There IS life after an epidural: 540 lb deadlift today

[Oldster]

What an absolutely spectacular DL PR made even more fantastic knowing the back ground of your back health.

My hat is off to you, Sir!

[emskee]

That is a hell of a lot of weight!

Bet it made a nice big bang when it hit the ground.

Congratulations!

Thanks, but no noise. Crossfitters dump deadlifts. Powerlifters put 'em down with control, part of the lift after all. No bouncing, no dropping. Respect for the dead and all that.

[emskee]

Thanks again to all you of variable geezerness! I find myself in great company on this forum.

To the not so old of you, this was me when I was 41

http://www.goheavy.net/records/viewr...f-8dfb5086dd17

Please scroll down to the 198 class guy. I still hold that record.

There are single lift PL meets all over the country (not as much as in the old days, but they are there). Full meets are fun, but I gotta say that for meets which are not drug tested and which allow gear, it can be a long day and cost one a lot of money.

Raw contests under the AAU or USAPL (others) are a blast. Single lift DL or BP or BP/DL (what they often call "push pull meets") are quick and fun. Squats take infinity and are part of the reason meets can go from dawn to (almost) dusk. Especially in geared events. Sigh.

Lot of meet directors put the Masters lifters first because old folk tend to lose their mojo as the day goes on.

The comradery is great (as I remember) amongst the old guys. Good amongst the open classes, but much, much better in Masters. Everyone is so glad to not be dead and to be able to sniff ammonia with fellow graybeards. Bonding. I miss it......

This morning the wife goes "you know, if you find a DL meet somewhere out of state, I think we should do it." Maybe I'll look.

You folks should look for such things also. A full meet may be daunting. But a singlet and belt only push pull, or DL contest is a trip to the gym! Get to make new friends and see how the other guys lift. AND THERE IS A T-SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, time to eat bacon.

Thanks for sharing my lift with me. Not the same as doing it at a contest (no T-shirt) but the comradery (although virtual) is here.

[keeptryn]

Mike - nice pull. Very inspirational. I have been wondering if I've been pushing it too hard lately and needed to drop the weight back a bit but you've convinced me to keep moving forward.

[Oldster]

To the not so old of you, this was me when I was 41

http://www.goheavy.net/records/viewr...f-8dfb5086dd17

Please scroll down to the 198 class guy. I still hold that record.

Just..............................WOW.........................!

[Mark E. Hurling]

Mike - nice pull. Very inspirational. I have been wondering if I've been pushing it too hard lately and needed to drop the weight back a bit but you've convinced me to keep moving forward.

Palos Heights, eh? A beautiful place tucked on the Southwest side surrounded by the forest preserves. I used to stop at an ice cream parlor called the Plush Horse on Route 7. But then again maybe that was next door Palos Park. Also a nice place.

[keeptryn]

The Plush Horse is still there. Palos Heights, Palos Park, Palos Hills - it can get confusing

[emskee]

Mike - nice pull. Very inspirational. I have been wondering if I've been pushing it too hard lately and needed to drop the weight back a bit but you've convinced me to keep moving forward.

Keeptryn,

Since 1970something, I've been a big fan of the Russians cycling approach to training after reading about Prilepin's training by percentages (basis for Louie Simmons early work and still part of his programming).

I found early in my lifting life, after about a year of lifting that I have this 5 week cycle built into me. That is I found that after 5 weeks my body would just plain get "bored" (overtrained?) and so I needed to schedule my back-off every 5 weeks. So forever I would ramp up in intensity and weight, then after 5 weeks of that I just back off to week 1 with weight added across, like maybe 2.5% - 3% (approximately equal to an additional rep added).

Now in my 50s, I find that my squats like 3 week cycles, all set and rep schemes per schedule and based. My deads I have to be careful with because they can be heavier (I deadlift about 100 pounds more than my squat). Right now, my deads are on a 10 week thing I stole off the internet somewhere also with all set and rep schemes scheduled. It has a small backward step at week 5, then it ramps up again, then falls all the way back starting over with added weight across at week 11. (Does that make any sense?) Very Russian.

My benchpress is a continuous topic of sadness, pain and embarrassment (right shoulder surgery ended poorly). I cannot overhead press due to back, neck and shoulder pathology.

Anyhow, bottom line is that I keep ramping up, then stepping back. Rip writes to such things in Practical Programming Chapter 8 "The Advanced Trainee".

See Wendlers 531 for another example. Wendler has a sane way to calculate your "projected" max which is close enough for this kind of work IMHO as this is how I have done it for decades (there are a lot of calculate-your-projected-max calculators on the internet, good enough). Bill Starr 5x5 is another example of cycling.

This cycling thing is nice since it keeps things sane because you have a template. Linear progressive training can get you in trouble (if you are a bit advanced) as you may be feeling really great for a day or a week, go all "Weider Instinctive Training Principle" and end up overtrained when you go back to normal and continue trying to push the rope.

I tried Wendler 531 but found that I had a habit of taking the last work set toooo far and getting overtrained and/or hurt. I am a maniac when left to my own designs. Wendler writes and speaks to keeping a rep or two in you on that last workset, but I have mental problems.......... Smart (sane) people would do better.

So deloading on schedule (per Rip, Wendler, Prilepin, Simmons, Starr, others) may not be "fast" but it can keep you out of trouble. It's hard to "listen to your body" when you are crazy as most of us probably are.

If you feel like you're getting fatigued, drop back. To preclude yourself from feeling like a puss or risking going too far, schedule your deloads (design or steal a cycle format) and be patient. Pushing does not have to be a continuous straight line (linear progression) but can be tactically effected through cycling.

Good luck.

I love this heavy weight shit, don't you?

Mike

[Joe Murphy]

Emskee, impressive and inspirational dead lift. And your further thoughts on cycling, etc, are very interesting to me although I'm still working out my novice linear progression stuff at 51--which is fun in its own way.

[emskee]

Joe,

When I started lifting, I did the Arthur Jones version of (I guess you could say) "starting strength". 2 times a week, Squat, bench, rows, dips....other stuff, 2 sets TO FAILURE!!!! Add weight each workout.

Sounds brutal to me now (it was) but it was a total blast because I was new and it worked like crazy for a pretty long time, I THINK about a year????? We're talking back in 1971.

Have fun, don't over train, don't get hurt.

Mike