Trying to Be a Powerlifter

01/09/17: Chest/Triceps

Incline Bench:
-245 x 9
-245 x 8

Flat Bench (extremely wide grip, feet up)
-225 x 12
-225 x 10

DB Flyes, Pull Overs, Overhead Tricep Extensions, Cable Pressdowns.

Work capacity kinda sucks just wasnt feelin it at all. Chest still tight and still super weak

Yeaaaah chest is still tight as fuck, internal rotation as fucked as ever. Training highlights include 440x4 squat (atg narrow high bar no fuckin belt or sleeves or anything), followed by 350 2 sets of 5 paused squats same way. Also a 600 deadlift after training 14 days in a row and on like 2 hours of fuckin sleep.

01/23/17: Upper body

Z Press (bar right at chin with neutral head)
-45 x 5
-95 x 5
-135 x 5
-155 x 3 sets of 5

Incline Bench Press
-45 x 12
-95 x 12
-135 x 12
-185 x 12
-185 x 12
-185 x 12
yeaah chest didnt like this, tightened the fuck up

Wide Grip Cable Row
-worked up to 220x6 then backdown to 130x20 for a couple sets

Face Pull Cable
-30 x 30
-40 x 20
-50 x 10
-60 x 20
-60 x 20, 50 x 20, 40 x 20, 30 x 20, 20 x 10, 100 rep drop set

Hammer Curls Seated (back support)
-60s for few sets of 5 or 6

Fore arm curls

Just went in and took it easy and did some shit. Should have been a rest day but I just wanted to train.

Also I want to compete in strongman. More on that later.

Ok training has been decent at best but still been consistent. Highlights since I posted last have been 275x3 behind the neck push press and uuuh I think that’s it tbh lol. Been maintaining if I’m lucky. Chest is loosening up finally so I’ll be able to do more normal pressing training now. Gonna train chest tonight and i’ll update it later

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02/15/17: CHeST

INCLINE BENCH:
-45 x 20
-95 x 20
-135 x 20
-185 x 10
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-245 x 8
-225 x 8
-185 x 8 paused
^last 2 sets piss poor numbers due to work capacity issues most likely.

Nothing else worth logging, did some light incline db presses, flyes, dips etc.

275x5 is the most ive done with that piss poor bar and the awful bench moved into the squat rack. 275x5 on that is like 315x5 on a proper bench and bar, serious.

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02/21/17: Deadlift training

Deadlift
-135 x 5
-225 x 3
-315 x 3
-405 x 3
-495 x 1
-545 x 2, lost on 3rd rep due to grip. Trained at my college gym which has ivanko bars but for some reason there is zero knurling on them, it’s pretty smooth. I’ve never EVER had an issue with grip either, I pulled 606 in my meet with no chalk. The ivanko bars at my main gym have much sharper knurling so I dunno wtf is with these ones. Anyway,

SLDL (off 3.5 inch deficit)
-135 x 6
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-rusty on these

VBar Pulldowns
-few sets ranging from 190-220 in 8-10 rep range

Dumbbell Rows
-strict ass form
-110s for 4 sets of 6-10, very weak. Need to strengthen my lats

Wide Grip Cable Rows
-120 x 12
-170 for 3 sets of 10-12

Barbell Shrugs
-135 x 10
-225 x 10
-315 x 10
-405 x 20
not sure why i only did one set, should have done more.

Neck Curls (no weight)
-3 x 100 with my head

Lying Hamstring Curls
-100lbs for 3 sets of 20

Ab Rolls
-4 sets

Decent amount of work done, pretty happy with it despite lack luster numbers on all the assistance work, and even the DL for that matter.

