Check the ego at the door

[st8grad]

Guys - I appreciate the help on switching over from pinky extended bb'er to lifting more along the lines of an athlete/powerlifter. This forum is a lot more helpful than the AAS forum. I haven't lifted with regularity squats or dl's since high school football....I'm now 32! It's a long time wasted thinking that reverse curls and pushdowns were gonna pack on all the size I ever needed.

If you see a guy in the powerack only squating and dl'ing 135, that is me. We all have to live and learn I guess and now I am old enough to check the ego at the gym door and not give two shits that I am using a weight that I'm sure a 95 year old powerlifter would still warm up with.

Keep passing along the good information about how to train the body for real and dispell the myths about the crap ass muscle & fitness routines that I wasted my growth years on.

The journey into the light has begun for me. Thanks again. Maybe in time I will be able to get out of a chair without having to push off. Pretty frustrating to think how functionally weak I have become.

 

[al420]

135 turns to 315 pretty quick

 

[st8grad]

I'd still like to hit 315 on bench. I am betting that hitting legs will get it there. 275 is my max so far. The key is legs, legs, legs, food, food, food, sleep, sleep, sleep...I'm sure of it.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

once you get the form down, squats and deadlifts are easy. Sure, its heavy as shit and hurts, but its not a complex difficult movement. Plus, nothing more intimidating to the curl jockeys . Congrats on figuring out the AAS board is useless for training knowledge!!

Just focus on adding 5lbs every time. You'll get there a lot sooner than trying to max out often.

If you wear a pink bandana like AL it makes everything feel lighter .

 

[Lifting N Tx]

I've taken a similar journey. Like you my bench is way more than my squat. Let's see, it may be 9 months or so since I started getting serious about squats and deadlifts. When I first tried ATG squats I was using a little over 100 lbs. I'm still not doing a lot, but at least I can do 5 ATG, olympic style squats with over 200 now, about the same as my Pendlay rows.

My back's somewhat stronger. I've pulled 300x5 and 315x3 and could go higher, but my legs are weak and I'd have to just about stiff-leg them to do more. It just takes time, but we'll both get there.

Oh, and you're not old. You're almost as close to my oldest son's age as you are to mine.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

I've taken a similar journey. Like you my bench is way more than my squat. Let's see, it may be 9 months or so since I started getting serious about squats and deadlifts. When I first tried ATG squats I was using a little over 100 lbs. I'm still not doing a lot, but at least I can do 5 ATG, olympic style squats with over 200 now, about the same as my Pendlay rows.

My back's somewhat stronger. I've pulled 300x5 and 315x3 and could go higher, but my legs are weak and I'd have to just about stiff-leg them to do more. It just takes time, but we'll both get there.

Oh, and you're not old. You're almost as close to my oldest son's age as you are to mine.

You may want to practice box squats to help your deadlift out. Get a little more practice powering up from a lower position.

 

[Lifting N Tx]

You may want to practice box squats to help your deadlift out. Get a little more practice powering up from a lower position.

That seems like a good suggestion. While I like doing olympic style as my main squat, I've had thoughts of trying box squats to augment my training. I'll have to give 'em a try sometime soon.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

low box squats are good. For me, it helped getting my glutes to fire at a much lower position. I do em wednesday instead of light/front squats. mon/fri are backsquat days. Every other week I'll do deads or goodmornings/box squats.

 

[misterwhite]

you're definitely taking the right approach
I've had periods in which I didn't lift
and I go back easy and smart
I wait until I've brought my muscle groups back up to say around 60-70% before I attempt the deadlifts again
on deads it's too easy to injure yourself if you're not ready

 

[thebadguy54]

Muscle & Fitness routines are good if your goal is looking pretty in the mirror. They will not make you a better athlete.

 

[Kabeetz]

Congratulations on becoming enlightened!!! WELCOME TO THE LIGHT BRUDDA!!

 

[blut wump]

Never worry about how much is on the bar. Just concern yourself with continuing to get stronger so that you can increase it. That's all any of is doing.

 

[Tweakle]

good stuff.

there are some very knowledgeable ppl on the AAS forum, but they post maybe a couple of times a year.. other than some of the genuinely entertaining regs there it's a fucking clownshoe douchefest with a couple of tiny diddymen holding the reigns

 

[BiggT]

32 is a perfect age to get serious.....you don't even get your ''dad strength'' until 35 or so....5lbs a week is 20lbs a month and over 200lbs in a year.

 

[al420]

32 is a perfect age to get serious.....you don't even get your ''dad strength'' until 35 or so....5lbs a week is 20lbs a month and over 200lbs in a year.

Wow... Law School is doing wonders for your math T.