Tag Archives: Powerlifting

Health and Fitness, sports

Goals for my next powerlifting meet at the end of March…

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Last week, I sent in my registration and sign up fee so I can participate in the next Powerlifting Meet at Albany Strength at the end of March. I’ve been working pretty hard for this for the past several months. I’ve been getting prepared for it.

My goals for numbers at this meet is that I hope to smash a 300 lb. deadlift. I hit a 300 lb. deadllift at the gym once a long while back and I’m hoping to hit that number again. I’ve learned that you don’t want to test your 1 rep maxes all the time and I haven’t done that in while. I’m planning to test out my 1 rep maxes on the big three lifts at the end of this month which is in a few weeks so I can see what my latest pr’s are for the big three lifts.

For deadlift I’m hoping to hit 300 lbs. or a little more.

For bench, my pr. on that is currently 155 lbs and I’m hoping to hit somewhere around 160 – 170 lbs.

For squats, my pr. on that is currently 125 and I’m to hoping to hit somewhere around 130 – 140 lbs.

I’ve watched a lot of powerlifting meets online so I can research and study. I’m amazed at how many powerlifters miss so many lifts on these things. That’s one thing I don’t want to do on a powerllifting meet is missing lifts. That’s why it’s pretty smart to come up with a plan ahead of time so you won’t miss any lifts on meet day. I’m not gonna miss any lifts on meet day. I want to get 3 white lights on everything so I have to make sure I pick my numbers smart and I’m going to do just that for this one.

When I test my p.r. on deadlift again in a few weeks and if I can’t hit 300 lbs. then I guess I could probably go for 290 lbs. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to hit 300 lbs. or a little more, we’ll see. For the past weeks, I’ve been training for reps and strength and I know I’m getting stronger on all three lifts.

I want meet day to be my best day and don’t want to screw anything up. I want to go in there and put on a show for the spectators so I’ve been training hard and working for it each week. I haven’t slowed down my workouts at all. Still going to the gym 4 days a week. I want this to be a great day and don’t want to disappoint anyone so I’m working real hard.

After I test out my pr’s for all three lifts squats, deadlift and bench, that’ll be it for a while until meet day. After my pr week, I’m going to start doing a method called “peaking” and “tapering”. Meaning going pretty light each week before meet day so you won’t feel fatigue and ready to go. Before meet day, I’m thinking of taking a week off so I can be fully rested and healed and all that stuff. I want to be careful with my lifting before meet week ’cause I want to make sure I’m not all beat up and want to make sure I’m completely injury free. I want meet day to be my best so I have to be fully rested and be full of energy. That means on meet week I’m going to have to start going to bed a lot earlier.

The question is, will I win that belt that guy is holding in that photo? No, I probably won’t but maybe someday I will. I might win a trophy or two on meet day but that’s about it. Anyways and like I keep saying, I’m not into powerlifting to win trophies or awards. I’m into this to get strong and to do something challenging. Powerlifting gives me something to do and I want to do something fun.

I’m getting stoked for my third powerlifting meet. They are a blast to go to. It’s fun to show off what you can do and it’s a blast to watch the other lifters too. Thank god powerlifting is for everyone ’cause I get to do a sport for once in my life. I couldn’t play sports over the years. Powerlifting is my calling for sure.

Kev

Health and Fitness, sports

Will powerlifting make you fat??? No, it’s just a silly myth going around… powerlifting will get you even more jacked than bodybuilders…

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There are those that believe that powerlifting will make you fat which is a stupid and ridiculous myth going around. A lot of people believe powerlifting makes you fat well ’cause there’s a lot of fat and unhealthy looking people competing in powerlifting. That doesn’t mean that all powerlifters are fat. In powerlifting, you’ll still see some pretty big guys but they’ll be very muscular and very lean. It is definitely possible that someone with a bodybuilder physique can compete in powerlifting. There are plenty of great powerlifters that are in tremendous shape. In fact, I’ve seen some powerlifters that are in way better shape than regular bodybuilders.

Some of you may ask why are there so many fatties in powerlifting? Well I would think the reason is that some believe that “fat” would give you more strength on the three big lifts but they’re all doing it wrong, in my opinion. Being overweight doesn’t really give you strength. Being lean and being muscular gives you more “strength”. Some also mistakenly believes that you can eat whatever you want in powerlifting and not have a strict nutrition. That is wrong too. I believe you got to continue to eat healthy just like a bodybuilder would ’cause eating a clean nutrition helps build you more strength and stronger bones too.

