Dan and I have known each other for about five years now, and it was only fitting that he joined team EliteFTS during his preparation for USPA Nationals while working with me for a training cycle. 

It was a pleasure working with Dan and I was honored that he asked to work with me for this meet. He's a professional in every sense of the word and I'm sure I learned as much from him as he learned from me. He has his training and routine down pretty well, but he was willing to try a new approach with most of his training. At one point he asked if I was trying to kill him, which was a good indicator that he was out of his comfort zone and we were riding that fine line between a great meet prep and potential injury. To Dan's credit, he made some great decisions DURING training sessions that kept him injury free and set him up for success on the day of the meet.

 

Summary of this meet prep:

  • Dan successfully cut from 213 to make 198. He has used Brian Carroll's protocol with success throughout his career.
  • He had some work to do on his depth after missing his opener, but finished squats with 655 for a PR at 198.
  • His bench was strong all training cycle so after 451 he made a good jump to 468, was correctly called for downward motion but still finished the attempt. We both agreed that after an easy training PR that it was a successful approach to his bench for the training cycle.
  • And his deadlift was a similar situation- hit a training PR during the cycle regardless of bodyweight- but didn't have enough in the gas tank to hit the 1800 mark.
  • 655-451-661 (needed 694 for 1800)

 

Squat

We programmed squats with two weeks of straight bar followed by two weeks on the SSB, with the main goal being continue making progress while giving his shoulders and elbows a break.

The first few weeks were light doubles for the main sets followed by either a top set of 6-8 for time under tension or pause squats, regardless of bar selection. Obviously weights were adjusted depending on which bar we selected. Weeks 5 and 6 were heavy sets of five, pushing toward an RPE of 8-9. Week 7 was our first deload.

Example from Week 5:

Straight bar squat 505 wraps 2 5 240 sec
Pause squat 405 3 3 180 sec
SSB GM off pins RPE8 3 5 120 sec

 

The next four weeks were 5's then 3's beating previous weeks numbers. Followed by a deload. Then finally a peak where Dan hit an easy 625 and made a good call at 665 for his last heavy squat session.

Example from Week 11:

SSB 455-485-515 3 3 240 sec
Front squat (straight bar or SSB backwards) 345 2 6-8 180 sec
Seated SSB GM 185 3 12 120 sec

 

 

Bench

This was a simple progression-

Weeks 1-3 Incline 5's and triples

Incline bench 315 3 3 180 sec
Close grip pause incline 275 3 3 120 sec
DB bench 100 2 20 120 sec

 

Weeks 4-6 Floor Press triples

Floor press 365 5 3 120 sec
Close grip floor press 315 2 6 120 sec
DB bench 95 2 25 120 sec

 

The last six weeks we got into competition bench working up to singles, progressively heavier week after week leaving plenty in the tank, and doing some backdown volume work.

Example from Week 10:

Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest
Bench singles up to 415 1 1 120 sec
Bench 375 3 5 180 sec
Spoto press 325 3 6 120 sec

 

 

Deadlift

Weeks 1-3 we worked on Conventional Block Pulls for speed.

Ram Box jump- box/bench/tailgate- 36" BW 8 1 30 sec
Block pull- speed 445 8 1 45 sec
Snatch grip RDL- 5 sec eccentric 365 2 8 120 sec

*box jumps done to the bed of a pick up because hillbilly

Weeks 4-6 were stiff leg deficit DL's

Box jump 36"+ BW 8 1 30 sec
Deficit DL 1-2" 535 5 2 120 sec
BB RDL 495 2 8 120 sec

 

After a deload, the next four weeks we went 525-555-585-615 (95%) for singles, leaving plenty in the tank each week. Dan actually took 645 the fourth week at an RPE just under 9.

His last heavy Deadlift session, 3 weeks out, looked like this:

Box jump 36" BW 6 1 30 sec
Competition DL shooting for RPE 9-9.5 650-670 1 1 60 sec
Block pull 405-495 2 5 120 sec
Stiff leg deficit DL 225 2 8 120 sec
Partner GHR/Nordic curl (someone holding your ankles, ecc focused) BW 5 3 60 sec
Seated or kneeling banded lat pull down- loop band over rack orange 3 15 45 sec
Stir the pot BW 3 10 each way 40 sec

 

 

If you have any further questions regarding Dan's meet prep or want to talk about coaching/programming, email me at cwilliamsstrength@gmail.com 

power-racks-home2