Marine Sgt. Cody Lefever won the 148-pound weight class Jan. 14 at the Camp Pendleton Open powerlifting event at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He was second overall.
The 26-year-old from Wheat Ridge, Colo., has only been a competitive powerlifter since early 2011.
"That is when I think I really 'became' a powerlifter, because it forced me to focus my training," Lefever said in an email. "I was no longer just working out, I was training."
I asked Lefever to tell me a little about his diet and training plan. Here's what he said:
Methodology:
I center my workouts around the squat, bench press, standing shoulder press and dead lift. These are the three competition lifts with the addition of a standing press.
Frequency:
I will usually squat on Monday and Friday, bench on Tuesday, dead lift Wednesday and standing shoulder press Thursday. I typically work up to either a heavy triple -- 3 reps -- or a heavy single -- 1 rep -- and then back off to 80-90 percent of that weight and then do 5 to 10 sets of 1 to 3 reps of that chosen percentage. So for example, I'd work up to a squat of 375 pounds for one rep, then I'd take 85 percent of that (roughly 320 pounds) and do 5 to 10 sets of 1 to 3 reps.
Assistance exercises:
After I get my main lift out of the way I choose one or two assistance exercises. These are exercises that "assist" in developing strength in the weaker areas of a lift. This may be weighted dips in order to better strengthen my triceps for bench press or maybe good mornings to better strengthen my hamstrings for dead lifting. You may have noticed a lack of pulling exercises. That is because I will do pullups or rows in between pressing exercises on Tuesdays and Thursdays; I may also choose to do a "pulling" specific day on Saturday if I'm up to it. I will try and do abs one to two days per week ... but I typically let heavy squats and dead lifts take care of my abdominal strength development.
Cardio:
I do one day of sprints or a distance run of 2-4 miles per week for my cardio. As for circuits, which are my primary tool used for conditioning, I will either do a series of barbell complexes or atlas stone cleans to the shoulder (stones weighing up to 225 pounds). However my favorite conditioning tool would be high-rep, light-weight squatting, typically 95 to 225 pounds for 20 or more reps. The most I've ever done for that last one would be 240 pounds (1.5x body weight) for 28 straight reps and also 100 pounds for 100 straight reps. This type of squatting is referred to as "widow-makers" and are really a test of mental and physical endurance as they can last from one to five minutes.
Diet:
I keep it pretty simple. High protein, low carb. I will eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, but it regularly is closer to 2 grams. My carbohydrate intake is centered around my workout and 75 percent of my daily consumed carbohydrates are eaten within an hour before workouts or three hours after. I typically try and eat less than 50g of carbs per day when trying to cut weight for a meet and 100g when maintaining weight. If I want to gain weight, I simply consume more carbs with a like increase in protein.
What advice does Lefever have for anyone who wants to start powerlifting?
"It's a lot of detail," he said. "But for those who want to get into the sport of powerlifting, following a specific routine for months at a time is absolutely necessary in order to make linear progress."
Lefever uses Fitocracy -- a new social media platform -- to track his workouts. We'll have more on Fitocracy soon.
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