Goals/Progress Thread

[MikeH]

Now on to the goals.
Last week i broke several PR's:
- 100kg Deadlift
- 40kg Overhead Press
- 300kg Rack Pull

My goals for this year:
- 100kg body weight without adding to much fat (i'm going for the hulk, not the six pack beach model look ) 15-20% bodyfat max
- 150kg Deadlift
- 500kg Rack Pull
- adding 3cm's on my Neck (currently at 42cm)

If any of the more experienced lifter want to chime in on how they attack building muscle mass fast, it would be greatly appreciated
I wish everyone here the strength and motivation to reach their goals and a long and healthy life!

Wait, so your deadlift is roughly 220 lbs, but your rack pull is 660? I'm not sure what you consider a rack pull, but my deadlift is 485 (220kg), and my rack pull is only 565 (256kg). I consider a rack pull to be right at the knees pulled to lockout. Not discrediting you, that's just a huge jump between your deadlift and rack pull weights. Unless I'm just doing rack pulls wrong.

Haven't posted on here in a long time, as I've been busy preparing for deployment, and now I'm actually over here in Afghanistan. Currently finishing up my second round of 5/3/1 Off-season for Mass, and I love it, but my focus is about to change. I'm dead set on moving into the SOF (special operations) world, and my cardio is way too disgusting to do that. I recently read through Alex Viada's 'The Hybrid Athlete', and he offers some basic programming for people trying to focus on goals both in strength and endurance, so I'll be implementing his program for powerlifting and running a 5k. My best 5k is 23:30, and that's been a couple years, since I was fresh out of basic training and weighed about 15 lbs less, and was doing cardio every day. My current mile time is 7:30. I'd like to get my 5k time around 20-21:00, mainly because I want to go to Ranger School, which requires a 40:00 5-mile. I'd like to be in the low to mid 30s. As far as lifting goes, though, I did hit some PRs this week. Hit a 185 strict press, 485 deadlift, and 290 bench press all at ~175 lbs BW. Squat will be tested on Sunday, but the last rep PR I hit was 405x5 in sleeves, so I'm definitely confident I'll beat my previous PR of 445, if even only by 5 lbs.

As for adding mass, domsch, I'm currently just eating like a fucking madman, as well as taking creatine and drinking 1-2 1,000 calorie shakes every day. All this is happening while my abs are (unintentionally) becoming more visible, and I'm slowly adding body weight. I got in country at 169 lbs, and I'm currently at 178. Goal is 200 by the end of deployment (Novemberish timeframe), so we'll see how it goes. If I stay on this upward trend, I can hit that and then some. The key for me has just been lifting heavy very frequently, though submaximally, as to prevent too much fatigue, eating a lot, running/biking, and operating in the sweltering Afghan heat all day. Not that that's very easily accessible from your end.

So, to sum up my year-end goals:
200 lbs BW
500 squat
515 deadlift
315 bench
38:00 5-mile (to be improved upon thereafter)

 

[MikeH]

Not a single idea what happened tonight, but I ended up hitting a massive PR of 380x10 on squats. In OCP pants and combat boots, nonetheless. My last tested max was 465, and this puts my proposed max at 507, so I'm going to retest in a few weeks and see if I can plan my warmup progression a little better than last time and try to get close to that for a new 1RM.

 

[MikeH]

385x12 on squats. Not sure why I didn't trust 5/3/1 earlier.

 

[AxeHappy]

I finally cracked 400 on Farmer's Deadlift (That's a deadlift with Farmer's Handles) yesterday. Been chasing that milestone for a while.

 

[MikeH]

435x5 and 455x2 on squats.

 

[Millul]

Jeebus Mike, you're killing it!

Currently in dire physical conditions due to work, I'm trying not to loose too much before being able to train well again.

Goals from here to YE: get that elusive 140kg bench, get back to squat >180kg and DL>200kg.
I might as well get my nutrition in check and put some mass back on/loose some flab...!

