around 13-14% bf 22 yrs old
You’re young and in shape, this program should be fine for you as originally written. I would just say don’t add any deadlift-specific work and avoid barbell rows, you don’t want too much stress on your lower back. In my experience, doing all three lifts in one day actually leads to better performance in the deadlift than just squatting and deadlifting heavy in one workout because your lower body gets a bit of a break during bench press. And heavy squatting after deadlifting kind of sucks. Otherwise, you could just do the 80 day program.
When is the assistance work done in the 80
Day program?
After the main work, but you will have more time since you are only doing one or two lifts per day. The only problem that I see with the 80 day program is the way you are supposed to increase your max at a set rate each week, you would probably want to start with 90-95% of your actual max of use micro plates so you make small increases. Aside from that it should work fine. Since you’re young and not at a very advanced level I think you would do well with the 3 day/week program but the workouts would be long.
As far as his 80 day routine goes, is assistance work done on days when you’re not benching, squatting, or deadlifting? Seems like a lot of rest which isn’t bad but just curious.
In the article on Bodybuilding.com it says " Assistance work is allowable ONLY on scheduled workout days after the 4th week of training. Recovery becomes a critical factor by then." This program is really designed for more advanced lifters or people whose recovery just sucks. It’s still better than splitting up the workouts in the program you were looking at, at least for a younger guy like you. Remember that Hatfield squatted over 1000lbs. Look for an article titled “Heavy Training - Fred Hatfield (1982)”, on the same Tight Tan Slacks site.
Today I did a meet, failed two lifts, and came 12.5 kg short of the total that I was going for, which is the minimum qualifying standard necessary for provincials and nationals in Ontario, Canada (shit aint easy like usapl around here). If I had made all planned attempts then I would have been 12.5kg over the qualifying standard. After my experience and talking with certain people I can definitely see a BIG benefit to training all three lifts in a workout, at least in the peaking cycle as the 80 day program does. If you compete in a federation that has quick meets like IPF and affiliates (approx. 3 hours from opening squat to last deadlift) then I highly recommend including training sessions with all 3 lifts, even if only one day a week during your peaking cycle. There is a good reason why so many IPF lifters do full body training. The 3 day 6 week program is not what I would consider optimal, mostly because it’s all 80% until the last two weeks and I would want some 90+ singles when I’m peaking, but it looks like a good program if you have the time and energy to spare. Remember, s-b-d first, assistance after.
In the article on Bodybuilding.com it says " Assistance work is allowable ONLY on scheduled workout days after the 4th week of training. Recovery becomes a critical factor by then." This program is really designed for more advanced lifters or people whose recovery just sucks. It’s still better than splitting up the workouts in the program you were looking at, at least for a younger guy like you. Remember that Hatfield squatted over 1000lbs. Look for an article titled “Heavy Training - Fred Hatfield (1982)”, on the same Tight Tan Slacks site.
Today I did a meet, failed two lifts, and came 12.5 kg short of the total that I was going for, which is the minimum qualifying standard necessary for provincials and nationals in Ontario, Canada (shit aint easy like usapl around here). If I had made all planned attempts then I would have been 12.5kg over the qualifying standard. After my experience and talking with certain people I can definitely see a BIG benefit to training all three lifts in a workout, at least in the peaking cycle as the 80 day program does. If you compete in a federation that has quick meets like IPF and affiliates (approx. 3 hours from opening squat to last deadlift) then I highly recommend including training sessions with all 3 lifts, even if only one day a week during your peaking cycle. There is a good reason why so many IPF lifters do full body training. The 3 day 6 week program is not what I would consider optimal, mostly because it’s all 80% until the last two
