A Girlfriend's Guide To Powerlifting

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A Girlfriend’s
guide to
powerlifting
A beginner's Guide
10 10
Designed and collated by
Talya Garnett
&
Kirsty Cleland-Orgle

A Girlfriend's guide to powerlifting
A beginner's guide
This guide is a collection of useful articles so
that you don’t have to sift through the
mounds of contradicting nonesense the
internet has to offer.
Note: While this guide is aimed at
women, it can be used by everyone
regardless of their gender.
Articles written by:
Ben Streatfield
Shona Hughes
Girls Who Powerlift Contributors

Contents
About Our Writers ................................ 3
About Powerlifting ............................... 4
Making Sense of Nutrition .................... 6
Misconceptions .................................. 10
Training Programmes ........................... 12
3 Tips on how to find a Coach ........... 16

About our Writers
Ben Streatfield
streatfieldtraining.wordpress.com
U74 GBPF Powerlifter
Powerlifting Coach
BSc Sports Science
MSc Physiology
Shona Hughes
U72 GBPF Powerlifter
BSc Sports Science and
Nutrition
Girls Who Powerlift
girlswhopowerlift.com
Girls Who Powerlift is a community of
women who aren't afraid to be
strong. And don't let our
feminine ways fool you, we
can still grind out a
deadlift and eat all
the doughnuts.
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About Powerlifting
A Quick history
Powerlifting stems from Weightlifting which as a sport, appeared in the
Olympics in 1896. Powerlifting was then recognised as a sport in 1950’s and
developed simultaneously in Britain and USA in the 1960’s. The standard lifts
are deadlifts, bench press and squat which started in USA and then Britain
followed by cultivating that idea by changing one of their standard lift
which was curl to deadlift.
Weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting: difference?
Bodybuilding
Think biceps, tans and bikinis. Bodybuilding is
perhaps the most well-known strength-training
sport. You might think of the likes of Arnold
Schwarzenegger or Phil Heath when it comes to
bodybuilding, however there is natural/drug
free and assisted bodybuilding. Assisted
bodybuilders in the female category tends to
be women’s perception of what they will look
like if they start lifting heavy, but it takes years of
lifting, dieting, and sport specific drug-use.
Weightlifting
This is what we see on TV during the
Olympics. Olympic Weightlifting (or
“Weightlifting”) isn’t what we all do when
we go to the gym (commonly mistaken for
“lifting weights”). Weightlifting is a sport of its
own. It consists of two competitive lifts, the
snatch and the clean and jerk. It is probably
the most technical sport which demands
skill, strength, power, agility and control.
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
Powerlifting
This is strength sport that focuses around three main lifts: squat, bench and
deadlift. In competition, athletes get three attempts at each lift and are
assessed on how much they can do. The best attempts from each lift are
added together to make the athletes “total”, which will determine where
they place or whether or not they have qualified for a bigger competition.
During training, the athlete’s programme will be centred around getting
these three lifts stronger, and working on their weaknesses in them by
doing additional exercises (“accessory work”) to better said weaknesses.
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Making sense of
Nutrition
DISCLAIMER: Before the article commences, it is important to be aware
that I am not a qualified nutritionist. The advice and explanations
provided are predominantly experience based but, with a little research,
the information can be sourced by all.
PEANUT
BUTTER
For many people who are new to strength training and
competitive powerlifting, nutrition can seem like a daunting
concept due to preconceived ideas about nutritional
requirements and misleading information perpetuated by
the media. Often, articles and social media influencers will
present conflicting ideas: peanut butter will “build your
booty” vs. peanut butter is the devil, butter in your coffee
will help you lose weight vs. butter and dairy will make you
gain weight, etc. It can feel overwhelming and it is not
uncommon to think, “crikey, if food is so complicated for
every day living, where on earth do I start if I want to be a
successful athlete?”.
However, the reality is much simpler. The most important considerations to make are:
1. How much energy you are expending in the day?
2. What are your goals?
These two go hand in hand; if you want to lose weight then you will need to use
more energy than you eat, if you want to maintain your weight then you need to eat
roughly the same as the energy you use and if you want to gain strength and muscle
you will need to eat slightly more than you are using in your daily activities. There are
some wonderful calculators on the internet which can help you find out how much
energy you burn during the day (my personal favourite is the following, because it is
comprehensive, but easy to use:
(https://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced) but, if you have
a Fitbit (or an equally valid brand of heart rate monitor) these can calculate it for
you.
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
For example, if you burn an average of 2,100kcal per day:
1. To shed approximately 1lb per week, a moderate yet
maintainable amount, you would need to be in a caloric
deficit of 500kcal and consume between 1,500kcal and
1,700kcal per day.
