Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

My last 1RM for deadlift was 185 actually, and last week I did 185 twice...my back felt like it wasn't really getting worked, but my grip has become a limiting factor, so I just farmer-walked around the gym for punishment after almost dropping the bar. You're actually still ahead of me by a little bit, but that's ok...

Some great numbers there! The ex-girlfriend comment must have been a buzz

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Intense! I did 185 for my 1x5 last time, and will be shooting for 195 tomorrow. I'm doing farmer's walks to try to prevent my grip from becoming a limiting factor as well. I'm excited to break 200...it will be the first time I've lifted 200lbs of free weight (I've lifted "big" numbers on leg press machines, but those use a mechanical advantage and obviously don't count).



Thanks! Yeah, it was a nice little boost before my last exercise of the day (pull ups).

I'll be posting my new numbers after my next workout tomorrow...I'll be aiming for a 195lb deadlift and 175lb squats, along with an 85 lb overhead, though I'm not confident I'll be able to get all the reps on that one.

A summary of the last couple of sessions...

Squat: 5x5 @ 175lbs (PR, 133% BW)
Bench Press: 5x5 @ 115lbs (PR, 87% BW)
Pendlay Rows: 3x5 @ 100lbs (PR, 76% BW)
Weighted Dips: 3x5 @ 25 lbs (PR)
OH Press: Failed miserably on my first attempt at 85 lbs.
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 195lbs (PR, 147% BW)
Weighted Chin-ups and weighted neutral-grip pull-ups: 3x5 @ 10 lbs (PR)

Two sessions ago, I had a really friendly and experienced powerlifter in the squat rack next to me (squatting 420 lbs with great form, which you don't ever see at this gym), so I took the opportunity to speak to him about my form on a few exercises. He told me I was doing well, but made some minor corrections to my squat and deadlift form and gave me some great hip flexibility exercises. As a result, my 175 lb squats felt better than my 160 lb ones did last week! My 195 lb deadlift also felt f'in great, and I'm psyched to break 200 next time!

He also told me his personal preference for barbell rows was a supinated (underhand) grip, and showed me his form for that one. My gym partner got all excited because he has a boner for bicep exercises, so it looks like we might switch from Pendlays to supinated rows, or maybe alternate between the two.

Basically, everything has gone great except for the fact that I need to deload my overhead presses. The time I nailed the 5x5 at 80 lbs, I realize I had skipped squats because of my hip muscle soreness. This time, trying them after heavy squats, 75 lbs was all I could manage. I guess I didn't appreciate how much more energy I have before squats vs after, so I might have to deload and work my way back up to attempt getting 80 lbs in my "after squat" state.

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

do you use an alternating grip on your heavy deadlifts? that should take grip out the equation if you do. although farmers walks are great work anyway.

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Yeah, I started doing mixed grip a couple of weeks ago and it made things a whole lot easier. Next up, I'm going to get myself some chalk when I'm doing some serious lifts (maybe when I hit 2X bodyweight).

Here's a summary of my results from the past week:

Squat: 5x5 @ 180lbs (PR, 136% BW)
Bench Press: 5x5 @ 115lbs
Pendlay Rows: 3x5 @ 100lbs (PR due to better form)
Weighted Dips: 3x5 @ 30 lbs (PR)
OH Press: 5x5 @ 80 lbs (PR*)
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 205lbs (PR, 155% BW)
Weighted pullups: 3x5 @ 10 lbs

After nailing the 180lb squats, I had basically no energy left. I've never been so devastated after a set of anything, ever. It made me realize my previous record of 80 lbs on the overhead press didn't really count, because it was done on the day I skipped squats for the sake of recovery. When I tried 85 after squatting, I just had nothing left in the tank. So yesterday when I lifted 80 lbs on the overhead after squatting, I considered it a personal record, since I had never lifted that much after having squatted. I think I'll probably do 80 lbs one more time before re-attempting 85...80 was near failure as it was.

