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New to Powerlifting

John K said:
I think learning conventional is easier, and a lot of what goes into conventional also goes into sumo. I'm not anti-sumo.

Setup and going through that right process every time can make a big difference.

Did I miss a recent deadlift video? What is hard or awkward about getting into that position?
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Ok so honestly right this moment I don't remember why it was awkward or hard, but I will tell you tomorrow when I do squats, I'll do a few light deadlifts to understand for myself what I meant. I remember looking down and seeing me lifting the bar straight up, like a few inches in front of my shins instead of pulling up my shins, if that makes sense? All I have to go on is videos and articles and you guys on here, as I don't have a coach or trainer, and I like to base my lifts off of Eddie Hall... One, amazing human being, love everything I've ever seen about him. Two, he is a big guy so I can try to replicate the movements and positions he is in. Three, my wife has a huge crush on him so if I've got him on the TV then good chance more apt to pay attention to help me out when we get outside and try new forms...

So when watching him, I've seen him pull so hard up his leg that his shins have bruised/bled.... I don't know how to explain other than I feel more like I am lifting the weight than I am pulling it up....
 
theck4291 said:
Ok so honestly right this moment I don't remember why it was awkward or hard, but I will tell you tomorrow when I do squats, I'll do a few light deadlifts to understand for myself what I meant. I remember looking down and seeing me lifting the bar straight up, like a few inches in front of my shins instead of pulling up my shins, if that makes sense? All I have to go on is videos and articles and you guys on here, as I don't have a coach or trainer, and I like to base my lifts off of Eddie Hall... One, amazing human being, love everything I've ever seen about him. Two, he is a big guy so I can try to replicate the movements and positions he is in. Three, my wife has a huge crush on him so if I've got him on the TV then good chance more apt to pay attention to help me out when we get outside and try new forms...

So when watching him, I've seen him pull so hard up his leg that his shins have bruised/bled.... I don't know how to explain other than I feel more like I am lifting the weight than I am pulling it up....
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I think you are starting way too low. Which probably shows your great mobility. Your hips are going to start higher than your knees. Take a video from the side.
 
John K said:
I think you are starting way too low. Which probably shows your great mobility. Your hips are going to start higher than your knees. Take a video from the side.
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I'll take a video tomorrow showing how I did my lift, and maybe try to come higher like you suggest. Thanks brother
 
theck4291 said:
OK, so let me get your takes on Sumo lifting. It seems there is a big kabub and hallabaloo about it in one facebook group I follow. I haven't tried it yet, because I try to follow standard/conventional lifting. Is this allowed in competition? If so, I wonder if this would be a better way for me to deadlift, or should I keep with conventional and grind away until I I get my positioning down?
Not that i am comparing myself to Eddie Hall, because I'm not, but if he can deadlift at his size he was when he broke 500kg, I should be able to get in position and deadlift these lighter weights as well. I just feel so dang awkward trying to get in position..
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Powerlifting yes, if it works better do it. Bonus that it makes some people mad.

Strongman… technically not allowed in most contests. Sometimes they don’t list it and you can get away with it. But what some people do is “wide conventional”. Basically as long as your hands are outside your knees it isn’t considered sumo.
This gets fun with short guys and 18” deads. They game it for a 3” ROM. It’s the one event where it pays to be short.
 
@theck4291

Squat looks perfectly legal on depth. Maybe "barely legal" but that might just be the camera angle. I'd give you white lights with what I'm seeing.

Deadlift your hips are still way too low. You're making it into a deficit deadlift or squat-pull, which is probably why it feels so awkward and heavy.

Here's a couple videos to look at for the deadlift:

Look at Fabio in the "correct" - see where his shoulders - hips - knees are:


Alan breaks it down really easily in 5 steps. You'll notice at 4:34 he says "do not sit your hips down" - and this is what it looks to me like you're doing.


And here is Grant working with actual real life people:
 
Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Got my OHP in today. Almost didn't... I was hurting pretty bad. Well, not hurting, but I was barely able to walk. Wife and I went shopping to finish up gifts for our kids for Easter, and walking around the stores my legs kept giving out and my knees kept buckling. There was legitimately a few times I almost dropped. I was very much dreading my workout, but still got it in.

