ExRx.net

So the periodontist said my gums are "amazing" and I can start lifting earlier than 2 months. So yesterday I got started. And speaking of life events. * Last child went to college - empty next * Death in the family (not to make light, but you have to see some humor in these things) * Even the ex-wif...

"All major life events are concluded (ha, I am tempting fate with that one)," aaaaaannnnnddddd.... Dental surgery. Extremely sensitive to blood pressure changes. I ask the periodontist, when can I lift weights? He asks, "well, do you lift heavy?" So I start describing max effort deadlifts, some peo...

Sun 10-July-2016 Do or Die Program, 5 plate deadlift or bust. OVERHEAD PRESS [ Welcome back, 10 weeks since last serious workout ] My Version of Super Sets I do a pull set after each push set, with about 2 minutes rest between sets, so the exercises below actually went like this: OHP - pulldown - OH...

A few years ago I committed to a 5 plate deadlift, which seemed very do-able then. This was in 2012 or so, and I peaked at: Nov 2012: 455 Feb 2014: 465 Yeah, and I've only matched 465 once since then, and here it is half way through 2016. It is time to do or die. I'm planning my entire program aroun...

Sat 9-July-2016 Do or Die Program, 5 plate deadlift or bust. DEADLIFT [ Welcome back, 10 weeks since last serious workout ] Deadlift 345: 4, 4, 4 Lesson: I'm losing tightness going down to the bar, which may be what is causing the habitual over-use of lower back. All technique work will be about how...

Hi Doc I really don't think this one was sleep or diet, those have been fairly constant.

It is humbling to get such a gain from a simple technique improvement, but also hopeful - perhaps there are more waiting?

So this is nuts. I do NOT think the strategy takes credit for this: My progress on this set/rep scheme over 3 workouts: 2/25/16 190: 6-5-5-5 5-5-5-5 2/28/16 195: 5-5-5-4 3-3-3-2 3/06/16 205: 4-5-5-4 4-4-3-3 wtf??? Then today I beat my 4 year plateau 1RM by 10# or almost 5% to hit 230 then 235 5 minu...

Bench Press: 230, 5# improvement

Then 5 minutes later: 235, for a 10# improvement over a plateau that lasted 4 years.

I will have to add some details to this thread: http://exrx.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9940" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I just used a plain old plank for years. Sometimes I'd drape a towel over it if I wasn't wearing a shirt.

Use your imagination Doc. I think that's what they are supposed to stimulate anyway.

I think he changed his mind already :)

Sounds like it comes down to heavy singles versus sets across. They do not exclude each other. The question would be, if sets across as described above creates a stimulus in 4-6 rep range (as I'm hoping it does but time will tell), heavy doubles and single will still have to be worked in. My instinc...

Phil, Thanks for the reply. I gave 5/3/1 my all and it did not work for me in terms of 1RM and corresponding competition totals, though I learned a lot about what you can really do by trying for those all out sets. But this is one of those things where your mileage my vary. If somebody is reading th...

Is this your first plateau in your year of lifting? If not, what did you do last time? Also, personally I up the weight when I get past 12 reps on pulldowns. Also: are you familiar with the advice to focus on strength first, then build size? In that school of thought, if size is your goal, you would...

Doc, my instinct is to vary the weight to put some variety to the stimulus. The two best things I did for my numbers were quit smoking and quit programming. The next workout will be whatever seems right that day. My instinct right now is to add five pounds and try for triples across by not getting g...