The Progress Thread 2012

[Mr. Rictus]

A new thread for a new year.

and progress are the point of the thread!

The same rules apply:
No bickering
Keep it friendly
Keep it positive

Link to the 2011 Thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ss-Thread-2011

[kryptonik]

First post in the progress thread!

So far this year all I've done is drink a lot, eat like ****, and feel like ****. First day back to work, and back on the regular diet. And first day of the year squatting. Here's to hoping the resolutioners haven't learned about squats yet and the racks will be open.

[SpiffyGTI]

Fear not, they'll instinctively gravitate to the squat rack for curls. Especially since you want to squat today. Just you wait...

[chaugner]

progress, added 15 lbs in the last 2 months, lots of fat I am sure. 202lbs now ... screwed up my middle back last week (jeebus !!! second time in less than a month, first lower back on leg press and now middle back when I lost tension in my back doing heavy squats ... the loving feeling of sharp pain in the spine when you know your discs are being crumbeled).



at least I can cut for the next 6 weeks and just keep it with swimming and isolated maintenance excercises. Not a good start to 2012.

[ClockworkChad]

progress, added 15 lbs in the last 2 months, lots of fat I am sure. 202lbs now ... screwed up my middle back last week (jeebus !!! second time in less than a month, first lower back on leg press and now middle back when I lost tension in my back doing heavy squats ... the loving feeling of sharp pain in the spine when you know your discs are being crumbeled).



at least I can cut for the next 6 weeks and just keep it with swimming and isolated maintenance excercises. Not a good start to 2012.

keep the weights light until you have your form down. no sense rushing it only to be injured.

[ClockworkChad]

had a rough week at work and ended up going heavy on squats and deads back to back - squatted 405 for reps then deadlifted 455 for heavy singles. see how my energy feels this week maybe keep it going. im dieting and at a calorie deficit but strength seems to be creeping back up.

[.Mad Hatter.]

Hit a big PR on squats tonight...I may have to re-evaluate my 2012 goals as I'm almost there.

1RM as of Oct. 2010-275lbs @ 155lbs
1RM as of today-350lbs @ 148lbs

[Chilledman]

515x3 DL

It should of been 5 but I was feeling crappy today

[bubbagti]

515x3 DL

It should of been 5 but I was feeling crappy today

Now my PR seems so tiny

Hit a PR tonight for deadlift 375x5
Also hit another PR of 225x2 for bench yesterday.

I originally wanted 1000 lbs for my big 3 lifts but now I'm shooting for 1100 by the end of the year. I also would like to be under 10% BF by my birthday in June

[ClockworkChad]

515x3 DL

It should of been 5 but I was feeling crappy today

have you ever deadlifted with a barbell? im curious to see what your carryover is.

i benched 315x5 then 335x4. Not a single january joiner at my gym, maybe working out in the back of a scary ass industrial park has its benefits.

[spoolin215]

Hit a big PR on squats tonight...I may have to re-evaluate my 2012 goals as I'm almost there.

1RM as of Oct. 2010-275lbs @ 155lbs
1RM as of today-350lbs @ 148lbs

Nice work man, that's a great squat especially for your body weight. Looks like you need to stretch your hamstrings a bit, and also next time cut the footage of the pre-lift down. Didn't need to watch a 2min video for 10 seconds of action

[.Mad Hatter.]

Ya, tight hamstrings and piriformis on the left side especially. I was far too lazy to edit the video, although I knew it was too long, lol.

[::xander::]

you should def lower the hangers on the rack as well. uracking while on your toes will lead to problems as the weight goes up, especially when not in a rack.

I did 305x4 on bench yesterday. Def not something I'm happy about. Should be at 315x5 by now for sure. Maybe next week. I think I was just feeling off last night

[spoolin215]

Just finished a mostly body weight workout at home. I'm going to have to be very smart and diligent about my training until I can get my surgery.

Things I discovered:

My unilateral leg stability is virtually non-existent
My vertical pulling strength has gone to ****

Lots of work to do...

