Bullshit Lifting Figures?

Training Bodybuilding
41

I’ve been in 5 different gyms in the past couple of years, 3 of them university gyms, which the athletes used. I can think of only a handfull of people to do ANY lift with 3 plates or more, and I rarley see anyone squat.

A lot of the guys who think they’re strong do 2 inch squats and bench-row combos too. I even saw 1 football player load the squat bar to 500 step under step out and get CRUSHED, the pins saved him and he tried it 2 mins later, same thing, so alot of these losers claim lifts they can’t even do. Another example of a football player, about 250, puts 365 on bench, gets a spot and the spotter and he had a HARD time getting it back up, guy said he was feeling weak that day…surrrreee.

I’ve NEVER seen someone who looked like they didn’t lift weights move any big weights either. The really strong guys are usually modest and don’t showbout around boasting about they’re lifts or acting like big shots.

If you put 3 plates on bench everyone is going to watch, that shoudl tell you how common it is.

42

Those numbers are probably fake.

I see people at my gym that bandage their knees, use a belt, are huffing and puffing, load up 200-250 kgs and then bend their knees juuuust a little bit.

If you asked them, they?d say they squat over 500 lbs.

43

My grandmother squats around 250. It is hard for her to unrack the bar while simultaneously getting out of her wheelchair. But don’t get me wrong, squatting 160 is very impressive. Keep up the hard training!

44

[quote]Jerome wrote:
I’ve been in 5 different gyms in the past couple of years, 3 of them university gyms, which the athletes used. I can think of only a handfull of people to do ANY lift with 3 plates or more, and I rarley see anyone squat.

A lot of the guys who think they’re strong do 2 inch squats and bench-row combos too. I even saw 1 football player load the squat bar to 500 step under step out and get CRUSHED, the pins saved him and he tried it 2 mins later, same thing, so alot of these losers claim lifts they can’t even do. Another example of a football player, about 250, puts 365 on bench, gets a spot and the spotter and he had a HARD time getting it back up, guy said he was feeling weak that day…surrrreee.

I’ve NEVER seen someone who looked like they didn’t lift weights move any big weights either. The really strong guys are usually modest and don’t showbout around boasting about they’re lifts or acting like big shots.

If you put 3 plates on bench everyone is going to watch, that shoudl tell you how common it is. [/quote]

I think you’re onto something. I think a lot of people are fucking delusional!

I remeber spotting guys before with 100lb dumbells and them going “OK, only help squeeze out the last couple, I’m going for at least 8.” Then, after grabbing the guys elbow and lifting my ass of as the weights wobbled here and there for the 5 seconds it took him to strain the first one up, he blasts out 6 1/4 reps and says “Thanks man, I used to do more but I’m concentrating on form more now.”

That’s what a lot of these numbers no doubt are, 1/4 - 1/2 rep strained for 1-2 reps, then add 30% to that weight to make it sound better, add that you repped it and did it ass to the grass and you’re starting to sound impressive.

45

[quote]Vesson wrote:
Dear T-Nation gang,

I’ve been into lifting for about 3 years now, mainly for appearance/hypertrophy.

I’ve been reading this site for about 6 months, and I’m always shocked when I hear about a 145 pound 6’2 female volleyballer squatting 200 pounds (and then shes described as having poor power to weight ratio), then some skinny runt dude whos barely been to the gym in his life posts that hes just starting and that he squats 300 pounds… what the fuck?

I freely admit legs have never been my strong point, but I never come CLOSE to any of these people’s benching/squatting or deadlifting figures…

I squat around 160 pounds (for 2 reps really heaving it), and I’m 6’2 and weigh a lean 195…

Are they just bullshitting or have I just got shit technique/strength? Any thoughts?[/quote]

6’2" and lean 195 you should be able to military press 160 at least 5 times.

What are your other lifts, routine, diet? With some more info someone on here can no doubt help you get stronger.