02/22/17: Chest/Triceps

Flat Bench:
-45 x 10
-95 x 10
-135 x 10
-185 x 10
-225 x 10
-275 x 10
-275 x 10

Close Grip Bench:
-135 x 10
-185 x 10
-225 x 10
-225 x 10

Weighted Dips:
-BW x 10
-45 x 10
-90 x 8
-90 x 6
-45 x 10
-BW x 20

Pec Deck
-Tryna stretch mostly, didnt feel good
-put more weight on and just held the stretch for a minute+ a couple times

JM Press
-up to 95lbs 4 sets of 10

Underhand tricep extensions
-bunch of high reps

hung off a pull up bar with 90lbs strapped up to try to stretch serratus anterior.

My forearms were so jacked up from yesterday that I could barely hold the bar properly, had no stability on the bench. The numbers in this workout were terrible anyway, my upper chest is so tight still it’s insane. Every time I start thinking it’s getting better it’s just back to what it was. I guess I’ll just stretch it as much as I can and lay off training it and train my back hard, lol.

02/24/17: Back

Deadlifts:
-135 x 10
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-405 x 5
-495 x 6

Weighted VBar Chins:
-BW x 10
-50 x 5
-50 x 4
-50 x 5
-BW x 12

Dumbbell Rows:
-70 x 10
-100 x 10
-140 x 10
-140 x 12

Chest Supported TBar Row:
-90 x 10
-135 x 10 3 sets

Cable Pullover (focusing on rhomboid and mid back activation):
-80 x 12
-125 x 10-15 4 or 5 sets?

Rear Delt Flyes:
-90 x 15
-120 x 15
-150 x 10-20 for 4 sets

Hammer Curls:
-25 x 10
-50 x 10
-65 x 6
-55 x 10

02/26/17: Chest/Shoulders

Reverse Grip Bench Press (paused, feet up)
-45 x 10 x 2
-95 x 10 x 2
-135 x 10 x 2
-185 x 10
-228 x 8 x 3
-focusing on shoulders back and contracting rhomboids hard, chest felt good after this. Light but got the job done

Standing Behind The Neck Press:
-45 x 10
-95 x 10
-135 x 10 x 3

Lateral raises and rear delt flyes

I just wanna bench proper again…

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Holy s*** ur strong as hell

I don’t feel too strong but thank you!

02/27/17: Legs

High Bar Narrow Squat:
-45 x 5
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-365 x 5
-405 x 5

Paused Squat
-315 x 5

SLDL (standing on 100lb plate)
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-did these double overhand, why not sneak some grip training in

Quad Extensions:
-4 or 5 sets with 100lbs, double digit reps

Hamstring Curls:
-4 or 5 sets with 100lbs, nearly 20 reps every set

AB Rollers
-3 x 8 surprisingly low?

Reverse Hyper
-Just the machine 4 sets of 20 reps or so

Chest Supported Rows & Rear Delt Flyes 4 sets of 12-20 reps each, gona start hittin these nearly every day.

Squats didn’t feel too good, knees kept coming in. Hips were tight as fuck from sittin in class all day and I went straight from the gym from that. Should be better next week, better numbers and more working sets.

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03/01/17: Front Squaty

Front Squat:
-45 x 10
-95 x 5
-135 x 5
-185 x 5
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-315 x 6 most ive done in 6 months
-315 x 5
-315 x 2 LOL lost endurance

Bent Over Rows (ed coan style)
-135 x 10
-225 x 10-15 x 4

Happy with this session. PR on fronts is 315x8. 2 reps short of that here but last time I did more than 5 reps with 315 was 6 months ago. Wanted 3 good working sets but just shit the bed on the last one there lol. Hit some rows for the upper back. Stayed at 225 cause I didn’t have my straps with me. I could have gone heavier but i want to save my grip for friday deads.

03/03/17: Deadlift day

Deads:
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 2
-405 x 2
-505 x 6

Block Pulls (5-6 inches):
-545 x 4. kinda shit on these. I think these will be beneficial to me since they’re not much higher than my regular pulls. Must be some sort of weakness somewhere

Bent Over Rows
-up to 275 for a few sets of 6-10, ed coan style again

Chest Supported Row
-3 plates, up to 4 plates, back down to 3. I thnk 3 plates and a 25 would be a good working weight really.

