THINK STRONG
THINK
STRONG
A SMART, SIMPLE WAY TO STRENGTH
Let go of the
thoughts that
don’t make you
strong.
Think Strong
2
Week 1
Day 1
OFFSEASON
Day 2
Day 3
Exercise
Work Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
4
5
74
Bench Press
4
5
74
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
4
5
74
Overhead Press
4
5
74
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Squat
5
5
59
Bench Press
5
5
59
Barbell Row
3
10
—
Squat
6
2
85
Bench Press
6
2
85
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Deadlift
6
2
85
Overhead Press
6
2
85
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Squat
5
2
68
Bench Press
5
2
68
Barbell Row
4
10
—
Squat
4
3
85
Bench Press
4
3
85
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Deadlift
4
3
85
Overhead Press
4
3
85
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Squat
5
3
68
Bench Press
5
3
68
Barbell Row
5
10
—
Week 2
Day 1
Block 1
Day 2
Day 3
Week 3
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Week 4
Day 1
OFFSEASON
Day 2
Day 3
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
3
5
77
Bench Press
3
5
77
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
3
5
77
Overhead Press
3
5
77
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Squat
5
5
61
Bench Press
5
5
61
Barbell Row
3
10
—
Squat
5
2
87
Bench Press
5
2
87
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Deadlift
5
2
87
Overhead Press
5
2
87
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Squat
5
2
69
Bench Press
5
2
69
Barbell Row
4
10
—
Squat
3
3
87
Bench Press
3
3
87
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Deadlift
3
3
87
Overhead Press
3
3
87
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Squat
5
3
69
Bench Press
5
3
69
Barbell Row
5
10
—
Week 5
Day 1
Block 2
Day 2
Day 3
Week 6
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Week 7
Day 1
OFFSEASON
Day 2
Day 3
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
2
5
80
Bench Press
2
5
80
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
2
5
80
Overhead Press
2
5
80
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Squat
5
5
64
Bench Press
5
5
64
Barbell Row
3
10
—
Squat
3
2
90
Bench Press
3
2
90
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Deadlift
3
2
90
Overhead Press
3
2
90
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Squat
5
2
72
Bench Press
5
2
72
Barbell Row
4
10
—
Squat
2
3
90
Bench Press
2
3
90
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Deadlift
2
3
90
Overhead Press
2
3
90
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Squat
5
3
72
Bench Press
5
3
72
Barbell Row
5
10
—
Week 8
Day 1
Block 3
Day 2
Day 3
Week 9
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Week 1
MEET PREP
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Exercise
Work Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
2
3
91/88
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
2
3
91/88
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Bench Press
2
3
91/88
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Squat
2
2
96/92
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Deadlift
2
2
96/92
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Bench Press
2
2
96/92
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Squat
4
1
101/97/94/94
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Deadlift
4
1
101/97/94/94
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Bench Press
4
1
101/97/94/94
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
Week 2
Day 1
Block 1
Day 2
Day 3
Week 3
Day 1
Day 2
You’ll deload before and after this training cycle, so plan for
8 total weeks of meet prep. See Chapter 4 for details.
Day 3
Week 4
MEET PREP
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
2
3
88/85
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
2
3
88/85
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Bench Press
2
3
88/85
Chin/Pull-Up
5
5
—
Abs
3
10
—
Squat
1
3
93
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Deadlift
1
3
93
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Bench Press
1
3
93
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Squat
1
2
98
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Deadlift
1
2
98
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Bench Press
1
2
98
Chin/Pull-Up
5
5
—
Abs
3
10
—
Week 5
Day 1
Block 2
Day 2
Day 3
Week 6
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
INTRODUCTION
BOOK CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
INTRODUCTION
THE OFFSEASON PROGRAM
CUSTOMIZING THE OFFSEASON
PROGRAM
THE MEET PREP PROGRAM
APPENDIX: FAQS & TECHNIQUE
This book is the culmination of fifteen years in strength
training and competitive powerlifting. When I started
lifting, I felt lost: none of my friends trained; my parents
were against it; and to my wrestling and cross-country
coaches, lifting was an afterthought. Today, I know that
their attitudes were the result of a hundred years of fear
and misinformation about the nature of strength training
and exercise in general, but back then, all I knew was
frustration.
It wasn’t until several years later that I began to
understand how to train properly, and even then, I had to
teach myself, mostly by reading articles from EliteFTS and
following whatever cookie-cutter program I could find that
looked hard. That’s all I cared about: training heavy and
hard. I believed that as long as I pushed myself to the
limit, day in and day out, I’d reach my goals.
That was a terrible attitude to have, of course — I was
constantly beat up and run down, and even though I was
shredded to the bone, I had little size or strength. I
Think Strong
8
couldn’t accept that I needed to take rest days, needed to
give myself more time to recover. The four-day-per-week
programs appeared in my mind as excuses to slack off;
the idea to train with light weights seemed unthinkable.
It took me almost a decade to realize how misguided my
attitude was, and only then did I begin to make real
progress. In fact, in two years’ time, I added one hundred
pounds to my bench press, two hundred to my deadlift,
and nearly two hundred and fifty to my squat.
The difference was that over those two years, I learned
how to Think Strong.
First, I found what worked for me: multiple sets with nearbut-not-quite-max loads, an almost exclusive focus on the
squat, bench press, and deadlift, a search for constant
improvement in technique, and ample time for recovery.
Those four things form the basis of the Think Strong
Method.
Almost.
There’s one last part that’s more important than anything
else, something that I realized only after I’d achieved
everything I set out to do when I started lifting (and even a
bit more). It’s the idea that everyone is different, and you
have to find what works for you — not what works for
someone else. I spent so many years searching for the
guru with all the right answers, the person who could just
tell me what to do so that I’d not have to struggle with the
overwhelming amount of conflicting information and
opinions that littered the Internet.
There is no guru with all the answers. I struggled for so
long because my body is a bit odd; I have a short torso
and long legs, but not femurs. My arms are too long for
my body and my torso too thick. So I don’t fit any of the
“textbook” ideas of exercise technique. My squat looks
painfully awkward, my deadlift stance changes from day
to day and week to week, and my bench press has never
felt quite right. But it all works for me.
You’ll have to find what works for you, too, and this book
is designed to help you on that journey by taking you
progressively through the steps of Thinking Strong. You’ll
begin with the basic method, a simple, straightforward
program with little variation or flexibility. Over time, you’ll
develop your own customized program, one that
incorporates exercises that train your weakpoints,
highlight your strengths, account for your recovery ability
— everything tailored to you, not to someone else or
some intangible ideal.
It’s not easy. It takes hard work, patience, dedication, and
a positive mental attitude. But trust that if you put in the
time and effort, results will come. If you only take that one
idea away from this book, you’ll come out on top.
Think Strong
9
THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT.
anger, disappointment, and moving on to a new, more
reasonable program.
When it comes to programming, I’ve tried almost
everything. I started training in 2001, and I spent the first
decade or so of my lifting career in search of that
perfect program — the one that would make me big,
strong, lean, and athletic. I never found it. Instead, I
wasted years of training on cookie-cutter programs that
either simply weren’t appropriate to my level of
experience, or just weren’t a good program for anyone.
The Think Strong method is different. It’s built on the
time-tested principles of periodization, but at the same
time, it’s designed in a way to smooth the transition
between phases so that you never have to attempt a
weight you’re not prepared to lift. It also explains how
those weights are chosen, so that if you ever do struggle
with a workout, you’re informed enough to adjust the
program to fit your body more appropriately.
After I began my doctoral degree at the University of
Texas at Austin, studying the history of strength and
fitness, I started to understand what all those programs
were missing. Almost none of the bodybuilding
programs in muscle magazines applied the principles
of periodization effectively. In fact, most weren’t
periodized at all! Some suggested adding two or five or
even ten pounds a week to the bar, and promised that if I
worked hard enough, I could handle the extra load. Well, I
worked my ass off, but about a month or two in I’d hit a
plateau and no matter how much I pushed, I just couldn’t
squeeze out enough reps with enough weight.
The offseason program looks simple, but it’s actually built
from a very complex set of pieces that all need to work
together to work well. For that reason, it’s very important
that you follow the program exactly as written.
Changing the sets, reps, or exercises will undermine your
progress. Of course, rules were meant to be broken, and
later in this book you’ll learn how you can modify your
training to better fit your needs — but not until you have
some solid experience with the base program.
Other programs, usually powerlifting-specific ones, did
use periodization. But they were full of percentages (and
sometimes short on explanation), and usually involved a
lot of pretty boring workouts with a pretty light weight.
After a few weeks or months, the prescribed weights shot
up — above what I was capable of doing. Cue frustration,
When, inevitably, you decide that you want to test your
limits — either in the gym or the meet — you’ll want to
follow the meet prep program for the six weeks leading up
to your max attempt. The meet prep program is
deceptively simple, because it involves relatively few
exercises, but it will demand everything you’ve got,
physically and mentally. The meet prep program will set
you up for the best possible performance, maximizing all
the work you did during the offseason.
Think Strong
10
I hope this book can help any lifter who’s struggling with
programming, but it’s really intended at the intermediatelevel guy or girl struggling to break through to that next
level. Dave Tate calls this the “Dead Zone,” and that’s a
perfect description of what this level feels like.
If you feel like you’re stuck in the Dead Zone, know that
progress is going to be slow, and frustrating. Embrace
that, and embrace the process of finding what works for
you. Spend the time going through the standard
offseason program described in Chapter 2, even if it
seems too simple or too easy. Then really dedicate
yourself to the process of adjusting your training, as
described in Chapter 3. Eventually, you’ll figure out what
works, and what doesn’t, and that’s when the gains will
come back — never before.
Once you’ve gotten to that point, give Chapter 4 a try.
Pick out a meet, train for it conservatively, and see if you
can’t surpass your own expectations. Eventually, of
course, you’ll have to adjust your meet prep strategy, too,
but that’s a topic for another book.
Good luck. Don’t get discouraged. And Think Strong.
Once you’ve finished reading, if you still
want a more customized training plan,
email me! ben@phdeadlift.com
Think Strong
11
BIG
FIVE
THE FIVE PRINCIPLES
#1. STRENGTH
IS BUILT BY
THE SQUAT,
BENCH PRESS,
AND DEADLIFT.
Yes, there are plenty of other
valuable exercises, and many of
them are used in this program,
too. But the three powerlifts are
the most representative measure
of overall strength, and will
generally do more for your
physique than other exercises,
too. If those three lifts are
improving, you can be confident
that your training is going well.
#2. STRENGTH
IS BUILT WITH
MULTIPLE SETS
OF LOW REPS.
We’ll get into the workings of
periodization a little later on, but
for now, it’s enough to know that
if you want to get stronger, the
majority of your training should
fall into the 2- to 6-rep range, for
10-24 total repetitions per lift
over the course of a given
workout.
Think Strong
12
#3. STRENGTH IS BUILT
FROM EFFORT AND
DISCIPLINE.
Hard work and consistency are the two most important
factors in your success. If you don’t work hard, day in
and day out, nothing else you do matters. It’s not
supposed to be easy.
#5. EVERYONE IS
DIFFERENT.
Lifting weights is as much an art as a science, and there’s
no one technique, program, or diet that works best for
everyone. Part of progress is learning what works for you,
and so a big part of your education as a lifter is recording
your workouts in a way that allows you to identify patterns
and optimize your training to best fit your body and your
preferences.
#4. STRENGTH REQUIRES
GOOD TECHNIQUE.
If your technique fails to incorporate all of the muscles
involved in a given lift, you won’t be able to lift as much as
you could with better technique. Even worse, you might
develop imbalances that can lead to injuries, and if you’re
injured, you can’t train productively or get stronger. But
notice this principle says “good technique,” not “perfect
technique.” If you’re constantly obsessing about your
form, even though you’re performing the lifts safely, then
you won’t be able to put in the necessary effort to get
stronger. Don’t let “perfect” become the enemy of
greatness.
Think Strong
13
THE OFFSEASON
PROGRAM
The offseason program is fairly simple, but it’s worth understanding how
it’s designed before you get started. The more you understand about
your training, the more you’ll learn about your body.
THINKING STRONG IN THE OFFSEASON
CHAPTER CONTENTS
1. THE BASICS
2. COMPOUND MOVEMENTS
3. ASSISTANCE MOVEMENTS
4. HEAVY DAYS AND LIGHT DAYS
5. THE WAVED REP SCHEME
6. INCREASING WEIGHT, DECREASING
SETS
I know it’s easy to just take a quick glance at the program,
plug your numbers into the spreadsheet, and get started.
And honestly, you won’t go far wrong that way. But it’s
better to read the explanations first, so that you can
understand why your body responds the way it does. This
chapter explains all of that.
Again, make sure to follow the program as written. There’s
plenty of time to customize your training, and, in fact, the
next chapter explains how to do exactly that. But before
you do that, you need to learn how the program works
and how your body responds to it.
