“Alls ya need to do to get strong is yer knee bendin’, yer bar liftin’, and yer bar pressin’.”
We got most of everyone’s PR’s in our comments the other day. If you haven’t done that, you can post them today. However, Friday is now going to be known as PR Friday. Post the improvements you made throughout the week whether they be in weight lifted, reps, bodyweight increase, or eating PR’s. If you made some kind of improvement this week towards getting stronger or yoked, I wanna hear about it.
Note: Somebody tell Anthony from Washington state that he should have already gained 5 pounds. Also, Scott from the Inner City Gym needs to send me an e-mail (forgot to get it in Washington).
———-
The rest of the post was written by Gant.
Today’s spotlight is on Arden Cogar, Jr., a Timbersports champion and a hell of a nice guy. He has been 70’s Big since, well, pretty much the seventies. He was 14 when he squeezed himself into a size 48 jacket. As an adult, he sports a 13.5 shoe and wears a size 13 ring (which would be a collar to most 90s small guys).
Arden has been a fixture on the professional lumberjack circuit for over 30 years. If you haven’t been watching manly programming (perhaps you’re 90s small and have been watching Glee), you might have missed ESPN’s Stihl Timbersports, a series of lumberjack events that challenge competitors to chop, cut, and saw their way through white pine as fast as they can.
To date, Arden has won 47 world titles in lumberjack sports, including the U.S. Stihl Timbersports Championships three times in the past four years. He is the current Captain of the U.S. National Lumberjack Team.
He came into this the old fashioned way, through his family. His 75 year old father, himself a legend in the sport, is a retired logger who spent over 50 years in the woods. Arden Sr. instilled a work ethic in his son that sticks with him today.
In addition to his dad, his four uncles participated in Timber Sports for many years, and they passed it on to their sons. Currently, there are over 20 members of the Cogar family who are active in some facet of Timber Sports.
Standing Block Chop
How long have you been competing in lumberjack sports?
Last weekend I wrapped up my 31st year competing in professional lumberjack sports. I started at age 8 when my father put modified chain saws in my hands. I started chopping and sawing when I was 12. I became the youngest participant ever in ESPN’s Stihl Timbersports Series at age 17.
What is your training background?
I started lifting weights when I was 12. I competed in my first bench press contest when I was 14. I competed in my first three lift powerlifting contest when I was 17. I stopped power lifting when I realized I would have needed to turn to “the dark side” in order to remain competitive. For the next 14 years, I did “power bodybuilding” until I was introduced to Crossfit. I then started doing more “metabolic conditioning” workouts to make myself fitter and tougher. Through Crossfit I fell in love with the Olympic lifts. Through that love for the Olympic lifts, I was introduced to my current coach, Randy Hauer, who has completely revamped my entire training protocol.
Through Randy’s diligence, I’ve made more progress in the past two years (as a middle aged man), than I did in the previous 20. I’ve turned my event training sessions into my metabolic conditioning sessions and my weight training is now speed and speed strength based.
Editor’s note: Before any of you Crossfitters think Arden is building off-season GPP by doing Fran, snatching PVC, or taking pictures of himself doing handstands in public, think again. Here is Arden’s idea of a conditioning workout:
BABE THE BLUE OX workout
How has this change in training philosophy helped you?
My weight training has gone from “grunting and getting hurt” as I settled into middle aged to “halfway grunting for a week, resting a week but still lifting; three quarters grunting for a week, resting a week but still lifting; 4/5’s grunting for a week, resting a week but still lifting, back to half way grunting.” Training this way has allowed me to make more progress in the past two years (at age 38 and 39) than I did the previous 20 years combined.
Moreover, Coach Randy has done the same sort of lay out with my event training, that keeps me chomping at the bit to train more than what he’s allotted for me. The heaviest times of the year are the Fall and Spring, but I only do what he says and it has kept my performances ever improving.
I love it. I’m totally looking forward to my 40s and I think the sky’s the limit.
How do you train for your sport?
