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Highly informative video by Bryce Lewis on deadlift technique.

#powerlifting #supertraining #deadlift #weight room #strength and conditioning #strong #technique #usapl

Deadlift to knees, with pause today with 455 lbs. Did 5x2x75% after warm-up sets before doing heavier deadlifts off plates.

The deadlift to knee with pause is a staple exercise in the Sheiko programming. It helps you get in the correct starting position from the floor and develops low back strength by having to stay tight with an isometric hold right below or at knee level.

When I do these I'm focusing on a few different things: Staying real tight, taking the tension out of the bar before pulling, keeping my shins just about vertical, sitting back and pushing through my heels, not letting my butt rise too quickly (could do a little better on this) and keeping my rib cage up during the pause. If I choose to lockout as I did here on the 2nd rep I'm aiming to have a forceful extension of the hips at the top; without leaning my upper body backwards.

Give them a try. Sets of 2-5 between 60-80% seem to work best on this exercise. You can do another deadlift variation on the same day as these with a heavier weight. This exercise is to help you grease the groove and build you technique. You can then go heavier (80-90% on regular deadlifts or (85-105%) for low reps on deadlift off plates or rack pulls. This is how Sheiko often programs the deadlift and it’s variations.

#powerlifing #gym #weight room #deadlift #lifting techinique #stephen brindle #penn athletics #upenn #Sheiko

Here is a video clip of me doing 585x3 on my last set of deadlift off plates on the Sheiko 4 day CMS Prep Phase program (Robert Frederick hypertrophy modification) This was after doing multiple sets in the 70 and 80 percent range of deadlift to knees (with pause) then lockout. Here is what the deadlift off plates workout looked like

395x3 (65%)

455x3 (75%)

515 2x3 (85%)

575 2x2 (95%)

585 1x3 (98%)

The program called for me to do 575 for 3 x 2 but I was feeling really good after the second set and so added some weight and did an extra rep. I don’t do this as often as I used to, in an attempt to follow the Sheiko program correctly but when I’m feeling good I find it helpful to do this as a confidence booster.

The deadlift off 2 plates exercise (or from blocks) is a good exercise to workout on your lockout portion of the deadlift. It also helps you get used to handling heavier loads and works your grip a lot. This way you will be less likely to miss a deadlift due to a poor lockout or losing grip of the bar. You are able to go slightly heavier on these than from the floor since the bar travels less distance. In addition, it is slightly less taxing on the low-back, (although I’ve found they make my mid-back quite sore the next day). This exercise is also a good one for teaching people to create force through the ground by overcoming inertia and not using momentum as one might when bouncing a deadlift or jerking it off the floor. One of our assistants here at Penn actually uses it to help teach the deadlift initially to his freshmen. This lift can be a great one to use in-season to get a training stimulus but not fry the low back as much as a regular deadlift from the floor.

The key is to try to keep vertical shins, keep the bar close to your body, and forcefully extend the hips at the top. Give them a try in your deadlift workout and let me know what you think.

#powerlifting #deadlift #Sheiko

All time bench PR of 395 lbs!! With pause. High frequency benching on the new Sheiko CMS 4-day per week program has made quite the difference. I’ve been doing bench press or a bench press variation 4 days per week most weeks with assistance work including board press, DB Floor Press, DB Flat Bench (paused some weeks and regular with no-pause other weeks) and DB Flys for the chest. For the back I was doing DB Rows, BB Bent Over Rows, Chest supported Yates Rows, Pull Ups and Lat Pulldowns. I did minimal shoulder work on this program. Probably did overhead press about 4 times the entire cycle. The high frequency training with most sessions in the (75-85%) range really helped me grease the groove on the bench press and help me set this new PR. My bench had been stuck for a while and even went down before doing this. At my most recent meet in December I hit 364 and missed 380. I hit 375 in training last November. Prior to that I had hit 385 in training about 1.5 years ago.

Excellent video on physiological explanations behind properly peaking for a meet.

If you are serious about gaining strength, whether for personal well-being, or to compete in powerlifting or Olympic lifting please get familiar with this chart. If you are training people or writing programs for people please, please, please familiarize yourself with this chart. Why? Because it works!

