Thanks T-Nation, New PR

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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Just a quick thanks to all the contributors on the site, both authors and posters. The advice I’ve absorbed and been given has been fantastic.

Have been following a few programs from here over the last few months trying to raise some new PR numbers.
In March I told myself that I wanted to be able to bench 250lb, squat and dead 350lb by the end of the year.

Not much weight for some I guess, having not been training using weights for very long a lot for me. In March I was at bench 200lb, squat 250lb and hadn’t even done a max on deads before.

Tested my bench Monday and got 250lb a couple of months early.
Tonight I plan on testing on deads.

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to see where I’m at maxing on squats, think I may already be there with those also. Haven’t been doing singles for squats since I train at home. We’ll see where I’m at when I get a couple mates over to spot, just in case.

If I am there can’t wait to reset my goals for the next 6 months or so.

Oh yeah, since March I’ve gone from 185lbs to 207, got up to 215 but have cut back a bit as summer is just round the corner here in Oz.

Thanks again T-Nation.

Burnesy

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Nice work!

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Burnsey,
Don’t worry if others think it is a light weight. It is a PR and that is all that matters.

Keep up the hard work and watch as those PRs keep coming.

Excellent job. Keep us updated.

Arioch

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GREAT work.

Keep it up.

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Well I tried to see where my deads were last night and things went reasonably well.

I work out at home and my Olympic length standard bar weighs 14kg with collars, hence I do some strange sounding numbers.

Getting on with it, I worked my way up to 159kg got it up, along with some weird grunting noises which is one of the good things of working out at home. Had no more left for the day, think I did a few too many warm ups and without straps my grip was nearly gone.

Sat down later and converted to pounds, 159 x 2.2 = 349.8lb’s . So I very nearly got the 350 I was after. Next time.

Thanks for the support.

Burnesy

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Good work. Just wanted to know what your training has looked like since March. Thanks,
TR

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[quote]bigTR wrote:
Good work. Just wanted to know what your training has looked like since March. Thanks,
TR[/quote]

I did Waterbury’s TBT for 2 months (APR-MAY), then moved onto ABBH for another two months (JUN-JUL), liked it so much and felt I was gaining so did ABBH2 (AUG-SEP) with some variations on the exercises into areas I wanted to concentrate on.

For the first two months of TBT I was also doing around 5 hours a week on my road bike, cut that out over winter here, not doing the cardio was one of the reasons I was able to put on some weight, I think anyway, plus eating heaps more. I did get up to 215ld in Septemeber. Over JUL-SEP would have been snow skiing for, on average, 3 days a fortnight, not often two days in a row. Although I did find out that trying to ski following a 10x4or5 squats workout was not a very good idea, crashing is cool though, isn’t it?

Will be looking to get back on the bike in the upcoimg weeks (I miss it) but probably for shorter periods at a higher intensity, maybe three one hour hill climbing sessions. Plenty of hills where I live.

Have started the Westside for Skinny Bastards template in the last week which I’ll do till new year to see where that takes me, hence I’m checking out my maxes at the moment.

So yeah guess my program this year was lifting hard (for me) and often with cardio and GPP thrown in.

Burnesy

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[quote]Burnesy wrote:
Well I tried to see where my deads were last night and things went reasonably well.

I work out at home and my Olympic length standard bar weighs 14kg with collars, hence I do some strange sounding numbers.

Getting on with it, I worked my way up to 159kg got it up, along with some weird grunting noises which is one of the good things of working out at home. Had no more left for the day, think I did a few too many warm ups and without straps my grip was nearly gone.

Sat down later and converted to pounds, 159 x 2.2 = 349.8lb’s . So I very nearly got the 350 I was after. Next time.

Thanks for the support.

Burnesy[/quote]

Good on ya mate! Getting PR’s is always satisfying.

BTW 159kg is actually 350.535 lb, so you did make it! (The mulitplying factor is 2.204623)

I think we are about the same strength levels, but you’re making me feel weak, because I trained for quite a few years before having about 2 years off and finally got back into things in August last year.

