And unlike a lot of my fitness goals, I gave myself a very reasonable time frame to reach it. Fifteen months to add forty pounds to each of my maximum lifts. Nothing I can't handle.
Last week, I ended phase one of my plan. That plan was simple enough. Use the Starting Strength routine until I've reached my limit on it.
The good news is that I reached my limit slightly further than I expected on two of my lifts. I did a set of five reps of squats at 260 pounds (I was planning on maxing out at 255), and did the same at 215 pounds on my bench press.
The bad news is that my deadlift has waned somewhat (I lifted 305x4 on my best day) at 285x5. I'm also still angry that my squat hasn't reached 300 pounds yet. Sweet Jesus, what is the holdup?! I feel like Happy Gilmore screaming at the golf ball.
THAT'S YOUR GOAL! ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR GOAL!? ANSWER ME!
Sigh...anyway...
I was planning on maxing out on phase one after I had three failed lift attempts at one of those three lifts. I didn't do that. It was after I failed on two squat attempts and one deadlift attempt that I decided to call it quits. It was because when I didn't finish the squats on day two of this week's plan, I told myself:
Look, other, much more motivated voice in my head-you gotta face reality. I don't care if you deadlifted 305x4 on your best day, you gotta accept that if you keep on this path, you're gonna end up injured. Yeah, you deadlifted more than 300 pounds that day, but you just squatted 260 pounds, deadlifted 285, and you feel like you're about to die. Face fucking reality!
Yep, I faced reality at 36 years old. I might be stronger than ever, but I gotta face the truth that my goal had a long date set for a reason. I gotta train smarter, not harder. I might be stronger than I ever was, but it also takes me a lot longer to heal from injuries.
So here I am, at the end of Day 1 of Phase two of my goal.
Phase two has me using the Candito Intermediate Program.
As I told you at the link above, the program is great. My day one workout had me squatting 240 pounds for 4x6, and deadlifting 260 pounds 2x6.
But I had also been struggling with my deadlifts lately. After trying constantly and failing to meet that one day where I deadlifted 305 pounds, my confidence had waned.
After doing my easy sets of 240 squats, I set up to deadlift the easy weight of 260 pounds, and I couldn't lift it off the ground.
I rested for two minutes after that, and did everything I could to psych myself up to lift it.
Look, other less motivated voice in my head. You once lifted 305 pounds on this exercise. You just lifted 285x5 on Wednesday. You have this. You want some music in your head to motivate you? How about some Fall Out Boy? She's an American Beauty YOU'RE AN AMERICAN PSYCHO! I'M AN AMERICAN! I'M AN AMERICAN! I'M AN AMERICAN PSYCHO!
YOU ARE A SUPERHERO! YOU ARE THE GRASSHOPPER! NOW LIFT, GODDAMN IT! LIFT!
My confidence on doing the deadlift had been shot after failing for the past few days, and that's why I couldn't lift the weight at first. But I psyched myself up enough to finish that first set. The last two reps had me screaming, doing a battle cry that I'm sure everyone in my house heard as I wrapped it up.
The second set was easy. I had my confidence back. Deadlifting 260 pounds ain't shit.
So wraps up day one of phase two.
I will get stronger.
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