Calling anyone interested in a friendly strength competition for this spring/summer

[SaviorSelfJT]

^^ I've found that the Dunning-Krueger effect applies to lifting as well.. it seems as recently as the second half of this year, I've learned a lot about just the basics, several years into lifting with a lot of time and effort devoted, and once again find a lot "noviceness" in some thoughts and opinions held at its beginning; a continuation of the ironic commentary I made of my own assessment last year of 2020. In particular with the deadlift, where getting the slack out of the bar and "activating" the working muscles such that initiating the pull immediately begins the motion, rather than the tension, of the lift.

Unfortunately, after having been told that my gym would be open until 4:00pm today, I found out yesterday that they were closed the entire day, which flushed my attempt to compromise the rest of the program down the toilet. Yesterday, I attempted the 495 deadlift 3 times and broke the floor each time but stalled out... oh well, I woke up after a preparatory bread-laden, appetizer enhanced spaghetti dinner weighing 240.7, so I am especially happy that I was underneath my desired weight goal, and the max attempt was under undesirable circumstances and I haven't been eating ideally lately. In the context of the whole year, I call a modest victory.

Well gentlemen, it's been a good year for me as far as fitness and lifting go. I thank you all for your criticism, company, comradery and consistency (consonance amusingly not intended). I did not reach all of my stated goals, but met some of my most important ones, exceeded others, and still made progress in all areas. Bearing that in mind, I'm not at all disappointed with this area of my life.

Spoiler!

I have no intention of crowding this thread or annoying others in it, so the lengthier thoughts pertaining to myself alone I find it best to encapsulate. But since lifting has been such a large part of my own life these past couple of years, I think something of a personal memoir is fitting and all well and good, just don't want to impose it on anyone else.

As far as my own observations of progress go, in paricular...

- Squats. I am still beneath the status of those who can put four plates on their back, go all the way down, and then stand back up. They are in the league of the strong, and in that regard, I am not. However, 2021 was the first year of my lifting career in which I put forth consistent, serious effort with the squat. A possible precursor and exception is 2016, when I first began to barbell lift at all with any kind of legitimacy whatsoever, when I first ventured beyond curls and machines. Having a background with distance running (at uncompetitive speeds, admittedly - I thought my legs were strong and prided myself on making sure they were so, and so in this regard, fortunately I did not neglect squats and made sure to do so regularly. My first roommate in college was huge and could have been a bodybuilder himself, and he impressed in me the importance of not neglecting them, as well. At the time, they were incredibly weak, but at my level still difficult and an object of consistency - one plate for sixes, and such. I remember one day that summer, where a single rep at 185 nearly buckled me underneath it and gave me a deep ache of DOMS for days. In following years, I only did them every couple of months with little effort, and never made much further progress with them until in all of your company. Poor bracing, probably insufficient depth, and other aspects of weak form likely prevailed in the interim, despite some nominal lifts above two plates.

A shout out to ECGordyn. I know he occasionally drops in here even though he's moved on to other things in recent months, but thank you man for seriously challenging me with this lift. My own foolish ego mitigated the importance of this lift when I would primarily bench and had focused on lifts which did not depend on hip mobility or strength, thinking that the squat was optional for people who call themselves lifters, and it's really not. If you have a pretense of being strong in the gym, then bitching out of putting a heavy bar on your back and standing all the way up from depth with it is not an option. I'm still not there, but sets of 10 with 295 and then back off sets, and then deadlifts, are something I wouldn't have seriously considered doing prior to this year and a healthy dose of criticism against that attitude.

- Rows. I set a goal of 265 for a single, and quickly found that I could rep 275. It's nice to find that a particular goal is easily exceeded, but only accentuates where you fall short elsewhere. I've always found pulls easier than presses, and given how much attention I've given the bench press 2017-onward, it's relieving to find that rowing ~80% of it came very easily.

- Bench press. Three plates conquered - touch and go... paused remains in the lucrative spoils unconquered feats. While I want to continue making progress, if I can get to where I can put up three (paused) at a healthy body composition, I am much happier territory than falling beneath the ambitious goals of deadlifting, for the time being at least. To me, three plates is a big dividing line. Being able to do that is a big deal, but further progress is less important. Being in a room and knowing you're probably the only guy who can put up 315 is great. And if you're in the rare company of someone who could do more than that, he would at least respect you for being in the club, as long as you're not being a braggart. In this regard, I feel *almost* content. I know I'm close to the strength level to pause 315, but I've still not done it, so the proverbial whole nine yards have not been gone... Nevertheless, I'm proud of the progress I've painstakingly made in this left, since it was so hard and weak initially and I've slogged away at it since January 2017 when single-digit reps of 135 resulted in failure. Getting to 245 for 10 or 275 for 6 from there really is an awesome feeling of victory! At the end of 2022, I'd like to be able to put up 315 any day of the week that I'm fresh. It seems I'm only about 90% of the way there, so more work is necessary.