7. FINDING YOUR 1-REP MAX
8. WARMUPS AND RAMP-UPS
9. DELOADING
10.TRACKING YOUR TRAINING
11.TRAINING STYLE
Think Strong
15
1. THE BASICS
It’s pretty simple: you’ll train using a three-day split (at first — we’ll go over adding a fourth day later on). Every workout
follows a full-body template. Days 1 and 2 are heavy, and Day 3 is light. On every training day, you’ll also perform some
sort of accessory work for certain muscles. Don’t add any other lifting! If you’re really dying to work out, on your off days,
you can do some sort of conditioning (it’s optional, but if you do want to implement conditioning, check out the next
Chapter after you’ve completed one training cycle of the standard program).
DAY 1
DAY 2
Squat & Bench Press:
Medium sets of 5
Deadlift & Overhead
Press: Medium sets of 5
Reverse Hyperextension &
Abs: 3 sets of 10
Chin or Pull-up & Glute-Ham
Raise: 3 sets of 10
Squat & Bench Press:
Medium sets of 2
Deadlift & Overhead
Press: Medium sets of 2
Reverse Hyperextension &
Abs: 4 sets of 10
Chin or Pull-up & Glute-Ham
Raise: 4 sets of 10
Squat & Bench Press:
Heavy sets of 3
Deadlift & Overhead
Press: Heavy sets of 3
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
DAY 3
Squat, Bench Press &
Barbell Row: Light sets
of 5
Squat, Bench Press &
Barbell Row: Light sets
of 5
Deload
Reverse Hyperextension &
Abs: 5 sets of 10
Chin or Pull-up & Glute-Ham
Raise: 5 sets of 10
The Offseason Program
16
THE TRAINING SPLIT
Your training is planned in three-week blocks. Each week
uses multiple sets of either 2, 3, or 5 repetitions on the
heavy, main movements. So, for example, on week 1,
you’ll do sets of 5 for the squat and bench on day 1, and
the deadlift and overhead press on day 2. On week 2,
you’ll do sets of 2 for everything, and so on.
➡ Day 1: Squat and Bench Press emphasis
➡ Day 2: Deadlift and Overhead Press emphasis
➡ Day 3: Light work for the Squat, Bench Press, and
Barbell Row
THE TRAINING BLOCK
Three weeks equals one training block. Each training
block, you increase the weight and decrease the number
of sets. After three blocks, you test your new one-rep
max. So, to summarize: three workouts per week,
three weeks per block, three blocks per training cycle.
➡ Week 1: Sets of 5 with a weight you should be
comfortable using for 6-7 reps
➡ Week 2: Sets of 2 with a weight you should be
comfortable using for 3-4 reps
➡ Week 3: Sets of 3 with the same weight as week 2
Easy, right? And that’s pretty much all you need to know
to dive right in. We’ll look at some of the aspects of the
program in more detail, though, so you get a better idea of
the big picture.
BLOCK 1
Week 1
4x5, 74% 1RM
Week 2
6x2, 85% 1RM
Week 3
4x3, 85% 1RM
BLOCK 2
Week 4
3x5, 77% 1RM
Week 5
5x2, 87% 1RM
Week 6
3x3, 87% 1RM
BLOCK 3
Week 7
2x5, 80% 1RM
Week 8
3x2, 90% 1RM
Week 9
2x3, 90% 1RM
These numbers only apply to your first two training days each week.
On your light day, you’ll always use 70% of your 1RM for 3x5.
Don’t worry if it the numbers seem complicated — you can just plug
your 1RMs into the included spreadsheet and it will calculate all
three blocks for you.
The Offseason Program
17
2. COMPOUND
MOVEMENTS
You probably already know the benefits of training with
heavy, compound movements like the squat, bench press,
and deadlift. Heavy, compound lifts build more muscle
and strength more quickly than any other alternative.
That’s all there is to it. If you can perform a 600-pound
squat, 500-pound bench press, and 700-pound deadlift,
and follow a decent diet, you’ll have a great physique.
Of course, there are lots of good compound movements,
but you’ll only be using a few of them. Instead of
spreading your effort out, you’ll concentrate it on the best
bang-for-your-buck muscle builders. Trust me: if you can
deadlift 700 pounds, you won’t have any problems doing
lat pulldowns with the whole stack.
3. ASSISTANCE
MOVEMENTS
Again, the template doesn’t rely on many assistance
exercises. Besides the overhead press and barbell row,
your main assistance exercises are the chin or pull-up, the
reverse hyperextension, the glute-ham raise, and some
dedicated ab training. The overhead press, barbell row,
and chin or pull-up in particular help to balance the
development of the upper body — if you only use the
bench press, you won’t really get enough work for the
back and might develop shoulder problems. The reverse
hyperextension, when performed properly, is the single
best assistance exercise you can do for the squat and
deadlift.
Do not add assistance exercises! They’re just not
necessary unless you’re an advanced bodybuilder. Focus
on putting all of your effort into the main lifts, and don’t
worry about the extras.
That said, variety is the spice of life, and you’ll have the
opportunity to add some in once you’ve completed a full
three-block cycle of the standard program. On your
second time through, you can experiment a bit, but
make sure you complete a full cycle of the standard
program first. The next chapter explains how to
customize your training, but only when you’re ready.
Finally, you’ll notice there is no weight listed for the
assistance exercises. The purpose of these movements is
to strengthen the muscle and improve activation, and so
the weight itself is secondary. However, you should still
train them progressively, and that’s why you’ll be adding a
set to your assistance movement every week of each
training block. Start week 1 using a light weight, and
keep the weight the same throughout the entire
training block. Each training block, try to add ten
pounds to each assistance movement.
So, for example, you might start in week 1 using 20
The Offseason Program
18
pounds on the reverse hyperextension for 3 sets of 10. In
week 2, you’ll use 20 pounds for 4x10, and in week 3, 20
pounds for 5x10. In week 4, you’ll go back to 3 sets of 10,
but this time using 30 pounds.
4. HEAVY AND LIGHT DAYS
I struggled for a long time accepting the value of light
training days. If progress means adding weight, why
would I ever want to train with less than my best?
Eventually, though, I learned that light days have two
huge benefits for strength.
First, light days give your body a chance to recover
from all the hard work of your heavy training days. If
you don’t regularly incorporate light days into your
program, you probably need to deload once a month or
so. I tried that for a while, but I found that the week after
a deload, I was always a little sluggish and needed
another week to get back in the groove of heavy training.
That meant that for every four weeks, I only got two really
solid training weeks. By switching to light days instead of
deloads, I was able to train more productively for much
longer.
Note: Deloads are still important, but you don’t need to
take them very frequently. Deloads are explained later on
in this chapter.
Second, light days give you a chance to really practice
your technique. Technique is one of the Five Principles,
but it takes a long time to perfect, and when using very
heavy loads, even the best lifters sometimes suffer from
breakdowns in technique. The more you practice with
lighter weights, the better you’ll be at maintaining good
form when the loads get challenging.
On your light days, you’ll use 80% of your heavy day
weights — not of your 1RM. That’s challenging enough
to make the workout worthwhile, but light enough that
you’ll recover from the training very easily. You’ll always
do 5 sets on light days, using the same reps as your
heavy day. So, for example, if you performed 4 sets of 3
reps with 400 pounds on squat on your heavy day, you’ll
do 5 sets of 3 reps with 320 pounds on your light day.
5. WAVED REP SCHEME
So, why sets of 5, 2, and 3? Why not 2, 3, and 5, or even
(ahem) 5, 3, and 1? Why not sets of 8?
I’ve found that any sort of linear rep scheme, where you’re
working with progressively higher or lower numbers of
reps each week, become very mentally exhausting. It’s a
challenge to always add reps or to always add weight, for
more than two weeks in a row.
The waved approach gives you a mental advantage
every time you train. The week of 5 reps is physically
challenging, but not mentally, because you know you
The Offseason Program
19
could crank out a few more reps if you really needed to.
The week of 2 reps is a little harder mentally, because
you’re using a much heavier weight than the prior week,
but you only need to do it for a double — two quick reps
and it’s over. And the week of 3 is very challenging
mentally and physically, but you’ve got an advantage,
because you used the same load for multiple sets of 2 just
one week earlier. You already know you can move the
weight!
6. INCREASING WEIGHT,
DECREASING SETS
Each three-week block of training uses the same number
of reps, but fewer sets, and heavier weights, than the prior
block, up to a total of three. After three blocks (nine
weeks), you can either repeat the whole offsesason
program, using a new estimated 1RM for the squat, bench
press, and deadlift (based on your week 9 numbers, see
“Finding your 1RM” below); or you can move to the meetprep program and train to set a true new 1RM.
If you’ve competed in a powerlifting meet recently (within
the last six months or so), you already know your 1RMs:
just use your best squat, bench press, and deadlift from
that meet. That’s the best-case scenario. If you haven’t
competed, but have tested your maxes in the gym, those
numbers are fine too, as long as you used good form. (It’s
a good idea to record your heavy attempts in the gym so
that you can analyze them afterward.)
If you haven’t tested your 1RM in a meet or in a gym,
that’s okay, too. You can use a 1RM calculator to get a
pretty good estimate of what you’re capable of. I
recommend the Brzycki formula, which is just one of many
ways of guessing what your 1RM might be based on
higher-rep sets:
Weight used for multiple reps ÷ (1.0278 — 0.0278 ✕
number of reps)
The fewer reps used in this calculation, the better — a
2RM will be more accurate than a 3RM, which will be
more accurate than a 5RM, and so on. Again, you don’t
have to do this calculation on your own, since there’s a
conversion formula built into the included spreadsheet.
7. FINDING YOUR 1RM
Your one-rep max (1RM) is the weight you can lift once
with good form. That means squatting below parallel,
benching with a full pause on the chest, and deadlifting
without straps and without hitching.
The Offseason Program
20
8. WARMUPS AND RAMP-UPS
Before every workout you should take a general warmup to help prepare your muscles and your mind for training.
There’s no one right warmup for everyone, but yours should take at least ten minutes of dedicated work before you ever
touch a barbell, and include at least 3-5 minutes of cardiovascular exercise to loosen up.
Here’s my preferred warmup:
1. Five minutes of stationary cycling.
2. Self-myofascial release exercises using a foam roller and similar tools, focusing on the tight areas around my hips
and shoulders.
3. Dynamic stretching exercises using bands, again focusing on my hips and shoulders.
4. Activation exercises using bands or machines for my glutes and upper back.
Most of this warmup is targeted at my specific weaknesses, and it may not be applicable to you. There are tons of great
warmup resources on elitefts.com that you can use to design a warmup routine that meets your individual needs. Don’t
stress too much about your warmup, though — the most important thing is that you do one.
In addition to your general warmup, you should perform a specific warmup for the major exercises of each
workout. For the first few warmup sets, the weight and reps don’t matter. For example, you might start out squatting
with just the bar for a few reps, and then move up to 135. These early warmup sets help you get more comfortable with
the movement pattern.
Once you’re within 80% of your target weight for the day, the warmup sets get more important. We’ll call these ramp-up
sets, and the ramp-up sets are specifically programmed to ease the transition between warmup and work sets.
Your ramp-up sets depend on the number of reps you’re using that week:
The Offseason Program
21
STANDARD RAMP-UP PROTOCOL
Ramp-Up Set 1: 80% of target weight (TW) for 3 reps
Sets of 5 Reps
Ramp-Up Set 2: 90% of TW for 2 reps
Ramp-Up Set 1: 80% of TW for 2 reps
Sets of 2 or 3 Reps
Ramp-Up Set 2: 90% of TW for 1 rep
ADVANCED RAMP-UP PROTOCOL
Ramp-Up Set 1: 75% of TW for 3 reps
Sets of 5 Reps
Ramp-Up Set 2: 85% of TW for 2 reps
Ramp-Up Set 3: 92% of TW for 2 reps
Ramp-Up Set 1: 80% of TW for 2 reps
Sets of 2 or 3 Reps
Ramp-Up Set 2: 87% of TW for1 rep
Ramp-Up Set 3: 92-95% of TW for 1 rep
The standard ramp-up sets are calculated automatically for you in the included spreadsheet.
The Offseason Program
22
9. DELOADING
With this program, you shouldn’t feel the need to deload
very often. The program is designed to build
momentum from week to week and block to block, not
to break you down. That said, sometimes life gets in the
way, and maybe one week you don’t recover very well
because you were sick, stressed, or whatever. That’s no
problem! You can take a deload week between any
block you wish. Try your best to only take deloads
between and not during blocks (so after your week of 3
reps, not after your week of 5s or 2s). If you absolutely
can’t avoid deloading during a block, though, that’s not a
deal breaker. Just pick up the next wherever you left off.
Some signs you might need a deload:
•
You struggle to complete a workout, even though last
week you managed all of your sets and reps easily.
•
You have trouble sleeping or loss of appetite, but
you’re not sick.
•
•
You are sick.
•
You no longer feel excited about training.
Remember Principle #5: everyone is different. If you feel
that you need a deload, take one!
THE DELOAD WEEK
➡ Day 1: Squat & Bench Press, 5x5 with 65% 1RM
➡ Day 2: Deadlift & Overhead Press, 5x5 with 65%
1RM
➡ Day 3: Assistance Circuit (see below)
On day 3, you’ll perform a giant set of Leg Press, Lat
Pulldown, and Dumbbell Bench Press. Do one set of 10
reps on each exercise using a weight you could do for 20
reps. Take no rest between sets. After you complete one
full giant set (so one set of each exercise, and three total
sets), rest five minutes, and then repeat, up to a total of
three full giant sets (nine total sets).