My training for Timber Sports events is sports specific. We have various disciplines in the sport that require use of the axe, the crosscut saw, and the chainsaw. I train those events as though I were doing them in competition. I do not however, use my best equipment when I train. I do try and simulate the events that I’m training for – in other words, If I am cutting a 12″ white pine at a contest and I estimate it will take me 16 hits and 15 seconds to cut the log – I will train the log to be cut in 16 hits and 15 seconds.
The volume of my training and the “perceived intensity” of my training varies depending upon the time of the year. When in my off season my volume is higher, but my “perceived intensity” is lower. When the season rolls around my perceived intensity increases as I get myself race ready; my volume of training drops somewhat. During the season, my perceived intensity is still high, but my overall volume of event work is limited.
Numbers time. Any cool feats of strength you’d like to talk about?
I’m a natural puller. I could deadlift a lot of weight at a very young age. The most I’ve ever singled was 775 (I can do a lot more, but I have no interest in trying). Last Christmas I pulled 615 for 9. My goal is to do it for 10 this Christmas. I’ve back squatted well into the 600s. And, at 39, I can still dunk a volley ball; not bad considering I’m very under tall. I can also still do 20 consecutive dead hang pull ups with little or no effort (and never training them).
You have recently started training the Olympic lifts. How are those going?
Currently, my best squat clean is about 150 to 155 (but I can see that increasing quite a bit as my technique improves), my best power snatch is about 110 (I’m still mastering the squat snatch), my best overhead squat is about 140.
How does one become a professional lumberjack?
Getting involved in Timber Sports is an expensive endeavor. If a person is willing to invest the money in the equipment and the time into training, they can be very successful in the sport. The contests are all over the world and we have various levels of competition (novice, intermediate, professional and masters). There are also events completely and exclusively for women and younger athletes. The axes cost about $400 a piece; the crosscut saws cost about $1,500 a piece; and the modified chainsaws cost about $4,000 a piece. So it’s in expensive endeavor. But the contests offer prize money that can result, through diligence and training, enough placings to pay for the equipment and the costs of travel.
Right now, there is a big push on the collegiate level by Stihl which has resulted in a great influx of very good young competitors. Stihl has recently sponsored the Collegiate Timbersports Series which is aired on ESPN U. There are over 400 universities and colleges in the United States that have Forestry programs that have Forestry Clubs and Woodsmens’ Teams. These college lumberjacks or timber sports athletes are building the future of U.S. Timbersports.
For a person who’s not in college, the best way to learn about the sport is to contact someone such as myself or another professional. Most of us are very wiling to share what we know about the sport because we see it as a hobby that we want to preserve and share with the world. Tons of people have offered to pay me to train them and I’ve turned it down every time because it would take the fun of the sport for me. My father trained hundreds of competitors over the years. He told them everything he knew because he wanted them to beat him. He wanted them to make him work harder so he would become better. I live by the same adage.
I’ve noticed that not all lumberjacks are 70s Big. What kind of physical skills do you need for this sport?
The physical attributes for good Timber Sports athletes are all over the place. While physical size is a plus, it is not the true indication of success. My father was 5’7’ 200 pounds during his prime years in the sport. I’m not much taller at 5’11″. A lot of today’s top athletes are very tall and rangy. One of the best axemen in the world is 5’10″ and weighs 135 – or a little over 60 kilos. I weigh nearly twice as much as he does, yet he can drive an axe in as deeply as I can. I am much physically stronger, but his timing and technique is absolutely perfect.
The true test is perfecting technique while continuing to become stronger and more athletic. That is my challenge and one I hope to master in the upcoming years.
What should the readers know about Timbersports?
Timber Sports is a wonderful family oriented sport that has it’s roots in hard work and sweat. Many people who watch a Timber Sports event say, “wow, that looks like a lot of work.” Simply put, it is. It’s great fitness and a great event that celebrates a rich logging and lumbering history that is the basis for the infrastructure of what is today the United States.
Thanks for talking with us. Any parting thoughts?
To quote a good friend and 2006 World’s Strongest Man, Phil Pfister, – “Alls ya need to do to get strong is yer knee bendin’, yer bar liftin’, and yer bar pressin’.”
Working the hotsaw at the 2009 finals.
How can you pull 775 with a lot more in the tank and never find out how much!? That is one strong dude, good find Gant!
