Good evening,
I can now proudly say that I squat using 45lb plates on each side. Fuckin-A.
That is all.
Repa or a single, congrats either way if you’ve hit a PR.
Tonite I will be attempting 200 lbs on deadlift.
Hopefully my spine won’t explode all over the place.
It’s always a great feeling to finally progress through the standard 45 plates and barbell set up:
2-45s (135lbs)
4-45s (225lbs)
6-45s (315lbs)
…
etc, etc.
After months of using the dinky 10s, 35s, 25s, etc, you can just load up a couple 45s on each side and see your accomplishment.
Even moreso with the colored powerlifting weights. Finally being able to use the green plates is a big thing for a lot of lifters.
Man I really wish I could pick up a set of those olympic weights so I can do some proper cleans and snatches. Too bad they are a billion dollars for a new set.
My goal for this summer is to be able to squat 4 plates. That would be fuckin awesome.
Well yesterday went terrible, I was able to get a new PR on squats and cable rows but my deadlift was horrible. I only did a few sets of 165 which is my second warmup weight! My squat form was terrible on the last rep and I should have stopped on my 4th rep.
After those front squats my right hip flexor and adductor felt overstrained and got worse with every set of deadlifting.
I think this lack of strength was because for the last two days I haven’t had proper sleep ( less than 6 hours). Do you guys think this was the cause? Or is deadlifting and squating 3 times a week starting to catch up with me?
Went from front squatting 140 to back squatting 165 this week; attempting 175 tonite. Also brought up deadlift to 205!
It’s amazing that a few months ago I was looking at back squatting with 95lbs as being hard. I have to say this progression thing is pretty fucking awesome.
Starting to bench press again, 5 rep max is about 115! Gonna bring that up 50 lbs before June.
Military press is crap, just doing 65 lbs makes my front right deltoid feel like crap. I gotta work on some rotator cuff stuff and some more wall slides.
That time again to update.
Did some measurements, but lost the paper I wrote them down on so these are from memory.
Chest: 48"
Upper Arms: 14.5"
Lower Arms: 12.5"
Upper Abs: 36"
Gut: 38" ( Down 3" since starting in December)
Waist: 36-37", can’t remember
Hips: 35"
Upper Leg: 26"
Lower Leg: 13.5"
Weight: 197 lbs
Height: 6’3"
Body fat% : 25-30%, untested
As you can tell I have a really weird body shape but I have a HUGE frame to grow muscle on so I’m not worried.
Current Lifting #s ( All 5RM):
Deadlift: 215lbs*
Squat : 200lbs**
Power Clean: 145lbs
Military Press: 85lbs
Bench Press: 125lbs
- Attempting 235 tonite, should be great
** I’m incredibly proud of reaching the 200 mark considering I spend all last week stuck on 195. An old me would of given up and taken a week off but the new me decided to not be a pussy and lifted 200lbs on monday without breaking a sweat. Going for 210 tonite.
I gotta say that my power clean technique is fucking terrible. When I clean the bar to my neck I find myself holding the bar up with my arms instead of my chest which is giving me HUGE problems with overstraining my deltoids.
I gotta find a coach.
New Update. All #'s 5RM.
Squat 225.
Switched to box squatting, I suggest everyone should do this. Keeping tight while sitting down on the box really helps alot.
Deadlift 275
My grip is starting to fail using the standard style of palms facing inwards. Was able to complete all 5 reps with alternating grip.
Bench 145
Still trying to figure out what a good bench rep should look like. I try to keep my shoulders underneath to keep them from protracting at the top of the rep. I recently pulled some muscle in my shoulder and I think it might be from heavy benching. Gotta figure out what the problem is.
Military Press 80
I lowered the weight from 85 a few weeks back because I was certain I wasn’t lifting the bar properly. I think I was using too much of my chest to lift the bar so I’m getting the technique down before going heavy again.
Pull-Ups
My goal for this summer is to be able to complete 10 un-assisted pull-ups. To do this I am doing 2 sets of 5-8 reps of pull-up negatives. I think these are giving me shoulder problems because I tend to swing back and forth while going down on the negative.
I’ve sold my computer to buy my new gym set so it’s hard to check up on T-Nation daily now but I can sometimes check at college.
Also, I have started training my little brother and quite soon my second youngest bro aswell as one of my buddies. This summer should be pretty crazy!
Keep lifting strong T-Nation!