Chair Force incarnate

[alilgoat]

So, still stuck at 290. I started getting real bad pain in my elbow area that corresponded with weak curl and grip strength, even with that though I just barely failed the 290. I did a light day monday but the pain still came back in my elbow while squatting, so much so that it affected my bench and I couldn't finish the workout. I assumed it was a grip issue the first time so I made sure to pay special attention to having neutral wrists and proper placement... and the pain re-appeared even with the reduced load. Hoping some rest will enable me to re-attempt Wednesday without issue... but I have a feeling it's still going to be there.

[alilgoat]

Alright, so back at 290 3x5 squats. Nailed it.
The week my strength fell off was also the week I received an anthrax shot, and that combined with a shift change at work I believe for some reason I completely forgot how to squat (excuse expert). I corrected the bar placement on my back and my strength returned and the pain in my elbow subsided.

I'm running out of time for my deployment, so today I went through and found out my 1 RM's, to see how far off I was from joining the 1000lbs club. I squatted 350, benched 250, and struggled heavily to DL 350.
I'm HOPING that I'm also in desperate need of a form correction for deadlift, because my workset weights have increased for the most part evenly between squat and deadlift. Due to this I don't understand why my squat max would be the same as my DL max. Right now I'm at 950lbs... I feel confident enough to handle maybe 10lbs more for squat, and 10 more for bench for my attempt... but definitely not enough to make up 50 lbs. I'm gonna try to change my form and see where that gets me this week.

[alilgoat]

Been a long time since I've posted, it was funny skimming through my old progress reports. I've had a slew of non-lifting related injuries since the last time I posted.
Every-time I'd get into the groove and start adding on weight, I'd get injured doing my hobbies, and have to either take a break or my performance would be impacted.
Also, I discovered I've been suffering from low testosterone for however long (likely many years based on how I was feeling).

I still haven't started Testosterone replacement therapy, but I'm about to.
I did have really good progress during covid, and even did a month or two of coaching with an SS coach (Connor King).

I did finally attend a powerlifting competition, 2 years later, lol. I was hoping for the 1,000lb club during this meet, and my openers reflected that. I only added maybe 20-30lbs from my regular work-set weight and used that as my openers, and after doing them... I was like, "what the heck? That was stupid easy."

With openers of 390, 240, and 390 respectively I finished with a 450 squat, 275 bench, and a 495 deadlift for a total of 1,220lbs. I had absolutely no idea I was that strong, and I placed third in the event... it was just a local base meet, but still, I had no intention of placing I was just doing it to test my strength.


Here's a pic of my current worksets: https://i.imgur.com/M195fuv.png

Now that I've accomplished this, I'm going to take a break from starting strength. I've gotten drastically stronger than when I started, but I look almost exactly the same as I did after doing the program for only 3 months or so.
I feel great, and I contribute that to the program, but now I want to work on aesthetics and just maintain this strength for awhile. I'll probably come back once I look swol, because right now I just look like a barrel. Though, I will say it was funny being the least muscular looking at the meet and outperforming most.

[alilgoat]

Good lord, reading my last post here is so cringe.
Here's my current numbers. IMG_20241014_173246.jpg

[RyanW]

Welp, looks like you did a decent job maintaining strength. Did you get swole?