How to make a Masters lifter stronger

[Bergie]

My first meet was a success. A success in that I didn’t miss any of my lifts and that I got new PRs on all of the lifts.

Squat 132.5 Bench 97.5 Deadlift 147.5 Total 377.5

However, I was the weakest Masters lifter there except for a 61 yo gentleman.

Here are the totals of other Masters lifters from the meet:
637
642
502
727

I am not even in the ball park.

Well not yet. I am determined to get stronger and pull those numbers up.

My next meet is in mid June. I am going to use Stephan Korte’s 3x3 program for the next eight weeks with the goal of adding 40 lbs to my squat and Deadlift and 25lbs to my bench.

I like this program because it focuses on the three lifts.

The first 4 weeks is the volume phase. It looks like this: (sorry the formating is not so good. It looks a lot better in Excel)

weeks 1 2 3 4
Mon
Bench 6-8x6 135 140 145 150
Deadlift 5x8 210 220 225 235
Squat 5-8x5 190 200 205 210

Wed
Bench 6-8x6 135 140 145 150
Deadlift 5-8x8 210 220 225 235
Squat 5-8x5 190 200 205 210

Fri
Bench 6-8x6 135 140 145 150
Deadlift 5-8x8 210 220 225 235
Squat 5-8x5 190 200 205 210

The second Phase, weeks 5 - 8 looks like this:

Weeks 5 6 7 8
Mon
Bench 5x4 140 140 140 140
Deadlift 1-2x1 290 310 330 350
Squat 3x3 200 200 200 200

Wed
Bench 1-2x1 185 195 200 220
Deadlift 3x3 220 220 220 220
Squat 3x3 200 200 202000

Fri
Bench 5x4 140 140 140 140
Deadlift 3x3 220 220 220 220
Squat 1-2x1 265 280 300 315

[Bergie]

4/12

Yesterday was the first day on the new program.

Sets x Reps all weight in pounds

Bench 8x6 @ 135
Felt good. I really concentrated on form. I have noticed a tendency to move my elbows closer to perpendicular to the torso as the weights get heavy. I am using this high volume work to help unlearn this bad habit.

Dead lift 5x8 @ 215
Very heavy for the last two sets. I can tell that I need a lot of work on this one. My lower back was really complaining. But it feels OK today.

Squats 8x5 @ 190
Felt better as I went along. The last 3 sets felt light compared to the first ones. Probably mean I need to warm up better.

[Ryan Long]

Bergie,

Keep us posted as this progresses. At first glance I think that the first 4 weeks will be too much volume. I'm also concerned that all the deadlifting right before squatting will limit your squatting. This essentially looks like linear progression but with way more volume, at the masters level I'd be concerned that you won't be able to recover. That being said, you won't know until you try I suppose, so give it a shot for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Let us know.

[Bergie]

Bergie,

Keep us posted as this progresses. At first glance I think that the first 4 weeks will be too much volume. I'm also concerned that all the deadlifting right before squatting will limit your squatting. This essentially looks like linear progression but with way more volume, at the masters level I'd be concerned that you won't be able to recover. That being said, you won't know until you try I suppose, so give it a shot for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Let us know.

Those are valid concerns. There will be a break of several hours between the Bench /Deads and the Squats. This should cover your first point. As far as it being too much volume. I am hoping that by taking out all of that accessory exercises I will be able to recover. I feel like I am a good deal below my potential for the squats and Deads, not so much for bench.

Like you said, I won't know for sure until I give it a go.

Thanks for you input.

[Ryan Long]

This looks like more volume than SS novice linear progression, maybe I'm reading your shorthand incorrectly. But if you are far below your potential like you state, simple novice linear progression may be sufficient. Too much volume will lead to overtraining and be detrimental. All said, if you mess up by lifting too much you'll probably identify that quickly. If you're gonna make a mistake, make it at full speed!

[PVC]

If you're gonna make a mistake, make it at full speed!

Famous last words

[Bergie]

This looks like more volume than SS novice linear progression, maybe I'm reading your shorthand incorrectly. But if you are far below your potential like you state, simple novice linear progression may be sufficient. Too much volume will lead to overtraining and be detrimental. All said, if you mess up by lifting too much you'll probably identify that quickly. If you're gonna make a mistake, make it at full speed!

Thanks for your input.

When I said that I was below my potential, I was speaking from an intermediate perspective. In that I know I am past the linear progression stage but still have room to grow as an intermediate. This program is geared to add 40 pounds to my squat and Dead and 25 to my bench over a 8 week time frame. I feel this rate is doable. It will be interesting to see how the theory works out in real life.

4/14/10 Wednesday

Monday’s workout left me with a fair amount of DOMS so I did a bit more warms up than normal. But things loosened up well.

Bench 8x6 @ 135
No issues felt good.

Deadlift 8x8 @ 215
The deads felt a lot better than Monday. I had chalk today which made a big difference as one might expect. But also the weights, while heavy, were easier than previous. Not sure how to explain this, but as the sets progressed I was getting tired but at the same time the sets seems easier or maybe more fluid. Maybe I was getting numb.

Squat 8x5 @ 190
No issues today, felt great. In fact I combined sets 7 and 8 into a 10 rep set just for the heck of it.

[Bergie]

4/16

Bench
8x6 @ 135

Deadlift
5x8 @ 205

Tweaked something in my back, lower left on the 3rd set. I got a little loose with my abs and lost some extension. I was able to finish the last 2 set but really concentrating on keeping lower abs very tight.

I was unable to do my squat workout due to conflicts in the evening. My back was feeling pretty tight as well.

[Bergie]

Monday 4/19

Back felt better by Sunday. The two days rest came at a good time. However, during my workout I discovered that it is not 100%.

Starting second week, weights moving up to 60% of my targeted weights.

Bench
8x6 @ 140

Deadlifts
5x8 @ 220
Back was feeling pretty tight and sore if I didn't keep back in prefect flexation (sp). I wore a belt for the last 2 sets. Helped a lot but still not 100%.

Squats
3x5 #200
I was really feeling my back so decided the discretion is the better part of valor and stopped at 3 sets. It was sort of strange in that the back felt ok during the squat but setting the bar back in the rack and de-weighting my back caused pain/discomfort.

Anyway, it felt better that evening and not sore the next day. So hopefully Wed will be back to normal.

[slughammer]

Bergie, thanks for the links to the Korte 3 x 3. I'm doing PIP for the squat and press myself, but wasn't sure where to go after this. The Korte 3 x 3 using only the main lifts would work great for me using my barbell equipment at home. (plus it also has the deadlift, which I wasn't sure how to incorporate into PIP).

Not sure if you are going directly from the write up that you linked to, but one thing I noticed is your deadlift weight and reps. The write up set the deadlift target at 15lbs over your max and the set x rep scheme is 5-8 x 5 . I notice you have been doing 8 reps, did you pick that up from a different write up?

Regards - Slughammer