My Road to the Swiss Powerlifting Olympics

[pshotsb17]

Hello Interwebs,

For the last 15 years I have kept training logs on Post-It notes, cable bills, old tax records and the occasional excel sheet. As can be expected, I have no record of my years of barbell training so I am taking advantage of the free hosting here at SS to permanently log my road to superhuman strength.

Brief Bio:
I am 31, 6'1"/185cm, weigh 104-105kgs, not sure about body fat but I can see my abs? Barbell training has always been a part of supplementing collegiate water polo and hockey, but since I left school I have been lifting only. I got sucked into the CrossFit vortex in 2005 and that formed the basis of a nicely injured back when I thought doing 20 deadlifts at BW for time was good idea. I stopped that nonsense in 2011, but am grateful for it introducing me to SS. Since 2012 I have been training the olympic lifts and competing at 96kg until this past August, when I had enough of herniating my L5/S1 every year. Now I am learning powerlifting. In December I woke up to the importance of nutrition and gained 10kg by not eating like a bird. As mentioned I have a history of L5/S1 herniations and this has put a damper on my strength progression. However today I am stronger than I was at any point pre-injury, and I don't have any pain. So I guess its an appropriate time to start logging here.

Current Program
I recently ended a 1 month cycle and now am giving Jordan Fiegenbaum's Intermediate Program a try. You can view my Google Sheet log here, but I will also post daily workouts in the forum: Training Log April 2017.xlsx - Google Drive . So far I like his program. However I must say that the pressing volume on day 2 is making me look like a bitch, and the third day is a really long workout.

I work out 3 days a week, 4 if I have to split the 3rd day into two days due to lack of time.

Strength Benchmarks per Week of April 2, 2017

• Squat, 2RM: 160kg
• Deadlift, 2RM: 200kg
• Press, 2RM: 90kg (might've pushed the last one...)
• Bench, 2RM: no data
• Front Squat, 2RM: Estimated at 115kg, C&J max was 125kg injured.

Goals, sometime befor I turn 40 while maintaining BW and not hurting myself

• Squat, 2RM: 200kg
• Deadlift, 2RM: 300kg
• Press, 2RM: 125kg
• Bench, 2RM: 150kg

Nutrition
I try to eat 2800-3000 calories per day, 40/30/30 P/C/F. I usually get my macro proportions right but dont make it all the way there on the calories. I don't want to get any heavier than 105kg, just stronger at this weight. At the moment I only take Casein protein at night after workouts, and drink a intra-workout shake of 60g of whey and 20g of sugar. I will start taking Creatine soon, for the first time.

I appreciate any thoughts you might have. I will also try to post videos regularly if anyone feels up for a form check. If you're extra nice and helpful I'll mail you some Emmentaler cheese as thanks.

[pshotsb17]

25.4.2017 - Day 1 of 3, Week 3:

Was out till 3am last night at a social function, ate a lot, slept 5 hours, worked all day, worked out at 5pm. breakfast was eggs and wheatabix, lunch sushi, dinner pork chops/brown rice/spinach post workout. Intra-workout shake of 60g whey and 20g sugar. Initially I felt tired but was able to add 2.5kg to all of the movements over last week. Had a day of extra rest from last workout due to a Monday holiday here.

Squat / 2ct Pause Bench / RDL
KG Reps RPE KG Reps RPE KG Reps RPE
160 1 8.5 82.5 4 7 65 7 6
140 5 8 102.5 4 8 75 7 7
140 5 8 107.5 4 9 85 7 7.5
140 5 8.5 107.5 4 9.5 85 7 7.5
140 5 8 107.5 4 8 85 7 7
140 5 8.5 107.5 4 9 85 7 8
Volume: 3660 2460 3360
Potential: 29.1% 27.6% 28.4%

As usual it took me two work sets to really get warm. I like the heavy single, it gets me in the groove faster. RDLs are a new movement for me so I am doing them lighter than they should be and working into them.

Potential is the total volume left in the tank as a percentage of the Total Volume Performed + Volume left in the Tank. Decreasing potential week over week means the weight is getting harder.

I will start posting videos to an instagram account and linking them here as soon as I get a tripod.

[pshotsb17]

28.4.2017 - Day 2 of 3, Week 3:

Bench
KG Reps RPE
122.5 1 7
107.5 5 8
107.5 5 8.5
107.5 5 8.5
105 5 9
105 5 8.5
Volume: 2785
Potential: 29.5%

2ct Pause Squat
KG Reps RPE
125 4 7
130 4 8
140 4 9
140 4 8.5
140 4 9
140 4 8.5
Volume: 3260
Potential: 29.1%

Press
KG Reps RPE
40 6 7
50 7 7
62.5 8 7
62.5 8 7
62.5 8.5 7
62.5 9 7
Volume: 2683.75
Potential: 27.5%

Not a good day. Squats were terrible, got some good form critique in the forum. Bench was tired, lowered the weight to maintain RPE. Press was good, clear improvement over prior weeks with more rest.

