Welcome to the power lifting thread! Here we'll discuss technique for the squat,bench, and deadlift. We'll also talk about competitions and any other shenanigans.
So what is power lifting? Isn't that weight lifting? Power lifting focuses on the Big 3: Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift. While weight lifting is the snatch and the clean and jerk.
Where can I compete? There are a lot of federations with different rules and types of competitions. Some are push and pull or all three. Like weight lifting there are weight classes. You can find about competitions in your state/counter here: http://www.usapowerlifting.com/calendar.shtml
In Raw competitions, this is without the use of suits. You can use a belt, knee wraps and you must be in a wrestling singlet.
Equipped lifting is where you use a squat suit and a bench shirt. These lifters lift more than Raw lifters, some people are not really impressed ( I think it's neat).
Programs
These are specifically power lifting programs, but they all focus on the Big 3. The whole point is to get lifting.
Powerlifting is a ridiculously awesome extra-curricular activity...In all of the years that I've been participating in the sport, 99% of the other lifters, even guys who are world-class athletes are willing to help you out to help you become a better lifter. I think one of the other things I really enjoy about the sport is that it's really easy to gauge progress. Good to see it getting out to various places and people. Iron Sport Gym rocks. www.thestrengthreview.com
On December 17 2011 01:02 thestrengthreview wrote: Powerlifting is a ridiculously awesome extra-curricular activity...In all of the years that I've been participating in the sport, 99% of the other lifters, even guys who are world-class athletes are willing to help you out to help you become a better lifter. I think one of the other things I really enjoy about the sport is that it's really easy to gauge progress. Good to see it getting out to various places and people. Iron Sport Gym rocks. www.thestrengthreview.com
do u train at iron sport? i think ill try to stop by one day. i train at Moorestown WLC
Didn't know for months that he was 2010 world champion in junior -100kg category. Link
Sick lifts...kinda silly though that he wears so much gear he can't even walk up stairs though :-/ Maybe someday i'll learn to squat low bar and throw on a suit and knee wraps and see what i can do :D
can someone post a typical 6 week training program or anything like that. i'm curious to what exercises, how many reps, and stuff like that you should stay on, to become kick ass at powerlifting.
On December 22 2011 17:08 DenSkumle wrote: can someone post a typical 6 week training program or anything like that. i'm curious to what exercises, how many reps, and stuff like that you should stay on, to become kick ass at powerlifting.
Check out a program like 5/3/1. Strstd.com is a good site to plug in your numbers and see what your routine is. 5/3/1 also has three power lifting (and a body building) routine. There is high rep accessory work, but the main lifts are low rep, and they are where you go heavy.
Didn't know for months that he was 2010 world champion in junior -100kg category. Link
Sick lifts...kinda silly though that he wears so much gear he can't even walk up stairs though :-/ Maybe someday i'll learn to squat low bar and throw on a suit and knee wraps and see what i can do :D
All these events allow benching shirts and straps so when everyone use them it's not giving you an edge over fellow competitors but I'd also prefer competitions without that much extra gear. According to wiki shirt records are ~30% or so higher but I also heard that unless you have practiced for weeks with shirt you won't get that kind of result so don't expect ~170kg+ bench with shirt if you don't train with it first Few month old squat ( it kind of demotivated me because he was unknown for be back then and I just had squated 100kg PR like 30min before he started squating ) and bench press so he is still a beast for his 95-105kg bw :D
Starting 13 week Smolov next monday. Goal is to get my squat (belt, wraps) from 170 to 210. Hopefully new year drinking wont interfere as it will be between week 1 and 2 of introductory cycle and I have kept myself squatting.
Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
What are your current 1RMs? I think the best program for the person depends a lot on how strong you are.
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
What are your current 1RMs? I think the best program for the person depends a lot on how strong you are.
245 bench, 225 squat, 240ish dead lift, walk around at 155 lbs if I lay off the beer so I can safely get to 148 weight class without too much hassle.
265 bench gets me on the record wall for my weight class in my gym so that's what I'm going after haha.
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
Could I get my hands on your program? is it for all lifts? I followed Sheiko's BP program outlined in another book and my bench went from 96kg to 120kg in 10 weeks. Btw u quite strong benching :p. What's ur height?
I'm 5'9. One thing I found with this workout though is I had to supplement it with light cardio/core days since it's only 3 days a week. At the beginning I was getting stronger on my lifts but started to feel like my core was getting neglected. I guess that's the point of the plan, increase the lifts and nothing else, so I should have expected that. Again, I didn't do much research though lol, literally my buddy emailed me the link and was like "we're doing this!" and of course they all petered out after a few weeks but I stuck with it
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
What are your current 1RMs? I think the best program for the person depends a lot on how strong you are.
245 bench, 225 squat, 240ish dead lift, walk around at 155 lbs if I lay off the beer so I can safely get to 148 weight class without too much hassle.
