Powerlifting. Simple.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Okey dokey, so, as talked about in these two threads I've decided to give a very simple and basic powerlifting routine a go for a while.

Routine:
Monday: Heavy Squat (5x5)
Wednesday: Heavy Bench Press (5x5)
Thursday: Heavy Deadlift (5x5)
Friday: Light Squat (5x4 @ 60%)
Saturday: Light Bench Press (5x4 @ 60%)

Every session is followed by 15 minutes of static stretches which are taken directly from this page. I hold each stretch for 30 seconds, and the ones where you do each side independently I hold for 30 seconds each. Resting for 15 seconds between stretches.

Starting stats:
Height: 5'11"
Age: 21
Weight: 269lbs / 122kg
Pics will follow tomorrow.

October 2008 1RMs:
Squat: 180kg
Bench: 95kg
Deadlift: 210kg

Starting heavy weights:
Squat: 110kg
Bench Press: 60kg
Deadlift: 120kg

They're all quite lower than my 1RMs in October but I haven't trained properly or consistently since then so I'm factoring in a loss of strength and giving myself a chance to build at a steady pace. Light days for bench and squat are done at 5x4 and at 60% of heavy day weight. I'll be adding 5kg to each exercise every time I get a successful 5x5 on a heavy day.

Goals:
* A 550kg total by July 1st, 2009 (my 22nd birthday)
* Get my weight down to <100kg
* Compete in at least one PL competition before July 1st, no matter how terrible my total is - just get the experience.

So, let's go...

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Session 1: Friday, 2009-01-02
Light Squat @ 60% of next week's heavy (110kg)

Warm Up
5 minutes on the cross trainer and shoulder dislocations, then 5 reps of an empty bar.

Lifting
5 sets of 4 at 65kg

No problem finishing this. Took my time with every rep and between sets, felt a bit of unease in my middle back as I hadn't squatted in so long but nothing major and it disappeared by the fifth set. Got good and deep with every rep.

Stretching
Followed everything from the stretching program linked in my first post, the gut got in the way of doing some of them but I did it as hard as I could. Definitely felt each one, the major problem was doing the Iliotibial Band. A combination of never having seen it *done* by anyone before and the jelly-belly meant it was quite messy, have to look up a few videos before I do it again tomorrow.

Cool Down
10 minutes on the cross trainer

Hanley

Good luck with it man!

AFAIK the comp line up for the year is;

Feb 14th - IDFPA single lifts in Rathcairn, Co. Meath
March/April - IDFPA nationals in the north somewhere
April - IPO nationals in Renmore, Co. Galway
July - IPO Leinster Open, Hercs, Dublin (provisional)

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Cheers Hanley mate, Feb 14th is possibly a bit soon but who knows.. if I don't make that then I'll definitely do the IDFPA Nationals. Dying to get in and do light bench tomorrow!

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Session 2: Saturday, 2009-01-03
Light Bench: 42.5kg

Warm Up
5 minutes cross trainer.

Bench Press
5x4 42.5kg

Again, dead easy sets. Definitely experienced the "not doing enough" element of the program today. Was finished the main workout in ~15 minutes. Put 100% effort into technique on the bench, especially after watching some of Hanley's and Ger's videos on YouTube and seeing the way they set up. Using the bar as leverage to get the maximum arch on the back was one thing I hadn't put as much effort into before but felt it today.

I felt a bit of tightness around my groin as I'd never arched my back as much but nothing uncomfortable. One thing I noticed in my first set was that although I clenched my shoulderblades together during the setup, after the first rep or two when I fully extended my arms I was relaxing my shoulderblades. I'd never have noticed this if I wasn't putting 100% effort into form as the weight was so light.

I worked to correct it and the 3rd, 4th and 5th sets all stayed clenched for the whole set. I also paused the bar on my chest for a count of one-onethousand-two during each rep though I've always done that so it's nothing new.

Stretching
Again, followed everything from the stretching program. And again, the IB stretches were diabolical due to my gut but I was able to improve them a bit by a combination of tensing my well-hidden abs and basically just sucking in. Definitely one to work on.

Intervals
15 minutes intervals on the stationery bike, first three mins at 45/15, next seven at 40/20, next three at 35/25 and final two at 30/30. The lo was <65RPM and the hi was >100RPM. Covered 10km in the 15 minutes.

