bcherb2's Routine / Powerlifting thread

[bcherb2]

Purpose

The purpose of this thread is going to possibly try to get some people involved in a great sport that many people don't really know about. Also I'm going to give my current refined workout and possibly an old one or two I have used. Every once in a while maybe some journal entries, food journal entries, and competition entries. Beyond that I think a powerlifting routine is very good at packing on mass compared to many other routines, of course this is up to the eye of the beholder.



Background

So why listen to me? Well I haven't been lifting *that* long, in fact only solid for 2.25 years, with only 1 or so in powerlifting. Started in highschool but had to quit due to sinus problems/surgery. Since then I think I've made my decent amount of gains, and competed in a few competitions will good results. I'm currently 5'10, 187lbs in the 181lbs weight class.


So What is Powerlifting?

Powerlifting, in the lifting world is almost the opposite of bodybuilding, and for that reason it's not nearly as popular, it's all about the weight and not the looks. The three lifts in any powerlifting event are squat , bench, and deadlift (in that order). Since these 3 lifts are the 3 core lifts it makes for a great routine even if you don't compete. There are specific rules on each lift, which the judgres will get pretty picky on, thats why form is esstential.
There are MANY powerlifting organizations in the North America(Im not sure about Europe, sorry), such as IPF, USAPL, and NASA. Those are the ones I've competed/watched, all are drug free and use single ply suits only. Drug free includes prescriptions to psychostimulants like adderall, and even caffiene(to a certain level mg per kg bodyweight).


Some differences between powerlifting and bodybuilding

-Obvious, train for max weight, not looks
-Diet, powerlifters usually don't follow nearly as strict a diet
-Appearance, powerlifters, compared to bodybuilders, generally have thicker thighs, higher traps, bigger front delts, and smaller biceps of course .



My Current Routine

I switched from a 3 day all body split to a 4 day with a day for each group, except arms were divided with chest/back. I've since gone to this if I have time for 5 days a week, its seemed to work very well, but a 4 day split as mentioned works very well also.


Day 1: Chest
Flat Bench: 2x6, +set
Dumbbell Bench: 2x8
Incline Dumbbell Bench(Can alternate with decline): 2x8
Fly Machine: 2x7
Cable Flies(optional): 2x7
Dip machine(not the girl kind): 2x5

Day 2: Legs
Squat: 2x6
Leg Press: 2x8
Leg Extensions: 2x8
Leg Curls: 2x8
Seated Calf Raises: 2x10


Day 3: Shoulders
Arnolds: 2x8
DB Shoulder Press: 2x8
Reverse Flies(Rear delts): 2x8
Lateral Raises: 2x7
Front Raises: 2x7
-Optional-
Lateral Raises(cable): 2x8
Front Raises(cable) 2x8

Day 4: Back
Deadlift: Either 1x6, 2x5
Stiff Leg DL: 2x7
Front Cable Pulldowns: 2x7
Reverse Grip Pulldowns: 2x7
Seated Cable Row: 2x8
Pullovers: 2x7
-and if your back isnt dead(it should be)-
Partial Deadlifts: 2x7

Day 5: Arms
Narrow Grip Bench: 2x7
Skullcrushers: 2x7
Behind the head Tricep Ext: 2x7
Tricep cable pulldown: 3x8

-Biceps(optional, I usually don't)
EZ Curl bar: 2x8
Seated DB Curls: 3x10
Preacher Curl: 3x10




Diet
God, don't listen to me about diet, my and my roomate(a fellow PLer) probably have the worst diet ever. We eat Taco Bell about once a day if not more, luckily we have high metabolisms. But other than that I usually eat such meals as:

-Classic Steak&Potato
-Chicken Breast & Rice
-Diced Chicken in Baked Beans....I think its good...
-Lots of pasta and meat sauce...mmm
-Lasagna
-PB&J's, or just raw penut butter alot

Supplimentation
Everyone love getting suppliments, however I've almost abandoned them thus far. They don't do that much for you(IMO) if you have a good diet and train hard. If I really wanna gain weight I might use protein power, but thats about it for protein. I take glutamine whenever I remember, and have a bunch of old creatine but I don't take it until the night before/day of competition (in hopes of a small boost). And always my flinstones vitamin and some glucosamine 'cuz my joints hurt . Other than that I really can't say much has helped, however I'm sure people make gains with suppliments and I'm not trying to bash them.