After you deload, just resume training as normal, picking
up wherever you left off.
You have life or job events that are causing you
significant stress outside of the gym.
The Offseason Program
23
10. TRACKING YOUR
TRAINING
I’ve personally used this method for eighteen months
straight before I felt the need to experiment with anything
else — and even then, the other methods I tried weren’t
as productive as this system. In short, this is a program
you can use for years with great success. It’s that
long-term, consistent progress that builds elite lifters.
But long-term success requires planning, and to plan
where you’re headed, you need to keep track of where
you’ve been. You must track your training carefully.
It’s not enough to just write down the sets, reps, and
weight, either. You need to track your bodyweight, your
technique, and the effort you put into your training.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, you can track
almost everything in the included spreadsheet, and it’s not
much more difficult to write it down in a notebook. Here’s
how to do it:
1. Weigh yourself weekly. You should weigh yourself
first thing in the morning, without clothes, using the
same scale and on the same day of the week.
Record that number.
2. Each workout, record the sets, reps, weights, and
reps in the tank based on your actual performance.
3. Occasionally you should record video of your
workouts to monitor your technique. Adding
weight to your lifts won’t build strength if you
consistently let your form break down, and video
can help keep you honest. There’s more
information about technique in the Appendix.
If you read that carefully, you might be a little confused by
part of #2. Let’s look at reps in the tank a little more
closely.
REPS IN THE TANK
Ever had an awful workout before? The weights feel too
heavy, your body feels too sluggish, your mind checked
out before you even walked in the gym. We’ve all been
there, and it’s never fun. On the other hand, some
workouts, everything just seems to click. You’re in the
zone, working weights feel like warmups, and you finish
your workout feeling fresher than when you started.
These types of fluctuations will always happen, no matter
how long you train or how much strength you build. Most
programs don’t take that into account! If you have a bad
day, you’re pretty much SOL. Tracking your reps in the
tank helps you deal with bad workouts, so that you
have more good ones. Every week, the loads are
planned so that even if you’re having a rough day, you can
still complete a given workout (although you might have to
take very long rests between sets).
The Offseason Program
24
On good days, you’ll find that the weights move easily,
and you finish the set feeling like you could do another rep
— or another two, or even three. Those reps you could
have performed (but didn’t) are not wasted.
Remember: we’re trying to build you up, not break you
down. Saving reps in the tank saves resources your body
can use to recover. And by tracking the reps in the tank
you have left every workout, over the course of several
training cycles, you can better tailor your training to fit
your individual recovery and strength curve.
Here’s how it works:
1. After each set, evaluate how many more reps you
could perform. Let’s say it’s your week of 2 reps,
and after your first set, you really think you could
have done 4. So you had 4 reps possible - 2 reps
performed = 2 reps left in the tank. Record that
number. Be honest about this! If you had to really
grind through your last rep, don’t pretend that you
could have done another — it might help your ego,
but it will just hurt your progress in the long term.
In that case, your reps in the tank is zero.
2. If, for whatever reason, you aren’t able to complete
the scheduled number of reps in a set — even
though you put in 100% effort — your reps in the
tank will be a negative number. For example, if you
were supposed to perform 315x5 and only get 4
reps, your reps in the tank is -1. Don’t stress about
it, just write the number down and keep going.
And that’s it! Your reps in the tank will become very
important later, after you’ve completed a full 10-week
cycle of standard program. For now, as long as you’re
tracking your training, you’re good to go!
11. TRAINING STYLE
Here’s the secret to all of this: You should almost always
feel like you have more reps in the tank. Only in weeks
3 and 4 of block 3 should you feel like you’re pushing to
your absolute limit. If you’re in week 2 or 3 of blocks 1 or
2 and you’re missing reps, you overestimated your 1RM.
Knock it down by 10% and start over with week 1.
In those last two weeks of block 3, take as long as you
need between sets. Don’t rush yourself, but move quickly
enough to stay warm. In all of your other training, move
as quickly as you can between sets.
One last bit of advice: training time is your time. Don’t
waste it by chatting or messing around with your phone. If
you’ve got lots of friends at the gym, that’s awesome, and
you should absolutely enjoy spending time with them —
but do it before and after your workout, not during. Stay
focused on your work in the gym while you’re training.
You get out of it what you put into it.
The Offseason Program
25
CUSTOMIZING YOUR
OFF SEASON PROGRAM
After you’ve run through a full 10-week block of the standard
program, you can adjust your training to make it your own.
STOP.
RUN THE
STANDARD
PROGRAM
FIRST.
Look, I get it. Training three days a
week isn’t enough! You need to
do front squats/cleans/pinkie-up
tricep extensions/(insert favorite
exercise here)! You can handle
way more than 74% for sets of 5!
But if you’re new to the program,
then you’re not experienced
enough to tinker with it. If you
fuck with things too soon, you
could hurt your progress or your
body. Don’t come crying if you
can’t follow the training as written
for 10 weeks.
Think Strong
27
OKAY, IT’S BEEN 10
WEEKS. NOW WHAT?
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Glad you asked! Hopefully, after a full cycle through
standard program — if you followed it exactly as written
— you accomplished two things:
1. You added a good amount of strength to your
squat, bench press, and deadlift.
CHAPTER CONTENTS
1. ADJUSTING THE PERCENTAGES
2. ADDING A FOURTH DAY
3. ADDING VARIATION
4. CONDITIONING
5. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
2. You noticed some trends in your training log or
things (percentages, exercises, whatever) that
didn’t quite work for you. They were okay, but they
could be better.
Obviously, not everything about your training will have
been perfect. No program is perfect, especially no offthe-shelf program, because of Principle #5: everyone is
different. But the Think Strong method really shines
because, if you track your training appropriately, it teaches
you to customize your training to meet your individual
needs.
Think Strong
28
1. ADJUSTING THE
PERCENTAGES
use 85% on squats for triples instead of 87%. You’d still
use 87% for bench press, assuming you had at least 1 rep
left in the tank on every set for that day.
The first and most important change you’ll make involves
the percentages you use each week. You’ve probably
noticed that they’re not nice, round numbers — you use
74% on week 1 of block 1, for example, rather than 75%.
That’s not arbitrary — 74% is the percentage that works
well for many, maybe most people — but not everyone.
Maybe it’s a little heavier than you think is appropriate for
week 1. Or maybe it’s a little too light (but probably not).
Conversely, if you had any sets where your “Reps in the
Tank” was 3 or more, the weight was a little too light.
When you repeat the program for your second
training cycle, increase the weight you use on those
exercises by the percentage listed below. It’s usually
better to increase the percentages very slowly, because
oftentimes you might just have a really great day in the
gym, and that’s not necessarily the best indicator of
progress. You want to base your numbers off your
average performance, not your absolute best.
More likely, you found that some time around weeks 6-8
you really started to struggle. In these later weeks, you
can begin to make changes that really make a
difference in the last couple sessions of your training
cycle.
To do that, you’ll want to look back at your training log
and identify the sessions where you were pushing yourself
to the limit. Go check the “Reps in the Tank” column of
your training log. If you had any sets in weeks 1-9
where your “Reps in the Tank” was 0, or you didn’t
complete all the reps, the weight was a little too heavy.
When you repeat program for your second training
cycle, decrease the weight you use on those exercise
by the percentage listed below. So, for example, let’s
say that on week 6, you had 0 reps in the tank on your last
set of squats. On your next time through the program,
You’re only changing the percentages on your heavy
days. On your light days, you will always use 80% of
whatever you use on your heavy day.
ADJUSTING YOUR PERCENTAGES
If you have this many reps in
the tank...
Adjust your percentage for the
week by this much.
Less than 0
Subtract 2%
0
Subtract 1%
1-2
No change
3 or more
Add 1%
Customizing
29
4-DAY VARIATIONS
Note that the weekly rep schemes for each exercise remain the same as in the three-day standard template.
DAY 1
Variation # 1
Variation # 2
Squat & Bench
Press
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
Deadlift &
Overhead Press
Light Squat/Bench
Press & Glute-Ham
Raise
Barbell Row, Chin
or Pull-up, Reverse
Hyperextension &
Abs
Deadlift & Reverse
Hyperextension
Light Squat/Bench
Press & Abs
Squat, Barbell Row Bench Press & Chin
& Glute-Ham Raise
or Pull-up
Customizing
30
2. ADDING A FOURTH
TRAINING DAY
At some point in your training cycle, you may have found
that your workouts really tended to stretch on, and on…
and on. This is especially common once you reach very
advanced levels of strength — just warming up to squat
600 pounds can take an hour or more. If any of your
workouts lasted longer than 2 hours, you might benefit
from splitting your training over 4 days instead of 3.
Now, if your workouts take a long time because you’re
wasting time chatting or fooling around, obviously, that
doesn’t count. You don’t need an extra day, you need to
quit being lazy.
Let’s assume that’s not the case, and that you really do
need to cut back on the time you’re spending each day in
the gym. You have two choices:
1. Perform no assistance exercises on days 1-3, and
instead group them all together on a fourth training
day.
FOUR-DAY SPLIT #1
➡ Day 1: Squat and Bench Press
➡ Day 2: Deadlift and Overhead Press
➡ Day 3: Light work for the Squat and Bench Press
➡ Day 4: Barbell Row, Chin/Pull-Up, and Abs
FOUR-DAY SPLIT #2
➡ Day 1: Squat and Abs
➡ Day 2: Bench Press and Chin/Pull-Up
➡ Day 3: Deadlift, Overhead Press, and Barbell Row
➡ Day 4: Light work for the Squat and Bench Press
Regardless of which option you choose, all of your
training sets, reps, and loads stay the same as on the
three-day split.
2. Split day 1 into different days.
Of these, I prefer option #1, but both will work well.
Regardless of whichever option you choose, you’re
not adding any additional work to your program.
You’re just dividing it over more days.
Customizing
31
3. ADDING VARIATION
Variation is a tricky subject. On the one hand, variety is
the spice of life, and in training, it can help keep you
motivated and help to address weak points. On the other
hand, the best way to become a better squatter is to
squat more — that is, you should train specifically for
what you’re trying to accomplish. In many ways,
specificity is the opposite of variation.
You must find a balance between specificity and
variation in your training: enough variety to keep you
motivated but enough specificity to ensure you’re
progressing as efficiently as possible. Fortunately, there
are some variations of the squat, bench press, and
deadlift that are extremely close to the standard
competition lifts — so close, in fact, that I’ve found them
to be very complimentary. Here are the best variations to
help your competition lifts:
your lagging muscles while maintaining a very similar
movement pattern to your competition style. That last
point is key, because it means that the gains you make
using the variation are more likely to carry over to your
competition style. Every powerlifter should at least try
incorporating these lifts into a training program.
Don’t rush into using maximal weights with any of
these variations, or you’ll risk injury. Make sure to
base your percentages for all your variations using
your 1RM for that variation, not for the competition lift
itself. For example, if I can bench 405 with a wide grip
but only 365 with a close grip, then I will base my closegrip loads off of 365.
SQUAT WITH WRAPS/SLEEVES
Regardless of whether you squat with wraps or sleeves in
competition, using the other variation in your training can
be a big help. Both have their own advantages and
disadvantages:
•
Squat in wraps (if you compete in sleeves) or in
sleeves (if you compete in wraps)
•
Bench press with a close grip (if you compete using a
wide grip) or wide grip (if you compete using a close
grip).
•
If you’re a sleeved squatter, using wraps for overload
can help you strengthen your core and feel more
comfortable with heavy weights.
•
Sumo deadlift (if you compete with conventional) or
conventional (if you compete with sumo)
•
If you use wraps in competition, squatting in sleeves
can help strengthen your position in the hole and give
your body a break from the pain and increased loads
By training with these variations, you can bring up
Customizing
32
of the wraps.
I have also found that squatting in wraps tends to help if
I’m experiencing any knee pain, but this is not the case for
everyone.
If you’ve never used wraps before, don’t rush into them.
You’ll need to adjust to the discomfort and pressure of
using wraps, and depending on your style of squatting,
you may need wraps that provide support or wraps that
provide rebound. Finding the right wraps and learning to
use them will take a few weeks, so at first, use the same
amount of weight with wraps as you would with sleeves.
CLOSE- OR WIDE-GRIP BENCH
PRESS
Most people know that the close-grip bench press puts
more emphasis on the triceps relative to a moderate-grip
press; and that a wide-grip bench puts more emphasis on
the chest. Using a style different from what you use in
competition can help strengthen the muscles that don’t
get recruited as fully in your competition style.
Which one should you use for variation?
•
If your usual grip places your index fingers within a
thumb’s length of the unknurled (smooth) section of
the bar, you should use a wide grip for variation. Place
your index fingers on the rings of the knurled section
instead.
•
If your usual grip places your index fingers more than
a thumb’s length from the unknurled section, you
should use a close grip for variation. Place your index
fingers within a thumb’s length of the unknurled
section.
Of course, a wider or closer grip will work your muscles in
new ways. To avoid injury, whether you’re going from a
close grip to a wide grip or vice versa, I recommend
moving your grip by a maximum of one thumb’s length
per workout. If you’re starting with a very wide or narrow
grip, it may take two or even three workouts to find your
perfect variation grip.