This morning was

Ring push-ups 3x10
Pistols (assisted) 3x8
Inverted ring rows 3x8
Ring Pull-ups fail...Had no gas left after the rows

Tabata w/battling ropes.

[.Mad Hatter.]

you should def lower the hangers on the rack as well. uracking while on your toes will lead to problems as the weight goes up, especially when not in a rack.

I did 305x4 on bench yesterday. Def not something I'm happy about. Should be at 315x5 by now for sure. Maybe next week. I think I was just feeling off last night

I came to that conclusion as well. With anything less than 300lbs I can un-rack it pretty easily, but my last 2 sets last night were brutal. I adjusted it after and it felt much better, so I will do that next time as well.

[::xander::]

sounds good.

walkouts don't seem like a big deal at first but as the weight goes up, it becomes a big deal.

I completely see the value in a monolift these days especially when I use such a wide stance for squatting.

[.Mad Hatter.]

Ya, your spine compresses a lot more under heavy load than it does without. The racks at the meets are much better and have (obviously) many more adjustment points for the pins.

[Chilledman]

have you ever deadlifted with a barbell? im curious to see what your carryover is.

i benched 315x5 then 335x4. Not a single january joiner at my gym, maybe working out in the back of a scary ass industrial park has its benefits.

That is barbell ...

I dropped the trap a few months ago.
- I only use the trap bar now for farmers walk , since the dumbells stop at 125

[scandalous_cynce]

I feel so excited to finally post some progress! I've officially been training hard for about 12 weeks now. I was completely green to lifting or eating clean prior to this. I've always been "skinny" but I've realized that I've never been "fit."

Here are my results so far - these were taken on News Years Day:




My goals for the next 12 weeks or so is to keep lifting heavy but incorporate some HIIT in order to cut some and bring out the definition. Exciting! (For me anyway, LOL)

[ClockworkChad]

nice progress! good job and keep it up!

[skaterhernandez4]

I'm usually not one to say things like this, but you're hot, good work! PS do you have before pictures? Makes me question how you looked before you started working out.

[scandalous_cynce]

I'm usually not one to say things like this, but you're hot, good work! PS do you have before pictures? Makes me question how you looked before you started working out.

LoL, thanks! God, I'm so embarrassed by my before pic - but it really does show how far I've come in 12 weeks, I guess. I got up to to 135'ish - which, granted, is not "overweight" for 5'4" - but it was a lot for my frame.

This was Oct 2009 in USVI when I feel like I was my typically thin self (Probably 110 lbs there):


Then I feel like after I hit 25, my metabolism caught up with me. This was me in Oct 2011 (GAH, so embarrassing)

[::xander::]

I like this thread so much!

[Papa Dras]

I like girls.

[XiaoNio]

This is in no way a PR. But the reality is that my jerks have been pretty crummy lately, so I consider it progress that this one looks tolerably good. Also, you guys can check out the digs at my new gym.

[ClockworkChad]

This is in no way a PR. But the reality is that my jerks have been pretty crummy lately, so I consider it progress that this one looks tolerably good. Also, you guys can check out the digs at my new gym.

nice dude. althought your consistant use of KG's always confuses me a bit.

was tired yesterday but hit 405 for deads for a bunch of heavy singles. seems with my new form popping the weight off the ground isnt an issue at all, its pulling it once it gets knee height. I might swtich over to rack pulls for the next couple months maybe.

[4thTry]

last september i trained my ass off and lost about 20lbs durring my training for the Baltimore Half Marathon. Shortly after that i went on vacation and since then all that **** went out the window. I'm heavier than i've ever been and not happy about it. 6'4'' 255lbs.

Started getting back in to lifting in the past two weeks, & trying REALLY hard to clean up my diet a lot. Less eating out, more healthy snacking etc etc. Trying to maintain my weight while loosing the fat. Hope to post the progress here. After my first week back in the gym, i've never been more sore. I'm going to try like hell to keep it up

[XiaoNio]

Weighed in pre workout at 161.5 lbs which is not good. Had no plan but to dick around a little bit. Front squatted 155 kg or 341.7 lbs, which is a 5 kg pr.

Now to just find those missing 7 lbs of body weight.