You have made great gains for only training for a short time. I can’t wait for the really busy time I’ve been having at work to die down (bring on Christmas holidays!) so that my training can be more regular and I actually get enough sleep!

I gotta get back into the cycling as well, the weather’s warming up and I need better conditioning levels. I’m going to try a few sprint triathalons this summer, it’s been about two years since I’ve done one.

Cheers,

Ben

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[quote]bg100 wrote:
Burnesy wrote:

BTW 159kg is actually 350.535 lb, so you did make it! (The mulitplying factor is 2.204623)

BG,

Well that sure as hell makes me feel better, woo hoo!

For me I’m just happy to be back in a bit of shape. I was very fit when I was at school and uni, did a lot of road cycling racing and was playing rugby. Over time with work and stopping playing alot of sports I just lost it, and got fat so I’m trying to get it back. Looking forward to going up to Qld for a few weeks in Jan.

Have stuck with the front squats as you recommended and have moved up to overhead squats as well, now they are a serious F___ you-up exercise. Have even got the missus doing them now, she may well be turning into a vixen herself which is another incentive for me to improve my form on the buggers.

I think I really have benefitted from some “newbie” gains this year and improving the next 50lb in each lift is going to be quite a bit harder, but if it was easy every bugger would be doing it. Have noted that while my max strength has improved I think my endurance in terms of grip needs a lot of work, will be concentrating there for the next few weeks.

Thanks for the help, and the math lesson.

Dallas

10

[quote]Burnesy wrote:
bg100 wrote:
Burnesy wrote:

BTW 159kg is actually 350.535 lb, so you did make it! (The mulitplying factor is 2.204623)

BG,

Well that sure as hell makes me feel better, woo hoo!

For me I’m just happy to be back in a bit of shape. I was very fit when I was at school and uni, did a lot of road cycling racing and was playing rugby. Over time with work and stopping playing alot of sports I just lost it, and got fat so I’m trying to get it back. Looking forward to going up to Qld for a few weeks in Jan.

Have stuck with the front squats as you recommended and have moved up to overhead squats as well, now they are a serious F___ you-up exercise. Have even got the missus doing them now, she may well be turning into a vixen herself which is another incentive for me to improve my form on the buggers.

I think I really have benefitted from some “newbie” gains this year and improving the next 50lb in each lift is going to be quite a bit harder, but if it was easy every bugger would be doing it. Have noted that while my max strength has improved I think my endurance in terms of grip needs a lot of work, will be concentrating there for the next few weeks.

Thanks for the help, and the math lesson.

Dallas
[/quote]

No worries with the maths, I’m an engineer and couldn’t resist checking the weight with the right mulitplier, LOL!

I’m in the same situation with work, it has really been cutting into training time or leaving me too stuffed at the end of the day to do anything (excuses, I know, I should just suck it up and go to the gym) Even if I do make it for weights I still miss out on bike rides etc, but summer will make it easier.

Good stuff on the OHS. I’ve been doing them twice per week for the past month with 3x8 as a warmup for O-lifts. Last night I got to 60kg for 2 sets of 8, but only got 5 reps on the last set. I’ll try again on the weekend. As DJ says on his website, they make you one piece, an animal! I love the looks of interest I’m starting to get from others in the gym as the weight gets more impressive, no one else does OHS.

I’ve got the same endurance grip problems, it affects my deadlifts. I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough leg and lower back strength to pull 160-170kg but couldn’t get above 150kg at my last attempt at a max. I gotta do more farmer’s walks!

I guess I have to set more goals as well to keep me motivated. I’m focusing more on the O-lifts at the moment, plus as I said I want to do some triathalons over summer, so going for max lifts won’t compliment the training. In autumn I will probably set goals to improve in the big 3 lifts and work on that during the colder months. I’ve been stuck in the office for about 10 hours/day on average since July so i want to get out and about when it warms up!

Cheers,

Ben