One biggest mistake I made in powerlifting training is maxing out too often. I was told by another experienced powerlifter that maxing out every week is bad. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on how often you should max out is that you should max out on the big three lifts for once like every 6  – 12 weeks. What powerlifters do is that they train for reps. for a long while and then they’ll pick a p.r. day for the big three lifts sometime later. That’s how they prepare for powerlifting meets.

You don’t want to do a one rep max every week for a few reasons:

• Could lead to some pretty serious injuries or worse could lead to death.
• Lifting heavy one rep maxes every week fires up your CNS (Central Nervous System) which isn’t good.
• Makes you more weaker and more fatigue. If you wonder why your pr’s either have gone down or stays the same each week this is why. You want your pr’s to keep going up, not going down or staying the same.

I’ve been noticing that the reason why my pr’s haven’t been going up is probably ’cause I was maxing out too often… every week I hit the gym. Not good. I’m not going to max out on the big three lifts for a while. I’ll max out again like maybe in a few weeks. For now, I’ll continue to train for strength until I max out again in a few weeks to find out what my pr’s are.

I only hit a 300 lb. deadlift once and I’m hoping to hit that number again. That’s the number that I plan to hit at my next powerlifting meet at Albany Strength at the end of March. If I want to achieve that goal then I need to max out less and less and I plan to do exactly that… right away… starting now. Before that meet at the end of March, I’ll probably only max out the big three lifts once and that it.

I’ve learned how to “peak” and “taper” before a meet. It’s what powerlifters do so they can lose more fatigue before a meet. I want to be at my best at this next meet. Before the next meet, I don’t want to be all beat up and worn out so I’ll probably end up taking a full week off of the gym on meet week so I can be all rested up and ready to go.

I’m hoping to deadlift 300 lbs. or a little more at the next meet. I want to go all in and put on a fucking show so I need to come up with a plan so I can be ready. Uggghh, man I hope I can deadlift 300 lbs. again ’cause when I did it that one time, it felt awesome. I want to pull that lift at the meet so I can impress people and blow people away.

When will I max out and test my pr on the big three lifts again? Probably sometime next month, in the middle of February. After that I’m not gonna max out again until meet day. I want to give myself plenty of time so I can lose fatigue and all that stuff. Be full of energy on meet day and just go in there and smoke it.

I’ve done two powerlifting meets and both of them were a blast. I’m getting excited for the next one too. Powerlifting is a lot of fun and lifting heavy things can get quite addicting. I can see why the sport is getting so popular and the sport keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Kev