Gains this far
Does this routine work that I made? For me yeah it has. I have never been that naturally strong, in highschool I never really made many gains at all until I had to quit due to sinuses(Lack of gains in HS is largely due to lack of testosterone at that point). But when I entered college I was at abou 170 or so lbs bodyweight with about 20% fat, or maybe a little less, athletic by no means. I benched around 135 for 5 reps at most. Squated 135 also for 5 reps of HORRIBLE form, and deaded maybe 185-225 with bad form for 4 or so reps. Currently(last week) my bench is at 345, my squat at 405, and my deadlift at 495, all with good form. Bodyweight in the 180's, with bf around 15%(I really need to lower this and compete in 165, damn taco bell).






I think this is a great 4/5 day split for beginngers or intermediates alike. Please feel free for questions, comments, critisism, bashing, or whatever you want to say . If anyones interested I can also host/post meet pics and or videos.

Cheers :woo:

 

[Un-Aru]

Good programme alright, not a pure powerlifting one, if you wanna get serious about competitions you'll probably find you'll have to cut down on the ancillary stuff and concentrate on the core exercises but with more volume.

And speaking of volume, before anyone jumps on the 'way too much volume' bandwagon I used a very similar program to achieve very similar results, going from 72kg @ approx 7% to 84kg @ approx 9%, with a max bench of 155kg, squats of 160kg (never could get my legs proportionately strong - too much sprint training and team sports) and a power clean of 95kg.

I remember how hard it was to achieve those results so big props to the effort you're putting in to get where you have in only a couple of years...

 

[semag]

I"ve seen a lot of powerlifting routines, and most of them stick to lower volume. The basic thought is when you throw up a 800-900 lb squat, your body needs a few more days to recover.

Just my thought from seeing that. WSBB and such are the powerlifting routines I've seen.

 

[Un-Aru]

Yeah my bad semag, I should have said more 'sets' NOT 'volume.' For a pure powerlifting program you'd cut down the cables, fly's etc. and increase the sets you're doing for the core exercises (5 sets of 4-5 reps) Again, this depends on what phase you're in, pre-competition you'd be hammering out 8 sets of 1-2 reps. This targets the type 2b fibres which are utilised in heavy lifts. And you'd have to periodise the program as well, that sort of intensity puts the body under incredible stress and so can't be done indefinitely. Also, one thing I notice that isn't mentioned and is VERY inportant for powerlifting is rotator cuff exercises.

 

[semag]

yeah, rotator cuff, stabilizer muscles, and recovery sessions/speed work.

 

[bcherb2]

Yeah I realize this isn't as high as many other programs on core lifts and it does include alot of non-core lifts, but it just flows so nicely Im going to keep it around until I start hitting some platues. It's not all so bad, my roomate uses the same one and hes broken national records and one a couple national competitions as well.

As for WSBB, I dont like their routine, its pretty random.

What are good rotator cuff excersizes? Things like upright rows that utilize the rotator cuff I've seen many ppl hurt it on also.

And yes a pure powerlifting routine should go by week until competition and lower reps and work down to a max, and I do plan on incorperating that in this next year, but I just wanted a routine to give ppl in case they wanted to try it out

 

[Un-Aru]

I'm not dissin your program at all, it's definitely a very good one that will provide a nice balance of size and strength. As I said, I've used a very similar one in the past to excellent effect. Rotator cuff exercises are a little tough to explain without a visual aid.

1. Stand side on to a cable pulley with adjustable height. Your left shoulder pointing at the machine. Take your right arm and imagine you're holding your ribs after someone has given you a good crack. This is the start point for your right arm. Holding the cable handle rotate your right arm away from your body. Visualisation: go from holding your bruised ribs to as if you're pointing a gun from someone. Your right elbow should never leave your side.