Arden Cogar!!! I can remember watching that guy on ESPN when I was little. Man, what a hoss. His training seems really very interesting. He”s obviously got a coach who really knows his stuff and understands what Arden wants to accomplish. His vertical jump must be awesome if he can dunk a volleyball and he is only 5” 10″. Heading to the rack everyone lift something heavy today.
Great article. I wonder if the crossfitters would talk shit about Ardens use of straps and his sumo deads…..
Friday PR day – 6-1, 35 y/o
BW – 230 lbs (most ever – I”m getting fat)
BS – 270 x 3 x 5
BP – 180 x 3 x 5
PC – 165 x 5 x 3
DL – 345 x 1 x 5
SP – 125 x 3 x 5 (missed last rep)
Oh yea…My deads have been stalling/regressing lately and my squat is in danger of catching up so I decided to switch up my programming a bit.I am currently doing an advanced novice program as described in PP2.I began programming my deads on Wednesday”s light squat day and it worked.
DL 1*5 395lbs – PR
Not really PRs on anything, but I did the following last night:
180x3x5 – squat
115x3x5 – press
135x5x3 – PC
This was just my second workout after a 3 week downtime. I just couldn”t wait any longer. Everything was pretty light, which I guess is good since it”s only the second workout.
My BW however is up to 204. I”ve gained 3 pounds since Tuesday. I love eating.
Including some farting around with MEBB black box, then WItchita Falls crossfit, then SS only, in 3.5 months:
BW 83kg > 97kg
BS 85kg > 120kg (after a reset – still working up)
DL 125kg > 155kg
BP 75kg > 92.5kg
PC 67.5kg > 75kg
P 52.5kg > 66kg
Looking back over my progress, it”s frustrating. I could have been so much stronger by now if I”d gone straight to SS only. My PC is bad because I haven”t been able to get my form down. Anyway, there you have it.
love this site. got into SS a little more than a few months ago from watching dvds of rippetoe teaching form for SS exercises. since then its been pretty much uphill till my squats stalled at 300. i looked at this site and the direct effect was for me to start eating. my progress this week has been pretty solid.
squat 295-310
PC 185-190
DL 315
press 145-150
bench 240-250
chins 3×8
extensions-3×12
thanks SS and 70s big
I started trying to get 70s Big after Rips Barbell Certification in Omaha on October 24-25. Since then I”ve made alot of progress as far as strength, bodyweight and amount of food. The first numbers are what I lifted at the cert.
Bodyweight=185lb Now=197lb
Squat= 185×5 Now = 255×5
Press= 115×5 Now = 135×5
Deadlift= 250×5 No= 325×5
Power Clean= 135×5 Now= 185×5
Bench= 195×5 Now= 205×5
My jeans and shirts are getting tight :-)
I want to reiterate how good a guy Arden is. He is always has a word of advice or encouragement for lifters at any level.
I omitted some items from my post to make it flow a little better. One of those things was a cool discussion about the role Arden”s dad played in his training, sport, and life. Here it is:
“Right before I started kindergarten I can remember hating to stay home with my mother. I begged my father to let me come to work with him. He told me I could under one condition – I had to work. If I was going to work with him, I wasn”t going to play all day. Everyone there was working and so would I.
At the age of six, my job during the summer months was lugging culled pieces of timber from the log landing to an area where my father could split them for firewood. Once the wood was split, I would load it onto his truck. When I got bigger and stronger, I started splitting the logs myself. Eventually, I started doing more strenuous logging related activities.
The whole time my father told me “this type of work is not for you. You can be a doctor or lawyer. Pick one. But for now, I want you to know what work is, so you won”t want to do it when you”re older.”
Looking back, he said that to me a least a thousand times. At the time I didn”t know what he was doing. Now I do. And I”m thankful for his lesson. A wonderful lesson in life.”
This week”s notables:
* Gained 4 lbs. (same scale) in one evening last weekend. That was accomplished with a half rack of ribs, some pork loin, and 3 pieces of chocolate cake.
* Ripped my favorite pair of jeans while getting in the bed of my truck. Ripped a pair of shorts warming up for DLs.