SUMO OR CONVENTIONAL
DEADLIFT
There’s not much to say here: the two different styles are
nearly perfect complements. Conventional deadlifters
often have a relatively strong back and legs, and weaker
hips; and sumo deadlifters often have stronger hips and a
weaker back. Training the opposite style can help bring
up your lagging muscle groups.
However, just like with the other variations, you need to
ease into the transition. Sumo especially can place a lot
of strain on the hips and groin, so if you usually pull
conventional, start out with a very narrow sumo
Customizing
33
stance, with your feet just outside of your arms. Every
workout, you can move your feet out by a few inches until
you find a stance that’s most comfortable for you.
INCORPORATING VARIATION
Just as there are many different variations of lifts, there are
also many different ways to incorporate variations into
your training. Here’s my preferred method:
•
•
•
For lower-body training — both the squat and the
deadlift — use your variation for the first week of each
block, and use your competition style for the second
and third weeks.
For the bench press, use your variation for your light
day each week, and use your competition style for
your heavy day.
During meet prep, only use your competition style.
Obviously, when you introduce variations, your
programming will get much more complicated, very
quickly. For that reason, it’s best not to introduce
variations until after you’ve completed at least one full
training cycle, and are very comfortable with how the
standard program works, and know how to alter your
percentages and training days to fit your body.
4. CONDITIONING
Conditioning is a doubled-edged sword for powerlifters.
On the one hand, it will make you leaner, tougher,
improve your work capacity and cardiovascular ability,
and make you feel better overall. On the other hand, it
will may significantly detract from your recovery —
energy you could have spent lifting and getting stronger.
Some benefits of conditioning:
•
•
•
•
•
Decreased DOMS
Better able to take short rest periods in the gym
Better able to do high-rep sets
Fat/calorie burning
Improved mental strength (from challenge workouts) or
chance for relaxation (for easy ones)
So you have to find a balance between doing too much
conditioning, and not enough. Until I decided that I
wanted to be an elite lifter, I did a lot of conditioning:
intervals on the Airdyne, Prowler pushes until I nearly
passed out, hill sprints, even Crossfit metcons. I enjoy
challenging myself, and so I enjoy conditioning, but when I
cut all that stuff out that I quickly added about 100
pounds to my powerlifting total. Now I do low-intensity,
low-impact cardio workouts on the elliptical (about an
hour a week total).
Customizing
34
That’s my balance. You have to find your own sweet spot
for conditioning — but fortunately, that’s fairly easy for
most people. We’ll get into programming later in this
chapter, but for now, if you’re not already doing any
conditioning work, just plan to start with one easy workout
per week, and gradually increase that amount until you
find the amount that’s right for you.
drawbacks. LISS workouts lasting 20-30 minutes typically
have no drawbacks, as long as you choose some lowimpact activity that doesn’t stress your joints.
CHALLENGE WORKOUT SUGGESTIONS
CONDITIONING WORKOUTS
When it comes to conditioning for lifting, you have two
choices:
1. Low intensity, steady-state training (LISS)
2. High intensity interval training (HIIT)
LISS workouts are your typical cardio bunny training:
some type of steady activity that gets your heart rate
elevated to about 60-80% of your max, and doesn’t take
too much thought or effort. HIIT workouts, on the other
hand, require you to go all-out for a short period of time,
followed by a short rest period, repeated for 15-20
minutes total. Low intensity interval work just isn’t hard
enough to produce any benefits, and high-intensity
steady-state work will destroy your lifting progress — it’s
just too much to recover from.
Generally, HIIT will have more noticeable benefits than
LISS for lifters, but it will also have more noticeable
50/20 Sandbag: You’ve got twenty minutes to complete
50 reps, any way you can. Generally, you’re best off
choosing a weight that you can do 10-15 unbroken reps
with, and then digging deep to get through the rest. You
can either shoulder the sandbag, or clean and press it
(obviously use a lighter weight for the clean and press
workout).
Sled Suicides: Load a sled or Prowler to 100 pounds.
Sprint 25m forward, then immediately turn the sled
around and sprint 25m backward. No rest between “sets.”
You can repeat this workout and try to beat your best
time.
Hill Sprints: Wearing a weighted vest, sprint 200 meters
every 2 minutes for 10 minutes total. So if your sprint
takes 30 seconds, you get 90 seconds rest. If it takes 60
seconds, you get 60 seconds rest. Find the steepest hill
you can for these!
Customizing
35
CHALLENGE WORKOUTS
Sometimes, you’ll just feel like going hard on the
conditioning. Maybe you’ve had a lot of stress outside of
the gym; or maybe you have some extra energy to burn.
Either way, if you’re in the offseason, you can afford to
incorporate some “challenge workouts” into your training
— although not on a regular basis, and never more often
than once a week. If you do them too often, don’t be
surprised if your lifting performance suffers. Challenge
workouts stress your lungs and mind to the max, and you
can get afford to get creative with them.
INCORPORATING CONDITIONING
INTO YOUR PROGRAM
interfere with your training.
4. If your goals include weight loss or conditioning for its
own sake, you can continue adding conditioning
sessions throughout the week, including ones on the
same day as your lifting. I recommend always
performing conditioning after lifting.
5. Once you’ve incorporated more than two conditioning
workouts per week, you’ll probably notice that your
lifting suffers a bit. It’s up to you to find the right
tradeoff between the two.
6. If you decide to incorporate any challenge workouts,
do them instead of, and not in addition to, one of your
already-scheduled conditioning sessions.
Just like with all the other customizations to your program,
you need to incorporate conditioning workouts slowly.
Here’s the process I recommend:
1. Start with one LISS workout per week, on a day when
you’re not training with weights.
2. If you find that conditioning benefits your recovery,
add in a second LISS workout per week.
3. If you continue to notice improved recovery, try
switching one of your LISS workouts to a HIIT
workout. Schedule the HIIT workouts soon after one
of your two heavy training days, so that it doesn’t
Customizing
36
5. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
By now you can tell that there’s plenty of ways to customize the Think Strong method and make it uniquely your own.
Don’t try to make all of these changes all at once. That’s a sure-fire route to frustration, because inevitably, some of
the changes won’t work all that great. If you make lots of changes all at once, you won’t be able to figure out which ones
worked and which didn’t.
So instead, take it slow! Your first cycle should have proven that the standard program works, so there’s no rush to mess
with it. Start by just adapting the percentages based on your last cycle, and run that for ten weeks and see how it works
for you. If it helps, then keep adjusting your percentages each block. If it doesn’t help, then drop it. Go back to the
standard percentages, and instead experiment with adding in variations. Again, there’s no rush. Your goal is to
continue making progress for as long as possible, so only make (small) changes when progress slows or stops. If
a change doesn’t work for you, don’t stress about it — just go back to what you know does work, and try changing
something else.
You’ll probably notice that this chapter is more open-ended than the offseason or meet prep chapters. At first, that might
seem frustrating, but try to reframe that frustration: once you’ve started to customize your program in the slow,
methodical trial-and-error process described in this section, you’ve freed yourself from constantly following
cookie-cutter programs and from using ineffective or poorly-designed ones. That’s a big step on the road to
becoming an elite lifter.
That said, there is a sample offseason program on the next few pages that incorporates some of the variations discussed
in this chapter, just to give you an idea of what your training might evolve into over time.
If you’re patient, take the time to learn what works for body, and train hard, you can use this process for years with great
results. So get to it!
Customizing
37
Week 1
VARIATION 1
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Exercise
Work Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
4
5
74
Barbell Row
3
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Bench Press
4
5
74
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Deadlift
4
5
74
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Squat
5
5
59
Close-Grip Bench Press
5
5
59
Abs
3
10
—
Squat with Wraps
6
2
85
Barbell Row
4
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Bench Press
6
2
85
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Sumo Deadlift
6
2
85
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Squat with Wraps
5
2
68
Close-Grip Bench Press
5
2
68
Abs
4
10
—
Squat with Wraps
4
3
85
Barbell Row
5
10
—
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Bench Press
4
3
85
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Sumo Deadlift
4
3
85
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Squat with Wraps
5
3
68
Close-Grip Bench Press
5
3
68
Abs
5
10
—
Week 2
Day 1
Day 2
Block 1
Day 3
Day 4
Week 3
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Remember, these are just suggestions! Your own
customized program will probably look a bit different.
Week 1
Day 1
Day 2
VARIATION 2
Exercise
Work Sets
Reps
Load (%)
Squat
4
5
74
Bench Press
4
5
74
Deadlift
4
5
74
Overhead Press
4
5
74
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Conditioning: High Intensity
Squat
5
5
59
Bench Press
5
5
59
Glute-Ham Raise
3
10
—
Barbell Row
3
10
—
Chin/Pull-Up
3
10
—
Reverse Hyper
3
10
—
Abs
3
10
—
Day 6
Conditioning: Low Intensity
Week 2
Day 1
Day 2
Block 1
Squat
6
2
85
Bench Press
6
2
85
Deadlift
6
2
85
Overhead Press
6
2
85
Conditioning: High Intensity
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Squat
5
2
68
Bench Press
5
2
68
Glute-Ham Raise
4
10
—
Barbell Row
4
10
—
Chin/Pull-Up
4
10
—
Reverse Hyper
4
10
—
Abs
4
10
—
Day 6
Conditioning: Low Intensity
Week 3
Day 1
Day 2
Squat
4
3
85
Bench Press
4
3
85
Deadlift
4
3
85
Overhead Press
4
3
85
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Conditioning: High Intensity
Squat
5
3
68
Bench Press
5
3
68
Glute-Ham Raise
5
10
—
Barbell Row
5
10
—
Chin/Pull-Up
5
10
—
Reverse Hyper
5
10
—
Abs
5
10
—
THE MEET PREP
PROGRAM
When you’re ready to test your limits, switch from the offseason program
to this one. Again, it’s a simple program, but the heavier weights will push
you to your limits and prepare your body for a 1-rep max attempt.
THINKING STRONG ABOUT MEET PREP
1. MEET PREP APPROACH
CHAPTER CONTENTS
LOREM IPSUM
1. MEET PREP APPROACH
1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur.
2. ATTEMPT SELECTION
2. Nulla et urna convallis nec quis blandit
3. THE
MEET
odio
mollis.PREP CYCLE
3.
Sed metus libero
cing elit, lorem ipsum.
4. ACCESSORY
WORK
Adip inscing nulla mollis urna libero
5. DELOADING
blandit dolor.
6.
ADVICE
4. MEET
LoremDAY
ipsum
dolor sit amet, consectetur.
5. SOME
Sed metus
libero
cing elit, lorem ipsum.
7.
FINAL
THOUGHTS
Quis que euismod bibendum sag ittis.
6. Fusce leo erat, tincidunt nec posuere sit
amet, condimentum id dolor.
7. Duis faucibus adipiscing blandit.
In the offseason, you’re trying to build momentum. During
meet prep, you’re trying to use that momentum to peak.
That means you’ll be pushing harder on your main lifts,
and cutting back on any extraneous stuff like accessories
and conditioning.
However, pushing harder means that meet prep is more
stressful, both physically and mentally. Your goal during
meet prep is to manage that stress while still completing
your workouts as scheduled. Many, many people get
overwhelmed by the increased stress and either give up or
back off. Your ability to push through tougher training
sessions, without getting injured or burnt out, will
determine your overall success in powerlifting.
It’s generally a good idea to schedule your meet for a
time when you don’t have a lot of other stressful or
significant activities going on. Conversely, the week
Think Strong
41
after peaking is an ideal time for a deload, if you’re
starting to feel banged up or run down.
Also, keep in mind that although this section (and book) is
about training for a meet, you don’t have to compete in a
formal meet if it’s not right for you. You can just test your
squat, bench press, and deadlift in the gym — and you
can even test each one on a different day during a single
week, if you like. The important thing is that at some point,
you do test your limits, so that you have an objective
measure of 1RM strength to base your next training cycles
off of.
your current 2, 3, or 5 rep PRs, and you’re all set: those
are perfect goals for your test day. Otherwise, things get a
little more complicated. Here are some things to consider
when you’re setting goals:
•
Your current training maxes. Obviously, this is the
biggest consideration. Planning to beat your bests by
100 pounds is unrealistic — you’ll probably just hurt
yourself trying. Planning to just “chip” your PR (by
adding just 2.5 or 5 pounds) is an equal waste of time.
If it takes you 10, 12, or even 16 weeks of training to
add 5 pounds to your best, you need to seriously
reevaluate your training. A good compromise is
somewhere around a 5% improvement on your current
best. So if the most you’ve ever squatted for one rep
is 400 pounds, 420 might be a good number to have
in mind going into meet prep.
•
Milestones. When you’re coming up on a big number
— whether it’s 300, 400, 500 pounds; or some kind of
record — it seems like a very obvious goal. And those
types of goals can be very motivating, which is great.
