BroB9's log

[BroB9]

Following on from my thread asking about where to get started in the powerlifting world, I thought I should make a log to, well, log things Hopefully some of the more experienced lifters can give me some tips along the way!

My goals for 2013 are to compete in at least one powerlifting competition, put on some size and hopefully lean out a bit more.

I'm 17, 6"1, 84.7Kg and have been training for 9 months with my best lifts as follows

Bench 100Kg
Squat 140Kg
Deadlift 160Kg
OHP No idea on a 1rm, I'll sort this out shortly

I've been doing a lot of reading recently, I found a few programmes that suit my needs, namely PHAT and 5/3/1 with BBB. I decided that the extra sessions required for PHAT would mean compromising around exams and I'd rather do a programme that I can follow all year round.

As I said I'm 17, living at home with 2 parents who don't have a clue about any of this. I had to produce studies to even get them to allow me to buy some whey as they thought it would cause me harm -_- This means I don't have full control over my diet but we eat fairly well to start with, well at least I think we do

An average day

Big bowl (approx 200g) cereal with semi skimmed milk
Two large tesco wholemeal rolls with a thick slice of tesco sliced chicken. (not ideal, I know)
3 large fajita wraps packed with chicken + salad
2 scoops MP unflavoured whey with water on workout days

Pics from 2 months ago, I think my back is the most impressive in real life, that's not a great pic

Spoiler

 

[BroB9]

Okay, so first entry!

I tried some Craze for the first time today, didn't feel that much different, only had bad side effects tbh, I'll give it another chance though.

Squats

5x 80kg
5x 95kg
5+ 105kg managed 7 reps on this, but I had to stop after 5 as I went extremely light headed, took 10 seconds to recompose and did the last 2 reps.

5 x 10 70kg, blasted through

3x10 Hamstring curls @55kg

Not a great session to start my log with, need to be hitting more reps on the last working set.

 

[BroB9]

First things first.

BBB is absolutely terrible. Do the "triumvirate" instead, or just do some sensible assistance.

Oh, what's wrong with it? I didn't see anything negative reading up on it.

What would class as sensible assistance, 3x8 on 1 or 2 exercises? Fly's and DB press after bench for example?

 

[BroB9]

It's just... terrible. All it does is add fatigue. Think of it this way: as a powerlifter, why are you doing 10 reps with a tiny weight for your primary movement? That's entirely rhetorical btw, but it illustrates an important point. Your training should have a purpose beyond simply "it must tire me out".

Squat assistance examples:
- deficit bulgarian split squats
- front squats
- lunges
- leg press
- RDL

Bench assistance:
- CGBP
- board press
- wide grip bench
- OHP
- incline bench
- DB bench
- tricep isolation

Deadlift assistance:
- RDL
- Good morning
- SLDL
- glute-ham raise
- hamstring curl
- heavy core work

Pick some based on what you need to work on.

I guess that makes sense, but I do want to put some mass on too. But if I eat well and do those assistance exercises then I should still put some on. Thanks for those, I can't do things like good mornings very well just yet due to hamstring flexibility but I'm getting there!

Have you seen Wendler's tweaks to 531 for powerlifting?

No I hadn't actually, just read this, are they basically as close as possible to 1rm?

I've seen you using "the" spreadsheet, is there an updated version somewhere for the new template? If not then I'll just have to remember

 

[BroB9]

It doesn't mention how heavy to go with singles, you can probably gauge that yourself.

There's no updated version of the spreadsheet that I use for powerlifting. This guy has put together a simple one you can use.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=136996493&page=1

That's much simpler, thanks. It does round up though, if you/others want it to round to the nearest 5 - ctrl+f, find and replace "CELING" with "MROUND".

Do not go anywhere near a 1rm for deadlifts every other week. This is fine for bench and squat.

Right, what do you suggest, something like the same weight I'd use on the 1+ sets, ie 95% of 90% of my 1rm?

 

[BroB9]

Deadlifts

2x5x70
3x100
3x115
3+ 130 Got 5 reps, felt lower back starting to round a bit, need more work on hamstring flexibility
1x140
1x140

3x8, set 1 with 10k, 2 with 5kg wide grip pullups (will do hamstring curls next week, got my assistance exercises a bit mixed up yesterday)

3x8 60kg RDL, first time doing these, just testing the water

 

[BroB9]

OHP

3x5x30kg
3x40kg
3x45kg
3+ 50kg 7 reps
1x55kg
1x60kg
1x65kg 5kg PB

Straight arm side raises

3x10x8kg

Reverse fly's

3x10x56kg

Those on 5/3/1 - if I PB, do I change it on the spreadsheet immediately or for the next cycle? I presume the former but google couldn't assure me

 

[BroB9]

Bench - All bar warm up with 1/2 seconds pause

5x35
5x45
5x55
3x65
3x70
3+80 got 8 reps
1x85
1x95
1x100 - equal pb, went up really easily

Dips

+16kg x 10 x 2
bw x 10

Incline Bench

60 x 10 x 3

Tricep pushdowns

3x10x41.75

Very good session, very happy

 

[BroB9]

Keep in mind that you need to pause your bench press on your chest for 1-3s in a comp.

Forgot to say I did all of the working sets and 1 reps with a good 1/2 seconds pause.

In case you missed it, could you answer this?