Pullups
-few sets with bodyweight

GRIP TRAINING
-90 seconds on pullup bar a couple times

Ab Wheeeel
-4 sets, almsot 10 reps. This one I’m using sucks, thing wobbles from side to side. Maybe better for stability lol who knows

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03/06/17: Legs

High Bar Narrow Squat
-Bar x 15
-135 x 12
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-365 x 1
-405 x 1
-425 x 5 hard set, grinder. Bit of caving in with the knees and pitched forward slightly too. This should be corrected with more posterior chain work.

Pause Squats
-335 x 5 felt nice

Stiff Legged Deads (standing on 100lb plate)
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-was a bit lazy on these to be honest, could have done more weight for the same reps or 315 for more reps.

Ab Roller
-3 sets of 10
-same wonky one as last time, felt a bit better at least.

Hamstring Curls
-100 x 20
-120 x 15
-120 x 12
-100 x 15
-pumped em up real good

bit of back and rear delt work, daily thing now.

Very pleased with 20lbs more on both my squat and paused squat from last week to this week. Technique could have been much better on 425 but it’ll come. I want it to be smooth, no more of this pitching forward and caving knee bs. I may bench on wednesday, may not. I was almost even thinking of doing it tomorrow but I’ll just play it safe. Chest is feeling looser and i’ll keep stretching it tonight and tomorrow. Really hope I can get back into benching and go beyond what I’ve done before. 425-455 paused this year would be nice. Talked to an older guy who used to be a canadian record holding powerlifter and strongman on friday and he told me to train back 3x a week, certain stretches to do and 4 sets of wide pulldowns and rear delt flyes before every bench session. He said bench 2x a week, a heavy day, and another day for high reps. I usually already do that but he also said do shoulders once a week, one week focusing on overhead, one week focusing on heavy forward raises. He said you’re not in an overhead contest for powerlifting so strengthen it for bench carryover, but use it sparingly. I’ll give it a try.

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Hey man have you tried pull throughs for posterior chain Pull-Throughs For Elite Strength

No never tried pull throughs, Isn’t that more for geared lifting?

03/07/17: Bench

6 sets of extremely wide pulldowns first

Paused Bench:
-45 x 20
-95 x 20
-135 x 10
-185 x 10
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5

Paused Close Grip:
-135 x 10
-185 x 5
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-275 x 5

Weighted Dips:
-BW x 12
-45 x 10
-90 x 8
-90 x 6 i think lol weak

Dumbbell Flyes:
-25 x 10
-25 x 10
-20 x 10
-20 x 10
-tryna get a deep stretch and stretch out my stupid chest

Rolling Dumbbell Extensions:
-30 x 12
-40 x 8-12 x 4

Underhand Cable Extensions:
-70 x 20
-100 x 12-20 like 6 sets I think

Supported Rows and Rear Delt Flyes

Decent place to start I guess

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03/26/17: Legs

Low Bar Squat:
-45 x 10
-135 x 10
-135 x 10
-225 x 8
-315 x 5
-365 x 5
-365 x 5

Paused High Bar Squat:
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-275 x 5

Glute Ham Raises:
-4 x 8-10

Reverse Hyper:
-4 x 20 of whatever the apparatus by itself weighs, no weight added

Ab Roll
-3 x 6-8 lol weak, probably should have done these before the reverse hypers

Quad Extensions:
-100 x 14
-100 x 10
-80 x ?
-80 x ?
not much endurance on these

Lying Hamstring Curls
-4 x 20 with 100lbs
-screaming and shaking on last set lmao

Standing Calf Raises
-100lbs for 4 sets of 10-12

I fuckin hate low bar but I’m gonna have to get used to it if I want to win my next meet. Didn’t do a lot, just want to get used to the form. The warmups felt easier than normal, after 3 plates it felt harder than normal. This tells me I’m just not used to the movement yet. I wasn’t feeling too strong today anyway, as you can see by the lack luster pause high bar numbers. All the volume felt good though, really blew up my legs and quads.