But, on the other hand, it’s easy to get anchored to
those numbers and either A) assume they’re an
appropriate goal without really thinking them through
or B) becoming obsessed with them and making them
out to be a bigger and more intimidating thing than
necessary. Neither situation is ideal. To avoid these
pitfalls, make sure you consider whether that big
number is really reasonable. If you just hit a 300-
2. ATTEMPT SELECTION
Once you’ve selected a date, either for a full meet or just
to test your 1-rep maxes, you need to determine your
goals for the squat, bench, and deadlift. This must be
the first step, because all of your meet prep
programming will be based on those numbers. Setting
goals is tough, though, because it requires that you find a
balance between being realistic and aggressive. If you set
overly conservative goals, you won’t push hard enough to
reach your potential, and if you push too hard, you’ll fall
short and get discouraged.
You need a starting point, and if you’ve ever tested your
1-rep maxes before, then you’ve already got one. If not,
just use a 1RM calculator like the one in the Tools tab of
the Think Strong spreadsheet to estimate them based on
The Meet Prep Program
42
pound bench at your last meet, then yeah, 400 is the
next big marker, but you’re probably not going to jump
100 pounds in just one meet. On the other hand, if you
squatted 496 at your last meet, don’t make 501 your
goal for the next one — that’s a waste of a training
cycle on low expectations, and can actually make the
500-pound marker more imposing compared to a goal
of 525.
•
The competition. Winning is always a great goal,
because competition often brings out the best in
people. Plus, if your goal is to win, then you’re not
going to get fixated on any specific numbers. On the
other hand, winning is only a reasonable goal if you
have a fair idea of your competition and are strong
enough to actually pull it off. If that’s the case, you’re
probably already a fairly advanced lifter, and you
should be pretty used to setting your own goals. But
it’s still helpful to keep winning in mind!
If these ideas aren’t enough to get you started in the right
direction, check out the FAQs section in the Appendix. It
has a bit more on the theories behind goal setting that
might help you out.
WORKING BACKWARDS TO YOUR
GOALS
Once you’ve picked goals, it’s easy to work backwards to
determine your attempts:
1. Your third and final attempt of each lift will be your
goal.
2. Your second attempt should be somewhere around
94-96% of your third attempt.
3. Your opener should be somewhere around 85-90%
of your third attempt, and a weight that you are
comfortable hitting any day of the week, regardless
of how you feel.
If 85-90% of your third attempt is not an easy,
guaranteed lift, than your goals are probably too
aggressive, and you need to adjust them downward a bit.
Now, if you’re going for an informal test day, and not a
meet, you have a little more flexibility, since you’re not
limited to three attempts. In that case, a very similar
process will work:
1. Take your first two heavy singles exactly as you
would in a meet: 85-90% and 94-96% of your goal,
respectively.
2. After your second heavy single, you’ll begin to
attempt to set new personal records. I recommend
beginning with a small PR — 5 pounds is a great
number. So your third heavy single should be 5
pounds over your 1RM. (If your second heavy single
was a PR, then just start going up in 5 pound jumps
from there.)
The Meet Prep Program
43
3. If your third single was an all-out attempt, stop there
— you’re done.
4. If your third single wasn’t an all-out attempt, add 5 or
10 pounds and attempt another single.
5. Continue doing taking progressively heavier singles,
adding 5 or 10 pounds each set, until you either (A)
miss or (B) feel like there’s no way you could make a
heavier lift.
If you’re writing your own program, you should
incorporate the “working backwards” method for all of
your meet-prep training.
3. THE MEET-PREP CYCLE
The meet prep cycle takes a working-backwards
approach, too, but in a slightly different way than most
programs. Though the entire 2-block, 6-week program
will be difficult (physically and mentally), the first block
is a bit more challenging than the second. This
accomplishes two things: first, your most difficult training
takes place before the mental stress of an upcoming meet
really kicks in; and second, your body has more time to
recover from your heaviest work, so you are less reliant on
timing a perfect deload to peak properly.
Keep in mind, this is strictly a peaking program. You
should start meet prep after you’ve done enough cycles of
the offseason program that you:
1. Feel physically and mentally fresh
2. Believe that you have gained strength compared to
your previous bests, and are ready to translate those
strength gains into a new one-rep maximum.
For example, let’s say you competed on January 1, and
squatted a PR of 400 pounds. Then you took a week off to
recover and, once you felt well-rested, began the offseason program. Now it’s April 1, and you’re regularly
performing squats with over 375 pounds for doubles and
triples. You’re in a great place to start the peaking
program, and can feel confident that you’ll squat
somewhere around 420 pounds at meet in mid-May. On
the other hand, if you’re struggling with squatting 350 for
sets of 2 or 3, you haven’t really gained any strength, and
you need to spend some more time in off-season training
before you try to peak.
I also advise that you take a brief deload before
beginning meet prep — you’ll need to be fresh to
complete the desired work. Perform the deload exactly as
described in Chapter 1.9. You’ll deload the week before
the meet, too, so you need to plan for 8 total weeks of
meet prep — not 6! When you’re ready to get going,
here’s how the peak works. Note that your 1RM should
equal what you are currently capable of, not what you
hope to lift on your final attempt at the meet/test day.
You’ll still perform the standard ramp-up sets before the
work sets listed in the table.
The Meet Prep Program
44
DAY 1: SQUAT
DAY 2: DEAD
DAY 3: BENCH
Reverse Hyperextension & Abs:
3 sets of 10
Glute-Ham Raise & Abs: 3 sets
of 10
Chin or Pull-up & Abs: 3 sets of
10
Week 1
2x3 with 88-91% of 1RM
Week 2
2x2 with 92-96% of 1RM
Week 3
4x1 with 95-101% of 1RM
Week 4
2x3 with 85-88% of 1RM
Week 5
1x3 with 93% of 1RM
Week 6
1x2 with 98% of 1RM
The Meet Prep Program
45
WEEK 1
2x3 with 88-91% of 1RM
We start off with what should be a new 3RM and a lighter backoff set. Your focus this week should be on technique: don’t
let it break down even though you’re using more weight than you have in a few months. The weights should be light
enough that this feels manageable, but don’t overreach in week one. You’ll need your energy for the rest of the peak. For
this same reason, it’s really important that you deload between the offseason and meet prep, as explained in the previous
section.
WEEK 2
2x2 with 92-96% of 1RM
Week two follows with a new 2RM, which may be the most physically demanding week of this first block. Again, you’ll
have a lighter backoff set after your top set, but your overall volume is still very low at this stage.
WEEK 3
4x1 with 94-101% of 1RM
This may well be the hardest week of the entire peak from a mental perspective, because you’ll be using a weight that
you have never handled before. Don’t be surprised if your form begins to deteriorate a bit on the heaviest single this
week. That’s okay, as long as you’re not putting yourself in a position for injury, and you still adhere to the technical
requirements of the lift. Don’t cut depth on your squat or shorten your bench pause just to complete the prescribed loads
— you’re only selling yourself short and setting yourself up for disappointment at the meet.
The Meet Prep Program
46
WEEK 4
2x3 with 85-88% of 1RM
This is a relatively lighter week — almost a semi-deload before the final push to the meet. Use this as an opportunity to
relax a bit, and to hone your technique to the utmost. You may want to perform just one triple (instead of two) if you’re
feeling especially beat up or are already very confident in your technique.
WEEK 5
1x3 with 93% of 1RM
The triple on week five will again be a new 3RM, and you should be able to complete it with just a little room to spare.
Don’t miss any reps from here on out. If you’re not confident in your ability to complete all three reps, either drop the
weight 1-2% from whatever is planned, or perform only two reps on that set. If you don’t complete the triple, however, it’s
probably a good idea to lower your planned attempts a little bit. Remember, you still have ramp-up sets, so this week and
the next are not as very low-volume as they might seem.
WEEK 6
1x2 with 98% of 1RM
This is it: the end of the meet prep. You’ll be setting a new 2RM instead of singles so that you won’t run the risk of
missing any reps; again, if you’re not confident of completing it, drop the weight or perform two singles instead. If that’s
the case, however, you should again adjust your expectations for meet day. As soon as you complete week six, it’s time
to rest and recover!
The Meet Prep Program
47
4. ACCESSORY WORK
You’ll notice there’s very little programmed accessory
work in the meet prep phase. I strongly recommend that
you do perform accessory work, but that you treat it as
preventative maintenance rather than strengthening
exercise. You only have a limited amount of physical and
mental energy available for training, and during meet prep
you need to direct that entirely at the squat, bench press,
and deadlift. So don’t worry about adding weight or
volume to the reverse hyperextension, glute-ham raise,
chin or pull-up, and abdominal work while you’re prepping
for a meet. Just use a light weight and focus on using your
muscles in the correct pattern.
5. DELOADING
You never want to go straight from heavy training into a
meet: your body needs a bit of time to compensate from
the stress of all that work before you can perform your
best. The amount of deloading you’ll need depends on
your training volume; folks who aren’t used to a lot of
heavy work or who rely on high-volume loads close to a
meet need more deload time than those who take a more
moderate approach. In most cases, though, a oneweek deload is about right.
During that deload week, you’ll have just one heavier
workout, and it should be five days before the meet (so if
the meet is on Saturday, take this workout on Monday).
You will start with squat: warm up and perform 3-5
singles with whatever you’ve planned as your last warmup
before your opening attempt (92-93% of your opener is a
good number to have in mind). Take a short break (about
10-15 minutes), and move to bench. Warm up and
perform 3-5 singles with just a bit less than your opening
attempt (97-98% of your opener). Finally, take 3-5 singles
with 50% of your max deadlift. That’s it — don’t do any
more work here.
Three days before the meet (so Wednesday, if you’re
competing on Saturday), you can take about 40-50% of
your max squat and bench press for 1-3 sets of 1-3 reps.
This is just to help you stay loose. You can also perform
some very, very light accessory work for the upper back,
biceps, abs, and calves if you like.
The day before the meet (after weigh-ins, if you have a 24hour weigh-in), perform some very, very light squat, bench
press, and accessory work for the upper back and abs.
For reference, my best squat in training is over 800
pounds, and I would use 135 pounds for a few sets of
5-10 at this workout. There’s nothing wrong with just
taking the empty bar, either.
On the other days, stay out of the gym, but you can
perform some very, very light cardio (walking on a flat
surface, etc.) and gentle stretching and mobility work to
stay loose.
The Meet Prep Program
48
6. MEET-DAY ADVICE
a friend to chat with, or even a book to distract yourself
for a short while can all help.
Describing how to compete in strength sports could be an
entire book in itself. In fact, Bill Starr’s Defying Gravity is a
book about exactly that, and I strongly recommend
reading it. But if you’re just getting started, a little advice
can go a long way. Some common competition issues:
Again, you don’t want to try anything unusual on meet
day, so give all of those a shot in the gym well before you
bust them out at a competition. In fact, you might want to
start trying different mental strategies in the offseason, so
by the time meet prep rolls around, you already know
what works for you and you can practice it during heavy
lifting.
MINDSET
A strong mindset is crucial to peak performance. But
it’s often difficult to stay in a good headspace in highstress situations, like a meet. So when you start your meet
prep cycle, make sure you include some mental training,
too — the more you can understand your mind and how it
affects your body, the better you’ll be able to handle the
unexpected when it arises.
Basically, you want to keep the same mindset at the
meet as you would during a regular day at the gym.
You perform your best when you keep your heart rate and
breathing pattern very close to how they usually are when
you train; major variations (either increases or decreases)
can negatively impact both your physical and mental
abilities. Of course, very few if any people are calmer at a
meet than in the gym, so you really only need to plan for
getting too nervous or psyched up. Have some way of
calming yourself down: a breathing or meditation routine,
CUTTING WEIGHT
I think one of the biggest misconceptions regarding
weight cutting is the idea that it needs to be some
extreme, life-threatening endeavor that risks destroying
not only your performance but also your long-term health.
In reality, those type of weight cuts happen for one of two
reasons:
1. Highly-driven, elite athletes attempt to cut an
unreasonable amount of weight without any regard
for their health, or
2. People are lazy and don’t prepare well enough in the
offseason, so they have to play catchup the week
before a competition.
As you might have guessed, the second scenario occurs
far more often than the first.
The Meet Prep Program
49
That said, cutting weight is still a fairly involved
process, and even if you’re an appropriate body weight
and body fat percentage before starting the water cut, you
still need to treat the last week before a meet very
carefully. Here is a very general guideline for a water cut
for a Saturday meet with 24-hour weigh-in.
SUNDAY
Began to decrease my food volume slightly, by reducing
vegetable intake, and increase sodium intake quite a bit
(just salting your food heavily is fine). Drink 2.5 gallons of
tap water. Don’t be surprised if you body weight
increases, even significantly, during the water and sodium
load.
MONDAY
Decrease sodium significantly, and drink 2.5 gallons of tap
water.
TUESDAY
Eliminate sodium intake entirely, and drink 2.5 gallons of
distilled water. You may want to take a very light, highrepetition training session on Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY
Continue with zero sodium intake, eliminate all
carbohydrates, and increase water intake to 3.5 gallons of
distilled water.
THURSDAY
Upon waking, take 1,000 mg of dandelion root extract,
100 mg of potassium, and 200 mg of caffeine. Twice more
during the day, take 1,000 mg of dandelion root and 100
mg of potassium. You will eliminate water intake
depending on how much weight you need to lose. If you
are cutting 5-7% of your waking body weight, you can
drink half a gallon of distilled water upon waking and drink
no more during the day. If you are cutting less than 5%,
you can drink a full gallon of distilled water between
waking and 3 PM (assuming a 9 AM weigh-in).
