Powerlifting and Ego

[AnabolicAF]

i been messing around in the gym for about 20 years. I'll go back n fourth with training for aesthetics and powerlifting. I have come to the conclusion that most of my training has been filed by my ego. I have fun, no matter what I do in the gym. My numbers as a PL are only average for my height and weight. Perhaps a bit more then average. Genetically I'm predisposed to be a bodybuilder. 5'7 with a build like Franco. Franco is one of my idols btw.
Ego is a huge factor in BB. Ego also plays a big roll in my PL ventures, simply because to lift the most is the Macho, Manly beat on your chest after a PR thing to do.
At this point I'm bored with hypertrophy. It helped me get to where I want to be. While chasing my goal of becoming a Mr. O, I used, misused and abused gear. Stupid amounts of Test. Nandrolone for months on end. Trenbolone cuz it's trenbolone. Oh man, multiple orals several time in a year too.
The time I spent PL was so much more simple with gear. Test and one other compound. No orals at all. My best training ever was a routine referred to as "The Texas Method"
My ANABOLICS were simple, 500 test, 500 Nandralone "NPP" or trenbolone. I felt great with only 2 compounds.
While training Texas Method I made some of the best progress I ever made. All my numbers went up about 2lbs a week. This was what I did for 16 weeks. I loved it. The best part about it is I looked my best too, now that I look at some old pictures.
My problem was that I wasn't putting up the big boy numbers like my bros. My ego would always taunt me by saying "if you wanna do a PL meet you better up the dose"
Or "why compete in something your only gonna place 5th in"
Or "Your gonna injur yourself training heavy, you need to dreaming of being a PL and focus more on BB, time under tension and light weights"

I'm finally pulling my head outa my ass. I'm realizing that powerlifting is much more fulfilling then BB. The commrodery I had with the men and women of the sport was amazing. Not to mention the caliber of athletes I was training with was top of the line. Powerlifting opened up many doors for me. One day I'd be training with my buddy Nick and the next day I'm training with a few guys from the Sherifs office. I like to eat too. I'm good on meal prep. I'd rather eat as much as I want and still look good. The one thing I really like about BB is the pumps! I found that I can PL and still get awesome pupms. I simply make a day to train accessories. BIS, TRIS, PECS, DELTS, QUADS.

So from this point on it'll be a style of training that is geared for powerlifting. The big 3. I'm not gonna concern myself with other people's numbers. No matter what I do, my goal is to have fun. Im on TRT for life because of my poor choices I made years ago. My ego played a big roll in that. Im gonna train and not let my ego dictate how I train.
600 test
600 npp or tren
Also, with short esters I can do some quality 8 wk cycles.

I'm gonna keep a detailed log when I start in a few weeks. This post is only a rant of an epiphany I just had. I'm gonna focus on having fun and less on what others may or may not think of me.

 

[Demondosage]

I agree with the camaraderie that powerlifting has over bodybuilding. Bodybuilders can be assholes sometimes. The thing that always kept me away from jumping into it head first was injury. Every single powerlifter that I know who competed in powerlifting and trains at a high level ended up half crippled. That is the only thing about it...the wear and tear on the body

 

[Eman]

I wouldn't suggest running a cycle like that for your powerlifting training right now. I would focus on programming and add the cycle while you're in your strength and peaking blocks.

I am not a big fan of the traditional Texas method personally, it doesn't create any fatigue buildup I think you'd be fine with a linear periodization program based on the fact that you made such quick progress, a more advanced lifter wouldn't make such fast strength gains.

 

[AnabolicAF]

I agree with the camaraderie that powerlifting has over bodybuilding. Bodybuilders can be assholes sometimes. The thing that always kept me away from jumping into it head first was injury. Every single powerlifter that I know who competed in powerlifting and trains at a high level ended up half crippled. That is the only thing about it...the wear and tear on the body

Wear and tear definitely concerns me too. Ego+20 years of various training methods= fabricated parts in my spine. My training reminds me of to do and what not to do. However, their is no arguing with my stupid ego. I feel as if there is always a crowd, all eyes on me type of shit while I'm training. The reality is that I'm not that important and nobody gives a fuck what I'm doing
It's a must I remove my ego from all forms of training.

I'm not entirely sure of what type of PL training I will do, but it's gonna be basic squat, bench dead. From there I can alter it. I need to remember I'm not here to set a PR every day.

 

[AnabolicAF]

I wouldn't suggest running a cycle like that for your powerlifting training right now. I would focus on programming and add the cycle while you're in your strength and peaking blocks.

I am not a big fan of the traditional Texas method personally, it doesn't create any fatigue buildup I think you'd be fine with a linear periodization program based on the fact that you made such quick progress, a more advanced lifter wouldn't make such fast strength gains.

