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Powerlifting Contest Preparation

I took the plunge and signed up for the powerlifting meet I wrote about. I’m still not sure if I’ll attend, since that day has ended up being a perfect storm of activity:

• Invention Convention for my son (he won at the school level; this is for districts)
• Volleyball tournament for my daughter (at least it’s local)
• Powerlifting meet

So, three places to be, one day. Still wondering how the logistics will work.

Nevertheless, I’m proceeding as though I’ll be there. I’ll be in the 40 – 45 age group of the Masters division, in the 181 pound weight class.

What that means is between now and April 17th, I need to lose about 7 pounds, as I’m weighing in around 188 now. Not that I plan on losing 7 pounds. I’ll aim to lose around 3-4 and then drop the rest before weigh-in on Friday afternnoon. Then by Saturday meet-time, I should be back up to the mid 180s.

For those of you who are interested, and for those who aren’t but can’t stop themselves from reading this fascinating post, here’s the routine I’m doing (and have been doing for about 2 weeks now). I gave the weights I used in my last workout:

Monday

• Deadlifts: 5 sets (135×5, 225×5, 315×5, 365×5, 225×5)
• Bench Press: 5 sets (135×5, 155×5, 185×5, 215×1, 225×1)
• Military Press: 1 set (95×10)
• Chin-ups: Bodyweightx10
• Dips: Bodyweightx10
• Dumbbell Curl: 30×10
• Behind-the-back dips: Bodyweightx10

Wednesday

• Squats: 5 sets (135×5, 185×5, 225×5, 275×5, 315×1)
• Bench Press: 5 sets (135×5, 155×5, 185×5, 215×1, 225×1)
• Military Press: 1 set (95×10)
• Chin-ups: Bodyweightx10
• Dips: Bodyweightx10
• Dumbbell Curl: 30×10
• Behind-the-back dips: Bodyweightx10

Friday

• Squats: 3 sets (135×5, 185×5, 225×5)
• Deadlifts: 3 sets (135×5, 225×5, 315×5)
• Bench Press: 5 sets (135×5, 155×5, 185×5, 215×1, 225×1)
• Military Press: 1 set (95×10)
• Chin-ups: Bodyweightx10
• Dips: Bodyweightx10
• Dumbbell Curl: 30×10
• Behind-the-back dips: Bodyweightx10

I’ll keep this up until the week of the meet, then the Monday and Wednesday of that week do very light workouts of the big 3 lifts in the same order as the meet, something like:

• Squats: 135×5, 135×5, 135×5
• Becn Press: 135×5, 135×5, 135×5
• Deadlift: 135×5, 135×5, 135×5

No workout Friday, meet Saturday.

I’ll have to see how I’m feeling and how the weights are moving, but I’ve got some poundage goals in mind:

Squat

I’ll go 315 for my first attempt, then probably 335. Depending on how well (or if) I get that, I’ll see about 345/350.

Bench Press

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you heard me whine about my elbows. Well they still hurt, and my left shoulder bothers me a lot as well. With that in mind, I’ll go for 225 my first attempt, and then 235. If I get 235 I’ll try 240, if not I’ll stop and keep 225 as my lift.  This is powerlift bench pressing, which means a pause at the bottom. A lot tougher than just repping one out.

Deadlift

I’ll do 405 my first go. If I get that, 425, and if I get that 435. If I’m feeling really good, I might add another 5 to the third attempt. I’ve done 435 before, it’s my personal best, so it would be nice to hit 440. Dunno if that will happen though.

So assuming everything goes as planned, I should end up at:

• Squat: 350
• Bench: 240
• Deadlift: 440

That would give me a 1030 total, which is 35 pounds under my best, done at age 32 (Squat: 365, Bench: 285, Deadlift: 415 for a 1065 total).

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