Who Says Powerlifters Have to Be Fat! Bigben198s training log

[Bigben198]

My name is Ben I'm 22 and I powerlift. I compete as a 198 or a 220. I've been training seriously for about 7-8 years now and competing on an international level for about 4, I have been sponsored by Universal Nutrition for over year and use exclusively their products. Shoulder injuries have been a constant annoyance for me an have hindered my bench so I usually depend more on my squat and dead to win shows but I'm working on it. I'm currently training to hit a 1840+ Raw total at 198. My last total was 1746 at 195. I live by the mantra that you don't have to be fat to be strong and I have massive respect for my bodybuilding brothers. I plan on keeping a training log here and uploading vids of my progress for just about every session. that's all I've got if you've got a question then ask it.

[martin_mathers]

so awesome to have you here man i've been following your log over at tnation.

[Bigben198]

Good to be home if only for a day.

Squats
(no belt)
135x3
225x3
315x5
365x4
425x3x2
485x3x5 (felt great finally)

Bench
(No feet)
185x5
225x4
255x3x2
290x3x6 (paused every final rep)

Dips/leg raises
10x3

Squats
(No belt oly stance)
225x6
315x6
405x6

back axtensions
10x4

called it good there, the whole workout went pretty quickly and the squats were finally as low as I wanted them to be, getting stronger every session. Hip was bugging me some but Part of that may have been the cold and being a little dehydrated. either way I'm happy with how the session went.

I can't post the video here due to the 50 post rule but you can find it on youtube

[Bigben198]

so awesome to have you here man i've been following your log over at tnation.

Appreciate it brother, decided that this would be another good place to keep me accountable

[Bigben198]

Stopped at Imperial on my way back to school met up with Zacky boy and we proceeded to wreck stuff.

Double pause deads
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x3
455x3
515x4x4

Log presses

Deadlift and squat
speed work superset
(405x3/245x3)x6

Random bodyweight work

had a great time, we always seem to get off track at imperial because there are way too many things to do! was great now to rest for a day and get back after it on monday

[samsont]

wow. strong raw lifts. I plan to be lifting big @ 198 one day (raw of course) so i'll sub in and follow your log.

just wondering you said no belt, do you use a belt at all or just sometimes don't train with it? just wonderin'. I hates belts lol.

theres some good logs on here, cool to see another big raw total log to follow.


good luck on the quest for the 1840

[Bigben198]

wow. strong raw lifts. I plan to be lifting big @ 198 one day (raw of course) so i'll sub in and follow your log.

just wondering you said no belt, do you use a belt at all or just sometimes don't train with it? just wonderin'. I hates belts lol.

theres some good logs on here, cool to see another big raw total log to follow.


good luck on the quest for the 1840

glad to have you along, as for the belt I am running a 6 week cycle with no belt for squats or deads and with my feet off the ground for benching. after the 6 weeks I will test my lifts with those stipulations and then add them back in for my next training block.

[martin_mathers]

how do you think no feet benching can benefit the comp bench? doesnt it throw you out of groove once you use leg drive again?

[Bigben198]

how do you think no feet benching can benefit the comp bench? doesnt it throw you out of groove once you use leg drive again?

good question, I've been getting this a lot lately. I'm sure it will throw me off for the first few weeks but I want to rework my leg drive anyway. In the past I have had issues with my leg drive kicking my butt off the bench while my upper body has been pretty weak. the plan is to get stronger through my upper chain and then reteach myself leg drive in a way that will not constantly pop my hips up. So far my upper body has gotten much stronger and I think in the long run this will be very beneficial

[Liftamulti]

Do you bench with your feet as far back/under you as possible?

[Bigben198]

Do you bench with your feet as far back/under you as possible?

I did for years, and then I switched to a flat footed settup, and once I put my feet back down I will play around with some different foot positions, Ideally I would like to press flat footed so that I wouldn't have to change anything depending on what federation I am lifting in

[Bigben198]

SOOOO MUCH CATCHING UP TO DO!!!!
been having the craziest finals schedule of my college career but stayed up extra late tonight now that I'm done to log all my workouts for the past week and a half

trying to get caught up on workouts, here's monday's session

Bench
no feet
185x5
225x4
255x3x2
295x3x5

Squats
no belt
135x3
225x3
315x5
365x4
425x3x2
485x3
515x2

Bench
no feet
205x5
235x5
275x3x4

Dips
x alot

Decent session, my hips were really bugging during the squats... I may be adding in the belt earlier than expected, it's keeping me from getting as low as I want as well ugh!