265 bench gets me on the record wall for my weight class in my gym so that's what I'm going after haha.
Your deadlift seems broken, do you train it often? There's no way you should be able to lift more with your chest than you can with your whole body :p
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
What are your current 1RMs? I think the best program for the person depends a lot on how strong you are.
245 bench, 225 squat, 240ish dead lift, walk around at 155 lbs if I lay off the beer so I can safely get to 148 weight class without too much hassle.
265 bench gets me on the record wall for my weight class in my gym so that's what I'm going after haha.
Your deadlift seems broken, do you train it often? There's no way you should be able to lift more with your chest than you can with your whole body :p
ya, u should be getting all ur core training from deadlifts. Thx for spreadsheet, will try in the future
On December 24 2011 16:22 BenKen wrote: Cool thread. I actually just got into powerlifting a few months ago. Didn't really do much research, just a buddy of mine gave me a workout plan called "Sheiko" (no idea if that is a good plan, of if it is outdated etc...) and I saw some pretty good gains in two months. Better than any other workout I've done, but I haven't lifted for strength in a long time. I'm 31 and the last time I lifted for pure strength was a long time ago.
Would any of you guys have a suggestion for a workout plan for me to look into? I want to compete at a small meet in May. FWIW I consider myself in decent shape for my age. I work out regularly with a bunch of college age guys and I can usually hang just fine with them, I just have to take nutrition, stretching and warming up much more seriously than they do. Thanks ahead for any advice!
What are your current 1RMs? I think the best program for the person depends a lot on how strong you are.
245 bench, 225 squat, 240ish dead lift, walk around at 155 lbs if I lay off the beer so I can safely get to 148 weight class without too much hassle.
265 bench gets me on the record wall for my weight class in my gym so that's what I'm going after haha.
Your deadlift seems broken, do you train it often? There's no way you should be able to lift more with your chest than you can with your whole body :p
lol, yeah it kinda is. Maybe I can deadlift more now but I haven't maxed it in months, while I did the other two a few weeks ago.
Last time around all I cared about was my bench, and I slacked off hard on squats and deadlifts. Technique was terrible too. I just kinda went through the motions with the lower body stuff. All my life I'd struggled with bench, so when it started clicking I kinda got tunnel vision and only cared about that. Plus, like I said before, this was my first time hitting heavy weights in a long time, so some things were just plain lacking (like my lower body stuff) while my upper body was in decent shape from doing pushups and stuff. But hey, that's part of the fun, tracking progress, right?
This time around I'm gonna hit deadlifts and squats a lot harder to get all three numbers in line with each other. Sheiko was awesome for increasing my bench, but it kind of left me wanting for more dynamic range of motion stuff. Like my abs kinda went from "not a six pack but could get there" to "I have a gut". That's want I meant by my core kind of falling apart when I stuck with strictly Sheiko.
On January 16 2012 21:42 DenSkumle wrote: I just stumbled upon this video of the soon to become world champion of power lifting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GY2IgRUclw
Carl Yngvar Christensen Age: 21 Height: 1.88cm Weight: 163kg
Personal bests Bench: 312,5kg Squat: 425kg Deadlift: 363kg
425kg squat... what the heck? Very impressive/shocking!
Can someone tell me the point of usage of gear in competitions. I'm thinking of the suits and stuff like that. Why not keep all competitions raw? Is it because it's safer regarding injuries and stuff? If the only reason is to lift more that seems kinda silly to me. Enlighten me please =)
On January 19 2012 05:53 DenSkumle wrote: Can someone tell me the point of usage of gear in competitions. I'm thinking of the suits and stuff like that. Why not keep all competitions raw? Is it because it's safer regarding injuries and stuff? If the only reason is to lift more that seems kinda silly to me. Enlighten me please =)
On January 19 2012 05:53 DenSkumle wrote: Can someone tell me the point of usage of gear in competitions. I'm thinking of the suits and stuff like that. Why not keep all competitions raw? Is it because it's safer regarding injuries and stuff? If the only reason is to lift more that seems kinda silly to me. Enlighten me please =)
But simply, people just want to lift more and gear helps them do that.
Well thats true for suits, and to some extent belt/knee wraps, but for example my wrist can't take heavy BP without wrist wraps because of my wide grip.
Saw Ed Coans squat fail while watching through all the mwods not too long ago so I knew what was coming . How lovely that you can hear the snap... Hard to tell what went wrong from that angle though.
Didn't know for months that he was 2010 world champion in junior -100kg category. Link
Sick lifts...kinda silly though that he wears so much gear he can't even walk up stairs though :-/ Maybe someday i'll learn to squat low bar and throw on a suit and knee wraps and see what i can do :D
Wtf @ 2:00 he just runs out of the bar and lets his helpers catch it?! How is that not a bad thing to do!
