Am I Strong?

Training Powerlifting
101

[quote]trivium wrote:
My computer crashes every time I try to view the link for some reason.

I do recognize that the lighter guys are going to lift a higher ratio to their weight in a lot of cases (due to different levers, and what not), and to answer your question, both are impressive to me.

I personally want to be a bit heavier than 130 (I do admit to having some sort of physique goal as well), so I aspire to be more like the 200 lb guy. 220’s who press 405 are awesome too. If I thought I could be 220, that is what I would weigh, but I honestly think I am built to be around 181 and I don’t have good levers for anything. That is where I feel I will carry the most lean weight and have my highest hp to wt ratio some day. Would I be stronger at 300 lbs? Probably, but that sort of thing does not interest me.

I do also recognize that there comes a point where that standard (1.8 BP) isn’t capable of being met anymore. At that point, I don’t see the point of just being heavier for the sake of lifting more. It seems pretty pointless to me. (No I am not saying that 1.8 is my standard for bench. I just used that to make my point.)

I hope that answers your question.

I do think everyone should find what they think is impressive and work to hit that, and I do recognize that some people don’t like ratios. That is fine. I like them.

[/quote]

Yep. I suppose I like absolute strength. At the end of the day, the 150lb guy with a 3xbw bench press, while very impressive, is still weaker than a 275 guy with a 500lb bench press.

[quote]trivium wrote:
Do you think a guy who weighs 350 lbs and totals an elite 1730 total in the super heavy weight class is as impressive as a guy totaling elite 1655 in the 275’s?

Both are elite, but the heavier guy is stronger.
[/quote]

Those are both some nice raw totals (while not best of the best), particularly drug free. I can’t really say which I find more impressive.

Looking at this: http://www.usapowerlifting.com/results/2013/2013USAPLRawNationalPowerliftingChampionshipsResults.pdf 1655 would be the 7th best total at 275 open. And that’s out of 18 competitors at the nationals. The elite SHW guy ended up in 7th place out of 8 competitors. Heh. I don’t really have a point here. I just felt like looking up how well those hypothetical guys would have done. :wink: I do find Ray Williams ~2100lb total very impressive; I could care less if he weighed 315 or 400.

[quote]trivium wrote:
Also, this is way up there on my list of impressive shit. Probably top 5 impressive lifts of all time to me.

[/quote]

Dan Green is a beast, no doubt.

102

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

And to the previous comment about “a lot of people on this board” benching what I squat…If you know of someone on this board who is my weight (199.2) and they can bench 315 for 8, please do me a favor and point them in my direction. That is someone I would be interested in talking to, learning from, and watching progress. I would send you some McDonalds money or something for the find.[/quote]

I can hit it for 5 as a 181 if that’s worth anything.[/quote]

I don’t know man, you’re 3 short. =]

.[/quote]

Yeah, but 18lbs lighter. Figured coefficient would come into play, although 181 definitely isn’t my walking around weight.
[/quote]

The ratio on my squat to morning bodyweight is 1.9656164651653354.
The ratio on your bench to your competition bodyweight is 1.955661684651651.

I haven’t developed a policy on rounding yet…

What is your walking around weight? I have just started to read more about making a proper cut. I find it fascinating.

Also, why do you lift in 181? Don’t you think you would be stronger if you weighed 400 lbs?[/quote]

I walk around at about 200 when there is no meet in sight, and cut down to about 190 as a walk around weight so I can cut to 181 when I do have a meet. I compete in this weight class because my job requires me to have a sub 35" waist, and I find that I can maintain that at about 200lbs of bodyweight.[/quote]

Shiet, you basically drop 20lbs going into a meet? How far out would you start looking at dropping down? 12 weeks? 16?

103

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

And to the previous comment about “a lot of people on this board” benching what I squat…If you know of someone on this board who is my weight (199.2) and they can bench 315 for 8, please do me a favor and point them in my direction. That is someone I would be interested in talking to, learning from, and watching progress. I would send you some McDonalds money or something for the find.[/quote]

I can hit it for 5 as a 181 if that’s worth anything.[/quote]

I don’t know man, you’re 3 short. =]

.[/quote]

Yeah, but 18lbs lighter. Figured coefficient would come into play, although 181 definitely isn’t my walking around weight.
[/quote]

The ratio on my squat to morning bodyweight is 1.9656164651653354.
The ratio on your bench to your competition bodyweight is 1.955661684651651.

I haven’t developed a policy on rounding yet…

What is your walking around weight? I have just started to read more about making a proper cut. I find it fascinating.

Also, why do you lift in 181? Don’t you think you would be stronger if you weighed 400 lbs?[/quote]

I walk around at about 200 when there is no meet in sight, and cut down to about 190 as a walk around weight so I can cut to 181 when I do have a meet. I compete in this weight class because my job requires me to have a sub 35" waist, and I find that I can maintain that at about 200lbs of bodyweight.[/quote]

For health insurance crap or something else if you don’t mind me asking?

104

[quote]goochadamg wrote:

Shiet, you basically drop 20lbs going into a meet? How far out would you start looking at dropping down? 12 weeks? 16?
[/quote]

Yeah, 12 weeks out. I shoot for about a pound a week so that I can maintain/gain strength while I lose weight.

