On route to becoming a powerlifter

chriity139

Powerlifting has always been a sport I was interested in from a young age. Hopefully in the next year I will have competed in my first competition wether its in single lifts or the 3 lifts squat, bench and deadlift.

I currently weigh 84-85kg so I will aim for the 82.5kg weight category as I have gotten some advice not to drop into the 78kg category due to the strength freaks that are within

My current lifts are as follows

Squat ATG 145kg
Bench Paused 137.5kg
Deadlift 185kg

Giving me a total of 467.5kg. My aim is to get to around the 500kg mark before entering into a competition.

For my training I will probably do 4 weeks of 5x5, 4 weeks of 3x3 then test to see how my previous 8 weeks of training have gone.

chriity139

Will start my 5x5 training tomorrow as I have already done legs today which consisted of the following

Below parallel Box Squats
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x5 @ 100kg
1x5 @ 120kg
1x3 @ 130kg
3x1 @ 140kg

Hamstring curl
1x10 @ 61kg
1x10 @ 68kg
1x10 @ 75kg
3x6 @ 82kg

Bb SLD
1x20 @ 40kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
3x10 @ 60kg with a 3 second pause at max contraction

Pullups were done between each set of hamstrings

Finished it off with 10 rounds of the prowler 30 meters up and back each time.

COH

My advice to you is as follows:

- Do the first comp you can irrespective of your bodyweight or best lifts
- Don't cut for your first comp
- Don't worry about being 'strong enough' to compete!
- Compete often
- You don't get extra white lights for squatting ATG
- You can find all the info you need re: comps on the IDFPA, GPC and IPO facebook pages.

Its a deadly little community.. I wish I had gotten involved much sooner then I did.

Good luck with the log, I shall be reading with interest.

chriity139

COH wrote: »

My advice to you is as follows:

- Do the first comp you can irrespective of your bodyweight or best lifts
- Don't cut for your first comp
- Don't worry about being 'strong enough' to compete!
- Compete often
- You don't get extra white lights for squatting ATG
- You can find all the info you need re: comps on the IDFPA, GPC and IPO facebook pages.

Its a deadly little community.. I wish I had gotten involved much sooner then I did.

Good luck with the log, I shall be reading with interest.

Thanks for the advice COH

Will have a look at the pages and chose a date. I heard the community is great for support and advice. Have you done many comps ?

hahaha I just like squatting ATG so I should be a little stronger at parallel.

Nice one for the support

chriity139

Got in touch with IPO on Facebook about upcoming events. In July they are having a bench your bodyweight for reps challenge and in September a bench and deadlift comp will be on. I will be going for both of these to start gaining experience for the meets

chriity139

Week 1 day 1 5x5

Deadlift
1x10 @ 70kg
1x10 @ 110kg
5x5 @ 140kg

Superset x 10
db chest press 42.5kg x 10
rear delt fly x 15
Close grip pulley row 68kg x 8

Completed superset x 10 in less than 30mins

chriity139

Week 1 Day 2 5x5

Box Squats
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 120kg
1x2 @ 130kg
failed 140kg

Rack pull
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 140kg

chriity139

Week 1 Day 3 5x5

5 sets of rotator cuff exercises and pullups

Decline bench
1x20 @ 20kg
5x12 @ 60kg
1x12 @ 80kg
2x12 @ 100kg

Incline bench
6x12 @ 60kg

Flat bench
1x5 @ 90kg
1x5 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 110kg

Db press
6x12 @ 30kg

chriity139

Week 2 Day 1 5x5

Deadlift
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 145kg

Db chest press
1x10 @ 35kg
1x10 @ 40kg
1x10 @ 45kg
5x5 @ 50kg

Superset done between each set of pressing
1x15 @ rear delt flies
Rotator cuff exercises

Back extension
5x10

chriity139

Week 2 Day 2 5x5

Lower back was very sore all day, no idea what I did to it so I couldn't go as heavy as I wanted to on my box squat, was meant to do 5x5 @ 122.5kg.

