Into the fray

Westside, Conjugate, Wendler, 5/3/1. Bulking, cutting, de-load. Peaking, volume, periodization. Seriously, WTF?

With all these words flying around the powerlifting world I finally realized I have jump into the deep end and figure things out for myself.

I’ve been powerlifting competitively for a year now (OMG! I’m a competitive powerlifter!). I know I’m strong. But now I have to learn what it takes for me to stay strong, be healthy, and become the master of my universe I think I am (I’m in the Masters division so I decided to rename it the Masters of the Universe division).

For the last year I’ve followed the lead of my trainers and have been training successfully, continuing to make gains. They provide me with most excellent training, keep me healthy and help me get stronger. Now I want to learn what they know. Understand why they recommend one exercise over the another. Take charge of my training (even if it is continuing to have them program it for me) and really understand what I am doing. So I have to jump into the fray.

There is a wealth of information on the internet about powerlifting and strength training. So much I don’t even want to look. It exhausts me just thinking about it – especially after a long week of work. Who are the best resources, how do I know what is right for me?

If you’ve ever wondered entering the term “powerlifting training” into a google search returns about 630,000 records. 630,000. That’s a lot. Too many for me. So what am I going to do?

Listen to my Movement Minneapolis trainers of course!

JVB (Jennifer Vogelgesang Blake) is half of the Barbells & Bone Broth podcast AND she wrote the Unapologetically Powerful powerlifting program. David Dellanave wrote the book on deadlifts and Jen Sinkler is a phenomenal trainer with a wealth of knowledge and little gems like the Lift Weights Faster programs. And I would be remiss if didn’t mention Mark Schneider and Martin Rittenberry because they are seriously great trainers. I’m surrounded by incredible people with great knowledge – I just have to listen to them when they talk about the people they look look up to and respect.

So now it’s my turn to delve into the vastness of powerlifting and training information out there and understand what I’ve been told. I’ve got my reading assignments – and I’m going to start at the very beginning (which I hear is a very good place to start). Someday I hope to have a fraction of the knowledge of my trainers.