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I just signed up for my first meet and it’s in 6 weeks (10/26). Bench and Deadlift will be the only contested lefts and I’m running a peaking cycle for both of those lifts right now.
My question is how should I program the squat and press while I’m trying to peak the two contested lifts?
I’ve been doing a 4 day split, one main lift each day. Dead, Bench, Squat, Press in that order; M, T, Th, F respectively.
I’m 35, early intermediate, 217lb if any of that helps.
If you are 6 weeks out, I'd probably squat and press once per week and then cut it ~2-3 weeks out. What have you been doing in terms of your programming up to this point?
Thanks for the reply!
Over about the last 12weeks or so, I was running 3 sets of 5 on bench, squat and press and a heavy set of 5 for deadlift. Squat and bench day 1, DL and Press day 2, squat and bench day3 adding 5lb per workout. On bench and squat I had to go to 5 sets of 3 pretty early on. When I stopped progressing that way, I’d do a heavy set of 5 at the next 5lb jump on day 1 and the 5x3 on day 2 with the same weight. When this became too stressful I started doing just one main lift per day with 5x3 squat day 1, 1x5 DL and 3x5 press day 2, and 5x3 bench day 3. 5lb jumps each workout.
Ended up with a 355lb bench for a set of 5, 440lb squat for 5, 505lb DL for 5, and 5x3 Press at 210.
Took a deload week and did a 395lb bench, 545lb DL, and 245lb Press for max singles. Didn’t max the squat.
Now I’m here!
Sorry for the length, I tried to be as brief as possible. Thanks again!
I'd probably go to single sets of triples or doubles + back offs for 3 weeks and then move to singles from there. Hit your last heavy pull 2 weeks out and maybe hit a heavy rack pull 1 week out (but not less than 7 days), last heavy squat 1 week out. I'm available to consult as well if you are in the market for it.
I'd make no changes in your training if you are in fact an early intermediate. You are hitting PRs every week already, and it's hard to make faster progress than that. And since the squat contributes to the deadlift and vice-versa, I'd just go to the meet and not do the squat. You are not advanced enough to need a taper for a meet like this. And really, why did you choose a push/pull meet instead of a real one?
Robert and Rip, thanks for the replies. I didn’t have notifications on so I though this thread had been forgotten!
Anyway, I ended up running Mark Bell’s “Stronger in 30 Days” program for bench as I’ve had good success with it in the past. For the deadlift I just started the volume high and tapered down each week to where I did some triples and doubles last week, and pulled my last heave single today @545 with some back offs.
I didn’t do squats last week but instead did some medium weight deadlifts and accessory work.
Definitely would have programmed the DL differently had I seen your replies sooner, but we’ll see how it goes.
And Rip, to answer your question, the push/pull was just what was available in my area when I decided I wanted to do a meet. No particular reason other than that.
Meet results:
Opened with a 370lb bench. Got it no problem. Missed 396lb on second attempt. Got it on the third attempt but got excited and missed the rack command! Duh!!
Deadlift was 507, 540, and 562lb respectively. Got all of them.
Overall a good first meet. Not super happy with my bench performance, but it was a good learning experience.
Deadlift went great. I feel like I could have done more, but I’m curious to see how it feels when I begin my next training cycle on a straight bar. That was my first experience with the deadlift bar and I could feel the difference.
Good numbers, you'll do well at a full meet with squats. Good stuff man.