* Squatted 330×10
* Pressed 170×9
* Deadlifted 405×10
PR Friday time:
Bodyweight springtime – 161 lbs
Bodyweight now – 179.5 lbs
A pitifully slow increase, but it”s still a BW PR at 5”7″! (I”m eating a bowl of meat and beans right now)
Recent PRs all during training, not peaking
Deadlift – 485 lbs
Bench Press – 275 lbs x 2 – easy
Box Squat – 365 lbs x 2 – easy
One arm kettlebell press – 40 kg x 5 – easy, good for more
Going to shift focus in training and hammer the grip and include more overhead work now. Also need to buy new pants. Maybe just switch to sweat pants every day.
great videos/interview.
I getting a sense of a love/hate towards CF. I realize CF is not condusive to 70s Big, but do you only dislike CF Gyms that that stray from heavey lifting and stick to metcons only or do you dislike all things CF aside from the heavey lifting? Any thoughts on CF Football? Do you guys just do SS/Texas Meethod or do you implement meatbolic conditioning into your training? Just curious.
I think this site in some ways is a way to say strength is the key piece to fitness and to try and remind people of that. People see the CF elite and assume those people got that way strictly with CF. What they don”t realize is pretty much all of those people came into CF with a solid foundation of strength. So let”s go back to the basics and get people big and strong as quickly and efficiently as possible since that will benefit them the most in the long run.
As far as my training I don”t include any met-cons. My training will focus solely on strength until I can do at least a 2x BW squat, 2.5x BW DL, 1.5x BW bench and PC, and a BW press. Until then I will consider myself weak.
Look, the focus of 70sBig is on gaining muscular bodyweight through the acquisition of strength. Period. We”re not here to preach about fitness, or abs, or counting blocks, or shaved chests, or any of that crap.
CF has a stated mission, and it is different than ours. Do we welcome CFers into the fold? Of course we do! But we”re not bending our focus to accommodate someone a guy who spends half of his training time hopping around like a jackass.
Strength is a component of sport (a large component of worthwhile sports). Fitness is another component of sport (not a sport itself). That”s it.
For the record, Justin and I have both posted (what would be considered) elite times in CF benchmark workouts while focusing primarily on strength. And we did this wearing shirts.
We”re not married to any program. Again, consider our mission. Linear progression is typically the best program for a novice to get on the path to 70sBig. CF Football can work for those who also want some GPP. I personally do Wendler”s 531. It works well with my age, injuries, work schedule, and judo training.
Arden is a BEAST! I love watching Timbersports. Those guys are great athletes. I love that the sport is based in a history of hard labor. I grew up working for my dad”s brick/stone/block/concrete masonry company and I”ve always thought that you could make a sport out of the many strength based movements you find on the jobsite. Thanks for the great writeup on a great athlete!
Ryan
@Gant.
Would you do a write up on 5/3/1? I”m looking into it as the next step for me after having fought out the linear progression as far as I”m able. I”m off to the Beacon to eat a double chili cheese aplenty. Pics forthcoming.
Arden is a great guy, I”ve had a little bit of corrospondence with him on the Performance Menu forums and his Youtube channel, he always seems to be in a positive mood and willing to offer advice. Obviously he is strong as hell and a successful athlete.
PR”s this week (3 sets of 5)
Press: 145
Bench: 220
Deadlift: 320 (going for this after work tonight, confident I”ll get it)
5”10 200#
About CrossFit, I think the movement overall is great for fitness and getting people involved in useful training. I”ve been to a number of quality CF gyms across Canada and enjoyed the coaching. There are definitely problems with it,
-The attitude of many affiliates (“elite” fitness bullshit)
– “Coaches” who”s background consists of a level 1 seminar who allow disgustingly bad form to pass on olympic lifts/thrusters (you see this in videos all the time)
– Idiots wearing gloves to do 65# thrusters
– CF”ers talking crap on bodybuilders about how vain they are, then asking questions in the diet forum on how to get 7% bodyfat so they can have visible abs, shaving their chests/arms etc, being scared of GOMAD/strength training because they will lose their visible abs
– Metcon only factories with no logical progression to their programming
– Generally insane crap like Tony Budding comparing the CF games to the olympics (see the games site article a few days ago), this stuff just makes CF look dumb
Another 5-3-1 devotee myself… It suits everything and helps me gain/maintain strength while allowing for a little bit of conditioning to burn some body fat. Don”t need to get 70sBig (currently at 260) now as I have some body fat I need to get rid of but not at the expense of my strength.