 

[will_shred]

It seems like everyone here is looking for serious gains, when I'm just looking to get fit, and have been pretty frustrated with my lack of progress. Due to a shitty heart condition all I can do is bike, which I do around 2 hours a day, and a couple times a week I will actually get out on my bike and ride 20-30 miles with my friend. I've cut out almost all refined sugars, and a lot of empty calories in my diet from beer and other junk. My starting goal was to lose 10 pounds starting at 170, and I started really getting into it at the start of the summer. After about 3 months, I am way healthier, I feel it, but I don't look it, and I have dropped maybe 3 pounds. So I guess getting actually fit is the sort of thing that takes years of persistent work, who woulda thought?

I'm highly motivated to keep going for a large number of reasons, mostly because I can't stand looking in the mirror. And I want to generally be healthy.

 

[JohnIce]

Pleasantly surprised right now After about 8 years of gaining weight, despite cutting meat and eating more veggies, rawfood and whatnot the last 2 years with no results whatsoever, I decided 3 weeks ago to stop guessing and really go deep into researching diets and health. Totally redid my diet, started feeling better, so I bought a bathroom scale today and what do you know, I'd lost 5kg (11lbs) in these 3 weeks I'm so happy at the moment! Finally something that works! And the food is not that bad.

So besides vitamin supplements I currently eat about two meals a day of scrambled eggs mushed together with either black beans, chick peas or frozen peas, topped with a couple of tomatoes, a heap of kale and baby spinach. Some pepper and spices, soy sauce and generally a dressing for flavour. I was skeptical about the soy and dressing, but according to my calculations I'm getting about half my daily calorie consumtion and judging by the results, I shouldn't worry from a weight perspective at least. It's worth noting that I (by accident really) rarely eat anything before at least 3 p.m, usually later, so those two meals are usually within 6-8 hours of each other. I didn't realize I was technically fasting by doing that, but I guess so.

My goal is to lose at least 5kg more, possibly 10kg. That actually seems doable now After that I'll probably have to make some changes to keep that weight and preferably start gaining a little muscle, because my current diet seems like it would make me too skinny in the long run. I don't work out or exercise at all at the moment.

 

[mongey]

I've been back in the gym after 8 or so years not stepping in one. on my 5th week

try to get there 4 times a week but some weeks can only make 3 with work , home life, music and a 2 year old

no specific goal other than just to get fit again at 43 years old .I broke my leg real bad at 27. so Id say the last time I was really fit was 27.I have done stuff here and there but never really committed

I'm lucky I'm tall and can hide weight but had blown out to 93kg last year.I grew up tall and super skinny

first half of year cut out some bad eating and dropped to 89 and couldn't lose any more

so now have cut out all booze during the week ,even at rehearsal , and hitting the gym. am at 86.5 at the moment and have allot more muscle definition coming allong where there was flub before

doing a mix of cardio and weights . ,and in my 20's when I was going here and there I'd be able to push out 4 sets of 10 of 80kg on the bench . not that heavy I know but I only weighed 70kg at the time

so going to set a goal of being able to do the same

 

[MikeH]

Surprised myself recently with the strong desire to change lifting disciplines. For about 3 weeks now, I've been working on a transitional program from powerlifting to Olympic weightlifting. It's a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand, I'm feeling way more athletic, I walk out of the gym feeling energized and honestly a lot better about training. On the other, going from the loads that you see above to the loads I'm working with for snatch and clean and jerk can get slightly disheartening. When you deadlift 485 and then go to 205 for a clean and jerk, and only 175 for a snatch, looking at it from a powerlifting perspective kind of gets to you. Trying to remember that Oly lifting is far more technical and less focused on brute strength, as opposed to athletic finesse. So far, so good, though!

It seems like everyone here is looking for serious gains, when I'm just looking to get fit, and have been pretty frustrated with my lack of progress. Due to a shitty heart condition all I can do is bike, which I do around 2 hours a day, and a couple times a week I will actually get out on my bike and ride 20-30 miles with my friend. I've cut out almost all refined sugars, and a lot of empty calories in my diet from beer and other junk. My starting goal was to lose 10 pounds starting at 170, and I started really getting into it at the start of the summer. After about 3 months, I am way healthier, I feel it, but I don't look it, and I have dropped maybe 3 pounds. So I guess getting actually fit is the sort of thing that takes years of persistent work, who woulda thought?