Those on 5/3/1 - if I PB, do I change it on the spreadsheet immediately or for the next cycle? I presume the former but google couldn't assure me

 

[BroB9]

Thanks LiE

I meant 1 to 2 seconds not half a second if that wasn't clear, seemed to be about the same if not longer than the pauses on your latest video. I think I'll try and do paused reps on 2/3 sets every week until I get used to it.

I'm noticing the left side of the bar nearly always goes up faster than the right but I'm right handed so there's obviously an imbalance somewhere, any suggestions to improve that?

 

[BroB9]

Keep forgetting I have this log, need to be more consistent!

What I've been up to



I've had PB's all week

OHP - 67.5Kg

And then tonight

Bench

10x20
5x40
5x60
5x70
3x75
1+ 85 Got 10 reps, but got help on last one, so i'll count it as 9. I only managed 11 reps with 75kg last week!
1x95 easy
1x100 equal pb, easy
1x102.5 pb, getting pretty hard now
1x105 5kg pb, got stuck about halfway but pushed through

The gym was packed so had to do some DB work

Flys

22x8
24x8
26x2x8

DB chest press

3x8x30

Incline DB chest press

3x8x30

Stretching

Weighed in at 87.9kg this morning

 

[BroB9]

I'm planning to do a mock meet on the 1st of April so can get all my PB's before I turn 18, I think it'll be nice to see what I could do as a "junior".

Deload next week, yeahhhhhhhhh buddy

 

[BroB9]

Alright, this whole log updating business isn't going well. I only seem to remember to update it when I get a PB It just doesn't sit that high in my priorities at the moment, maybe one day

The plan was do a mock meet just before I turn 18, but I decided to split it across a week instead. So tonight I went for a 1rm on the bench, and the squats and deads will follow sometime next week.

Bench, all working sets paused

10x20
8x40
5x50

5x60
5x70
5+80 - 13 reps

100
105 - equal pb from 2 weeks ago
110 - flew up
112.5
115 - Didn't even feel like that much of a struggle bit I decided to stop there as my spotter had to leave the gym. There were no other guys in the gym -_-

Flat fly's

10x18
8x22
3x8x24

Incline Bench

3x8x50
8x60

So a 10kg pb from 2 weeks ago, and i've progressed 15kg since the start of the month. Oh and I weighed in at 88.2 kg this morning :O

 

[BroB9]

Deads

10x70
8x100
2x5x130
150
160
165
167.5 - 2.5kg PB
170 - 5kg PB! I really struggled to get it past my thighs. Will try some rack pulls to try and make me stronger at that point.

DB rows

3x10x40 each side

Super wide grip pull ups

3x8 BW

2 days and 2 pb's I'll get round to the squats sometime this week and I will get some videos up

 

[BroB9]

Do post the videos. I'm a little bit concerned that a lifter of your training level is struggling when the bar is above his knees. It hints at a bent back.

I mean I haven't seen it myself but it feels dead straight, no back pain or anything either.

I spent 6 deadlift sessions at the start of the year doing work on form, so i'd be surprised if it wasn't straight but I'll try and get some videos of my next session.

 

[BroB9]

Okay, no more pb's to report but I did remember to take some videos today!

It was actually my bench day so it's only light stuff but hopefully I can get some feedback.

I'll say what I think needs working on.

Deads

After watching, I seem to have a tiny amount of lower back curving at the bottom of the rep and I need to focus on pushing through my heels.

Squats

Again, some lower back rounding at the bottom of the rep, and it looks like i need to sit back more into the squat. I also only seem to be hitting parallel on some reps and not all. And again, need to push through my heels more. No excuses but this is the day after my actual leg day so I was fatigued.

Ice, rip into me.

 

[BroB9]

Any tips for keeping my weight on my heels? I do try to but i feel that I sometimes almost actually leave the ground with my heels.

I don't usually have any problems with my knees on deads, think I was just being a bit awkward knowing I was recording myself

Will try a wider stance on my next Squat session, thanks!

 

[BroB9]

Oh, and 87.0Kg this morning! Rockin the abz and chest striations with pumpz.

 

[BroB9]

Once my test levels get back from that of a 3 year old girl and I get rid of this hangover, i'll be having my first session as an adult tonight.

Just to recap the last few weeks, I hit 2 new pb's to give me a new 420Kg total

115 / 140 / 165 -------- [86.4] ---- 420

I've started doing mobility 3 times a week which will hopefully help with my dead and squat technique as they don't seem to be progressing as fast as my bench so far. But I'm not too worried about this, it was only a year ago I was told to not to do any bending over to pick stuff up for 18 months when I fractured a disk so I can't complain!

 

[BroB9]

Ok, so I'm in the process of entering the Lancashire and Cheshire powerlifting champs on the 19th of May.

They say i need "appropriate, sturdy" footwear, a "leotard" and knee length socks. Ice/Lie, got any suggestions on any of these things?

My current plan is to just continue with my 5/3/1 programme, which is kinda good as my deload week is the week before the comp so that should fit in nicely, but if anyone has any better suggestions, i'd be more than happy to listen

Ice/Lie, is there a certain percentage of my current maxes I should open with? Or is it just something I know I can do and then push myself after that.

In other news, I can now rep my bench PB of 2 months ago for 5 reps, but i'm not progressing so well with my squat/deadlift