Strange Progress.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Ok, so I am 18 and have been lifting for what will be 3 months on the 17th.

I have been doing a 3 day split consisting of chest/tri/shoulder, back/bi, legs.

The first two months my 1 rep maxes improved like this.

Bench 185-205
Squat 185-315
Deadlift 300-405

As you can see the bench barely moved compared tot he other 2. But a month ago I sprained my ankle and I had it in a soft cast for 2 weeks, and the doctor said not to squat/dl for a month. So in the last 3 weeks of only upper body my 1rm has gone

Bench 205-255

It is freakin flying up. Could it be that since my body doesn’t have to worry about repairing my legs from those heavy squats/Dls that I can build more muscle/gain more strenght on my chest/back?

I still havent done legs yet, and I plan to check out if I have lost any strenght there tommorow.

Also While my bench/pull down/rows are going up alot, the isolation stuff is pretty much staying the same. Could it be that since I am lifting heaver on my compound movements that the muscles are more fatigued than they used to be, so even though they are stronger they can only lift the same on the isolation movements which come after the coumpounds?

Also is this progress abnormal? Because from what I have read here, and from what people I know have told me, you would usually expect to see strenght increases like this in 2 or 3x the time it took me.

2

[quote]Phatshady912 wrote:
Ok, so I am 18 and have been lifting for what will be 3 months on the 17th.

I have been doing a 3 day split consisting of chest/tri/shoulder, back/bi, legs.

The first two months my 1 rep maxes improved like this.

Bench 185-205
Squat 185-315
Deadlift 300-405
[/quote]

I think you should have added that you weigh 250 lbs. and you stand at 6 feet (according to your profile).

What did you do to sprain your ankle? You might want to perform low-impact exercises considering your weight.

Dave Tate said in one of his articles Tate Talks Hypertrophy, Part I, “…It’s very apparent that there are times when you need to get the bar off your back. Every time I went through a phase where I took the bar off my back, my muscle hypertrophy increased significantly. Now, keep in mind the overtraining state was in effect, there were injuries in effect, and there was probably a year when I didn’t have a bar off my back.”

Make sure your ankle is fully heeled. Don’t let your ego force you to work through injuries. No point injuring your ankle again, then you can’t train your legs again. That’s less progress for you in the long run.

Probably. Keep up the rowing. Your rowing strength should be a higher priority than your elbow flexor/extension strength at your stage (unless it’s sport-specific).

I really do not know what to say to that. You shouldn’t let your numbers gas your head. At your bodyweight of 250 lbs., a 255 lbs. bench press isn’t that impressive. Something tells me you’ve just been giving out your numbers to people on the net, but you don’t state your bodyweight. That’s why people say you’ve made extremely fast progress. They assume your the typical 170 lbs. - 180 lbs. teenager.

Progress is progress. You’ve obviously made progress and at your early stage your going in the right direction to develop strength.

You may want to check out this forum topic:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1292909

Talks about cardio that’s easy on the knees. I’m guessing if it’s easy on the knees it’s easy on the ankles too.

Stay on Track. Keep up the good work

-Serious

3

[quote]Phatshady912 wrote:
Also is this progress abnormal? Because from what I have read here, and from what people I know have told me, you would usually expect to see strenght increases like this in 2 or 3x the time it took me.[/quote]

Are you complaining? :-]

That’s above average, but not unheard of progress, especially if you’re new and went at it with balls from the start.

On another, unless you don’t mind being REALLY sore, Id work my way back into legs after a month off.

4

I don’t think that the bench progress in abnormal. Like Serious Guy said, you’re just now passing a bodyweight bench which is not really that exceptional.

If a 180lb kid was asking whether his bench jump from 135 to 180 was abnormal, I’d say “no”. It’s most likely newbie gains.

And I could say for sure that you’re lack of lower body work would make it much easier for your nervous system to recover than full body workouts. The whole body works as a unit in terms of the CNS whereas the muscular system can operate in a more segmented manner.

Enjoy the progress and get back to training legs once your ankle is better, my man.

-MAtt

5

I am a fat bastard lol. Down to 242 now btw.

Does being fat really make a difference in strenght, assuming a 190 pounder and I have the same LBM why should I be stronger? I can understand in the legs, since I carry around more all the time… but in the bench??? I don’t exactly walk on my hands too often… or ever.

6

You’ve made progress on the fat loss so far, so you’re headed in the right direction.

But the extra weight definetly does help move the iron. I mean if you were 242lb at a lower bodyfat, thus having more muscle, you would obviously be moving more weight than you are now. But you are not proportionately strong for your bodyweight. I have a friend who is 6’6, 330 and can bench 315 with no training.

Part of it has to do with the mechanical leverage of being bigger.

Also, without any training, if you take 2 kids of the same height, one who is 250lb and the other who is 200lb, the heavier one will have more muscle under the fat.

But I agree, it does seem somewhat strange in a sense.

-MAtt

[quote]Phatshady912 wrote:
I am a fat bastard lol. Down to 242 now btw.

Does being fat really make a difference in strenght, assuming a 190 pounder and I have the same LBM why should I be stronger? I can understand in the legs, since I carry around more all the time… but in the bench??? I don’t exactly walk on my hands too often… or ever.[/quote]