Some may look at me and ask, “Kev, if you don’t get fat then you would never be able to lift over 500 lbs. someday!!!”. I would say “bullshit”. I weigh about 145 pounds right now… even though I’m pretty lean and don’t have a huge gut, I still believe that I WILL be able to hit the huge numbers on the big three lifts someday. It is definitely possible that a 145 pound guy who is pretty lean can be able to lift 500 lbs. on bench, squat and deadlift. How? Simply put, it takes a lot of muscle mass and bone strength. That’s pretty much key to lifting bigger weight.

When you get into powerlifting does that mean you have to give up hypertrophy training? No. Absolutely not. You have to continue to do hypertrophy training like a bodybuilder would ’cause you don’t want to lift heavy all the time. Hypertrophy training will help get you more strength too. When you get into powerlifting does mean you have to give up cardio? No. Cardio is still important even for a powerlifter. I still continue to ride my bike, walk, jog/run, jump rope and do some boxing practice. Cardio for powerlifting is important ’cause it helps you recover quicker and cools you down some. Plus, I need to continue to stay lean. I don’t want to get “fat” in powerlifting so “bulking” is actually a pretty bad idea. I’ll just continue to eat the same way I always eat. Just continue to eat clean and put on muscle mass. Muscle mass will help bring your pr’s up, not body fat.

I don’t want to get “fat” in powerlifting so I gotta be careful with myself. I want to be able to do powerlifting and still be able to have a six pack and big muscles.

I haven’t did my 1 rep maxes on the big three lifts in a while and probably won’t test out my pr’s again until the end of this month. I want to be able to build more strength, take my time and hopefully really bring my numbers up in time before my next powerlifting meet at the end of March.

I just sent my registration in to Albany Strength for the meet in March this week and I should hear back from them pretty soon. I’m looking forward to that meet and pretty stoked. My goal for powerlifting is that I want every meet to be “great” and “successful”. I don’t like missing “lifts” at powerlifting meets. My goal is to have three white lights on everything and I’ll do the same for this one. At the last meet I did at the YMCA in Wilton, I missed one lift which was the 155 lb. bench but I’ve been lifting a 155 lb. “pr” on bench lately so I’ll get that number next time. Maybe I’ll be able to bring my bench “pr” up even more before March. Just gotta keep working. I’m getting stoked for that meet at the end of March as I’ve been working very hard for it. I want that meet to be better than the previous two.

Powerlifting is a great sport and I hope to be a competitive powerlifter for a pretty long time.

Kev

Health and Fitness, sports

So glad I got into powerlifting training, totally worth it and it’s helping me…

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I’m very happy and thrilled that I got into powerlifting. I used to never want anything to do with barbell training in the past and just wanted to do mostly dumbbell stuff. Now I’m doing a lot of barbell work lately.

Not only that I’m doing barbell work with bench press, squats and deadlifts… I’m starting to do a lot more barbell work with other workouts too. Lately, I’ve been doing arm curls with barbells instead of dumbbells. I’ve been doing seated overhead presses with barbells for shoulders ’cause I like that more. For back workouts, I’m starting to do bent over barbell rows ’cause they help with deadlifts. I’ve also started doing the barbell hip thrust for glutes but I gotta get the form right still.

I used to hate doing “barbell” stuff when I was younger but now I’m doing barbell work like crazy and it’s all paying off. I’m getting “gains” and getting stronger a lot lately. As for the bench press, I used to hate that workout too but now I’m loving it. My chest is beefing up because of it and I’m starting to get the look that I always wanted… a bodybuilder kind of look and I’m getting it. My chest is looking pretty good lately and really starting to shape up the way I want it to look.

A lot of lifters say that Dumbbell presses are more effective than bench press? In my opinion, I think it’s the other way around. I’m liking barbell bench more to be honest with you ’cause the bench is helping me. Those that trash the bench press don’t know what they’re talking about ’cause they are always trashing the best workouts that “work”, I don’t know why.

I have a powerlifting meet coming up at the end of March and I’ve been getting prepared for it. I want to be at my best at this meet and make sure I won’t “miss” any lifts and get “three” white lights on everything. I’m also hoping to really bring up my numbers for this meet so I got plenty of time to work on that still. I also gotta stop losing weight ’cause I’ve been losing some pounds lately and that’s not good for powerlifting. I think it’s time to start bulking up and I’ve already started doing that. When you bulk, you don’t want to eat random things and stuff your face ’cause you’ll just get fat still. You still need to eat healthy but eat more healthy food instead of less and I plan to do just that to bring up some pounds. I’m hoping to become 150 lbs. before the meet, maybe more.

