Novice goals?

[banthafodder]

How much longer do most people keep up linear progression once the last rep of the last set of every lift seems like it was barely short of failure?

I thought I was going to stall when my squat hit 220 lbs or so, but I'm up to 315 now. At the limits of your ability, it always feels like you're about to fail, but if you grind out that one. last. rep. you find that your body adapts and you're strong enough the next time you lift as long as you rest enough and eat enough in the meantime.

EDIT: I'm 5' 8-1/2", up to 198 lbs from a fairly fat 183 (I estimate 20-25 lbs lean mass gained), and I've had to microload my presses for a couple of months now; it's very very very worth picking up some microplates or washers or chains or whatever it takes. I just ordered a belt, and I'm waiting for Rogue to get the Rip shoes, and between those items I figure I should gain another 20-30 lbs (at least) on my squat before I need intermediate programming. We'll see.

[GdMisfits]

Awesome, thanks fodder. That fills me with hope.



err... uhhh.... may the force be with you.

[Benthic]

<snip>
Anyways, my goals for novice programming are two "big boy" plates for bench, 3 for squats, and 4 for deads (3x5 and 1x5, respectively). Deads seem like a long shot at this point, but bench and squat seem within the realm of possibility.

Glad to see that I'm not the only one with this same goal...

Brian