46

[quote]uberswank wrote:
horny yoda wrote:
Vesson wrote:
My other hellishly weak point is chins, fuck I hate them, I used to be able to do about 8, hurt my neck doing them (about a year and a half ago) and have trouble doing 2 now.

Hm. I’m not sure how you can hurt your neck doing chins?

There have been a few people, including myself on this board that have mentioned this happenning. I think it is the trapezius muscle that is being pulled. Since I started pulling with my head tilted back (i.e. don’t stretch your neck to get over the bar) and pulling to the chest I have not had this happen to me. [/quote]

Hey Uber, I’m going to see a physio in a week or so thats lvl 1 qualified in Paul Chek’s certification system about that neck thing. I think you’re right… its traps, or rhomboids or something… my ‘neck’ still gets sore after I work chins- i’ll let you know if he comes up with anything interesting/useful. I actually wonder if the injury occurs at a different part of the traps, which results in your neck, above the injury/strain feeling sore and hard to rotate & tilt… who knows… you know how everything seems connected.

Back on topic, I’m developing posterior chain after reading how poorly developed it usually is… I really like romanian deadlifts, and regular deadlifts, and have incorporated them for my legs. Re post chain I sit at a desk all day at work, and am overly fond of computer games so I’m in a chair even longer for that, which if I remember correctly from this site aint good.

47

[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:

6’2" and lean 195 you should be able to military press 160 at least 5 times.

What are your other lifts, routine, diet? With some more info someone on here can no doubt help you get stronger.[/quote]

Hey Pound (and others) cheers for the offer of help, but I think if I just stick to programs & techniques from the site I’ll do ok…Unless a T-Nation reader in adelaide (south oz) can suggest a personal trainer up to T-Nation standards I’ll stick with what i know/read here. Looking back at my previous work outs before finding this site I wonder how I gained at all.

My original post was really just me getting a rant off my chest… My other stats are equally poor, military press is around 100 pounds for 5 reps, deadlifts are around 150 pounds for 5 reps, again I’ve never felt comfortable going for 1rm’s. I actually really minorly twinged my back in a deadlift going a bit higher than that recently… It felt sore after the fact, so it wasn’t any sudden onset TWANG, and it recovered quickly which was really, really good. =) But yeah, twinging it really helped my need to rant at some bastard claiming he can dead twice me when he hasn’t been training at all.

I think if I get my posterior chain muscles up to scratch and really focus on my form etc my abs/rest of body will eventually cope with it fine. And then I can ramp the intensity a bit and get bloody, monstrously huge! :wink:

Cheers again for all the advice/payouts, its all good!

48

I think that the main problem is that beginner’s tend to come onto these boards and read experienced lifters posts, but have no concept of what beginners should be doing. So, in typical teenage form, they post bullshit numbers. This then causes other beginners to be confused as to what their numbers should be, and thus the cycle continues.

I remember reading some post where a kid said something along the lines of “I’m military pressing 306lbs, but give me a break, I’m only a beginner.” Another was “my arms are only 17 in, but I’m only 18 and have only been training for a year, so don’t laugh!” Personally, I blame the magazines (like Muscle and Fiction), where bullshit routines with squats for 600lbs at reps of 12 are touted by 5’8" bodybuilders who are supposed to have 22" arms… right…

I hardly see anyone at my gym squat, and NEVER see anyone other than me deadlift or do Olympic lifts. And when they do squat, it’s in the Smith Machine with 150lbs for a 250lbs guy with a 300lb bench. Most people don’t like to work hard enough to get those numbers.

I used to work with a guy who was 5’5", chubby, obviously didn’t work out, and told me he benched 400lbs. I would always offer him a $100 to go to the gym and show me how he did it, and he’d always say “Naw, man. I don’t do it for ego, I do it for me.” And I’d always say “No. You don’t do it at all.”

49

[quote]Jerome wrote:
I’ve been in 5 different gyms in the past couple of years, 3 of them university gyms, which the athletes used. I can think of only a handfull of people to do ANY lift with 3 plates or more, and I rarley see anyone squat.

