perfect powerlifter

[stevein7]

www.youtube.com/user/mushys

Me last year. I never made it to 82.5k, in fact i went up to the 100k class, but I think I was better as a 90k lifter, I need to get my act togethe and get back down.

I got to this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ps80skZeM

and I felt bad...

Now I am 98k, but my lifts have not gone up much, except bench, which is doing well.

[stevein7]

That's it, decided to go for the 90k target. Very brief weight sessions, a couple of 30 min jogs and a low carb diet all planned. All fired up to make the change.

[joeaverage]

I have never tried to go up or down a weight class. Whatever I weighed at weigh-ins was the weight class I competed in even if I was a pound or two over. I also do not believe in purposely gaining a bunch of extra unhealthy weight just to be able to lift more weight.
But, adding in extra cardio and a low carb diet will make it harder to gain strength.
Two things, the day I bolted a power rack to the floor and started doubling the bands rather than choking is when my strength took off, regardless of body weight and diet.

[stevein7]

In 2004 I was 79k after years of martial arts being my main focus, and decided to gain weight and see how strong I could get, I went up to 108k, stopped at 270k deadlift. Since then I have mostly competed at 100k but looking back my 90k performance was probably the best. 200k - 137.5k - 250k at 88k. At 100k I did 212, 146, 260 (not at the same comp) and I am going to guess that as a natural lifter aged 42 , 5'7", 100k is more than I should weigh. Actually I don't mind oscillating between the two classes, makes life interesting. Also note that I compete with 3 hour weigh ins - none of that lift the next day after gaining 10 kilo stuff.

Diet has been 5 meals a day for months now, I am going to get serious and cut out the carbs on non-lifting days bar for a piece of fruit per meal and whatever veg I can face. On lifting days I think I'll go with a bowl of muesli and protein powder for breakfast and post training. Rest of the time its meat, fish, eggs, cottage cheese and nuts. Actually I thrive on this diet, it clears up all my allergies and I can eat about 2 500 cals a day and get some fat loss. No rush, hopefully I'll at least keep the strength. Training is doing well now.

One question - if I am not competing do you think I really need to follow any particular peaking pattern or can I just keep training keeping reps above 3 at the least for an indefinite period.

what about this (using 2 week cycles)

week 1
Straight weight Bench 6-10 reps (add weight when 10 reps acheived)
DE bench 8x2

Straight weight squat - 6-10 reps (add weight when 10 reps acheived)
DE squat 8x2

CGBP with bands 3x3 , 3 board heights

Week 2
squat with bands - 3-5 reps

bench with bands - 3-5 reps

deadlift - alternating straight weight trap bar with conventional deads + bands , 3-5 reps.

And just keep repeating, using the 3 band combo.

[joeaverage]

doesn't matter whether or not you are competing, if you continue to do the same thing over and over you will get stale and regress. I still train as if I was going to compete, you have to cycle your training, do something different each workout, whether you change band tension or free weight rep scheme.
Sometimes I realize that I'm in a rut, doing the same 3 band rotation over and over. I recently realized that with my board work and have since incorporated 3 different 3 band rotations, my strength has since increased dramatically.

[stevein7]

OK, I'll stick with the 12 week peaking process.

[joeaverage]

doesn't matter if you are competing, do a cycle and max. whether or not it's in a meet doesn't matter. a max is a max.