Anyone here into lifting heavy weights? Such as powerlifting?
What are your current big three lifts 1 rep max (bench press, squat, deadlift)
What is your motivation to lift heavy
Man… this topic fell by the wayside. I figured I’d answer this one wondering if anyone might be down this journey.
Anywho, I’m attempting to get in to the 1000# club by November 2020. I also want to do it at a powerlifting meet. Closest I ever got was 935 years ago. I’ve lost quite a bit since then but currently am at:
215 bench, 285 sq, 350 dl
I’m still doing trainerroad but am just toggling between ssblv1 and ssblv2. Occasionally I’ll throw in a recess -4, taku -1 or something in there.
I’ve been reading a lot on the powerlifting sites and it’s interesting how a lot of sites say to do cardio on a separate day vs. here I’ve found the mantra of making the hard days hard (ie - lift and cycle same day) and the easy days easy… (watch TR podcast & chill)…
I’ve got awhile to go but I would like to achieve this goal without gaining a substantial amount of weight… so clearly diet is going to play a significant role (not a shocker). I’m currently at 160 but have gained to 167 from the creatine and just eating more… guess we’ll see what happens.
If there are any other heavy lifter types in here, it’d be interesting to hear their feedback.
1 Like
Good luck with your goal.
Ironically it was having to stop weight training (ruptured pec major tendon nearly 4 years ago) that ended up with me eventually getting into cycling.
My own lifetime PB 1RM were 280 deadlift / 220 squat / 150 bench - so not that great overall but. I guess reasonable - all PBS were done in my early 40s. At 6’3’ I found deadlifts were my strength out of the three lifts - bench was my big (Relative) weakness.
Doubt I could deadlift 150 now - squats would be dodgy as my knees feel ‘old’ and creaky other than when cycling - defiantly can’t bench anything and wouldn’t want to given my pec major tendon is attached to my arm via three metal bolts!!
In terms of mixing powerlifting / heavy weight training with cycling I’m not sure how you can make that work well. I found when I lifted that I was completely whacked afterwards and certainly couldn’t have contemplated the sort of efforts needed for indoor bike training on top of heavy leg work.
Looking at your numbers you’re plenty strong for someone at a relatively low bodyweight. A 350kg deadlift is massive 
You’re bike sprint must be stupid fast!!
Keep up the good work!!
1 Like
I enjoy the three main power lifts but would be embarrassed to make a claim of lifting heavy.
140 pound human, recent 1RM:
Bench 185
Squat 170
Dead 255
I don’t do leg work year round so not sure what the potential is there. Cycling a ton probably doesn’t help with increasing power lifts either. Anyhoo… This winter like to get the bench and squat into 200s and dead over 300.
1 Like
Guess I should’ve prefaced units. All those are lbs. a 350kg would be uh-maze-ing.
I’ve had decent success so far. I’m willing to sacrifice how fast the gains come for longevity. For example, in the program I follow for strength, I deload every 4th week. Whereas TR has a deload every 4th or 6th week. What I do when there are conflicts with the two, I just insert the TR deload week wherever the lifting one is. The idea is to prioritize the lifting benefits to take place.
So far, no real issues. However, I imagine I’ll hit a point where the volume for lifting might not be enough and I’ll have to increase one while tapering the other (yay for the -1, -2 variants of the program!).
Either way, the total end goal is 1000 lbs total and 3.5w/kg in the long run. I know that I won’t be doing the lifting thing for any extreme length of time. However, I know I’ll be cycling for the long haul. This way, I don’t gain too much weight and I still get to play with bikes. 
2 Likes
woo wee… you tiny. 
As I mentioned before, I found that making the hard days hard and easy days easy seemed to work best for me. I can’t remember which podcast Chad mentioned this but I’m fairly certain he’s mentioned it quite a few times.
I found that whenever I did lifting day/cycling day/lifting day/cycling day, the TR workouts were tough enough to not allow me to feel any kind of recovery.
Good luck!
2 Likes
LoL - yeah but you don’t want to chase me uphill
I was about same size in college and put up a 225 bench. That was a long time ago. Seem to have stalled out about 180-190 but in fairness, I run some programming in winter (Candito) and then do basic weight work year round without focusing on pushing up the 1RM.
Have found, no surprise, that cycling does not build weight moving legs. My squat is embarrassing for my level of overall fitness. Working that up slow and along with the DL focusing hard on good form. Will likely keep squats and deads in the workout routine year round now as racing less and focusing more on being overall fit as opposed to using too hard on w/kg.
In terms of programming I’m trying a two day on one day off type approach. Weights then hard then rest then weights then hard then rest. So far so good. But am sure if I wanted just to increase the three main lifts I should do nothing but zone 2 on the bike.