On February 28 2012 05:05 Sneakyz wrote: Saw Ed Coans squat fail while watching through all the mwods not too long ago so I knew what was coming . How lovely that you can hear the snap... Hard to tell what went wrong from that angle though.
His mammoth balls gave out at the last second and he crumpled.
On February 28 2012 05:00 Malinor wrote: Just saw this video, don't watch it if you are afraid of injuries/ watching injuries happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHFMVD6kuRs
So I have been working out for the past week now, but I feel like I am not making as much process as I want, I dont have a gym buddy to go to the gym with so its mainly just me in there at night, I work till midnight every night and then go to the gym after. So I want to start doing the 5/3/1 because its one of the few things that have made sense to me, but I dont feel right using free weights without a spotter. So i end up using machines instead, but i dont feel like I am getting the same work out. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
On February 28 2012 10:53 B-Roll wrote: So I have been working out for the past week now, but I feel like I am not making as much process as I want, I dont have a gym buddy to go to the gym with so its mainly just me in there at night, I work till midnight every night and then go to the gym after. So I want to start doing the 5/3/1 because its one of the few things that have made sense to me, but I dont feel right using free weights without a spotter. So i end up using machines instead, but i dont feel like I am getting the same work out. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
Unless you pack on some serious weight on your squat I'd dare to say that you can do all exercises but the benchpress without a spotter and really if you are aware of your limits even the bench can be done alone (IMHO). If you want to be on the safe side then switch the barbell to dumbells when benching – it's not only safer but alot of people would say dumbells builds muscle more effective.
As for the routine then yes, 5/3/1 is pretty awsome but if you've just started strength training then you'll probably be gaining strength alot faster than what wendlers routine adds weight. I personally did 3 straight sets of 10 reps on most exercises in the beginning and experienced good gains. To be honest most new trainers will gain strength super fast no matter what they do.But since you don't see any gains even as a beginner I'd say you'll have to make sure that you eat right and get enough sleep (assuming you lift enough in the gym). Personally I have a harder time keeping a good diet than lifting weights. Hope that helped some.
On February 28 2012 10:53 B-Roll wrote: So I have been working out for the past week now, but I feel like I am not making as much process as I want, I dont have a gym buddy to go to the gym with so its mainly just me in there at night, I work till midnight every night and then go to the gym after. So I want to start doing the 5/3/1 because its one of the few things that have made sense to me, but I dont feel right using free weights without a spotter. So i end up using machines instead, but i dont feel like I am getting the same work out. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
Deadlift and military press you never need a spotter for. Most squat/power racks have adjustable spotter bars but you can still squat fine without those. The only thing where a spotter is nice is bench press, but if you're not pushing to failure you should still be ok.
And specifically if you're doing 5/3/1 you're supposed to start light (calculate with 90% of your max) so you shouldn't really come close to failure any time soon. Only if you push the repouts to your max, but you can just leave 2 or 3 reps in the tank if you're worried.
Well I am 22 years old and love sc2 and powerlifting so I am a fan of this. I Just want everyone to know that it only takes persistance to become muscular and strong. I started lifting a year and a half ago. I was 165 pounds, and could bench 185. I weight 190 now, and bench 340.
Just go to the gym 3 times a week for roughly an hour, and give it your best. I also recommend using nos supplements. They give me the energy and pump for the workout. (such as N.o. explode)
On February 28 2012 10:53 B-Roll wrote: So I have been working out for the past week now, but I feel like I am not making as much process as I want, I dont have a gym buddy to go to the gym with so its mainly just me in there at night, I work till midnight every night and then go to the gym after. So I want to start doing the 5/3/1 because its one of the few things that have made sense to me, but I dont feel right using free weights without a spotter. So i end up using machines instead, but i dont feel like I am getting the same work out. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
Well, you're right, machines aren't going to get you big and strong. Stay away from them unless you're 90 years old or a totally detrained veal calf.
5/3/1 is great but it's not really for novices. It's more for an intermediate trainee - by that I mean someone who has been lifting on an intelligently designed program, consistently, for a year or more. At that point gains are very slow and that's why Wendler's program ramps up the way it does.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe sounds like it would be a great fit for you. It's designed for novices and takes advantage of the fast progress you can make when you're just starting out. It also explains proper technique wonderfully.
As for the spotting - squat and bench are the only two you would really need a spotter for - and most power racks have the bars that, in worst case scenario, you get pinned, sit back, and they catch the barbell. Set them a few inches below where the bar would be when you hit depth on your squat. It's embarrassing but no harm done So, squat away.
As for bench, just be sure you can handle the weight you're doing. Also, if you're not the only guy in the gym most people don't mind giving you a spot if you want to hit a rep or two at maximum intensity.
EPT
Few month old 
gets rid of my excel spreadsheet for sure..