[Bigben198]

This was a very quick session as far as sheiko can go haha

Double pause deads
(no belt)
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x3
495x3
555x2x4

Bench
(no feet)
185x5
225x5
255x4
275x3x2
295x2x2
315x1
320x1
295x2x3
275x3x2
255x4
235x5
225x12

Deads
(no belt)
405x1x4
495x2
605x4x3
605x2

flys and back extensions
10x4

Rowing
500M 1:36

Pretty good day, my hips were still pretty beat up from the squatting so I wasn't feeling amazing during the second round of deads. still all coming along

[Bigben198]

this was what I call sexy day since it's based off of more bodybuilder type movements

Strict military
45x5
95x5
115x5
140x3
160x3
180x4
120x10x5

shoulder/bicep/and calf work
will go in to more detail next time when it's not a week after the fact

Rowing
1000M 3:33

all in all a good session

[Bigben198]

1515 the YOU SUCK total!

Training everything without a belt was beginning to cause some issues, mostly in my hips due to all the things I was having to do to hit depth and grind out of it without the belt for squatting, and getting my positioning all messed up for deads. Solution? listen to my body and start to take better care of myself i.e. use a belt. Still didn't want to go out without seeing what I could do one last time without, so I went in to do my workout but ended up testing my lifts instead, in a fashion that I would like to call the you suck total, Beltless squat and dead and no feet bench with tyler grips...

Squats
135x2
225x3
315x3
405x1
495x1
535x1 (beltless PR called it good there)

No feet bench w/tyler grips
185x4
225x4
275x1
295x1
330xmiss (lost balance at top)
325x1 (PR)

Deads no belt
225x2
315x2
405x2
495x1
585x1
635x1
655x1 (beltless PR)

Managed to hit a PR on every lift despite feeling like absolute crap the whole time. hopefully will have better luck with my pain issues after adding the belt back in. Vid will be up next week

[Bigben198]

Had a day to kind of recover from my you suck total gym test on friday went alright

Cleans
135x5x3
225x3x2
245x1


single arm snatch
115

CGBP (feet on the ground!)
185x5
225x4
255x4
275x5x4

Weighted pullups
45x1
65x1
100x1 (half my BW)
120x1
135x 8/9ths so close I could taste it!

Random bicep work

A good day benching was super easy with my feet back on the ground good sign moving forward

[Bigben198]

I would like to submit for review that belts are the single greatest piece of lifting equipment ever... that is all!

Squats
135x4
225x4
315x5
365x4
add belt
425x3x2
475x3x2 (was pausing some reps for fun!)
515x2x2 (someone done turned off the gravity!)
475x3 paused all three reps below parallel

Close grip Bench
185x5
225x4
255x3x2
295x3x2
305x2x3
315x2

Oly squats
225x3
315x3
405x3
425x3
405x8 (thought I only did 6 because I was so out of shape I couldn't count any higher!)

such a great session I will be feeling it later but so worth it for all the buried squats!

[Bigben198]

Pretty much in and out today had 3 big finals and a lot of paper writing going down, gut check time!

Strict military press
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
170x3
190x2 (barely missed 3rd)
120x10x5

No leg drive on any reps I was pretty torched just with all this

Seated Db laterals
25x10x4

Weighted Pullups
65x5x4

lean back DB curls (leaned against a wall at an incline.. these suck)
45x10x4

Machine laterals
80x10x4

off to finish finals, very quick session for me but I got a lot of work in for the time that I spent there.

[Bigben198]

Some delayed onset soreness from mondays squats turned into some crotch cramping awfullness that really screwed me up for pulls, I'm sure the lack of sleep, food, and relaxing from finals week played a significant role as well... ugh

Close grip Bench

185x5
225x4
255x3x2
295x3x5 (tendonites was not feeling great)

Deads
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x2
495x2
add belt
585x2
625x2x2 (couldn't pull anything fast because I was scared of tearing something, and my position was thrown off by slowing everything down and being tight everywhere, called it a day and went home to write another friggin paper and stretch for 3 hours)

UUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH I HATE FINALS!