Prilepin was a Russian scientist who studied the effects certain set/rep/percentage schemes had on numerous Olympic lifters in the 1960s and 70s. I use this chart as a guideline with all the programs I write (which is normally about 15 per week). I do not use it as law but rather as a reference point to define whether the workout was high/medium/low volume or high/medium/low intensity. In the off-season when high volume is more crucial I actually recommend doing even more total reps at certain percentages than is posted on the chart. For instance if in week 3 of a program I had you do 5 sets of 5 reps at 80% on bench press that would be a total of 25 reps in that 80-90 range. In order for supercompensation or training adaptation to occur I wouldn't be able to constantly have you do 25 reps in that range. At some point I'd have to go on the 'low end' of the chart in that range (example- 5x2x83% or 6x2x80%) in order for your body to be able to recover from the higher volume days, while still working on the technical skill of the lift.

Another thing to note is that many times you will have work sets that are in two different intensity zones. (Example 3 x 4 x 70 then 5 x 3 x 80. When this is the case I don't recommend being in the high end of the rep range on the chart in both zones very often. You will be able to do this sometimes on the bench but not on squats or deads very often since due to the larger loads and stressors on the low back/legs they take longer to recover. Let’s look at how this might work on the squat for instance. Let’s assume you are about 4 weeks out from a meet or from maxing and you have a workout that calls for you to do work sets of 2 x 3 x 75, 5 x 2 x 85 then 2 x 4 x 75. You are getting 14 reps in the 70-80 range which will help with hypertrophy and greasing the groove, as well as 10 reps in the 80-90 range. So this would be an example of low end 70% range and low end 80% range, which would be appropriate for being 4 weeks out from a meet. Remember that 10 total reps at 85% is tougher than 10 reps at 80% as well.

Please keep in mind that the rep ranges on the chart do not mean that your body is only physically able to get that certain amount of reps in that given zone. The numbers represent the ideal amount of reps per set in that range to get a desired training effect of strength. For instance most people can bang out about 8 reps at 80% of their 1RM if they are fresh and get worked up for an all out set. At times it is wise to do all out sets like these to build work capacity, confidence, character, and to do a gut check to see if you will quit or not when it gets tough. The ideal rep range for work sets in the 80-90 range is 2-4. Prilepin gives this number because that is where the best QUALITY reps will occur to give a desired training effect. The variability of the reps will be less within that 2-4 range because intra-set fatigue doesn’t accumulate to the same extent as it would when you try to bang out 6 reps at 80-85%. In other words, if you do sets of 2 at 80% rep 1 and rep 2 will look pretty similar. When you do 6-8 reps for an all out set in this 80% range you will notice that the higher the reps get the more technique breaks down to grind out the reps. Thus, in order to not engrain an improper motor pattern it would be wise to not go above this 2-4 rep range in the 80-90% percentage range very often.

One should also remember that this table was created by studying Olympic lifters which are more technical than the powerlifts. So for Olympic lifting I recommend staying on the low end of this rep range even more. When it comes to powerlifting I think you can train more towards the “optimal” range and “high end” on a somewhat frequent basis, especially in accumulation blocks and preparatory phases. When aiming to build hypertrophy I recommend packing on the volume and training at the higher end of the chart , sometimes even going higher than the chart suggests.

If you are regularly training below the “Total range” numbers on Prilepin’s chart you are not eliciting training adaptations in order to gain strength. You simply are not training hard enough, or smart enough for that matter. So for all your 8 x 2 x 55% “speed days” you might not be getting as much out of them as you think.

When it comes to in-season training I recommend staying on the lower end of the total rep range on squats and deadlifts unless there is a bye week or lack of playing time. I recommend staying in the low/medium or close to "optimal" range on snatches, cleans, squats, deads. When peaking for an important game/meet I recommend going below the range posted in the chart during that week( example 4x2x70). #prilipenschart #lifting #strengthandconditioning #programming #powerlifting #olylift

The sport of powerlifting is a demonstration of maximal strength in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Months of training culminate in just one day of testing each lift. One of the more misunderstood topics in powerlifting is “the taper”, or how to manage fatigue at the end of a training cycle in order to create the best possible outcome on the day of competition.

