The Weight Lifting Thread

[Jakob]

Since we're now spread around multiple threads, I figured we might as well try to focus the discussion in one thread.
I do all my lifting in my Crossfit gym, so it's all free weights and we have no machines involved.
My current schedule is 2 crossfit sessions per week + 1 olympic lifting. (I've been attending the o-lifting for 1 month now)
We obviously mainly train snatch + clean&jerk at the o-lifting, but the crossfit workouts will vary and it can be months between specific lifts. This means my PBs will vary wildly.
We have a crossfit specific o-lifting competition next month, but my lifts are still low for my body weight and it's expensive, so I doubt I'll go.
We then have a 'work-out challenge', where we'll initially test a fixed CF workout and then re-test 2 months later. Most improved wins a small price. That workout was 'Grace', 30 x clean&jerk at 62kg for time.
I had barely gotten my C&J up to 65kg at that stage, so I took 10:53 at the test. I'm now aiming for sub-5 minutes at the re-test in March.

Anyways..here's the list of currents & goals:
Bodyweight: 86.499999kgs

Snatch:
Current: 50kgs (Jan/11)
Goal: 70kgs

Clean & Jerk:
Current: 70kgs (30/1/11)
Goal: 90kgs

Deadlift:
Current: 120kg (old)
Goal: 160

Backsquat:
Current: 110kg (easy)
Goal: 140kg

Bench press:
Current: 70kgs
Goal: ??

Overhead squat:
Current: 40kgs (very old!)
Goal: 90kgs

Press:
Current 50kgs
Goal: 70kgs

[itsbruce]

Is that your 1-rep max or under some other conditions?  I don't often measure my max, but I can list my 5x5 limit.  At a current weight of 74kg (and going down ), those are

Squats: 120kg

Deadlift: 135kg (1x5, not 5x5)

Press:: 46kg

Bench:: 61.5kg

Haven't started on the olympic lifts in anger, as yet.

[Alouicious]

You should be able to squat more than double your bodyweight, or else you'll be hopeless at carrying roofing tiles up a ladder.
You should be able to bench press over 1 ½ x your bodyweight, or else you won't be able to show off to your girlfriend you can do a press-up when she's standing on your back.

[Jasmine]

I've always found comments like that ("you're shit unless you can lift 2x body weight" etc.) to be particularly unhelpful.  I don't think many people here are training to lift for the sake of lifting, but as part of a training regime including a whole load of other stuff.  I have functional muscle; I don't care if I can't show off doing press ups with someone standing on my back.  That sort of thing puts people off starting to lift weights at all.


Squat: 75kg (like itsbruce I've never done 1 rep max for this so this is my 10 rep weight, I'd normally do 3x 20 reps at 55kg)

Deadlift: 105kg

Bench: 35kg (no upper body stregth at all I'm afraid)

For reference, I weigh 60 kg (and am a girl, but this is no real excuse)


I very rarely see what my max weight is, simply because doing one rep at max leaves me knackered and my planned sets will be shit after. I do 20 rep sets for squats and getting the shakes at 12 reps is not good for the motivation.

Bodyweight: 86.499999kgs

How do you measure that?

[andygates]

You should be able to squat more than double your bodyweight, or else you'll be hopeless at carrying roofing tiles up a ladder.
You should be able to bench press over 1 ½ x your bodyweight, or else you won't be able to show off to your girlfriend you can do a press-up when she's standing on your back.

I stick 180kg on my back and fold like a weed.  It is nothing at all like carrying a moderate load up a vertical.  Done both, can easily compare: you are using bad maths.  What principle are you possibly using?

[Rich753]

I used to be pretty keen rock climber but an accident in the Alps meant I turned to hill running then cycling when my body rebelled.  So I've spent 30+ years trying to waste away my upper body to reduce extra weight!

