Looking at powerlifting programs

[anfee]

I’ve been contemplating using a PL program because I never deadlift. I truly never have done it consistently before. Never been taught or coached so i steer away. But anyway...

Why a PL program? I need my legs and core to catch up to my upper body strength. I have been doing the PHAT program by Layne Norton, but it doesn’t include deadlifts. I want that thickness and body strength that only deads will provide.

Stats:
6’3” 235lbs, 32yrs old
Bench 425x1
Bent over row 335 5x5 (never tried for a single)
Squat 425x1 (knee sleeves and a belt)
Deadlift..... no fucking clue

My question is, I’ve been looking at the candito’s 6 week PL routine - any of y’all have experience with this program? I’ve also considered Sheiko’s numbered programs. Just somewhat lost on what would be good to start with. Either way I’ll do a log.

Help.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I don't think Sheiko would be a good choice for a total beginner on deadlift because the progression is so slow. There's a lot of deadlift variations that you wouldn't want to be doing since you'll want to focus on just learning the movement. I have no experience with Candito's program.

 

[anfee]

I don't think Sheiko would be a good choice for a total beginner on deadlift because the progression is so slow. There's a lot of deadlift variations that you wouldn't want to be doing since you'll want to focus on just learning the movement. I have no experience with Candito's program.

Would a trap bar deadlift be more beneficial than a traditional deadlift?

I would hire a coach but being in a small town, less than 15,000, there’s just no one that has the experience.

 

[Eman]

Would a trap bar deadlift be more beneficial than a traditional deadlift?

No.

I've become a pretty big proponent of Juggernaut Training. It's a little much for a beginner but it's customizable to fit goals.

I recommend buying the juggernaut method 2.0 book and going through it. Even if you don't go through with it, it'll delve into strength theory enough to be worth the cost... Which is minimal.

 

[jaymaximus]

I can't remember the site, but google powerlifting program reviews. One dude did a decent job of breaking a lot down and comparing / contrasting. If I can find it I'll post a link

 

[Eman]

I can't remember the site, but google powerlifting program reviews. One dude did a decent job of breaking a lot down and comparing / contrasting. If I can find it I'll post a link

Powerliftingtowin.com

Some good reviews too. I like the site, but don't agree with everything he says... to be expected though, cookie cutter PL programs are tough.

 

[jaymaximus]

Nevermind. I had it saved.

Powerlifting Programs

You can look over a few and see what you like.

Also what kind of training have you been doing? Depending on that you may be able to try something more advanced

 

[jaymaximus]

Powerliftingtowin.com

Some good reviews too. I like the site, but don't agree with everything he says... to be expected though, cookie cutter PL programs are tough.

Yeah. I thought the same thing IRT the reviewer

 

[johntt44]

I’ve been contemplating using a PL program because I never deadlift. I truly never have done it consistently before. Never been taught or coached so i steer away. But anyway...

Why a PL program? I need my legs and core to catch up to my upper body strength. I have been doing the PHAT program by Layne Norton, but it doesn’t include deadlifts. I want that thickness and body strength that only deads will provide.

Stats:
6’3” 235lbs, 32yrs old
Bench 425x1
Bent over row 335 5x5 (never tried for a single)
Squat 425x1 (knee sleeves and a belt)
Deadlift..... no fucking clue

My question is, I’ve been looking at the candito’s 6 week PL routine - any of y’all have experience with this program? I’ve also considered Sheiko’s numbered programs. Just somewhat lost on what would be good to start with. Either way I’ll do a log.

Help.

I got some help from Perrin and Rodgerthat last april. I started out at 395 3×3 and got up to 575x2 by december. Just did 3-4x3 once a week and another day of 10×2 with light weight (dynamic day). Unfortunately, I f'ed up my left sacroiliac joint and Ive been taking it easy. I just increased weight by how I felt. It goes up fast!

 

[anfee]

Powerliftingtowin.com

Some good reviews too. I like the site, but don't agree with everything he says... to be expected though, cookie cutter PL programs are tough.

This site is where I found both the sheiko and candito programs.

 

[Eman]

This site is where I found both the sheiko and candito programs.

Cool!

Sheiko is pretty hardcore... If you really like it, you can go for it. If you're coming from BB background, you might have a hard time adjusting.

I've read bits and pieces of Candito but I can't really recall exactly how it is setup.

It all really depends on what you want to accomplish and what you'll enjoy. Definitely try to focus on giving deadlift the most attention since that's your goal.

 

[anfee]

I don't think Sheiko would be a good choice for a total beginner on deadlift because the progression is so slow. There's a lot of deadlift variations that you wouldn't want to be doing since you'll want to focus on just learning the movement. I have no experience with Candito's program.