Great article on tapering from The Strength Athlete site. Looks like a slight reduction in volume while maintaining high intensity (75% plus) is a good bet for 3rd and 2nd week out from testing. For the week of the meet resting 2-4 days seems to be best.

Top 5 Supplements

People ask me about supplements all the time. I’m not a GNC junkie or supplement fiend by any means but here are a few things I like to take. In no particular order-

Fish Oil- helps my joints feel a lot better. Heavy compound movements can bring about wear and tear on the body and taking fish oil helps alleviate some of that pain that comes from tendonitis. It’s also good for your skin and heart.

Multi-Vitamins- I take these every day to make sure I’m not lacking in anything whatsoever. I’ve also found that taking them regularly helps with my overall energy levels. When I run out of them I notice a slight difference.

ZMA- helps you get into REM sleep and thus recover better. I have some weird dreams when I take it though haaa.

Creatine Monohydrate- there are so many research studies that back the effectiveness of creatine. When I take creatine I notice I can push myself for one or two more reps in a set than I normally would and also feel stronger My muscles feel and look fuller as well when I take it. Make sure you drink plenty of water while taking it. I’m old school and still like the first week loading phase before going to a regular dosage. I’ve found that after taking it for about 2 months your body starts building up a tolerance to it so taking about a month off of it after that works well. When you come back on it and load again you’ll notice the difference instantly. If you are looking to increase lean muscle mass I definitely recommend creatine. If you are trying to cut weight for your sport or powerlifting it may be wise to come off of it for a little bit as it does tend to cause you to increase 3-5 lbs in bodyweight.

Whey Protein- research study after research study show that people who strength train need more protein than the average individual to repair their muscle tissue. I recommend a shake with about 30-40 grams per serving. Less than that and you might as well drink a glass of milk and more than that- not sure if the body can absorb all of it in one sitting.

Other than these supplements I honestly never take anything other than a pre-workout drink. I know there are a ton more supplements out there but these are the ones I’ve seen to be essential and give you the most bang for your buck.

BENCH PRESS TRAINING: FREQUENCY IS KEY

Here are some bench press video max attempts from last week. I’ve been training on the new Sheiko 20 week program 4 day/per week for advanced lifters. On week 12 you do a skills evaluation or testing new maxes on two of the workouts.

I started off with a single at 345 lbs. that flew up. After that I hit 365 which i knew I was going to get. It went up real fast as well. I then hit 380 which went up pretty smoothly. At this point I had a decision to make. I could go the safe route, which is normally my strategy when choosing max attempts or I could go for the weight that I really wanted, which was 390. I chose 390 took a good break, and it went up faster than I thought it would. In fact, after I unracked it, it didn’t feel “heavy” which was a great feeling. I think I could’ve gone a little heavier but I decided to call it a day because I still had to deadlift max, and after 4 heavy singles already I thought it would be wise to save 395 or 400 for the next time I test in 5 weeks. 390 was an all time personal best for me so needless to say I was real rowdy afterwards! One of the reasons was because my bench had been stuck for quite a while even though I was benching twice per week and hammering my triceps.

At my last powerlifting meet in December 2014 I hit 352 on my first attempt that went up pretty easily and then hit 363.5 but missed 374 lbs. My bench had been stuck for a while actually. The most I had ever done was 385 lbs which i did in the fall of 2012. I hadn’t hit over 375 for over a year and a half before last week.

