My Attempt at Powerlifing - Training Log

long term goals:
- squat 445lb
- deadlift 518lb
- bench press 319lb
- overhead press 186lb

Currently i'm doing the texas method:

Monday:
Sumo Squat 5x5
Close Grip Bench Press 5x5
Goodmornings 5x5
Chin ups 3x5

Wednesday:
Low Box Squat 2x5
Overhead Press 3x3
Glute Ham Raises 2x5
Dips 3x3

Friday: (max effort)
Low Bar Back Squat
Bench Press
Deadlift or RDL/SLDL/Rack Pulls/Halting Deadlifts - too many deadlifts will hurt my recovery
Pendlay Rows 3x3 - if i feel

week 1

Monday:
Sumo Squat 5x5 @ 242lb
Close Grip Bench Press 5x5 @ 154lb
Goodmornings 5x5 @ 110lb
Chin-ups 3x5 bw ( i was exhausted because this was the first day of volume after four weeks 3x3)

Wednesday:
Low Box Squat 2x5 @ 154lb
Overhead Press 3x3 @ 132lb
Glute Ham Raises 2x5 bw
Dips 3x3 @ 66lb

Friday:
Low Bar Squat 1x1 @ 348lb new PR
1x5 @ 50% of 348lb
Bench Press 1x1 @ 245lb new PR
Deadlift 1x1 @ 360lb new PR (back slightly rounding)
1x5 @ 50% of 360lb
Chin-Ups 2x5 @ 22lb

Impressions after week 1:
I'm satisfied of my first week in the texas method. Volume day was really a killer and now i understand all the need of a recovery day. The work on wednesday really made me recover fully. Many thanks to the recovery day, really. With the body at the top i could completely exploit the max effort day. Hope this magic will hold for several weeks.
On Friday i've decided to do one back-off set of five reps, just so that the volume don't stays too low. I decided this at the gym because i didn't feel fatigued enough by the singles. Perhaps it's a mistake. I hope your comments will let me better understand this point.

I will update my log at the end of the next week. Consider that, although I talk about monday, wednesday and friday, it's really about tuesdays, thurdays and saturdays.

week 2

Monday
Sumo Squat 5x5 @ 254lb
Bench Press 5x5 @ 165lb
Goodmornings 5x5 @ 122lb
Rows 3x5 @ 154lb

Wednesday
Low Box Squat 2x5 @ 165lb
Overhead Press 3x3 @ 132lb
Glute Ham Raises 2x5 @ BW (next time 2 x F)
Dip 3x3 @ 66lb

Friday
Low Bar Squat 1x2 @ 342lb new PR
Bench Press 1x2 @ 242lb (no good, second rep assisted)
Deadlift 1x2 @ 330lb (stop trying more weight because i felt form was getting bad)
Chin-Ups 1x5 @ 22lb
1x4 @ 33lb

Good squatting. How are things in Italy? I have family there.

thanks for the comment. Squat is my best lift. If you look at my bench press you'll see it's not good as it should be, but i plan to work on that later on. Now my focus are legs and back, cause i feel my deadlift is not strong enough. So the first goal is to be able to deadlift 30-50lb more than what i squat.

we in italy tend to complain about everything and never be happy of what we have (mainly politics).
But, at least for me, things are going well. The only thing that annoys me is that all good info about powerlifting is written in english. Italy is still soccer-oriented, and it's even difficult to find good gyms to train the powerlifting way. In all the country we have something like 300/400 professional lifters. Being strong is something that fascinated men since the origins, i fatigue to undertand why kicking a ball should deserve so much more credit.

cheers

Well, your English is very good. I tried to learn Italian and failed. My Dad was a little disapointed I'm sure. He grew up speaking nothing but Italian.

