2023 - 04 - 11

Energy System: Strength

Difficulty: Test

Intention:

Powerlifters are strong. Pulling is an implied movement with a correct deadlift and squat. So, the selected lifts to test are a back squat, deadlift, and bench press.

Admitting my own weakness, my horizontal pressing is not strong, so I often opt for a strict overhead press) and convert it to an estimated bench press.

I don’t get too caught up in the specifics as I’m not a competitive powerlift. As is the case with most folks, if a 3 or 5-rep max keeps you injury free, that’s find to estimate off of if you’re only comparing your current self to your previous self.

However, note that the further you drift from the true 1RM test, the less accurate your estimate will be. No one ever asks what your 20-rep max is.

Warm Up:

One of my favorite rep/set schemes if 5 x 2 (5 sets of 2 reps) because there is a built in warm up and you can go from there. However, if you’re testing all of these three lifts in one day, 4 x 2 might be a stretch.

I’m retroactively writing this post, so I’d have to guess that it looked something like:

• Set 1: light, warm up
• Set 2: moderate, confidence booster / check
• Set 3: heavy
• Set 4: sell out

Work:

• work to a heavy 2-rep max on each:

  • strict press
  • deadlift
  • back squat

• max pull ups (chin-over-bar)

Resources: