Saturday, January 3, 2009

Powerlifting Squat Workout Routine

For the new year my fitness goals are to focus on building up my strength and size over the next few months with a powerlifting style workout program and some heavy eating and then in the summer diet down and get ready to compete in the HWC bodybuilding competition this November.

Below is a squat workout that I did on January 2, 2009.

It's a West Side Barbell style workout that consists of box squats which should be done with approx. 50% of 1 rep max for 10 sets of 2 reps. But my percents are off as I'm just going through the motions right now with the workouts to get back into the groove. I haven't trained in this fashion in well over a year.

After the box squats I did pull throughs with low pulley cable 3 sets of 10 reps. 1 legged squats or bench lunges for 4 sets of 10 reps. 1 arm dumbbell row for 4 sets of 6 reps. And barbell shrugs for 3 sets of 15 reps. Afterwards I finished up with some stretching for the muscles I just worked.

You'll notice that with a powerlifting style workout you don't train the bodyparts per say, but rather train the exercise. So in this case of this squat workout I did the box squats, then a bunch of assistant exercises to work the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, spinal erectors, traps, etc. Basically the whole posterior chain, which are the key muscles used in squatting and deadlifting.

9 comments:

  1. What a great coach

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  2. Hi Lee,

    That's a great workout video. I'm definately going to give this workout a try when I switch my program.

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  3. Happy New Year Lee!!
    Great to have you back....your site is fast becoming one of my favorites and I plan to list it on my body space page through bodybuilding.com
    http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/johnnylipovsky/
    I am rather new at bodybuilding but am highly motivated and hope to increase in size in 2009...I am still working to figure out diet things...especially how to hold onto size when cutting up...I have followed instructions to a T but still seem to lose some mass when cutting up....any tips in this regard would be helpful to me...
    all the best
    John

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  4. Hi John,

    Cool, I just added you as a friend on Bodyspace :-)

    When ever you focus on losing bodyfat you are also going to lose a bit of size in the process, that's just part of the game. But there are steps you can take to minimize the muscle loss and I cover a lot of them in my new book and DVD program “Your First Bodybuilding Competition” which I’m going to be releasing soon…

    all the best,
    Lee

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  5. Hey Lee,
    Hope you had a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year. Just read your e-mail. I am training as well for the HWC in November as well so I will more than likely run in to you there as well. I am hoping to continue increasing my gains leading up to late July and then start cutting down. Who knows, I might even break the 800 lbs mark on the Leg Press. After all it only took me from August to December to go from 200 lbs to 600 lbs. I'm not going to force it though If I do it, I do it, and if I don't well I'll just keep at it till I do. Anyway looking forward to the advice and if all goes as planned I will be sharing the stage with you this November. Keep up the great work with the site and online talk show, I really enjoy it..

    All the best..

    Scott (from Mt. Pearl)

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  6. Nice workout, with you starting your new "Powerlifting Workout Routine" how often will you work out each week and what body parts will you train each day? Looking forward to seeing your next workout.

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  7. lee your workout and training tips are the best. your one of the worlds greatest trainers.

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  8. Thanks for the comments!

    When training for size and strength I usually train either 1 day on and 1 day off, or at most 2 days on and 1 day off.

    As for the bodyparts they go like this:

    Bench workouts usually include some bench press variation, tricep work, shoulder, and upper back work.

    Squat / deadlift workouts usually include some squat, deadlift, or good morning variation along with some hamstring work, lower back work, and abs.

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  9. Hi Lee, I'm a huge fan of yours and hope someday to meet you. I am starting out in power lifting and am pretty weak in the dead lift. I would love to see a dead lift assistance program that you would recommend. Your squat assistance workout I used today and loved it. Thanks for being a down to earth dude who really cares about us newbies.

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