Are you ready to lift?

And who can argue with those raw numbers .

Can you hit those numbers fat boy????????

Scott, he is ATTEMPTING to bench with a multi ply shirt more than most of us will deadlift

We have 71 lifters who deadlift more than he benches raw, lets stick to the facts

I think George benches around 200kg raw, I know he's done 180kg in competition.

PTC said:

I've seen many experienced lifters with perfectly timed training cycles bomb quite often.

There is a very strong WA PL who from memory has bombed in 3 of his last 4 comps. Now he is pushing the envelope and moving some incredible iron, but he misses his openers more often than makes them.

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Without commenting on specifics, it is not unusual for lifters who go through strings of comps where the bomb. I know a lifters who this happened to and none of them was because of a programming/peaking issue. The two main reasons were: cutting weight and equipment. Often the two are related, ie the equipment doesn't work the same when the person loses that bit of weight before the comp. Lots can go wrong with equipment, most commonly in bench and making depth in the squat.

But I have seen lifters - intermediate lifters - completely bomb and go backwards due to overtraining/not deloading before comp day.

Generally, I agree that beginners shouldn't find it hard to be "peaking" all the time. In fact they may even go backwards if they try to periodise (good discussion on this in Rippetoe's practical programming). But surely there's no hard or fast rule for everyone, regardless of experience. Some people are more resilient than others, depends on your age or specific injuries you have, some people are going to be slower learners and pick up bad habits if they lift too close to their peak too regularly, even as beginners.

Periodisation isn't just about peaking for competition. It's also about maintaining longevity, interest/motivation, explosiveness and technique. All these things are easier to do if you go back to lighter weights or even take every now and then.

markos, you sure do pick the topics.

More often than not the issues are manifold.

I think if we follow our instincts, we wouldn't train at all.
After all these years I'm still not always good at gauging how I feel, for that reason I'll workout as hard as I can on the day.

If I followed my instincts I'd say to myself I'm too tired, find some excuse.

SB makes an interesting and valid point.... IMO it really depends on how we feel on the day...I am always ready to train/lift (that is a state of mind) however will admit that more often than not there's no way in hell that I'd be able to hit/equal a PR due to the state of my body from cumulative fatigue....as an example a few weeks ago I was squatting 272.5 for doubles with ease and had no doubt that I could have hit a PR there and then, so one would think that surely 3-4 weeks later I'd be stronger, however last night I had an "off" night and struggled with 260 for doubles (probably should have lowered my weight)...SB also stated that he is not very good at guaging how his body feels, as you become more experienced with lifting for strength you will become efficient at gauging where you are at and how you feel on the night...often if I'm having an off night I'll reduce the weight by 5% and if I have an "on" night i'll up it by 5%..

Just some food for thought...

I will add jonnie that if I'm feeling a tad lethargic, that feeling is usually mis-interpreted and my workout is an extremely good one, some days I feel very excited about working out and my workout is below par.

Sinus irritation, I've discovered does not effect a workout

Topics like this are better than.................

I wont list any because everyone is paranoid and thinks I'm talking about them

From what I've read it seems powerlifting is one of a handful of sports that has it's competitors performing at 100 percent only a few times a year. The others would be boxing, mma and other martial arts, where fights are only scheduled 3-4 times a year. All forms of football have the players performing weekly for close to 3/4 of the year. This is just an observation.

leachy said:

All forms of football have the players performing weekly for close to 3/4 of the year. This is just an observation.

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Football teams still try to tailor their conditioning to peak at certain times. Of course every conditioning coach has their own theories and programs. Collingwood did it brilliantly this year. Western Bulldogs apparently get flogged on the track all year and limped into the finals for the nth time in a row.

leachy said:

All forms of football have the players performing weekly for close to 3/4 of the year.

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Perform on the field, yes, but perform at their 100% best, no. A lot of players, particularly the star ones, are often played despite not being 100% physically fit (but fit enough to play a game). Some are 100% physically but not 100% match fit and may not play very well.

If football players could perform 100% every game, we wouldn't have the word "in-form".

It's the same as powerlifters lifting at 100% a few times a year, but less than that for the rest (although still lifting quite well).

PTC said:

Max pulled 230kg the night before the DL comp, Alen benched 130kg at a whim.

