At what point does one stop adding weight when weightlifting

[TameRacingDriver]

I was thinking along the lines of this to start off with... these 300 style workouts might be a bit much for me at the moment lol

https://vitals.lifehacker.com/this-barbell-workout...

[didelydoo]

TameRacingDriver said:

I was thinking along the lines of this to start off with... these 300 style workouts might be a bit much for me at the moment lol

https://vitals.lifehacker.com/this-barbell-workout...

What ever you do, do it with passion, purpose and enjoy it- Grinding away doing something your heart isn't in will never go well.

[wombleh]

I've done 5x5 and PHUL in the past but I'm more into getting strong and fit than big. Have recently come across the Tactical Conditioning & Tactical Barbell books which I'm now following. The idea is to have a routine that builds strength & aerobic capacity for people who do more than just go to the gym, e.g. forces, police, other active work or martial arts, etc. It doesn't do sets to failure so you're not knackered afterwards and can still do things, but still builds strength. Sounds quite promising but too early to see if it works for me yet, maybe worth a look.

[TameRacingDriver]

didelydoo said:

What ever you do, do it with passion, purpose and enjoy it- Grinding away doing something your heart isn't in will never go well.

Yes you're right about that. Part of the reason I've become bored with the stronglifts type routine from before is because it's the same all the time and add to my lack of progress realistically it was only heading one way.

[TameRacingDriver]

wombleh said:

I've done 5x5 and PHUL in the past but I'm more into getting strong and fit than big. Have recently come across the Tactical Conditioning & Tactical Barbell books which I'm now following. The idea is to have a routine that builds strength & aerobic capacity for people who do more than just go to the gym, e.g. forces, police, other active work or martial arts, etc. It doesn't do sets to failure so you're not knackered afterwards and can still do things, but still builds strength. Sounds quite promising but too early to see if it works for me yet, maybe worth a look.

Thanks for the suggestion I may have a look at this.

[Kewy]

May be a silly question from a bit of a novice here, but when people say 'you can bench Xkg' – do they mean sets or just lift?

Because I have no idea what I'm physically capable of lifting, but I can bench around 65kg if we're talking 3 sets of 10...

Might do my own thread on here in the next couple of weeks to get some tips, been training for about 2 years now (no real goal other than to trim up and stay fit), but I'm getting extremely bored of the same routines now. Need some inspiration before I lose motivation, have already dropped from gyming it 5 times a week to 3-4 times a week. Don't really want to go lower.

[RTB]

Kewy said:

May be a silly question from a bit of a novice here, but when people say 'you can bench Xkg' – do they mean sets or just lift?

People usually talk in terms of 1 rep maximum when answering the question "how much do you bench?"

A lot of strength programmes work off 5 rep maximum which I think gives a much better idea of a persons overall strength and conditioning.

[MC Bodge]

TameRacingDriver said:

Yes you're right about that. Part of the reason I've become bored with the stronglifts type routine from before is because it's the same all the time and add to my lack of progress realistically it was only heading one way.

I would definitely suggest that you leave the barbells alone for a bit and do some bodyweight exercises and maybe kettlebells, sandbags, medicine balls etc.

You might enjoy it more too.

[gregs656]

TameRacingDriver said:

Yes you're right about that. Part of the reason I've become bored with the stronglifts type routine from before is because it's the same all the time and add to my lack of progress realistically it was only heading one way.

One of the good things about callisthenics from my POV is that you can progress through exercises for a long time - the fundamentals are consistent but there is huge variety in push ups, pull ups, dips, ring work etc to keep things fresh. Plus you can move into weighted callisthenics and mix it up with barbell and isolation work.

That’s before you even start thinking about developing skills like human flag, handstands, levers etc

It’s fun.

[popeyewhite]

MC Bodge said:

Static strength in one plane of motion like a bench press is arguably of little use unless you are a powerlifter.

I note you said "arguably", but I'd like to add that any pushing movement will use the same muscles as a bench press. From pushing a door shut to a basic Judo dismount, from wielding a cricket bat to hitting a punchbag. Injure your pec in training and try to turn the wheel in your car and you'll soon find out how 'functional' chest muscle and other bench press ancillaries are.

[Kewy]

RTB said:

Kewy said:

May be a silly question from a bit of a novice here, but when people say 'you can bench Xkg' – do they mean sets or just lift?

People usually talk in terms of 1 rep maximum when answering the question "how much do you bench?"

A lot of strength programmes work off 5 rep maximum which I think gives a much better idea of a persons overall strength and conditioning.

Thanks, that's a bit more reassuring!

[MC Bodge]

popeyewhite said:

I note you said "arguably", but I'd like to add that any pushing movement will use the same muscles as a bench press. From pushing a door shut to a basic Judo dismount, from wielding a cricket bat to hitting a punchbag. Injure your pec in training and try to turn the wheel in your car and you'll soon find out how 'functional' chest muscle and other bench press ancillaries are.

I know that, but I was just making the point that bench press (and similarly for other standard barbell lifts) is not the be all and end all of pressing movements, unless competing in it.

