Wednesday 21 November 2012

Legs

Only two routines this morning, but good results for both.

Back squats (a2g)
135 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 5
195 x 3 (PR)

My weight increase progression is usually quite erratic, simply based on how I feel. Today, I deliberately increased the weight by no more than 10lb each set (other than after the first one), and that seemed to work quite well because I didn't feel a sudden jump in weight at the start of each round.

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Similarly, I changed the way I approach weight progression for the next routine. I've struggled to increase my 1RM for deadlifts for a while now - which was 320lb - and I was starting to get frustrated by this because I didn't know what I could change. I googled "1 rep max deadlift" yesterday and found a forum discussion about how to warm up for a 1RM. I tried one of the suggestions today (the first answer in the forum), which is based on a 10% weight increase each set and the number of reps decreasing gradually, with the aim of hitting a specific weight. My target was 325lb.

Deadlift
5 x 30% = 100lb
5 x 40% = 130lb
3 x 50% = 165lb
3 x 60% = 195lb
2 x 70% = 230lb
2 x 80% = 260lb
1 x 90% = 290lb
1 x 95% = 310lb
1 x 100% = 325lb


Finally - a new deadlift PR! When I sat down afterward, I had a huge, goofy grin like the Cheshire Cat. Before when I've attempted 325lb, it's been a struggle to even get the weight off the ground. However, today felt much more comfortable. I can see in the video that my form isn't perfect; there's a bit of back arching, which isn't good, of course, but I don't think it was horrendous. I felt like I could have attempted another 5lb increase, but I didn't want to push my luck. Another change I made today was going back to lifting in my socks so that my feet were completely flat on the ground.

Like I said, only two routines today, but I'm very happy with the results.

3 comments:

Paul French said...

I like that approach to how you did the deadlifts, sometimes with certain exercises I think one can waste energy at sets by only making small increases. Today you made much bigger jumps than usual, in the one case adding 50 pounds, and it worked for you.

http://paulsfitnessblog.blogspot.ca/2012/10/legs.html

If you see there, I got up to over 400 pounds very quickly, and have done that on deadlifts several times. It does seem to work well so when you are attempting that max weight you didn't waste as much energy on the lighter sets. Yes there was a little rounding, but not bad, and 325 didn't look like a 1RM either.

Common Sense Design said...

Do you think this approach will work with other lifts - such as a 1RM bench press?

Paul French said...

As long as you are properly warmed up then I'd say yes.

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