Over the past six weeks, I have been trying to get myself ready for equipped lifting. My strategy for this was to use high weight and low reps as much as possible to condition my body to the heavier weight that I will lift in equipment. So, instead of following the traditional 5-3-1 training cycle, I used 3-1, 3-1, 3-1. I also started eating as much as possible to gain weight. I also did not do any physical activity besides lifting. The only exception to this was week 6, when I played 18 holes of golf before doing bench singles. During fall, I would play basketball for an hour on Monday nights before practice, so I never had really good squat workouts. Before starting this six week period, I was not training very hard. My singles had been falling in weight over the previous twelve weeks. So, I decided to go all out knowing that it would be the only hope I had to qualify for nationals in February. My final sets every time were done at 10 or 10+ on RPE. By the end of these six weeks, I reached one of my major goals and deadlifted 500.
Week 1:
Squat 265x3, 275x3, 285x3
Bench 185x3, 195x3, 205x3x2
DL 385x3, 405x3x3
Week 2:
Squat 275x1, 315x1, 335x1
Bench 205x1, 225x1, 225xf
DL 405x1, 425x1, 445x1
Week 3:
Squat 265x3, 275x3, 285x3, 295x3
Bench 185x3, 195x3, 205x3, 215x3
DL 405x3x2, 415x2
Week 4:
Squat 275x1, 315x1, 335x1, 355xf
Bench 205x1, 225x1, 235xf
DL 405x1, 435x1, 475x1
Week 5:
Squat 275x3, 295x3, 315x3
Bench 185x3, 205x3, 215x3, 225x3
DL 405x3, 425x3
Week 6:
Squat 315x1, 335x1, 355x1
Bench 205x1, 225x1, 235x1, 245xf
DL 405x1, 435x1, 475x1, 500x1
