At the last powerlifting meet I did, I was able to deadlift 265 easily. It was a piece of cake! That means I could probably do 270 and 275 easily as well. I was thinking about doing 270 or 275 but then I thought to myself, “Why don’t I try to challenge myself and attempt a big 280 lbs?”. Well, I did exactly that and the lift was successful. So 280 lbs. is my latest personal record on the deadlift. I’m quickly on my way up to the big 300!!!

My goal before the next powerlifting meet at Albany Strength (which won’t be for a while) is to be able to deadlift over 300, be able to bench over 200 and squat over 200. I’m working my way up to my goals, just taking my time and not rushing.

Getting into powerlifting is so strange to me but I’m loving it, though! I was never meant to become a powerlifting or competitor of any kind. I just wanted to build muscle and become the best shape of my life. How did I get into powerlifting? Well, I have friends that are into powerlifting and they do powerlifting meets all the time. They talked me into going to one and entering one… I couldn’t say “no” so I gave powerlifting my first try. Powerlifting is an awesome sport. I’m going to stick with it for a long time, I think. You can only live once, ya know? I just want to do something big in my life and be able to do an athletic sport on a pro level.

Kev

So far, I have done only two powerlifting meets and both of them were great!!! As I keep doing research on powerlifting competitions, there are going to be some who will criticize the sport and make all kinds of misconceptions about it. I’m going to name those misconceptions people have been saying about the sport and I’m going to debunk ’em too…

Here we go:

• Only fat asses do powerlifting: I’m sure you hear this one a lot. Yeah, a lot of out of shape people do powerlifting, no doubt but not all of them. When I went to those two powerlifting meets, I’ve seen people of all different types and different sizes. I’ve seen skinny people to really muscular people. Yeah, there are plenty of guys and girls who are in fantastic shape that do powerlifting. A lot of people want to believe that only fat asses do powerlifting but don’t believe them ’cause they’re full of shit.
• Lifting heavy weights all the time won’t build you muscle: Another one that’s bullshit. I’ve been lifting heavy weights all the time now and I’ve gotten some impressive gains ’cause of it. Lifting heavy weights for powerlifting is no different than lifting heavyweights for bodybuilding. Powerlifting will definitely get you bigger and stronger quicker. I got into powerlifting hoping to get stronger and get more gains.
• Powerlifting is dangerous and will give you many injuries: Powerlifting may seem pretty scary at first but once you try it, you’ll find that it’s actually very easy and safe. Yes you can get injuries in powerlifting just like you can get injured in regular bodybuilding in the gym. Bodybuilding in the gym can be just as dangerous only if you do bad form and bad technique. In powerlifting, it’s the same thing. Lift weights in good form and learn good technique you’ll never get injured at all. Powerlifting meets are actually very safe ’cause there are professional spotters all over the place and if they see you get in trouble with a lift, they’ll get you out of it immediately so you won’t get hurt.
• Powerlifting is a guy’s sport: Not really. Where did this one come from? When I experienced two powerlifting meets, there were all kinds of women doing them. Powerlifting is very popular with women. There’s a lot of women out there that love to lift really heavy weights just like the men do. It’s crazy.
• I’m not strong enough to do powerlifting: You’ll hear this a lot with the powerlifting newbies anyway. Them thinking they don’t have what it takes to do powerlifting ’cause they believe they’re not strong enough. You never know unless you go to the meet and give it a try. You’ll surprise yourself once you do it. When I did my first meet, I didn’t think I would be able to do it but it ended up being easy and I can lift kind of heavy with no problem. Just gotta give it a shot. On my first powerlifting meet at Albany Strength, I went a little easy but from this point forward, I’m going to go all in each time I do a meet.
• I’ll be picked on and judged for not lifting heavy: No you won’t. At these powerlifting competitions there is no judgemental people at all… well except for the judges but that’s it. You won’t get any judgement from the spectators or other competitors at all. There’s no ego in these things. There’s nothing but respect with each other and everyone will be friendly so don’t worry. If you can only do a 70 lb. lift then go ahead, go for it. It’s all about having fun and challenging yourself. There’s nothing wrong with lifting weights that you can handle.
• You can get away with eating whatever you want to move up a weight class: Not really. In powerlifting, you got to continue to stick with the healthy nutrition in order to get stronger. Continue to stick with your nutrition plan as you do with bodybuilding. Keep eating your high proteins, low carb meals. Keep eating your complex carbs, healthy fats and drinking plenty of water. All that stuff. I continue to eat healthy even doing powerlifting. Good nutrition is key to getting more strength too. I do want to get big in powerlifting and move up a weight class but I want to do it without getting fat.
• You won’t fit in: Before you go to these powerlifting meets, you’ll probably get a little worried about what kind of people will be at these things but don’t worry about it. Pretty much everyone at these powerlifting meets will be very down to earth and friendly. There’s no ego at these things at all. You won’t see any arrogant jackasses thinking they’re better than you. We’re all into this together. We want to help each other out and help motivate the competitors to be the best they can be. You’ll be surprised of how nice people are at these things. When you go to a powerlifting meet, don’t be afraid to walk up to a competitor and just say “Hi” or tell them “Good luck”, you’ll be talking with him/her in no time. You’ll even make new friends at these events too. Everybody will want you to be your best. So don’t be afraid to ask for lifting advice either.

