Now that I’m out of equipped lifting, I really want to do a raw meet – soon. Due to injuries, I have not competed in over a year. I can’t remember this happening any other time in my powerlifting tenure. Even times when I have had surgery, I’ve made it back within a year.

There are a couple of things to take into consideration. First, I was really more concerned with benching in the shirt for a bit and that doesn’t lend itself to raw benching. Plus it’s the equipped lifting that has dinged up my body pretty good. So before I can make any other excuses, let me just say that I am weak.

How do I know I’m weak right now, last week I barely ground out 415 for five. Like I discussed in a recent log entry, it’s easy to see a drop in strength comparing numbers to past records. That’s why keeping a training journal is important.

Enough foreplay, here are the whys and wherefores regarding my upcoming meet prep. To begin, I have been doing way too much work in training and conditioning. I had been in the gym training six days a week for a bit now. First, I was doing too much work and not getting enough time to fully recover. Also, without even realizing it, I was having some motivation issues. As a result of only being in the gym three days this past week, I was really pumped to be there. Right now it’s about quality, not quantity.

On to conditioning, I was doing too much of that also, and too hard. I regularly got my heart rate up into the 80% target heart range. It served its purpose of bringing up my fitness level, but it can be detrimental to strength. Now I will be monitoring my heart rate closely and will not let it get over 70%. All I want out of conditioning for now is to keep my heart as healthy as possible and very importantly at this point, induce recovery.

Now on to the actual program I’ll be running. It will be 5/3/1 tailored to my needs. There will be three days of training; a Bench Day, a Squat and Deadlift Day, and an Incline Day. For those devotees of Wendler’s program, you’d quickly notice I am lifting far under Jim’s recommended 90% training max (That’s if you are following my log and numbers, which everyone should be doing anyway). For bench I am around 80% and the squat, deadlift, and incline work is closer to 70%.

The reason my training percentages are lower is because of my experience and strength level. This was discussed with Jim. Training reps up to the 90% range would just beat me up too much. This happens because I am able to recruit a lot more from my body while training than someone who is more of a novice. For the most part I’d consider someone with less than a decade of hard time under the bar a novice.

Bench Day:

-Bench 5/3/1 with last set for AMRAP
-FSL reps, close grip paused with legs up 3x5
-Shoulder saver close grip with legs up 3-4 sets AMRAP (shooting for 30 total reps)
-Inverted rows 3-4 sets AMRAP (shooting for 50 total reps)

Looking at the Bench Day, the bench itself is pretty basic following the 5/3/1 rep scheme with the last set being taken to AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible). You’ll notice I’m implementing FSL sets (First Set Last). I love these. What better bench assistance than some more bench. It’s very sport specific. These will be done with my legs up for two reasons. First, my back needs the break from setting up in an arch on the bench. Second, benching with my legs up really helps my pure pressing power. Fortunately, I have crazy leg drive and don’t need to worry about practicing it. The next movement is close grip shoulder saver with legs up. This exercise emphasizes lockout and has proven its benefit in my benching. I aim for 30 total reps in anywhere from 3-4 sets of AMRAP. I find I get more work out of AMRAP versus a traditional set and rep count. Because the reps fall around the ten range, I know the weight percentage is not so heavy that it would cause overtraining or beat up my CNS (Central Nervous System). Last, is the inverted row, which helps finish off my upper body work by hitting my back and biceps. I’m going with the same AMRAP concept here and will add weight if it’s necessary. These three exercises absolutely hammer my upper body and have provided awesome results in the past (so why did I ever change them, I don’t know).

