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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 7, 2006 13:08:40 GMT -5
I'm going to compete in my first meet on August 26th in Modesto, CA. It will be the USAPL Bench and Powerlifting Championships. I will of course be competing completely raw and drug free in the 181 pound weight class. My bodyweight will probably be 172-174 at time of weigh in.
Current Lifts: 300/215/335 (S/B/D)
Goals: 320/230/360 (S/B/D)
Training Plan (7 weeks out):[/color]
Week 1-5:
Mon - ME UB
Tue - DE LB, UB Extra Workout (20-30min)
Thu - DE UB
Fri - ME LB
Sat - LB Extra Workout (20-30min)
Week 6:
Mon - ME UB
Tue - DE LB, UB Extra Workout (20-30min)
Thu - UB Assistance Work
Fri - LB Assistance Work
Week 7:
Mon - UB Light Assistance Work
Tue - LB Light Assistance Work
Fri - 5-6 hour drive to Modesto
Sat - Meet
I would love to get feedback on this. This will be my first meet, so I really don't know how much I should taper or anything. I figured tapering off the heavy squats and deadlifts sooner would help my body recover quicker, and my bench really needs more work than the other lifts. I have my last max day 12 days out, so that should give me plenty of time to fully recover for the meet. Any suggestions or comments?
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 10, 2006 7:11:53 GMT -5
Congratulations, Chris! I'm glad to hear you're signed up for your first meet! If you scour the USAPL page, you can find the raw results/rankings for the USAPL. One thing you will notice is how competitive you truly are with their raw lifters.
I'm going to start with the deeply philosophical part. If you enter a meet, the two most important weights to make are your weigh-in and your openers. Weigh ins will NOT be a problem unless you find a way to cut your bodyfat to negative numbers and make 165. :')Open with a weight you can get a couple to three reps with on any day. That puts you in the game. Your second lift is up to you, but you might want to consider previous maxes, percentages and such. If you take a third attempt, it should be true maximum effort, such as the goals you have outlined (Which gives you a 900+ total!). Those are lofty but reasonable goals, given the gains you have seen lately.
Now, on to your cycle. Everyone is different. Even guys who use the "same" cycle throw their own spin into it. I don't deadlift heavy for the last two weeks leading up to a meet. That's just me. I'll squat heavy and bench heavy the first part of the week, two weeks out. The week of the meet, some guys won't do a thing. I like to hit one "decent" squat and bench, say around 75%, just to feel some weight that week. In other words, working up your cycle is going to be an experimental thing. There are certain guidelines you can follow, like go really light if you're going to lift at all during meet week. But as far as the actual cycle, this being your first meet, you really could just focus on taking careful notes to look at after the meet to see if it works.
For a more practical perspective, the higher intensity up to 2 weeks out looks like a solid plan. I usually drop the tricep assistance work about 4 weeks out, but that's just me.
You might get lots of feedback from the guys here, that offers you a lot better advice. I've only started cycling within the last two years, and am inclined to drop cycling altogether in the future. So don't take what I've written as "the Gospel of Cycling," just use it as one guy's input that can be taken with a grain of salt.
God Bless.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 10, 2006 11:01:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice. I definitely don't think making weight will be any kind of problem for me. I will probably come in around 173-175 pounds, give or take a pound.
I was thinking of opening with 275/195/300, then doing slightly less than my training maxes on my second lift, then going for my PR's on my third lifts. So my second lifts might be something like 305/220/330 then my third will be go for broke: 320/230/360.
As for cycling, I think I will cut out the light assistance work I had planned for the meet week, and instead on Monday due some very light technique work on my squat and bench.
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 10, 2006 11:30:42 GMT -5
At a glance that looks like a solid plan, for the attempts as well as the cycle.
Keep us posted, bro!
God Bless.
Doug P.
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 10, 2006 15:32:43 GMT -5
Week 1, Day 1 - 7/10/2006
Max Effort Upper Body
Max Lift - Bench Press:
8 x 85
8 x 95
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 175
1 x 195
1 x 205
1 x 215
Miss x 225
Accessory Lifts
Lying Tricep Extensions:
8 x 25 (4 times)
Face Pulls:
8 x 60 (4 times)
Bradford Press:
8 x 65
8 x 75
Once again I was able to get 225 off my chest and then got stuck. For the next 2-3 weeks I am going to do rack lockouts for my max lift from about 4 inches off my chest (my sticking point). I am also going to continue to hit my triceps in a variety of ways in hopes of getting them strong enough to push 230 by the meet.
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Post by sauble on Jul 11, 2006 2:11:42 GMT -5
I THINK YOU ARE TRAINING TOO MUCH. Look at ther rest of the logs on here most drug free guys are training 2 to 3 days. for that bench id try doing the work with sets of 5 and threes with a good bar speed. at you strength you are still building your base. concentrate on 10's 5 and 3's for max effort work pick 3 ex and alternate. westside to me is better for the advanced lifter. At most id train 4 days westside 2 speed/ 2me very abbreviated but balls to the wall by abbreviated i mean your main ex plus 3 aux. me ex- inc bp, flt bp, rack lockouts, squats, deadlifts aux db bench, rows, db press, ab work, lo back work
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 11, 2006 6:57:19 GMT -5
That's wisdom. Good advice, Sauble.
