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“The Best Method”
By Ian Smalley
My powerlifting workout is based on a 7 week cycle. I call it a 7 week cycle, but in actuality it’s 2- 3 week cycles with 1 deload week at the end. The reason for this is that I had spent a lot of time looking at the training protocols of many different types of athletes; professional runners, swimmers, triathletes, and weight lifters, and the most frequent trend that I noticed was some variation of 3 week mini-waves leading into a larger peak.
In a perfect world, peaking the body takes 2 of these cycles. The first cycle is spent almost entirely raw, with no gear except for the last week, while the 2nd one is getting back in the gear and peaking the body.
The other thing to keep in mind with this powerlifting workout is that I train my whole body, while keeping two principle concepts in mind. As far as I’m concerned, the process of getting stronger is comprised of training the Central Nervous System and developing Muscular strength. So many have walked into the gym feeling great only to find out that we were not able to move the weights as our warm ups lead us to believe. This is due in part to CNS fatigue, which unlike muscular fatigue is harder to spot. Your muscles get sore, but your mind doesn’t. Being able to peak so your body can perform a true one rep max can only be accomplished by being muscularly stronger than ever, along with the CNS being rested and ready for the weight that you’re going to attempt to move.
I’ve built my powerlifting workout around a 4 day a week cycle. This is the most my body can handle without increasing chance of injury. My first day is considered Monday, which will be Squat or a Squat based movement. Wednesday will be my Bench or Bench based movement. Friday is my Deadlift or Deadlift based movement. The last day is Sunday, which is my overhead pressing and upper back day.
I feel it’s very important to stress the fact that no one day is more important than the others. If I feel really beat up and tired I will still hit all my primary movements and back off the accessory movements. So in short (or long) , this is the cycle that I developed with those principles in mind.
First cycle
Week 1 2 sets of 10 approx 70-75% of raw 1 rep max no gear Deadlift is sets of 7
Week 2 Max Style movement typically over load (raw)
Week 3 2 sets of 8 approx 75-80% of 1 rep max Deadlift is sets of 5
Week 4 Max style Movement
Week 5 2 sets of 6 approx 80-85% of 1 rep max Deadlift is sets of 3
Week 6 Max style Movement (this week will almost always be geared)
Week 7 Deload (however this is almost never a true deload. 9 out of 10 times I will hit sets of 20)
Second cycle
Week 1 2 sets of 10 (this may be dropped to 8’s if I feel the need for a little more weight after completing the last cycle) Deadlift is sets of 7
Week 2 Max effort style movement (normally light gear, i.e. briefs or old shirt but I will push this day way up in weight and normally hit doubles or triples and this is a true max rep day.)
Week 3 2 sets of 8 (or 6 if I dropped 1st week to 8’s) Deadlift is sets of 5
Week 4 Max effort style movement (this is a full gear 2nd attempt, and most of the time I will double it or hit a few reps at it just to remind my body who is the boss)
Week 5 2 sets of 6 (if week 3 was 6 then this is 5’s, or a chance to hit some light geared triples at 85%) I will also pull my last 93% deadlift single on this day.
Week 6 This week is my openers I will take them and crush them. However I only hit Squat and Bench openers, and my Friday is treated as my first deload leading into the meet.
Week 7 I will only train 1-2 days this week, Monday and or Tuesday and it will consist of a 50% Squat and Bench for some triples to fives.
A sample cycle of MY powerlifting workout is this:
Week 1
Monday Squat 580x1 (raw)
Tuesday Bench 370x10x2 (raw)
Wednesday Deadlift 585x7x2 (raw)
Sunday Dumbbell overhead press and upper back movements
Week 2
Squat worked up to a 560 front squat, then put on light briefs for triples at 700, 750, and 800
Bench worked up to 550 triple off 2 board, put on old shirt and worked in the 600’s for a few reps.
Deadlift worked up to 635 triples standing on a 4 inch box
Barbell overhead pressing 225x5x3 and other upper back movements
Week 3
Squat 605x8x10 (raw)
Bench 380x8x2 (raw)
Deadlift 615x5x2 (raw)
Over head machine press, and other upper back movements
Week 4
Squat full gear 940x2x1 (and other on the way up)
Bench shirt 675x1x2 off 1 board
Deadlift 635x1x3 sumo pulls
Dumbbell over head pressing
Week 5
Squat 630x6x2
Bench 390x6x2
Deadlift 705x1x1 (with deadlift suit)
Cooling it on the over head pressing so keeping it light along with other upper back movements
Week 6
Squat full gear opener
Bench full gear opener
Deadlift 545x2x2
Light stretching and other movements just to get the blood flowing
Week 7 Sat would be meet day.
Now I know that some of this powerlifting workout looks easy ,while to others it may seem like a daunting task, and really this work out is an asshole. I end up hating it more than I like it myself. But what it forces you to do is enter the gym everyday pushing your mind and body to near its’ breaking point. The first, third, and fifth week focus on muscular stimulation, while the second, forth, and sixth week are designed to push the CNS. Now a few things that are VERY important to remember while attempting this:
1st You are going to feel like shit from week 2 on, and this is what we want.
2nd There can never be a time where you slack on your diet and sleep. Recovering from this volume of training can be very hard so no need to put our body at a disadvantage.
3rd I cannot stress this enough- NO MORE THAN 2 GEARED MAX EFFORT PER MAX WEEK. I’m not kidding on this. Pick 1 lower body and 1 upper body geared max, and the other days should just be heavy not a true max. I have suffered almost every injury that I have ever had while trying to break this rule.
4th This is not the best way to be good at hitting a max effort single. If you want to be good at singles than you can test yourself constantly and wonder why your strength disappeared. Testing is not training. I feel from the bottom of my heart that this style of training will get you the gains in muscular strength AND the CNS development that no other work out style is able to deliver. Now this may be one of those times where you are the only one that doesn’t think your kid is ugly, but whatever.
OK, so to wrap this up there are a few more things that I didn’t hit on earlier. I still do accessory movements after hitting my primary movements. I will always hit 2 more and sometimes 3. I will try to pick a pressing movement and a more isolated movement to finish. I also train abs 2 days a week, 1 of them is weighted and the other is against my body weight. If you take on the challenge of this training and stay with it, I guarantee you will push your body to new levels of strength.