Nice squats man! Don't worry about your deadlift form. It took me sometime to get it down. I would progress but not as much as now. I would do 355 or 365 and it was basically a SLD. For 2 workouts I lowered the weight to 295, and worked on form. I was on SS, and it calls for 5 reps but I just did 10 or 15 because I cared about just getting my form down. All it took was doing that for 2-3 workouts I got it down. I just increased the weight by 5 or 10 pounds per workout after that. Think about pulling back, that helped me significantly.

week 3

Monday
Sumo Squat 4x5 @ 264lb + 1x2 @264 i was very fatigued, but on mondays i'm usually more tired, probably i should change days
Bench Press 5x5 @ 176lb easier than the previous week, probably because my technique is improving
Goodmornings 5x5 @ 132lb
Rows 3x5 @ 160lb last reps of third set are difficult, probably i should drop this exercise

Wednesday
Low Box Squat 2x5 @ 176lb
Overhead Press 3x3 @ 134lb
Glute Ham Raises 2x10 @ BW probably it's time to add some weight, but i have to do them at the lat machine...
Dip 3x3 @ 72lb really heavy

Friday
Low Bar Squat 1x3 @ 330lb
Close Grip Bench Press 1x1 @ 232lb i can't understand how i can lift almost the same weight as in the bench press
Rack Pulls 2x1 @ 375lb i felt back working not so much, i felt a lot of stress on abs and legs, probably because i have to do rack pulls in a smith machine
Chin-Ups 1x5 @ 22lb
1x5 @ 33lb a litte improvement

Observations after week 3
My squat is improving and i can squat deeper. Probably thanks to sumo squats and box squats which i never did. Bench press technique is improving and i feel stronger when pushing the bar. Shoulders are probably the weak link and i'll work on them later.
I switched deadlifts with rack pulls because deadlifts were starting to be heavy to recover from. Probably in a few weeks i'll try halting deadlifts because i don't like doing rack pulls in a smith machine.
Monday is my worst day because usually i arrive at the gym very tired, probably i should try switching days.
Let's see what happens next week.

Extra
This week i tested dumbbell curls, just because i wanted to know how much i could lift, since i don't train biceps. I was impressed because i could easily lift a 57lb dumbell. Just a confirmation, no point in training biceps, they are getting strong enough.

Originally Posted by Brian999

Think about pulling back, that helped me significantly.

I'm working on this piece of advice, and it's showing really helpfull. Probably it's just a matter of concentrating on the right things and my deadlift will improve

Originally Posted by shutUpAndSquat

I'm working on this piece of advice, and it's showing really helpfull. Probably it's just a matter of concentrating on the right things and my deadlift will improve

i know we are still in the mid of the week. Tonight i have my recovery day, which for sure i'm not going to miss. But i think i won't train on saturday (if things do not change) since i feel exhausted. Next week i plan to pause from texas e do an active recovery week. I don't know if i did something wrong with mondays (for me tuesdays), but i think i'm overreaching. I don't think it's for the intensity days, although i can say deadlift were becoming hard to recover, in fact i switched to rack pulls last friday (for me saturday). I feel i recovered completely from the pulls on friday only yesterday.
Maybe i'm in overreaching, maybe i'm doing too much volume, or too much deadlifts. In any case i think a week of active recovery will not hurt anybody.

I'll update the log, with the training sessions at the end of the week, as usual.

A deload/recovery is a good idea. You could try deadlifting every-other week instead of weekly. You are already hitting your lower back hard with the squats, goodmornings, glute ham raises, and other lifts.

Originally Posted by Off Road

A deload/recovery is a good idea. You could try deadlifting every-other week instead of weekly. You are already hitting your lower back hard with the squats, goodmornings, glute ham raises, and other lifts.

yes, it's true, probably i should try to deadlift less frequently. The purpose of this texas method was to hit hard the posteriour chain, that's why i'm doing so many exercises for the legs and the back. Probably i cannot bear this kind of work, or maybe it's just that i need some rest and then all will be good again.

Today, after the recovery workout, i feel totally regenerated. I can't believe how much helpful is this day in the routine.