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Hello PRS friends

I’m transitioning from powerbuilding to a bench only in December. After this week I have 11 weeks (assuming I take meet week off) to peak. I’m at a conundrum of whether to

  1. Do a mix of offseason & a shorter meet prep OR
  2. Do regular pre-contest cycle with an extra week thrown in there

At the request of Brian I’m adding in some more specifics
– Lifting video: Unfortunately I don’t have anything too recent as my phone cam is dead. The video I’ve attached was from an unofficial push/pull/225 bench for reps with Stan Efferding where I missed 1/3-1/2way up if that helps. Yes in that competition we didn’t have to take a long pause.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1p6RdafCtblY0RlaTZKcDJPQTQ/view

– As far as goals for the meet: to qualify for CPU/IPF regionals in bench only for next year. Based on how my strength has increased since the above video in May I know I’ll be close.

– As far as injuries: I had a history of LBP a while back before I met Stu in 2010 but now I’m good.

I did have some longstanding patellofemoral pain which is now good from a pain perspective. Since the injury and getting sick afterwards my squat gone up 130 lbs in the 2+ years of 10/20/Life – but I feel like my strength levels haven’t been as stable as my BP/DL. If I got sick the BP/DL would stay relatively stable but the squat would take a nosedive. Towards that end with my squat training I’m am slowly, methodically building up my squat training volume ala Gabbett style to make for better work capacity and a better squat base. That (and being busy with work/personal stuff right now) is why I’m doing a bench only not a full meet in December.

So my plan is to train the bench press as per the 10/20/Life 2nd edition precontest template and to train the squat/deadlift offseason combo style. The only tweak I’ll be making is the week before meet week I’ll just work up to a conservative last warmup on the squat/deadlift instead of testing.

Anyways I know this is a long ass post but I didn’t want to leave out any details. As always I appreciate your thoughts and advice.

Sincerely

Eric Bowman