Well...maybe open with some
STATS
Male, 42
6'1" 225lbs
Press 170x1
Bench 235x2
Squat HB 330x2
Squat LB 245x5
Dead (conv) 390x1
History (possible TMI warning)
I started lifting about 8 years ago. Up until that point, I honestly thought people who lifted weights were mentally deficient. I mean, all you need to be is thin and have cardiovascular capacity, right? Muscles make you slow and inflexible anyway. I was about 160lbs. My job involves travelling 15 days per month and fixing machines. My territory is every time zone from Massachusetts to Hawaii. I eventually realized that even the most slovenly of my coworkers had an advantage on me: average adult male strength. Something clicked.
I hit the internet and quickly learned that smart people use barbells and do "compound exercises" and cardio can burn muscle?!
I found Stronglifts 5x5, which is a very well designed website for rank sub-novices. I mean, I'd never heard of or seen a squat. Like, you can do that with a barbell? And here are the steps? Same thing with deadlifts. The pressing exercises were no surprise, but by the time I got to rows, I was obsessed with the whole idea. I found a barbell, plates, bench and power rack on Craigslist and gave the guy asking price if he'd help me disassemble and load the thing into the back of a borrowed truck. I'll never forget the way he looked at me. It was a sort of patronizing pity, although he tried to hide it. "Happy lifting, man!" he said as I closed the tailgate.Let me not give you the entire painful blow by blow of the intervening years, merely the broad strokes. All lifts started with the empty bar. Form was youtube fail level, but I didn't know until I finally got something to record myself with. I heard great things about the Starting Strength site and books and made my way over. I read Rip's forum from the back to the front and bought in hard - books, video, t-shirt. I resetted way too many times, did GOMAD when I shouldn't have, and saw an SSC, but still ended up at 250lbs with a 205 squat, 115 bench and all the tendinitis I could bear. To be fair, I had metric tons of stress from work and family as well. I ended up with a full hormonal collapse and severe depression. (Don't worry, it totally gets better.)
Long story short, got on replacement testosterone and thyroid meds. This helped a bunch, but I was still riddled with fatigue. It turns out I have intolerances to milk, eggs and almonds. My guts were quite inflamed. When I got the food situation straight, I was able to train with some consistency and success. I mention all this not to explain my substandard progress, but maybe someone reading this might have medical issues they don't realize. My doctor did his best and it still took a couple years to get this all figured out. Some of us have weird bodies that don't act right, but that just means we have to try harder and look deeper for solutions.
I might be losing some folks here, let's hit them with something punchy, direct and to the point...
Goals
I like the idea of the 200/300/400/500 benchmark. Also, I would like to not get any fatter.
All right, back on track!
Recent Training
Almost all of my good training has been in the last year and a half. It started when I found St. Andrew the Baker's Programming forum. He confirmed what I had suspected but was too apprehensive to put into practice: one can work in other rep ranges besides 5, and those rep ranges can be cycled weekly. I got so much progress out of his blog posts and answers to forum members that I gladly bought his 5/3/1 and GGW templates. I got 9 months out of the first one and put 35lbs on my press, 50 on my bench and around 100 on my deadlift. I probably stayed on it a couple cycles too long, however. A couple weeks ago, I finished my first cycle through his GGW HLM template. I think it is a good program, but I only added 5lbs to my press. My bench dropped by 10lbs and I realized I have to be honest with myself about my squat and dead.
Change is Needed
I never was comfortable with the low bar squat. I feel off balance and uncoordinated when performing it. The tight hip angle inflames the soft tissue around the joints. Jamming my knees out makes this worse. I get the elbow AIDS real bad, bro. My best run came when I cycled 8/5/2 with high bar, but I felt like I was missing out somehow. I'm switching to high bar and that's that. Also, I started filming myself from the front when squatting and my left knee was very visibly lower than the right. I got confirmation from an orthopedic leg guy that I'm 11mm shorter on the left side, so now it's time to experiment with heel lifts. High bar with a narrower, less toes-out stance seems to lessen the discrepancy.
I have a hell of a time getting my lower back set on conventional deads. I'm one of those guys whose back position is "about as good as it's going to get" as Rip would say. What happens when the bar gets a couple inches off the floor is my lower back extends into position and stays there for most of the lift. Then, when I get back to that point on the way down, my back loses extension again. The open mindedness of this forum inspired me to give sumo a try. I've also heard it said that when someone gets good at sumo, their conventional extension improves as well. Ideally, I'll be able to do both at some point.
Looking good, finish line is in sight...
The Plan
- Increase work capacity
- Decrease rest time
- Increase frequency and volume on squat, bench and dead
- De-emphasize press for now to allow bench strength and technique to catch up
- Find solution for leg length and practice high bar squat
- Practice sumo dead
- Take slack out of lifts in preparation to make the most out of Montana Method guidelines when they become available
- Experiment with Nuckols programs in meantime