FRIDAY
If you are cutting a significant amount of weight, you may
need to sweat in a hot bath even after the water and
sodium load. I strongly suggest not sweating until the day
of weigh-ins. You should minimize the time spent at
weight, even if that means waking up at 5 AM to sweat.
The easiest way to sweat is in a hot bath (as hot as you
can stand), Alternate 15 minutes in a hot bath with 15
minutes of cooldown until you make weight. Do not drink
water during the breaks. You may find it helpful to spend
that time under a fan chewing ice chips if necessary.
Rehydrating correctly after making weight is crucial to
a good performance the next day. Your first priority
should be to consume some type of electrolyte fluid with
some carbohydrates, like Pedialyte or diluted Gatorade.
Your first solid-food meal should contain some easily
digestible carbohydrates; like fruit with salt, but make sure
The Meet Prep Program
50
whatever you choose is easy on the stomach. It’s
beneficial to wait a short while after you start drinking to
begin eating.
Thirty to 45 minutes after that first meal, you can eat
something more substantial with some protein content.
Whatever you choose should be high in carbohydrates
and salt, low in fat, and with a moderate amount of easilydigestible protein. It should also be a food that you eat
regularly! If you upset your stomach at this point, you’re
just going to make the rehydration process more difficult.
Throughout the rest of the day, you need to continue to
eat small meals every two hours, and to consume at least
another gallon of water. Your meals from this point on
should be balanced in carbohydrates, protein, and fats,
and high in salt. Try to go to bed on Friday weighing the
same as you did on Wednesday night.
WHEN TO ARRIVE
It’s important to consider when you’ll arrive at both the
meet venue and the host city. If you’re traveling a long
distance (over 250 miles or so), you’ll probably want to
arrive the day before weigh-ins to give yourself time to
adjust and make sure you’re not exhausted if you need to
cut weight. If you’re flying to the meet, you may want to
give yourself 2 or even 3 days to adjust, depending on the
time change. Flying can affect your body in ways you
might not expect, so best to give yourself some time to
settle. Of course, hotel fees add up, so don’t pressure
yourself into staying longer than absolutely necessary.
And if you are cutting weight, make absolutely sure to call
ahead and check whether there is water hot enough to
sweat in, or I promise you will regret it (I’ve made this
mistake more than once)!
Once you’ve arrived, try to keep as close to your
normal routine as possible. Get up and go to sleep at
the same times, eat the same foods, and do more or less
the same amount of physical activity in your day. If you
have a desk job and spend a whole afternoon walking
around a new city the day before a meet, your
performance will probably suffer. That said, again, it’s a
balance — if there’s a really cool opportunity that won’t be
available after the meet, take advantage of it!
On the meet day itself, arrive at the venue on time.
There’s really no need to show up early unless you’re in
the very first flight — I’ve only once been to a meet that
started exactly on time. If you have a two-hour (rather
than 24-hour) weigh-in, you might want to arrive 10-15
minutes early just in case the meet director is feeling
generous and starts early (not likely, but you never know).
The Meet Prep Program
51
WARMING UP
You want to be especially careful about warming up on
meet day, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s often colder
in the meet venue than you might be used to, and you
may have less access to the normal equipment you use to
warm up. Second, you’ll be performing minimal reps with
maximum weight, which is a good combination for injury.
To prevent that, make sure to dedicate plenty of time to a
general warmup as described in the FAQs sections.
In addition, you may find it beneficial to take some extra
precautions. Again, you never want to try anything on
meet day that you’ve not used before in training, so give
all these ideas a shot in the gym before you try to
implement them at a meet.
1. Try wearing a pair of neoprene pants, to give your
lower body a little extra warmth and support. These
pants are a bit thick, but they won’t restrict your
movement nor add any weight to your lifts, so they’re
a great tool. They make it much easier to warm up
and stay warm during your session. If you find that
they throw you off at all, just wear them for your
lighter warm-ups, and take them off for your work
sets. Personally I think they’re really comfortable but
they can ride up a little and get in the way of your
belt.
areas. I like to get my shoulders, elbows, hips and
knees. Again, this will help with blood flow and
warming up, and can also help you to activate
muscles that might not be firing in the right way on a
particular day. You might not notice any benefits at
first, but over time, it makes a difference. I prefer to
use capsaicin, but some people don’t like it because
it can get very hot once you start sweating.
Otherwise, menthol (Icy Hot or Tiger Balm) works
well, too!
3. Finally, consider including some extra warm-up/
activation exercises in addition to your regular
warmup and mobility routine.
As long as you put the time and care into warming up
properly, you can be confident that you’re doing all you
can to protect your body and perform at your best.
2. Use some type of liniment before you begin your
warmup, especially on any tight or troublesome
The Meet Prep Program
52
WHAT TO EAT
Meet-day nutrition probably isn’t quite as important as
rehydrating after weigh-ins, but it’s close. So many lifters
fail to plan for that, and just eat whatever happens to be
available. That’s a terrible decision because it’s such an
easy way to blow all the hard work you’ve done up to that
point if you happen to eat something that upsets your
stomach.
Instead, bring familiar, easy-to-digest food sources
that are high in carbohydrates and moderate in fat and
protein. Your goal on meet day is to eat and drink as
much as you can without feeling sluggish. This is not
the time to count calories: the more you eat, the better
you’ll perform. Keep in mind that there probably won’t be
any refrigeration available, so bring your own cooler or
choose foods that don’t need to be refrigerated.
Also make sure to keep some type of sugar readily
available. Gatorade, candy, or glucose tablets are all
good choices. If you end up overreaching on an attempt
and miss or really struggle, get 75-100 grams of sugar in
ASAP (50 if you’re a smaller person). It’ll help you recover
quickly enough to be ready for the next event.
7. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
Powerlifting meets are mentally and physically stressful,
and demand a significant amount of dedication and
planning. That’s exactly why you should do one. Any form
of competition has a lot of benefits, but the powerlifting
community is, with few exceptions, something very unique
and very valuable. Entering a meet is by far the quickest
and easiest way to become part of that community. You’ll
meet new people, make new friends, and grow as a
person just by getting involved. Competing is a good
practice in setting goals and meeting deadlines; and it
challenges you to overcome adversity and the inevitable
setbacks.
At the same time, before you invest in the peaking
process, make sure that competing is the right choice for
you, that it comes at the right time, and you’re doing it for
the right reasons. If you feel pressure to compete — either
internal or external — you’ve no chance to really perform
at your best. Instead, compete only if it’s something you’re
excited about! You’ll need that excitement to fall back on if
your motivation wanes; and besides, powerlifting will
never pay your bills. Do this sport because you enjoy it,
and never for any other reason.
Good luck, and Think Strong.
The Meet Prep Program
53
APPENDIX
If you’ve been reading closely and gotten this far, you probably have some
questions. This Appendix will try to answer most of those. Pay special attention to
the Technique section! Good technique will keep you from getting injured, and
that’s the number-one secret to long-term success in powerlifting.
FAQS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHY ISN’T MY FAVORITE LIFT IN
THE PROGRAM?
Because you don’t need to do front squats, incline bench, deficit
deadlift, or pinkie-up curls all the time. There’s nothing wrong with
having a favorite lift, but oftentimes our favorites are just the things
we’re good at. If you’re training a lift that (A) isn’t one of the
competition lifts and (B) you’re already good at, you’re just wasting
energy. A big part of this program is conserving energy, so that you
can make progress for as long as possible.
If you’re really struggling with the idea of omitting a particular
assistance lift, ask yourself this: has the lift directly contributed to
increases in your squat, bench press, or deadlift? If the answer is no,
then you don’t need to do that exercise. If it’s yes, then fine — add
the exercise in as a variation the next time your start a new training
cycle.
Think Strong
55
I NEED TO TRAIN FOUR
DAYS A WEEK!
minding your exercise technique. If you’re slacking off
on your training, your results won’t be optimal.
•
Do you need a deload? The flip side of not training
hard enough is training too hard for too long. If you’re
suffering from frequent aches and pains, a poor
appetite, lack of sleep, or illness, you may need to
take a deload week. See Chapter 2 to learn how to
implement a deload without detracting from your longterm progress.
•
Did you choose your one-rep maxes appropriately? If
you’re struggling in the first block, your 1RMs are too
high — you should drop them by 10% and start over
with week 1.
•
If you’re struggling in block 3, that’s totally normal.
Just keep pushing through, and take a deload the
week before testing your 1RM. You’ll come back
stronger and smash PRs.
No, you don’t. See above. Now, if you need to train four
days per week because your workouts are taking too long,
that’s a separate issue; see Chapter 3 to learn how to
adapt the program to accommodate longer workouts over
more training days per week.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE
A BAD WORKOUT?
Not a thing. If you can’t complete the prescribed reps on
any given day, just make sure to record your negative reps
in the tank, and then move on to the next exercise or next
training day.
BUT WHAT IF I HAVE
SEVERAL BAD WORKOUTS
IN A ROW?
This is a trickier question, and there are lots of possible
solutions. Be honest with yourself:
•
Are you training hard enough? “Hard training” means
staying focused and aggressive in the gym, and
preparing for your workout by warming up
appropriately, getting good nutrition and rest, and
Appendix
56
HOW SHOULD I WARM UP?
You have two overarching goals for your warmup: to
prepare your body and your mind for heavy training.
Physically, you need to increase blood flow and body
temperature; activate the specific muscles you’ll be
training; and protect any weak or troublesome areas.
Mentally, you need to practice the appropriate movement
patterns with light weights to sharpen your technique and
build confidence for your working sets.
To do that, start with a general cardiovascular warmup.
You can choose pretty much any activity, as long as it’s
low-impact and will allow you to break a sweat in 3-5
minutes.
Then, you’ll want to address any areas that hurt (or have
been hurt in the past) or lack range of motion. I’ll be
honest, I often use foam rolling for this purpose, but it’s
not ideal: it might provide some temporary relief, but it can
also make it harder to activate the muscles you’re working
— so think about it before you just jump on the roller.
Really, any mobility practice that you find to be effective
is a good choice here — and there have been many, many
books on that topic, so I’ll leave it up to you to find
methods that work.
Finally, you need to “wake up” the muscles you’re training
with activation exercises. Perform these using a very light
weight (or bodyweight), for sets of 10-20 with little or no
rest in between. Your goal is to feel the muscle working
— to turn on the mind-muscle connection. Again, any
movement that you feel helpful is the right choice here,
but in case you need a place to get started, here are some
suggestions:
And, lastly, you need to get your mind right. Many lifters
like visualization for this purpose: a mental walkthrough of
the workout you’re about to do. “Rehearsing” in this way
can help you to focus and boost performance during the
workout. Personally, I find that visualization tends to
create a sort of artificial pressure to meet some imagined
version of a perfect workout. I prefer to meditate, or
practice breathing exercises, before I lift. Being present in
the moment, rather than thinking ahead, can have the
same benefits of visualization. Try both, and stick with
what works — or find your own mental warmup!
WARMUP SUGGESTIONS
CARDIOVASCULAR
SQUAT/DEADLIFT
BENCH PRESS
Incline walking
Leg extension/curl
Rear delt row
Prowler push
Reverse hyper
Flye
Sled drag
Wall sit
Push up
Stationary cycling
Goblet squat
Dumbbell pullover
Pistol squat
Appendix
57
WHAT IF I CAN’T DO CHIN
OR PULL-UPS?
It depends. If you’re not strong enough to do them, you
have two options:
•
Lightened chins using a band. Take a mini band,
loop one end around the chinning bar, and put the
other end around one or both of your feet. The band
will lighten the load at the bottom (hardest) part of the
movement, allowing you to concentrate on using the
correct muscles.
•
Lat pulldowns. Obviously, the lat pulldown is a similar
movement, but without the requirement that you use
at least your bodyweight, and without requiring you to
use quite as many stabilizing muscles. If you can’t do
any chins, or can’t do enough to train them
progressively, train the pulldown instead until you can
use about 110% of your bodyweight for 10-12 reps,
and then give chins another try.
If you can’t do them because of some preexisting injury or
lack of mobility, you can swap them out for lat pulldowns
or seated rows. Make sure you address the underlying
issue, though, so that it doesn’t become an even bigger
problem.
I’M STRUGGLING WITH
GOAL SETTING AND
ATTEMPT SELECTION.
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
If you’re struggling with goal setting, you’re probably
frustrated, because everyone knows the benefits of
setting good goals. You may even have read about
S.M.A.R.T. goals, for example, which provide
straightforward, easy-to-understand markers of progress.
It's true that having goals can keep you focused, efficient,
and even motivated, especially when you're a beginner.
Goals are important, but once you pass that beginner
stage, progress isn't linear anymore, and focusing on an
end goal can often become limiting. How many times
have you set a goal for a daily workout and gotten
frustrated when you can't lift as much as you expected?
