08.01.05
Comment on Oh, Those Evil Supplements!
MALE PATTERN FITNESS: Comment on Oh, Those Evil Supplements!:
Nothing in particular I want to quote or say… just “ditto”. Go read the post, it’s good stuff.
Workout 2005-07-31
I’m gonna sleep well tonight.
I actually slacked off all week. I’ll call it a premature, unplanned break week. I had planned a break week soon, anyway, and work caught up with me so I wasn’t making the time for my workouts. I suppose, if I was going to take a rest week soon, this past week was the week to do it.
In any case, I made myself do some max tests today rather than just pick one of the 3 lifting workouts I do in a week. I’m glad I did. The huge gains I’ve made in the last month lend some credence to the theory that I’m maintaining (or gaining) weight because of muscle. That and the bigger forearms and popping muscles help me remember that I’m not just duping myself.
It also takes the edge off of the fact that the damnable scale told me 300 today. That’s mostly from last night’s heavy drinking for a friend’s going away party. 
In any case, this is what I managed to do during today’s workout. I’m impressed with myself.
(I’m leaving out the warmup sets.)
Squat 185#x12
Wide grip bench press 150#x13
Romanian deadlift 150#x12
Underhand-grip bent-over row (barbell) 150#x4
Obviously these aren’t one rep max tests, but just finding out how many times I could lift the particular weight. From experience, the various formulas out there for estimating 1RM are fairly accurate for me.
Now what these numbers were about a month ago…
Squat 135#x8 (on July 3rd)
Wide grip bench press 135#x8 (June 23rd)
Romanian deadlift 135#x8 (on July 3rd)
Underhand-grip bent-over row (barbell) 95#x8 (on June 23rd)
So estimating 1RM from those numbers gives me a 75% increase in squat, 33% increase in bench and romanian deadlift, and a 40% increase in the row. I think the fact that I’m recovering from a torn quad and hamstring is the reason for the huge increase in my squat. It’s back up to (estimated) 275. My all-time one rep max is 305 so I’m close to getting back there.
I should be able to hit over 200 on bench, though in the past estimates have put me there and I just couldn’t get past 190. I’m making that a goal for August. I hope to bench (any kind) 200 or over at least once. I suspect I’ve identified my arms as the weak point and using a wide grip helps that issue a bit. I’ve certainly never been able to do 13 reps with 150 pounds before with a regular grip bench press.