An Opera Singer's Journey to a 500lb Deadlift (and beyond!)

[Muir]

Hi all,

I'm a 25 year old dude, recently out of college and pursuing a career as an operatic bass-baritone.
I've also got aspirations towards becoming a starting strength coach, but I feel I ought to be able to program myself to dead 500 and squat 405 before I'm certified to take people through the novice-intermediate transition.

My training history:
I got lifting with some BJJ friends of mine a few years ago and ended up just benching a lot, with some minimal attention paid to squatting and deadlifting (terrible form). I made my way up to a 315lb bench press after running smolov jr for awhile, then started getting a ton of pain in my lower and mid-back that lasted for weeks at a time. My squat was sitting around 200 and my deadlift was a roundbacked 315. My solution was to completely stop lifting for about a year and start over from scratch with a more balanced approach between the 3 lifts. I made my way back up using a generalized 5x5 LP, got injured and stopped a few times, and worked back up.
After learning how to properly use the valsalva maneuver, implementing a daily mobility routine, making the decision to stop testing 1RMS, and finally learning how to eat enough, my injuries have stopped coming back (fingers crossed).

I've been running 5/3/1 until this past week, but recently I read SS and practical programming and realized quite a lot of things.
This will mark the transition from 5/3/1 into the Advanced Novice style of programming, where I'll assume that I belong unless proven otherwise by lifting ability; after which I'll most likely transition into the Texas Method.

I anticipate some difficulty adapting to the change in tonnage and frequency, so I'll start the first week 10-15 pounds lower than what my lizard brain wants to see on the bar.

Stats:
25yrs old
6'0" 202lbs

Calculated current 1RMs based on 5/3/1 rep maxes:
180lb OHP,
185lb x2 Power Clean (tested),
304lb Bench,
341lb Squat,
420 Deadlift




Is there a causatory affect of generalized strength on diaphragmatic control in the classical voice!?
Does lifting weights make your voice "TIGHT"!?!?
The world may never know...
Tune in next week!

[Muir]

Day 1: Lifting at my local YMCA. Working sets for the day were:
280x5x3 Squat
250x5x3 Bench
365x5x1 Deadlift

It was pretty packed today and there was a trainer taking up the area I usually deadlift in (there's no platforms in the gym) so I was off in a corner for my deadlifts.
Got it all done, everything felt good and was moving well. I started looking up at the wall in front of me for the deadlifts (as opposed to looking at the floor in front of me as I'd been doing for awhile) and it felt like it made a big difference in my ability to keep my back held straight. I also switched up my grip on bench from thumbless to thumb around the bar. It might be placebo effect, but I felt a lot more in control of the bar. It's almost like Rip knows what he's talking about..

Onward and upward!

365 times four plus more
if you can't get it right tell me do you got the stamina?

[Mr. Bingley]

si puo!

welcome aboard! another bass-baritone here (though not at your level)

glad you've found the book; read it and take your time. And keep eating

[Randy Scheingold]

Solid work there, 250x5x3 bench is good stuff. Don't ever got back to that thumbless grip...you are an advanced novice and already moving decent weight. You'll be at 300+ benches very soon (for reals...not just e1RM). You don't need that shit slipping...it'll fucking kill you...no joke. There was thread a few months ago about a kid who dropped a 315lb bench and died. And don't collar that bar either on bench...

Side note on that e1RM stuff...I'm hooked on that shit too. Every new 5 or 3 Rep PR...and I am doing my little formula to see what my e1RM is. I have found it to be fairly accurate for me too, at least in the 2 meets I did which is really the only time I've tried to PR.

If you want to be a coach, you should post some form check....get some confirmation you are own form is dialed in. Or at least video and watch it yourself.

[Muir]

si puo!

welcome aboard! another bass-baritone here (though not at your level)

glad you've found the book; read it and take your time. And keep eating

Yeah buddy!
The novice eating schedule for an underweight lifter in Practical Programming was a huge revelation for me, a meal every 3 hours alternating between shakes and solid food.
I started eating like that about 2 weeks ago and I think I've put on 10 pounds since then. Workin' on that Pavarotti belly

[Muir]

post some form check....get some confirmation you are own form is dialed in. Or at least video and watch it yourself.

Most def, I'll get some videos up on Saturday of my squats and cleans.

[Muir]

Day 2: Light day

225x5x2 Squat Squat video
I thought a bit too hard about not letting my knees track forward at the bottom and ended up turning the whole set into pause squats.

Had a pretty bad bicep tendon flare-up during my warmups on the squat. I adjusted my grip to put my shoulders in a slightly less compromised position (i have pretty long forearms, so I moved more of my hand in front of the bar) and kept chuggin.

I worked up to 115 for 5 on the press (plan for the day was 145), but it felt really terrible and I was losing a lot of strength in my left arm, so I decided to leave it alone (ran like a puss).
I almost left right then, but I remembered having come across a video in which Rip had talked about chin-ups as rehabilitation for bicep tendonitis, so I hit my chins.

BW 13, 12, 9 Chin-ups
BW 10,10,10 45 degree Back extensions

The shoulder pain/bicep tendon pain had been a massive problem when I first started low-bar squatting (far before coming in contact with Starting Strength), so I had used high bar until about 4 months ago when I began my time in 5/3/1 and started squatting with my thumb over the bar. I think I just need to be particularly cognizant of my hand position, keeping it as far forward past the bar as I can. We'll see how things develop on Saturday.

Onwards and upwards.

[Muir]

I'm just super excited to be doing power cleans on Saturday, this is the first time I've actually worked them into my lifting program.
Gonna start light and spend a good while in the work sets on form.

[Muir]

Welp, the tendinitis is killing me. I've gotten a deep tissue massage, which has helped a bit.
I decided not to get back under the bar until the symptoms have died down (I'm expecting 3-4 more days of it), but I'm continuing rehab movements.
Today in the gym:
3 sets of 12 90 degree shoulder raises
3 sets of 15 face pulls
3 sets of 12 reverse forearm curls

I attempted some power cleans, but after I got to 95 pounds, I could feel the bicep flare-up coming on, so I decided to keep it to rehab movements for the day.