Chris, soak it all in, find what works. Sauble hit a good point I didn't even think about. Since I only have about 40 minutes per workout, I don't have a good reference for what overtraining looks like.
God Bless.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 11, 2006 11:10:23 GMT -5
I THINK YOU ARE TRAINING TOO MUCH. Look at ther rest of the logs on here most drug free guys are training 2 to 3 days. for that bench id try doing the work with sets of 5 and threes with a good bar speed. at you strength you are still building your base. concentrate on 10's 5 and 3's for max effort work pick 3 ex and alternate. westside to me is better for the advanced lifter. At most id train 4 days westside 2 speed/ 2me very abbreviated but balls to the wall by abbreviated i mean your main ex plus 3 aux. me ex- inc bp, flt bp, rack lockouts, squats, deadlifts aux db bench, rows, db press, ab work, lo back work I am doing 4 day WS split, I just added in 2 extra workouts. Maybe I should get rid of those and switch to the 3 day split. My workouts are usually short, only lasting 35-50 minutes. I'll try the 3 day split and see if that helps. Thanks for the advice. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2006 12:03:09 GMT -5
Congrats on the decision to enter a meet. You have to remember that the Westside guys are juiced to the hilt and freely admit it, so their recovery is better and you have to take that into consideration when following their routines. I'd get killed if I tried adding extra workouts to the 4 day Westside split I'm doing.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2006 17:01:42 GMT -5
I for one believe in the extra workouts. However, you must treat them as they are prescribed. For instance, the extra workouts are meant to be recovery and GPP (general physical prepairedness). This does not mean you are doing sets of 12-15 with shoulder raises. You should be paying more attention on the amount of time you are devoting to a body part on an extra workout day, not the reps and weight. You should not be straining on these extra workouts.
Again, they are great for recovery if you treat them as such.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2006 17:05:21 GMT -5
Once again I was able to get 225 off my chest and then got stuck. For the next 2-3 weeks I am going to do rack lockouts for my max lift from about 4 inches off my chest (my sticking point). I am also going to continue to hit my triceps in a variety of ways in hopes of getting them strong enough to push 230 by the meet.Chris - remember the Circa-max approach is about variety. You will fail if you stick with a single lift over the next 3 weeks. I would suggest you try floor presses, rack lockouts, and 4-brd presses. Don't forget about the bottom of the bench. As soon as you fix a weakness, something else will be weaker. Kind of a natural law of physics. |
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 12, 2006 13:37:28 GMT -5
I want to thank everyone for their feedback. I have thought about everything everyone has posted. I also went to some forums with some experienced people who follow Westside programs and asked questions there. I have looked everything over and have come up with the following:
1. I make good progress on this program if I don't add in the extra workouts and keep the length of my cycles shorter. Last time I did a 6 week cycle and I think this drained me. From what I have read and been told, it seems most drug free people do better on 3 or 4 week cycles. So in the future I will keep my cycles to 4 weeks, preferably 3.
2. I do to much volume. Instead of doing 4 sets of 8-10 reps for 3 or 4 assistance exercises, I need to just do a few key exercises and get out. This will allow me to stay fresh between sessions.
3. I need to do huge amounts of drugs and wear equipment...Haha, just kidding.
OK, so with that said, here is my new plan for the USAPL meet on August 26th. I am going to take the rest of this week off to recover, which will leave me 6 weeks out from the meet. I am going to do a 4 week cycle, leaving me 2 weeks to recover. The first recovery week I will do 2 assistance days early in the week, 1 upper body day and 1 lower body day. Then later in the week I will do a light technique day, very low volume at about 70% of my maxes. The week of the meet I will do nothing but rest and get ready. So my breakdown will look like:
Weeks 1-4:
Mon - ME Squat/Deads
Wed - ME Bench
Fri - DE Squat/Deads
Sat - DE Bench
Week 5:
Mon - UB Assistance
Wed - LB Assistance
Fri - Technique Work
Week 6:
Rest and Meet
Thoughts, suggestions, critiques, flames?
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Post by 3speed on Jul 12, 2006 14:25:55 GMT -5
Solid plan, Chris. A lot of people won't take that last week off to rest and recover but if you have been training hard, you will be amazed ast the difference it makes.
I actually get sore by Wednesday from not working out but I am over it by Friday and recharged and rearin' to go on Saturday.
Good luck.
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 17, 2006 15:31:21 GMT -5
OK, back at it after a nice week off. 6 weeks out from the meet.