5”9″ 170lbs
squat – 255x3x5
bench – 185x3x5
dead lift – 335x1x5
power clean – 115x5x3
press – 120x3x5
I”m working on the body weight part. 170 isn”t cutting it, time to go eat a pound of spaghetti and string cheese.
I like the idea of PR Friday. I already posted my 455×2 BS earlier in the week, but I”m still stoked about it. Also back up over 250lbs and eating like every day is Thanksgiving in preparation for my first PL meet on Dec 5th – trying to hit 260-265 for that, since I”m competing in the 275”s.
6”3 217 and growing as we speak
33 y/o
DL – 265
SQ – 225
Bench – 190
Press – 125
All 3×5”s – weak, I know. Never really trained heavy until now (started 2 weeks ago), but you just wait…
28yo 5”11″
*Started trying to get ”70s Big on October 18th. Began SS later that same week. Started with light weights to build good form with a plan to increase quickly.
As of Thursday(11/12):
BW 165# –> 190#
BS 135# –> 240#
BP 125# –> 180#
PRESS 85# –> 105#
DEADS 185# –> 225#
CLEANS 135# –> 140#
*GOMADing my ass off and my wardrobe is quickly dwindling. My family runs a small creamery business so I have plenty of free access to 18% butterfat milkshakes. I can literally feel mass being added when I down one of those puppies.
*Four weeks in and all I can say is this shit works. As Justin told me: “Eat. Lift. Get Strong.”
Height: 6”0″
Weight: 210
Age: 24
Squat: 230x5x3
Bench: 160x5x3
DL: 255×5
Press: 117x5x3
PC: 135x3x3
Squats just stopped going up 30 lbs per week. My current lifts aren”t impressive, but I”m rebuilding strength post-idiocy.
Well ofcourse a lumberjack is 70s big, they all eat flapjacks for breakfast and have Paul Bunyan as a role model.
5″10
185 lbs
Back Squat 235 5×3
Press 140 5×3
Bench 180 5×3
P Clean 160 3×5
Dead 330 5×1
Not bad for someone who is not an adult male yet. But it could be better, much much better
Long time lurker, first time poster.
35 yrs old. 5”11””. 195lbs.
Squat 185x5x3
Press 110x5x3 (new PR in gym today)
Bench 190x5x3 (Still progressing)
DL 225 5×1
Need to start PL….trying to get my wrists flexible for a legit rack position.
Overall, SS has been a boon. On it for past 2 months and love it. My squats suck ass b/c I had bad form issues due to flexibility, but they are slowing improving.
And Gant, I think you had the most damning critique of CF ever, one that I will hold dear to my heart from here to eternity:
“This is excellent if you want to train with a group of other shirtless males who measure progress by ripped hands and vomit.”
Exxxcccceeeelllleeeent. [tenting hands together]
I live in central Washington and am looking for a squat rack for a home/garage gym I am building. It is tough to find one out here, I got kicked out of my last gym for the oly lifting and CF football workouts I was doing. I dropped 405 DL after the 5th rep, my grip slipped.
Does anyone know where I can get a squat rack in this area, Seattle is ok. Yes I have been combing craigslist.
As far as CF goes, my biggest complaint after doing it for 18 months was that my strength was definately not progressing the way it should for the level that I was working out. I am not built to be a CF top performer, 6”2″ 205#, could easily be 230 plus I love to eat and the Zone does not allow that.
CF football definately does not have that problem so I had been doing more of their workouts until I got kicked out. However, I am very excited to get SS and start focusing more on strength, but will likely keep some CF football workouts.
SS for about a month now. I have layed off of the CF, kind of tough when you own a box. I feel much stronger and healthier and am looking forward to starting some serious Oly training in about 6 more months.
Old/New–three weeks apart!
BW-193/210
BS-300×1/285x5x3sets
DL-390×1/325x5x1set
Press-170×1/160x5x3sets
C/J-225×1
Best gains in the Squat and press.
