02 Nov Lab Rat – Back to the Grind

I recently competed in the RPS Chalk & Iron September 28thwhere I tied my best total of 1653.4 lbs (squat – 633.8 lbs, bench 435.4 x lbs. deadlift – 584.2 lbs) at a bodyweight of 241.6 lbs vs. 268 lbs.  I’m currently in an off-season with plans for a February meet.

Travel. Work. Vacation.  The Monday following my competition I stepped on a plane heading towards London for work, a trip I’ve become all too familiar with.  This actually worked quite well as I always take the week following the meet off.  As I was flying out the following Thursday and work was fairly demanding I ended up extending my time away from the gym a few extra days.

Thursday, October 12th I flew back to the states landing in Nashville.  My good friend Pat got a VIP pass for the Talladega 500 as a birthday present from his girlfriend and mom.  Little to his knowledge I decided to join the fun and grabbed one as well.  Being in the middle of the action was a MUCH different experience than just sitting in the stands, looking forward to doing it again!  I spent the following week in Nashville exploring the city, shooting, eating, drinking and getting back into the swing of things training wise.  I took things really easy keeping the compound movements light and added more fluff and buff style work.

Squat / Deadlift – Monday October 16th, 2017

I kept things really light and just got some blood flowing.  I worked up to a whopping 225 on squats and deadlifts for a couple sets of 5.  I followed this up with some goblet squats, Bulgarian split squats and a good amount of core work (McGill Big 3 and stir the pots).

Bench – Wednesday October 18th, 2017

My bench work was very similar to the squat and deadlift work Monday.  185 for a couple sets of 5 followed by the same weight for 3 sets of 8 close grip.  After my flat bench work I focused on tricep work incorporating some higher rep (4 sets of 15) single arm push downs, bench dips and ez bar skulls.  During pre-contest training Brian had me incorporate stir the pots after every training session and I’m going to continue following this, 100 ‘stirs’ done.

Lower Body / Back Accessory – Friday October 20th, 2017

Much more emphasis was placed on my upper back.  I started things off with a few rounds of the McGill Big 3 followed by piston squats (4 sets of 6) followed by a few sets on the leg press with a drop set at the end.  Upper back work entailed barbell rows, db rows superset with db shrugs and barbell shrugs all 4 sets of 12.  The training session was wrapped up with McGill chins then stir the pots.

Week of October 23rd, 2017

Mirror image of last week with a slight increase of weight on all compound movements.

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Jason Kowalewski

Jason Kowalewski is an up and coming raw powerlifter residing in Jacksonville, Florida where he trains with Team Samson. In his younger years he was a “gear head” who built his first drag car before obtaining a driver’s license. Within the last 6 years his primary focus has shifted from motorsports to powerlifting. Jason began training under Brian’s tutelage in February 2013. He was actually one of the initial test subjects, hence the name Lab Rat. Since then he has seen significant improvements on all lifts with his commitment to Brian and the 10/20/Life methodology. To date his best total is 1653.4lbs via 633.8lb squat, 435.4lb bench and 584.9lb deadlift at 242lbs.

Latest posts by Jason Kowalewski (see all)

• Lab Rat – Chasing a 600lb Bench - January 30, 2018
• Lab Rat – Back to the Off-Season - January 20, 2018
• Lab Rat – Pulling Out.. of the meet - January 13, 2018