It's much better to set process goals: ones that keep you
accountable for doing the things that you know will pay off
in the long run, despite any inevitable short-term
setbacks. You've heard that lifting is a journey? That's a
reflection of the fact that outcome goals don't work: if you
meet them, you're only satisfied for a little while, before
you set bigger and better goals; and if you miss, you're
disappointed. Furthermore, process goals are entirely
under your control. Athletes in particular are likely to pick
outcome goals that involve factors outside of their own
influence. For example, if you catch a cold, you'll
Appendix
58
probably have a hard time hitting your target numbers for
a workout. But you can still meet process goals,
regardless of if you're feeling under the weather.
keep you motivated in difficult situations: if you're sick or
injured; fail to perform up to expectations; or life gets in
the way of lifting entirely.
Here are some examples of outcome goals:
The first step requires that you have a clear vision for the
future. This is not a goal! Think of it like the vision or
mission for a company. Nike's mission, for example, is to
bring "inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the
world." Harvard's vision is to create and sustain a college
that will "enable all Harvard College students to
experience an unparalleled educational journey that is
intellectually, socially, and personally transformative."
Your vision might be to become the greatest powerlifter
of all time. Or it might be to look and feel like an athlete.
Or maybe it's something totally different — it doesn't
matter. The point of a vision is to keep you motivated on
your journey, so if your vision does that, then it's a good
one.
•
•
•
•
Not getting injured in an entire training cycle
Perfecting squat technique or squatting 500 pounds
Gaining 10 pounds of muscle
Going 9/9 at a meet
And here are some examples of analogous process goals:
•
Warming up for 15 minutes before every training
session
•
Committing to a new technique cue for at least four
weeks
•
Consuming your target macros six days per week
If you set the first outcome goal, you're in trouble if you
happened to tweak your elbow playing a pickup game;
and if squatting or building muscle don't come easily to
you, the other two outcome goals might require a very
long time to achieve. The process goals, on the other
hand, are more manageable, realistic, and under your own
control.
Your vision doesn't even have to be achievable — in fact,
if it's too precise, a vision just becomes a goal.
"Becoming an IPF world champion," for example, isn't a
vision. After all, if you do become a world
champion, what's going to keep you motivated after that?
Would you just retire? And, worse, what happens if you
don't become a world champion? Does that mean your
entire career was a failure?
Even with process goals, it's important to have a clear
understanding of why you're lifting — why you're on the
journey in the first place. That's the only thing that can
A vision isn't enough — you also need values to guide
your decisions in striving towards that vision. Values are
your personal beliefs about what's worthwhile in life.
Appendix
59
Typically, the values we share with others are "good"
things like honesty, justice, and perseverance. But the
fact is, especially in America, a lot of people value winning
over everything else. There's nothing wrong with that!
They're your values, not someone else's, and not
society's. Don't let other people shame you into letting
their values take precedence over yours — that's a quick
road to an unfulfilling life, and those people aren't worth
your time in the first place.
Only when you have a clear vision for your future, and you
understand your personal guidelines (values) for achieving
it, can you put yourself in the best position possible to
accomplish that vision. More importantly, even if you fail,
still have benefitted by adhering to your values, and can
be confident that you did your best.
What does all of this mean for attempt selection?
Basically, if you’re really struggling with attempt selection,
maybe you need a little distance between yourself and
your outcome goals. Set process goals instead and base
your meet prep cycle on a 5% improvement over your
existing PRs. At the meet itself, set conservative openers
and call your second and third attempts based on what
you feel capable of that day. This isn’t the optimal
approach if your goal is to win the meet, but it is
oftentimes the best (and sometimes only) way to ensure
that you perform your best.
Appendix
60
TECHNIQUE
Think Strong
61
Appendix
62
THE SQUAT
For each of the major lifts, we’ll start with the setup. Many
lifters overlook the setup, but it’s one of the most
important parts of the squat — and the bench press and
deadlift, too. Don’t start off at a disadvantage!
EQUIPMENT
Before you start squatting, make sure you’ve got the right
equipment. You’ll need:
•
A non-slip shirt. It’s hard enough to hold the bar on
your back without worrying about it rolling around.
Get a thick, cotton shirt to squat in, and cover the
shoulder and upper back area with chalk before you
start sweating!
•
Wrist wraps. It’s always a good idea to support your
wrists as much as possible when you’re placing a
fairly heavy load onto them. Your shoulders should
bear most of the weight in the squat, but there’s no
reason to risk injury.
•
Knee wraps/sleeves. Either or both of these are
great for helping to keep your knees safe and lifting
more weight.
•
A belt. I’ve tried a lot of beltless squatting, and while
it does strengthen the core, I’ve found that using a belt
helps me keep better form and lift more weight.
After you’ve got the right equipment, you’ll want to set a
bar in a squat or power rack so that it’s at roughly midchest height. Make sure to have a spotter or some other
safety system in place in case you’re not able to complete
a rep for whatever reason.
You’ll also want to find your ideal squat stance, before you
even start lifting. It’s a good idea to start with your feet
about shoulder width apart. Generally, a narrower stance
will make it easier to hit depth (when your hip joint passes
below the level of your knee joint) and place more
emphasis on the quads and glutes than will a wider
stance. You’ll have to experiment to find the width where
you’re most comfortable, but if in doubt, just stick with
shoulder width.
POSITIONING THE BAR
After you’ve braced, grab the bar and position yourself
under the bar so that it’s across your shoulders and upper
back. I prefer a low bar position, where the bar rests
mostly on the rear delts; you might want a high bar
position, where the bar rests mostly on your traps. You’ll
have to experiment to find which works best for you, but
generally, your bar position is okay as long as:
1. It’s below your cervical spine. Tilt your head
forward and feel for the bump at the base of your
neck, between your shoulder blades. The bar
Appendix
63
needs to be below that, not on top of it.
2. It’s high enough up that you can hold it in place
securely using your shoulders and back, not just
your hands and wrists.
Your grip placement is up to you, as well. Generally, a
closer grip will provide more upper back tightness (good)
but also more strain on the shoulders (bad). I like to start
out with a wide grip and gradually bring it in each warmup set until I find that I cannot continue to bring it in
without shoulder pain.
UNRACKING THE BAR
After you’ve braced and set under the bar, you need to
unrack by squeezing your glutes. This will raise the bar
enough to slide one foot back. Try not to pick your foot
up off the floor, since that may cause you to lose balance
with a heavy weight. You have two choices for the
walkout:
1. You can take two steps back, sliding one foot and
then the other into your squat stance.
2. You can take three steps back, sliding one foot
back and towards the middle of your body, sliding
the other foot straight back, and then adjusting the
first foot to find your squat stance.
The second method takes a bit longer, but may help you
balance when unracking a heavy weight. Try both and see
which you prefer, but do not take more than three steps —
that’s just wasting energy.
Finally, take one last deep breath to brace even tighter
before beginning the descent.
DESCENT
Once you’ve set up properly, you need to lower your hips
until they pass below the level of your knees. Many lifters
think about the ascent as the hardest part of the squat,
but actually, if you set up properly and make a good
descent, lifting the bar takes care of itself (assuming
you’re strong enough).
Initiate the movement using your glutes and hamstrings.
That requires you to keep tension in those muscles while,
at the same time, driving your knees out and keeping your
torso as vertical as possible. The easiest way to do all
this is by using a cue, so think about “spreading the floor”
with your feet.
It’s okay for your knees to travel forward, but you need to
keep your weight evenly distributed over your feet. If
you’re way forward on your toes, you won’t be able to
engage your glutes and hamstrings properly; and if that’s
the case, you might benefit from wearing a heeled squat
shoe.
Appendix
64
Be patient on the descent, regardless of whether you
squat quickly, using a lot of rebound. Patience will help
you to stay calm and focus on your technique.
help to power through your sticking point.
OUT OF THE HOLE
After you’ve hit depth, you need to reverse the bar’s
motion without letting your hips rise faster than your
shoulders. Remember, the bar is on your shoulders, so
it’s your shoulders that need to come up. If your hips
come up first, they haven’t helped lift the bar at all.
Instead, initiate the ascent with your glutes. A great way
to practice that is by sitting down on a high box or stool,
without any weight, and standing back up just by
squeezing your glutes, not by rocking or using your legs.
Once you’ve got that down, you can gradually lower the
height of the box or stool until you can stand up from a
squat position using your glutes.
It can also help to think about driving back, into the bar, or
driving your elbows under the bar. Both of these cues will
help to keep your torso upright as you ascent, which, in
turn, will keep your hips underneath your shoulders.
Ascend until your knees and hips are both locked. If
you’re performing reps, you should inhale only between
reps, not during them. Of course, it’s okay to exhale as
you ascend, but not while you descend. Exhaling will
cause you to lose tightness, but a forceful breath out can
Appendix
65
Appendix
66
THE BENCH PRESS
EQUIPMENT
•
A non-slip shirt. It’s even more important for the
bench than for the squat. You don’t want to be sliding
around with 400 pounds in your hands.
•
Wrist wraps. Again, much like with the squat, when
you’re supporting a heavy weight using your wrists, it’s
a good idea to protect them. Tight wraps can also
help keep your wrists straight, which may prevent
elbow pain.
•
A belt and knee sleeves. These are totally optional,
but some people prefer the added tightness that a belt
and knee sleeves provide, even on the bench press.
Others find them unhelpful and restrictive. Try them
and see whether they help, but don’t consider either a
necessity.
POSITIONING ON THE BENCH
Once you’ve got your gear, set up in a good bench with a
wide, non-slip surface and adjustable heights. You’ll want
the bar at a height where, even without a spotter, you can
just barely unrack it while keeping your elbows locked.
Any lower, and you’ll have to do extra work to unrack the
bar.
You’ll need to find your proper grip width and foot
position, too. Generally, a closer grip will place more
emphasis on the triceps, and a wider grip on the chest.
The widest you’re allowed to grip in competition is with
index fingers on the outside rings of the bar. The
narrowest grip I’d recommend is with index fingers at the
end of the outside knurling. Start with a shoulder-width
grip, and experiment with other placements to find what
works best for you.
You’ll also need to find your proper foot position. When
viewed from the side, your feet should be directly
underneath your hips. However, there’s no one right foot
width: a narrower stance can provide more leg drive, but
can also make it easy to accidently pick your butt up off
the bench (which isn’t allowed in competition). Again,
you’ll need to experiment to find what width works best
for you.
Finally, you need to set your arch. You’ve probably seen
videos of fantastic benchers with unbelievable arches, and
for some people, that works. But for most people, a huge
arch isn’t realistic, either due to flexibility issues; or
because a big arch means sacrificing other leverages in
exchange for a shorter range of motion. A big arch can
make it more difficult to get a powerful leg drive, too.
I prefer a moderate arch in the lower back, and a very tight
arch in the upper back and scapula. It’s very important
that, throughout the entire movement, you keep your
shoulder blades squeezed together tightly. This “lateral
Appendix
67
arch” both protects the muscles of the shoulder joint and
allows you to better incorporate your lats into the
movement.
Once you’ve set your grip, stance, and arch, take a deep
breath, just like you were bracing for the squat or deadlift
(you don’t need to contract your abs, though). Then lift
the bar out of the rack by locking your elbows. I
recommend having a spotter help you to unrack even
moderately heavy weights, because the motion of moving
the bar from over your head to over your chest can place
a lot of strain on the shoulders.
LOWERING THE BAR
Just like in the squat, it’s important to lower the bar
properly so that you’re in the best position possible to lift
the bar properly.
There are two general approaches to the descent:
1. You can lower the bar under control, keeping
everything as tight as you possibly can.
2. You can “drop” the bar, still maintaining some
control and tightness, but allowing gravity to do
most of the work for you, and absorbing the
weight’s momentum with your chest.
first is the safer and usually stronger choice.
Regardless of which option you choose, as you lower the
bar, you probably want to keep your wrists straight,
because a straight wrist will minimize elbow strain and, for
most people, keeps the bar in a better position relative to
the forearm and shoulder. You’ll also want to keep your
pecs, lats, and arms tight throughout the entire descent;
like with the squat, the easiest way to do all of this is by
using a cue like “rip the bar apart.”
You may have read or heard recommendations to keep
your elbows tucked as tightly as possible throughout the
entire movement. That’s not a bad idea, but generally, it’s
more important to keep your shoulder blades tight than
your elbows. Letting your elbows flare out helps
incorporate your chest — a bigger muscle than your
shoulders or triceps — so it’s not a bad thing. You’ll want
to find the degree of elbow flare that maximizes your
strength off the chest without putting strain on your
shoulders. Again, that takes trial and error, but starting off
with your elbows tucked is a fine idea.
Finally, you should hold the weight at your chest for a brief
period before pressing up. Touch-and-go reps (which
omit this pause) are fine for some or even most of your
training, but it’s important to practice pausing if you ever
plan to compete.
Neither option is right or wrong, but, for most people, the
Appendix
68
OFF THE CHEST
If the hardest part of the squat is getting out of the hole,
the hardest part of the bench is getting the bar off your
chest — while maintaining good position! It’s easy to
heave the bar up a couple inches, but if you lose control
of the bar path, it will be very difficult to save the lift.
A strong, controlled press begins with the lats. If you kept
your shoulder blades retracted and lats tight during the
descent, you’ll be able to forcefully push up using your
lats to begin the motion off the chest. You can practice
this without weights: get in position on the bench as if you
were about to press, and try to punch the ceiling. As you
do, focus on the movement in your back — that’s (roughly)
what you want to replicate when pressing off your chest.