105

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:

For health insurance crap or something else if you don’t mind me asking?[/quote]

Essentially.

106

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:

For health insurance crap or something else if you don’t mind me asking?[/quote]

Essentially.
[/quote]

I would have guessed military. What do you do to drop the weight so you don’t lose your strength?

107

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:

For health insurance crap or something else if you don’t mind me asking?[/quote]

Essentially.
[/quote]

I would have guessed military. What do you do to drop the weight so you don’t lose your strength?[/quote]

Just make it gradual. I shoot for 1lb a week. It’s a gradual dietary change too, I don’t overhaul anything.

I actually have a strategy of intentionally employing poor dietary choices during my off season so that I can remove them when I get closer to a meet. Intentional weakpoints if you will.

For example, prior to my last meet, I ate a PBJ every morning 30 minutes after my breakfast. Once my weight loss started to stall, I switched that sandwich out for oatmeal, and once weight loss stalled again, switched to a 90 cal fiber one brownie. By the time I approached my meet, I was pretty much only eating meat and veggies with protein shakes, but I thankfully didn’t have to live like that for too long because of this approach.

108

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:

For health insurance crap or something else if you don’t mind me asking?[/quote]

Essentially.
[/quote]

I would have guessed military. What do you do to drop the weight so you don’t lose your strength?[/quote]

Just make it gradual. I shoot for 1lb a week. It’s a gradual dietary change too, I don’t overhaul anything.

I actually have a strategy of intentionally employing poor dietary choices during my off season so that I can remove them when I get closer to a meet. Intentional weakpoints if you will.

For example, prior to my last meet, I ate a PBJ every morning 30 minutes after my breakfast. Once my weight loss started to stall, I switched that sandwich out for oatmeal, and once weight loss stalled again, switched to a 90 cal fiber one brownie. By the time I approached my meet, I was pretty much only eating meat and veggies with protein shakes, but I thankfully didn’t have to live like that for too long because of this approach.
[/quote]

You are the only person I have ever heard say that. That is awesome.

109

Yeah, I don’t really know anything about nutrition, but it works for me. I figure you can’t go wrong with meat and veggies for a general principle, haha.

110

So, I am just guessing based on your bench press, have you totaled elite yet?

111

[quote]trivium wrote:
So, I am just guessing based on your bench press, have you totaled elite yet?[/quote]

Not for NASA, where I competed.

nasa-sports.com/Classifications.htm

I hit a 502 squat, 336 bench and 601 dead at my last meet, which got me a 1439. These days, I can hit a 545 on the squat and doubled a 620 on the dead, but bench is still about the same. Been that way for a few years, but think I’ve finally got a handle on it.

112

That chart is way higher than the chart I was using before.

I have 1396 being elite at 181.

113

Do you really need the approval of a forum for this? Just get stronger and stop worrying about what others think.

114

[quote]trivium wrote:
That chart is way higher than the chart I was using before.

I have 1396 being elite at 181.

http://rawpowerliftingontario.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/raw-powerlifting-classification-standards.pdf[/quote]

Seems low to me, haha. Althouh I think raw elite is kind of silly. I just want an 800lb deadlift.

115

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
That chart is way higher than the chart I was using before.

I have 1396 being elite at 181.

http://rawpowerliftingontario.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/raw-powerlifting-classification-standards.pdf[/quote]

Seems low to me, haha. Althouh I think raw elite is kind of silly. I just want an 800lb deadlift.[/quote]

Quit your job and gain 200lbs. :wink:

116

[quote]goochadamg wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
That chart is way higher than the chart I was using before.

I have 1396 being elite at 181.

http://rawpowerliftingontario.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/raw-powerlifting-classification-standards.pdf[/quote]

Seems low to me, haha. Althouh I think raw elite is kind of silly. I just want an 800lb deadlift.[/quote]

Quit your job and gain 200lbs. ;)[/quote]

Wouldn’t have the money to afford to food sadly, haha.

117

Even though the thread got totally sidetracked, I saw this video to share whenever a teen asks if he’s strong:

(17 yr old, 77kg/170lb Chinese weightlifter squatting 280kg/617lbs for a double.)

118

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]goochadamg wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
That chart is way higher than the chart I was using before.

I have 1396 being elite at 181.

http://rawpowerliftingontario.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/raw-powerlifting-classification-standards.pdf[/quote]

Seems low to me, haha. Althouh I think raw elite is kind of silly. I just want an 800lb deadlift.[/quote]

Quit your job and gain 200lbs. ;)[/quote]

Wouldn’t have the money to afford to food sadly, haha.
[/quote]

Do you use gear beyond what you are using in your pic?

119

Great numbers. Get them validated at a meet. You are strong as hell for 16 if those lifts are legit. Get coached. Internet threads aren’t the measure of your will or strength so too much stock in them is a mistake. Lift more, like another 10 years and then ask and compare yourself to measure your strength. A great deal of experience and wisdom immediately above.

120

[quote]trivium wrote:

Do you use gear beyond what you are using in your pic?[/quote]

I’m actually not using any gear in my pic, haha. That’s a singlet.

My fed allows knee wraps. Last time I competed, I had no idea what I was doing with them, but now I’m getting a better handle on them.