Dips are getting crazy hard, but I haven't failed yet. Next up is the 35 lb plate.

Deadlifts are my pride and joy. First time I've lifted over 200 lbs of free weight, and I did it for the full 1x5 yesterday, which is over 1.5x bodyweight for me.

Just did my 3x5 of pullups with a 10 lb plate, so next up I'll be doing chins with 15 lbs. I've been doing chins/pulls with 3 grip positions (one per workout that I'm supposed to be doing chins on), moving from the easiest (supinated, i.e. chins), to hardest (pronated, i.e. pullups), and only adding more weight once I've succeeded with the chins. Not sure if I explained that well...in any case, it lets me do my pullups with a different grip/different muscles each time, moving from easy to hard before adding weight. I always go from arms locked out at full extension, up until I touch my chest to the bar at the top. No partials here!

Also, after a couple of weeks of my weight being stable at 132 (though I think I traded a bit of fat for muscle in that time), I realized that, because of how busy I've been, I hadn't been eating enough. I've upped the calories significantly this week and am hoping to start gaining again.

Wow, congrats on all the PR's! You'll be an ant soon enough at this rate

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

Thanks! I'm certainly trying. Yesterday, there were two guys who set up 180 on their squat next to me. After I finished warming up and moved to my work weight of 185, I saw them look at me and say something like "Ok, time to bring it" and added 10 lbs. My gym buddy and I then watched as they proceeded to do a few sets of squats with half a proper ROM. These guys easily had at least 60 lbs on me. Made me feel quite ant-like

A girl did that to me the other day. To a certain extent, I'm happy just to see girls attempting squats, but what kind of a victory is it if you're going to 45 degrees instead of parallel?

You're doing well, Ant Man!

Thanks, Adena!

It's funny, isn't it? Because I work out at a university gym, there's so much macho bullshit, so I'd say probably 75% of the guys I see at the squat racks have horrible form and/or are doing partial reps. They're more worried about the number of plates people will see when they look over than they are about getting a proper workout.

I talked with one guy who was doing 115 lb squats ass-to-grass who seemed embarrassed that he was lifting so little. I tried to tell him how awesome it was to see someone with such nice form. He actually felt like he was underachieving on squats, when in fact he was working harder than anyone else there.

Your squat is so much higher than your bench. Mine is the complete opposite. I don't understand this at all. You mentioned that guy going all the way down with 115 on the squat. I barely feel comfortable doing that with like 80 lbs. I feel like I'm gonna fall over or something. But I can throw up twice that on the bench with no problems. This doesn't make any sense to me. What could I be doing wrong? I see a similar theme on everyone's logs. Squat is WAY higher than bench. Not mine.

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"Kill! Kill! Multiply! 'Til the skies are black and the rivers dry!"
-Atreyu

My guess is either that there's something going on with your form, or that's just the way you're genetically programmed. I remember you had issues with the deadlift and injury, partly because of the length of your legs and things like that. Maybe it's possible that you're mechanically disadvantaged on squats? And maybe you're just genetically destined to be great at bench. Right now, my bench of 120 yesterday is the highest I've ever lifted. Bench has always been a weak point for me. And I have progressed very slowly on bench (improving by maybe 30%) vs squat (almost a 100% increase) since starting stronglifts.

Have you ever done a high volume squat routine though? My previous encounters with squat were pathetic (I could bench more than I could squat, and I really couldn't bench that much!!), but doing stronglifts with a 5x5 squat ever 2-3 days whipped my squats into shape like you wouldn't believe. I think I started at 95 lbs under 3 months ago, and did 185 yesterday. Keep in mind I'm just aiming to break parallel, I'm not doing ass-to-grass because my hip and ankle flexibility aren't there yet.

If you do aim to do ass to grass squats at some point, it helps to have a much narrower stance, and sometimes people even elevate their heels. You might already be able to do deep squats like that.