Okay I was wondering if you could take a look at my long-term plan for my meet in May. I'll be finishing up the mesocycle I'm on at the end of next week, then I'll take a one-week "off-season" and start the following (dates listed are the Mondays of that week):
Does this look like a suitable set up? Obviously I'll have to be flexible with any changes, but I like to have a rough outline hashed out. Sorry if it seems a little jumbled, I tried to organize it as best I could, let me know if anything is confusing.
Other questions: How much band tension should I shoot for if I squat in the low 400's? Would I be shooting myself in the foot too much including some "extra workouts" consisting of light cardio (incline walking, elliptical, etc.) basically to keep the bodyfat down? (I know the manual says to wait some significant time before including extra workouts)
Your overall plan is solid! Id shoot for about 100# of band tension. As far as the extra work is concerned, the more I learn, the more I find that extra work is good for you you just have to do it right. What youre talking about (lite cardio) is ideal and will actually help you recover (among many other benefits).
Thanks for the response Mike. As it turns out, my situation has changed a little and I think I will be able to work in a suit consistently during my training, so I plan to include that for the meet. That said, I was wondering as to your thoughts as to how to proceed with training. Here's what I came up with:
Option 1: Suit w/straps down for 6 weeks, Suit w/straps up and wraps for final 6 weeks Option 2: Suit w/straps up for 6 weeks, Suit w/straps up and wraps for final 6 weeks.
Basically, do you see any value in working in a suit with the straps down? I just figured I'd want a little more variety than hammering away in full gear for 12 weeks, but at the same time I don't think 6 alone would have me feeling confident enough in it.
Personally, I never felt like straps down did much for me, so because of that I never gave it much time. It would depend on the suit and the gear you had available, though. Straps down will save your suit a little, making it last longer. So if you don't want to stretch it out or something, then it might be a good idea, but that will be very situation-dependant.
I personally like going straps up, belt, no wraps for most of the preparatory period. Also, it doesn't take me very long to get used to wraps, so I put them on the last 3-4 weeks before a meet and that's plenty of time for me.
Preparatory period, in most cases, referres to the period of preparation before the contest. This is followed by the competitive period, which for powerlifting is typically 3-5 weeks pre-contest.
So I need a little more help planning for my meet, since they moved the date of the meet back 2 weeks to May 30th. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I will be out of town and unable to train May 17th to 22nd. This means, after this week, I will have 9 weeks to the meet, with week 8 being off, and the end of week 9 culminating in the meet...an awkward arrangement I know, but I have to work with what I've got.
My solution might be to schedule a transition week for next week, then do the mesocycle I had planned earlier, followed by the off week, then the "deload" that Mike recommends (3 days of triples) to try and reacclimate my body to the contest exercises before the meet.
This is a tricky situation because you'll be sore all over again after taking a week off.
Is there any other meet you can do that has better dates (the 22nd and 30th are the worst possible weekends considering your situation)?
If this is the best you have to work with, here's what I would do... The key will be the deload week. You need to do enough to get yourself re-acclaimated, but not so much that you will be sore during the meet. ANYTHING you can do during the week off (even just band exercises, bodyweight exercises, anything) will be helpful. Then, when it comes to deload week, I would run it like this:
Sunday (or Saturday if you get back in time)- each lift, work up to x3 @9. Minimize volume. (if you get back Saturday, do x2 @9). Don't pay attention to the weights too much. They will likely be lower than you would otherwise expect.
Monday- Restoration work / stretching Tuesday- each lift, 70%x3, 75%x3, 80%x3 Wednesday- Restoration Thursday- Warmups only on each lift Friday- Restoration Saturday- Competition
This is still a gamble, but it's my best guess. Tough situation either way.
Thanks a bunch for your help, I know it's a tricky situation. Unfortunately there really aren't any other options as far as meets go, as I would need it to be at least 6 weeks away at this point, however it would also need to be before June 12th since I will be leaving for an intensive study of Russian, so my window of opportunity is rather small.
Plus there are some New England records, which can only be broken at this meet, that I'm itching to have a go at.