But last 18 months I started strength training, partly to improve overall conditioning but also to try to get some beach muscles back.  In fact the intensity seems to have reduced body fat and improved tone, so results quite satisfactory so far. I'm training with a former international power-lifter, so am very happy with the quality of advice and the structure of my training.  Not likely to be pushing to max on olympic lifts - too much technique required plus I'm very inflexible - but will use them as part of a circuit or for strength endurance, perhaps with kettlebells (eg snatch).

My numbers are a bit of a mismatch - would hope to get big improvements on upper body stuff :-

Bench - 72.5kg

Squat (old number) - 140kg

DL - 165kg

One-arm press (with barbell, not dumbell) - 5 @ 25kg Left, 3 @ 25kg Right
One-arm curl (with barbell, not dumbell) - 1@ 27.5kg Left & Right
(these are anomalous, press should be higher than curl )

Objectives for year :-

 3 x Pistol squats on bosu ball each leg ( can do pistols with 12kg counter-balance on step)
Bench at body-weight ( difficult to measure since I don't weigh myself becos' it only depresses me!  80kg would be more than enough tho')
Be "muscle-up-ready" - difficult to actually do a mu 'cos all my gyms have low ceilings!
3 x one-arm pushups in good form, each arm.

(provisional)

[itsbruce]

It took me months of dedicated effort to squat 1.5xbodyweight; 3 heavy sessions a week, weights increasing each time (unless I failed 5x5 at the current weight), stalling, deloading, ramping up again.  I don't think it takes a hod carrier that long or that much effort to reach a useful output. Just as well, since their *baseline* work rate is shifting 2000 bricks a day.

[Rich753]

I've always found comments like that ("you're shit unless you can lift 2x body weight" etc.) to be particularly unhelpful. 

Totally agree.  Unhelpful and irrelevant.  Tho' perhaps a smiley at the end might have made it seem tongue in cheek?

BTW there are tables than translate (approximately) a multi-rep max into a one-rep max.  There are not perfect, becos' folks doing reps often don't lift to max, and I suspect are flaky at high reps.

So a 5 @ 135 DL would suggest a 1-rep max of 154kg, and 10 @ 75 squat gives 1-rep max of 100kg.

[Manotea]

Approaching the squat rack (Smith Machine) before Christmas to try some squats for the first time in, um, 20 years, I thought I'd start with about 50k. Starting the second set I realised I was just about to do something seriously bad to my hamstrings and stopped Just In Time. I had another go after a few weeks of free (no weight) squats and was safely lifting around 50k but rather got distracted wth C2 challenges and havent really touched any weights since, so I'd haveto start again. 20 years ago i was squatting and benching around 80kg/my body weight using free weights as x8 sets. Never went for a max so no bragging rights for me.

[andygates]

It's the sheer speed as well as the flexibility on Oly lifting that seems to vex me.  I can get stuff up but getting under it fast enough ... nah.  Not yet, anyway!

I'm changing my routine at the mo: for years I've dabbled with pretty ordinary gym-rat 3-way splits and such and for years skipped sessions, got distracted, and so on.  Currently I'm doing a two session high-impact routine that's almost embarrassingly short.  Just two sessions a week means I haven't missed 'em yet.    What I really want to do is bring my upper body strength  up to my lower body and back.  Bodyweight bench is a winter-spring goal.  

Best lifts? 185kg deadlift last winter , 160kg squat (historic, back in the days of teh fatz).  I haven't tried a bench max in ages but it the calculators suggest 75kg.  Want to test that sometime soon.

Jasmine: Nice deadlift, girl.  

[Jasmine]

Why thankyou 

It's a bit embrassing though to be able to haul 95 kg for 8 reps and then have to bench 30 kg to be able to get more than 5 reps.  Quads of steel, arms like twigs.

The short routine might work though.  I train with a guy who is quite happy to do 15 minute sessions.  He will occasionally go just to deadlift *or* squat, nothing else, but with big big weight.  I've seen him deadlift 200 kg, but his PB is apparently 260    (I should add that in his youth he was a Welsh junior powerlifting champion, so not your average joe!) 

[andygates]

I share the same performance-split as you, so I blame cycling! 