This is about all I can think of. Enjoy the read!

Kev

In the past, I used to do 3 sets of 10 reps in the gym. Now that I’ve been doing this for years, I’ve decided to bring my sets and reps to the next level by bringing it up to 4 sets on all of my exercises in the gym. How many reps do I usually do for each set? Usually between 8 – 12 reps which is how you want to do it. I figure if I want to get bigger and strong a lot quicker, I workout with extreme intensity.

If you ever get to see me workout in the gym, I workout like a monster. Maybe someday I’ll film myself a live facebook workout day in the gym ’cause I think that would be fun. Just to show you what I do and show you how hard I work in the gym. Seriously, I workout pretty hard which could explain to you why I’m getting bigger in size. The more intense you workout, the bigger you’ll get. I workout pretty heavy in most of my workouts too.

A lot of people just lift weights they can handle easily and do their full sets without failure. Nothing wrong with that but a lot lately I’ve been lifting weights ’til failure in most of my workouts lately and feeling really good. I figure if you want to get bigger and stronger quicker, that’s what you want to do. Workout with “intensity” and train like a bodybuilder. I don’t go easy. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the workout videos I posted on my instagram page so that’s just a hint of what I do.

I just love an intense workout ’cause it feels good and helps get things off of your system. When I say “intense” workout, I mean “intense”… up to a point when you’re lifting, you’re gruntin’ a little bit, breathing kind of hard and almost smilin’ really wide as if you’re clenching your teeth almost. That’s the kind of “intensity” I’m talking about. Train in beast mode. That’s what beast mode training is. Training in beast mode is not going easy.

Yeah, I do lift heavy but I don’t lift heavy where it’s considered “ego” lifting. I only lift the heavy weights that I can do in full range of motion. As long as you can lift a heavy set in full range of motion go ahead and lift heavy. If you lift full 12 reps easily with no trouble at all then you need to go heavy until you can’t lift the final rep. That’s how you should do things.

I have also been experimenting with lifting heavy sets and doing fewer reps like do a real heavy set and do only 3 – 5 reps for more strength. I’ve been doing that a lot too and seems to be working.

You don’t want to go in the gym for nothing. If you’re not feeling warm, sweaty and not  feeling a burn in your muscles then you’re doing something wrong. I like to go all in when I hit the gym. Make going to the gym worth it.

I figured out a way to get more muscle development ’cause you need a full contraction in all of your body parts. Get the full contraction and in full range of motion, you’ll build muscle. Good form is everything. I see too many in the gym workout in horrible form but now I take good form very seriously in all my workouts. Glad I did ’cause if you workout in good form and in full range of motion, you’ll feel much better and you’ll never get injured either.

Kev

Ya know what? I’ve just noticed that I’ve been calculating the number of weights on the barbell wrong in my log book. I just go by the number of weights of what I put on the bar. I don’t include the weight of the bar itself. For example, since I wrote down that my personal record for deadlift is 220 lbs, that’s excluding the weight on the bar. I forgot to count the bar weight with that which a barbell weighs 45 lbs. So technically my personal record for deadlift right now is 265 lbs. Since I calculated my personal record on bench as 110 lbs excluding the bar, including the bar my real personal record on bench would be 155 lbs. Since I calculated my personal record on barbell squats for 70 lbs. excluding the bar, with the bar it comes up with a total of 115 lbs.

So I found out that my actual personal records for these workouts are:

Deadlift = 265 lbs.

Bench = 155 lbs.

Squats = 115 lbs.

Yep, the bar weight counts in all barbell lifts. After all this time I’ve been calculating my weights in my log book wrong ’cause I excluded the bar weight so from this point forward, I will include the bar weight from now on.

This is actually a good thing that I made this mistake ’cause it made me realize that I can actually lift more than I thought. 265 lbs. for deadlift, that’s getting close up to 300 lbs. For bench and squats, I’m making my way up 200 lbs. but getting there.

Would I stick with these new numbers as my personal records for Powerlifting Meet at the Wilton Branch Y tomorrow? Probably, yes but I’m going to try to lift 5 lbs. heavier on all of them during warm-up to see if I got it. We’ll see. I’m going to try to hit 270 lbs. on deadlift to see if I got that.

Before the meet, I’m going to try to figure out my numbers ’cause I don’t want to fail any lifts. I want ALL of my lifts to hit three white lights. Not sure how different they do their powerlifting meet at the Wilton Branch Y but I’ll find out tomorrow. It’s gonna be a fun time and can’t wait.

Kev