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I thought Max missed 230?

i know that during the sheiko cycles i did, i felt pretty weak, and would find 80% doubles and triples hard. If i cut back for a while or did 32 i would see an increase in strength.
I could hit 90% any time, not 100% during normal training.

those guys did well but did they cheat themselves out of higher numbers because of no comp prep?

This is very interesting, iv never done a cycle.

haz said:

i know that during the sheiko cycles i did, i felt pretty weak, and would find 80% doubles and triples hard. If i cut back for a while or did 32 i would see an increase in strength.
I could hit 90% any time, not 100% during normal training.

those guys did well but did they cheat themselves out of higher numbers because of no comp prep?

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Thats the idea of Sheiko Haz...cumulative fatigue....32 is a comp cycle so will be less volume than the others.

I know. im just showing people that different training plans elicit different effects.

should most training programs cause cumulative fatigue? and is cumulative fatigue the reason why a deload or decrease in volume should be used before comp days? And the reason why you cannot perform 100% during a training cycle?

PTC said:

Tonight at PTC I was having a discussion with Gawain, and I read a similar topic in Sticky's journal.

Now I understand training cycles, I base a lot of my training on them, but I'm confident that any of my lifters can perform well at any stage of their particular cycle.

On the weekend, Gareth, Jack, James and Dave lifted while at different stages of their program. Gareth and Jack hit PB's on every lift, James and Dave were thereabouts.

Max pulled 230kg the night before the DL comp, Alen benched 130kg at a whim.

I understand the Elite may need perfect timing to perform at 100%, but I truly dont feel this is the case for most.

I watched Blake get changed beside a platform then step on and smash an opener, zero warm up, at Nats. I have spoken to Blake in the past about being mentally ready to lift.

Max feels he can pretty much hit his PB's anytime in the gym. I know when I trained 20 years ago, I could hit any PB, any session I wanted, but I didnt really train in cycles.

I'm not for one minute suggesting cycles is not the best way to train, it is, I'm suggesting you shouldnt be weaker at varying stages during cycles.

How do you guys feel about this?

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I think Gawain makes a good point in that for a competitive powerlifter it not important if they can hit 90% on any given sunday. As long as they can hit a max on one day then thats the important thing.

You've said yourself gym lifts dont mean shit, its what you do in a comp that counts.


I agree though that most lifter who aren't in the true upper echeleons of strength should be able to get pretty close to their current max on almost all the time.

I disagree though that shouldn't be weaker at different stages during a cycle. The whole point of cycling training is to be stronger at the end of it, hence at the start you would be weaker.

I was reading an article by Rick Hussey and he states that top powerlifters compete 6-8 times a year, and if you compete once or twice a year, in 10 years, you are still a novice in his eyes with 20 comps.

In talking with lifters in Australia, far too often I hear I'm not ready to lift.

If not now, when?

I guess I trained differently and from a different era.

Lifters that are strong once or twice a year are not my cup of tea. I dont train my lifters that way.

Old James decided to compete at the CAPO DL comp on Monday. He was doing week 4-5 of PPP, he pulled a 202.5kg PB

A week later, at the last minute, decides to do my Novice Comp. He had a Xmas party on Sunday so was undecided. He just took one DL attempt and fucked off.....200kg.

He is 61, do you want to know how many people didnt compete because they werent "ready" for both comps mentioned lol.

Its like having a fast car that only goes fast twice a year.

whats the fucking point?

Strong is Strong

You're right, strong is strong, but it's simply not feasable to be the same strength all the time. If that were the case then you're not progressing. People should have the mental toughness and physical conditioning to be able to go near their max almost any time, but most people don't, because they're amateurs who have other things on their plate.

When I drag the tyre early in the week, my heavy squat suffers later in the week. If I had a comp, I wouldn't drag the tyre before the comp. If I were attempting to lean up, i'm always weaker too, hence why cycles are used, to allow one to be at least in the ballpark for a comp.

I follow what you're saying, but I think it's more just a product of our society and people getting weak bodied and weak minded in general - everything handed to them on a platter, very few things need to be worked for.

Lets all get metro, shave our balls, and wear tight shirts eh?

PTC said:

Its like having a fast car that only goes fast twice a year.

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True! But your car wont be fast if its ridden into the ground

If everyone just goes from there own perspective at the level there at or the best they have reached then there will be variations in answers.

The Novice and intermediates will say "of course".

The guys that move the real weight will say "like fuck".