Well below parallel box squat
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
5x5 @ 100kg

Was ment to follow up with rack pulls of 5x5 @ 145kg this week but after warming up at 60kg I felt it constantly in my lower back so I did the smart thing and stopped.

Superset 1 x6
A1 latt pulldown x10 @ 55-82kg
B1 Cable rear delt flies x15 @ 5kg
C1 Seated leg curl x12 @ 80-110kg

Superset 2 x6
A2 Rear delt fly machine x15 @ 15-35kg
B2 Leg extension x12 @ 50-130kg
C2 Rope latt pull x15 @ 20-34kg

Superset 3 x6
A3 Cable chest fly x15 @ 25-30kg
B3 DB shoulder press with a twist x12 @ 10kg
C3 Standing leg curl x12 @ 30kg

Bb Bench
1x20 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x10 @ 100kg
1x3 @ 120kg
1x1 @ 130kg
1x1 @ 135kg

Ran out of time to try 140kg. I'd say I would have got it this week as I found 135kg fairly easy with no sticking point.

chriity139

Week 2 Day 3 5x5

Flat bench
3x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x10 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 115kg (pb)

Decline bench
1x20 @ 60kg
2x10 @ 100kg
1x10 @ 120kg (pb)
1x2 @ 140kg (pb)
1x10 @ 110kg
1x10 @ 100kg
1x10 @ 60kg

Incline bench
3x10 @ 60kg
3x10 @ 80kg

Db Chest press
5x10 @ 30kg

chriity139

Week 2 Day 4 5x5

Warm up 10 mins on bike

Squats
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
5x5 @ 100kg

Did arms for the rest of the session. Cant get over how hard 100kg felt to me on my squat last night since I changed from normal squatting to box squatting due to a tight hip flexor for the past 3 weeks. Hip flexor didn't bother me at all last night which is good news.

chriity139

Week 3 Day 1 5x5

Walked on treadmill for 10mins to warm up

Deadlift
1x10 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 100kg
1x5 @ 120kg
5x5 @ 150kg

My deadlifts felt really good and strong dismorning. The last rep of set 4 and 5 were a bit of a fight. Looking forward to next week deadlifting to see how 5x5 @ 155kg goes.

chriity139

Week 4 Day 1 5x5

Weighed in tonight at 83.6kg. Started this slow cut around 8 weeks ago at 87kg. Much prefer cutting over a prolonged period of time rather than say a month or two month cut to get down to your desired weight. I have managed to keep my strength 8 weeks into it and still have bags of energy. I don't have a goal weight in mind Im just going by feel with my strength. Once that starts to suffer I'll stop cutting and maintain.

Barbell Bench
1x20 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 80kg
1x5 @ 100kg
5x5 @ 117.5kg (pb)

Between every bench set I did the following
Trap 3 1x10 @ 1.25kg plate
Standing db rear delt fly 1x10 @ 7.5kg
Latt pulldown 1x10 @ 73kg

The 117.5kg bench felt an awful lot heavier than the 115kg bench last week, this was only for the first set of 5. The next 4 sets were fine until my final rep which was a bit of a struggle but I got it in the end.

Superset x8
Barbell row 1x10 @ 40kg
Standing skull crusher 1x10 @ 40kg
Standing db shoulder press with a twist at the top 1x10 @ 12.5kg

Rear delt fly machine
Lots and lots

chriity139

Week 4 Day 2 Squats

I have decided against training my squat in a 5x5 program as I have gotten the best strength gains from double reps.

Warm up 10 mins on bike

Squats
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 100kg
1x2 @ 110kg
1x2 @ 120kg
1x2 @ 130kg
Belt
1x1 @ 135kg
1x1 @ 140kg
1x1 @ 145kg
1x1 @ 150kg (pb)

Went on to do a bit of light chest afterwards

Decline bench
Incline bench
Dumb bell press
Lots of rear felt machine flies

Delighted with my squat hitting 150kg. I have been chasing that double bw squat for a long time and Im finally knocking on the door of it. Another 14kg and I have accomplished that goal.

