Hi, everybody. Used to post here a few years ago, just drifted off. Now I’d like to reboot.
Been lifting since I was 18. Training all over the place. Took forever to make any gains at all.
Ten years ago, age 55, entered a meet and deadlifted 275 lbs at 212 bodyweight. In 2013, trained at Ludus Magnus where I benched 175 (never repeated it) and did a rack pull of 315 lbs. Pretty snotty people, though, and left. Training at commercial gyms.
Last year, pandemic. Stayed home. What to do? Rested up. Played with band. Pulls, stretches, kinda deadlift, that stuff. It had a good effect. Stress eased up (still got stress from elsewhere, another story). Got into habit of training much more productively.
Doc diagnosed me with pre-diabetes. Diatician set me right. Meat, steamed veggies, limited carbs. Lost weight. Early this year, down to 178 lbs (81 kg). Pants now 5 sizes too big.
This year, got fully vaccinated by Apr (Pfizer). Back to gym.
I’m starting this post because my training is going a lot different than before and want to share . . .
So back in gym. Tested my strength. Deadlift: 135 x 8. Good. 185 -
WHAM
Sprained something in hip bad. Fuckin’ great.
Took a month, but worked it out. More cautious now.
May…
Bench. 95 lbs 5 x 5
Squat 95 lbs 4 x 7
Deadlift 65 lbs carefully
Good. My program: general powerlifting. Not going for bodybuilding - I’m really self conscious. Fat is really weird. Forearms are etched like crazy, but soft around waist.
So four days a week. Mon and Fri, pull. Deadlift, row, hams.
Wed and Sat, push. Squat, bench, shoulders.
Mon and Wed are light days. Aim for reps. Go near failure on 8/10/12 reps, whatever.
Fri and Sat are heavy. Shoot for 3 reps.
So. Strength not up to original level. However, things are going much differently. focusing much better. The diet, more sleep, whatever. Also reducing number of sets. Pyramiding, maxing out on fewer sets. Gains have been surprising.
Deadlift (very careful) on heavy days:
May 28 - 115 lbs x 3
Jun 11 - 165 x 3
Jun 18 - 185 x 3
Jul 9 - 195 x 4
Jul 23 - 205 x 3
Bench
May 29 - 100 lbs x 5
Jun 5 - 105 x 3
Jun 19 - 110 x 4
Jul 24 - 120 x 2
Squat
May 29 - 115 lbs x 3
Jun 19 - 135 x 3
Jul 24 - 155 x 3
Oh, yes, bodyweight’s increased 5 lbs (2.2 kg), and pants still falling off me. I’m happy.
My program: aimed at powerlifting. Would like to enter another meet at some point. So: squats are done as low as I can make them. Bench: plant feet, pull shoulders back, arch back. Take deep breath, lower to chest, and pause for split second, then push up. If I don’t keep form absolutely perfect, I just know I’ll be bouncing and not lowering all the way and I’ll never gain.
Well, my victory was short lived. Went for deadlift at 215 lbs. Was hoping to do a triple or at least a double. Instead, so hard could only get out a single. Waited, did another single. Bit more, another single. Depressing. Suppose I could be happy I didn’t tear anything.
Hams were okay, used half the weight stack. It’s the “Rocket” machine, weird things. Only leg curl I ever found that actually props a bar against your knees so there’s no sliding.
Shrug machine was tough, but got up 170 lbs of plates.
Pullups okay. Knocked out a few sets of three or four before hitting failure. Have just never been able to do well with those, even chin ups have been murder all my life.
Heavy push day today. Went better than yesterday. (everything in pounds)
Squat
95 x 5
115 x 4
135 x 3
155 x 3
felt okay, but not completely satisfied with depth. Will keep doing until I know it’s getting all the way down
135 x 6
Bench - done PL style, bar to chest, pause for split second before lifting
65 x 7
95 x 5
120 x 3 - yay, better than last time
95 x 7
Machine shoulder press
Dips
x 8
x 7
x 6
Always had trouble with this, but in past couple months finally got these things down good and low
Was planning to do squats, but someone hogging power rack for almost an hour. No, not doing curls, rack benches at over 400 lbs. There’s other racks for squatting but I really prefer the traditional one. So, did some killer leg presses instead.
Bench
65 lbs x 8
95 x 6
115 x 1
125 x 2
115 x 3
That was good, very slowly grinding my bench up
Dips
x 9
x 8
getting better with these, going low
Tri pulldown, trying to put some meat on my thin arms
Funny you should say that. Because I couldn’t get to squats last week, decided to do them today instead of scheduled leg press. You guessed it - another guy in the rack. Only this guy was doing curls. Like 50 lbs!!! AUURRGGHHH!!
finally got to squats though and did a good job. Light day, so got up to 135 x 8, good depth.