[spoolin215]

This is in no way a PR. But the reality is that my jerks have been pretty crummy lately, so I consider it progress that this one looks tolerably good. Also, you guys can check out the digs at my new gym.

Any reason why you don't grab the grip you want straight from the rack?

Also it looks like you dip a little too much before your drive. I've found pause jerks to help quite abit with that

[XiaoNio]

I rack it as out of a front squat/clean position then transition to a different grip for the jerk. Before I used to just drive the jerk from the clean position and try to move my hands around while the bar was in motion. Ended up with a lot of wrist hyper extension so I switched to using an intermediate grip recently. Either way, I like practicing the transition to get me used to it as if I'm actually doing the full lift.

As for the dip. I always try to cue myself to do a shorter dip and a quicker drive, but I mentally can't seem to turn it around. Definitely something I'm also working on.

[ienjoysnails]

started lifting at a real gym a few months ago. was using small dumbells and home gym stuff for a few months prior. so far been alternating a 15x3, 8x4, and 5x5 with some max weights x 1-2 thrown in 3 days a week trying to hit all muscle groups. also running 3-5 miles a few days a week with some plyometrics thrown in for cardio with a nice 30mile bike ride thrown in sometimes.

have a ways to go, my maxes thus far are_
bench press 215x1
squat 350x1
deadlift 330x1

i can't rep for **** though. need to do more research around here for this stuff

i'm starting to get to a point though where i'm at a plateau with my bench dead and squat. need to figure something out. i also want to start doing some powerlifting stuff. i'm aiming for power and explosiveness. i want to dunk! my gym doesn't allow bouncing weights and is super tiny so i've kinda been putting it off

the best news for me though is i'm down to 200 from 240. 2012 i want to see my abs

[spoolin215]

started lifting at a real gym a few months ago. was using small dumbells and home gym stuff for a few months prior. so far been alternating a 15x3, 8x4, and 5x5 with some max weights x 1-2 thrown in 3 days a week trying to hit all muscle groups. also running 3-5 miles a few days a week with some plyometrics thrown in for cardio with a nice 30mile bike ride thrown in sometimes.

have a ways to go, my maxes thus far are_
bench press 215x1
squat 350x1
deadlift 330x1

i can't rep for **** though. need to do more research around here for this stuff

i'm starting to get to a point though where i'm at a plateau with my bench dead and squat. need to figure something out. i also want to start doing some powerlifting stuff. i'm aiming for power and explosiveness. i want to dunk! my gym doesn't allow bouncing weights and is super tiny so i've kinda been putting it off

the best news for me though is i'm down to 200 from 240. 2012 i want to see my abs

Does not compute.

Anyway, if you want to increase your vertical, I'm not sure powerlifting is your best option.

[ienjoysnails]

Does not compute.

Anyway, if you want to increase your vertical, I'm not sure powerlifting is your best option.

most of the popular workouts i've read or been told for jumping higher usually has some powerlifting worked in to help with explosive power. alot of squatting and plyometrics also.

yea the gym sucks i admit in terms of their etiquette rules but its cheap and when i work out there isn't 90 people getting in my way or staring at me. the bouncing rule is lame but i'll figure it out

[spoolin215]

most of the popular workouts i've read or been told for jumping higher usually has some powerlifting worked in to help with explosive power. alot of squatting and plyometrics also.

yea the gym sucks i admit in terms of their etiquette rules but its cheap and when i work out there isn't 90 people getting in my way or staring at me. the bouncing rule is lame but i'll figure it out

There is a big difference between "doing some squats" and power lifting. Not to mention most powerlifting programs call for low bar squatting which I don't think is as beneficial for increasing vertical as high bar is.

Anyway you'd have much more success with power cleans and snatches.

[ienjoysnails]

There is a big difference between "doing some squats" and power lifting. Not to mention most powerlifting programs call for low bar squatting which I don't think is as beneficial for increasing vertical as high bar is.

Anyway you'd have much more success with power cleans and snatches.

yea the power cleans and snatches are on my todo list. i'm working on the right plan yet. i'll get it right