Obviously you’ll need to coordinate your lats with your
traditional pressing muscles (pecs, shoulders, and
triceps). As you press off your chest, try to keep your
elbows angle steady — flaring out too early will bring the
bar over your face and into a position where you lack the
leverage necessary to finish the lift.
Your goal when pressing off the chest is to generate
enough momentum to carry the bar through your sticking
point — the part of the lift where you’re weakest, and the
bar begins to slow down. Generally, if you make it past
the sticking point, you’ll make the lift. For most people,
the sticking point in the bench is a few inches above the
chest, so you want to press as forcefully as possible in
order to get the bar above that point as quickly as
possible.
LOCKOUT
Once you’re past the sticking point, you just need to stay
patient to secure a good lift. It’s very possible that the bar
will continue to slow, but if it does, don’t panic! You need
to keep your position and the leverage it creates to
complete the lift.
First, if the bar starts to slow, try to push back, towards
your head, to bring the bar directly over your eyes. This
places your triceps in their strongest position to help finish
the lift. At the same time, keep thinking about ripping the
bar apart, or pushing out rather than up. Again, this will
help use your triceps.
Second, don’t forget about your chest. Even at lockout,
your chest can help to move the bar up, so try to crunch
or squeeze your pecs together to get as much as you can
out of them.
Finally, don’t flail. In a competition, moving your feet or
lifting your butt up will get your lift turned down, but even
in training, those habits don’t help to make the lift easier.
Instead, continue driving your heels and hips back, in the
direction you want the bar to go.
Appendix
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Appendix
70
THE DEADLIFT
EQUIPMENT
•
Long socks. These help reduce the friction between
your bar and the shins, protect you from scrapes, and
keep you from bleeding all over the platform if you do
bump your shins too much.
•
A belt. Just like with the squat, a belt is too much of
an advantage to ignore on the deadlift.
•
Wrist wraps and knee sleeves. These are totally
optional, but some people like wearing very tight wrist
wraps to help their grip, and some like wearing knee
sleeves for added protection.
The deadlift can be deceiving. It looks like the simplest
lift: just pick the bar up off the floor. But in truth, it’s a lot
more difficult than that, and it starts with your setup.
Just like in the squat and bench press, you can be
successful with a wide variety of grips and stances in the
deadlift. But unlike those first two lifts, the deadlift looks
really different depending on whether you pull
conventional (with feet inside of your arms) or sumo (with
feet outside your arms). Generally, a conventional stance
places more emphasis on your back and quads than does
sumo, but sumo also tends to be less forgiving when it
comes to technique errors.
Choosing between a sumo and conventional stance is
important, because depending on your leverages, it can
make a huge difference. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to tell
if one stance feels more natural than the other, and
regardless, good technique for both styles is nearly
identical! For most people, the ideal conventional stance
is somewhere around hip-width, and narrower than
shoulder width. A sumo stance can be anywhere from
shoulder width to the point where your feet nearly touch
the inside plates on the bar; but start out with a stance
that places your feet just outside your arms, to avoid
straining your hips. It will take some trial and error to
determine whether you’re better off sumo or conventional.
Once you’ve found a good stance, you need to make a
tight, controlled descent before you attempt to lift the bar.
The “grip it and rip it” style isn’t ideal for most people,
because it makes it harder to involve the lats and
hamstrings in the lift. Instead, keep your lats, core, glutes,
and hamstrings tight as you go to grab the bar — and
when you do grab it, make sure that your arms hang
straight down, not at an angle.
OFF THE FLOOR
The deadlift is all about controlled aggression. If you try
to explode off the floor, you’re usually sacrificing tightness
and technique. Instead, practice patience off the floor,
Appendix
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stay in a good position, and save the aggression for
powering through your sticking point.
To do that, you’ll want to use your legs and glutes to break
the bar off the floor. Just like in the squat, “spread the
floor” is a good cue to help activate your glutes and
hamstrings, and “push the floor away” is another good
one. Try both and see which feels more natural.
Throughout the whole movement, you need to keep your
core and back tight, by bracing your abs and pulling your
lats down towards the bar. Pulling your lats down before
you begin the lift will help you to keep a flat lower back
throughout the lift and put your body in the ideal position
to finish. It also might make the bar move more slowly off
the floor. That’s okay — better a slow lift than no lift at all.
LOCKOUT
As soon as the bar leaves the floor, you need to
accelerate. Your goal is to generate enough bar speed to
help power through the sticking point — which, for most
people, is somewhere between just below knee level and
lockout.
complete the lift. That doesn’t mean you need to lock
your knees before your hips — many lifters find it easier to
lock the knees and hips at the same time. However,
thinking about locking your knees may help you move the
bar faster once it leaves the floor.
If you start to struggle towards the end of the lift, you
need to stay calm and patient, not rush to complete the
lockout. Rushing usually leads to hitching, and hitching
always leads to missed reps. Instead, focus on keeping
your core tight and squeezing your glutes to push your
hips through and finish the movement. Forcefully exhaling
can sometimes help to power through that last inch or
two.
LOWERING THE BAR
After lockout, don’t drop the bar! In a competition,
dropping the bar will cause you to miss lifts, and even in
the gym, it’ll throw off your form and make your next rep
more difficult than it should be. Instead, lower the bar
under control by pushing your hips back and keeping your
lats and core tight as the bar moves downward.
To accelerate, continue focusing on either spreading or
pushing through the floor. Your goal is to lock your knees
as quickly as you can; as long as you kept a good position
off the floor, if you can lock your knees, you’ll be able to
use your upper back to help bring your hips through and
Appendix
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Appendix
73
CORE/AB TRAINING
overhead pulley crunch or crunch on a Swiss ball are both
great ways to practice this feeling of tightness.
Squats and deadlifts begin with your core — your abs and
lower back. These major muscle groups stabilize your
torso during the lifts, keeping it in a strong and safe
position. The ideal core position balances the load
between your back, hips, legs, and glutes.
Once you’ve fully engaged your abs, you need to generate
intra-abdominal pressure. While holding the crunch
position, exhale forcefully, trying to blow all the air out of
your lungs. Then — keeping your abs tight the whole time
— inhale deep into your diaphragm and “push out”
against that tightness, like you were drawing in a huge
breath to blow up the world’s biggest balloon. When done
properly, you should feel like you have a wall of muscle
supporting your entire core, from your hips to your rib
cage.
To find this ideal position, you need to “brace” your
abs and lower back. Many trainers use a cue like “push
out” to convey the idea of intra-abdominal tightness, but
that’s not nearly enough.
First, you need to properly engage your upper and lower
abs. I like to start with the lower abs, and I think about
using them to rotate or pull my hips towards my
shoulders. Some other good cues include “scooping”
your abs, or “drawing in,” trying to pull your navel towards
your spine. If you have trouble with this and cues aren’t
helping, try lying down flat on the floor and crunching your
abs together, as if you were trying to squeeze a penny in
your belly button. Then push your lower back into the floor
as hard as you can. Try to replicate that feeling of
tightness while standing up.
The first time you do it, this whole process will seem
exhausting. You’ll need to practice. Fortunately, this is
the position you should keep for ALL of your abs
exercises, whether they’re planks, sit-ups, leg raises, or
anything else, so you should have plenty of opportunities!
Every time you train abs, try to practice holding this
position. It will strengthen quickly, and you’ll see big gains
in your squat and deadlift just from training this position.
Second, you need to engage your upper abs in the same
way. I use almost the same cue here, thinking about using
my upper abs to crunch down and rotate my shoulders
towards my hips. If that doesn’t work for you, trying
thinking about “bearing down” with your rib cage. The
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BENT-OVER ROW
1. Begin by loading a barbell on the floor as if you were
preparing to deadlift.
2. Hinge at the hips, keeping your core braced, back
flat, and butt high. Your knees should be soft but not
bent. Direct your gaze a few feet in front of the
barbell.
3. Initiate the movement using your rear delts and lats,
not your arms or traps. If you’re having trouble, try
focusing on driving your elbows backward, as if you
were trying to elbow someone behind you in the gut.
4. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of
the movement, and try to hold that position for a full
second.
5. Lower the barbell all the way to the floor under
control, and let it rest briefly on the floor before
performing the next rep.
REVERSE
HYPEREXTENSION
1. Load the machine with a very light weight (20 pounds
is a good place to start).
2. Position yourself in the usual way, with your chest as
close to the pad as possible, hip crease against the
edge of the pad, and strap behind ankles.
Keep your toes and heels together throughout the
entire movement.
3. Begin the lift by contracting your glutes, while
keeping your abs tight. Try to bring your feet up to
the level of your torso.
4. At the top of the movement, squeeze your glutes and
hold for a one-second count.
5. Lower the weight under control.
6. Repeat for the required reps.
Appendix
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CHIN/PULL UP
1. Begin with a safe setup. You should have a stable
chinning bar (no over-the-door BS), and an easy way
to take your grip (no 18-inch jumps to grab the bar).
Use a block or chair to get up if you have to.
2. Set your hands about shoulder-width apart, with
palms facing you (supinated). If you prefer to have
your palms facing away, that’s fine, too.
3. After you grab the bar, depress your scapula (pull
your shoulders down). This will take some of the
strain off your rotator cuff muscles.
4. Squeeze yourself up towards the bar by pulling with
your lats. This is tricky, especially if you don’t have a
lot of lat development yet. Some cues that might
help:
• “Elbows down”
• “Pull the bar apart”
• “Don’t pull with your hands”
5. All of these will help to avoid using your biceps too
much (although you will have some bicep
involvement).
getting stronger if you do more reps at the cost of
range of motion.
7. Don’t use momentum. Some people have good
reasons for performing kipping pull-ups, but if you’re
a powerlifter, you do not. The easiest way to avoid
swinging too much is by bracing your core and
flexing your glutes as you perform the movement.
GLUTE-HAM RAISE
1. Position yourself on the GHR with your whole foot
pressed against the back plate, your ankles directly
between the foot pads, and your knees aligned with
the bottom of the large front pad. Your knees should
be bent at about a 45-degree angle.
2. Brace your core and glutes, and extend your knees
by driving your toes against the back plate until your
body is parallel to the floor.
3. Return to the starting position by driving your heels
back towards the back plate, squeezing your
hamstrings and glutes and keeping your core tight.
4. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
6. Continue pulling until either (A) your chin is over the
bar or (B) your chest touches the bar. Either is okay,
but make sure you’re consistent. You’re not really
Appendix
76
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Part of learning to Think Strong is learning to acknowledge the people who help you
get strong. I cannot thank these people enough for all of their support, but I hope I
can give back to them a little of how much they have given to me.
77
Staci Ardison has contributed to this project, and to my life, in ways that I can’t fully describe. I’m so grateful to her for
her trust in and support of me. She has challenged me to reexamine the way I think about everything — training included
— and I would not have learned to Think Strong or be strong without her.
Dominic Morais and Jacob Cloud are by far the two most influential people in my training, and two of the most influential
people in my life. I can’t overstate all they’ve done for me with their patience and friendship, and I can’t describe how
supporting it is to know that I can rely on them for advice — good advice — about anything. And their perspective on
training and technique alone has added more to my total than anything else; they deserve as much credit for my lifting
success as I do.
Tammy Hudson has done so much to keep my going, and I have never met another sport massage therapist with as
much knowledge of the body and how to fix it. Her support and friendship have been just as important to me, and I’m
grateful to have met her.
All of my family at Big Tex Gym and Hyde Park Gym in Austin have pushed me to continually improve, and I am extremely
grateful for that. Everyone talks about how important it is to have a “hardcore” gym environment for motivation, but fewer
recognize how much of a difference it makes when you train with family. Intense training partners can push you to work
harder when you’re not feeling it, but a family can keep you going through the good times and the hard ones.
I’m also grateful to my parents for everything they’ve given to me. I know that it took them a while to come around to
powerlifting, and I appreciate that they were open-minded enough to support me just because lifting is important to me,
even when they maybe didn’t understand why.
And finally, I’m so proud to be a member of Team EliteFTS. I’m thankful to Dave Tate for giving me this opportunity, to
Sheena Leedham and Andy Hingsbergen for their help in navigating the team processes, and to the entire team for all of
their support and friendship. To live, learn, and pass on really encompasses everything that I want to get out of this sport,
and really out of my entire life, and so it’s incredibly fulfilling to be a part of something bigger than myself, where everyone
can share that vision.
Acknowledgements
78
WANT MORE?
79
If you’re made it this far, and still think you could use a
little more guidance, I offer online programming for both
training and nutrition. I’ve worked with powerlifters,
bodybuilders, fire and safety officials, and general training
enthusiasts of all levels. If you’re interested in training with
me, please contact me via email at ben@phdeadlift.com.
Here are a few testimonials from some of my clients:
“I would have to say [my meet] ended up being
successful... just a special day that I’ll always remember.
Definitely couldn’t have done any of this without your
guidance and help throughout this whole process.”
“Thank you so much for your help. You have significantly
helped me progress in my lifting journey... I’ll take your
words to heart and I hope to share the platform with you
in the future.”
“[Training is] a bombastic bomb... my body and
especially my strength is responding well!”
“Literally the perfect weights. I don’t know how you
picked them but they were just right... I’ll do your
programs forever.”
Services
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