Anyone into strength sports?

[Oompa Loompa]

For anyone interested - thought I might post one of our workouts today. We've got this scheduled three times this month. I've posted it with my weights, done at 115 lbs BW.

• 3 sets of 10 reverse hyperextensions (weightless, done to warm up the lower back)
• 3 sets of 8 good mornings (95 lbs, more work to gradually increase the load on lower back and start firing the hamstrings)
• 4 sets of 15 crunches (ab work, very important for powerlifting and thrown in at the start so that we actually do it, lol; done weightless)
• 5 sets of 4 front squats (done with 185 lbs, after warmup sets of 10 with the bar, 7 with 95 lbs, 5 with 135 lbs, and 5 with 170 lbs - great carryover to the deadlift, and less risk of injury compared to heavy back squats)
• 6 sets of 5 close grip bench press (done with 110 lbs, focuses on working more triceps than chest and still relatively light so that we can work on technique as well - one warmup set of 8 at 85-90 lbs)
• 3 sets of 8 back squats with a 3 second pause at the bottom (done with 135 lbs, absolutely kills your legs and your mind, I do these with back squats just so I can keep my form with them)
• 3 sets of 6 tricep extensions (30 lb dumbbell, more tricep work for a bigger bench)
• 5 sets of 10 incline bench press (done with 30 lb dumbbells, just more chest work and the dumbbells help with isolation work as opposed to a barbell, where your stronger side can take over - this keeps you symmetrically strong)
• 4 sets of 4 deadlifts (did my sets today at 225-245-260-275, which was brutal but I wanted to push myself - after a warmup set of 105 for 7, 135 for 5, and 175 for 5)

This is the hardest workout I have ever done, by far. It taxes your back, triceps, hamstrings, and quads more than anything I can think of. But, it builds your muscles to be DENSE, and if you're eating right it will get you bigger and stronger at the same time.
Note, we only do this once a week. The other days are still difficult, and take about 3 hours for 2 of us to do - but they are nowhere near the intensity of this day.
Give that session a try and let me know how you do

 

[Nilsafeller]

For anyone interested - thought I might post one of our workouts today. We've got this scheduled three times this month. I've posted it with my weights, done at 115 lbs BW.

• 3 sets of 10 reverse hyperextensions (weightless, done to warm up the lower back)
• 3 sets of 8 good mornings (95 lbs, more work to gradually increase the load on lower back and start firing the hamstrings)
• 4 sets of 15 crunches (ab work, very important for powerlifting and thrown in at the start so that we actually do it, lol; done weightless)
• 5 sets of 4 front squats (done with 185 lbs, after warmup sets of 10 with the bar, 7 with 95 lbs, 5 with 135 lbs, and 5 with 170 lbs - great carryover to the deadlift, and less risk of injury compared to heavy back squats)
• 6 sets of 5 close grip bench press (done with 110 lbs, focuses on working more triceps than chest and still relatively light so that we can work on technique as well - one warmup set of 8 at 85-90 lbs)
• 3 sets of 8 back squats with a 3 second pause at the bottom (done with 135 lbs, absolutely kills your legs and your mind, I do these with back squats just so I can keep my form with them)
• 3 sets of 6 tricep extensions (30 lb dumbbell, more tricep work for a bigger bench)
• 5 sets of 10 incline bench press (done with 30 lb dumbbells, just more chest work and the dumbbells help with isolation work as opposed to a barbell, where your stronger side can take over - this keeps you symmetrically strong)
• 4 sets of 4 deadlifts (did my sets today at 225-245-260-275, which was brutal but I wanted to push myself - after a warmup set of 105 for 7, 135 for 5, and 175 for 5)

This is the hardest workout I have ever done, by far. It taxes your back, triceps, hamstrings, and quads more than anything I can think of. But, it builds your muscles to be DENSE, and if you're eating right it will get you bigger and stronger at the same time.
Note, we only do this once a week. The other days are still difficult, and take about 3 hours for 2 of us to do - but they are nowhere near the intensity of this day.
Give that session a try and let me know how you do

Nice workout... hows the body weight coming up? What's your calorie intake look like?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Nice workout... hows the body weight coming up? What's your calorie intake look like?

Somehow it's been going down at a counted 4,000 calories per day. Not a guess of 4000, verified 4000. Starting to find ways to get closer to 6000 without feeling too full. Most of that will be from eating protein powder straight out of the scoop and chasing with a tiny bit of water. Much quicker and easier than full shakes.

 

[Nilsafeller]

Somehow it's been going down at a counted 4,000 calories per day. Not a guess of 4000, verified 4000. Starting to find ways to get closer to 6000 without feeling too full. Most of that will be from eating protein powder straight out of the scoop and chasing with a tiny bit of water. Much quicker and easier than full shakes.