I’m getting stoked for my next meet and I promise I will bring it and put on an even better show than the last two. Again, I don’t really care to win awards when it comes to powerlifitng. It’s all about challenging myself… seeing if I can lift heavier weights than yesterday. That’s what it’s all about, ya know? I’m just doing powerlifting just for fun. It just gives me something to do and it allows me to compete in an actual “sport” since I never played in any sports over the years.

Kev

Health and Fitness, sports

Should transgenders be allowed to compete in powerlifting? No definitely not…

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There’s an interesting debate in the powerlifting community on the internet that blew up this week. The story going around that trans-woman (or man, whatever this person is), JayCee Cooper tried to register for USAPL in hopes of competing in their meets but his registration was denied by USAPL simply because he’s a transgender woman or a man pretending to be a “woman”. Sorry, I’m calling this person what he really is.

Of course, there are some mixed opinions on this. There are some that agree that transgenders shouldn’t be allowed to participate in powerlifting competitions and there are some that think they should be allowed. From w hat I’m seeing, it’s mostly die-hard liberals, feminists and the LGBT community opposing USAPL on banning transgenders.

Predictably, these liberals, feminists and LGBT people are trying all they can to destroy the USAPL’s reputation by accusing them of changing the rules after this Jaycee Cooper complained.

Whenever someone wants to side with USAPL on their decision to ban transgenders, the hardcore left will slam them for it. They tell the truth that competitors should compete in their own genders that they were originally born as, these leftists would attack them and defend the transgenders.

Read these articles to see what’s going on:

http://www.citypages.com/news/powerlifting-federation-doubles-down-on-policy-excluding-trans-women/505092342

http://www.citypages.com/news/minneapolis-powerlifter-told-she-cant-compete-because-shes-trans/505041582

https://www.outsports.com/2019/2/1/18204036/usa-powerlifting-trans-athlete-policy-jaycee-cooper

I think USAPL did a smart move. I’m totally siding with them. Why would you want to have a man pretending to be a woman competing in a powerlifting meet? It’s fuckin’ silly if you ask me. There’s a pretty good reason why there are “men” and “women’s” divisions to keep genders separate. A man in the women’s division lifting way heavier weights than the rest of the women, that would be unfair for the other women in the division and it would make all the male competitors look bad. Seriously, why would you want to see a muscled up men in a women’s singlet, wearing make-up lifting heavier weights than everyone else? A man winning all the top awards in the women’s division would be unfair and it’s totally cheating for sure. That’s why USAPL are against this. They are smart and finally some common sense for once.

If you’re a man pretending to be a woman, that’s fine. That is your business, NOT mine but when you want to come in a powerlifting meet and compete in the women’s division that’s a problem. How silly would it be when most women in the powerlifting meets can only bench like 200 lbs or a little over and then you have a transgender woman benching over 500 lbs?

I really hope the USAPL sticks to their guns and doesn’t cave into the leftist and LGBT community. The LGBT community are going to fight this pretty hard and they already are ’cause there is an online petition going around hoping to get them to lift this ban.

I was thinking about registering to the USAPL pretty soon so I can compete in their local meets myself and I probably will but if they cave to the pc police then I might change my mind. Die-hard leftists want to ruin everything for everyone nowadays.

Kev

 

Health and Fitness, sports

Reasons why you shouldn’t test your 1 rep maxes on the big three lifts each time you hit the gym…

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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

 

Health and Fitness

Finally hit the big 300 as my new p.r. for deadlift… feels great!

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Last week when I maxed out on the 295 lb. deadlift, I took out my lower back pretty good. I didn’t understand how that happened. I didn’t freak out and didn’t panic but kept positive and kept working out throughout the week. When you hurt your back deadlifting, you don’t sit around and do nothing at home. Just keep moving and keep doing your daily activities in life. I was trying to figure out how I did that. Was it my form? No. I figured out what it was that did it. I was doing too many sets and reps before maxing out on 1 rep to test my pr.

Gee, no wonder I had trouble on my pr’s the last couple of weeks on deadlift ’cause I was doing too many sets and reps. Looking at my program, I noticed I was doing a bit too much so from this point on, I’m only going to do 5 sets only and only doing 3 – 5 reps on the heavier ones. I was doing too many sets on deadlift that it was making me more tired and more weaker. I gotta stop doing that from now on.

