I am serious about wanting to qualify and compete at powerlifting. When I started out on this series there were several key problems, such as poor hip mobility. Having had some reasonable successes at the end of 2009, fixing the remaining problems while also driving up the strength numbers are now the priorities of the program.
I’m recording my progress in this series: powerlifting progress. It is serving as a journal and makes me a bit more accountable to my goals.
This week
This was the seventh week in the program and the new Westside-style program has now completed its first two week cycle (I rotate the max effort lifts over a two week period and change the assistance exercises every two weeks).
Here’s how I got on in relation to my powerlifting goals.
Squat
Action plan
- Maintain – leg strength and ab strength
- Develop – hip mobility and lower back strength
Progress this week
My first week of Zercher squats – this is a seriously strange and painful exercise. It’s hard to say which bit of me hurt while I did them, other than the obvious pain in my forearms where the weight was pressing down on bone, but it was telling that when I did a max rep effort I ended up dumping the bar because my lower back gave out, rather than my legs being unable to drive me out of the hole anymore or my abs hurting too much.
Perhaps zerchers will be good for building my lower back strength.
Bench
Action plan
- Maintain – technique
- Develop – lat and shoulder strength
Progress this week
This week was the turn of the floor press. The interesting thing with this as a max effort lift was that I could go substantially heavier than I can with my bench press. I learned two things while doing this:
- I have absolutely no control over my right shoulder which popped out at every opportunity. The beneficial thing about the floor press is that you become hyper-aware of what your shoulders are doing and can concentrate on remedying this as quickly as it happens. The less beneficial thing is that it bruises your shoulder blade – I was sporting sores for days afterwards…
- My sticking point in my bench press is getting it off my chest rather than in the upper half of the movement. This has given me something to work on to improve my bench press and means I will concentrate on using the Viking press as my main assistance exercise to build raw power rather than the incline bench press which targets a higher part of the press movement.
I also managed not only to get 5 reps out on my pull up (I am aiming for 5 rep maxes and had never previously done more than 4 reps, so it was a bit of a leap of faith) but to get out 5 reps with added weight! Admittedly it was a little 1.25kg plate slung around my neck but this is still great progress for my pull ups.
Next week I’m back to the bench press so I will finally be able to see if the Westside approach is giving me some gains.
Deadlift
Action plan
- Maintain – leg strength and ab strength
- Develop – hip mobility and lower back strength
Progress this week
I find it frustrating that I have to fight so hard for every single kilo that I add to the bar these days. However, I did it and I added another kilo. One more week of sumo singles and then I’m moving onto standard deadlift clusters – I’m terrified already!
I’d been hoping to add two kilos, but it wasn’t a great week for my hip mobility. The problem was not getting my hips back but instead being able to get the wide stance of the sumo position. As a result I was missing some of the hip drive that is an essential part of the deadlift, resorting instead to reliance on my spinal erectors. Particularly on the last few repetitions.
I need to spend some of this week stretching out the hip flexors at the inside of the hip joint this week – I felt like I’d had my legs pulled out from my groin by the time I got to the end of my workout! Butterfly leg stretches and side lunges each morning and evening will be a good starting point.
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