Week 2, Day 1 - 7/10/2006
Max Effort Lower Body
Max Lift - Squat:
5 x 135
3 x 185
3 x 205
3 x 245
1 x 265
1 x 285
1 x 295
M x 315
Heavy Assistance:
Romainian Deadlifts:
8 x 185
8 x 205 (2 times)
Supplemental Exercises:
Reverse Hypers:
8 x BW (2 times)
8 x 10
Leg Raises:
8 x BW (2 times)
Felt good and fresh as I expected. Got stuck on the bottom of that 315. It's 15 lbs over my max so I am not to upset about it. I've got 4 weeks to get there.
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 18, 2006 6:51:28 GMT -5
Chris, with all that work you're putting in on the hindparts, that 315 is as good as yours. All the Romanian DLs, reverse hypers, deadlifting, stuff that targets the glutes and hams, that'll build up that bottom end strength and help you out of the hole. You'll still have to go wide open 100% in training, but 315 is within your sights!
Keep us posted, looking good for the meet!
God Bless.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 19, 2006 15:36:44 GMT -5
Week 2, Day 2 - 7/19/2006
Max Effort Upper Body
Max Lift - Pin Press (pin set ~3 inches off chest):
5 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 175
1 x 185
1 x 195
M x 205
Heavy Assistance:
DB Bench Press:
5 x 50
5 x 60 (2 Times)
Supplemental Exercises:
Chest Supported Row:
8 x 70 (3 Times)
Rotations:
15 x 20 (2 Times)
I setup the pin presses to be right at the start of my sticking point. I am hoping working this aspect of the lift will help me break through. I can get 225 off my chest, I just get stuck in the middle. I am pretty sure once I get through that I will be able to lock it out.
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 23, 2006 2:26:16 GMT -5
Week 2, Day 3 - 7/21/2006
Dynamic Effort Lower Body
Dynamic Lift - Squats (55%):
2 x 145 (6 times)
Speed Pulls:
1 x 215
1 x 225
1 x 235
1 x 245
1 x 250
Supplemental Exercises:
GHR:
8 x 25 (3 Times)
Reverse Cable Side Bends:
6 x 100 (3 Times)
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 23, 2006 2:32:07 GMT -5
Week 2, Day 4 - 7/22/2006
Dynamic Effort Upper Body
Dynamic Lift - Bench Press (55%):
3 x 120 (6 Times)
Supplemental Exercises:
JM Press:
5 x 65
5 x 75 (2 Times)
Face Pulls:
8 x 70
8 x 90
8 x 100
Rotations (Using cable pulley):
15 x 12.5 (2 Times)
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 24, 2006 6:39:12 GMT -5
Looking good, Chris! August 26 is approaching rapidly! I see that 225 clanging at the top!
:')
God Bless.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 24, 2006 21:48:23 GMT -5
Week 3, Day 1 - 7/24/2006
Max Effort Lower Body
Max Lift - Arched Back GMs:
6 x 135
3 x 205
3 x 225
3 x 245
3 x 265
1 x 275
1 x 295
1 x 315
Heavy Assistance:
Lunges:
5 x 115 (3 Times)
Supplemental Exercises:
Reverse Hypers:
8 x 20
8 x 40 (2 Times)
Leg Raise:
8 x BW (2 Times)
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 25, 2006 6:37:55 GMT -5
Look at those GMs and hypers! Your squat and deadlift are going to thank you!
Nice work, Chris. Keep it up, bro!
God Bless.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 25, 2006 9:28:52 GMT -5
Thanks Doug. I am starting to feel really strong on the hyper machine now, plus it is making my back feel great.
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 26, 2006 21:41:43 GMT -5
Week 3, Day 2 - 7/26/2006
Max Effort Upper Body
Max Lift - Paused Bench Press (3 count, index finger on rings):
5 x 95
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 175
1 x 185
1 x 195
M x 205
Heavy Assistance:
DB Shoulder Press:
5 x 45
5 x 50 (2 Times)
Supplemental Exercises:
Chest Supported Row:
8 x 75 (3 Times)
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Post by dopar66 on Jul 27, 2006 6:28:49 GMT -5
Hey, Chris.
A question and a comment. Does your training regimen recommend that many singles with that close of a percentage working up to ME? My comment is if you'd hit 205 or even the 225 with less heavy singles you'd do a lot better. If you consider 205 as your 1RM (which we know you've improved over that, but work with me) you just hit 90%, 95%, and went for 100%. In a meet that might work for you. If you're establishing a new 1RM for working out, you might think about going , say, 185 straight to 205.
Just a thought. If that would disrupt your regimen, kindly ignore this message. :')
Nice work, bro.
God BLess.
Doug
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Post by Chris Mangano on Jul 27, 2006 12:17:42 GMT -5
I try to do 3-4 lifts at or above 90%. I am following the Westside style and they say this is the range that builds strength. I made the mistake of assuming I could lift 215 with the very wide grip, when in fact that grip is weak for me (obviously). Since I am still in the "learning" stage it's hard for me to predict what my 1RM will be for each new lift I attempt. As time goes on I will get better at this, of course.
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