2. If you wish to maintain your weight, then between 1,900kcal
and 2,300kcal per day is a good range.
3. To gain approximately 1lb per week you would need to be in a
caloric surplus of 500kcal per day (approximately), which gives
you a range of 2,500kcal to 2,700kcal per day.
It’s really that simple! Ranges are also very useful, because it is impossible
to be completely accurate and your appetite and needs will vary from
day to day. The key is to be consistently within range, rather than to be
obsessing over accuracy to the finest point.
Powerlifters, like other sportsmen, have slightly more specific nutritional
needs in addition to attaining their daily calorie goal. Calories are units of
energy, which are made up of three main sources from the diet: proteins,
carbohydrates and fats (the three macronutrients, or “macros” as they
are commonly referred to as). Typically, athletes have a higher protein
requirement to facilitate muscle growth and recovery and the distribution
of carbohydrates (referred to as carbs) and fats vary per individual. This
can be dependent on gender, health requirements, energy required for
exercise or just preference.
The optimal protein intake for a strength athlete is something which is
heavily debated. Some sources recommend 0.8g to 1g per pound of
bodyweight, whereas some will claim that 0.5g to 0.8g per pound of
bodyweight is sufficient. For most people it isn’t that deep; anywhere
within that range which is realistically obtainable is more than adequate.
So, for a 160lb athlete, 80g to 160g is a reasonable (if large!) range. To be
safe, most prefer to adhere to the upper end, but it is unlikely to make a
significant difference.
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Making Sense of Nutrition: Shona Hughes
Since protein contains 4kcal per gram, to find out how much of your daily
calorie requirement this uses up, you need to multiply your intake by 4. To
continue with the numbers in the previous examples, if our 160lb athlete
(who burns an average of 2,100kcal per day), wishes to gain mass, they
might use the following calculations to determine their needs:
1. Daily requirement of 2,500kcal to 2,700kcal for moderate
weight gain.
2. Daily protein requirement of approximately 128g of protein
(160lbsx0.8).
3. Protein uses up 512kcal (128gx4) which leaves 1,988kcal to
2,188kcal for carbs and fats.
Carbs contain 4kcal per gram whereas fats
contain 9kcal per gram so, many powerlifters
tend to utilise and higher carb intake because
not only is it your body’s most easily accessible
energy source, but you can eat more of them.
However, fats are used for growth and
development, nutrient absorption and hormone
regulation so shouldn’t be neglected. Particularly
for women, dietary fats are incredibly important,
so the misconception that fat-free products are
“better for you” isn’t necessarily true… Even if
you are dieting.
0
7 8 9
4 5 6 x
1 2 3 -
0 . + =
With all that said, tracking macros and calorie intake can require a lot
of maths which is not suitable for athletes with busy lives as it is not
necessarily compatible with lifestyle factors such as studying, working
and socialising. To accommodate for this, some strength athletes use
apps or programs to monitor their nutrition and others choose to eat
intuitively while making a conscious effort to include a source of protein,
carbs and fats with every meal.
It is helpful to be armed with this information though because, once
training is also optimised, you really can eat your way to success!
Written By Shona Hughes
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
CARBOHYDRATES
carbohydrates
FATS fats
PROTEINS proteins
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Misconception:
Heavy squats bad for knees?
Deep Squats are Perfectly Safe:
Squats are a big part of powerlifting and there are specific rules that
govern how they must be performed. The lifter “must bend the knees and
lower the body, until the top surface of the legs at the hip-joint is lower
than the top of the knees”, meaning that a competitive powerlifter has
little choice but to train using deep-squats.
It’s a common concern amongst gym-goers that deep-squats are bad for
the knees, with people often suggesting that they place excessive force
through the joint which increases risk of injury and long-term wear and
tear. Whilst it’s true that the knee experiences the highest forces during
the deepest part of the squat, research suggests that as long as they are
performed with care, good-technique and the lifter has no previous
injuries, deep-squats are perfectly fine (Escamilla et al, 1998. Hartmann et
al, 2013).
So, where’s the evidence?
One of the main ways researchers measure the forces going through the
knee is to look at ‘Patellofemoral Compressive Forces’, which is essentially
the force that the knee-cap is pulled into the knee-joint by the muscles
during the squat (Insert Picture). Nisell & Ekholm (1986) calculated these
forces at the knee in a study looking at male powerlifters during several
250kg squats and did observe that forces increase as squats became
deeper, reaching ~6750N in the full-squat compared to ~5000N in the
quarter squat.
