No workouts this week because I’m off on holiday.
Where am I going? Back to the Lake District again. The last time I was up there, it looked like this:
I would be surprised if it looks anything like that at the moment, though…
My past goals
My goals up to this point have been:
- Bench 100kg (220lbs)
- Deadlift 187.5kg (415lbs)
- Double bodyweight pull up
I benched 100kg (220lbs) last weekend for a double and then my arch collapsed and I shall never know whether I could have got 3 reps in total. That is very satisfying since I was very much stuck at 95kg only a couple of weeks ago. I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what is wrong with my bench and I have discovered that the problem is keeping my arch tight. Better foot placement and constant focus on this weak point have helped here.
Deadlift was a struggle but it went up slowly. I need to work a bit more on keeping my upper back flat when maxing out.
Double bodyweight pull up. I am not even going to go there. I was an idiot to set this as a goal while putting on weight. I shall come back to this in the summer when I weigh a lot less than I do at the moment.
My secret fourth goal
I also had a secret fourth goal of gaining 10kg (20lbs) in weight over the winter. I kept it a secret partly because I wasn’t confident about achieving it and partly because I like to stick to 3 goals most of the time.
I wasn’t confident about achieving it because I tried to gain weight last winter and got nowhere. But I achieved it this winter. So if you’re curious about how to gain 20lbs, then you should check out my article.
I like to stick to 3 goals most of the time because I find it’s better to focus hard on one thing at a time rather than spread your resources thinly. That doesn’t mean that I let things go and jump from one thing to another. I try and keep everything else at maintenance, while I drive another lift forwards.
My next goals
I have decided to put my bench and deadlift onto maintenance for the next couple of months and work on my back squat and overhead press. I am also going to start whittling away at some of the excess weight I am now carrying. So I think my next goals are going to look like this:
- 140kg (310lbs) back squat for 3 reps
- 70kg (155lbs) overhead press for 1 rep
- lose 5kg of fat without losing any muscle
I’ve chosen to specialise in the press and back squat this time because I feel that these are my weaker lifts at the moment. I also figure that since I haven’t really worked those lifts seriously in the last 18 months (except the overhead press since Christmas) they should go up simply from added frequency. This should then dovetail with the fat loss nicely.
Background for the really curious
By way of background, Rippetoe’s strength standards for the 75kg (165lbs) male are (intermediate/advanced/elite):
- Press – 129lbs (59kg) / 153lbs (70kg) / 186lbs (85kg)
- Squat - 250lbs (114kg) / 342lbs (155kg) / 445lbs (202kg)
- Bench – 187lbs (85kg) / 255lbs (116kg) / 319lbs (145kg)
- Deadlift – 293lbs (133kg) / 411lbs (187kg) / 518lbs (235kg)
At the moment, my PRs look something like this:
- Press – 60kg for 3RM
- Squat – 120kg for 5RM
- Bench – 100kg for 2RM
- Deadlift – 190kg for 1RM
So to classify the lifts as per Rippetoe’s standards:
- Press – intermediate
- Squat – intermediate
- Bench – intermediate
- Deadlift – advanced (but only just)
So I would like to bring my overhead press and back squat up to advanced level. I figure that with a 3RM back squat of 140kg (310lbs), I should be within shouting distance of 155kg (342lbs) for 1RM as 140kg is 90% of 155kg and I am pretty fast twitch.
Cunningly, I also figure that putting 10kg (20lbs) on my overhead press should also mean that I have a good chance of hitting 116kg on the bench, which will then give me a full house!
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