Cool Down
3 minutes on the stationary bike ~1.5km.

A good session, wondering if I should've done the interval work before the stretching though - any thoughts?

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Nothing doing today in the PL program, couple of short-ish walks for cardio fun. Quiet enough day, very slight DOMS in thighs and biceps. I imagine thighs from squatting and the biceps from the static stretches? Can you get DOMS from static stretching? It's a brave new world...

Hanley

Jad Colossal Fizz wrote: »

Nothing doing today in the PL program, couple of short-ish walks for cardio fun. Quiet enough day, very slight DOMS in thighs and biceps. I imagine thighs from squatting and the biceps from the static stretches? Can you get DOMS from static stretching? It's a brave new world...

If you're pushing them hard, or doing them weighted, then yes, absolutely.

I can actually feel popping and ever so slight tearing sensations when I stretch my quads and chest.

corribdude

Should be an interesting log. Can you tell me what are the benefits of the static stretches?

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Hanley wrote: »

If you're pushing them hard, or doing them weighted, then yes, absolutely.

I can actually feel popping and ever so slight tearing sensations when I stretch my quads and chest.

I've yet to get a good, tough stretch on the chest yet... all the usual rugby stretches I'm quite good at and can push fairly well, but some of the ones I've never done before I'm finding it hard to find the sweet spot. How do you stretch your chest mate?

corribdude wrote: »

Should be an interesting log. Can you tell me what are the benefits of the static stretches?

Well from what I've read, when you lift, especially towards your maxes, your muscles contract enormously and stay contracted for some time post-workout. The muscles relaxing and stretching out again are your gains. Stretching helps this obviously by purposely elongating the muscle. I've also read that tensing and relaxing the muscle are basically two sides of the same coin, and for the muscle to tense (lift) at it's most effective then it needs to be good at relaxing too.

the drifter

Rob that link to the stretches is very helpful...im printing it off now:) good luck with the training! ill be seeing you in the IDFPA this year

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

the drifter wrote: »

Rob that link to the stretches is very helpful...im printing it off now:) good luck with the training! ill be seeing you in the IDFPA this year

Cheers mate, I'll see you there! Oh, I found what looks to be an even better stretching page, it has fairly handy little pictures of all the various stretches too which is dead handy when you're not sure of something, the page is here: http://www.sports-db.com/strength/stretching/index.html

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

(Did this session on Monday, haven't had a chance to post it until now.)

Session 3: Monday, 2009-01-05
Heavy Squat: 70kg

Warm Up
5 minutes cross trainer.

Squat
5x5 70kg

Definitely an feeling of "not-doing-enough" today. I mean, I really pushed myself and tried to get as much out of the 25 reps as I could but it really isn't a heavy enough weight to try me. I focused 100% on technique and paused for ~1.5 seconds at the bottom of each rep but I still had soooo much in the tank at the end that it was almost frustrating.

I suppose that is one of the elements the program promotes though so I can't complain too much and I definitely won't be saying the same in a few weeks when I'm doing 5x5 120kgs.

Stretching
Followed everything in the stretching program again except I left out the IB stretches altogether as I've done fine having never done them until now and I just look like a flailing whale trying to get them right. There are some stretches I feel a definite "burn" on but others I'm having trouble finding that sweet spot. It's just a case for experimenting I guess.

Intervals
Really short 5mins / 9km session on the stationary bike doing some 45/15 and adding 5 seconds hi every minute until the last minute at 25/35.

Cool Down
3 minutes on the stationary bike ~1.5km.

Good session, definitely lots left in the tank. Bit of an anticlimax as my "heavy" day was so easy but just gotta keep reminding myself I'm adding 5kgs each week so it won't last forever. Raring to go for heavy bench on Wednesday evening!

Jimmy Bottlehead

70kg is nothing you you? Lucky so-and-so! I'm gonna keep an eye on this bro, gonna be interesting to see it progress!

Train hard, stay strong, and all that

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Cheers mate, was just checking our your log there... 70kgs meaning nothing to me is cool and all but from what I can see you weight about 7/8 stone less than me so... pound for pound I'd imagine you're ahead... :P

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Didn't train yesterday due to getting a bit behind in work, I'm gonna stick with the heavy deadlifts today as per my original schedule. I'm gonna do a heavy bench session tomorrow and move my light squats from Saturday to tomorrow, then do my light bench session on Saturday instead of tomorrow. Still keeps me doing a light session on a match day (Saturday) and means I have 3 days to recover from the heavy DL before heavy squats.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Hmm, okay, as it turned out I completely ****ed up my first week's training. The heavy squat should have been 110kg, I read the wrong column in my spreadsheet. Guess that shows how not-clued-in I've been with a crazy week in work.