400 is a lot for 115 lb body weight not to be gaining let alone losing haha... I am a hard gainer aswell and I use high calorie protein shakes aswell... I dont think I could take that dry tho... most powders u need 4 big scoops of the crap to get that 1000 or so calories... 3% milk... lots of milk haha

 

[Backfromthedead]

I lifted with some degree of intensity back when i was a collegiate athlete and a while afterwards. These days i hit the gym 3x a week, but keep it light for the most part, more of a focus on cardio and endurance and just trying to keep an edge strength wise. If i can just get in there and get the bar on up my shoulders, then i consider it a good day at the office lol.

My all time PRs, i wouldve weighed 280-290 at the time.

Hang clean-385
Power clean-340
Bench-385
Squat-2x 455
Deadlift-665
Snatch-annoying lift, never tried...

 

[Oompa Loompa]

New Years Eve I hosted a deadlift party, ended up getting my triple bodyweight deadlift on the last day of 2019. 345 at 115 lbs

Goals going forward are a 225 bench by the end of 2020 (hit 155 about two months ago), and 500 deadlift by April 2021. No real goals with my squat, it's been over 6 months since I maxed out my squat and even then it was more like 98% (265 in wraps at 110). I prioritize my deadlift, and a true 1RM squat gives a big risk for injury that would set back my deadlift.
No meets planned, but if I do one it will be a push/pull only, not full power. Much to the dismay of my training partner, who's a squat record holder in Brazil

 

[Backfromthedead]

New Years Eve I hosted a deadlift party, ended up getting my triple bodyweight deadlift on the last day of 2019. 345 at 115 lbs

Goals going forward are a 225 bench by the end of 2020 (hit 155 about two months ago), and 500 deadlift by April 2021. No real goals with my squat, it's been over 6 months since I maxed out my squat and even then it was more like 98% (265 in wraps at 110). I prioritize my deadlift, and a true 1RM squat gives a big risk for injury that would set back my deadlift.
No meets planned, but if I do one it will be a push/pull only, not full power. Much to the dismay of my training partner, who's a squat record holder in Brazil

Completely agree with the squats, never attempted a 1 rep max myself. In fact i started halving my sets on heavy squat day 2-3 years into college. Its my belief that heavy squats are the most destructive lift there is, and that any gains made by ritualistic heavy squatting are offset in an inevitable future knee or back injury, usually sooner than later. And a lot of times people never bounce back from those injuries.

 

[00kevin]

I compete on a national level for drug-tested bodybuilding. I think you could benefit from a more sustainable approach. Intensity makes a great story, consistency is what gets results.

Also hypertrophy and strength are different biological responses, can't do both simultaneously.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Completely agree with the squats, never attempted a 1 rep max myself. In fact i started halving my sets on heavy squat day 2-3 years into college. Its my belief that heavy squats are the most destructive lift there is, and that any gains made by ritualistic heavy squatting are offset in an inevitable future knee or back injury, usually sooner than later. And a lot of times people never bounce back from those injuries.

I don't have a problem with heavy squatting, I hit heavy triples somewhat regularly. I just prefer to not go over about 95% of my max at any point in time because I don't want to risk an injury. If this were posted on a powerlifting board I'd have all kinds of people disagreeing with me, but I agree that heavy squats can be very very dangerous, especially competing equipped. I've seen several people hear that they can add 50 lbs using wraps or 200 lbs in a suit, or whatever magic number they've heard, throw on equipment, and bomb out at best, serious injuries at worst.
Not to say that equipped lifting is bad, or that you can't go heavier on it - but you don't throw on a suit and magically get 200 lbs on your squat, you have to learn how to use it and you still have to be immensely strong. It's not for me, personally.

Just based on anecdotal evidence, there have got to be more injuries from heavy squats than from any other heavy lift. Benching certainly has the opportunity to go wrong, but I think it's safe to say heavy squats have taken a toll far more than any other lift.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

I compete on a national level for drug-tested bodybuilding. I think you could benefit from a more sustainable approach. Intensity makes a great story, consistency is what gets results.

Also hypertrophy and strength are different biological responses, can't do both simultaneously.

Completely agree. This was from my old coach, his programming certainly worked. I got stronger, but with the intensity of the workouts I was burning more calories than I could possibly take in. Even with an unlimited meal plan at my college, I physically could not take in enough food to grow. I could also definitely feel those workouts beating up my body a bit more than I'd like. I'm not necessarily knocking his programming, but I've switched coaches because I have a different goal for myself than Ronaldo had for me.

I'm running Wendler's 5/3/1 right now. It's what I got started on, ran for a while, then got under Ronaldo, switched it up a good bit, but I'm back on. I think that is the simplest, most effective program anyone into strength training can do. Done properly, there's no reason it won't work for a lifter's entire career.

They are certainly different things, but you can also certainly blend them. I prioritize strength training, mixing in some hypertrophy work, and have gotten both stronger and bigger. The strength gains are definitely coming a bit slower than when I was training solely for strength, but I'll sacrifice a bit of strength for a bit of hypertrophy.