[quote]heavythrower wrote:
Hanley wrote:
You really have no idea what sort of numbers he’s putting up do you?
hmmm, though with exception to the deadlift, i have never hit numbers anywhere near what pinto has(though i still would put my 600lb squat, at a drug free 192lbs, in the now defunct ADFPA, with equipment that would be a joke in todays PL world, and IPF-ish strict judging, against anyone on this board), i did not see and strength decreases as far as “real” strength is concerned. if you are talking about your geared max pl numbers, yes if you abandon chains, bands, boxes, boards, and practice in your gear, of course those numbers will go in the toilet, and if you are a serious PL, then that is a no-go.
i bet his power clean, raw free squat,raw conventional pull, and overhead power will maintain or maybe even go up some. mine did. but i threw in more heavy lifting for singles and triples than they prescribed. [/quote]
For the record, my numbers ain’t nothing to brag about as a 275/308 class lifter in the APF.
My observation has been that if I abandon heavy lifts for any stretch of time, my maximal strength- in geared, raw, main lifts, accessory/training lift, whatever- goes down. I remember doing a Sheiko-type routine a couple years back. I did it raw (belt and wrist wraps only) for about two months. The goal was to increase my raw “base” strength. I never took a lift over 85-90% of max for two months. The result was that my training stamina and ability to rep weights went up (no surprise there- given the volume) and I added some mass- bigger quads, shoulders, and packed on 5-8 lean lbs or so drugfree.
However, when I took some raw maxes at the end of eight weeks, I found that they were unchanged (in the case of bench and squat) and even went down a bit (in the case of deadlift). Of course- as you accureately pointed out- when I put gear back on, I found that my equipped lifts had totally gone to shit.
I think reps and volume are great for growth and can be part of the plan, but nothing prepares/maintains you for heavy weight quite like heavy weight does. I think your strength gains were more a function of those heavy sets you took than the regular crossfit rep/weight schemes.