I’m a high school lifter/athlete right now. I’ve been lifting since 7th grade (not super seriously until freshman year) and have been inconsistent over the summers just due to travel and stuff. I started HS weighing 140 ish and am bulking and 187ish right now. Also, I’m 5’9". SBD are 335, 255, 385. Both squat and deadlift aren’t super current, but are probably close to accurate. I’m going to West Point next year and intend to compete on the powerlifting team. I’m wondering, how much potential for natural strength gains do I have, as the guy on their team in my weight class has a 1499 total. For those of you who had lifted in high school, can I continue to gain a bunch more strength in college, or am I getting close to my natural potential? Any thoughts and advice would be welcomed and appreciated. And, advice for preparing for BEAST (Cadet Basic Training) from @TrainForPain (I think he’s a grad) would be appreciated. Thanks y’all.
You can gain MUCH more strength.
Thoughts on programming and stuff? I’m in season rn for wrestling so in a mass/hypertrophy block (I started season at 175 and am wrestling 190, so weight gains are helpful). I’ve run 5/3/1 before, DC training, and right now am doing a PPL hypertrophy block. Would 5/3/1 be the best way to gain strength, or should I alternate that with a hypertrophy program? What do you suggest to get ridiculously stronger over the next four years?
No one can really tell you how strong you will be, and you are likely not at your “genetic limit”.
531 or Conjugate both seem quite fitting for your goals.
5/3/1 can be programmed for hypertrophy AND strength. In the case of the former, there is BBB and it’s many variants alongside Building the Monolith. Ultimately, 5/3/1 is a programming framework which can be manipulated to achieve a variety of goals (to include ALSO GPP/Conditioning).
If the goal is to get RIDICULOUSLY stronger, I’d obtain the supervision of a coach that is able to produce ridiculously strong athletes. That’s a LOFTY goal. If the goal is simply stronger in general, a wide variety of programming options can/should be employed. You’re young: now is the time to experiment, learn, grow, and develop.
I am a grad, believe it or not; clearly standards weren’t that high. My 20th reunion is coming up, though; dear God.
West Point has a powerlifting team? That’s new to me. Anything I tell you is off the top of my head and it’s from just about a quarter century ago, so bear that in mind. It’s probably different now.
- The whole point of Beast is to make sure you know mommy isn’t there anymore. Don’t be whiny and don’t try to outwit the system. Just get yelled at and move on.
- It’s all running and calisthenics-based. I would be running now. Just build a base. You don’t have to be particularly fast or a marathon runner, but you’ll run 2-5 miles most days.
- I remember some ruck marching and stuff, too, but it wasn’t hard.
- The biggest one, for me, is the minute it’s over you need to transition your brain to being a college student. You’re not going off to SF selection or war or whatever, you’re going to some really hard math classes. Don’t waste your first semester thinking you need to still be in the all army mindset.
- I remember getting to go to a few days of sports practices during the summer, so that was cool for the athletes. I don’t know what we skipped, but nice break!
Congrats! An Academy appointment is an accomplishment - well done. What you get to do in your early career in the service is (mostly) based on your class rank - take school seriously.
I’m just here to congratulate you on your strength numbers, my advice wouldn’t be so helpful because even though I wrestled in high school and college, I lifted primarily for hypertrophy and my numbers sucked lol. Your numbers BLOW AWAY what I was lifting in high school and honestly blow away a lot of what the strongest guys at my school were lifting, so follow what some of these others experienced dudes are saying and I think you’ll go very far. You’ve got a lot of strength and size to come and I’m excited to see what your future has in store! Good luck at the academy brother.
Does anybody remember Cailer Woolam? He made a big splash 5 or 6 years ago. Anyway, he deadlifted like 500 in high school, then up to like 800 a few years later in the Juniors. Eventually dude pulled like 950!
Thanks all for the advice and wisdom. Figured I’d update with some new numbers after running two cycles of 5/3/1.
Bodyweight 187 still
SBD
390, 300, 425
So, feeling optimistic and looking forward to summer.
What an outstanding success story! Stuff like this is why I hang around and share my perspective. For every 100 knuckleheads that waste our time and argue, there will be one dude like you who comes in, gets some advice, runs with it and crushes it, and it makes it ENTIRELY worthwhile. Way to go dude!