As it happens, I also missed my heavy DL day yesterday due to work running late and not being able to get to the gym before rugby training. I walked up Maulin this morning with a mate so the legs are fairly sore and I've got a rugby match tomorrow so I've decide to go ahead with the following plan:

Today, I'm doing heavy bench (5x5, 70kg) and the real heavy squat (5x5, 110kg) and tomorrow I'm doing deadlift (5x5, 120kg) and light bench (5x4, 45kg). Off to the gym now, I'll report back with my possible death.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Session 4: Friday, 2009-01-05
Heavy Squat: 110kg
Heavy Bench: 60kg

Warm Up
5 minutes cross trainer.

Squat
5x5 110kg

Got rid of the "not doing enough" feeling alright... these really pushed me and I was fecking wrecked after them. Form was a little bit dodge in 3rd set but all was good again by the fifth. Looking forward to 115kg next week!

Bench
5x5 60kg

I originally intended to start with 70kg as my heavy bench weight but after a rep of that in the first set I knew there wasn't a 5x5 there, I also don't have a training partner / spotter at the moment and the gym was empty so there was no-one around to give me a digout. I'm not too worried as the 5x5 @ 60kg still pushed me but there was definitely something left in the tank at the end which I guess is what the programme is all about. Another factor which caused me not to stress out about missing 70kg is that because I'm adding, or trying to add, 5kg a week I'll be right back up there in a fortnight.

Stretching
Getting better every session, was completely wrecked doing these as I'd done heavy bench and heavy squat in the same session but they went well.

Verrrrry tough hour overall, especially having done Maulin that morning. Will most definitely be sticking to the five day routine and not mixing sessions together from next week on!

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Week 1 Review

Friday 2009-01-02
Light Squat: 5x4 @ 65kg

Saturday 2009-01-03
Light Bench: 5x4 @ 42.5kg

Monday 2009-01-05
Light Squat: 5x5 @ 70kg
This was the session where I misread my plan and did the light squat from next week instead of the heavy squat from this week. D'oh!

Thursday 2009-01-08
Rugby training, on the most frozen concrete-like pitch ever. Lots of bumps and bruises here.

Friday 2009-01-09
AM:
Walked up Maulin in ~2.5 hours
PM:
Heavy Squat: 5x5 @ 110kg
Heavy Bench: 5x5 @ 60kg

Saturday 2009-01-10
Rugby match

A good week though I definitely arsed up by missing the gym on Wednesday and Saturday. Completely messed up the routine although I could've recovered if I hadn't done the light squat on the heavy squat day. I got most of it in though, only major thing was missing the deadlift altogether but I'm not gonna knock myself up over it as long as I get back on track this coming week.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Week 2 Plan

Monday
Heavy Squat: 5x5 @ 115kg

Wednesday
Heavy Bench: 5x5 @ 65kg

Thursday
Heavy Deadlift: 5x5 @ 120kg

Friday
Light Squat: 5x4 @ 72.5kg

Saturday
Light Bench: 5x4 @ 45kg

I'll hopefully throw in a couple of interval sessions and maybe a long bike or cross trainer session somewhere. As for today, I'm gonna enjoy doing sweet F.A.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Best laid plans and all that...

Turns out the universe had different ideas for me this week. A quick trip to the Doc to discover I had a throat infection... not too bad... and an ear infection... kinda sore... and a chest infection... you're taking the piss? And to top it all off, a broken toe and two sprained fingers from a match last week.

So yeah, I've done zippity fuuck all since last week. Not a thing. Figured I was best off just beating everything that was wrong with me in one big recovery based week, couple of light walks and watched what I ate but generally just focused on getting better.

Going to see how things go this week and then decide if I'll do the single lifts on Feb. 14th or not. I probably will just to get the experience tho I'm looking to some of the more experienced guys here for some guidance!

Gonna follow the same plan I originally had for last week except the heavy squat will be done Tuesday instead of Monday. For now, sleep.