This Friday I tested my SBD maxes, and I think I have a lot to learn, so there are quite a number of questions in this post.
History:
I ran Hypertrophy II and then started PLII. I broke my toe so I had to work around that with a makeshift program for ~3 weeks. After this, I ran PLII for real. I ran PLII with lower intensity since I work at FedEx and I tend to get beat up from that as well (I made a previous post about this. Link for reference: Repost from unmoderated to moderated forum PLII Intensity Question - Training Q/A with Drs. Feigenbaum & Baraki - Barbell Medicine Forum). I feel that I also have a history of “Paralysis by analysis” and potentially overthink things, so that might be present in this post, but it is hard for me personally to recognize if that’s really happening or if I am analyzing things the way I should be.
old maxes at 144 lbs @5’6:
-300lb squat
-185 bench
-300 deadlift
new maxes 142 lbs @5’6 at the time of testing
-300lb squat (e1rm 308), failed 315 (I genuinely can’t believe I failed this one. I really thought I would’ve had this one)
-325lb deadlift (failed 335)
-205lb bench (did not test 210 or 215, which I would’ve attempted if I could redo my test day)
Included below are the videos of my lifts/attempts. My bench pause was pretty rushed (Sorry for the bad & unflattering angle). My deadlift start position seems kind of off (A lot of bar movement at the start). My 335 deadlift attempt didn’t save but the rolling at the start was even worse than the 325 deadlift. As for my squat, the bar rolled up my back and I had to bail as I started to twist to the left and fall forward. My squat also had a bit of a scare throughout weeks 10-13. My lower abs would sometimes feel fairly strained in a way that I found very uncomfortable (I feel like I strained it slightly on week 11, and I had this happen on my 315 squat attempt as well actually, so maybe it was risky to even attempt maxes after that).
So, I have a few questions/ points I feel I need advice in: 1. Technique across the lifts
2. Programming from this point on. I feel as though front squats would be beneficial for better core and quad development and Hack Squats for quad development since I bend over a lot on the ascent. Other than that, should I re-run PLII for more progress in my lifts, or would I benefit from more hypertrophy judging by my build in the videos? I definitely gained some muscle but I still feel like I am pretty small and my thought is that I may not have an optimal foundation to build strength off of. There seem to be several different approaches I could have from this point on: Rerun PLII, run Hypertrophy II, or powerbuilding.
3. Is it necessary to swap out exercises when they are in the programs? For example, If I feel that pause deadlifts & 2ct pause benches may be the most beneficial deadlift variation for me, could it potentially be most optimal to keep it simpler and just run that variation the entire way through?
I also wanted to ask a question about the powerbuilding approach to training. Some of the strongest lifters I have seen seem to train in this style (the Tren twins, Pete Rubish’s old programming style, Eric Bugehagen, Larry Wheels (IIRC), etc). Do some people perform better in the power lifts and overall general strength when running a powerbuilding style as opposed to a raw powerlifting-focused program?