You mention deadlift variations that I wouldn’t want to do... can you expand on that a bit?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Would a trap bar deadlift be more beneficial than a traditional deadlift?

I would hire a coach but being in a small town, less than 15,000, there’s just no one that has the experience.

No. Trap bar has its place, but it's not a replacement for traditional deadlift.

As far as a coach you don't necessarily need one to start out with. If you're willing to record a lot of your sets and really analyze your form and make adjustments you can go a long way.

You mention deadlift variations that I wouldn’t want to do... can you expand on that a bit?

Being that you're new to deadlift you should just be performing a regular deadlift for awhile until you really get the hang of it. You don't want to be learning different variations when you haven't mastered the standard version, you know?

 

[theprodgicalson]

I Would check out Wendlers 5/3/1

He has many variations of it. But I think it would benefit you as it's has you hitting sub maximal weights for a good while. Plenty of Apps for it so you just plug your numbers in and go. If you do decide to do this make sure it's a APP that uses either the 365strong or 90% numbers. Basically put, the numbers programmed in for your percentage work would be 90-95% of your total max

 

[anfee]

Well I had all the intentions of having a really good first powerlifting session today of bench, deadlifts, and overhead presses.. I’m getting ready, for my preworkout in hand and my wife calls from upstairs “hey......... you wanna bang one out in the shower?”

So that happened 20 min before workout. She Kinda fucked me. Literally! LOL

anyways I hit deadlifts and had someone watch me to see if my back was rounding or if the bar path was good, he’s a cop who seems very well built (no homo) and said my back was straight as an arrow but my butt was consistently too low. He said I was trying to squat it. But regardless, I got 405x4 (ya, I know, nothing to write home about) but I’m glad I got the first session in.

Also realized that every fucking bar in my gym has the worst knurling. I needed straps for anything more than 315.

I’ll use the 405x4 to calculate 1rm and do the candito 6 week program to start. It’s actually only 5 weeks with a deload week. So stay tuned. I’ll create a log so if anyone has any criticism or comments, they can put it in there.

Thanks for the tips/help this far.

 

[RodgerThat]

Well I had all the intentions of having a really good first powerlifting session today of bench, deadlifts, and overhead presses.. I’m getting ready, for my preworkout in hand and my wife calls from upstairs “hey......... you wanna bang one out in the shower?”

So that happened 20 min before workout. She Kinda fucked me. Literally! LOL

anyways I hit deadlifts and had someone watch me to see if my back was rounding or if the bar path was good, he’s a cop who seems very well built (no homo) and said my back was straight as an arrow but my butt was consistently too low. He said I was trying to squat it. But regardless, I got 405x4 (ya, I know, nothing to write home about) but I’m glad I got the first session in.

Also realized that every fucking bar in my gym has the worst knurling. I needed straps for anything more than 315.

I’ll use the 405x4 to calculate 1rm and do the candito 6 week program to start. It’s actually only 5 weeks with a deload week. So stay tuned. I’ll create a log so if anyone has any criticism or comments, they can put it in there.

Thanks for the tips/help this far.

No point in know anything close to your 1rm for deadlifts for a long time whatever it is it’s not a useful number and reaching total fatigue on any deadlift set fucks your CNS for a much longer time then your muscles take to recover from it and can leave you wondering why you are having shitty workouts week to week. Candito is garbage, in the way that he programs it breaks people. Both Layne Norton and Candito are incredible athletes one with great knowledge the other with so so candito being the later, anyways these guys have knowledge but they don’t take into consideration the long term effect. They make great instant results programs that leave you fucking broken the day after it’s done if you even make it that far. But there is caveats with every program, if there is a single guy here that’s ran Sheiko and hasn’t had their elbows been killing them because of it I’d be surprised but that is a program that will build a better bench... at the expense of your elbow health but man you’ll feel strong.

Someone like yourself I would change over to even something so simple as starting strength 5x5, will your bench grow? No but it’s better then your squat and deadlift so maybe that’s a good thing. The book “starting strength” will however make you laugh while you read about form and other movements that are going to make you even more powerful I.e the power clean. If you aren’t down for cookie cutter styles and just want to get better at deadlifting then I’d suggest something similar to @johntt44 did, I mean you’re starting in a similar strength zone and he followed a very simple protocol one day of the week you do speed pulls the other day you do heavy pulls but you never fail a rep.