2. Stand with arms straight out to your sides at ear level. Bend you arms 90 degrees so your arms are still level with your ears but your hands are slightly in front of you with your palms facing down. This is the starting point. Rotate your shoulders so your hands are in the air, as if someone is pointing a gun at you and you want to show them you're unarmed. Your upper arm (bicep/tricep) should never move up or down, this way the rotator cuff does all the work. Now hold some light weights in your hands while you do this action. (can use cables as well)

3. For the previous 2 exercises, reverse the starting and finishing points (you'll also have to reverse your body positioning) and instead of 'pulling backwards', try 'pull forwards.'

 

[bcherb2]

Ah yes, I went to a physical therapist that told me those once but during my workouts they kinda got pushed to the end then by that time I was too tired

So Im guessing these are benificial to bench in regards with stabilization?

 

[Un-Aru]

Absolutely. You're starting to bench some serious weight and all that force is being driven through your shoulder joints. Doing these exercises will help stabilise your shoulders and:
1. Help prevent injury
2. Help you bench more weight cos your your rotator cuffs won't burn out as quickly.

 

[bcherb2]

Makes alot of sense, thats why I feel like dumbbell bench is essential to a chest workout, your delts take so much work off your chest in stabalizing, I gained like 30-40lbs on my bench max when I started working out with dumbells regularly.



I had the worst chest workout ever tonight, probably because this is the first in 3 weeks due to competition and finals.


-Bench: 4of6@275, 3of6@275
-Wide bench(to try and change it up since I was struggling): 10@195
-Dumbbell bench: 2x8 @ 100, felt shakey like I had lost a lil stability due to down time.
-Machine flies: 2x8 @ 285(dont think these are pounds, just those arbitrary numbers on machines haha)

--added rotator cuff stuff--
-Punching motion thingy like described above: 3x10 (both sides)
-Lawn Mower Pull/John Trovolta (haha): 2x10 each side.

^Thats the first time I've done those seriously and it gave me a weird feeling, almost like my rear delts were sore but not my rear delts.....So hopefully its working.




Since my bench is feeling bad lately Im thinking of changing it to:

-Flat Bench: 2x6; maybe 3x4
-Narrow Grip(something I've neglected too long): 2x7
-Wide Grip: 1x8
-Dumbbell bench: 2x7
-Incline DB: 1x7
-Flies: 2x7
-Rotator Cuff Stuff 2/3x10 on each

So thats going from 2 barbell sets to 5

 

[semag]

you bench w/ a wide grip, elbows tucked, and a big arch?

 

[bcherb2]

My grip actually isn't that wide, its about normal, if not a few cm wider than normal, but not where most PL'ers position their hands for bench. I always arch my back and position my feet the same, almost as if it were competition, just by habit.

I think I'm gonna try and slowly widen my grip up a little, but who knows, might just give me a worse bench


Edit: Here's a video of a first attempt earlier this year, grip hasn't changed since then. At this meet we only had one of those thick power belts and not a smaller one and I could barely arch my back

http://locker.uky.edu/~bcherb2/ben_bench_1.avi
(you need divx6 to view this)

 

[Un-Aru]

^Thats the first time I've done those seriously and it gave me a weird feeling, almost like my rear delts were sore but not my rear delts.....So hopefully its working.

That's right on the money... PRECISELY the feeling you should be getting

 

[semag]

Nice, and from what you said it sounds like it's done raw? or w/ a belt at least... no shirted work right?

You incorporated speed work and/or chains/bands into your routine?? I asked for some bands for chrsitmas and I think I'm gonna try to do some of that when I get back up to school.

EDIT: PS: I downloaded the vid, but it came out a little corrupted, i'll have to check it when i get back in a couple weeks to a faster connection again, but just givin ya a heads up.

 

[bcherb2]

No its not raw, I'm not even sure if there are any PLing divisions that are only raw? But my shirt and squat suit are both borrowed and dont fit me at all, so my gains are minimal from them.

Video is encoded with divx6 so you need to codec from divx.com to watch it.


Me or my partner havent used chains but in the next month we're considering either buying some or using a 2/3/4 board type deal for bench. Although I majorly need to work on squat before I start worrying about bench