Dead”s have been lacking, stiil nursing a sore back from a little while back and a little nervous to try anything heavy.
I have layed of the Oly lifts and have decided to get a bit stronger first before picking them back up again.
I have cut back on my CF Met-Cons from about 8-10 WODs a week to about 2.
Happy with the progress. See you guys in Tampa in March.
5”10
197 lbs
Squat: 215 5×3
Dead: 245 5×1
Press: 115 5×3 or 135 5×1
Clean: 140 3×5
Bench: 200 5×1 or 185 5×3
Pullups: 5,4,3
I know my squats and dead numbers arent very good. I injured my hip flexor a while ago and couldnt do any lower body lifts for several months, so Im really trying to get these up.
Question, do you guys think taking 5 lb increases on squats is too small? I feel like it has been working good however, I also feel like my progress is a little to slow.
Would it be worth it to keep making small jumps to avoid stalling? Or should I just put on 10 lbs every time.
Currently Im going for pr”s on mon and fri while keeping wed”s squats at 80%.
Any advice appreciated
msupt –
Here are the plans for the racks that are used at WFAC:
http://www.wfac-gym.com/files/rack_model.pdf
It seems like most people on the forum are being quoted about $500 to build it.
If you”re looking for a rack that you can squat inside of, check out the racks on elitefts.com, you”ll spend more but they are really nice.
BloodAndOi:
Last year I took my squat from 225x5x3 to 295x5x3 in 5-lb jumps at every workout. Later, I lost all that strength by being an idiot. I plan to rebuild it much the same way I did the first time.
Five pound jumps work for the squat, at least if you make these jumps at every workout. I don”t know how they work if you”re making weekly increases because I”m not at that point yet.
Bahadur: “This is excellent if you want to train with a group of other shirtless males who measure progress by ripped hands and vomit.”
Where and when did I say this? I must have been thinking more clearly at that time.
All: Here”s our stance on CF. Hopefully we won”t have to keep rehashing it.
CF is good for people who want to move about and develop some GPP. The people who do it really seem to enjoy the workouts and the community. It works well for women, especially the ones who take low doses of Anavar or Winstrol. It”s a nice gateway drug in that it has introduced many to barbells and Olympic lifts that would otherwise be doing Hammer Strength machines or flogging the dolphin while playing Call of Duty 4.
To us, the concept of elite fitness is silly, as would be concepts of elite balance or elite accuracy. All of those are merely components of sport.
To us, CF is not a sport. However, the people who compete in the various qualifiers and Games are very good athletes who display excellent skills across the board.
To us, “elitist” attitudes have no place in the gym or on this site. I”m just as happy when one of our skinny teenagers puts 45s on the squat bar the first time as I am when Chris squats 500×3 like he did today.
We don”t train “not to suck at life” because that”s too damn vague. And besides, if you have a wallet chain, faux hawk, and avoid Vegas trips because you can”t stay Paleo, you absolutely positively suck at life.
In the end, we”re all just training for something, and we all choose our own path. This one just has big weights, striped socks, facial hair, ripped clothes, and lots of polyester.
Chris thanks for the link
Gant great words
Gant: I don”t know if it was you, but someone named Gant Gimes stated as such on the Rippetoe Q&A forum:
http://www.strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5346&page=2
Disclaimer: I have no exposure to any real CF”ers or anything CF-related outside the internet. I don”t mean to besmirch the whole ”movement”, but what I dislike is the elitist attitude and ”tough guy” personae they try to cultivate. T-shirts with bad-ass slogans for some reason irritate the shit outta me.
Bahadur: That was me.
Brandon: I will do a write-up. There is a lot of info out there already. I”ll tell my side of it and why it works for me.
First time poster. Love the site. Just wanted to say not to judge a whole group based on the obnoxious loud mouths with faux hawks and six packs. There are a lotta good people involved with CrossFit who are interested in strength training, and let”s not forget about CrossFit exposing thousands to barbell exercises, not to mention getting kids interested in picking up heavy stuff at a young age. I found Starting Strength through CrossFit and scoured the CrossFit journal for Rippetoe videos. Some who claim to be Crossfitters get all hopped up on met cons, but these people usually dont know much, and fail to realize that they arent truly “fit” because they have completely neglected to get strong. Anyways thats my two cents. Gonna go finish my milk. By the way, weighed in at 205 today. Up from 192 two weeks ago. Not a BW PR, had got up to 217 in the past, but had a brain fart and had a bad run in with the Zone. That crap didnt work and it stole away my adult maleness….
