Do you think there is such a thing as a "natural" inherent strength level?

[Soda]

I was wondering about this. When I was doing Starting Strength squats started feeling really heavy to me around the 5x275-295-ish range.

Now with training and so on I have gotten up into the mid-upper 300's for a 1RM but whenever I take some time off or get burnt out and then return to training, where does my strength tend to settle back to? Right in that upper 200's for a set of five. That will be doable, but will require some effort, and the low 300's for sets of five will be very difficult or almost impossible until some training momentum is established for a few weeks.

[Les Hahn]

I was wondering about this. When I was doing Starting Strength squats started feeling really heavy to me around the 5x275-295-ish range.

Now with training and so on I have gotten up into the mid-upper 300's for a 1RM but whenever I take some time off or get burnt out and then return to training, where does my strength tend to settle back to? Right in that upper 200's for a set of five. That will be doable, but will require some effort, and the low 300's for sets of five will be very difficult or almost impossible until some training momentum is established for a few weeks.

Everyone has genetic limits. You can push them farther by making sure recovery is in check, diet, etc. I think the key think I am seeing here is that you push 5's and get burnt out or just take some time off. Both of these things are not conducive to long term strength gains. You really have to be consistent to get anywhere with strength training, especially if you are not genetically elite or taking a boat load of drugs. So the key is motivation. Pick a program that you like (not because everyone else says it is the best). Progressively overload the weight and keep making gains. Be sure to pick a program that works for your recovery level too. I see it a lot where people are grinding weights and then burn out. Even guys like Ed Coan didn't grind weights. He said that if he did, he was pretty much screwed in the weeks to come. And he was genetically elite and enhanced!

[John Hanley]

I think there's homeostasis. And that baseline of system balance & efficiency will change as you add muscle mass. Get your 1rm to 500 and then detrain. Barring severe illness or hormonal chaos, sets of 5 @ 315 will feel like fluff.

I found this to be true with my bench press even with a layoff of a decade.

[dbp]

Can confirm that after many, many years of lifting, quitting, and lifting again... the baseline seems to get higher and higher with layoffs.

[John Hanley]

315x5 (with an [e]1RM @ 500) being fluff might be a bit hyperbolic. But certainly doable.

Well, I'd probably start back at 250ish because the motor pattern would be a train wreck...but once things were grooved, fluff. No hyperbole.

Wtf G?

[Shaun]

I think there's homeostasis. And that baseline of system balance & efficiency will change as you add muscle mass. Get your 1rm to 500 and then detrain. Barring severe illness or hormonal chaos, sets of 5 @ 315 will feel like fluff.

I found this to be true with my bench press even with a layoff of a decade.

I would agree with this, and it's something I've heard on other forums too.

[danlightbulb]

Directly related to weight loss I would imagine. Stop training and retain your bodyweight and you'll come back fairly strong, even if a little lean body mass has gone in favour of some fat. Stop training and lose 30lb/40lb/50lb and you'll be back to the start of LP again, almost. For me, still being a relative novice, even a few pounds down makes a noticeable difference in the gym.

[Clay Simczyk]

I think there's homeostasis. And that baseline of system balance & efficiency will change as you add muscle mass. Get your 1rm to 500 and then detrain. Barring severe illness or hormonal chaos, sets of 5 @ 315 will feel like fluff.

I found this to be true with my bench press even with a layoff of a decade.

I agree. The body loves homeostasis. My LP bench stopped at 185 because I broke my elbow. When I got back on LP, starting from basically zero, my bench hit a wall right at 185. I probably could have programmed around this had I been aware of what was coming.

[silachoo]

My experience with benching 315 for the first time then kinda quitting lifting completely for a year. When I came back I could still do 225 for 2 reps IIRC.


*edit* FWIW - When I came back I did a set of 5 starting at 165 on bench, every day (minus weekends), adding 5lbs every set until I got closer to my previous strength levels. I ended up going from 165x5 to 265x5 a pretty good way to get back into the thick of things in a short period of time, obviously just regaining lost strength but it worked quickly.

[KyleMask]

I think there's homeostasis. And that baseline of system balance & efficiency will change as you add muscle mass. Get your 1rm to 500 and then detrain. Barring severe illness or hormonal chaos, sets of 5 @ 315 will feel like fluff.

I found this to be true with my bench press even with a layoff of a decade.

True. I got my deadlift in the low 6's at a bw of 200 and then quit training for 2.5 years. When I resumed training, I weighed 165. My first five deadlift workouts were: week 1 - 315x5, week 2 - 365x5, week 3 - 405x5, week 4 - 455x5, week 5 - 495x5 at a bw of 175. Getting strong now raises that baseline later, which is a pretty sweet deal.