I ran a slightly modified version of CT’s Power Look program with decent success. I enjoy competing in powerlifting and wanted to gear the program toward something power-specific so I did low bar back squats instead of front squats and close grip incline instead of push press as a heavy accessory for bench press. I also spent an extra week in the 85 and 90% range with 3 sets of 4 at 85% and 4 sets of 3 at 90%. I also chose to test after the weeks at 95% figuring there was no way I’d get my old maxes for anything over a single (505 for a double comes out to ~530 and a triple for ~540 respectively and would have been wishful thinking at best).
The cycle ended up looking like this:
Week 1: 80%, 5 x 3
Week 2: 80%, 5 x 4
Week 3: 80%, 5 x 5
Week 4: 80%, 5 x 6
Week 5: 85%, 3 x 3
Week 6: 85%, 3 x 4
Week 7: 85%, 5 x 3
Week 8: 90%, 3 x 3
Week 9: 90%, 4 x 3
Week 10: 95%, 3 x 2
I’m currently deloading/doing volume work and will continue to do so for 2-3 weeks and will run the program again.
Results:
Deadlift
Start: 505 End: 525
For my deadlift cycle I wanted to do every lift of every workout with good, tight form and though it’s not near my all-time best of 575 with a rounded back and whippy bar, I’m happy with a 20 pound improvement on a safer pull.
Bench:
Start: 285 End: 315
My all-time best going into Power Look was 305 so adding 10# to a personally stubborn lift for me was kind of insane. I did all of my workouts with a pause.
Squat:
Start: 355 End: 375
Close Grip Incline:
Start: 230 End: 225X2x2
Bodyweight:
Start: 210-215
End: 215-220
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I just finished CT’s Power Look Program for the second time. After the first cycle I took an easy week then got back to the first week of 5x3.
Again, I added an extra 85% week where 3 sets of 4 reps were performed and I removed the workouts that call for reps at 100% (even with a conservative number I feel that this would have not been possible). The cycle ended up looking like this:
Week 1: 80%, 5 x 3
Week 2: 80%, 5 x 4
Week 3: 80%, 5 x 5
Week 4: 80%, 5 x 6
Week 5: 85%, 3 x 3
Week 6: 85%, 3 x 4
Week 7: 85%, 5 x 3
Week 8: 90%, 3 x 3
Week 9: 90%, 4 x 3
Week 10: 95%, 3 x 2
Results:
Bench: Every rep was done with a pause, test day was touch and go.
Assistance was dumbbell flys for (usually three) sets of ten and each week I would use work up to a weight that I wasn’t yet able to get ten reps for.
Start: 315 End: 325
Squat:
Start: 375 End: 404
The squat is a frustrating, and figuratively/literally a slow moving lift for me. My all-time best is a shaky 395. Early on in the program deadlifts were going really terribly so I made the drastic decision to cut out deadlifts for this cycle and just do a second day of squatting with a brief pause and no belt.
Close Grip Incline:
Start: 235 End: 245
Assistance for close grip incline was paused dips for sets of ten 3-4 sets with increasing weight) and pull-ups for 4-5 sets of ten.
Bodyweight:
Start: 215-220 End: 220-225
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Progress is progress, good work
Thanks man. The steady progress was unexpected- I’ve moved past plateaus and gotten lifetime PRs in almost every lift. In 22 weeks I’ve added 40#(!) to my bench, 50# to my squat.
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Very good considering you were already quite strong and didn’t almost gained weight. Looks like the second day of squatting really paid off! What are you going to do now?
Great stuff, really good progress. Give Layers(4 or 5 day) a try if havent already -will prob respond well to that also
if your like me long arms and legs in relation to torso your deadlift won’t need much to keep improving but for the bench, overhead press and squat the importance of assistance exercises or a high frequency approach matters.
take a diagnostic approach to lifting. Assess and correct whats holding you back and you could even use those exercises as your main in this program (ie floor press)
X2 what @RampantBadger said. Something drastically different, like layers, would probably stimulate new growth simply by shocking your system with a novel stimulus.
Oh, and nice progress.