Now that my lower back is all better and feeling no pain/soreness at all, I decided to try out the 5 sets and 3 – 5 reps method this week. It seemed to work quite well. Earlier today, I pulled a big 300 lbs. p.r. on deadlift (see video above) and it didn’t hurt me that time. So I got it all figured out. I’m realizing now that doing less is more to get more strength and bring your pr’s up quicker. I’m gonna follow that method through bench press and squats as well. Less is more is the trick.

I’ll try not to take out my back like that ever again but don’t worry, I was fine. It was nothing that serious. It was a minor injury but I was still able to walk around and do things. I didn’t bother telling anybody and didn’t go to the doctor ’cause I knew it was going to heal quickly and it did.

Now I’m killing it on the deadlift.

Kev

Health and Fitness

The deadlift, bench and squats maybe the big 3 but so many do ’em in horrible form, it’s very rare when you see people do ’em good…

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I used to never take form and technique seriously when lifting weights but now I do. I take form very seriously now. Every aspect of it, even if it’s the smallest things… gotta do everything right. Yeah, the deadlift, bench press and squats maybe the kings of all workouts but it’s amazing to me that so many people do them wrong.

In this post, I’m going to explain on how people do them wrong. I’ve been going to the gym for years now and I’ve been observing and watching people how they workout. It’s amazing to me that so many do them horribly. I really do believe that so many people are misinformed and not very smart when it comes to working out.

Here are just a few common mistakes I see all the time for all three workouts:

Deadlift:  1) Leaning so far back when locking out. 2) Rounding of the back when lifting barbell off the floor 3) Hips too low as if you’re squatting 4) Deadlifting too close to the bar or too far back 5) Dragging the bar along your shins as you bring it up

Squats: 1) Not squatting down low enough (upper leg area must be lower than the knees, that’s the correct form) 2) Knee cave in as you bring it up 3) Heels come off the floor when trying to lift it up 4) Rounding your back 5) Leaning too far forward and not keeping your chest up where it should be

Bench press: 1) No full range of motion and refusing to bring the bar down to touch your chest (this is where half repping and partial repping comes in) 2) Butt coming off the bench 3) Head coming off the bench 4) Not having your eyes under the bar at the starting position 5) Not keeping your feet flat on the floor (some dudes would just bench with just their toes and heels pointing in the air, you’ve seen it. Some dudes would even bench with their feet planted on the bench which is bad, bad, bad)

There you go.

I’ve learned to perfect my form for deadlift, squats and bench press just by going through two powerlifting meets I did. I’ll be honest, though that my form for deadlift isn’t all the way perfect yet but even I’m still trying to get that down.

The point of this post is that it’s pretty crazy how people do these workouts in the gym pretty terribly. You would only see just a few people in the gym doing them right. I’m sure many guys get injured by doing them terribly too.

Form is a big deal y’all. Injury prevention is pretty important. You do them wrong, you could get injured pretty badly. You could get taken out of weightlifting for a couple of weeks, months or even years… even worse, your weightlifting days could be over for good depending on how bad the injury is.

I’m being very cautious ’cause I don’t want to get injured. Gym safety is important but unfortunately, not many people care about gym safety.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Just figured out why my personal records haven’t been going up lately… too many sets before testing out my 1 rep max? Yes, that could be it!

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Powerlifting training is weird. I’m pretty new to powerlifting so bare with me on this. Keep in mind that powerlifting training is completely different than bodybuidling training. When you do bodybuilding training, you train for like 3 or 4 sets for 8 – 12 reps each set but powerlifting training is completely different. In powerlifting training, you start the sets off pretty light at first and then you put on more weight each sets doing fewer reps.

In the past, I was killing it on bench, squats and deadlift in the personal records… but my personal records seem to be going down instead of going up lately. I’ve been trying to figure out why that is. Is it because I’ve been doing too many sets before testing out my 1 rep max at the very end? Yes, I think that’s definitely it and I blame it on that.

I’ve been doing research on powerlifting training and usually powerlifters train for 5 sets before maxing out on the last set. Maxing out means testing your 1 rep max, I think. Usually, I’ve been doing 6 or 7 sets before testing my 1 rep max and I’m noticing that’s too much. I think I wear myself out which is why my pr’s hasn’t been going up.

So starting this week, I think I’m going to train for 5 sets on squats, bench and deadlift before testing my 1 rep max. I’m going to do this method from now on. Less is more and I gotta remember that from now on. I’ve also been resting too short in between sets so I need to rest in between sets slightly longer too.

