Week 16 - Five Week Out Max Week

The Staunton Open Bench Press/Deadlift competition is on May 16th.  In preparation for this, we took a car trip to a friend's gym in Lewisburg, WV to do sort of a mock meet - pack food, supplements, lifting stuff, drive a little bit, and then warm up and max on bench and deadlift.  It was a great day, I hit a PR deadlift of 455 (pictured) and benched 280 with a slight pause.  Squat day and overhead press day were good, but the mock meet was certainly the highlight of the week.  Should note that, at the actual meet, warm up/leadup lifts will not be nearly as intense.

Plan from here out is to do two more heavy weeks with accessories focusing solely on bench and deadlift related movements (dumbbell bench, hex bar deads, lots of lats) then a week of deload, then a week off the week before the meet to rest, stretch, and get ready.  A week later, I'll head to France to start prep for my first full powerlifting meet (hopefully) in September.  Stay tuned.

Monday, April 13
Squats
5 x 45

5 x 135

5 x 185

5 x 225

Working Sets5 x 265
3 x 295
1 x 330
10 x 265

Band squats (light bands)
5 x 135, 165
3 x 185, 205, 225

Front Squats
3 x 8 @135

Thursday, April 16th

Max Dead and Max Bench

Deadlift

5 x 45, 135, 185, 225, 275

5 x 330

3 x 375

1 x 420

1 x 455 (PR)

1 x 465 (fail)

10 x 225

Bench

5 x 45, 95, 135, 175

5 x 205

3 x 235

1 x 260

1 x 270

1 x 280

5 x 225

Saturday, April 18th

Overhead press

5 x 45; 95; 115

5 x 135

3 x 160 (was supposed to be 150 but i cant add)

1 x 175

TBar rows

5 x 20 (50lbs first set then 75 lbs for four sets - used 25 lb plates)

Cable rows

3 x 20