Training For My First Powerlifting Meet
posted on July 14, 2022
I am currently 6 weeks in to my first powerlifting meet preparation training and am only 9 weeks out from the actual meet. I have been lifting on and off for a few years now, but have had trouble staying consistent and pushing myself. In these past few weeks, I have noticed a significant difference in my attitude towards lifting and training in general. I found that being in UF’s supportive environment and having specific goals in mind or at least a general idea of where I would like to end up, has helped me tremendously. UF’s unique “family like” environment helps me to stay motivated and accountable every day that I come into the gym, too.
Curtis was willing to help me out with my programming, so we have been working together on creating my plan of action these past few weeks. I started the first 4 weeks of my training with lifting 4 days a week. My days were focused on squatting, benching, deadlifting and I also had an upper body accessory day.
For the main lifts, I was working on compensatory acceleration training (CAT), meaning that I was lifting as explosively as possible throughout the entire movement. On top of that, I would have 4-5 accessory exercises after I would finish squatting, benching, or deadlifting. My biggest weakness within my lifting is my upper body strength, so that accessory day included all upper body focused strength exercises. I had close grip incline bench press as the main lift, and then rolled into kettlebell Z presses, pullups, triceps pushdowns, and side raises to rear delts.
The 5th week of my training included building my squat, bench, and deadlift up to a heavy triple set at an RPE 8, and then this week I am working at that RPE 8 weight for 3 sets of 3 repetitions. I have never trained with using RPE before, so it has been a challenge to really figure out where I’m truly at.
Even though I’m not familiar with the RPE scale, I’ve been able to push my limits and test myself as far as the weights go this week and last week. I hit my squats on Monday, bench on Tuesday, I have deadlifts today, and some more upper body accessory work tomorrow. I also enjoy throwing in 1 or 2 days of biking on the weekends as an active recovery method as well. I’m excited to see what I can do in these next few weeks leading up to the meet, and to see what I’m able to hit on meet day! If you have any questions about the specific program that I’ve been following, or about anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. (:
Toria
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