Will repeat the bench and squat weight next week with focus on form, increase the press weight by a kilo.

Squat set 1: 28.4.17 set 1 of 4 "2ct" squat - YouTube
Squat set 2: 28.4.17 set 4 of 4 2ct squat - YouTube

[pshotsb17]

30.4.2017, Day 3 of 3, Week 3:

After workout weighed in at 106, seem to have gained a kg even though I am not hitting my calorie targets consistently.

Deadlift:
KG Reps RPE
200 1 8.5
175 5 8.5
175 5 9
175 5 9
X X X
X X X

Touch n Go Bench:
95 4 7
110 4 8
112.5 4 9
112.5 4 8.5
112.5 4 9
112.5 4 9

Front Squat:
75 7 6
85 7 7
90 7 8
90 7 8
90 7 8
90 7 8

Dumbell Incline Bench (total weight)
56 8 6
60 8 7
68 8 8
68 8 8
68 8 8
68 8 8

Didnt sleep well last night, so was a bit groggy. This was a morning workout, usually I train early evening. I had a snack when I got up and a workout shake during the workout (60g whey powder, 20g sugar, 5g creatine). Seem to have hit a form limit on the DL, so Week 4 I will de-load and focus on technique in squat and DL. Maybe I should have gotten up earlier and eaten a bigger meal.

Training videos:
Deadlift:
200kg x1 @8 HG: 30.4.17 200kg x1 @8 HG - YouTube
Set 1 of 3 175kg x5 @8.5 HG: 30.4.2017 Set 1 of 3 175kg x5 @8.5 HG - YouTube
Set 3 of 3 175kg x5 @9 Wraps: 30.4.2017 Set 3 of 3 175kg x5 @9 Wraps - YouTube


Bench:
Set 1 of 4 112.5kg x4@8.5 30.4.2017 Set 1 of 4 112.5kg x4@8.5 - YouTube
Set 4 of 4 112.5kg x 4@9 30.4.2017 Set 4 of 4 112.5kg x 4@9 - YouTube

[pshotsb17]

01.05.2017 Day 1 of 3, Week 4 - Deload and technique practice this week

Squats at 50% with TUBOW, looking down and keeping the wrists flat, felt good.

DL with 60kg just focusing on not dropping the hips and squeezing the chest up. I notice that the bar might move forward between reps, need to watch that.

Bench at 60kg keeping the scapulas pinched and shoulders down.

isometric ab work

[Cody]

Why don't you lift with a belt?

[pshotsb17]

Why don't you lift with a belt?

Someone actually reads this?

Because Im a bad ass mofo.

No it has to do with my history. In HS we lifted a lot but with no instruction and belts were only worn by either old men or roid heads doing bicep curls. Then I progressed to crossfit in college 2003-5 ish and there were no belts around me there either. Then I started competing in olympic lifting and at my amateur level in Europe none of the coaches promoted them, so they were bucketed in my "equipped powerlifting" stereotype. Then after my 8th L5-S1 herniation I stopped olympic lifting, and started from scratch doing SS with a bar (2 years ago this august). Now Im injury free but stronger and heavier than before, and have realized (also given my strengh goals) I need a belt. So I recently ordered one from the US but that will take a while to get here. So, soon I will be lifting with a Bob's belt.

[Cody]

Someone actually reads this?

Because Im a bad ass mofo.

No it has to do with my history. In HS we lifted a lot but with no instruction and belts were only worn by either old men or roid heads doing bicep curls. Then I progressed to crossfit in college 2003-5 ish and there were no belts around me there either. Then I started competing in olympic lifting and at my amateur level in Europe none of the coaches promoted them, so they were bucketed in my "equipped powerlifting" stereotype. Then after my 8th L5-S1 herniation I stopped olympic lifting, and started from scratch doing SS with a bar (2 years ago this august). Now Im injury free but stronger and heavier than before, and have realized (also given my strengh goals) I need a belt. So I recently ordered one from the US but that will take a while to get here. So, soon I will be lifting with a Bob's belt.

You'd be amazed how many people browse the logs And cheers, that both makes sense and is good to see you're getting a quality one!

[pshotsb17]

You'd be amazed how many people browse the logs

Fucks sake. Now I actually have to make this interesting!

I'll let you know how the belt is...

[indigo]

Hi,

Where in Switzerland ? Do you train at a gym ?

Also, by "Feigenbaum's program" do you mean the scivation one ?

Thx.