Yup.

I thought that would catch your attention.

Yes, I am going to make you read the while log before I give you the program.

Too bad.

I was going to write a really long explanation on programming and how to do it and so forth.

I decided why not give you all a FREE 12 week Powerlifting program that I know 100% worked for a large group of people.

The FREE 12 week Powerlifting program at the end of this article is what we used for our initial training block for our lifting team in the Total Performance Method for Powerlifting.

All of the ladies did pretty much this exact program to the letter and every one of them hit some pretty big PR’s at the meet.

Let me explain what we are doing with this block of training. First, all of the ladies had experience with the Squat and Deadlift and were solid technically as they came from our Personal Training program, the TPS Method.

None had benched before.

The primary focus was to get them REALLY strong, do a ton of rep work to increase muscle mass and get them as good as we could at the bench press in a very short time.

They trained 4 days per week with the usual split:
Squat Monday
Bench Wednesday
Pull Friday
and we added a 4th day in with Presses and extra upper assistance work.

Overall it’s a good amount of volume but not too much to kill them. They all improved their body composition as well.

Must’ve been the volume.

Anyway, here’s the Free 12 Week Powerlifting program.

The Squat and Deadlift are Volume waves, the Bench Press is an Intensity wave.

Week 1

Day 1

1. SSB Squat (3x8) RPE 8
2. High Box Step Ups
(3x10 ea.)
3. Keystone DL (3x12)
4. GHR (40)
5. Side Bends (4x6 ea.)

 

Day 2
1. Bench (5 x3) RPE 7
form/technique
2. Pushups-no less than 12 + Flat DB Bench (12-15) x3
3. Pullups (12 w/ 5 count hold on last 2) x4
4. Tate Press (8x8)

Day 3
1. DL (5x4) RPE 10
2. Paused Front Squat
(3x5)
3. R/H (3x20)
4. KB Swings – HEAVY
(3x15)
5. SLSU w/wt. (5x8)

Day 4
1. Press (3x12)
2. Lateral Raise (12) +
Plate Raise (12) x3
3. Incline Flys (4x15)
4. DB Rows-HEAVY (4x12)
5. BB Curls (3x12) +
Pushdowns (3x20-25)
6. Planks (3x ALAP)

Week 2

Day 1

1. SSB Squat (4x8) RPE 7/8
2. High Box Step Ups
(4x8 ea.)
3. Keystone DL (3x10)
4. GHR (50)
5. Side Bends (4x8 ea.)

Day 2
1. Bench- (5 x3) RPE 8
form/technique
2. Pushups-no less than 12 + Flat DB Bench (10-12) x3
3. Pullups (12 w/ 5 count hold on last 3) x4
4. Tate Press (10x10)

Day 3
1. DL (5x2) RPE 8
2. Paused Front Squat
(4x5)
3. R/H (4x20)
4. KB Swings – HEAVY
(3x20)
5. Straight Leg Sit-Up (SLSU) w/wt. (5x8)

Day 4

1. OHP (4x10)
2. Lateral Raise (15) +
Plate Raise (15) x3
3. Incline Flys (3x20)
4. DB Rows-HEAVY (4x10)
5. BB Curls (4x12) +
Pushdowns (4x20-25)
6. Planks (4x ALAP)

Week 3

Day 1

1. SSB Squat (3x8) RPE 7
2. HEAVY Backwards Sled Drags 100 ft. x6
3. B/R w/wt/ (4x12-15)
4. GHR (50)
5. TGU-HEAVY (3x1)

Day 2
1. Bench (6x2) RPE 9 form/technique
2. Pushups/TRX Pushups (AMAP) + Incline DB Bench (10-12) x2
3. Pullups (12 w/ 3 second hold at top on last 3) x4
4. Skull Crushers (8x8)

Day 3
1. DL (6x4) RPE 9
2. 5” Block Pull (3x5)
3. SSB Good Morning
(3x12-15)
4. Reverse Hyper (R/H)  (3x15-20)
5. Ab Wheel w/1/100 hold (4x8-10)

Day 4

1. Log C&P (3x12) +
Face Pulls (15-20)
2. Flyes (3x15-20) +
Front DB Raise (3x15-20)
3. BB Rows (3x12-15) +
BB Shrugs (12-15)
4. OH Tri Extensions (15-20) +Hammer Curls (15-20) x3
5. Shoulder Tap Planks (3x12-15)

