# Alright you strength mutants....Help me!



## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

So Ive been rolling it around for a few days and Im going to start looking for a push-pull amateur meet to dip my toe into. Im going to continue lifting the way that I love but in preparation Im going to start training for strength on bench and deadlift days before my hypertrophy work. I work everything once a week as follow
chest
back and rear delts
shoulders
arms
deads, lower back, and legs

Im not competing to win anything so Im not diving 100 percent into strength training but Id like some advice on how to train to add some pounds to those two lifts. My bench is probably 425-440 somewhere but that's not with competition(pause) form. My deadlift is at 545 double overhand with straps. 

Im going to try to find an event that would be in late may or early june. That would give me a few months to get dialed in and Id be nearing the end of my second cycle by then. 

So, if you strong ass phuckers dont mind, how should I go about doing my bench and deads to up the weights?  Im setting a goal now of 1000 lbs total and I think that's very attainable. My deadlift has never been trained much for PRs so it should really move and I havent benched below a set of 6 in years and years. 

Thanks so much guys!

ps- Id expect by then Ill be a very lean 240 ish if that matters.


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## ToolSteel (Jan 9, 2019)

I’ll add more later, but just promise you’ll do the push-pull division of a real federation meet. 

All the fed websites have a ave a lot of meets listed already. USPA, RPS, APF, and SPF are the most common untested feds around me.


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

Ill do it. Will narrow it down tomorrow.


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## DieYoungStrong (Jan 9, 2019)

Start pausing all your benches for starters.


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

There is a usa powerlifting "team rohr" bench press and deadlift challenge near me in early june


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

Well shit, nevermind. Thats a drug free organization


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## DieYoungStrong (Jan 9, 2019)

Yeah - stay away from USAPL and any drug tested meets. Not cool when guys on gear sneak into drug tested meets.

Like tool said with the feds - those are all good. USPA and RPS are the best feds IMO. But don't be picky with the fed for a first meet - especially for a push-pull. Whatever is close to you.


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

Yeah, that's not my thing. Im not even competing against anyone but myself really. I havent trained for strength really ever so this is just something to do. A goal to achieve.  I think 1000lbs is about right.


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## snake (Jan 9, 2019)

Good chance I'm going to take some shit over this but make your DL a priority over squats. I know your not happy with your squat but if you want to push all of your chips to the middle of the table, do it. 

Like Tool said, start getting use to a pause press now for your bench. As for reps, there's a lot to be gained by 5's. I loved doing block pulls to add some weight to my DL so look into them or hit me up.

BTW, didn't say you were going to post a video of a 400 lb bench for me, or was it 405?


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

I dont squat at all so no issue there. Lol

I was going to post a video of 315x10 but 315 became too light for my work sets so I never did. I got 335x8 as my best hypertrophy set.  Ill get you a 405 video if you like though. I did that recently after several work sets.


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## snake (Jan 9, 2019)

Gadawg said:


> I dont squat at all so no issue there. Lol
> 
> I was going to post a video of 315x10 but 315 became too light for my work sets so I never did. I got 335x8 as my best hypertrophy set.  Ill get you a 405 video if you like though. I did that recently after several work sets.



lol. Now if you did that and got hurt, how would that make me feel? You're word is good enough for me.


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## DieYoungStrong (Jan 9, 2019)

snake said:


> Good chance I'm going to take some shit over this but make your DL a priority over squats. I know your not happy with your squat but if you want to push all of your chips to the middle of the table, do it.
> 
> Like Tool said, start getting use to a pause press now for your bench. As for reps, there's a lot to be gained by 5's. I loved doing block pulls to add some weight to my DL so look into them or hit me up.
> 
> BTW, didn't say you were going to post a video of a 400 lb bench for me, or was it 405?



Why would you take shit over telling someone who’s competing in a push-pull meet to concentrate on deadlifts?


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## snake (Jan 9, 2019)

DieYoungStrong said:


> Why would you take shit over telling someone who’s competing in a push-pull meet to concentrate on deadlifts?



The perception that not squatting full bore every time is being a pussy and held by many.


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## ToolSteel (Jan 9, 2019)

snake said:


> The perception that not squatting full bore every time is being a pussy and held by many.


Well... normally I’d agree. And I’d give him all the shit I could muster up. But he apparently has severe mobility issues


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## Gadawg (Jan 9, 2019)

You guys like 5-3-1 for this sort of thing?  I think it'll be good for bench but feel like Im going to gain on deadlifts much faster than the program plans for.


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## snake (Jan 10, 2019)

Gadawg said:


> You guys like 5-3-1 for this sort of thing?  I think it'll be good for bench but feel like Im going to gain on deadlifts much faster than the program plans for.


For me, I found 5-6 reps to be the money maker and the progress showed up in the triples down the road. Hell you can get a lot from 8 reps but most PL's won't do that. 1 and 3 reps never built my strength but the triples did get me use to the heavy weight. Triples where done only for 2 weeks prior to a meet; it helped me determine my opener and ultimately my meet max.


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## Gadawg (Jan 10, 2019)

snake said:


> For me, I found 5-6 reps to be the money maker and the progress showed up in the triples down the road. Hell you can get a lot from 8 reps but most PL's won't do that. 1 and 3 reps never built my strength but the triples did get me use to the heavy weight. Triples where done only for 2 weeks prior to a meet; it helped me determine my opener and ultimately my meet max.



Thanks Snake!

Im gonna have to play with some things to see where I am. From what I can remember, back in my college days I did all the benching for strength and all my other chest stuff for hypertrophy.  My max in those days was 415 but I could one rep WAY more than the stuff I could rep with. 

Pretty sure I was doing 315x6, 335x3 and 415x1.  Now Ive been working on hypertrophy only for years so my numbers on those weights are way higher.  Im gonna work on this til my shoulders cause issues. Hopefully that wont come up. 

Will report back monday


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