One of my more recent goals for the year was a 1000#+ PL total. With only a couple days left, this morning I tested 1RM Bench Press and 1RM Clean.
- Cleans: Work up to 1RM
- 5x @ 45#
- 5x @ 95#
- 3x @ 115#
- 3x @ 135#
- 2x @ 155#
- 1x @ 165#
- 1x @ 175#
- 1x @ 180#!
- 0x @ 185#
I pulled the 185# attempt plenty high enough, I just couldn’t quite get my body back under the bar.
- Bench Press: Work up to 1RM
- 5x @ 135#
- 5x @ 155#
- 3x @ 185#
- 3x @ 205#
- 2x @ 225#
- 1x @ 245#!
- 0x @ 255#
That brings my raw powerlifting stats to:
| Weight | |
|---|---|
| Total | 1005#!! |
| BW | 164# |
| Squat | 335# |
| Bench Press | 245# |
| Deadlift | 425# |
What Have I Learned?
I’ve tried several techniques and programs and learned (or internalized) a bit over the last year. I’ll try to summarize it here quickly.
- 20-rep Squats are a killer…
- …and they work. If you have even 15min/day for exercise, you could do heavy 20-rep “Breathing Squats” and some chin ups and be way better off than most.
- 5×5 is boring, but it works. It’s enough volume to support mild hypertrophy and enough weight for strength gains w/o burning out.
- Increasing volume through decreasing time works very well. This is what I’ve been doing with my clean & presses recently: 10 singles at decreasing time intervals each week. I suspect this works well for the deadlift too. I will test this theory in the first 8 weeks of 2009.
- Increasing ROM (rack pulls lower and lower each week) does not work. At least, it doesn’t work for me. My DL didn’t go up at all, and I ended up just burning out my back and getting frustrated.
- I need to row and swing my KB more often.
6 Comments
I have a feeling that the increased ROM method works better in equipped lifters who get the most help at the bottom of all of their lifts.
I am a big believer in 5×5 for people who are not strength athletes.
Congratulations on the grand!
Nice work Chris!
Chris, out of curiousity (and because I’m too lazy to go through your training logs and figure it out for myself):
What was your raw PL total when you started training again and how long did it take you in total to get from point A to 1k?
Hope you and the family are having a happy new year’s holiday.
Thank you both.
JB, I didn’t think of that, but it makes a ton of sense.
Jesse, that’s a good question.
I started lifting in early Feb 2007. I don’t think I have any good data from back then. I started blogging and keeping much more careful records in Aug 2007.
I’m looking through old notes, emails, etc. The oldest mention I can find of celebrating a PR is in an old personal note dated 12 June 2007:
If you assume my ratios were similar, that would have made my lifts something like:
SQ: 215#
BP: 160#
DL: 275#
tot: 650#
I think my bench press might have been a little higher then - maybe body weight, maybe 185# - but those numbers should be close enough for an estimate.
…and my body weight then was somewhere around 170-175#.
In early July 2007 I spend a very long Saturday morning with a powerlifting/strongman friend and former coworker. We worked significantly on my deadlift technique and I sumo’d for the first time.
I have an old email to him dated 19 July 2007 that reads:
I remember that Saturday morning in early July was the first time I DL’d more than 300#. It was a HUGE jump.
That’s the best data I can dig up right now. If I find anything else I’ll post it here.
Thanks for digging that up, man. I appreciate the feedback.
After maybe 4 years of lifting in the off season, I pulled my first 300+ DL last week. Also a huge PR for me. Now if I can just get my squat to come up. I have a hunch that I’d benefit greatly from some technique criticism. Fortunately, it would appear that JB is taking a trip to this neck of the woods in the coming months which, provided we can swing a gym session will answer a lot of questions for me.
Assuming I keep at the cycling, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to hit a grand but it’s kind of in the back of my mind.
Thanks for the inspiration.
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