But does this not mean deep-squats are bad? Not really…
“not NOT really” REALLY
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
A lot of the studies that look at knee-forces during squats don’t take into
account the fact that people can often lift ~2-3 times more weight when
performing shallow squats compared to deep-squats, given that the
muscles involved are in a better position to produce force (Hoff &
Helgerud, 2004. Hartmann et al, 2012). As lifters are stronger performing
shallow squats, they’ll need to lift heavier weights to work the muscles to
the same level, which has been shown to increase the knee-forces to a
similar level as lighter, deep-squats (Wallace et al, 2002. Hartmann et al,
2013). In this case, you might as well just use lighter weights and squat to
at-least parallel, which has also been shown to benefit muscle-growth
(Bryanton et al, 2012).
Another point in favour of deep-squats is that several other sports that
most people would associate with being relatively safe often cause similar
(if not higher) forces at the knee compared to heavy, deep-squats. For
example, jogging can lead to forces of ~3100N and ballet dancers can
often reach forces of over 9000N when landing from jumps (Simpson et al,
1996. Roos et al, 2012). If the human body is capable of withstanding
forces of those levels during everyday running and jumping tasks, it is
capable of withstanding the much more controlled forces experienced
during deep-squats.
Also, you only have to look at the injury-rate among competitive
powerlifters to see that it really isn’t dangerous, with a recent study
suggesting lifters experience around 4 injuries per 1000hrs of training (Aasa
et al, 2017).
Written By Ben Streatfield
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training
programmes
General & Useful Information:
Getting started in powerlifting can be daunting. Coaches can be
expensive, and as an independent woman, it’s nice to know where to go
to learn how to program your workouts for yourself rather than having to
rely on someone else. This article will teach the very basics of
programming, and how that changes as you advance in expertise.
The differences between the novice and advanced lifter in programming
is not as big as they may seem. The biggest difference is the ability to
auto-regulate, or change your training based on how you feel each day.
Both the novice and advance lifter needs to make sure that they continue
to practice and hone in on technique for the main lifts and increase
volume over time in order to get stronger.
The Novice Lifter: 0-6 Months
Beginner Gains
A novice lifter should be squatting, benching, and deadlifting as much as
possible based on recovery to cement their muscle memory. As your
body learns the movements, you’ll find that you’ll hit PR’s or PB’s (Personal
records or bests) often, and your PR’s will be much greater. It is common
for a novice to gain anywhere from 10-50 lbs. of progress on each lift
depending on how their previous training background. Once a novice
lifter has established what their one rep max is, training should remain
mostly within 60-80% of that amount throughout this training period. These
programs tend to focus on linear progression, or adding more weight to a
fixed amount of sets and reps each session or week.
Great Beginner Programs:
- Starting Strength
- GraySkull Linear Progression
- Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 (This is a great program to bridge from novice
to advanced beginner/intermediate)
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
Intermediate Lifter: 6 months – most of your career
Breaking Through Plateaus
During the intermediate stage, consistency is important. This is when the
daily and weekly PR’s become less frequent. The typical intermediate
program is run for anywhere from 6-12 weeks. There are also peaking
programs that you can run now that you are likely preparing for your first
meet. It is important to focus on your primary lifts (Squat, Bench, Deadlift)
as well as secondary lifts (close variations of those ex: Front Squats,
Close-grip Bench, Romanian Deadlifts) and accessory work (Dumbbell or
cable work – basically movements that isolate certain muscle groups that
need to be trained more.) Intermediate programs may focus on different
aspects of lifting such as speed, volume, or maximal effort days (Programs
derived from the Conjugate Method), or maybe Daily Undulating
Periodization or DUP programs (Heavy Day/ Light Day,
Hypertrophy/Power/Strength) are good examples of ways to break past
those training barriers. While prepping for a meet, you may feel like you
want to do a peaking program help assure you are ready for a big PR.
DUP Programs:
- TSA Intermediate Program
- Layne Norton’s PH3
Conjugate Method:
- Brandon Lilly’s Cube
- West Side Method
Peaking Programs:
- Paul Carter’s Strong 15
- Smolov Jr. For Squat or bench
- Garrett Blevins has a lot of great content on his YouTube for
peaking
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Training Programmes: Deanna Gerdesmeier
Advanced Lifters: 3+ Years
Fighting For Every Pound on Your Total
Once lifters begin to auto-regulate or listen to their body to control fatigue
and help promote recovery in their training, they are considered
advanced. At this level, a lifter has probably run a few programs and
know what works and doesn’t work for their own bodies as they fight hard
for every PR that they get. It is not common for advanced lifters to
experience 10-20 lb. PR’s. The advanced lifter usually takes a template
they like, and through experience, they will make it their own as they focus
on increasing volume (Sets x reps x weight) while still training between the
60-80% range of their one-rep max. Advanced lifters typically use tools to
modify load and range of motion in order to break past barriers. Fractional
Plates, bands, blocks, chains, or other tools that are popular.
