Squats, Bench, Deadlift: This is your fitness thread

I have plenty to share.
 
I've been seeing (and hearing) a lot of commercials lately on TV and radio about testosterone replacement. It seems everyone is trying to make a buck off of this as usual. But I get the impression these people are "creating" a problem when none actually exists. They are making people think they are low on testosterone when they actually aren't. And that includes me. I'm thinking I might be low on testosterone. I seems to fit some of those symptoms.

I am actually tempted to check this out, but the side effects of increased testosterone are pretty severe. Who would want those side effects?
Aren't you the guy who asked me a question on a related topic and then didn't reply to my pm?
 
yup. Forgot to reply.

Anyways I do want to check with the doctor even though I'm one of those types who hates going to the doctor. Sometime this summer...
 
It's been a few months now, anyone making any progress?

I'm now up to 20 chin-ups per set (rep?). I haven't increased the number of pushups or situps because I think I'm starting to hit a limit on how useful that is. Kind of a diminishing returns thing.

I moved to a new city after finishing up school and now I'm jogging outside 3-4 times a week. The distance is shorter than I used to do on the treadmill, but there's a pretty steep hill about halfway that really adds some difficulty.

All told, I'm pretty happy with the improvements I've seen since I last posted. How about you guys?
 
Update:

Well, just about recovered from my injury. My bench is now only 220x10 reps x3 sets. I also lowered the weights on the rest of my workout too, but increased the reps. Final word from my injury was the doc and therapist want me to work out with lower weights, but more reps. The therapist actually told me 'your're too old to be pushing 265 around like that'. Hehe.

Just now getting back to feeling like I did prior to hurting myself. Gained a few pounds as well due to being less active, but starting to drop it again. Man it sucks getting hurt.
 
I'm excited, i broke through a few walls, and am now deadlifting 1.3x my bodyweight (substantially more than before), and am squatting around 1.5x bodyweight. My Bench has only moved up a little bit (I can comfortably press 155 5x5, but i really struggle above that)...but baby steps, right?
 
It's been a few months now, anyone making any progress?

I'm now up to 20 chin-ups per set (rep?). I haven't increased the number of pushups or situps because I think I'm starting to hit a limit on how useful that is. Kind of a diminishing returns thing.

Nice. Situps aren't very useful at all (indeed, they are harmful) but chins for 20 reps is awesome.

Me, I spent late spring/most of summer on a slow cut, sloppy IF-style. Lost about 7 kg of weight in four months and didn't get too much weaker, so pretty happy about that (current bodyweight about 114 - 115 kg, so safely away from the 120 kg weight class limit in case I get a chance to do another meet soon). Running a Juggernaut-5/3/1 hybrid program in an upper/lower body split with minimal assistance work for most of that time, now back to eating around/slightly above maintenance and added in some more assistance work. For example, yesterday's workout looked like this (cut and pasted from my training log; the B1/B2 stuff means the two exercises were supersetted, similarly C1 through C4 was done as a circuit, I do a lot of that sort of thing to save a few minutes):

A: Power Clean
3x70 kg
3x72.5 kg
3x75 kg
3x77.5 kg
3x80 kg
B1: Deadlift
5x70 kg
5x110 kg
7x3x165 kg
B2: Squat
5x20 kg
5x40 kg
5x60 kg
5x80 kg
5x110 kg
5x127.5 kg
3x145 kg
C1: Squat
3x10x90 kg
C2: Stiff-leg deadlift
3x10x110 kg
C3: Knee Tucks
35
30
30
C4: Straight Bridges
22
20
18

Time: 1:17

Light weights, but a high working tempo (and the idea of supersetting main deadlift and squat sets) made for a very sweaty experience. Tore a callus but it was one of the least important ones. No spotter and no safeties so went easy on the squats. Double overhand all the way on the deads.
 
Yeah! Although squatting that much more than you deadlift is pretty much an indication that something is wrong somewhere.