A lot of the guys who think they’re strong do 2 inch squats and bench-row combos too. I even saw 1 football player load the squat bar to 500 step under step out and get CRUSHED, the pins saved him and he tried it 2 mins later, same thing, so alot of these losers claim lifts they can’t even do. Another example of a football player, about 250, puts 365 on bench, gets a spot and the spotter and he had a HARD time getting it back up, guy said he was feeling weak that day…surrrreee.

I’ve NEVER seen someone who looked like they didn’t lift weights move any big weights either. The really strong guys are usually modest and don’t showbout around boasting about they’re lifts or acting like big shots.

If you put 3 plates on bench everyone is going to watch, that shoudl tell you how common it is. [/quote]

Man, what weak ass university gym was this? Our athletes aren’t the biggest and baddest in college football, but I know a few guys who can get past five plates a side on the squat for quality reps, not the knee bend and up. I think we’re spending a lot of time comparing ourselves to others in terms of lifts, but the only person we should really be competing against is ourselves…comparing numbers on the internet is pretty silly.

I have seen one of our sprinters doing 205 for around 5 reps, and she wasn’t all that big, but she had some good looking legs.

50

[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
You’re horribly weak.[/quote]

Completly agree.

51

[quote]slimjim wrote:
I think we’re spending a lot of time comparing ourselves to others in terms of lifts, but the only person we should really be competing against is ourselves…comparing numbers on the internet is pretty silly.

[/quote]

Ex-fucking-actly. Comparing numbers is the most ridiculous thing ever. There are so many factors that go into how much weight you can use that it really is pointless to argue about them. Why not debate somethig that matters (types of training, diet, shit, even the powerlifting vs. bodybuilding arguments are more reasonale than this)?

52

Hahaha. I’m getting called out here!

What’s exactly wrong with that OneEye?

3 of those years were 2hr+ workouts with almost no nutrition. These type of workouts don’t do much to increase strength.

You say you can bench your bodyweight. So what? You can say anything on the internet. I see many do heavy benches at my gym and bounce the bar off their chests. Because they’re lifting too heavy, they can’t control it. By bouncing they’re decreasing the involvement of the chest. When I bench, the bar comes down slowly and under control for 2-3 secs, just as it touches my chest I smoothly reverse the movement and then accelerate the bar as much as possible back to the start position.possible back to the start position.

Using that technique, 80kgs x 5 for 3 sets is what I did on bench last week, and i thought it was a sweet effort.

The numbers you put up are completely arbitrary unless you’re a powerlifter. It’s the feeling in your muscles as you lift, and the stimulating of new growth that is important. The load is just 1 tool that you can use to get you there.

I’m proud of all my lifts. I had to work hard and consistently to get them to where they are. Like I said, when I started I was benching the bar. I remember when deadlifting 80kgs seemed like a challenge. So I would never tell someone else ‘they are weak’. Everyone starts from somewhere and with consistent work, everyone can improve…

And so you can have the complete rundown.

Squat: 110kgs x 10
Deadlift: 160kgs x 2
Bench Press: 80kgs x 5
Pull Up: 9 consecutive reps
Seated Row: 75kg x 12
Lunges: 60kgs x 20

All of these are performed with a slow, controlled eccentric with the exception of deadlifts.

Sure I could do a lot more weight if I cheated with my movement. Slow eccentrics are a bitch! Or I could risk injury and go for 1rm’s in the hope to ‘impress’. But why would I do that?

[quote]OneEye wrote:
According to your profile, you’ve been lifting for 5 years and you weight 90 kg (198 lbs). You can bench 80 kg (176 lbs). Something is wrong with that. Or was it a typo?