I agree with you on just about everything you said. Their are tons of awesome training regiments for powerlifting. Texas method was a basic formula a friend of mine suggested a few years ago when I first dabbled with PL. He was also training Texas method so I was able to learn some basics such as a hook grip. So what exactly is fatigue build up?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

My biggest problem with Texas Method is lack of bench and deadlift volume. I'm of the opinion each lift should get roughly equal attention except during lift specific training blocks.

Welcome to powerlifting.

 

[Eman]

So what exactly is fatigue build up?

Imagine training 7 days per week - you would buildup fatigue very quickly and not have appropriate time to recover, even though you might make some gains it would eventually interfere with training and become counterproductive.

Conversely, imagine you know trained one time per month. You could train just about as hard as you wanted and still be totally recovered.

Ideally, you'd want to find a happy medium. With an elite lifter, they would be training with such heavy weight that they may need to train only 3 days per week (Think lillibridge method). Whereas a more novice lifter should be able to get away with more frequency to create overload and subsequent adaptations without approaching too much fatigue and recovery issues.

With all that said, I'm not saying it's a bad program... It's just my belief is that it's better to have more volume at the beginning and transition to less over time, either as you progress as a lifter or over the course of training blocks. That's one of my biggest issues with all of Rippetoe's programming, and he was involved with Texas method IIRC, is that it's too lean on volume and frequency.

 

[AnabolicAF]

My biggest problem with Texas Method is lack of bench and deadlift volume. I'm of the opinion each lift should get roughly equal attention except during lift specific training blocks.

Welcome to powerlifting.

Same guy who turned me on to oly lifting had the ability to clean and split press 365 lbs. His body weight was 190 lbs. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me it was very impressive. As we all know 365 lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but when you actually see a loaded barbell and touch it and move it, you begin to wonder how exactly did my friend get that from point A to point B? Not only that, he made it look like 1 fluid motion. Each part of the lift. The clean looks as if he has some sort of mobility the average athlete doesn't possess. I'm still not grasping the concept of the entire lift. The press is by far the most impressive part. He could do a variety of split press and a press that is accompanied be a squat of some sort. For years I've tried to mimick his fluid motion, and I've had no luck. The entire lift for me is fuled by nothing with grace but instead brute strength. We would often joke and say, "I'll trade my ROM and Mobility for your aesthetics"...

 

[Demondosage]

Same guy who turned me on to oly lifting had the ability to clean and split press 365 lbs. His body weight was 190 lbs. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me it was very impressive. As we all know 365 lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but when you actually see a loaded barbell and touch it and move it, you begin to wonder how exactly did my friend get that from point A to point B? Not only that, he made it look like 1 fluid motion. Each part of the lift. The clean looks as if he has some sort of mobility the average athlete doesn't possess. I'm still not grasping the concept of the entire lift. The press is by far the most impressive part. He could do a variety of split press and a press that is accompanied be a squat of some sort. For years I've tried to mimick his fluid motion, and I've had no luck. The entire lift for me is fuled by nothing with grace but instead brute strength. We would often joke and say, "I'll trade my ROM and Mobility for your aesthetics"...

The clean is something I've never been good at...EVER! I haven't even attempted a clean in about 20 years, seems like I used to pull something in my deltoid every time I'd try it

 

[Masters Power]

I agree with the camaraderie that powerlifting has over bodybuilding. Bodybuilders can be assholes sometimes. The thing that always kept me away from jumping into it head first was injury. Every single powerlifter that I know who competed in powerlifting and trains at a high level ended up half crippled. That is the only thing about it...the wear and tear on the body

You are right when it comes to elite level powerlifters injury is going to happen. I've outlasted most of my competition to still be at it and at the top of the national rankings in my weight class in the M2 (50+) category.

But it comes at a price. I have had three surgeries in the past five years and have two more fairly major ones which will be done in the next year. Are they all solely attributable to powerlifting, no but it is solely responsible for a couple and definitely a major contributing factor in the others.

It has to be your passion in order to stick with it knowing that injuries are going to happen. At some point I will likely have to give up competitive powerlifting but I plan on sticking with it as long as I can at which point I will switch to a more BB focused program but I will never give up lifting. I have 35+ years under the bar at this point.

With all that said if the OP isn't overly concerned with his max numbers he will be able to make great gains following a powerlifting focused program while minimizing his risk of injury.

I never suffered a major injury during "off season" powerlifting training every one has occurred either during a training cycle for a meet or at the meet itself.

 

[TheChosen1]

Egos can get you hurt, killed, or at least embarrassed.

I was training and preparing for the 2012 APF California State Championship. Our coach had to leave for an appointment and left an egotistical boob in charge to continue the practice. Instead, he wasted time showing off his 600 pound deadlift to his buds.
A week later, State Championship began. I proceeded with a 500 pound deadlift. But what do you know? Mr. Egomaniac attempted a little over 400 but failed. Interestly enough, neither he nor his buddy made it back to practice after that.