Stephen Wokanick's Powerlifting Log

[Stephen Wokanick]

Stephen Wokanick's Powerlifting Log

Stats
Sex: Male
Age: 27
Competition weight: 181
Walking weight: 188-192
Height: 5'7"
Location: New York, upstate

Best Meet Lifts - Raw Classic
Squat: 420 lbs (9/15/13)
Bench: 275 (9/15/13)
Dead lift: 5555 (9/15/23)
Best Total: 1,250 (9/15/13)
Wilks: 380

Best Gym Lifts
Squat - 410 no wraps, 450 with wraps
Bench press - 270 paused, 280 touch & go
Dead lift - 550

Competition History
1/28/12 - Bigg Dogg Strongg Presents Winter Strongman Challenge - 2nd place. BW <200
3/17/12 - Viking Fest - 6th place, slightly hurt my back, had to take time off afterwards. BW <200
8/11/12 - Albany Strength Push Pull - Dead lift - 500 good lift, 505 no lift. BW 198
1/26/13 - Crossfit Total - 430 wraps, 195, 540 = 1,165. 2nd place with my fiancee. BW 198-204 FAT
7/14/13 - RPS Heatwave - 415, 255, 535 = 1,200 @ 198
9/15/13 - RPS Supreme Iron Warrior - 420, 275, 555 = 1,250 @ 181

Long Term Goals
Squat - 500
Bench press - 350
Dead lift - 600
Total - 1,400(elite) @ 181 with no knee wraps, drug free.

Short Term Goals
Meet - Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate North American & New Jersey State Championships 1/26/14
Squat - 440
Bench press - 290
Dead lift - 565
Total - 1,300 @ 181
Wilks - 396

Training background
I've been lifting on and off for more than 3 years. I had very little focus until recently and bounced around from climbing, BJJ, strongman and now powerlifting. I've used 5/3/1 and Smolov Jr. a little here and there, made a 405 squat, 275 bench press and 550 gym lift but progress stalled there. I've been using the Texas Method for the past four or five months and my base level of strength has grown tremendously. While my 1RMs haven't made a huge jump, yet, my 5 x 5 and other volume PRs have gotten MUCH stronger.

I tore my labrum twice and damaged my cervical spine on at least 3 different occasions all through wrestling/BJJ/grappling. Those are the most significant injuries I have to deal with. The neck thing isn't a big deal any more because I stopped grappling. Overhead pressing occasionally irritated it but other than that, no more problems there. I can not bench press with a conventional grip due to pain so I've been using a reverse grip for the past few months which has worked out well. I just surpassed my old conventional grip PRs.

Diet
I've also recently taken the steps to maximize my LBM while staying 190-lbs or below, meaning I need to be very lean. I use a ketogenic diet very similar to Carb Nite and Carbohydrate Backloading, but slightly altered. The idea came to me when I hired nutritionist 4 or 5 months ago who gave me a plan very similar to those diets. Since then I slowly made changes where needed and have done a lot of my own research, leading to my current eating habits which consist of A LOT of meat. I eat roughly 2-4-lbs of meat and at least one large salad a day. I try to eat fatty meat like chicken thighs or drumsticks, ribs etc. A typical day for me would consist of a 5-lb package of thighs, a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil and a small bag of spinach. Once or twice a week I have a few cheat meals and try to pack them with as much carbs as humanely possible. That usually means big meals at an Italian restaurant with my beautiful fiancee. I was a pudgy 200-lbs for a year or two, I now weigh anywhere from 188-192 and I'm starting to get very lean. Using this dietary approach I've lost fat, gained muscle AND gotten stronger.

Current training
So up until recently I had been running a pretty standard version of Texas Method but I have been making small changes here and there whenever needed. The basic premise I've been following is just to get in a certain amount of volume at a certain % on that specific day. I don't care if it's 5 x 5, 4 x 6... whatever, as long as I get 25 reps @ 85% on volume day for squats or 30 reps for bench press, whatever. It's what Texas Method slowly morphed into for me over the past few months.