I’ve been training less than a year and can bench my bodyweight (205) for 5 reps, and my bench is a weak lift for me. I don’t see how it’s possible to not be able to do a bodyweight bench, or even worse not even being able to squat bodyweight, after even a year of lifting. Those should be easy numbers.[/quote]

53

At the age of 33, my brother has finally decided he needed to do something to change his physique. Last week was the first time in his life he lifted weights. At the moment, he is doing the movements to get used to the feel of the lift and to let his body know something is happening. He did squats Thursday. A couple sets with the bar to get his form and then a whopping 95 lbs for 3 sets of 10.

He felt it the next morning, and the day after, and today. Could he have done more weight? Yes. Could he have done more weight with proper form? Probably not. For the first several weeks, he is going to concentrate on form. Proper execution of the lifts at light weights. This allows the body to get used to the lift and helps the lifter get a ?feel? for what he is doing.

After that, his poundages will go up dramatically. Not necessarily because he is stronger, but because he is lifting properly. At the end of six weeks, I expect he will be squatting his bodyweight for sets of 10 to 12.

I see more people screwing up squats than any other lift in the gym.

Nothing plays with your mind more than squats. You have all that weight on your back and it feels like it?s going to drive you straight down into the ground.

It takes confidence to squat. You need confidence in your self, your equipment, and your spotter. One bad experience in the squat rack and most people will never come back.

Take the time to get your basics right and your confidence level will be high. If your confidence is high, you?ll train heavier, longer, better, and without lift-ending injuries.

I haven?t competed in a powerlifting contest since 1986. I haven?t trained seriously since 1997. Methods have made tremendous gains since the last time I have done anything more then played around with weights. But the basics are still the same. The squat, bench, and deadlift are done the same way now as they were when I started in 1983.

Get your basics down first and the rest will follow. With a bit of help from a knowledgeable lifter, I?m sure you?ll be doing your bodyweight for reps of 10 in a matter of weeks.

You?re not as weak as you think.

54

[quote]Vesson wrote:
Pound4Pound wrote:

6’2" and lean 195 you should be able to military press 160 at least 5 times.

What are your other lifts, routine, diet? With some more info someone on here can no doubt help you get stronger.

Hey Pound (and others) cheers for the offer of help, but I think if I just stick to programs & techniques from the site I’ll do ok…Unless a T-Nation reader in adelaide (south oz) can suggest a personal trainer up to T-Nation standards I’ll stick with what i know/read here. Looking back at my previous work outs before finding this site I wonder how I gained at all.

My original post was really just me getting a rant off my chest… My other stats are equally poor, military press is around 100 pounds for 5 reps, deadlifts are around 150 pounds for 5 reps, again I’ve never felt comfortable going for 1rm’s. I actually really minorly twinged my back in a deadlift going a bit higher than that recently… It felt sore after the fact, so it wasn’t any sudden onset TWANG, and it recovered quickly which was really, really good. =) But yeah, twinging it really helped my need to rant at some bastard claiming he can dead twice me when he hasn’t been training at all.

I think if I get my posterior chain muscles up to scratch and really focus on my form etc my abs/rest of body will eventually cope with it fine. And then I can ramp the intensity a bit and get bloody, monstrously huge! :wink:

Cheers again for all the advice/payouts, its all good![/quote]

I think you need max-ot or something. get away from any volume whatsoever until you get some strength. lift and eat big

55

This is interesting. Really, when it comes down to it who cares? Unless someone posts something that just doesn’t make sense or is obviously false (I am teh number one lifter in mah class!!11) there is no real point in calling them on it. I mean, if they want to ego-stroke in a non-obvious way that will get them no where that is fine by me. If someone was to exaggerate their numbers like that then they are not going to get the advice they need to actually improve their numbers. It will only hurt them in the long run.

-Fireplug

56

I squat the equivalent of 6 titanics. Did I mention I weigh 2 lbs?

In all seriousness though, one weight may seem light to one person, but to another, it could feel like the weight of the world on their shoulders. It’s all subjective IMO.