I purchased a Fat Gripz so I can get the feel of an axle press bar, and did my OHP using the 2.25" gripz. Hoping it helps build my grip strength too, measured it at a current max of 149lbs.(right hand, left hand is 142lbs)



I noticed this week I was able to handle more weight in my strict press than I was last week. Last week during my workout, I got 1x 205 strict, then the rest were push press... this week I was able to hit 3x 205, 3x 215, and 1x225 before having to transition to push press, and when I did, I didn't have nearly as much power as last week, I could clearly feel my legs trembling as I pushed.

workout for the week pictured below.
435061283_953018459686184_829810214223941504_n.jpg
 
@silveraw sorry if i tagged the wrong guy, i thought you were the one telling me to jump right in, if not my bad....

So I was looking into the Michigan APF AAPF State Championship, and for my age/ weight class (if I understood it correctly, 140kg?) The open raw 1st place finisher had the following numbers-
605 deadlift
572 squat
407 bench

That was for first place..... I didn't see 2nd or 3rd.... yes, my deadlift is lower, but I still don't have the right movements yet, so maybe it'll jump up when I get it down(I was able to incorrectly lift 395x2, so I'm hoping I can get my correct lift up another 50 or more pounds... the weight isn't that heavy, I'm just not doing something right)
My bench is within reach, as is my squat.... that's crazy to think I could be within reach of placing, not even mentioning that I am almost at a competitive level right out of the gate.

Is there anything barring someone from competing in BOTH strongman and powerlifting? At the same time?
 
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theck4291 said:
My bench is within reach, as is my squat.... that's crazy to think I could be within reach of placing, not even mentioning that I am almost at a competitive level right out of the gate.
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Not to pee on your parade but placing in competitions is often not that hard ime - there are so many weight/age/raw/equipped/drug-free/etc divisions that it's not uncommon to have only a few competitors in any particular one division. BUT, if you compete in the Open division of your weight class, chances for having some competition are a lot better.
 
Boris Bachmann said:
Not to pee on your parade but placing in competitions is often not that hard ime - there are so many weight/age/raw/equipped/drug-free/etc divisions that it's not uncommon to have only a few competitors in any particular one division. BUT, if you compete in the Open division of your weight class, chances for having some competition are a lot better.
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Yea I see that now, but after looking at the open usapl results for last year, I would definitely have placed 3rd. 1st and 2nd are lut of my reach by a year or two I'd say for sure, but with last years competitors u would have placed 3rd, which is still pretty cool having 0 training. Should mean there's only room to go up
 
theck4291 said:
Is there anything barring someone from competing in BOTH strongman and powerlifting? At the same time?
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Not at all. The powerlifting training helps build your strongman training, and the conditioning required for strongman helps out your powerlifting training. The only weird part is sometimes the weight classes. I don't think it will be a problem for you though.

Strongman has a great website for finding local meets that is pretty federation agnostic. Iron Podium There are a bunch in Michigan and surrounding area. My advice is go to a bunch and compete as novice. This lets you get some experience with a wide variety of implements and other competitor's knowledge. Talk to the other guys there and learn a bunch. There is a surprising amount of strategy when it comes to fatigue management and event scoring.
 
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silveraw said:
Not at all. The powerlifting training helps build your strongman training, and the conditioning required for strongman helps out your powerlifting training. The only weird part is sometimes the weight classes. I don't think it will be a problem for you though.

Strongman has a great website for finding local meets that is pretty federation agnostic. Iron Podium There are a bunch in Michigan and surrounding area. My advice is go to a bunch and compete as novice. This lets you get some experience with a wide variety of implements and other competitor's knowledge. Talk to the other guys there and learn a bunch. There is a surprising amount of strategy when it comes to fatigue management and event scoring.
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So im looking at the iron podium, and I see one of the closest comps this summer has the viking press... how does that compare to the OHP? I see some guys say its easier, but I don't have a way to train for viking currently
 
theck4291 said:
So im looking at the iron podium, and I see one of the closest comps this summer has the viking press... how does that compare to the OHP? I see some guys say its easier, but I don't have a way to train for viking currently
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It is pretty similar. You want to work on your push presses though since they are usually for reps.