Week 4

Day 1
1. Squat 6x4 RPE 7
2. Paused Squat
(2x2)
3. Walking Lunge (3x12 each leg AHAP)
4. Pullthrough (3x15-20)

Day 2
1. Bench 4x4 RPE 9
2. Paused Bench
(2x2)
3. Pullups (amap-no less than 10)/ Pushups (no less than 10) 3x

4. Farmers Walks
4x100 feet

Day 3
1. DL 4x5 RPE 7
2. Sumo DL (3x8)
3. GHR (add weight if possible) (3x8-12)
4. R/H (STRICT-SLOW-SQUEEZE-3x8-12)
5. Hanging Leg Raise (HLR)  (3xamap)

Day 4

1. Incline DB Bench (5x8)
2. DB OHP (4x8-12)
3. DB Row (12-15) +
DB Shrugs (12-15)
4. BB Curls-empty (amap) + Band Pushdowns (60)
5. TGU (3x1 AHAP)

Week 5

Day 1

1. Squat 5x5 RPE 8
2. Paused Squat
(2x3)
3. Walking Lunge (3x10 each leg AHAP)
4. Pullthrough (4x15-20)

Day 2
1. Bench 4x3 RPE 9
2. Paused Bench
(2x3)
3. Pullups (amap-no less than 12)/ Pushups (no less than 10) 4x

4. Farmers Walks
6x100 feet

Day 3

1. DL 5x5 RPE 7
2. Sumo DL (4x6)
3. GHR (add weight if possible) (4x8-10)
4. R/H (STRICT-SLOW-SQUEEZE-3x8-15)
5. HLR (4xamap)

Day 4

1. Incline DB Bench (5x6)
2. DB OHP (4x8-10)
3. DB Row (10-12) +
DB Shrugs (10-12)
4. BB Curls empty (amap) + Band Pushdowns (80)
5. TGU (4x1 AHAP)

Week 6

Day 1
1. Squat 4x5 RPE 7
2. Paused Squat (2x1)
3. BGSS (3x12)
4. B/R w/wt (3x12)

Day 2
1. Bench 3x2 RPE 7
2. Paused Bench (2x1)
3. Pullups (amap-no less than 8)/ Pushups (no less than 8) 4x
4. 1 Arm Farmers Walk
(50 feet each x 4)

Day 3
1. DL 4x6 RPE 6
2. Sumo 7” Block Pulls (3x5)
3. GHR (2 w/wt x 8-12**+2x amap no wt.)
4. HFBR w/wt. (3x15-20)
5. TRX Pike/Slide board Pike (amap) + SLSU w/wt. AHAP x5
X 4 sets

Day 4
1. DB Floor Press (5x8)
2. OHP (4x10-12) + Face pulls (swole)
3. FG Pullups (amap-no less than 15) + Snatch Grip Shrugs (8-12)
X4
4. Hammer Curls (swole) +
Tate Press (swole) x4
5. Plank (alapx4)

Week 7

Day 1
1. Squat 5x4 RPE 8
2. Paused Squat (2x2)
3. BGSS (5x8)
4. Back Raise (B/R)  w/wt (5x10)

Day 2
1. Bench 4x3 RPE 9
2. Paused Bench (2x2)
3. Pullups (amap-no less than 8)/ Pushups (no less than 8) 5x
4. 1 Arm Farmers Walk
(50 feet each x 6)

Day 3
1. DL 6x4 RPE 8
2. Sumo 5” Block Pulls (3x3)
3. GHR (2 w/wt x 8-12**+3x amap no wt.)
4. HFBR w/wt. (4x15-20)

5. TRX Pike/Slide board Pike (amap) + SLSU w/wt. AHAP x8
X 4 sets

Day 4
1. DB Floor Press (5x10)
2. OHP (4x10-12) + Face pulls (swole)
3. FG Pullups (amap-no less than 15) + Snatch Grip Shrugs (8-10)
X4
4. Hammer Curls (swole) +
Tate Press (swole) x5
5. Plank (alapx6)

Week 8

Day 1
1. Squat 6x3 RPE 8
2. Paused Squat (2x3)
3. BGSS (4x6)
4. B/R w/wt (4x8)

Day 2
1. Bench 3x2 RPE 9
2. Paused Bench (2x2)
3. FG Pullups (4x12-15)
4. Farmers Walk (4x100 ft.)