Sunday - rest
Monday - Squat volume, up to 20-25 reps with around 85%
Tuesday - Bench press volume, 25-30 reps @ 85%, bw chin ups, weighted sit ups, neck harness
Wednesday - Squat recovery, 10-15 reps @ 75%
Thursday - Bench press recovery, 15-20 reps @ 75-80%
Friday - Squat/Deadlift heavy, 4-6 reps @ 95%+
Saturday - Bench press heavy, 8-10 reps @ 95%+, weighted chin ups, weighted sit ups, neck harness

[Stephen Wokanick]

Squat
bar x 10
135 x 3
135 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 1
345 x 1
+ belt
385 x 1
405 x 2
405 x 2
405 x 1

dead lift
135 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 2
405 x 2
+ belt
495 x 2
495 x 2
495 x 1


Notes:

- Rode my bike to and from gym, 3 miles total.

- Less than a full week after my meet and I feel pretty good.

[Stephen Wokanick]

paused reverse grip bench press
bar x 10
bar x 10
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
+ wrist wraps
225 x 3
245 x 1
255 x 2
255 x 2
255 x 2
255 x 2
255 x 2

- I felt very stiff from yesterdays training so getting in the right position was almost impossible. Took a long time to feel warmed up. Back kept slipping on the work sets. Weight felt heavy as shit. Not a good day, not terrible though.

bench grip chin up
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10

neck harness
average band x forward x 25
average band x forward x 25
average band x forward x 25
average band x forward x 25
average band x forward x 25 + 25 chin to chest

- Just working the front of my neck because of some pain that developed from sleeping funny a few days ago. I think working the back would have been uncomfortable.

decline sit up
bw x 25
bw x 25
bw x 25
bw x 25

[elVarouza]

Hey, welcome to the boards. Whereabouts in upstate NY are you? I used to live near Rochester. My first meet was one of the Albany strength comps, fun meet.

[Stephen Wokanick]

Hey, welcome to the boards. Whereabouts in upstate NY are you? I used to live near Rochester. My first meet was one of the Albany strength comps, fun meet.

Hey, thanks. I live in New Paltz, about an hour south of Albany. Those Albany Strength meets are always a lot of fun. Same crowd every time, familiar faces. I actually proposed to my fiancee at the end of one of her meets there.


squat
bar x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 3
225 x 3
315 x 1
+ belt
355 x 1
365 x 1
365 x 4
365 x 4
365 x 4
365 x 4
365 x 4

- Couldn't gt the juices flowing today. I could have done the last set for 25 reps but I was starting to grind reps and I figured it wasn't worth the effort. It was also tough keeping motivated between sets considering how hard they felt even though I deloaded about 20-lbs from a couple of weeks ago.

[elVarouza]

Holy crap, are you the guy at the end of this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfvp3pG8P4s

I remember seeing that video on youtube when it was posted sometime last year!

[Stephen Wokanick]

Holy crap, are you the guy at the end of this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfvp3pG8P4s

I remember seeing that video on youtube when it was posted sometime last year!

Yup, that's me lol

[jenica]

Looks like we've crossed paths before. I'm in CT and compete in strong(wo)man and powerlifting. My last meet was the RPS Heatwave.

I'll be following along!

[Stephen Wokanick]

Looks like we've crossed paths before. I'm in CT and compete in strong(wo)man and powerlifting. My last meet was the RPS Heatwave.

I'll be following along!

Small world. How did you do?




press
bar x 10
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 2
185 x 5 (5RM)

- My buddy was in town who I haven't gotten to train with in a while. He was pressing, decided to warm up with him. If I had know I was going to feel so strong pressing I would have gone for a new 1RM.

paused reverse grip bench press
225 x 3
235 x 5
235 x 5
235 x 5
235 x 5

bench grip chin up
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10

neck harness
125 reps

decline sit up
10 x 10
20 x 10
20 x 10
20 x 10
10 x 10



Notes:

- Wore TK elbow sleeves, maybe that's why the pressing felt so good.

[Stephen Wokanick]

front squat
bar x 10
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
200 x 5
200 x 5
200 x 5

- Wore Tommy Kono knee sleeves. I freakin love em. I can't believe I've been training without them all this time.