Of course, you can’t just stay at the same weight for 6 months and kid yourself that you’re busting your nuts because you are “feeling it”. You need to at least try to get more if you wanna go anywhere (more weight, more reps, or more density; more progressive overload!). Be hungry! (literally and figuratively…;))

57

638×800 50.7 KB

[quote]Jerome wrote:
I’ve been in 5 different gyms in the past couple of years, 3 of them university gyms, which the athletes used. I can think of only a handfull of people to do ANY lift with 3 plates or more, and I rarley see anyone squat.

A lot of the guys who think they’re strong do 2 inch squats and bench-row combos too. I even saw 1 football player load the squat bar to 500 step under step out and get CRUSHED, the pins saved him and he tried it 2 mins later, same thing, so alot of these losers claim lifts they can’t even do. Another example of a football player, about 250, puts 365 on bench, gets a spot and the spotter and he had a HARD time getting it back up, guy said he was feeling weak that day…surrrreee.

I’ve NEVER seen someone who looked like they didn’t lift weights move any big weights either. The really strong guys are usually modest and don’t showbout around boasting about they’re lifts or acting like big shots.

If you put 3 plates on bench everyone is going to watch, that shoudl tell you how common it is. [/quote]

Time to put up I guess :slight_smile:

I just arrived on this site but from what I can tell you have two categories here, people who lift and people who email about lifting (I’m in the middle)

Ok here is what 5’9 189 looks like (no roids - ever). I consider myself strong but not very big (at least compared to the Sasquatches at my gym). I’ve been gaining most steadily in the past 5 years (165->189) when I finally realized I only had to work out a bodypart hard 1 once a week (three workouts total per week).

And here are some lift totals (a few weights on some to show my current power band as I don’t max on some lifts). These numbers are not exaggerated they are from this week.

Without people posting complete info it is hard to get a feel for how you rate so I’ll go first.

Bench 270X8 315X2 (slow, no bouncing)

Overhead press (front) : 225X8 235X6

Pullups : Bodyweight + 50 for 8 slow reps (to front) (once maxed with body + 95 at 180 pounds) NO STRAPS

Straight bar curls : 115X8 (done after pullups)

Squats : 250X10, (6 plates + 50 on tru squat machine) (used to be my best lift before hamstring tear years ago so now I pre-tire with real squats and do the rest with tru-squat)

I’m not posting numbers because I think they are all that good (though I know they aren’t bad - even compared to some of those “big guys” who are just covered in fat). I came to this site looking for help on gaining size not strength. I’m proof that the two don’t neccessarily go together.

Anyhow the numbers are real though so if some don’t believe I will lose little sleep over it. Take them for what they are worth.

-M

58

[quote]GhostOfYourMind wrote:
I squat the equivalent of 6 titanics. Did I mention I weigh 2 lbs?

In all seriousness though, one weight may seem light to one person, but to another, it could feel like the weight of the world on their shoulders. It’s all subjective IMO.

Of course, you can’t just stay at the same weight for 6 months and kid yourself that you’re busting your nuts because you are “feeling it”. You need to at least try to get more if you wanna go anywhere (more weight, more reps, or more density; more progressive overload!). Be hungry! (literally and figuratively…;))[/quote]

This is the right idea for strength.

I say rest enough between workouts so that when you work the bodypart again you can add at least 2 pounds. You may get 5 pounds or more initially for the first few weeks but once you get into new territory you’d be surprise how heavy the little 1 pound plates feel (bought mine special).

It always seemed pretty obvious but I guess not so I’ll say it, lifting heavier weight is the only way to get stronger.

-M

59

[quote]Sxio wrote:
Hahaha. I’m getting called out here!

What’s exactly wrong with that OneEye?

3 of those years were 2hr+ workouts with almost no nutrition. These type of workouts don’t do much to increase strength.

