Last week I blogged about preparing for my first ever powerlifting meet, so this week I want to share with you some insight of what the workout schedule is like.
As you know I’ve been doing Crossfit at the competitive level for over three years. I’ve been lifting weights for about six years. I have a really solid foundation of strength and body awareness, and to be honest, I wouldn’t suggest training for a meet until you do too.
My meet is on 9/26 and I have a Crossfit competition on 10/2 so my cardiovascular conditioning, olympic lifts and my gymnastics cannot fall to the wayside during this training, which is why I chose to follow Conjugate Crossfit’s programming to prepare me for this meet.
I’ve toyed around with the Conjugate Method, created by Louie Simmons powerlifter and strength coach, in the past and really liked it. It allowed me to build strength but the primary reason I enjoyed it was that all of the accessory work. In Crossfit we generally have 1 – 2 lifts a day, maybe some skill work, then a metcon. I have missed spending time doing things like lunges, good mornings, skull crushers because I felt like they helped me get stronger and be balanced. Unilateral work is just downright good for our bodies (working with dumbbells or kettlebells and/ or one arm or leg at a time) and get overlooked so often in Crossfit because most programming is created to be short and sweet for the average bear.
So when I found out that there was someone using the Conjugate Method to program for Crossfit I thought this would be my match made in heaven.
Each day I log into wodfollow.com and get my workout. This is what my workout schedule looks like:
Monday – Lower body strength day + metcon
Tuesday – Upper body Dynamic Effort + metcon
Wednesday – Oly day + metcon
Thursday – Lower body dynamic effort + metcon
Friday – Upper body strength day + metcon
Saturday – Oly day + metcon
Sunday – rest
I also add in some additional gymnastics work twice a week when I can as well as yoga once a week.
I’ll explain more in another blog next month about the difference of dynamic effort days vs strength days.
So during each day you typically have 1 – 2 primary lifts, for example on lower body strength day last week I had a one rep max back squat with bands as well as front squats with a pause. In addition to your primary lifts you will have accessory work like 3 x 15 lunges or 3 x 20 glute/ hamstring raises. Then there’s always core work to be done for abs, a metcon which compliments the purpose of the day, and then a finisher to help with recovery like a 1000m row or possibly some band pull aparts.
I’m not going to lie.. this programming takes a really long time to complete – it’s always at least 2.5 hours a day for me so it’s not realistic for most people. And recovery is hard so sleep and food are your best friends if you are training like this.
Speaking of food, stay tuned for next week’s blog because I’m going to talk about that then.
Also, follow me on Instagram and Facebook because I post about the actual workouts I do there.
Lastly, let me know if you have any questions about what I am doing in the comments – I’d love to answer them!
Your Coach,
Kyra
P.S. Are you considering signing up for your first powerlifting meet? Find out everything you need to know in my interview with Jen Sinkler here.