I thought about that, and that may well be the case (I'd kinda like to pay for one or two personal training sessions, although nobody at my gym speaks English, so I think I'd have to go somewhere else). Part of the reason for the disparity is I've been squatting a lot longer than I've been deadlifting, so I'm much more comfortable with the form, and with working with heavier weights. I had been building my deadlift very slowly (adding 5 total pounds to my previous workweight every session)...and then a few weeks ago, I basically said "screw it", and loaded up an extra 30, only to discover that I could do that too. I don't think I could do 5 reps at 270 yet, but I think I can beat the 230 I did on monday.

I haven't been using a belt yet, (I guess I should?), and I was also recommended to squat and deadlift barefoot? I only own one set of athletic shoes...running shoes, which apparently have little gel bottoms that can reduce lifting power? I dunno, maybe that's a bunch of crap.

As for your workout, Good God, you are a machine :goodjob:
 
I haven't been using a belt yet, (I guess I should?), and I was also recommended to squat and deadlift barefoot? I only own one set of athletic shoes...running shoes, which apparently have little gel bottoms that can reduce lifting power? I dunno, maybe that's a bunch of crap.

If you're using those shoes for lifting, stop. Immediately. The last thing you want when handling heavy weights is to stand on anything less stable than a rock. Barefoot is fine if your gym allows it. Otherwise, anything with a non-compressible sole will do adequately. I just use a pair of plain Converse shoes, much cheaper than specialized lifting shoes.

Belts, eh, I dunno. Don't regularly use one myself.

Also I'm not actually a machine, I'm just a low-level amateur heavyweight powerlifter type. Medium-term aim is to be the strongest Dad on the playground; long-term aim is to be among the national elite in the older of the old guys' divisions in a couple more decades.
 
I thought about that, and that may well be the case (I'd kinda like to pay for one or two personal training sessions, although nobody at my gym speaks English, so I think I'd have to go somewhere else). Part of the reason for the disparity is I've been squatting a lot longer than I've been deadlifting, so I'm much more comfortable with the form, and with working with heavier weights. I had been building my deadlift very slowly (adding 5 total pounds to my previous workweight every session)...and then a few weeks ago, I basically said "screw it", and loaded up an extra 30, only to discover that I could do that too. I don't think I could do 5 reps at 270 yet, but I think I can beat the 230 I did on monday.

I haven't been using a belt yet, (I guess I should?), and I was also recommended to squat and deadlift barefoot? I only own one set of athletic shoes...running shoes, which apparently have little gel bottoms that can reduce lifting power? I dunno, maybe that's a bunch of crap.

As for your workout, Good God, you are a machine :goodjob:
For people who haven't deadlifted for a while, your limiting factor at first is usually your grip. I bet you can pull 270, but you probably will find it very difficult to hold it, especially when you accelerate. You're probably going to want to do grip strengthening exercises.

A belt is probably not necessary until your breaking 300 pounds. That is, unless your form sucks. I'd recommend asking someone to videotape you in the gym and check your lower back and bar placement.

Leifmk - why would you need a spot for a squat? Can you not dump the weight at your gym? (I would find that hard to believe since you're doing cleans.)

As for the shoes, a bit of heel helps with a squat, but definitely go barefoot on the deadlift, that really helps form.
 
Leifmk - why would you need a spot for a squat? Can you not dump the weight at your gym? (I would find that hard to believe since you're doing cleans.)

I have dumped the bar in mid-air before but I'm not 100% confident of my ability to do so instead of getting stuck underneath it, so try to play it safe where I probably won't have to. (Actually my gym has a proper olympic platform dating back to the 1950s which is still good as new, and a bunch of old competition plates where most of the paint has been worn off... working out with that stuff feels pretty awesome.)

Also I never intentionally go to failure and usually try to call it a day with at least one rep left in the tank.
 
I've been doing the following video exercise once a day for about half a month, I guess.


Link to video.

As you can clearly see on the bellow photograph that I took for a completely unrelated purpose, I sort of have a 6-pak (not really). I'm very proud of myself.

MyPicture.jpg
 
I recently dropped to 3x5 instead of 5x5, weights were getting heavy, and I kept showing up late to work because I was taking too long lifting.