 

[anfee]

No point in know anything close to your 1rm for deadlifts for a long time whatever it is it’s not a useful number and reaching total fatigue on any deadlift set fucks your CNS for a much longer time then your muscles take to recover from it and can leave you wondering why you are having shitty workouts week to week. Candito is garbage, in the way that he programs it breaks people. Both Layne Norton and Candito are incredible athletes one with great knowledge the other with so so candito being the later, anyways these guys have knowledge but they don’t take into consideration the long term effect. They make great instant results programs that leave you fucking broken the day after it’s done if you even make it that far. But there is caveats with every program, if there is a single guy here that’s ran Sheiko and hasn’t had their elbows been killing them because of it I’d be surprised but that is a program that will build a better bench... at the expense of your elbow health but man you’ll feel strong.

Someone like yourself I would change over to even something so simple as starting strength 5x5, will your bench grow? No but it’s better then your squat and deadlift so maybe that’s a good thing. The book “starting strength” will however make you laugh while you read about form and other movements that are going to make you even more powerful I.e the power clean. If you aren’t down for cookie cutter styles and just want to get better at deadlifting then I’d suggest something similar to @johntt44 did, I mean you’re starting in a similar strength zone and he followed a very simple protocol one day of the week you do speed pulls the other day you do heavy pulls but you never fail a rep.

I do want to get better at deadlifting as well as squatting.

Since I squat twice a week, which I do a heavy day of 5x5 and then a lighter day of 6x3 that’s 70% of my 5x5 weight - seems similar to what @johntt44 mentioned. I’m struggling with - do I incorporate the Deadlift on leg days or back days?

Man I thought I had this figured out and now I feel like I’m lost all over LOL. I know enough to know that I don’t know enough.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

I do want to get better at deadlifting as well as squatting.

Since I squat twice a week, which I do a heavy day of 5x5 and then a lighter day of 6x3 that’s 70% of my 5x5 weight - seems similar to what @johntt44 mentioned. I’m struggling with - do I incorporate the Deadlift on leg days or back days?

Man I thought I had this figured out and now I feel like I’m lost all over LOL. I know enough to know that I don’t know enough.

There's no leg days or back days in powerlifting. My current setup I do block pulls after my heavy squats on Tuesday and I start with my regular deadlift on Saturday followed by slingshot bench. I do some type of back every time I'm in the gym.

What does your entire week look like? I'd probably do the light deadlift after your heavy squat day and then do your light squats after your heavy deadlift on that day. What works best for me is giving each of the three main lifts a day where I start with it and then do some of the others after.

 

[anfee]

There's no leg days or back days in powerlifting. My current setup I do block pulls after my heavy squats on Tuesday and I start with my regular deadlift on Saturday followed by slingshot bench. I do some type of back every time I'm in the gym.

What does your entire week look like? I'd probably do the light deadlift after your heavy squat day and then do your light squats after your heavy deadlift on that day. What works best for me is giving each of the three main lifts a day where I start with it and then do some of the others after.

Well my week can be anything since I’m obviously very new at this...

Tuesday - bench heavy 3x3, light squat 10x2, light deadlift 6x3
Thursday - light bench 6x3, squat heavy 3x3, light deadlift 10x2
Saturday/Sunday - light bench 10x2, light squat 6x3, deadlift heavy 3x3

My thought process is the workout before a heavy 3x3 would be 10x2. Again, I could be completely wrong here.

Is this something that looks right? I’ve left out any accessory movements as I’m quite lost on those reps/sets.

Accessory movements I would like to use are:
- overhead presses
- pull-ups
- leg ext
- leg curls
- seated/standing calves





As I re-read my post I’m thinking “god bless what a shit show...”

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Well my week can be anything since I’m obviously very new at this...

Tuesday - bench heavy 3x3, light squat 10x2, light deadlift 6x3
Thursday - light bench 6x3, squat heavy 3x3, light deadlift 10x2
Saturday/Sunday - light bench 10x2, light squat 6x3, deadlift heavy 3x3

My thought process is the workout before a heavy 3x3 would be 10x2. Again, I could be completely wrong here.

Is this something that looks right? I’ve left out any accessory movements as I’m quite lost on those reps/sets.

Accessory movements I would like to use are:
- overhead presses
- pull-ups
- leg ext
- leg curls
- seated/standing calves





As I re-read my post I’m thinking “god bless what a shit show...”

Check the sample routine in this article. I think it would be a good place for you to start.

The Daily Undulating Periodization (DUP) Bible - JMax Fitness

I did something similar for my first cycle and made pretty killer gains. I would only deadlift on day 1 and day 3 if it was me and I'd give each lift a day where I started with it for the strength day. Then throw in all your accessories on Saturday and you're good to go.