Age: 28
Weight: 76kg / 168lb
LIfting Since: Late 2012
Estimated Maxes
High-Bar Squat: ?
Front Squat: 140-150kg
Sumo Deadlift: 200-210kg
Paused Bench Press: 125-130kg
Touch & Go Bench Press: 132.5-137.5kg
Goal
Use highish-frequency, high-specificity training to turn the general strength and hypertrophy I built over the last year into task-specific strength in my competition lifts (Medium-Grip Bench, High-Bar Squat, Sumo Deadlift).
Thoughts & Modifications
I recently joined a local Powerlifting club that has a small, informal meet planned for December 1st, which I took as a reason to stop pushing hypertrophy on an off-season GZCL program and finally put that muscle to good use on the platform. So I went looking for a program that would fit my requirements, and someone on Reddit suggested I check out @Hanley's "Montana Method" on these forums, which turned out to be just what I was looking for.
The most obvious change I made rightaway was splitting the Full-Body Power Day into one Squat/Deadlift and one Bench Day. I'm hoping that this will allow me to focus more on my Sumo technique rather than just rushing through heavy pulls at the end of the session. This should also make adding prehab and lighter assistance to keep my joints happy a bit easier.
I'm not quite sure what the weakest link is for my Squat, as I only just recently resumed doing regular Squats after almost exclusively doing Front Squats for the last year. For now, I'll simply keep working the movement as a whole until I hit a plateau or after the competition. Just got to keep working on my bracing.
As it seems to be for most (raw) lifters, my sticking point on the Bench is around halfway up, so I've been focusing on building my pecs and speed off the chest with a lot of paused reps and hypertrophy work. As I've always benched with a somewhat close grip and my triceps strength has always been alright, I might replace the Close-Grip Bench on the Power Day with Legs-Up Bench, which I've found tremendously helpful.
My main weaknesses on Deadlifts are grip strength and getting into the proper position (stance width, bracing, the whole shebang). I started using a hook grip recently, hoping that I'll be able to use that rather than a mixed grip for the competition. Additionally, I'll likely throw in some lighter assistance work using my Fat Gripz. To get more opportunities to work on my setup, I'm considering substituting the 5x4 Snatch-Grip Deadlifts for light Sumo triples, either off low blocks or with a pause just off the floor.
The planned layout looks like this:
Nutrition
I'm aiming to maintain or slightly reduce my weight, basically doing a good ol' recomp. I've taken some pointers from the Renaissance Diet guide, and have had good success with alternating days of low and high calorie intake. I will likely keep doing something like this, with protein hovering beween 160g and 200g:
Rest days: 1900-2200kcal, high-fat, low-carbs
Light Training Days: 2200-2500kcal, medium-fat, medium-carbs
Hard Training Days: 2500-2800kcal, low-fat, high-carb