I was encouraging TameRacingDriver to try other things.

Farmers, road workers and removal men are often strong without doing barbell exercises.

[popeyewhite]

MC Bodge said:

popeyewhite said:

I note you said "arguably", but I'd like to add that any pushing movement will use the same muscles as a bench press. From pushing a door shut to a basic Judo dismount, from wielding a cricket bat to hitting a punchbag. Injure your pec in training and try to turn the wheel in your car and you'll soon find out how 'functional' chest muscle and other bench press ancillaries are.

I know that, but I was just making the point that bench press (and similarly for other standard barbell lifts) is not the be all and end all of pressing movements, unless competing in it.

I was encouraging TameRacingDriver to try other things.

Farmers, road workers and removal men are often strong without doing barbell exercises.

The local furniture delivery boys train at the same gym as me.

[Terzo123]

RTB said:

Kewy said:

May be a silly question from a bit of a novice here, but when people say 'you can bench Xkg' – do they mean sets or just lift?

People usually talk in terms of 1 rep maximum when answering the question "how much do you bench?"

I didn't know that, and its something i've never found out the answer to.

As a young pup i could throw about 60kg as a warm up, then 10 x 90, 10 x 80, 10 x 70 then 60 to fail. Probably not an ideal routine, but didn;t know any better back then.

20 years or so later after a little break, I tried 60kg. Failed miserbly to complete three sets of 10. A week later, im just about there.

[RTB]

Terzo123 said:

I didn't know that, and its something i've never found out the answer to.

As a young pup i could throw about 60kg as a warm up, then 10 x 90, 10 x 80, 10 x 70 then 60 to fail. Probably not an ideal routine, but didn;t know any better back then.

20 years or so later after a little break, I tried 60kg. Failed miserbly to complete three sets of 10. A week later, im just about there.

I do quite a bit a strength work but rarely do any 1RM. I do quite a few little challenges like how many body weight bench presses can I do in 5 or 10 minutes which keeps it fun. It's amazing how quickly you can progress if you keep mixing things up a bit.

I watch NFL quite a lot and during the selection process (the combine) they have a number of different tests one of which is how many 220lb (100kg) bench presses they can do. The average is around 14 or 15 reps (I can manage 11 reps, which isn't bad for an old man). The record is 49 reps! I

[Halb]

I like that test, I used to be able to get in the mid-high 20s.

[RTB]

Halb said:

I like that test, I used to be able to get in the mid-high 20s.

That's impressive, it would put you towards the upper end of the NFL draft. Can you run 40 yards in under 5 seconds though?

I don't do the 100kg test very often but everytime I do I always think I should do it more and then forget for 3 months.

Here's a question that's relevant to the topic:

Say I wanted to get 25 reps at 100kg would I be better finding my current 25 rep max (say 70kg) and adding weight each week, or would I be better sticking at 100kg x 11 and trying to add a rep every week? I feel like the first approach would be best but I don't know why I think that.

[didelydoo]

RTB said:

That's impressive, it would put you towards the upper end of the NFL draft. Can you run 40 yards in under 5 seconds though?

I don't do the 100kg test very often but everytime I do I always think I should do it more and then forget for 3 months.

Here's a question that's relevant to the topic:

Say I wanted to get 25 reps at 100kg would I be better finding my current 25 rep max (say 70kg) and adding weight each week, or would I be better sticking at 100kg x 11 and trying to add a rep every week? I feel like the first approach would be best but I don't know why I think that.

I'd focus on bringing up your 1, 3 & 5 rep maxes, and do reps as a finisher each session to keep endurance.

[Regiment]

RTB said:

That's impressive, it would put you towards the upper end of the NFL draft. Can you run 40 yards in under 5 seconds though?

I don't do the 100kg test very often but everytime I do I always think I should do it more and then forget for 3 months.

Here's a question that's relevant to the topic:

Say I wanted to get 25 reps at 100kg would I be better finding my current 25 rep max (say 70kg) and adding weight each week, or would I be better sticking at 100kg x 11 and trying to add a rep every week? I feel like the first approach would be best but I don't know why I think that.

The one thing i do that might come in handy for you is a 5/3/1 program called Boring But Big.

On a Saturday, i do a 5/3/1 Bench program to build up my bench strength and then on a Wednesday i do 5x10 for bench press at a percentage of my bench max. You can alter the program a bit or do something similar, so one day you do low reps/high weight and then do the opposite a few days later of high reps/low weight.

Back when i first started lifting, i also did 3 x 8 - 12 of bench press. As soon as i could get 3 sets of atleast 8, i would up the weight the next week. That was when i was doing the bro/BB split of Chest/Triceps, Back/Biceps, Legs/Shoulders.

[RTB]

Regiment said:

The one thing i do that might come in handy for you is a 5/3/1 program called Boring But Big.

I was doing boring but big up to July, since then I've been doing Texas Method which has been good, although probably not for getting heavy and high reps.

I think I might finish this TM cycle and then have a go at an adapted BBB programme as I really enjoyed BBB; it certainly put a bit of muscle on me.