House of Payne Powerlifting
 Question of the Month 
 June, 2003
 
 
How much time should elapse between your last (pre contest) 
workout and contest day?
 

Vince Anello

Upper body bench 5 days. Deadlifts, Lower back about 10 days. Light
form squats about 5 days. Reason being is that legs and upper body
recuperate in 5 days or so. Lower back which might be involved with 
heavy squats also require more rest. But everyone is different and may
have different rates of recuperation. The time needed for the body to
recover increases with age also.
 
 
Michael Neal
I take be eight days from my last workout to the contest. I Bench on
Monday and Thursday, Squat on Monday and Deadlift on Friday. I think 
you need the entire week off to fully recover from your last deadlift 
workout. Everything you do puts work on your back and I believe it 
takes at least a week to fully rest and heal it. On Monday ( 5 days
before the contest ) I like to warm up and do some light benching and
light squatting just to pump the blood through the body good. I don’t
consider this a workout.
 
Paul Bossi
I like to have 5-6 days. I want to fully recover, rest and allow my body
to fully build up ATP and Glycogen and store as much as possible
Because these are the main source of energy that perform power
Movements such as powerlifting. Anything more than 6 days the body
starts to atrophying my propioceptors feel weak.
 
Ed Brooks
I feel that 5 - 7 days should elapse between your last workout and
contest day. This is the amount of time needed for the muscles to fully 
recover from the fatigue of the training cycle. The lifter is fully rested
and physically able to give a 100% effort at the meet.
 
Josh Cash
My take may be a little different than most on this question, because I
don’t compete in full-power meets, but just the bench. However, if I 
have a meet coming up on a particular Saturday. I usually will have my
last workout on the proceeding Monday or Tuesday. Some people like
to wait longer than this, but this seems to work best for me. I believe 
the reason for this is that I don’t like to go any longer than 4-5 days
before I compete without having that heavy weight (at least my
opener) in my hands. Keeps my body used to it that way, and the heavy
weight doesn’t surprise me come meet day. Just my $.02.....
 
S. Patrick Rodgers
FATBACKS “Power Plant”
We take no time off prior to going to a meet. If we go to a meet
and lift on Saturday we will continue to lift our normal days
throughout the week prior to the meet. These days are Sunday,
Monday, Wednesday, Friday. This does not mean that we are going
full throttle in each workout. We shorten our workouts and use
exercises to get the blood flowing in the muscles as much as
possible. This is done by using lighter weight and high reps.
Nothing done to failure. The flushing of the muscle with blood
will allow any soreness from previous workouts to get worked out
and it keeps the muscle healthy so when we go to the meet we have
less chance for injury and reduces soreness effects from the meet
lifts as well. We continue with out regular workout regime up
until Monday 4 Days before the meet. After Monday we start with
the light work stuff. Mostly it depends on feel. Some lifters in 
our gym do more and some do less. But the one thing we all have
in common is that no one takes any days off or does not lift. We
have found that some kind of work done right up to the meet day
helps more than none. We use these days as valuable tools to help
fine tune any form problems as well or just to ensure that we are
continuing with our normal good form. Very important work. This
is just one group of lifters opinions. They work for us the might
work for you. 
 
Jim ‘Joe Average’ Parrish
5 days prior to a contest we do our last max effort squat workout, the
next day we do our last max effort bench workout. Most Westsider’s
will do there dynamic or speed lifts prior to a meet. At the Body
Factory we have found that doing max effort work prior to the meet
gives us an enormous amount of confidence going into meet day. The
band/bar weight combinations that we use far exceed the amount of
weight that we will actually attempt in a meet, therefore unracking the
weight in both the squat and bench is never a cause for concern. In
addition, we view meet day as just another dynamic day, we always
take free weight on our dynamic days prior to doing our speed work
with the bands, so it only makes sense to do your max effort work prior
to the meet. My second point is this, some lifter’s won’t lift as close to
the meet as we do. Once your body is conditioned to work each
muscle group every 5 days, you do not want to change that just
because a meet is coming. Your muscles are conditioned to work
every 5 days, so that cannot change. Resting too much can be as
detrimental as not getting enough rest.

