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Thread: How hard is the road from 315# to 405#?

  1. #1
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    Default How hard is the road from 315# to 405#?

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    I'm a 200#, 44yo male, second time on linear progression. I do long distance cycling on the summer and back country on the winter, so cardio monkey/lifting is what I have been doing to stop from ballooning between the seasons. I'm doing a short program (royally fucked up elbows don't like pulling stuff) where I squat, press, and bench.

    The last time my squat got to 245# before cycling season started. This time I decided to delay cycling season so I can hit 315# or else. Linear progression has been going steady, this morning hitting 285# with room to spare because I just threw the belt in for the first time at 275#. I have been gaining bodyweight steadily, and a good chunk of it is actually muscle :}

    As I approach 315# I wonder, how hard is to push it into #405? If you have done it recently or still remember how it was, your feedback would be appreciated.

  2. #2
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    I'm coming back from a back injury and worked back up from 275 to now 345, for shits and giggles I walked out 405 and that shit was friggin heavy as hell. I think it's quite a jump from 315, I still expect to be there by the end of summer.

    Doesn't really answer your question but I felt like interjecting.

  3. #3
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    I have a squatters build, long torso and stumpy li'l legs. So I found it fairly easy. In fact, it may have taken me longest to make it from 225 to 315, then less time to 405 and less time yet to 500. And even less time to go much higher. Basically just learning what worked best for me, which turned to be fairly low reps even though I enjoyed fairly high reps at the time.

    We all have our sticking points that seem just impossible to pass at times in our lifting careers. For instance, it took me very little time, a few years, to hit a 300lb bench press. But it took nearly a decade to hit 350. But then flew from 350-360 to over 400, compared to how long I was stuck in the low 300's, that is.

  4. #4
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    I agree with Oldster. Once I tried some of Andy's recommendations from his programming thread, I went from 385 to 425 quickly. I struggled going from 365 to 385 though.

    As long as you keep changing things up within the confines of an intelligent program, it's not that bad, but you need to find out what works for you through some experimentation.

  5. #5
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    I hit my first 405# single today actually. I got a single for 315 in mid february, right before i had sinus surgery. then lost about 30# on my squat. So i guess it took about 2.5 months. I am 22, 200# and the squat is my best lift. Take it for what it is

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Zahn View Post
    I hit my first 405# single today actually. I got a single for 315 in mid february, right before i had sinus surgery. then lost about 30# on my squat. So i guess it took about 2.5 months. I am 22, 200# and the squat is my best lift. Take it for what it is
    Nice work Brian!

    OP, I'm 43, 200# and I hit 315 the first time on 6/30/11. I'm not at 405 yet. I did 355 for a triple yesterday and 315 is, coincidentally, my work weight for my volume day sets this week. I expect to hit 405 before the end of the year.

    I think I slowed down my progression by switching to 5/3/1 after overtraining myself on the Texas Method the first time around. I should have tweaked TM instead of switching programs - now I'm back on TM and just play with volume and intensity variables to keep adding weight to the bar.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oldster View Post
    ....

    We all have our sticking points that seem just impossible to pass at times in our lifting careers. For instance, it took me very little time, a few years, to hit a 300lb bench press. But it took nearly a decade to hit 350. But then flew from 350-360 to over 400, compared to how long I was stuck in the low 300's, that is.
    I completely concur. Plateaus get easier to bust as you gain experience, but you have to keep an open mind and try MANY things. A lot of guys just get religiously bound to certain benchmarks and programmes .....like 'I am a novice until I reach 1.5x bodyweight squat'....but havn't made any progress on a novice programme for 6mths....

    At times I have been stuck at a weight for 12 mths and then, after experimenting, got 50lbs in 6weeks....progress comes in jumps in my experience

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by zzt View Post
    I completely concur. Plateaus get easier to bust as you gain experience, but you have to keep an open mind and try MANY things. A lot of guys just get religiously bound to certain benchmarks and programmes .....like 'I am a novice until I reach 1.5x bodyweight squat'....but havn't made any progress on a novice programme for 6mths....
    At times I have been stuck at a weight for 12 mths and then, after experimenting, got 50lbs in 6weeks....progress comes in jumps in my experience
    hmm this hits a little too close to home wth me and my first attempt at the program...

  9. #9
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    It took me less than a year (approx. ~10 months) on Texas Method. Of course, you will experience some setbacks, stalling and won't hit the PR for reps every week, but it's an effective program. I didn't gain that much weight during that time, either. Maybe 6-7 pounds in total. I eventually switched to 3s on both volume and intensity days and that allowed me to keep progressing.

    If your goal is to get to 405, I strongly recommend the Texas Method. I actually managed to do it on a 4-day split because I enjoyed coming in for a fourth day. My deadlift also pushed 500, my press around 200 (close to BW) and by bench was around 325 for reps. If it weren't for medical issues I probably would have kept going for another few months before dieting.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    OP: I would say simply that it depends on how "steep" the path is that you take. This can depend on a number of variables imo - age, recovery, increments, programming, the individual to name some of the obvious ones. You're going to get a variety of answers. The question to ask is: How soon do you need/want to be there and what are you willing to do?

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