re: Did any of you guys powerlift in high school or currently powerlift?

6th out of 13 in the region.
PR’d all of her lifts
Squat 235
Bench 150
Deadlift 250

Now the off season grind starts!

my son does, i didnt but i run similar programming in the past when i was concentrating on it

I have my athletes I train run conjugate similar to the original westside. But because they are younger we use Brief max tension undulating waves in place of max effort work.

for speed stuff, we dont do that because they dont really have the ability to use the speed exercises to sharpen rate of force development because they do not have the motor unit recruitment ability to do that at the low speeds that traditional westside speed exercises do. Instead we use Dumbbell jumps in place of that and resisted 10 yard sprints or unweighted 10 yard dash or 10-10 flye.

we do everythign on the laser for sprinting and jumping. the DB jumps are waved similar to how Louie waved the dynamic work but much lower percentages. We run basically 7-20% of squat max in each hand. For example...kid squats 200, we run DB waves with 15s/20s/25s in 3 week wave

the bmt waves go 5 reps--> 3 reps+5%-->4 reps with same weight--->2 reps +5%-->3 reps with same weight-->1 rep +5%

all main lifts are done on VBT looking for last couple reps to be in the 0.3 range of avg velo.

we do 12" box squats with a 4" very soft foam pad with ssb bar usually as our main lift but we rotate out every 12-18 weeks or if they stall. we will switch to 16" or add chains or ssb reverse lunge with pause at the bottom

also sumo is our preferred deadlift

then on bench, mainly bench, incline, pin presses as main lift


if you go look at explosive mechanics, zac goodman, coach fahey., bird sports performance or OG defranco....that is the system I use for both my athletes and power lifters. Its actually all Louie's westside system just used a little different and pretty close to how he trained actual athletes


if PL gets to a point they want to specialize and have built a huge base....we will go full pure Westside OG original with just less rotation.

If I read the original post correctly, we are discussing a female freshman in high school. I think many mean well in these replies, but some of the replies are also the biggest mistakes I see with young kids. Us "smart guys" WAY overthinking this.

The Westside program is great, I use a lot of it's concepts. But I am also a seasoned veteran. I also dial the volume back because I am PED free. I think there is a time and place to introduce these things, usually later in their development.

At that age and minimal experience, the best thing she can do is focus on the squat, bench, and deadlift. I would not be adding in all of these different movements now. She has not done anywhere near close enough reps on the big 3 yet to be proficient at it. If you need some sort of program to follow for peaking, any basic progressive/linear overload should work at this stage, i.e. as the contest gets closer the weights get heavier and reps get lower. She will make significant gains just by creating the neural pathways involved in moving weights in these positions. I would also be trying different positioning when not peaking for a contest. Bar placement on her back for squats, stance, where toes point, etc. Hand and foot placement on bench, arch, sumo vs. conventional with DL, focusing on technique. It took me a few years to master my mechanics and figure out my best leverages.

When I was that age, i would run say a 12 week peaking cycle, set PR's in each lift, then reset the next cycle/percentages based off of the new PR. If the goals are reasonalbe (say 5% for BP, 8-10% for SQ/DL), you should be able to repeat this progression for a while before plateauing.

At some point you WILL plateau, and that is when you start the tweaking IMHO. But they ALL need a base of strength that they just don't have at that age. I would keep it simple, the big 3 lifts, a compound movement for each lift that supplements it, and maybe an accessory lift or two, address a glaring weakness for each lift, etc.

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The Westside program is great, I use a lot of it's concepts. But I am also a seasoned veteran. I also dial the volume back because I am PED free. I think there is a time and place to introduce these things, usually later in their development.

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the program I am describing is meant for junior high and high school kids. we dont rotate much like i said for this specific reason. same reason we dont use the speed stuff and instead use weighted jumps and resisted sprints and med ball throws for RFD.

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At that age and minimal experience, the best thing she can do is focus on the squat, bench, and deadlift. I would not be adding in all of these different movements now. She has not done anywhere near close enough reps on the big 3 yet to be proficient at it. If you need some sort of program to follow for peaking, any basic progressive/linear overload should work at this stage, i.e. as the contest gets closer the weights get heavier and reps get lower. She will make significant gains just by creating the neural pathways involved in moving weights in these positions. I would also be trying different positioning when not peaking for a contest. Bar placement on her back for squats, stance, where toes point, etc. Hand and foot placement on bench, arch, sumo vs. conventional with DL, focusing on technique. It took me a few years to master my mechanics and figure out my best leverages.

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i agree but she doesnt need a peaking cycle, just let the meet results fall where they do and look at long term picture, its why the Brief max tension with the undulating waves works so well

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When I was that age, i would run say a 12 week peaking cycle, set PR's in each lift, then reset the next cycle/percentages based off of the new PR. If the goals are reasonalbe (say 5% for BP, 8-10% for SQ/DL), you should be able to repeat this progression for a while before plateauing.