Yadda Yadda!!
1 Like
When I was a CrossFitter before I found cycling 2.5 years ago, I used to regularly lift. I’m just starting to get back into lifting this offseason to compliment my cycling program. I do the mid volume plans with gym work Wednesday and Friday. Last season I did 100% cycling, which made me fast but boy did I feel like a wimp. Feels good to lift heavy again.
My best numbers before cycling:
Deadlift: 450
Squat: 350
Clean & Jerk: 250
Snatch: 200
Those numbers seem ridiculous now that I’m an endurance athlete 
. I was crossFitting at 195 lbs and now I race at 170 lbs!
2 Likes
Did olympic lifting all through college before getting back into endurance sports about 2 years ago (was a competitive swimmer in high school). Best numbers I ever hit were:
C&J: 270
Snatch: 227
Deadlift: 418
Squat: 355
Bench: 255
(all lbs)
Those are all significantly lower now even though I’ve only lost about 10 lbs. I’ve been finding it difficult to be consistent with lifting while staying consistent with cycling. I’ve been getting better but its a constant struggle.
2 Likes
The smaller lifters move more weight on a relative basis. If you divide your total by your bodyweight it’s impossible to beat those 140lb guys.
I was lucky enough to hang around Lamar Gant for a while. He had a small physique but could deadlift 5x his bodyweight (GUMBY!). If Lamar was on the start list, the meet was never over until the bar was on the ground.
That Candito programming is kinda neat. It seems to follow the idea of submaximal training with some form and function built in. The spreadsheets and information is quite vast…
It’s interesting to see how you’ve built rest in to your programming also. I think as we become more ‘seasoned’ we start to learn the importance of the rest phase.
2 Likes
You had some good, strong numbers overall… how do feel you’d fare now on your numbers? Also what’s your current w/kg?
All my current lifting is 3x5, so I don’t know my 1 rm. If I’m guessing I’d say about -25% on all my lifts. My w/kg at the end of my peak this past September was 3.87. I’ve since taken some post season time off and back into base training. Also I’ve indulged a bit so my weight is up. Currently at 3.41 w/kg.
1 Like
Just looked up info about Lamar… good dear gracious. What a beast!!! His lifts are amazing!
Yeah the smaller folks percentage per body weight always make me a tad jelly. At 140, Darth would be terrifying with power at a Hillclimb. Probably just zoom on right by. 
Except for Jon Davis, maybe the most dominate US champion in any sport, ever.
Nobody know who either one of those guys are! 
I used to lift with some powerlifter guys a few years ago before I got into Triathlon and Ironman events.
At one point I was up to:
425 - Dead
335 - Squat
295 - Bench
At my old job I was at for 5 years, I was able to come in half hour early and take a 1.5 hour lunch. I would go lift everyday at lunch and eat at my desk. It really helped for motivation and I could do Intermittent Fasting quite easily with that schedule.
I still try and do some big pulls on Deadlift every now and again, and can rep out a few at 315 still, but i’ve really switched to trying to lean out lately. I miss that rush of lifting heavy sometimes.
2 Likes
In case anyone wants to compare directly to other lifters, here’s a Wilks Coefficient calculator: https://wilkscalculator.com/
“The Wilks Calculator is used to compare the relative strength level of squat, benchpress and deadlift. It can be used independently of different weights of lifters to give a fair indication of relative strength.”
1 Like
Man that calculator makes me feel so newbie! All good though. I guess I’ll be happy being the jack off all trades 
Random thought - it would be fun to get to a 225 bench and > 4w/kg at same time. That would be worth some TR forum bragging points right (LoL).
Candito’s programming gets high marks on some of the powerlifting review sites. It is perhaps a bit light on bench work but he has a separate program for that. I ran it for a couple cycles along with the legs set up from his intermediate program. What I like is the progression and the mix during the 6 week blocks. It’s fun and the hypertrophy weeks are pretty stout.
Other comment is road endurance cycling definitely doesn’t build strong iron moving legs for me. My deadlift is maybe decent as I do a ton of core. But deep squats with good form, can do my body weight but nowhere near a good Squatter yet.
I have not done an honest 1RM max squat attempt though. Didn’t have a full cage last year and didn’t want to dump the bar into or behind my half rack if I missed. Will run a couple of cycles of the program and give it an honest go in three months having upgraded to a full cage.
Being small (weak) has one big advantage - I don’t need a ton of plates. #300 is plenty of iron!!! My goal is to justify buying another pair of 45s - LoL
1 Like
220 bench, 300 squat , 380 deadlift