This is the third and last post on the subject of gym training (see the first about building up muscles and strength, and the second about maintenance training during down times). A few months ago, I’ve decided to register to a powerlifting competition. To be more specific, to the INPC-GPA Mediterranean Championship 2017. I’ve never competed before, and I decided to try my luck.
For those of you who are not familiar with powerlifting competitions, the competition consists of three exercises – Squat, Bench press and Deadlift – in that order, and you’re expected to do a single repetition with maximum weight (aka 1RM).
One-repetition maximum (one rep maximum or 1RM) in weight training is the maximum amount of weight that a person can possibly lift for one repetition. It may also be considered as the maximum amount of force that can be generated in one maximal contraction. One repetition maximum can be used for determining an individual’s maximum strength and is the method for determining the winner in events such as powerlifting and weightlifting competitions. One repetition maximum can also be used as an upper limit, in order to determine the desired “load” for an exercise (as a percentage of the 1RM).
Participants are grouped based on their weight (I’ll be part of the up-to 100 kg (220 lbs.) group). You get three attempts in each exercise, and you can only increase weight (or stay at the same weight in case of a failure) – you can’t decrease the weight you tried to lift. After you finish the three exercises, you sum up your weights, and that’s your score. For example, I’m currently at 190 kg squat, 130 kg bench press, and 210 kg deadlift, which gives me a total of 530 kg (1168 lbs.).
The Wilks Coefficient or Wilks Formula is a coefficient that can be used to measure the strength of a powerlifter against other powerlifters despite the different weights of the lifters. Robert Wilks, CEO of Powerlifting Australia, is the author of the formula. The formula was updated in March 2020 to allow for a rebalancing of coefficients, with men and women’s performances better aligned and the extreme bodyweight classes brought into better balance with the middle bodyweight classes.
Obviously, this requires special training. Once again, I went to my “master yoda” Shay Goltman. Together, we prepared a plan that focuses on these 3 exercises. We’re doing a two-week rotation, with 3 types of training – strength, volume and 1RM. First week we’ll do one strength session, and one volume session. The second week will start with 1RM training to see where I’m standing, and the second will be an additional strength session.
Strength session
We’ll do the exact same exercises from the competition – Squat, then Bench press, and then Deadlift. For each exercise, we’ll do a bit of warm up with weight going up, and when we reach around 85% of my 1RM, we’ll do 3 sets of 5 repetitions. For example, in my last session we performed 3 sets of 8 reps of squats with 175 kg (385 lbs.), then 3 sets of 8 reps of bench press with 110 kg (240 lbs.), and then 3 sets of 5 reps of deadlift with 180 kg 395 lbs.).
The idea of this type of session is to increase muscle mass and build up strength.
Volume session
The volume session is quite similar to the strength session, with 2 main differences – the weights are a bit lower – usually around 70% of my 1RM, while the number of reps increases to 8 reps.
This type of session usually builds muscle endurance, yet with the relatively heavy weights that I’m lifting, it’s bound to increase strength as well. The high number of repetitions also poses a mental challenge – doing 8 reps requires a special mind set.
1RM session
This session focuses on training myself to the same challenge I’ll face in the competition. We start with a few warm up sets in each exercise, until we reach around 50% of my expected 1RM, from there we’ll start increasing the weight with jumps of 10-15%, doing a single rep each time, until we reach my maximum weight.
Progress and summary
Sometimes we fail (squat 195 kg):
Sometimes we make it look easy (deadlift 210 kg):
We’ve seen weekly progress, and we’re excited to see the results in the competition, which is expected to take place on May 25th. If I’m not too embarrassed sharing my photos wearing a singlet, I’ll update with the results.