Bill Crawford

I take a week off before a meet. It lets my nervous system relax and
gives my muscles a week for full recovery. It also makes me hungry
for the meet and keeps me from feeling burned out. 
 
Amy “Firecracker” Vaughan
Well me personally I rest seven full days---if my comp is on a Sat I do
my last workout the Fri on the week before and allow all my muscles
the Opportunity to recuperate from the heavy training cycle. I will go in
and put a little blood in them the week of the meet but nothing more. 
I tried several different pre-meet rest periods and this is the time frame
that gives me the most results, but I also feel each person has a
different strength time frame and should learn their body and try
different rest periods to be able to optimize the most power on meet
day.
 
Brandon “C4” Cass
First of all let me stress that everyone is different and what works for
some may not work for all. I personally like to get in the gym on the 
Monday and Tuesday before! Do some really light workouts and card
just for blood flow and to break a sweat. I know most take at least a
week off. I feel lethargic if I do this and miss the feel of the iron. Iron
needs attention too. 
 
Kara Bohigian
This is something that varies greatly depending on the lifter and the 
lift. In the last year I’ve rearranged my peaking schedule to somewhat
mimic my old Olympic lifting pattern which always worked great. This
may not be tailored for other lifters, but it leaves me feeling rested,
strong and explosive on meet day.


For squats I take a heavy double 14 days out.  Whatever I can double, I
will take slightly more on my second attempt.  Some may feel this is
too close to the meet, but I try to make it a fairly quick 2 reps as
opposed to an exhausting max single. I actually never take a max 
single in the gym...I save that for the meet!  7 days out I hit slightly 
above my opener.

My last heavy bench single is 17 days out. 10 days out I do light board
work and then hit my opener. Mike Miller from the metal militia taught
me this so you know it’s good advice!!!

I almost never deadlift so I probably shouldn’t even answer this part :) I
work up to a heavy single 39 days out, then another 25 days out. 11
days out I pull up to a moderately heavy single and make that my
second attempt.

So after that last squat workout that’s IT! Ii take the rest of the week
completely off to physically recover and mentally prepare for the meet.
 
J.T. HALL
I compete in bench press & curl competition. I would do my last
workout 7 days before competition because this time frame allows
for proper body recuperation and mental recuperation. The last thing
a lifter want to do is to compete overtrained or having muscle soreness.
 
 
Chris Clark

Treat it as a workout except to lower the volume and slack on

the accessory work.......your body gets used to something and

when I change it I can tell.

 
Walter “Truck” Ferguson
I respond best to the following:
Squat - 7 to 10 days before comp hitting only opener for 2 singles with 
special attention to technique and most importantly, legal depth.
Bench - 5 days before comp using only 50% max for pause, technique, 
and explosion, about 7 singles.
Dead - 10 to 14 days before comp hitting only opener for 2 singles with
special attention to tightness and rigidity from head to toe while 
pulling up and back. Flat back with explosion off floor. No plane near 
top or any backwards leaning, knees locked.
 
Chris “OXX” Mason
I usually take 5 days off before the meet.....lite sq and dl on Sunday,
lite bp on Monday, and hot tub and rest up until the meet on
Saturday.... I feel training any closer to the meet, you will not be
recovered, and taking more than 5 days, you kinda forget how to sq,
bp, dl etc. I have taken more time in the past and the wt feels heavy on
contest day.
 
Steve Goggins
I like to rest 7 to 10 days on bench, 10 to 14 on deadlift and 7
days on a light squat workout. I feel that the body must rest
those amount of days to recover fully to get the most on meet
day, but still be in condition to complete the meet from training
hard for many weeks before the meet. 
 
 
House of Payne Powerlifting and Strength Sports
 
 
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