I'm highly motivated to keep going for a large number of reasons, mostly because I can't stand looking in the mirror. And I want to generally be healthy.

To be honest, man, you aren't going to see a physical change too much without implementing weight training. Even guys who are professional bikers are very avid gym goers as well, so that part is very important. I would start very light, due to your heart condition, and get a basis established for what you can handle. Although lifting weights is primarily anaerobic, I assume your ability to ride for such long distances would suggest that your heart isn't terribly weak. Maybe speak with a physician and see what they suggest as far as weight training.

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

I still have not yet hit a 4 mile run in 28:00 or less, averaging around 30-31 because of the heat and humidity, but I have been steadily training throughout the summer for my second marathon in January. Still getting out 3 days a week and doing plenty of short distance runs, and slowly building my distance on long runs every other week. Training is increasing and getting more strict and focused, I’m within 90 days of race day. This past weekend I did 17 Miles, that is the second longest run I have done since I started. It was rough but felt good at the same time because I have been training very consistently since April. Temps are starting to drop, getting some cool mornings, means it’s time to start looking for PR’s.

 

[MikeH]

Switched my focus to the Oly lifts and have been making good progress on both. Finished up today with a 10lb PR on both snatch and clean & jerk, hitting 185lb and 225lb, respectively.

 

[AxeHappy]

Massive props. The Oly Lifts are fucking insane.

 

[MikeH]

I used to give CrossFit guys shit, then I watched Fittest On Earth and started following Mat Fraser. He was an Oly lifter for 10 years before he got into CrossFit and dude is seriously impressive. Saw him snatch 315 and c&j 375. Completely mind boggling.

 

[AxeHappy]

Naw, just because some CrossFitters used to do other things that made them awesome doesn't mean you have to stop shitting on CrossFit.

 

[MikeH]

It pains me to admit that I'm considering competing in the Open next year. Haha. I think CrossFit is a great platform when applied correctly. All of the operator guys I've worked with over here are crossfitters, and clearly it's working for them. I think the issue is that you get a bunch of beginners who want to compete in the Games, they start doing CrossFit, get 6 months in, take a weekend course to become a coach, and then it's just a domino effect of shit that leads to bad form and injuries. I think going into it with a solid base of fitness is really helpful and it can be used in a good way in certain cases. I'll always be a heavy lifter, but I need to build my endurance and GPP to advance to the next level in my career.

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

I DID IT!!!

4 miles under 28 minutes!

total time - 27:48
avg. pace - 6:57

All that summer training in the heat and humidity paid off.

Temp was 54 deg when I started. I just ran a loop in my neighborhood that's about 0.5 mile per lap with a 12 foot elevation change from highest point to lowest point. Began with 15 minute warm up of brisk walking mixed with a few short burst sprints, then started the 4 mile timed run. I focused on keeping my breathing in a rhythm by just breathing in through the nose for about 1 minute per mile, breath through the mouth the rest of the time. 4th mile got a little sloppy but I just got excited to see I was closing in on my target time and just kinda went for it. Awesome!!!

 

[Anquished]

I've been trying to increase my big 3 lifts so that my bench is 100kg, squat is 130kg and deadlift is 140kg for 5 reps each. So far I'm on 90kg bench, 120kg squat and 125kg deadlift. My squat and deadlifts are flying up but my bench press is just NOT shifting. I'm hitting it twice a week now with different rep ranges and throwing in pauses to see if that'll make a difference but so far progress has been very slow...

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

After doing a few goals this year such as a 4 mile under 28:00, and completing a second marathon, I've also been inspired by the 5k under 20:00 progression that is logged in the previous pages of this thread by MemphisHawk. So I'm chasing that goal myself. My current PR on the 5k is 21:19, but for a long time I hovered around 22:30 ish... just this past summer I was able to hit the PR. My short term goal is simply to do 21, but eventually 20. We'll see how it goes...

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

Hit a new PR... well... on the treadmill.
21:15

But usually when I hit a PR on treadmill it means I will probably be able to do it soon on the streets.