[Bigben198]

This has been the absolute most ridiculous finals week of my life, something like 8 papers, 4 in class finals, 1 video final, 3 big performance finals, 2 auditions, 2 big projects, Work meetings, resident checkouts, and still trying to find time in the gym and eat.... sleeping didn't happen much, but I am done now! and ready to get back home soon I'll be home sunday night and will be getting to work catching up on all my videos from this last week of craziness... the relief of being done is incredible ahhhhhhh....

[Bigben198]

Continuing to catch up
I missed squatting in my belt so much that I didn't even know it until it was back! this session went even better than Mondays did even surprised myself.

Close grip Bench
185x5
225x4
255x3x2
295x3x5 (every set got better)

Squats
135x3
225x3
315x4
365x4
425x3x2
485x3x3
515x5 (pretty sure that's a PR for legit squats without wraps)

Bench
205x5
225x5
255x4x5

Cable flyes
10x4

Super stoked to finally hit a real PR again on squats the last rep was a gut buster but I earned it. Now back home to rest and enjoy the holidays

[Bigben198]

Old school... Literally.... squatted at my old highschool today went really well!

Squats
135x3
245x3
335x3
425x3x2
485x3x5

Close grip Bench
185x5
225x4
255x3x2
295x3x2
305x2x3
305x4 (had more but mis-grooved 4th rep)

Close stance/oly squats
245x3
335x3
425x6

GHR
10x4
Reverse hyper
10x4

Successful day at my Alma mater camera unfortunately died after my first set of squats, need to get a new battery pack but it may take awhile... still have some video abilities but the battery drains really fast, jsut have to save the filming for the big sets from here on out

[Bigben198]

todays session was fast and solid, really digging on the 5/3/1 sets for my shoulder day and I can definitely say that I'm getting stronger as a result.

Standing military press
95x5x2
115x5
135x5
150x5
170x6 (got a ground out 5 last time and these 6 were much smoother)
125x10x5 (5 more lbs than last week and still went unbroken booyah!

seated laterals
25x10x4

Plate raises
45x10x4

Single arm DB Curl to press 40x8x3

BB curl
45x10
65x10
85x10x2

Called it good there, honestly the shoulder presses would be a good workout on their own, those sets of 10 are brutal, Hats off to you BBrs who live in that 8-12 range I salute you!

[Bigben198]

Drugged out deadlifting!
been having some weird pain in my right leg since saturday morning. not the muscle but the skin, It is like an invisible rash that doesn't itch but feels like I have a lot of little cuts and scratches all over and it sucks, been waking me up at night so I haven't been getting good rest and when I am awake it constantly hurts. Kind of freaked me out so I went to my Dr. this morning and got it checked out, he said that he wasn't sure what it is but strongly suspects some sort of allergic reaction. He prescribed me this antihistamine called Zyrtec. Now one of the side effects of any antihistamine is drowsiness, now anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to make excuses especially when it concerns lifting so I waited until the drowsiness wore off enough that I could safely drive to the gym for deadlifts... possibly not my greatest idea haha

Deads
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x3
495x3x2
add belt
585x3x5 (these were much harder than they should have been mostly because I was border line falling asleep in between sets made for an interesting workout dynamic)

Close grip Bench
185x5
225x5
255x4
275x3x2
295x2x3 (paused every rep)
275x3x2
255x4
235x5
225x10

DB Flyes
10x5

Called it good there I was getting straight up loopy by the end of the session. I didn't even think to film any of the session I was just focused on staying awake the whole time. I hope this pain clears up soon so I don't end up having any more of these goofed up sessions

[Bigben198]

about halfway to the post count where I can start posting up vids from my sessions, the epicness is coming....

[KevinAlvarez123]

mother of god

[Smashiin]

damn, heavy weight being thrown around in here. running sheiko and 5/3/1?

[SonOfTowelHorn]

You are 17 lbs away from having a world record deadlift in the 198, and have the 6th highest total of a 198.

Are you a wizard?

[samsont]

strong ! nice log bro. keep it updated.


any plans on a meet?

[Bigben198]

@ Kevin Alvaerz123-haha you sound impressed, woohoo I must be doing something right!