I started training for powerlifting 3 years ago when I was 43. I did 3 competitions. My best competition lifts were:
Squat 551
Bench 424
Deadlift 578
Total 1554

I hurt my lower back in the last competition (not sure what happened as it didn't start hurting until later that night), and it took about a year before I could start really lifting again. That was last summer, and I decided to give Strongman a try instead of powerlifting. My wife was already doing strongman, and it just looked like more fun.

I have since done one unsanctioned strongman competition, which I won, and one sanctioned event, which I took 3rd place. I am currently training to compete in Master's Nationals in Las Vegas in mid September.
These are the events I will be doing at Nationals:
Log Clean and Press - 280lbs for reps
Yoke Walk - 800 lbs for 60 ft
Axle Deadlift - 580lbs for reps
Farmers Carry - 320lbs per hand for 60 ft
Steel stone over bar for reps - 320lbs

After nationals, I may change gears for a few months and train to do another powerlifting meet. I want to try to add about 300 pounds to my last total, so I want to see how close to that I can get.

There are a few videos up on my instagram if you want to see an old fat guy lift some stuff. @powerliftingandpinball

My best advice for someone who wants to start powerlifting, or Strongman, is to go to a gym where you can see and work out with those people. If you spend all of your time at a regular gym, you start thinking that a 300 pound deadlift is pretty strong. When you walk into my gym, you will find at least 10 women who can do that for reps. It is insane. When you see guys squatting 900 pounds, deadlifting 800 pounds, and benching nearly 600 pounds, it makes everything seem a little more possible.

The numbers I list here are all for raw lifting. We only have a couple of guys still doing geared powerlifting. It seems to be dying off for the most part.

I think it is just too much of a pain in the ass for most people to get started with it. With raw lifting, a lifting belt and maybe knee sleeves are all you need to get started, and really all you need period. The shirts and squat suits are uncomfortable, and you have to maintain your bodyweight pretty closely, or you have to go by new gear that fits you. I also think the gear was getting too good. When a fairly little guy is 700 pounds or so, I think most people realize it isn't really him lifting the weight.

I am glad raw starting becoming popular. I would have never got into geared lifting.

I'm always super heavyweight. I am 6 feet tall, and my weight has fluctuated between 370 and 424 during the last 3 years. I need to work on diet and conditioning a lot more to be more competitive. I work out with a pro strongman who is way stronger than me, and I outweigh him by 65 pounds right now at 385. It is kinda ridiculous, and my size definitely makes this stuff harder.

I prefer to look at those guys as seeing what is possible. I could only deadlift about 300 pounds when i started. I thought that was decently strong. Then I started watching people half my size deadlift more (one guy weighed 160 pounds, and could deadlift 600). Seeing that that was even possible forced me to deadlift more. 300 feels heavy, but that doesn't mean 400 is not possible. I deadlifted 484 at my first competition which was only 3 months after I started training. I added close to 100 pounds to that in the following 9 months. If you are smaller, it will take you longer than that, but if you see other people doing it, I think it makes it easier to improve. Deadlift is almost all mental. You have to train yourself to pull that hard, because it sucks. lol

Theoretically, I like hook grip, but in practice, that shit hurts to much for me. lol
I have used hook grip up to about 450, but really didn't want to go any further. Now that I am doing strongman, I use straps a lot more, which gets rid of the unevenness of the mixed grip. I will train more with mixed grip if I decide to another powerlifting competition. My grip is pretty strong already, so I don't think using the straps hurts me too much. If my grip was weak, I would be a lot more worried about it. One of my buddies can deadlift close to 900 with straps, but struggles at 750 due to grip. I want to cut up his straps every time I see him use them, because he only needs grip strength at this point.

You might need to work on your anger issues. lol

If I weighed 148 pounds, I think I could probably fly.

Calluses- no big deal until the weight gets really heavy. If they build up a lot, you will eventually rip them off. I sand mine down with sandpaper, or an Emory board.

Nervousness - the only lift I am 100% comfortable on is bench. I will get under 500 pounds on bench no problem (using a slingshot for over load training), but I am nervous under 500 on squat. I just haven’t done it enough to be comfortable.

Here is the video of my 450 bench. Definitely not a paused comp lift. I missed this in my last comp, which is why my best comp bench is 424.

Here is the ugly 500 with the slingshot. Not sure why I tried for the second rep, there was no way that was going to happen. Lol

Here is some fun from my last strongman competition. Started at 590, then went up 20 pounds each of the first 5 reps, then finished the rest of the minute at 690.

I picked up a pin and loaded it into a truck before. It was big and awkward to lift, so now I use some leverage instead of just muscling it. I really just wanted to see if I could do it.

I’m pretty sure it was Demolition Man. It might have been sttng, but I think I was probably smart enough to not test that on the more expensive game. Not sure what it weighed, but those are some of the heavier pins out there.

I think they are all pretty much worthless. If anything does end up actually working, it is usually banned pretty quickly.

If you eat a lot of red meat, creatine will do nothing for you as you are already getting plenty from the meat. Protein powder can be convenient, but that is the only real benefit. Anything else will either do nothing, or very little. I wouldn't waste your money.

The only supplement I ever used that worked was Ultimate Orange back in the 90s. It gave me a ton of energy. Then it was banned, and they changed the formula. It didn't do anything after that.