- Deadlift. My favorite lift. I conquered 5 plates beltless with a raw, chalkless grip! That is perhaps my happiest achievement in all of my amateur lifting career. Yes, it was at ~260 pounds and I was not able to replicate it having lost the weight, but it remains an incredible feeling. I even realize that among serious deadlifters, it's pipsqueak weak and you can't start talking until you've pulled six, but from my own microcosmic perspective in my own little slice of this world, it felt amazing and I am so happy about this. The deadlift is a joy and I hope to be performing it as long as I'm able-bodied enough to stand. For 2022, my primary fitness goal is to pull 545 less than 110KG, and I sincerely think I'll get there and look forward to the forthcoming hard work with eagerness.

- Pull ups. At the end of last year, I managed about 5-8 on a good day with some difficulty. Now it's 10. That's a good feeling. Even though I'm still somewhat overweight, being able to do 10 clean pullups is one of those rules of thumb for fitness where if it's possible, your strength level supersedes your bodyweight as an overriding concern. I'm really happy about this, and never managed it in previous years.

- Distance running. Sporadically throughout the year, I went on distance runs. Again, I'm not very fast, but I managed rewarding distances for a bodyweight consistently 230+. In March I ran around my local Lake Hefner 9+ miles continuously without lapsing into a walk at a bodyweight of 237 upon returning dehydrated. Throughout the summer, I ran 4-6 miles on a near-weekly basis in the heat, again without lapsing into a walk. Before I started lifting seriously, I did run for distance and it's rewarding to find that I still have that ability in me despite having put on a significant amount of weight since then.

- Bodyweight. This is perhaps the most rewarding goal. I, having eaten plenty at Christmas, at restaurants, and otherwise celebrating the end of the year and waking up beneath 110KG, within the weight class I want to be competitive within. For much of last year and for a good deal of this year, I was hovering around 260 and significantly overweight. Now, I look much better and am less concerned about weaker relative lifts in this weight group than when I was heavier, than with the weight lost. My waist went from 41" to 37-38", and now I have some resting definition which was previously completely absent. I am still significantly overweight by bodybuilding standards and still straddling the fence by nonathletic standards, but it's been a huge slew of progress this year for having gotten objectively stronger this year, that I'm quite happy with the result. Please chide me if I reverse course next year, but I don't expect it.

Happy New Year everyone! Let's continue to make progress in 2022 in this lifelong pursuit.

TFW never even hit 5 plate deadlift

New thread for 2022? We can include a link to this one

I'm feeling pretty optimistic for 2022

[EliKoehn]

TFW never even hit 5 plate deadlift

New thread for 2022? We can include a link to this one

I'm feeling pretty optimistic for 2022

Oh really? I thought you had.

Sure, feel free to start it if you'd like. Not sure if there are any infrastructure problems with this one having gotten so long, given that the forum sometimes has trouble with just punctuation marks.

[SaviorSelfJT]

Oh really? I thought you had.

Sure, feel free to start it if you'd like. Not sure if there are any infrastructure problems with this one having gotten so long, given that the forum sometimes has trouble with just punctuation marks.

Nope, my estimated 1RM has been well over 500 before (not based off of touch and go reps) but I've never done it

There's limits on how long threads can be here, but I don't think we're close to hitting it

[SaviorSelfJT]

I'm bringing the plates back boyos

Squat- 405x1 (vid: https://streamable.com/n44lms)
Then 315x6

I don't think I've done 405 beltless before (not that I ever really tried to do beltless in the past)
This was one of the hardest squats I've ever grinded through

And I actually failed 405 twice in subsequent workouts. After the second time failing, I did a single set of 315x2 afterwards, that seems to be enough to have nudged me over the line this time

Bench- 315x1 (vid: https://streamable.com/2k3mit)

----

I might try and go for 315x20 squat

I got pretty close before, I think I did 315x17 once

[CW47]

Awesome squat Savior!

I'm also in favor of a new thread. There something nice about starting fresh each year.


January 2, 2021: Spoto Press
125 pounds - 6 sets x 3 reps
Started with the weight a bit lower on this after struggling with 135 on the feet up bench a few days ago. This felt relatively easy, but that's okay. It gives me something to build on over several weeks. First time I've done this lift in quite a while and I liked it a lot. My bar path was more stable than normal.

[EliKoehn]

Okay guys, I didn't see that anyone had started a new thread yet, so I went ahead and did so, in Workout Journals: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1653671223