I jumped the gun just a little bit, rather than wait on my schedule to rotate I decided that I would take advantage of my enthusiasm and go for the Deadlift PR on Monday night. It was tough, the deadlift still scares me as a risk but I managed to squeeze what I needed out of the bar for a 1RM PR of 295lbs.
Part of my ultracompetitive psyche wants to hit 300 on my DL and 400 on my Bench but at this point I realize that both those lifts are within me. (As an aside, I did bench 405 after I wrote this). For this cycle though I am done.
I spent most of my summer doing what most would call a “dirty bulk” just eating in surplus and working whatever I could to gain strength. My discipline was lacking because I really didn’t have a specific goal. Once September hit I decided 1000lbs was a great goal to aim for. So for the past 4 months I have been working on my form, having to re-learn some of my Olympic and powerlifting technique until such a time when I could start to pile on the weight. As you can see below I put 390lbs on my total or an increase of 63%. Of course the numbers can be misleading so here are some things I need to add as caveats to the story.
I had lifted very heavy before. My history of powerlifting and working with Oly lifts helped me tremendously. However, since my first back surgery 13 years ago I had never dared to push this hard.
I started off with what I was working on, not what my 1RM was for anything. At the time, these were simply the heaviest weights I was using.
My form may have been compromised on some of my attempts, I don’t think I could have done the weights I did with perfect form except maybe bench. I realize that my 1RM with perfect form is probably a lot less.
These lifts are all raw, no wraps, no belt, just chalk. I also don’t think I will be doing this again.
Apart from a little wrist soreness one or two days and a bit of knee discomfort following squat day my health has not suffered and I completed this task injury free.
My total as of today (Jan 2 2014) is 1015 due to the 405lb bench I did after the fact.
What is next? My least favourite thing, the cut. I have the strength back, I have gained quite a lot of muscle in my right leg for the first time in 13 years and my legs actually look quite similar now. So for now I will take the next 3 months (or however long it takes) to get back down to 235 or thereabouts. I would like to eventually get down to 220 but there is a point in there somewhere that I start to become uncomfortable with my lack of size. For me, bodyfat percentage is more important than weight and I have previously calculated that at a BF that is acceptable to me I should be right around 230-235. For reference right now I am around the 255 mark. I will be doing the starting stats thing in the new year.
Before. Sept 1 2014:
| Total lift numbers max |
| DL 205 |
| SQ 135 |
| Bench 275 |
| Total of 615 |
During: Dec 1 2014
| Total lift numbers max |
| DL 225 |
| SQ 245 |
| Bench 305 |
| Total of 775 |
After Dec 29 2014:
| Total lift numbers max | |
| Deadlift +44% | 295 |
| Squat +133% | 315 |
| Bench +44% | 395 |
| Total lift numbers max +63% | 1005 |