The “lift fucking weights” program. Works every time.
Bad news, dudes; I am a crossfitter now. Just thought you guys would like to know…
My lifts are:
DL 285x3
Back Squat 245x1
Front Squat 205x1
Clean and Jerk 175#
An I haven’t benched for a long time…
I realize that these look like shit (they are shit). However, I now weigh 163lbs. I never got my 5/3/1 cycel going last year. I started at my crossfit gym in March of 2012. I also trained for and ran a 1/2 marathon last summer (don’t do that. running is a disease that you don’t want to catch). After approximately 1 year of crossfit here’s what i’ve learned:
- You will never get “good” at anything or strong if you just do crossfit, but you will be “okay” at a lot of things.
- Anyone who is “good at crossfit” was already an athlete.
- Olympic lifting is fucking hard and awesome.
- Being fat sucks
I was doing metcons 6x per week for a while. My lifts were shittier. I have now started doing metcons 3-4x per week and i squat and press on saturdays. My goal for 2013 is to get my back squat up to 345 and to get my overhead press up to my bodyweight (i can currently press 135).
As for reasons why i started crossfit:
- Training alone sucks
- I had no access to bumper plates or prowlers or tires or any of that fun stuff
- I don’t have to worry about programming
- It’s fun!
I do realize that crossfit programming is not going to make me super-strong, but we do barbell lifts almost every session. i like lifting, but doing it by myself is just not fun. my only friend who does any kind of weightlifting is a crossfitter who lives about 7 hours away. having friends at my gym is great and makes everything way more fun. also, my gym doesn’t do any of the silly “balance on a kettlebell handle while you one legged overhead squat 45lbs” stuff and mostly the coaches get excited about 1rm and 3rm days. I still want to get strong, but i don’t see myself with even a 1000lb total in the near future if i’m just training by myself.
That’s my update on me to you for the year.
PS. HolyMac is jealous of my one-inch punch.
2011:
[quote]i have gone from 163 pounds to 176 in a month
i’m currently repping:
back squat @ 205
bench @ 140
Deadlift @ 225 (i’ve really plateau-ed here for about a week. it’s because i suck)
front squat @ 175
press @ 110
Power Clean @ 125[/quote]
2012:
[quote]i weigh 180 pounds
squat: 225 3x5
dead: 275x2
bench: 185x1 [/quote]
2013:
[quote]I now weigh 163lbs.
DL 285x3
Back Squat 245x1
Front Squat 205x1
Clean and Jerk 175#[/quote]
Just wanted to lay this out so you could see how sporadic and minimal your progress has actually been. It’s good that you’ve found a gym you’re enjoying, but hopefully you get things nailed down to actually make some real steps towards your goals.
Your squat went up 40 pounds in the last two years (and really, essentially zero progress in the last year. 225x5 is pretty comparable to 245x1). Not to be Bobby Buzzkill, but it’s certainly not going to jump 100 pounds in a year unless you seriously change your approach.
Don’t worry about being a buzzkill; I’m aware of my non-progress on my lifts and i appreciate your feedback. I’m leaving a lot of lifestyle stuff out of this, but i’m also not going to make any excuses. Ultimately, it’s my body and anything that happens to it is my responsibility.
I have actually made a change to my routine in the interest of my 2013 goals. The saturday squat/press sessions are designed for exactly that. I just started them in January. I’m using 5/3/1 for the loading pattern for both lifts and doing 5x10 @ 50% 1rm as assistance. I quit running 4x per week. I have also started actually caring about what i eat. Ive been reading a lot of Nate Miyaki articles and doing my best to follow his nutrition recommendations. Time will tell if that does anything to help…
If you have any better suggestions, please share.
UPDATE: Squatted 305# last august after taking time off of crossfit to just focus on lifting. It took a drastic change of programming just like Mr. Colucci said. I was well on my way to getting up to my 345# goal in the squat, but I ran into some health issues that had me out of the gym for months. I’m close to being back to where I was strengthwise before I hurt myself (playing soccer…) and still have a BW of about 165#.
TLDR: I still suck.
Start with the basics. Strong lifts 5x5 is perfect for your strength level.