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imo she doesnt have the base to worry about a peaking cycle

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At some point you WILL plateau, and that is when you start the tweaking IMHO. But they ALL need a base of strength that they just don't have at that age. I would keep it simple, the big 3 lifts, a compound movement for each lift that supplements it, and maybe an accessory lift or two, address a glaring weakness for each lift, etc.

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pretty much the exact routine i said

its essentially 531 layout but using the undulating BMT waves


lower day-

warm up

med ball throws-5-8 reps with radar gun

DB jumps-4-6 jumps with the weight waved on OVR or Jump mat

box squat- work up to 2 heavy sets where the velocity is in the 0.3 range and making sure you get a big strain with each. take 3-5 min break

supplemental- either deadlift or reverse lunge or RFESS

accessory- GHD, reverse hypers

finish- weighted marches


upper-
warmup

sprints- 3-6 either resisted 10 yard or 10 yard dash or 10-10 flye. proper rest between each

broad jumps- 4-6 jumps

Bench- work up to 2-3 sets same way as box squats

supplemental- incline or a DB incline or db bench

accessories- chins, rows, triceps

finish- farmers carry

some of the best coaches in the US use this almost exact program and its for a reason.

After the meet Saturday we went eat at Yummy in Destrahan. Delicious sushi by the way. But the first thing my daughter asked was, "How do I go to school at Lutcher?" Their program is amazing. Awesome coaches on the floor going back and forth between their lifters. And you could tell that their 3rd lifts where not near max and they're athletes will be peaking in 3-4 weeks at state.

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My intent was not to debate an engineer. Most of the engineers I have met feel like they are the smartest guys in the room and eager to prove it to you.

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im not most engineers...i dont know shite, simply stand on the shoulders of giants and then let the data for each kid guide where each program needs to go and adjust

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I was just offering my advice based on experience to a poster, the mistake I made was that I meant to reply to HIM and should not have technically replied to your post. So you win, and I will refrain from picking apart the holes in your reply.

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ill be honest, im always trying to learn, would love to hear your reply

i train my powerlifters like athletes, none are advanced enough to worry about peaking or needing traditional dynamic work similar to the OPs daughter

I wouldnt train a traditional advanced powerlifter that away.

I actually like to start them in 4th-5th grade with heel elevated goblet squats, KB sumo, floor presses and Z presses

then advnaced to the program I laid out. in 8th or 9th I actually take them off the BMT waves for about 3-6 months and run a traditional novice linear progression trying to drive the big 4 up & drive bodyweight up. I keep the jumps in too

then when they stall we go back to the program i laid out. The NLP allows for them to build lots of tissue and joint rigidity before going back to the program I laid out.


go look at explosive mechanics insta to see the results this program produces.

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I think I am looking at this from strictly a powerlifting perspective (which I thought that the poster was interested in), and I think you are looking at this from a long term athlete building perspective. If that is the case, I don't disagree with you.

If you compete in a powerlifting meet(s), you absolutely want to follow a peaking cycle, you don't just want to train and let the chips fall where they may. Powerlifters compete in meets that are basically three attempts per lift at one rep maxes. If you don't prepare your body for that, regardless of age, you are asking for trouble. There is an "art" to performing max singles well, which is how you are "evaluated" at a powerlifting meet. Many lifters are good repetition lifters but struggle when it comes to a heavy single. But you also don' t want to do heavy singles all the time either for many reasons. A well planned peaking cycle is paramount IMHO.

I appreciate your input, I think you typically mean well and have much to offer. I could reveal my credentials in an effort to gain more credibility but that is not my style nor my interest.

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im pretty sure you have more skins on the wall than me based off stuff you have posted before

and yea Im looking at it as....lets not peak now, lets peak as a junior or senior so keep on pushing, whatever you put up as a freshman or soph...cool...but dont worry about single specific meet or peaking cycle until like junior year and yea im looking at it from overall athletic ability

if just powerlifting and that is all she is doing and she is really worried about now...then sure, do a peaking cycle.

I've trained high school athletes, all sports, and I have to remind them that we are NOT powerlifters, bodybuilders, etc. (even though at times we will train in a similar fashion) that we are training the way YOU (Lsu777) train kids, with the goal of tailoring training that will lead to improvement in their sport/craft.

All my clients, that is one of the first conversations, what is YOUR goal and how do we get there. Powerlifters typically care about one thing, their total. The sum of the weight they lift from the three lifts. How do they lift the most weight. Sure, they will gain some muscle in the process, but they are not bodybuilders, some are not necessarily great athletes, but very proficient in three static lifts/planes.

I WILL say that over time I have found some of the training methods and tools you mentioned as being beneficial to intermediate/advanced powerlifters, but more in their off season as a training block then. Variety is also the spice of life, and sometimes training the same three movements over and over gets stale, and over many years can also lead to repetitive stress injuries. That is when I am a big fan of conjugate/Westside concepts along with others.

Tiger so the next step is that she wants her own squat suit. I've looked at Inzer, SBD, Centurion & A7. All seem to be made out of quality material but seems like it balls down to money and the stiffness of the material/suit.

i wish they would go to breifs only or completely raw

and yea we pretty much agree on eveything you posted.