chriity139

Week 4 Day 3 Deadlift

Warmup 10 mins on bike

Deadlift
1x5 @ 60kg
1x5 @ 100kg
1x5 @ 140kg
Belt
4x4 @ 160kg
1x10 @ 140kg
1x10 @ 100kg
1x10 @ 60kg

Gym was boiling, bars had no grip on them even when using chalk. Bar kept slipping out of my hand so was disappointed I didn't get 5x5 @ 160kg. Will have another go at it next week. I feel I have the strength to for it. Last week 5x5 @ 155kg was fairly handy, unreal the difference 5kg can make.

chriity139

Week 5 Day 1 Bench

Bench
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x5 @ 100kg
3x3 @ 120kg
Wrap
1x1 @ 130kg
1x1 @ 135kg
1x1 @ 140kg (pb)

Wouldn't say it was an easy 140kg but was much of a fight. Had the biggest smile on my face in a long long while when I locked out the rep. My spotter was genuinely so happy for me and a bit taken back that a little fella could bench so much. Still smiling thinking of it

In between each bench set I did rotator cuff exercises and lat pulldowns

Afterwards I supersetted Db tricep extensions, Bb row and rear felt flies for 6 sets

chriity139

Relaxed today with one the lads playing football golf in howth. Probably the most fun iv had on a gold course. Lovely sunny weather for it too. Grand way to spend 2 hours

Alf Veedersane

chriity139 wrote: »

Relaxed today with one the lads playing football golf in howth. Probably the most fun iv had on a gold course. Lovely sunny weather for it too. Grand way to spend 2 hours

The one up in Deer Park?

Great craic!

chriity139

Yeah only found out about it dismorning. Really really good fun

chriity139

Overall body conditioning

Superset 1
Leg press 1x20 @ 100kg
hanging leg raises 1x15
Walking lunges 1x30
x10

Superset 2
Tricep pushup 1x20
Barbell squat 1x20 @ 20kg
Standing skull crusher 1x20 @ 40kg
x10

Superset 3
Standing leg curl 1x15 @ 25kg
Seated close grip cable row 1x15 @ 48kg
Seated calf pushdown 1x30 @ 90kg
x5

Finished this in an hour and a half. Heat in the gym was ridiculous and came close to getting sick a few times. Have no power what so ever in my legs at the moment. Walking is even hard

chriity139

Week 5 Day 2 Deadlifts

Morning round of football golf, legs were so tired from yesterday conditioning.

Gym

Warmup 25mins on the stairs

Deadlift
1x10 @ 70kg
10x10 @ 100kg

Decided to take a break from the heavy reps so I am going to see how heavy I can go with 10x10

The rest of the workout was plate loaded row, lat pull down, lat rope pull, Bb row and rope pull down.

Da Za

chriity139 wrote: »

Week 5 Day 2 Deadlifts

Morning round of football golf, legs were so tired from yesterday conditioning.

Gym

Warmup 25mins on the stairs

Deadlift
1x10 @ 70kg
10x10 @ 100kg

Decided to take a break from the heavy reps so I am going to see how heavy I can go with 10x10

The rest of the workout was plate loaded row, lat pull down, lat rope pull, Bb row and rope pull down.

You won't get too far with 10x10 before you die lol

chriity139

Id say if I reach 120kg 10x10 i'll be happy.

chriity139

Week 5 Day 3 Squats

Warmup 10 mins on bike

Squats
1x10 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x10 @ 100kg
1x10 @ 110kg
1x5 @ 120kg
3x3 @ 130kg

Stiff leg deads
1x20 @ 20kg
1x20 @ 60kg
1x20 @ 70kg
1x20 @ 80kg

Hack Squat
3x10 @ 120kg

Standing leg curl
3x12 @ 34kg

chriity139

Week 6 Day 1 Bench

Bench
1x20 @ 20kg
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x5 @ 100kg
3x3 @ 125kg

Between ever set I did rotator cuff exercises, lat pulldown and rear felt flies

Superset 1 x5
1x10 @ 73kg Lat pulldown
1x15 Leg raises
1x10 @ 20kg seated machine rear felt flies

Superset 2 x5
1x5 pull ups
1x20 @ 60kg bench press
1x12 @ 60kg Barbell row

60min swim

2 more weeks of this strength cycle then I can go back to focusing on reps for a while to give my body a break. Going to spend a lot of time fixing my shoulder as a little niggle has started to appear after I bench.