So how did my bench press go up over 15 lbs in 12 weeks? Frequency is key! As the law of specificity tells us, “You get good at what you repeatedly do”. On the new Sheiko program I was doing the competition bench press 3 days per week every single week and then another bench variation (close grip, bb incline or bench with chains) on the 4th day. So in essence I was bench pressing 4 days per week. Normally on 3/4 of the bench press sessions the top weight was 80% or heavier. On many of the days the program had me doing two different bench press sessions in the same workout. So I was really bench pressing about 5-6 times per week. I’ve been working on arching my low back more and pulling my feet underneath more for better leg drive. I’ve also been working on keeping my feet more even, which you can see on the 380lbs video. On the 390 video you will see I went back to my old ways and my left foot is way wider than my right. My left foot got chalk on it so that caused it to slide out further away even more. On all my other bench sets I have my training partner Tim watch my feet to make sure they are even before I unrack the bar. However, on the 390 I was in the zone and didn’t want to think about the lift too much. Just wanted to plant my feet and go! I’ve been pausing every rep on bench press for sets that are 5 reps and under, which is almost every single set. I’ve even been pausing on my chest assistance work with DB Flat Bench Press and DB Floor Press. On some of my warm-up sets I’ve been holding an extra long pause for 2-3 seconds while maintaining tension in my upper back, keeping my arch and chest held high. So to take the law of specificity even further, “You get good at what you repeatedly do good” (pardon the poor grammar) So repeatedly bench pressing with awful form is not the key to improving your bench press strength but rather repeatedly benching the right way every single time you grab the bar.

As for tricep work I’ve mainly been doing weighted dips, cable pushdowns, and DB Overhead Extensions. Honestly I haven’t been doing super high volume on the triceps either. I’ve also only been doing Overhead Press whenever Sheiko asks for “Delt Muscles” in the workout. I probably did it 3-4 times the entire time on the program so far. So for everyone who says you can’t improve the bench press unless you consistently train the overhead press, it’s not true. The thing that makes your bench press go up is training the bench press; and training it often. At the right percentages with weights heavy enough that they bring about a training stimulus, but not so heavy that they fry the CNS and inhibit your ability to recover; for the right sets and reps, and then hitting a few assistance movements that are well thought out and mimic the actual bench press.

I personally believe doing upper back assistance is more important than doing overhead press work for the bench press. Your shoulders are already getting a ton of work on the bench press anyway. When you tuck your elbows in tight and act like your bending the bar in half, packing the shoulder blades tight; keeping the whole upper back tight- you are able to think about “rowing” the bar down to your chest with your lat muscles rather than lowering it down by expending energy in the chest muscles. Keeping the upper back tight allows you to really push into the bench and push your body away from the bar as you press the weight up.

My next goal on the bench press is going to be 400 lbs!

If you have any questions for me about bench press training feel free to hit me up at [email protected]

Yesterday i posted a college football training video that started to get me rowdy at first but then was a total disappointment. This video by Army football is the best college football training video I’ve seen in a long time! I tip my hat to their strength coaches. Their guys are squatting deep, doing snatch grip deads, deep bulgarian split squats and respectable snatches and cleans.

Deadlifts with chains. This a great exercise to do to help your lockout on deadlifts as well as speed. Although adding the chains will actually slow the bar down during your sets of deadlifts with chains when you go back to doing normal deadlifts there should be an increase in speed. When deadlifting with chains more chains gradually come off the ground as you stand up making the lift harder at the top of the lift. After the bar breaks off the floor you should then attempt to move it with speed. Attempting to move the bar with speed will tap into the high threshold motor units which are crucial for executing heavier weight. The goal is the intention to move the bar fast while the chains are on the bar; even though the bar may actually not move fast.

I found that when I tried to do conventional deadlifts with chains with the bar on the ground, the chains kept on getting pinched underneath the plates when I lowered the bar. Robert Frederick from Sheiko.com forums gave me this idea to help solve the problem. It worked tremendously. GIve it a try.

This video had soo much potential to be rowdy...but then...they started squatting high, spotters started grabbing the lifters chests on "counted" lifts, spotters started touching the bar on "counted" lifts, butts started coming way off the bench on the bench press. I commend the effort and energy but inflated numbers don't do anyone any good. If you’re a strength and conditioning coach reading this please hold your athletes to a higher standard. Teach them the right way and their mental confidence will still rise as they get stronger the right way; and they will pride themselves on doing it the legitimate way.

Check out this instructional deadlift video from Jim Steel, the head strength and conditioning coach at Penn. Making 565x3 look real light.

Here are some cues to follow when deadlifting:

-Feet should be shoulder width or even closer in

-Think about squatting down to the bar on your set up

-Keep your shins vertical to the ground and sit back on your heels

-Take the tension out of the bar before you start the pull. There is no need to yank the bar off the ground. Take the tension out then move it fast.