- Fractional Plates
- Mark Bell’s Slingshot For Bench
- Deadlift Blocks (These can be expensive to buy. Most people make
their own) or you can buy there here from Rogue
Now that you know what each stage of maturity as a lifter looks like, it’s
important to understand that, no two athletes are the same. Everyone
moves at their own pace, and it’s important to strive to understand what
programs and training blocks work for you as a lifter. I hope that the tools
and templates above were helpful to you. Don’t see the program you use
above? Comment below with your thoughts!
Written By Deanna Gerdesmeier (GWPL)
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
Training Programme
Day 1 : Squats + Bench Whole body Accessories
Exercise Sets Reps Weight (kg) /
Competition Squats 4 6 85
Pause Bench 3 7 35
Leg Press 3 8 110
Chest Supported Rows 3 8 40
Hip thrusts 3 10 100
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3 Tips on How To Find
a Coach
The other day, I began to think back to how I have gotten to this point in
powerlifting and thought about what I did to get my start. I started going
to the gym in 2013 at 24 years old but didn't really start powerlifting until
2014, when I learned all of the main movements from my brother. I
accompanied his teachings by reviewing other powerlifters that I followed
via social media, but also by reading endless articles and viewing
Youtube videos in order to reinforce what I was seeing on social media.
Alongside my brother and my new found powerlifting internet knowledge,
I coached myself into my first meet in January 2015 where I had an 880
total (SQ: 335 / B: 165 / DL: 380) - all completed beltless! With more in the
tank, I was proud to get myself to that point but knew that if I wanted to
reach the next level, it would be best for me to start shopping around for
a coach.
As a n00b, I had no idea how to shop for a coach, nor did I feel
comfortable enough to ask anyone how to go about it. Granted, there
are many things you find out after you sign on the dotted line and pay
your coach, I did go by certain guidelines I set up for myself which I have
found are applicable and can be helpful to those on the hunt for a
coach.
1) Do you want someone who can physically be there or are you
okay with virtual coaching?
Prior to my first powerlifting meet, I attended several meets in and around
New York and New Jersey to get myself familiarized with the flow and
overall meet day vibes. During that time, I noticed that my, now coach,
was consistently at these meets with his lifters.
Takeaway: I knew that I really wanted someone to learn from in person
and his visibility in within my area reinforced that.
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
2) Are you looking for someone who is more conservative or willing
to be advantageous when calling numbers?
Around the same time when I was shopping for a coach, one of my best
friends had begun training with her powerlifting coach. Per her coaching
preference, she opted to go with an online coach who we over time
found out took on a more conservative on the platform. Her coach’s style
included playing it smart when calling her
numbers going with extremely
conservative numbers in order to achieve
a higher total vs. being a little more
advantageous and really pushing their
lifter to see what they are truly capable of.
Don't get me wrong - I think that's a great
approach especially in cases where all you
need is a qualifying total for a larger meet
but when it comes to meets in general, I
would want to see and try my full potential.
I know that being more advantageous [or
even conservative] won't guarantee me a
higher total and aside from having open
lines of communication with my coach, I
would want a coach who already initially
aligns with my approach on the platform in
order for us to both succeed.
TO to do DO list LIST
Takeaway: When shopping around, browse and ask this potential coach
how they like to approach meets and calling attempts. Simply ask “Do
you find yourself to be more conservative or advantageous?” Take a
browse through social media & their clients to confirm that and may if
you're comfortable enough, reach out to a few of his/her lifters to get their
input as well.
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How to find a coach: Renee Garcia
3) How accessible do you want your coach to be?
Now you’re saying, “Duh, Renee… why would I look for a coach who isn’t
accessible?” Ha! There’s plenty of coaches who hand you the program
and say good bye, have fun & let me know if you have any questions –
but to some, more accessibility matters. In a perfect world to some, a
coach being accessible 24/7 is key, but let’s be real…That’s not going to
be the case, as each of us, have lives outside of coaching and being a
“coachee.” With having a live, in person coach, you do have that luxury
to ask a multitude of questions and have them answered almost
immediately. On the other hand, most people go with having an online
coach where communication adds another layer of difficulty. Again, that
goes into are you okay with having an online or physical coach?
Takeaway: While communication is a two-way street, it is important to
know that your coach will be there when needed for questions regarding
programming, lifting form, and the other million questions you’ll find that
you’ll want to ask your coach. When reaching out to your potential
coach, ask them for their means of communication whether it be through
a coaching platform, social media, e-mail, via phone or even through
text.
Shopping for a powerlifting coach is different for all, but hope these few
points will help find someone that can lead you to the next level of
powerlifting and help to make you a strong person in and out of the gym!
Written By Renee Garcia (GWPL)
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A Girlfriend’s Guide To Powerlifting: Beginners Guide
Mr. Instructor Guy
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