I want to veer away from the Big Three in powerlifting to give my both my mind and body a break. I still want to train for strength and power in that order of importance.
So I still want to focus on some main lifts kind of like I would if I were training for the Big Three. I’ll probably swap these out for different exercises every month or two. Except that I’ll be using different lifts depending on if I were training for power or strength that session for the same movement pattern. This is because I strongly feel that certain lifts lend themselves towards training one trait or the other. So since I’m not limited to trying to build only the powerlifts, I thought this would be a good idea.
What I had in mind were:
-Squat-
Strength Squat: high bar moderate stance back squat
Occasionally with a pause like when my back is feeling kind of rough or my knees and hips start drifting backward and shoot up too soon in the regular free squat.
Power Squat: box squat with light bands to parallel
These always help with developing a strong hip hinge throughout the whole movement, explosiveness with the hips, and help with form on my main squat.
-Upper Body Press-
Strength Press: push press
I find the regular standing press to not really work my shoulder girdle all that well. In the regular press, my lats drive the barbell up (while also stabilizing of course) which gets the barbell over halfway over my face, then for a couple inches my shoulders take over, then the rest is done with my arms. But in the push press, my legs do the initial drive instead and the momentum takes the bar just a little higher and because of the relative overload my shoulders are doing a lot more work and my lats and upper back take on more of a stabilizer role.
Power Press: depth plyo box push ups
Just because it looks fun
-Pull-
Strength: High Pull
I see Coach Christian Thibaudeau always celebrating these so I thought I’d give them a try. It think it might be a good break from DLs so I can get my back and hips feeling better.
Power: Power Snatch
I can’t think of a better posterior chain exercise for power than this one. They also make my shoulders feel healthier when I use them.
So what the are the big lifts you like and why?