Set lifting goals or just keep showing up and see where it goes?

45 yrs old, restarted SSLP with a coach, 3x5 at 80kg (176 lbs) in August, now 1x3 120kg (265 lbs) & 4 back offs at -10%.

Bench 55kg to 85kg
Deadlift 105kg to 155kg

Current Weight 92kg, down 2kg from where I started. Am 6’ tall. Compliance 100%, aided by work from home/garage gym.

So what?

Starting to think about next year & what I should aim for? What is my goal? Obviously LP will slow materially.

I’m wondering how do people further down the path think about this? Just keep showing up & see where it takes you, or aim for specific numbers on particular lifts and tailor training to this, or just aim maximise strength at a given body weight +/-?

Maybe I should write a book about this. Oh, wait...

Practical Programming for Strength Training, 3rd edition – The Aasgaard Company

Maybe even some articles. Oh, wait...

A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

What does your coach say? Did you ask him?

Despite being one of the younger guys here, I'm "further down the path" than most. I don't really have goals anymore. For awhile I did. It's all meaningless though. I don't need abitrary goals or a competition to motivate me through a set of squats. The looming self-hatred of a half-assed set is enough to get me through.

Why you so worried about having goals? Just show up and lift hard. The future is an unguaranteed meme, anyway.

Failure to set myself a goal to work towards is something that has held me back in life (not just the gym) for many years.

Absolutely set a goal and go for it.

Goals are personal, but of two common benchmarks, you may be young enough to shoot for the 1400 Club, based on Bill Starr's rule of thumb for a 200-lb man, which was "a 200 press, 300 bench press, 400 squat, 500 deadlift."

First, however, you may be close to achieving the other benchmark (a basic level of strength). As stated by Coach Rippetoe:

"For a 200-pound male of average height, a 1.75x bodyweight squat, a 2x bodyweight deadlift, and a 0.75x bodyweight press constitute a well-developed strength base. Although this is not regarded as “strong” by competitive lifters, it represents a level of strength that is attainable by 95% of male trainees in a few short months of reasonably efficient training on the lifts."

Strength and Conditioning - Conditioning and Strength | Mark Rippetoe

45 year old male 5ft 7, 87kg male checking in here, nearly 6 months into NLP and have attained 150kg deadlift (Not being coached because the nearest one is about 7 days drive away). I hope it gets to 185kg by the time I’m finished but I won’t know until the gains start sputtering.