Ryan, again, we”re not here to bash (well, not only here to bash). Justin and I both did CF. We are technically an affiliate. Rip has traveled the country doing CF barbell certifications. We”ve all douched it up and kissed the guns once or twice in our lives.
We”re here to help trainees through their Post CrossFit(tm) period.
I am officially inspired to get out of the 85kg weight class. Thumbs up for 70s Big.
I’ve been training at WFAC for three weeks now. Before Justin got me started on a proper strength program I was lifting off and on with light weights and higher reps, so I don’t have any good “starting” numbers. But in the past three weeks I’ve gone from 185 to 195 BW. My numbers from Wed and today:
Squat: 245x5x3
Press: 165×5
Bench: 230x5x3
Deadlift: 245×5
I’m still increasing every workout on all lifts. On presses today I had some issue with my balance so I only did one set of five at 165.
Arden is a great guy, nice to see the profile.
Lots of us have PCFSD. I”m usually OK though sometimes I have flashbacks.
I”ve been training since March. Had a lot of setbacks due to inadequate recovery.
March:
BW: 137 lbs
SQ: 75x5x3
DL: 135x5x1
P: 50x5x3
BP: 75x5x3
Now:
BW: 178 lbs
SQ: 275x5x3
DL: 335x5x1
P: 127.5x5x3
BP: 165x5x3
First post here…
Fantastic original content Gant.
Hopefully there is room for total newbs here. Started SS 2 weeks ago, have never lifted weights before in my life.
BW: 192 -> 195
SQ: 105 -> 175 (so much more here in my legs, but hip flexors are sore as a mother.)
DL: 135 -> 215
P: 65 -> 90
BP: 115 -> 127
I probably haven”t gained strength so much as Ive just found my starting limits. I”ll consider the second set of numbers my benchmark from here forward.
Gant, as usual, hit the nail on the head. CrossFit is exercise, not training. This means that any claims that make it more than exercise are erroneous, and we treat them as such.
Gant will do a good job on the 5/3/1 write up, but it should be noted that he chose this because it best fits his current level of adaptation and the training for his sport.
If someone is about to finish the linear progression, a 5/3/1 program would illicit results slower than an alternative program would. Consider it more of an advanced program instead of an intermediate (but context is very important to this statement). If someone is SOLELY concerned with increasing strength as efficiently as they can, and they are moving from the realm of a novice to an intermediate, the 5/3/1 program will not be as useful as an alternative intermediate program.
Made a 5 lbs jump in squat singles and felt pretty good. Hit 5×2 at 235 for bench but missed the last rep (HATE when that happens).
No one has set a PR in food today? No one?
I will start. Ate a PB and honey sandwich during lifting. Left and went to Outback. Today I ran across a $25 giftcard I did not know I had and I blew it all on myself. 20oz steak, sweet potato, vegetables, a loaf of bread. Finished it off with a full glass of milk… and I still am grazing. $27 of Outback gone in the matter of 20 minutes. Glorious.
Tonights dinner: Steak, Breadsticks, Steak, more Steak and a big big glass of milk.
This week”s work sets:
BS: 230
SP: 125
BP: 155
PC: 185
DL: 305
Still well below old numbers, but started light three weeks ago while working back from some shoulder and low back issues.
By the way, all you guys who are squatting below 250 for your work sets are probably not eating enough.
squatted 390x5x3, which was a PR.
also overhead pressed 175x5x3, which was also a PR. that is all.
-J.
“By the way, all you guys who are squatting below 250 for your work sets are probably not eating enough.”
Are you serious? That””s 250 for guys that have been going at this for a while, right?
I’m not sure what you’re asking me (I can’t read your sarcasm if you implied it). They may have come a long way, but I don’t think anybody is near leaving the linear progression in this weight range, regardless of bodyweight.
–Justin