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Next meet is either June 10/11. It’s that weekend but I don’t know who’s going on what day. Either way, I plan on destroying everyone without using any support gear.

04/17/17: Squat

High Bar Narrow Squat:
-45 x 5
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 3
-365 x 1
-415 x 5
-415 x 5

Paused High Bar Squat:
-325 x 5
-325 x 5

SLDL (standing on 100lb plate):
-135 x 5
-225 x 5
-315 x 6
-315 x 6

AB Roll:
-3 x 10

Reverse Hyper:
-3 x 20 with 90lbs

Lying Hamstring Curl:
-4 x 10-15 with 100lbs

Quad Extension:
-4 x 10-15 with 100lbs

Standing Calf Raises:
-4 x 10-15 with 100lbs

yep

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04/18/17: Bench

Paused Bench:
-45 x 10
-95 x 10
-135 x 10
-185 x 10
-225 x 5
-275 x 3
-315 x 5
-315 x 5 when the last rep was paused on my chest I told my friend spotting me, “finally… this is how 315 is supposed to feel”, and blasted it back up
^both sets were easy and I felt explosive off my chest for the first time in months

Paused Close Grip Bench:
-135 x 5
-185 x 5
-225 x 5
-275 x 5
-275 x 5
^These felt hard, tricep strength is lacking at this point for sure. It’ll increase quickly week to week and I should definitely see the carryover shortly.

Incline Bench Press:
-135 x 10
-185 x 10
-225 x 9 last one paused
-225 x 8 last one paused

Incline Dumbbell Flyes:
-25 x 10-15 for 5 sets

Single Arm Kettlebell Shoulder Press (bell in the air above my hand, for shoulder stability):
-18kg x 5, wrist could barely support it
-12kg x 10 for 3 sets

JM Press:
-45 x 12
-85 x 10
-125 for 4 sets of 8-10

Underhand Tricep Extension:
-70 x 20
-100 x 15-20 for 4 sets, burning out with partials when I couldn’t perform any full reps any more.

Weak bench numbers but the movement is starting to feel the way it’s supposed to at least. Should be stronger than ever real soon…

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04/19/17: Upper Back/Biceps

Weighted Pullups:
-BW x 10
-25 x 6
-50 x 7
-50 x 6
-25 x 9
-BW x 10

Yates Rows (DL off floor):
-145 x 10
-235 x 10
-325 x didn’t count
-325 x 10
-325 x probably around 10 also

Dumbbell Rows:
-110 x 10
-160 x 10
-140 x 15
-140 x 15

Underhand Machine Row (one arm):
-90 x 10-15 x 4 sets, holding contraction on every rep, slow on both concentric and eccentric

Seated Dumbbell Curls:
-20 x 10
-20 x 10 hammers
-35 x 6
-50 x 5
-50 x 4
-50 x 4 lolwut

Single Arm Spider Curls:
-20lbs 5 sets

Rear Delt Flyes Machine
-90
120
120
120
120

Deadlifts/Shoulders:

Did a set of deads, couldn’t be assed doing my deadlift day so did some shoulders with a buddy from the gym lol

Deadlifts
-135 x 5
-225 x 5 felt off already
-315 x 3
-405 x 3
-515 x 4 really felt off

scrapped it

Behind The Neck Seated Press:
-135 x 10
-155 x 10
-175 x 6
-185 x 6
-155 x 12
-135 x 15+

Seated Laterals:
-20 x 10
-40 x 10
-60 x 10 x 3 sets, last set more like 8
-30s for few sets of 20, a set of 30
^mixed some db rear delt flyes in there

Rear delt machine and facepulls a bunch a reps for a buncha sets

Barbell Rear Shrugs (with a curved bar so it clears my ass on the way up, great movement actually):
-135 x 10
-225 x 10
-315 x 10
-405 x 10
-495 x 10
-585 x 6
-405 x 20
-315 x 50

Yep. Dead. Fuckin dead.