Squat Day:

-Safety squat bar squats 3x5 (based off 5/3/1 percentages)
-FSL reps 1x15
-Trap bar deadlift 3x5 (based off 5/3/1 percentages)
-FSL reps 1x15
-Superset; Standing band good mornings and Stir the pot 5x10

Squat and deadlift for me are basically assistance work for my bench. That’s why I use a lower percentage. The goal is to get work, but not tax myself to the point where it detracts from my bench day. That’s also why there is no 5/3/1 AMRAP progression. However, there is some extra work because all sets are done for five, even on the three rep and five/three/one rep weeks. It’s just an easy way to keep volume up while reducing the possibility of overtraining. Now because the weight is pretty light I can do that FSL set for 15 reps. 15 reps of anything sucks, especially on the squat and deadlift. I complete the session supersetting good mornings and stir the pot to finish up my core.

Incline Day:

-Close grip incline with legs up 3x5 (based off 5/3/1 percentages)
-FSL reps close grip with legs up paused 3x5
-Dips 3-4 sets AMRAP (shooting for 50 total reps)
-Inverted rows with football bar 3-4 sets AMRAP (shooting for 50 total reps)

Unlike 5/3/1, I run an incline day instead of a shoulder day. I have strict pressed 405 lbs in competition which I guess is a big deal. I say that because that lift has gotten a lot more hits on youtube than any bench I have ever done. Anyway, you’d think I like overhead pressing. Nope, I don’t like it at all. It’s never been something I have ever trained regularly. My overhead/shoulder strength has mostly come from flat and incline benching. Go figure, benching works your shoulders. I find overhead pressing wreaks havoc on my shoulders and biceps tendons, hence an incline day. Inclines have huge carryover in my bench. Plus doing them close grip with my legs up really pounds my triceps. My second movement is dips. They are a great overall builder and hammer the triceps. They carried over well last fall in my bench. Last, is the football bar inverted row. Much like on regular bench day, it finishes off my back and biceps. I like using the football bar on this day to switch things up. Additionally it attacks the back and arms at a different angle than the straight barbell. If necessary, I’ll add weight to get in the right rep count for both the inverted rows and dips. This day much like the squat/deadlift day is trained as an assistance day for my bench. That’s why there’s no AMRAP on the incline. It’s to augment my flat bench not test my incline strength. Although, I wish there were incline competitions, I’m pretty good at them.

Conditioning will be easy. It will be limited to the treadmill, walks outside (sans weight vest), airdyne, or stand up paddle boarding. These are all activities I can easily work in the 60-70% target heart range without much risk of exceeding it. On training days I will leave it open whether I get a session in or not. If I do, it will be limited to 20-30 minutes. On non training days it will be required for a total of 40 minutes to an hour.

Not to be forgotten, recovery work. The conditioning above lends itself to recovery as well when worked near that 60% range. Along with that, I do back and hip rehab daily. Right now I’m doing 3 sessions that probably last around 10 minutes each. Pec, shoulder, and biceps tendon recovery work will be done as needed. Usually, one 10 minute session the day after upper body does the trick. A big part of my recovery is sleep. I will sleep on average 8 hours a night. Sleep is not sexy as far as recovery because nobody can claim it as their idea or make any money off teaching it, but it’s the best recovery weapon we all have. Now my favorite form of recovery is deep tissue massage. I’ll be getting that once a week until the meet. What can I say, I’m a giver. I like to give others the pleasure of touching my body.

The last piece of the puzzle in my meet prep will be nutrition. Luckily I have that really dialed in. I am pretty low carb compared to most strength athletes. It just works for me. However, during this block of my training I will be implementing high carb days on my three training days. This will be to fuel training and to help ensure proper recovery.

As far as peaking for the meet, this is pretty easy. With the exception of the last bench day (9 days out) all other training will stay the same. Remember, those are relatively light and treated mostly like assistance. On that last bench session I will not be performing any plus reps on the last set. It will be kept as a single. After that set I’ll work up to my opener. Then I’ll skip the shoulder saver work and just finish up with the inverted rows. During those 9 days leading up to the meet I will continue with the light conditioning. I’ll also pick a few days where I’ll complete my training warm up and then just do some band or blast strap work. If I take too much time off my body feels like crap and I start to get a little stir crazy.

So there it is people, a little insight into my programming. If you have any questions or comments please post them up. Last but not least, don’t forget to SFW!