Forgot I also rack pulled last night so I'll add it in now

Rack pull below knee
1x10 @ 70kg
1x10 @ 110kg
1x10 @ 150kg
1x5 @ 170kg
5x3 @ 180kg

chriity139

Week 6 Day 2 Ment to be deadlifting

Deadlifting was on the agenda today but noticed it put a lot of strain on my already sore shoulder so just did a heavy back session.

Will probably come back to the deadlifting later on in the week.

Seated plate loaded row
1x30 @ 20kg x2
1x12 @ 40kg x2
wraps
1x12 @ 60kg x2
1x12 @ 70kg x2
1x12 @ 80kg x2
1x10 @ 85kg x2
1x10 @ 90kg x2 (Bearly got the 10th rep) pb

Medium grip lat pull down
1x10 @ 45kg
1x10 @ 54kg
1x10 @ 63kg
1x10 @ 72kg
1x10 @ 81kg

Barbell row
1x10 @ 60kg
1x10 @ 70kg
1x10 @ 80kg
1x10 @ 90kg
1x10 @ 100kg
1x10 @ 110kg

Superset x5
1x10 @ 72kg wide grip lat pulldown
1x15 @ 20kg Bent over rope lat pull
1x15 @ 63kg Kneeling rope face pull

Between every set I did 1x15 hanging leg raises. Getting my shoulder looked at tomorrow hopefully its nothing too bad

chriity139

Week 6 Cardio + testing my shoulder

Today was suppose to be my rest day but got an itching to go to the gym. Only planned on doing cardio and leaving. After cardio I still had a lot of energy and didn't feel like leaving. For the past week or 2 I am getting a little nigle in my shoulder when benching with a barbell. Tried that again tonight but shoulder still bothered me. Went onto dumbbell. Had to mess around with hand positions to find one that didn't affect my shoulder at all.
Found that pressing with my thumbs at a small angle inwards didn't affect my shoulder at all, was really happy about that as I missed pressing.

Cardio
30mins on the stairs

Superset 1
Db chest pressing
1x20 @ 25kg
1x10 @ 30kg
1x10 @ 35kg
1x10 @ 42.5kg
Wraps
2x9 @ 50kg (pb)
1x1 @ 55kg (no idea why I failed after 1 rep)
1x4 @ 55kg (maybe a pb)
2x6 @ 50kg (previous pb for reps with 50kg)

Inbetween each set of db chest pressing I did the following
1x12 @ 25kg Bb curl
1x12 @ 20-81kg rope face pull
1x10 raised leg raises

Superset 2
1x24 @ 17.5kg Db hammer curls
1x15 @ 14kg tricep rope pulldowns
1x12 @ 25kg Bb curl

Cooldown
bike for 10mins

Alf Veedersane

Given your log and the fact it might never be the same, barbell pressing and some DB pressing kills my shoulder because of rotator cuff issues. Might be worth keeping an eye on.

chriity139

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Given your log and the fact it might never be the same, barbell pressing and some DB pressing kills my shoulder because of rotator cuff issues. Might be worth keeping an eye on.

DB has never given me any problems in my shoulders. Only reason I went back to BB is because I want to compete in powerlifting and sadly DB press is not one of the lifts

Id do rotator cuff exercises and rear delt exercises at least 3 times a week so can't imagine they are weak.

With my shoulder its not the usual part of the shoulder which you hurt by benching, I feel it where my trap and shoulder meets. I think its because I store a lot of tension in my upper back and traps thats causing this pain.

Alf Veedersane

Fair enough...I just feel it where I shouldn't and a time seems to touch of shoulder impingement which has manifested itself in a couple .For ways. Nothing serious beyond irritation but BB bench is weak as Temple Bar booze but changing the grip a little works. Just said I'd flag it in case it helped