If you have ever seen a landmine press, the implement most pepople use is similar. Just higher up.
 
Sorry been super busy and forgot to update everything. Will update my training log soon. Have exciting news to share, but will put it in a new thread!

Also, just because I think its cool, I have done the math and in my last 3 bench sessions, 03/19/24, 03/26/24, and 04/02/24, I have benched a cumulative total of 42,240 lbs.
 
Ok friends. Been working on depth for my squat, and I think I MIGHY just be low enough for white lights, but can you tell me please?
415 x 2

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It gets much easier when you always just go as low as you can go. Do some mobility work and keep training.

Unless you're going for a meet in the near future, don't worry.
 
theck4291 said:
Ok friends. Been working on depth for my squat, and I think I MIGHY just be low enough for white lights, but can you tell me please?
415 x 2

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I like what you're doing a lot. That you could dump the bar behind you from a failed attempt is, IMO, always a good sign that your body mechanics are in order. A few thoughts for you.

1. You're pausing at the bottom, which makes the lift harder. Great to keep the pause at the bottom with lighter weights, though you don't necessarily have to do that all the time, either. What works for me is pausing with warmup weights but not with what I consider work sets.

(I posted a link in my meet report thread but here it is again - I only took one squat and with a weight I could probably triple because I was saving myself for a new DL PR that I didn't get, anyway. What you'll see is a relatively controlled descent and then I let the last little bit drop quickly and bounce up from it - - this was 6 days ago, 209 lbs @ bw of 148 lb and, like you, no belt, 69 years old.)

2. Your depth looks great to me, more than sufficient for any meet judge and almost certainly deeper than you want to go if you're attempting maximum or near-maximum weights.

3. It would be nice to see what your lower back looks like at the bottommost position. I'm guessing it's fine but would still be nice to see more clearly, maybe a camera angle slightly from the back so that the plates don't get in the way of the view.

4. A squat form thing - try not to let your hips come up first. Focus on driving the bar up without bending over forward when the going gets tough. That's really what you want to do for all your squats, and training sub-maximal weights that way will help you get stronger in the parts of the range of motion where you're weakest, and that's always a good thing.

Again, nice squatting.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
I like what you're doing a lot. That you could dump the bar behind you from a failed attempt is, IMO, always a good sign that your body mechanics are in order. A few thoughts for you.

1. You're pausing at the bottom, which makes the lift harder. Great to keep the pause at the bottom with lighter weights, though you don't necessarily have to do that all the time, either. What works for me is pausing with warmup weights but not with what I consider work sets.

(I posted a link in my meet report thread but here it is again - I only took one squat and with a weight I could probably triple because I was saving myself for a new DL PR that I didn't get, anyway. What you'll see is a relatively controlled descent and then I let the last little bit drop quickly and bounce up from it - - this was 6 days ago, 209 lbs @ bw of 148 lb and, like you, no belt, 69 years old.)

2. Your depth looks great to me, more than sufficient for any meet judge and almost certainly deeper than you want to go if you're attempting maximum or near-maximum weights.

3. It would be nice to see what your lower back looks like at the bottommost position. I'm guessing it's fine but would still be nice to see more clearly, maybe a camera angle slightly from the back so that the plates don't get in the way of the view.

4. A squat form thing - try not to let your hips come up first. Focus on driving the bar up without bending over forward when the going gets tough. That's really what you want to do for all your squats, and training sub-maximal weights that way will help you get stronger in the parts of the range of motion where you're weakest, and that's always a good thing.

Again, nice squatting.

-S-
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Thanks for the advice Steve. Next squat we will film a little more behind so we can see back better. I was only going that deep to prove a point because I am a child and let one singular comment about me not having enough mobility eat away at me so I of course had to prove the point. I will try to move past that pettiness now lol and just focus on the work haha
 
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