So 5 sets before testing my 1 rep max and little longer resting in between sets, maybe my pr’s will start rapidly going up. I’ll be doing another powerlifting meet at Albany Strength again at the end of March and I want to be at my absolute best. I need to bring my pr’s up rapidly and to do that doing fewer sets before the 1 rep max should do the trick. Lessons learned.

Kev

 

Health and Fitness

Is bodybuilding a dying industry and powerlifting quickly taking over? Yes, it definitely seems like it…

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I hope I’m not the only one noticing this. I’ve noticed that people have slowly lost interest in bodybuilding. Ya know, building muscle and losing bodyfat to be in the best shape of your life. Bodybuilding used to be big, huge and pretty mainstream but now it seems that nobody really cares anymore. Instead, it’s definitely looking like that powerlifting has taken over bodybuilding’s spotlight.

If you want to look at evidence of this, bodybuilding channels in youtube viewers are going down. A lot of the bodybuilding fitness gurus that we all looked up to, their views in their youtube channels are getting lower. Instead, I’m seeing powerlifting gurus in youtube getting more views than bodybuilding channels. You are also seeing people hosting their own powerlifting meets everywhere in the United States nowadays. If you’re a powerlifter or a newbie just getting started, chances are you’ll see a powerlifting competition happening in your local area. On the internet, you see everybody getting into powerlifting nowadays. Seems like nobody is interested in Mr. Olympia competitions anymore. Everybody is all about powerlifting now.

What is going on? Powerlifting is definitely getting bigger than bodybuilding, that’s for sure. When I got into bodybuilding, I didn’t even know powerlifting was around until I started seeing friends do it on FB. Then powerlifting looked pretty intriguing to me and now my powerlifting friends talked me into doing my first meet so I went for it. I did two powerlifting meets so far and now I consider myself a full time powerlifter. I got into powerlifting ’cause I saw everyone else doing it.

Why is powerlifting getting bigger than bodybuilding? I would think that more people want to challenge themselves into doing something different and they also find lifting heavy things pretty addicting so they keep at it. Another reason is that people want to get big and strong. No doubt that powerlifting is getting bigger and more popular.

I’m glad I discovered powerlifting ’cause I want to get bigger and stronger. I too want to challenge myself to a whole new level. Some of you may ask that since I’m in my 40’s now, I’m too old to get into powerlifting? No, not at all. Age is just a number. If you want to get into powerlifting, just do it. I’ve been to a few powerlifting meets and I saw people of all ages that are into these competitions. Ages ranging from young teenagers to people like 70 years old or older. They are lifting pretty heavy too. If they can do it so can anyone.

I’m hoping to do a lot more powerlifting competitions this year ’cause I love doing them. They are a blast. I just do it for fun for the most part ’cause I want to experience something different and want to do something huge in my life. I don’t really care to win medals or trophies to be honest. I just want to have a blast and lift heavy things. That is all.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Hit a new personal record on bench at 155 lbs. at the gym today…

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So today on New Year’s Eve, I decided to hit the gym for chest day. Today was a great chest day as I just hit a new personal record on bench press at 155 lbs. today. It was a pretty easy lift too. I wasn’t able to get 155 lbs. for the past couple of weeks but I got it this time. Actually, I got 155 lbs. once a long while back but couldn’t get it again until now. I know I’m getting stronger on bench each week I do it. So I guess, training chest once a week is the trick to get more bench press strength. I’ve also been experimenting with progressive overload method on bench press which is working. Progressive overload, meaning adding more weight each set you do and do less reps each set. It’s been working so I’m going to keep doing that. Getting 155 lbs. p.r. on bench today is a great number to end the year with. This means I could probably get 160 lbs. next week and I’m going to give it a try next time.

I’m loving the bench press. It’s a great workout and I’m definitely feeling my chest beefing up each week. The bench is definitely the best chest exercise and they don’t call the king of all workouts for no reason.

For 2019, I’m hoping to get even bigger numbers on the bench. I’m hoping pretty soon in 2019, I’ll be able to bench 200 lbs. or over and I’m going to take my slow time and not rush to get there. I could probably reach to 200 lbs. next summer. I’m also going to try to get bigger numbers for squats and deadlift in 2019 as well.

Truthfully there are no easy tricks to get stronger on bench, squats and deadlifts. You just keep at it every week and you’ll get stronger the more you lift, lift and lift. That’s all there is to it really.

My gym days will keep going throughout 2019 and will keep the 4 day a week routine going with very little breaks. I’m really enjoying powerlifting training. Gonna keep at it.

Kev