Day 3
1. DL 5x3 RPE 9
2. Sumo DL 2” Mats (3x5)
3. GHR (50)
4. HFBR w/wt. (4x15-20)

5. SLSU w/wt/ (5x3) AHAP

Day 4
1. Incline DB Flyes (15-20) +
Pushups (10-12) 3x
2. Lateral Raise (12-15)+
Plate Raise (12-15) 3x
3. BB Row (8-10) +
Face Pulls (15-20) 3x
4. Pushdowns-pick a medium weight
And do 60 reps +
DB Curls Same as above
5. Ab Wheel w/pause (4xamap)

Week 9

Day 1
1. Squat 4x3 RPE 10
OPENERS Best Triple
2. Paused Squat (1x1)
w/heaviest triple weight
3. High Tension Goblet Squats (8)
+ Kettlebell Swings (12-15) 3x
4. R/H (slow/strict/squeeze 3x12)

Day 2
1. Bench openers/3x3 RPE 10
2. Paused Bench (1x1)
w/heaviest triple weight
3. FG Pullups (4x15-20)
4. Farmers Walk (2x100 ft.)

Day 3
1. DL 3x3 RPE 10
OPENER BEST TRIPLE
2. Paused Front Squat
(4x5)
3. GHR (40)
4. 3 Point Plank (4x 10 count)

Day 4
1. Incline DB Flyes (15-20) +
Pushups (10-12) 4x
2. Lateral Raise (12-15)+
Plate Raise (12-15) 4x
3. BB Row (8-10) +
Face Pulls (15-20) 4x
4. Pushdowns-pick a medium weight
And do 70 reps +
DB Curls Same as above
5. Ab Wheel w/pause (5xamap)

Week 10

Day 1
1. Squat 4x2 RPE 10
2nd Best double
2. Paused Squat (1x1)
w/heaviest double weight
3. High Tension Goblet Squats (8)
+ Kettlebell Swings (12-15) 2x
4. R/H (slow/strict/squeeze 2x12)

Day 2
Bench 2nd attempts
3x2 RPE 10
2. Paused Bench (1x1)
w/heaviest double weight
3. FG Pullups (2x15-20)
4. Farmers Walk (2x100 ft.)

Day 3
1. DL 3x2 RPE 10
2nd BEST DOUBLE
2. Paused Front Squat
(2x5)
3. GHR (40)
4. 3 Point Plank (4x 10 count)

Day 4
OFF
Drag Sled 20 min.

Week 11

Day 1
1. Squat openers for 3 singles deload
2. B/R (3x12-15)
3. Backwards Sled Drag (3x100ft.)

Day 2
1. Bench-deload
Openers 3x1
2. DB Flyes (2x15-20)
3. FG Pullups (2x 15-20)
4. Plank (2xalap)

Day 3
1. DL openers for 3 x 1
2. KB Swings (2x15-20)
3. GHR (25)

Day 4
OFF
Drag Sled 20 min.

Week 12-Meet Week

Light sled dragging, mobility and bodyweight work.
Let’s look at the program for a minute:

As you can see, there is a lot of volume on the assistance work by design.
This is for a group of people who were doing their first meet and we needed to get them ready. What better way than with a huge amount of work that tapers down towards the end?

I know, we could have done it differently, but I knew all of the ladies as they were all long time clients and this is what they needed.

You can run this program as is if you want to try it, or adjust the workload. It worked for all of them, it might work for you.

As we got closer to the meet, the total workload dropped off but the intensity went up.

In Week 9 we hit weights to figure out their openers.

In Week 10, we did the same to estimate their second attempts.

We wanted them all to hit PR’s o their third attempts so we knew what their PR’s were for each lilft.

A word on how we chose their openers.

We treated the opener as a last warmup attempt. This was done to build confidence and get them in the meet. A lot of the ladies were a little upset we opened them at less than they hit for triples in Week 9. When they got to the meet and saw how many people missed their openers by going too heavy, they all understood what we did and why.

That’s it.

You all know have a FREE 12 Week Powerlifting program that we know works.

This could have easily been an EBook for sale, but in the spirit of Live, Learn and Pass on, I am giving it to you free.

In exchange for the FREE program I ask that you leave a comment and let me know what you think and what you would like me to write about to help you.

Total Performance Sports
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Vincere vel mori