I don't compete and I don't think I ever will. I lift for strength in rugby,

I'm 5' 9" and weigh 18st 3lbs ( 255lbs), but I'm currently losing weight and want to lose another 25-30lbs.

After various injuries; all rugby related, I've started lifting again. Both MCLs ruptured, right PCL ruptured, right ACL stretched (thankfully, no rupture), various cartilage injuries. And the occasional dislocated shoulder. Fun sport.

I followed the Stronglifts 5x5 and I'm now on week 2 of the Madcow programme.

Bench press - 4 months ago just the oly bar was giving me too much pain in my shoulder. I'm now at 225lb and aiming to progress to 315lb. (2 plates to 3 plates)
OHP - 4 months ago, again, the bar was too painful due to shouler ROM issues. I'm now at 135lb and aiming to progress to 185lb (1 plate to 1.5 plates)
Squat - I had an 8 week physio course that allowed me to walk downstairs pain-free and return to rugby. I'm now at 315lb and I'm aiming to get to 405lb. (3 plates to 4 plates).
Deadlift - again, with the physio course, my legs are coming back to strength. My deadlift is weak compared to my squat and I have the same aims - 315lb - 405lb (3 - 4 plates).

I lift raw - no straps, no belt, no chalk etc. All of the weights are for 5 reps. As I play rugby and my aim is rugby, I'm not massively interested in 1RM stuff.

29yo. 30 at the end of June.
6'0", 90.4kg

Squat: 150kg
Bench: 105kg
Deadlift: 210kg


Train almost exclusively for powerlifting, more seriously for the last 15 or so months. I compete and will do for a while i think. Also looking to get into strongman in the future. Most likely second half of year. most definately the entire SM season next year.

Had a lot of trouble with the squat, finding the groove that best suited me took some time and some mucking around with my coach. being of "lanky" proportions (legs much longer than torso) i'm not overly suited to it at all, but i Will squat 200kg+ or snap in half trying. but i've got it now. and its been rising ever since. Also have long arms, hence hitting 200kg + deadlift relatively quickly. Though it has stalled out a little in recent months with my heavy focus on squatting.

Aesthetically i've never been vein in the slightest.
until more recently i've started wanting to look like i can lift what i can. a few guys getting around my gym now that "look" stronger than me...annoying a little. haha. but its just as annoying for them to be out lifted each week too! first world problems.

I know I will never be where I was 15 years ago, but I'm giving it a shot. I would like to get back to the same amounts but at 50 lbs. lighter in body weight. All I can say to the younger lifters is protect your joints and lift correctly. Never stop learning about your sport. I grew up with no guidance in lifting and am paying for it. I have changed most of my lifts over to the correct way.

One thing I learned early on was to find what works best for me. I'd watch these asinine form check videos, try to emulate what I was 'supposed' to be doing, and all it did was make me hurt like hell. Brought my bench grip in closer, all shoulder pain was gone. Brought my squat stance in closer, hips quit hurting. Stopped trying to force my back to stay completely straight when deadlifting, back and hip pain went away.

Not promoting it but crossfit workouts have made things a lot better for me where joint and pain issues are concerned. Flexibility,mobility, and strengthening muscle around the joints are a product of crossfit workouts. I think one of my biggest problems was I stopped lifting for 12 years and when I started back I was in a hurry to move up in weight.

The more I read about and see the evolution of CrossFit, the less I hate it. Yeah, they still have some retarded coaches, but that's every kind of sport and every kind of training. It's definitely coming into it's own, and most importantly, it's tapping into a base of potential lifters that may never have given strict powerlifting, oly lifting, or even strongman more than a passing glance.

Theres a lot of power lifters doing crossfit now. Some big name guys too. I gave it a chance before I made an opinion on it. These guys can lift pretty heavy, do it quickly, and hit another set real quick with no rest time. Imagine being strong, fast and be able to endure with your stamina not giving out. There was a little feud going on about who were the best athletes and power lifting didn't like hearing that. I look at it like power lifters are the strongest lifters, strongmen are the strongest people and crossfit has the overall best athletes. Whatever sport you do crossfit can help. MMA fighters do it, military does it, power lifters do it now. It will help you in your lifts. I know because I'm seeing results with my own lifts.

I would still put strongman at the very top of the pile in the three, honestly. I have never seen anyone with the kind of conditioning, flexibility, and overall strength that most of those guys have, let alone the actual elite within it. It's unreal. As much as I hate to admit it, powerlifters (in general) are definitely at the bottom of those three, so far as overall physical ability goes. The biggest thing that turned me off to the commercial CrossFit programs at first, is the fact that it's been fairly well documented that people who dominate in the CF games don't use commercial CF to train. It reeks of a kind of dishonesty to me.

The only big powerlifter I can think of that does crossfit would be AJ Roberts. And he's not competing in powerlifting at this time.

Strongmen get the most respect from me. They're in better shape than most powerlifters in terms of conditioning. And they're so well rounded. They excel at multiple lifts instead of just waddling up to a rack in mutliply gear....


Right now I'm around 385/235/500. I'd like to end up around 500/300/600 in a few years.

I like the lean power lifters now, not the over weight ones. Same in strongmen, the leaner ones are the future in all these sports.
I could balloon up to 300 lbs of bw and lift a 100 lbs more on all 3 lifts but thats not healthy for me. I could gain 5 lbs. of body weight in the gym and theres a difference in strength. True overall pound for pound strength is what I seek. I would definitely like to lift what I did when I weighed 270 but be at 220 of body weight. Thats just me though. I love watching all 3 sports myself.

I agree with you completely. If you actually look at the REALLY good powerlifters, there are very few fat ones. The best of all time, imo, Ed Coan wasn't exactly a tank *kitten*, neither is KK, Rhino, Capt Kirk, JL, etc. In fact, the only fat one that I can think of that's currently worth a damn is Benni.

2/15/13 - Current lifts in lbs (calculated 1RM):
bench press 100 X 5 (116.5) - I want 185
deadlift 225 X 2 (240) - I want 365
overhead press 70 X 2 (75) - I'd be psyched to get 100
squat 155 X 3 (170.5) - I want 315

I finally quit screwing around and started training like a grown *kitten* woman, and hit two PRs this week. Eating and supplementing right, too. Need to start thinking more about cutting weight down to competition level and then getting off the sidelines. Happy with my current lifts, and super happy that I can deload next week.

What happens if I hit my goal weights? I'll just want more.

Current age: 33
Weight: 345
Bench: 255
Squat: 550
Deadlift: 550
OHP: 200

Goals:

300+ on bench
600 squat
600 deadlift
250 OHP

My real goal isn't really to get too much stronger, but just to get better for the highland games and balance my arms out (since most of the throws are one handed, I've been considerably stronger in my right arm than my left)

Current records for highland games events:

16 lb stone throw: 35 feet
28 lb weight for distance: 52 feet
56 lb weight for distance: 25 feet
56 lb weight for height: 13 feet
22 lb hammer throw: 72 feet

I'm hoping to bust all those records this year.