On Monte's suggestion, I am decided to make this log to track my powerlifting/bodybuilding progress.

I am not sure how much preamble I am supposed to give, but here are some relevant information about me:

Age: 33
Body weight: 205lbs
Height: 5'11''


Maxes Early February 2021

Squat: 375lbs
Bench: 285lbs
Deadlift: 435lbs

Maxes Early May 2021

Squat: 405lbs
Bench: 305lbs
Deadlift: ???

My objective is to mostly increase by Powerlifting main lifts, but I do spend a lot of time doing bodybuilding style training because I enjoy building muscles and looking muscular. So as you see my routine you may notice that it has a lot of accessory or even totally irrelevant lifts to powerlifting.

Monday, 5/10/2021

Main Lifts
Squat -- 3x375, 4x345, 4x345

Other Stuff
Standing Calf Raise -- 3 sets of 11x100lbs
Medial Glute Kick Back -- 3 sets of 11x20lbs

welcome (back?)

are the current max figures your lifetime highest or are you on the comeback trail?

Welcome!

Did you create your program yourself, or are you following something existing (RPT maybe)?

First

My current maxes are also my lifetime highest.

I have dabbled in lifting on and off since high school but never got as serious about it as I have the past few years. I have been going consistently to the gym for ~3 years or so which had paid dividends as far as my strength (and maxes) go.

I used strong lifts 5x5 for about 6 months or so about 2.5-3 years ago. After progressing as far as I though I could with that I started programming myself mostly using principles I have pulled from a bunch of different people I follow/listen to.

The general set-up of my program is that I break my training into either hypertrophy mesocycles or strength mesocycles. Each mesocycle usually lasts 5-6 week including a 1 week deload.

The two mesos are fairly similar, with the primary difference being that, for the main lifts I do each day (squat, bench, or deadlift) I will do lower weight higher reps during the hypertrophy meso and higher weight lower reps during the strength cycle. I also use the strength cycle to max test twice for each of the main lifts.

As you can tell I am in a strength cycle right now and I have done 1 of my 2 max tests for each lift. I will max again in a few weeks and then switch back to hypertrophy training.

I usually do 2 hypertrophy cycles for every one strength cycle. But I may change that up at some point in the future.

As far as a week to week plan I do basically a 6 day Upper/Lower split. On all three of the Upper days I do bench. On 2 of the Lower days I do squat and then Deadlift on the other lower day. Then I mix in a ton of accessory and bodybuilding stuff after the main lift.

Those are beesch-like numbers!

Seems like this is the challenger he has been looking for in his weight division. Lift off! Lift off! Nood off!! Nood off!!

On a side note, it's funny how people really think I want to look at Noodz. Guys, it's a joke. When I first started in this forum, everybody use to post noodz for progress purposes and for bodyfat estimates. Evoken would troll that he couldn't wait to see them, that he had lube on hand.

It's a joke. Don't send me noodz. Sure you can post them in my log to get the most accurate bodyfat reading of your life, But that's me just offering a free service from my vast experience exploring the subject.

Sorry to go off on a tangent birdman. Welcome. My man beeschnuts has similar numbers to you. Hoping to see a nood off or at least a Lift off with S/B/D.

He has some solid lifts but are numbers are not close

Cut to 205 and you will be lifting identical to the Birdman.

Tuesday, 5/11/2021

Main Lifts

Bench — 3x275, 4x245, 4x245

Other Stuff

T-Bar Row — 3 sets of 9x55
Lateral Raises (Cable) — 3 sets of 11x7.5
Kneeling Lat Pulldowns — 3 sets of 11x45
Face Pulls — 3 sets of 14x25
Alternating Hammer Curls — 3 sets of 11x20

This is the kind of good stuff you're going to get out of this log, birdman.

Re: your program, sounds reasonably standard; do you have any goals you're shooting for, either with respect to powerlifting total and/or milestones for specific lifts?

Thanks for the compliments! I am definitely proud of the progress I have made but I know I have a long way to go.

I probably won't be doing any nude posing, though. Sorry

I made a bet with bsball to get to S: 405, B: 305, D: 495 by August 1 so those are my short term goals. As you can see I have already achieved the first 2 but I think deadlift may be tough. I tweaked my back a month or so ago and I've had to go pretty light on deadlift to work my way back up. We will see if I can get there by August.

As far as long term goals I am really not sure. I would love to get a 400lb bench one day. At this point my main goal is to just lift injury free--I seem to be completely incapable of going more than a month without something starting to bother me. But maybe that is just how lifting goes--always dealing with random aches and pains.

The idea of competing is fun but I am not sure it would be ever more than fun because I don't think I am strong enough to ever reach elite levels.

I’ll be at 205 in a couple months. I would offer to bet on it but I already know your answer. I’m obv not gonna lose close too 300 lbs off my total from cutting from 215 to 205. It’s honestly one of the dumbest things you’ve ever said on here

What minor injuries have you been dealing with? I think you just have to be smart about training around them and know when to back off

my left shoulder seems to bother me on and off

very much "on" right now. I skipped my upper body day on Sunday to try to rest it a little bit and it was feeling better but now it is really hurting after benching today.

My lower back is a constant problem. I think it is mostly a mental thing but its been an issue my whole life. I have gotten better at managing it but it is always an area of concern with deadlift and squat. Most of the time it just gets sore after doing squat or dl but sometimes it can flare up pretty bad where I have to take a few sessions off.

Sometimes my knee(s) bugs me but right now they are feeling fine.

Getting knee sleeves really helped with my knees.

Raised heel squatting shoes helped a lot with my back but it still is always something that needs managing.

I also recently bought a belt to hopefully help with brace better but I think there is going to be a several month learning curve before that starts to pay dividends.

Been working a lot on my bench form to help protect my shoulder but it still seems to flare up on occasion.

Almost always with injuries I try to tough it out to a deload week and rest it then unless it gets particularly bad.

I’ve dealt with all 3 of these to varying degrees. Had some anterior delt pain from benching 3-4 times a week for a while. Doing facepulls, band pullaparts and rear delt work seemed to help. I eventually incorporated facepulls into my warmup every time I benched. I’ve now cut back to benching twice a week and also use a multi grip bar (neutral grip) and some other shoulder friendly presses like board press, floor press etc to keep my shoulders healthy

Had some patella tendinitis with my knee. I think the sleeves will help some but I also found rolling my quads helped and incorporated some Spanish squats as a prehab exercise.

For your back, maybe post squat/DL videos to see how the form looks and if there is much back rounding. Learning how to brace and use the belt properly should help. Could also pull of blocks or out of the rack to take some pressure off your low back. Would stretch your hip flexors regularly too bc when they are tight, can lead to back pain.

Welcome, subbed! Definitely post some form videos.

thanks for the tips I will try these

I already do face pulls twice a week but maybe I will just start doing them 3x a week

i benched heavy yesterday and today my shoulder is totally ****ed. To the point where I think I tore something. But I always think that and it always ends up being fine. Today is my normal rest day anyways and tomorrow is lower body day so we will see where it is after 2 days of rest but it really doesn't feel great atm.

Wednesday, 5/12/2021

REST!

Yea that sounds pretty bad. Might want to rest more than 2 days or if you do lift try limiting the ROM to see if that helps by doing floor press or board press. Even close grip bench is a little easier on the shoulders IMO