Current 3x5 (except deadlift is a bit varied in sets) lifts:

Deadlift: 1.6 x BW (Feels like I could add more easily. May want to get some chalk soon.)
Squat: 1.6 x BW (I've been keeping this at my DL weight, I'll probably have to give this up soon.)
Bench press: 0.95 x BW (I've never had such a high bench press. It feels like I could add weight, but it's kind of wobbly.)
Overhead press: 0.65 x BW (This is hard. I feel like I can easily do 105 lbs, but am not even close at 115.)

My current gym doesn't have weight belts or harnesses for chinups/pullups, I really need to order one for myself.


I have dumped the bar in mid-air before but I'm not 100% confident of my ability to do so instead of getting stuck underneath it, so try to play it safe where I probably won't have to.

Well, I do my squats in a cage and set the bars just below where I normally squat to.
 
Overhead press: 0.65 x BW (This is hard. I feel like I can easily do 105 lbs, but am not even close at 115.)

The overhead press is notorious for being slow to improve (especially once the newbie gains are over). I still haven't put up anything heavier than 80 kg and that's over a year ago.

Well, I do my squats in a cage and set the bars just below where I normally squat to.

That's what I would do if I had a cage. I alternate between using the gym in our basement at work, and the big commercial one near my home; one of them has a squat rack with fixed safeties and the other has no safeties at all. Bah, once I finally get that garage cleaned out and organized I'm going to get a cage and a bar at home.
 
If you're using those shoes for lifting, stop. Immediately. The last thing you want when handling heavy weights is to stand on anything less stable than a rock. Barefoot is fine if your gym allows it. Otherwise, anything with a non-compressible sole will do adequately. I just use a pair of plain Converse shoes, much cheaper than specialized lifting shoes.

Belts, eh, I dunno. Don't regularly use one myself.

Also I'm not actually a machine, I'm just a low-level amateur heavyweight powerlifter type. Medium-term aim is to be the strongest Dad on the playground; long-term aim is to be among the national elite in the older of the old guys' divisions in a couple more decades.
thanks! (nothing wrong with wanting to be the strongest dad at the playground :))

I'm going to buy converses soon anyway (cause they look cool), but I tried lifting barefoot over the weekend, and I was able to add 10 pounds to my deadlift (I also changed the grip I was using). Smart.
For people who haven't deadlifted for a while, your limiting factor at first is usually your grip. I bet you can pull 270, but you probably will find it very difficult to hold it, especially when you accelerate. You're probably going to want to do grip strengthening exercises.

A belt is probably not necessary until your breaking 300 pounds. That is, unless your form sucks. I'd recommend asking someone to videotape you in the gym and check your lower back and bar placement.

Leifmk - why would you need a spot for a squat? Can you not dump the weight at your gym? (I would find that hard to believe since you're doing cleans.)

As for the shoes, a bit of heel helps with a squat, but definitely go barefoot on the deadlift, that really helps form.
Yeah, I've noticed that, the weight ends up resting on my four fingertips, instead of being held by my entire fist. I'm pretty sure I could pull 270 too, but I'll have to work on improving my grip. The video tape thing is not likely to happen...I go to a YMCA in a neighborhood where I am one of the only people who speaks English. Not only would it be difficult to get somebody with a camera in there, I think it might actually be against gym policy. I'm going to switch gyms when I switch jobs.
 
As a 3-sport varsity athlete at my school I literally spent everyday working out this summer.

Uppers-
Bench- 4x4 at 195
Lats- 3x6 at 190 (doesn't go any higher:/ )
Tri's- 3x10 at 170
Curls- 3x10 with 45lb DB's
DB Snatch- 3x8 50lb DB's
BTN- 4x6 at 135
Abs

Lowers-
Squat- 4x6 at 375
Deadlift- 4x6 at 385
Power cleans- 4x6 at 165
Calf raises- 3x25 at 225 on a Bear machine
Hamstring curls- 4x6 at whatever I feel like doing that day :D
Abs

That's it for lifts, that I can remember at least. Mix that in with some plyos and running and you get my work out routine.
Bench max- 235
Squat- 415
40yd time- 4.8
mile- 5:50
My own weight- 198


I like to think I'm pretty fit.
 
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