How's Sara? She competing this year?

And recommendations on lifting shoes. I am noticing with my squat, that I am getting a lot of compression in my heals and I feel that if I wait too long, it will cause some instability.

SideSteel wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

And recommendations on lifting shoes. I am noticing with my squat, that I am getting a lot of compression in my heals and I feel that if I wait too long, it will cause some instability.

I like SABO powerlifts, you can get them at MaxBarbell.com

Good call, their deadlift shoe is also the best in the business and it's what I use for every lift.

Would these shoes be ok to use for dl and squat? I was initially looking at these.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LBMUNIE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Y-NKybNMSTC7G

SideSteel wrote: »

DopeItUp wrote: »

SideSteel wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

And recommendations on lifting shoes. I am noticing with my squat, that I am getting a lot of compression in my heals and I feel that if I wait too long, it will cause some instability.

I like SABO powerlifts, you can get them at MaxBarbell.com

Good call, their deadlift shoe is also the best in the business and it's what I use for every lift.

Which deadlift shoe? Apparently they have a few different models.

I'm using their cheaper one for deads and I love it--recently switched to them for bench too

Huh I didn't know that. Whatever one Maxbarbell has, I think it's just different colors of the same version. I just buy whatever's the cheapest color, this time it was blue.

I've been amazed at the difference going from sneakers to Chuck Taylor's has been for my squats. Sounds like you guys are saying these are better. Would it be worth the expense to change now, or are my CT's good enough?

SideSteel wrote: »

sammyliftsandeats wrote: »

I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.

I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.

Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.

For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.

My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.

A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique

Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.

For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.

Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.

I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.

My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.

How do i get my bro stats up so i can start giving solid advice? And do you recommend vitamin S?

nossmf wrote: »

I've been amazed at the difference going from sneakers to Chuck Taylor's has been for my squats. Sounds like you guys are saying these are better. Would it be worth the expense to change now, or are my CT's good enough?

I went from squatting barefoot at home and Chucks in gyms. I got Wei-Rui Warriors (also from MaxBarbell) and was shocked at the difference. Depth is much easier and I felt stronger. Unfortunately I got injured before testing them on the platform.
If you are considering competing, I would get squat shoes, if not...depends how much disposable income you have.

SideSteel wrote: »

nossmf wrote: »

I've been amazed at the difference going from sneakers to Chuck Taylor's has been for my squats. Sounds like you guys are saying these are better. Would it be worth the expense to change now, or are my CT's good enough?

I like SABO deadlift shoes more than chucks. However, I couldn't tell you that they are somehow superior. I just like the feel of them and they also seem to grip the floor a tad better.

If you prefer a flat shoe for squats I think SABO deadlift is superior. They are arguably better than chucks on deadlift because you're losing a whole 1/2" of ROM, but for practical purposes that probably doesn't really matter much. Women's chucks are too narrow for me, and men's chucks didn't SEEM too wide, but when I would wear them squatting my feet would slide a smidge laterally, and they soles would compress a bit when I got close to 300. I also love my Wei-Rui (I have the powermax) for competition bench to ensure my whole foot stays down. I usually bench in SABO until a few weeks before competition then switch.

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

sammyliftsandeats wrote: »

SideSteel wrote: »

sammyliftsandeats wrote: »

I just switched from Stronglifts to 5/3/1 and I'm just about to start my second cycle. The book says to add five pounds to your upper body maxes and ten pounds to your lower body maxes, and then recalculate.

I did that and now I'm a bit intimidated by the numbers.

Mind you, they're not super big for an experienced lifter, but they're pretty big for me.

For example, my training max for deadlifts is 205lbs. I've pulled it before but never more than one or two reps.

My question is...should I have gotten a belt a while ago? I know that in week 3, it's 5/3/1 and it's 1+ at 95%. I'm a bit scared, to tell you the truth. I don't want to hurt myself.

A belt is a great tool to use if you have the disposable income to purchase one, and you have a goal of getting stronger, and you aren't using it in place of proper technique

Having said that, hopefully when you started 5/3/1 you took 90% of your actual 1RMs when you started the program. Most people don't do this step, but it's pretty important.

For what it's worth, even with my competitive powerlifting clients, when I use % based programs I always make a slight reduction to their actual 1RM's when I run the calculations.

Oh yes, I definitely used 90% of my actual 1RM to make my calculations.

I'm looking at the Inzer 10mm lever belt. I have a friend who uses it so I'm waiting for his review. Nice to know someone personally who uses it.

My goal is to get stronger, for sure. That's my #1 goal.

If you read 5/3/1 thoroughly, Wendler advocates for the slowest increases possible. If you can get your hands on some 1.25 cookies, going up 5 lbs. on lower and 2.5 upper is perfectly acceptable as well.

Thanks! I do have fractional half pound weights which I got while doing Stronglifts and I do use them for 5/3/1 as some of my percentages are not in multiples of five and I don't want to round my numbers up and struggle. I am going to give these current numbers a try and if it is a struggle (ie. can't hit 3x3 for 90%) then I will scale back and do the smaller increases.

I have a question about calorie deficit and strength training.
I did 6 months of strength training last year at a normal diet and saw lots of strength progress. The past month I've been eating at a calorie deficit and have continued strength training. Today I couldn't lift my overhead press max that I did last week.
Could I be losing weight too quickly and it's affecting my strength/ muscle mass? Should I increase my calories? I've lost 8 pounds in the last 30 days.
Another possibility is meal timing- last week I lifted about an hour after breakfast and today was 4 hours after lunch and I spent those 4 hours playing with my kid at the park... so maybe I was tired?