You say you can bench your bodyweight. So what? You can say anything on the internet. I see many do heavy benches at my gym and bounce the bar off their chests. Because they’re lifting too heavy, they can’t control it. By bouncing they’re decreasing the involvement of the chest. When I bench, the bar comes down slowly and under control for 2-3 secs, just as it touches my chest I smoothly reverse the movement and then accelerate the bar as much as possible back to the start position.possible back to the start position.

Using that technique, 80kgs x 5 for 3 sets is what I did on bench last week, and i thought it was a sweet effort.

The numbers you put up are completely arbitrary unless you’re a powerlifter. It’s the feeling in your muscles as you lift, and the stimulating of new growth that is important. The load is just 1 tool that you can use to get you there.

I’m proud of all my lifts. I had to work hard and consistently to get them to where they are. Like I said, when I started I was benching the bar. I remember when deadlifting 80kgs seemed like a challenge. So I would never tell someone else ‘they are weak’. Everyone starts from somewhere and with consistent work, everyone can improve…

And so you can have the complete rundown.

Squat: 110kgs x 15
Deadlift: 160kgs x 2
Bench Press: 80kgs x 5
Pull Up: 9 consecutive reps
Seated Row: 75kg x 12
Lunges: 50kgs x 20

All of these are performed with a slow, controlled eccentric with the exception of deadlifts.

Sure I could do a lot more weight if I cheated with my movement. Slow eccentrics are a bitch! Or I could risk injury and go for 1rm’s in the hope to ‘impress’. But why would I do that?[/quote]

Fair enough. Different goals, different training, I guess. I still find it kind of odd to not be able to bench bodyweight after so many years, but I guess a few years of bad training/nutrition would do that to you.

Sure my lifts don’t mean anything on the net. Take 'em or leave 'em. They’re not exactly impressive numbers, so I wouldn’t see any reason to suspect me of lying. Form is good, I pause at the bottom for benches, I go well below parallel for squats (not quite ATG, but pretty low), and deadlifts are done without hitching or using straps, etc. Believe me or not, because I don’t have any pics of videos to prove my relatively low numbers.

60

First, I’ve been coming to the site for a few weeks. This thread has just compelled me to join.

Congrats to ramadano for posting his picture and some complete stats. While I won’t be adding a picture, I will give some numbers and then an explanation.

5’9, 210 lbs. While I don’t know my bodyweight, I don’t think it’s too high, maybe 15% (and I can say I have a 34" waist). And the closest I’ve come to drug use is buying a bottle of tribulus recently.

Some lifts from recent weeks:
Squats (to parallel): 445x5, 465x4, 475x2, 545 @ 10 sec eccentric
Overhead presses to front (touching bar to chin): 225x10, 235x6
Two-armed dumbbell rows: 130s x 5, 140s x 3
I don’t do flat benches (shoulder problems), but for inclines: 255x8, 265x5
Close-grip benches: 235x8

I am still a few months short of two years in the gym, and I use protein supps, creatine, and a tribulus supp. When I first joined, I was using 225 for my opening work set of squats–better than some, sure, but way below what I do now and what many do. But what I have done is eat a lot of clean food and stick to my workouts. Except for a week off in winter and summer, I’m in there every day I’m supposed to be, and I’m doing my core lifts every single week. I think that, although each person’s body is unique and it can be deceiving and harmful to compare yourself to others, the original poster should have seen greater gains than he has over time. But are you squatting, etc. as heavy as you can, with good form, every week? Are you eating chicken breasts several times a week, and getting all the protein and calories your body needs to grow?

My guess is that, if you aren’t seeing the gains you want, the answer might be no. It’s one thing to say that you’re squatting, but another to be doing it every week with all the good nutrition that you can muster.

On bullshit figures, I agree that it can be tempting for some to make stuff up when posting with a bunch of people who will never see you. But I can say that while I’m lifting more than most, I’m far from the strongest guy at my gym (in a pretty small city, too). And I don’t see any reason why the original poster shouldn’t expect to make faster gains than he has–I have and have seen folks in my gym do the same, so long as they’re taking every aspect of their training seriously.