It had ephedrine in it. Everything with ephedrine was taken off the market. I am sure there is a potential for side effects, but I think the main reason is because it worked. Supplements are drugs, so one that enhances performance is by definition a performance enhancing drug (PED).

I think they are great. I am old and benched too much to have good mobility in my shoulders, so the ssb really helps me.

I am not sure what your budget is, but check out the transformer bar from kabuki strength. It is very versatile.

Variation is one of the best ways to get stronger. The body will adapt to anything over time, so it is good to mix things up a bit. Most people lifting at a really high level use bands, chains, specialty bars, and anything else available to add more variety.

You will probably want to start using chalk before you get too heavy. It helps, and is allowed in any powerlifting competition.

I hit a new PR on deadlift today, even though I used straps. I keep my grip strong doing farmers walks without straps, so for now, I am not going to risk my bicep tendon on mixed grip. If I decide to do a powerlifting comp again, I will go back to it.

Anyway, here is 600:

I use a belt for anything above 400. A belt is not used to protect your back. It is used to give you something to brace against. You protect your back by activating your core and pushing out. The belt just makes it easier to do that.

I think you just have to listen to your body more. The young guys can live by the “I will lift this, or die trying” philosophy, but that just doesn’t work in your mid 40s or later. You also need to let yourself recover more.

I did a local strongman competition last weekend. I was originally planning to do masters nationals in Vegas tomorrow, but I had to drop back. My body just wasn’t recovering from the heavier weights in time.

Did you ever max on bench raw? I am always curious what the difference is. I have talked to some people who got 300 pounds out of their shirt.

I have benched 450 pounds, but I have never once benched more than 225 without a spotter, and almost always have a spotter at that weight as well. A pec, or a bicep tendon can rip at a pretty light weight, so it is never worth it to me to risk it. The last thing I want to do is get injured, then make it worse by trying to get the bar off of me.

I have never had it happen to me, but I have seen a lot of tears. It usually happens at what is a relatively light weight for the person, and it happens really fast.

Watching that, every instinct I have tells me that those are fake weights due to the length of his arms, but if it is real, that is the most impressive bench press I have ever seen. When I saw your title, I was sure I would see a 5’ tall guy with t-Rex arms. With this kid’s reach and body weight, 225 would be impressive as hell.

He definitely has a huge chest for his size. It is certainly not impossible as there are 7 Americans at 148 or under who have bench pressed 385-440 in competition in the last 11 years. The next class up is 165, and there are over 50 who have hit 385-501.

Rubber mats under your bench will be the easiest way to lift it up. You could also try straps instead of the crossbars on your rack. I have seen quite a few people use those online.

If you are focusing on the 3 power lifts, I would suggest changing up your schedule. Each of the 3 lifts should get their own day. You can’t hit both squats and deadlifts hard enough in the same workout to improve both of them. A second upper body day would be ok if you want to add it, but I would make the primary exercise overhead press to give the shoulders and tris more work. I find rows to be a good accessory lift on deadlift day. On bench day, lat pull downs leaning back are good, since it is the same basic position as bench.

I think you will find, as the weights get heavier, that you only have enough energy for quick biceps stuff, since you really need to focus on things that improve the 3 main lifts.

I also wouldn’t go down to heavy doubles and singles on bench that often. Maybe the last 6 weeks before a contest, and I would drop the volume during that. Let those tendons heal up a bit with a little higher rep range farther away from a meet.

I haven’t tried it, but quite a few people at my gym have switched to it and like it. I am trying to keep my shoulders healthy for bench and overhead pressing, so I only squat with the safety squat bar these days.

What are the kids lifting on bench? You know that feeling you had the first time you hit 2 plates, then 3 plates? Small girls like that feel exactly the same the first time they hit one plate. It is fun to watch. Most girls never seem to want to lift more than a dime or two, but they are easily capable of more. There are a couple of girls at my gym getting pretty close to 2 plates now.

Monolifts are just for squats. They make it so the lifter doesn’t waste energy walking it out. Anyone who can squat the eight on the bar can fairly easily walk it out, so I don’t think there is a huge difference.

On bench, some federations have one of their people lift off for all of the lifters. This can definitely suck if they don’t lift off like you are used to. Other feds make you bring your own lift off guy, or you have to unrack it yourself.

Imagine if this happens while you are lifting that bar over your face. You can be a real man all you want. Just catch it on video if shit goes wrong.

In competition, the bar has to touch your chest, and you have to pause there until the judge tells you to press. He makes sure that all movement has stopped. To me, that is a legit bench press. For gym lifting, I count touch and go as well. Anything else is just a training variation.

Lifting off is not part of the lift in competition in any federation, so I don’t consider it part of the lift. The lift starts when the bar is out over your chest with your arms locked out, and it is complete when you are back to that position.

It is impressive to see someone unrack a heavy weight, and lift it. I am just not willing to risk it.

It just wouldn’t be necessary on a squat. There is no dangerous movement going on with lifting it off the rack. Well, maybe dangerous, but probably not life threatening. Lifting off on bench is a terrible position for your shoulders, so I would think it is the most dangerous part, especially since you are lifting it over your face.

I think a lot of feds are using the monolift on squats because the walkout is not part of the lift. If you want people to try to lift the most weight possible, it makes sense to take out the unnecessary part that burns energy. Personally, I would probably walk out from a monolift to make sure I am set right. I would need to train using it for quite a while before I trusted an unloaded setup with max weight on my back. I probably should try it someday. My gym has 6 monolifts now.