My way of training to get the big three to become bigger

[Cobra_Clutch69]

I touched on this in @Perrin Aybara Journal.

What I am outlining here is how I trained to get my pull and squat to be big. What I am outlining here is purely my opinion and what worked for me and what I believe to be the best way to train strengthening your lifts.

For starters find what lift is your strongest. For the majority of people it should be either "SQUAT" or "DEADLIFT". Once you have found what is your strongest lift, attack it with a program that revolves solely on that lift while maintaining the other two lifts.

Get on a program that will specialize on that lift while maintaining the other lifts. This is great for offseason and in season IMO.

Now for attacking your weaknesses. I don't believe in finding an accessory movement to hammer just that portion off the lift. ie: Rack pulls, pin presses, floor press etc.

I believe if you are weak at a certain point in the movement, in your program switch out the competition lift for a lift like pauses.

For example:
Deadlifts: Pause at your weak point
Bench: Pause on the chest then again at your weak point
Squat: Double pause at the weak point

As far as overload. I like to overload the movement without as much assistance from bands or weight releasers. I like to train the movement as close to competition as possibly. I don't like band work in any form except on the deadlift. I will use reverse bands for overload which I will touch on more in a bit.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph. I like to train my weaknesses by making the movement a little harder while still being close to my competition lift. Pin Presses, Bottom up or Anderson squats have their places. I feel that some of these movements can lead to faulty mechanics and bad motor patterns that will hurt our competition lift.

I mentioned that I don't like using bands of any kind for overload. I also could care less for chains. I do like to use bands for my deadlift only. I like reverse band deadlift and bands off the floor. With a green medium band. I want to overload my deadlift as much as possibly from the floor. Once I lock it out I will hold it for 10 seconds. As far as using bands off the floor I like to work on speed that is relevant to the weight being pulled. So when doing banded pulls from bottom position I have access to a gadget called open barbell. It measures the speed of a lift.

How I use bands from the bottom is unorthodox. I will pull up to my knees as fast as possible while maintaining good form. These are some of the things that I have used to help me.

I don't like:
GHR
Reverse Hyper

I like:
RDL
Stiff legged pulls

I rather train my posterior if it is lagging with the movement itself.

I am sure I have left out many things. If there is anything else anyone has a question on just leave it here and I will answer it to the best of my knowledge.

@Perrin Aybara Hopefully this helps you. Looking over your Journal You are really close to a 700 pull. If I were you I'd go on a deadlift specific training cycle. I am pretty sure if you did a deadlift specific program you not only will pull 700 soon but you will be close to, at or over 750 by end of year.

To sum it up. Make your strongest lift great. Only way to do this is by focusing on that lift for specific amount of time.

 

[Cobra_Clutch69]

Something else to consider. I am sure that many or some might know this already.

As far as those that compete in wraps.

I.E: If you compete in a fed that allows 2.5 knee wraps as the maximum length. I suggest getting at least 5 pair of the wraps you use for competition. At least 2 pair need to be 2.5m the other 3 should be 3m. I do this with wraps that are somewhat stiff. It can be hard for you to wrap yourself during warmups and for your 3 lifts. Even for your coach or handler to wrap you with stiff to super stiff wraps.

Now if you are on a budget then get 2 paid one that is allowed by the fed the other that is one size longer.

Equipment checks are usually done at weigh ins only. And the majority of the time you they won't check knee wraps on the platform because it is time consuming.

 

[theprodgicalson]

Can I ask why you don't like the reverse hyper? I don't think it's a great tool to build strength, for me at least, but it definitely has a therapeutic value to it.

I agree with the GHR, think it's useless. 90% of people don't even do them correctly anyways. Have you ever gotten the chance to use an Inverse curl machine?

 

[Cobra_Clutch69]

Can I ask why you don't like the reverse hyper? I don't think it's a great tool to build strength, for me at least, but it definitely has a therapeutic value to it.

I agree with the GHR, think it's useless. 90% of people don't even do them correctly anyways. Have you ever gotten the chance to use an Inverse curl machine?

Never had the opportunity to use the inverse curl machine.

As for the reverse hyper. At one point I found it therapeutic. The more I used it. The more I seemed to hurt in my lower back.

Personally I feel better using the 45° back extension. Just personal preference and how do reverse hyper didn't provide me with much of anything beneficial the more I used it.

 

[LeoTC]

Good Mornings. Such an underrated assistance movement. Bands on the bar from the bottom.

RDL's with bands around the hips can be game changer if you struggle at lockout.

Haven't used chains personally, but don't see any point removing a tool from the box. If I had some laying around I'd give them a whirl.

With that in mind, why do you dislike banding?