Powerlifters??????

[Hannibal]

I imagine we will be doing a board press tonight, working up to a single (1RM), then shirt up (bench shirts) and work up to a 1RM in the shirt (still trying to stretch mine out. Almost got 297 down in it).

Actually since this is a "full range week" we are doing the Decline Press for ME work. Then our second move will be some type of high (3 or 4) board press with a close grip on the delcline. Hoping that the angle of the bench will force us to press towards our feet and really hit the triceps hard. Might add some band tension as well. Then some lat and shouler work.

 

[Temple]

Got it!!! Thanks!

 

[makedah]

I have a couple of questions about DE SQ/DL day. I didn't want to post them on the sample workouts thread, because that seems more like a "reference" thread.


I did DE SQ/DL day on Friday. I didn't get a chance to make inquiries here beforehand about rep ranges, so I tried to piece together what info I could find from here, other sites, and the link Project posted. This is what I did. Critiques are welcome!

box squats (improvised and used a low chair that was in the gym)
2 warm up sets with a light (non-Olympic) bar
10 x 2 45# (Olympic bar only)

speed deads
2 warm up sets w/ 30#
6 x 2 50#

ab machine crunches 4 x 10
side bends 1 x 8 12#, 3 x 8 20#
hyperextensions 4 x 8
step ups 2 x 10 w/ 30# bb (I did these because my gym has no glute-ham raise machine. I stopped 2 sets early because I got dizzy!)


I'm going to try the cable-type (pull throughs, standing crunches) core work next time.

In retrospect, I feel I could have gone heavier on the sq & dl. But since I don't know my max for those lifts yet, I had to make a guess.


Here are my questions:

Accessory work for the DE and ME SQ/DL days list abs, low back, obliques, hips and glutes/hams/calves. But in the workouts posted so far, you don't seem to do five different moves for accessory work. Is it a matter of combining moves (a move that targets hips as well as glutes/hams/calves) or just skipping certain body parts sometimes (to be targeted on another day)?

Spatts, when you said that you warmed up for DE squat with the bar and then added weight and then dropped the warm up set back to 3 reps - I didn't quite understand that. What did you build the weight up to for the second warm up set(s)?

 

[Hannibal]

makedah, let me see if I can shed some light. First of all if you lift in a "fitness center" and have to improvise a "box"..the best thing to use in an aerobic step. This allows you to adjust the height so that you are squatting to just below parallel.

Secondly, Speed Deads should be pulled for singles. And the ab work should be at the end of the workout. Would have done the hypers and step ups before hand. Also find some spotters that you trust and test your 1RM on all lifts. This is invaluable. Sometimes you can "guess" what your max is...but it is just easier to know for sure. Especially when you are just setting up your program.

As far as exercise selection...we are a bit spoiled as we have alot of the toys. The Reverse Hyper and Glut Ham Raise Machine are the two most effective machines for the posterior chain...bar none. So we almost always do them on DE SQ/DL Day. Knowing that we are going to do both those exercises and an ab excersise...thats 3 of the 5 already decided on. And then we know the first move is going to be Box Squats...the only decision we have to make is what is the second move. So we rotate between the speed deads that you did...and some form of good morning. Since you don't have all the equipment you will have to use other movements.

As far as warmup progression...I will post mine.

Warm Ups:
1 set of 5 with just the bar + green bands
1 set of 3 @ 133 + green bands
1 set of 2 @ 221 + green bands
1 set of 2 @ 265 + green bands

WORK SETS:
8 sets of 2 @ 309 + green bands

 

[makedah]

Thanks for the info, hannibal.

On the box squats, I'd already lugged an aerobic step and risers over to the squat cage when I spotted that chair sitting there... I'll use a step until I can get someone to make me a box.

 

[Temple]

How do we establish starting weights for each exercise? Do we just feel our way into it for the first couple of weeks or do we need to do a 1RM and then use a %?

We will have to do some improvising until we get the rest of our equipment taken care of.

 

[Hannibal]

How do we establish starting weights for each exercise? Do we just feel our way into it for the first couple of weeks or do we need to do a 1RM and then use a %?

You really need to go ahead and test all three lifts so that you have a starting point and a weight to base your percentages off of.

 

[JJFigure]

I agree with Spatts - just start adding weight to the bar until you can't complete the number of reps you were supposed to. For me, the hard part is finding a weight I can do 5x5 with (for example). I rarely seem to make 5 on the last set. Just factor in a little more time for those "trying the weight" sets - it's taken me a couple workouts with a lot of warmup sets before I to find my poundage. And I still ended up too light on the GMs today. I'd never done them with an arched back, and totally under-estimated my poundage. After several warmup sets, I just picked a weight and finished out my sets with it. I was just spending too much time trying to find the weight.

I don't have a spotter either. For deads, not a problem; for chest and squats, a problem. For chest, I'll break down and occasionally use the smith - at least I can rack it if I get in trouble. For some reason, I have a mental block using a smith for squats. So I'm squatting free, without a spotter. It sucks.

 

[fitmedic]

HEY can somebody help me figure out how to view the videos. i tired right clicking but that didnt work either.

 

[TheProject]

HEY can somebody help me figure out how to view the videos. i tired right clicking but that didnt work either.

What kind of error messages are you getting?