-Fill up with air before you start your pull and hold your breath until the rep is complete then breath out

- Hips and shoulders should rise at the same time

-Squeeze your glutes at the top to fully lockout

Rackpull deads several inches below the knee on on the lowest rail possible done after deficit deadlifts today. This is my second set of 1 at 95%. For the first set I did my actual 95% which was 575 lbs and here is the clip of me doing 585 lbs. I was aiming to keep the bar real tight to my legs, not jerk with my arms, not let my butt come up too quick, and get a powerful lockout. Rackpulls are a great exercise to help you with your lockout on deadlifts and are one of the best exercises you can do to strengthen your lower back. In addition, they fire up the CNS and get your body accustomed to holding heavy weight which strengthens the grip and boosts your confidence dealing with heavy loads. I've been feeling real good on that new 4 day Sheiko routine. On the Sheiko program you never really feel 100% because you always feel some residual soreness from the previous workout since you are benching 4 days per week, squatting 2 days per week, and doing deadlift variations 2 days per week. However, it really helps with your technique, work capacity, and ability to throw 80-85% around like it's nothing.

Video of my 524 lbs raw squat in the 220 lb weight class division at 2014 USAPL American Open Meet in Washington, DC this past Sunday.

I went 3/3 on my squats at the meet with 3 white lights on each attempt. I opened up very conservatively at 474 lbs. which in training I did one time for 14 sets of 1 about 6-7 weeks out from the meet. I wanted to make sure I buried my first attempt with the depth so I could get on the board and show the judges I knew what I was doing. I've found that opening up conservatively on the squat really sets the tone for the meet and is crucial in earning the judges' respect. After 474 I hit 501 which did not seem too difficult. After this I decided to go for a new meet record and hit 524 lbs. You can see from the video that I stalled a little bit around 1/2 way to 3/4 of the way up and then had a firm lockout. I believe doing sets where I had to struggle with heavy weight really helped me lock this out. In training the heaviest I did was 520 lbs for 2 sets of 1 about 3 weeks out from the meet. On the 2nd single of the 520 lbs in training I had to struggle with the weight to lockout similar to this attempt at the meet. You will also notice that I have a good forward lean on this attempt. This is due to the low bar position I've used over the past few years which has helped my squat improve. However I am going to be working on squatting with a little less of a lean this off-season by incorporating front squats and high bar squats are certain cycles.

I opened up conservatively on the bench press as well at 348 lbs which flew up. I then hit 364 pretty easily so went for a new meet record at 380 and couldn't quite lock it out. I was disappointed that I missed and am hungry to hit above 380 lbs at a meet real soon! I actually want to hit 400 lbs eventually in a meet. I plan on cycling through some new Sheiko programs to help with the extra bench volume to get me there.

On my 380 attempt I gave it all I had and had to arch my low back excessively. At this point I was pretty shot and the deadlifts felt heavy in warm-ups. I pulled 568 and then my low back was super fatigued. I wanted to pull over 600 in a meet but it didn't happen this time. I have to go back to the drawing board to see why at my last 2 meets to see why I've felt very fatigued at the meet on deadlifts and pulled heavier weights in the gym during my training cycles. I plan on doing more mock meets this upcoming year where I max on all 3 lifts in the gym. I believe this will help rectify this problem as I get ready for the October Raw Nationals.,

I placed 7th out of 25 lifters in the 220 lb raw division against some of the best lifters in the country. Many of these same people will be at Raw Nationals. Overall I'm pleased with how the squat and bench went at the meet but disappointed in how the deadlifts went. I'm hungry to get back in the gym and training super hard to get some new PRs!

Very informative interview from legendary powerlifting cocah Boris Sheiko of Russia.

He answers questions on: - Depth jumps - Super-slow reps - Cardio - Scoliosis - Shoes for different movements - Back injury and squat - Grip width in squat - Additional bench press exercise

All-American Thrower Sam Mattis of Penn deadlifting a very impressive 635 lbs a few weeks ago. He was pretty strong when he came to Penn but he's becoming freakishly strong now!

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