Possible 2010 goals

As the New Year rapidly approaches, I have started thinking about my goals for 2010. The problem is that there are so many to choose from!

At the moment

I have some concrete goals to see me through to Easter. They are:

a double-bodyweight pull up;
a 2.5x bodyweight deadlift, probably 187.5kg (415lbs); and
bench 100kg (220lbs).

Next steps

When I set those goals, I was already thinking about using them as a staging post for bigger and better lifts by the end of 2010. So my goal list is probably going to start with additional milestones on these lifts, as follows:

115% bodyweight chin (somewhere around the world record);
3x bodyweight deadlift, probably 225kg (500lbs); and
1.5x bodyweight bench, probably 112.5kg

Other goals

There are other lifts that I have been working on in 2009 that I don’t want to let go to waste.

Pistol: I pushed to get up to a half-bodyweight pistol a while back, lifting 36.25kg (80lbs) at 72.5kg (160lbs) bodyweight. In 2010, I would like to take this up to 75% bodyweight, probably 56.25kg (124lbs) at 75kg (165lbs) bodyweight. To support this goal, I have been doing a lot of work capacity lifting recently, around the 25kg – 30kg mark, so I feel confident of pushing up to 40 – 45kg in the near future. Reaching the 50kg point could be a different ball-game, though. I dislike doing max-effort lifting with pistols as I find it’s very easy to fall out of the groove and into a deadlift-type movement.
One-arm chin: this is actually a very different lift from the weighted two-arm chin or pull up. I have only recently started training it as my elbows are quite small and easily pick up overuse injuries. In fact, I may be one of the few people in the world who resisted the temptation to train assisted one-arm chins while training weighted chins at the same time. Since I got to double-bodyweight before trying a one-arm chin, I have proved to myself that the ability to do a double-bodyweight chin doesn’t equate to one-arm chins. There is a lot of technique involved. The movement is also different. The one-arm chin is more biceps intensive. Despite that, I’ve quickly got to the point where I can do doubles with 15kg assistance. I would like to get reps without assistance.
Dip: I will probably try and match anything I do in the pull up and chin department with an equal lift on my dips. Having said that, I have no particular love for the lift, it just stops me getting horribly unbalanced. And I don’t seem to have to work that hard at it compared with other pressing exercises. I reckon I can improve my dip about twice as fast as my bench, which given how poor my bench is, is quite amazing to me.
Front Lever: I keep coming back to this skill but something is eluding me. I am confident that I have the pulling strength and the abdominal strength to get completely horizontal but I can’t seem to get it together. I would like to spend the necessary time to learn how to hold this position for a decent interval. The problem is that it interferes with my other lifts terribly. It drains my upper back for pull ups and chins, destabilises me for bench and weakens my abdominals for lower body lifts. And recently, I’ve been too tired to fit it in at the end of my workouts.
Overhead press: I’ve been really ignoring this lift for most of 2009. When I first started training, my thoracic immobility prevented me from lifting overhead. I could practically feel my shoulders grinding down to dust. As I’ve improved my mobility and focussed on abdominal strength, I’ve regained the confidence to lift overhead again. I have no real concrete numbers to aim for at the moment as I don’t really know what I’m capable of in this lift. It might be nice to hit bodyweight for reps for the two-hand press but I have no concept yet of whether that is 6 weeks or 6 months worth of work. I am in most regards an unusual case, owing to my large pull up and dip numbers but small powerlifting numbers. I actually find one-hand pressing more fulfilling and fun so I may pick a goal on that front instead. Who knows?

Wild card goals

I haven’t been working on these goals but the thought of them makes me smile, so here they are:

Captains of Crush Gripper number 2.5 – this is on my Christmas list, so I will end up playing around with it, whatever else I do in 2010.
Orang-utan hold: I noticed recently that the world record for the orang-utan hold is 1:45s. Red rag to a bull.
Handstand push ups: they look cool. Enough said.
One-arm elbow lever: they also look cool and I need something to make me progress the basic elbow lever
Tuck planche: I keep doing the frog stand when my nephews and nieces and friends’ kids come round and they’re getting bored of it. I need something else in my repertoire and this could be it.

There really is so much to do and so little time!

The Garage Gym Online