A session all chalked up chasing maxes is a pure and beautiful thing.  Not for everyone, granted, but it has a simplicity that's hard to fault.

[Jakob]

Is that your 1-rep max or under some other conditions? 

It's my max under whatever conditions .

The O-lifts are currently tested at the end of the session, as the coach is slowly pushing up the weights to find my max.
I'm still power-snatching/cleaning when I go for max, so the strength is there to loads more...just need to get the technique down.
I'm really digging the O-lifting at the moment, partly because of it's technical difficulty, but also that I think that the skills learned there (explosive moment, proper utilization of the hips ) are hugely beneficial for my kendo.

[Jakob]

I share the same performance-split as you, so I blame cycling! 

I had exactly the same issue when I started CF. (Still is, to some extent).

AC joint injury now also limits me from most upper body work, unless it's straight lifting (So no push-up, pull-ups and limited in press), which doesn't help the imbalance.

[jogler]

atmI feel like I'm weight lifting when I get out of bed in a morning

[Rich753]

My guess is that most on this forum will have the same performance split - by definition almost, since cyclists don't really work their upper body too much.

I've just started doing cleans and can't get them right - I'm doing a melange of low pull followed by a reverse curl, so bar traces two arcs instead of vertical line.  As AG and Jacob allude - getting the explosive power applied correctly with the hip thrust will be a big win.  A couple of good ones felt soooo easy, and give me faith I will get there in the end   

[Flying_Monkey]

My guess is that most on this forum will have the same performance split - by definition almost, since cyclists don't really work their upper body too much.

Absolutely. Back when I did judo and kung-fu and I had much more powerful shoulders in particular (as well as core and leg strength). I wasn't as 'fit' though and was carrying extra weight. These days my power is all in my legs, I am fitter (slightly overweight just at the moment, but that's temporary), and my upper body strength has gone.

[itsbruce]

I started strength training specifically to improve upper body strength.  Irony was that the first thing a decent programme does is build up your legs (all those squats) and I had strong legs to begin with.  It was a while later before there was any noticeable effect on my upper body.

Still, squatter's quads are handy things to have when you're powering up hills on fixed

[Jakob]

I've just started doing cleans and can't get them right - I'm doing a melange of low pull followed by a reverse curl, so bar traces two arcs instead of vertical line. 

One exercise that's good for that is doing pulls from the hang position (bar just above the knees).
That way you can't cheat with the initial momentum and have to use your hips in order to pull it up, especially as the weight increases.

We also break it down into segments and then combine them, so for one weight we'll do:
-deadlift
-pull from hang.
-clean from hang
-clean from floor.
-jerk x 3

We'll go up to 85-90% of 1RM.

[Rich753]

That's helpful, thanks.

Think I might try something like that next week - especially the hip-snap.  My coach notes that I'm using my arms too early - keep them straight until weight is well and truly on the move!

[andygates]

There, that's 20xbw deadlift.   

[Jasmine]

There, that's 20xbw deadlift.   

  Typo?

[andygates]

20 reps!

Good lord, the world record is only 5x bw! 

[Jasmine]

Ah ha.  Yes, that makes more sense.  I thought you'd gone mad on the steroids then!  Congrats.  

I watched a programme on channel 4 a while ago about paralympic weightlifting (C4 have a whole series of paralympic shows in the run up to the 2012 games - shame it's only once a week for 30 mins, but better than nothing), where there was a section comparing the weight lifted by the top male able bodied lifter in the UK and the top UK paralympic lifters.

The comparison was between a guy who weighed something like 120 kg and a powerlifter with dwarfism, Adam Alderman.  Adam is 48 kg and can benchpress 137 kg   and was deadlifting 3x bodyweight on the show.  It was totally mental.  His power to weight ratio was way over the able bodied guy.

[itsbruce]

His power to weight ration would to be odd.  Dwarfism usually creates bodies with distorted proportions.  If he were a midget, with ordinary proportions, it would be a different story.