Pretty much like all the 5 w/kg guys.
I guess 
. Unfortunately a high bench press is about the most useless strength to have both on the bike and in everyday life.
You obviously havenāt seen me mountain bike where its routine to press stuff off my prone body.
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I race XC Expert/Cat 1 so Iām familiar with the needs of MTB. The point was striving for a high bench, or really any lift that far exceeds the need of MTB or life. When I was my strongest I realized they were strength numbers for bragging rights, it didnāt make me more capable in any practical way. Sure itās fun to be very strong and seeing the numbers go up, but nowadays Iāll take a higher FTP above all.
I was a competitive powerlifter for about ten years between my years racing a bike. I competed in the 275s equipped lifting. My best lifts were 1000 squat 700 bench 705 pull.
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Fun is the key. Itās why I do all this stuff. Including posting on a forum like this.
Your point was never unclear. Perhaps what wasnāt clear was mine ā I was kidding and ābragging rightsā was totally tongue in cheek. Nobody except me would ever care if I hit XYZ numbers in a gym or on a bike.
FWIW, Iāve been wondering about āstrengthā as an overall concept. Not to brag about it, but to have as good a quality of life as I can for many more decades. For about ten years I have had a very strong focus on core strength. It helped my cycling a bit and made me a stronger human for sure. āCoreā is not something easy to measure (like a bench or FTP metric) but very practical to have. Looking into strength routines that might be more evenly balanced for whole body and functionally oriented. Not exactly sure of the right terminology to describe this, but more towards the idea of āstrength that is useful in lifeā.
Anyway, have fun and enjoy chasing the FTP number upwards.
@Critwannabe ā My best lifts were 1000 squat 700 bench 705 pull.
Wow. For lack of something more important to respond with 
-Mark
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Yeah it was an odd path i took in competitive sports lol. Went from Roller speed skating to cycling then to powerlifting some how then back to cycling after 7-8 years of quitting lifting.
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Hey @H22EG8
My current training is only focused on lifting, mainly Power lifts (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench and Over Head Presses) 3x week. I donāt have 1 rep maxes, but on the 5 rep maxes for this year, Iām around 320 Squats, 385 Deadlifts, 190 Bench and 160 OHP. Iāve been plagued with shoulder tweaks this year.
Anyway, Iām looking to add some TrainerRoad training into my programming to complement my weight lifting, get better cardio and loose some fat as my weight has been ballooning in the last month or 2. Iām interested to know how you have been doing?
Thanks,
Miguel
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Dude, 1000 squat! Thats awesome.
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Thanks!
Squatting was def my gift in the weight game. My best gym squat was about 1060-1070.
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Good gracious thatās monstrousā¦
You were clearly in the larger category. How do you feel the heavy lifting has prepared you as far as cycling?
Sounds like youāre doing submaximal training like Wendler, etc.
I can tell you Iāve had some serious shoulder issues also and b/c of that, I had to completely toss out OHP from my workout regimen. I can do a push press but the slow, methodical, OHP is just not in the cards. Even have an x-ray to prove it! =P
As far as TR training currently I just toggle between SSB1 and 2, LV. Not very exciting however I remember a podcast where coach Chad talked about if you donāt have any set cycling goals and just want to keep a base level of cardio fitness, that doing 1 and 2 is just fine. Been trying it and I can say that SSB1 in the lunchtime/afternoon after the lifts in the morning is definitely doable. Itāll tax you hard but Iām in the hard days hard, easy days easy camp. With the TR workouts you gotta want each and everyone one and mentally push through that block of āitās too hardā. So for example this week is:
Monday: (today - chest)
Tuesday: squats when I wake up, TR at lunch.
Wednesday: nothing/recovery. IF (big IF) I do something on Wednesday, itāll be something like Recess -5 or Taku -1 turned down to like 80% or something. It took awhile for me to really absorb the concept of what āactive recoveryā is. However, once you push the ego aside, itās fairly easy to get itā¦
Thursday: Deadlift morning, TR lunch
Friday: nothing/recovery
Saturday: Long TR workout
Sunday: nothing/recovery
It looks really weird with the whole ānothingā in there but last time I did this two programs at once, I would fill those ānothingā days with something (rowing, cardio, ARM DAY-lol)ā¦ but I quickly fell victim to overtraining. I NEVER want to do that again. It should be noted that the lifting is following the Wendler 531 program to a āTāā¦ So itās not just a āIām here workoutā - itās an all in, very disciplined effort.
This works for me. I would say it took a very long time for me to accept the idea that āItās ok to do nothingāā¦ when realistically itās about balancing the stress of the body.
Finally, in the Wendler program every 4th week is a deload week. During this deload week WHEREVER I am in the SSB phase, I turn that week in to one of the taper weeks that is usually found at the end of a training phase. That way, I let the adaptation happen. This is probably one of the most critical pieces of the whole thing. The deload lifting week workouts are seriously very quick. Again, itās all about throwing the ego away and trusting the process.
So far Iāve been slowly progressing and while I wonāt be the monster @Critwannabe wasā¦ or as fast as wellā¦ most of the guys here, I am accepting that Iāll be a decent lifter and decent cyclist and Iām ok with that b/c Iām in it for the long haul of health and happiness.
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It hasnt lol. Def two far ends of the spectrum.
Also when I competed I ate like 5 people because more body weight meant I could lift more weight so I would go up to 310-320 at 5 ft 9 ish. I still have the ability to eat like that so it takes a lot to not do that at times. I would also be interested in getting a dexascan because I am pretty certain my bone density is much higher than most.
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I competed in powerlifting for about 7 years before getting properly into riding and tri. Competed through a few classes starting at <80kg, ballooning up to the 105kg and then settling in the 93kg class. Had some strongman comps in there at my heaviest too.
Best lifts were 232.5kg squat, 160kg bench and 262.5kg deadlift @93kg BW. Iāve been wanting to get back to some proper lifting lately and think a comeback at a lower BW might be on the cards if I can hit my goals at next years full distance.
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At my best:
Bench: 100KG (it has always sucked)
Squat: 160KG
Deadlift: 225KG
Which was cool because it meant I got into the 1000lb club.
Iām under it at the moment, but I want to get back into this place again whilst still riding. Working at it.
Iām going to do it. Watch and wait
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Hey - very similar (but better) to my PR numbers (280 DL/ 220 SQ / 150 B) I posted earlier in this thread. 
You had a much better body weight than me though - I was around 108kg (at 6ā3ā tall) when putting up those numbers.
Did you find that as your DL went up it sort of āpulledā up your other numbers up too? - I found this as I focused more on DL as I found it was my preference lift and I enjoyed it more as a consequence.
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prior to cycling, I power lifted competitively. My best in competition lifts at the 205 weight class:
405 squat
275 bench
520 deadlift
I race now at 185lbs. Iād love to think that my lifting has helped me as a cyclist, but have no hard evidence/data to back it up. I have a pretty darn good sprint, especially if its fast coming into a sprint. My threshold power is good as well, my peak 20 minute power in 2019 was 395w.
I donāt really miss powerlifting, as I could see the ceiling of my potential, and I had a few nagging injuries that would always surface.
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Ooosh 
Damn thatās a good effort dude 
Nice 
āClosest I ever got was 935 years ago.ā
you were lifting weights 935 years ago??
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lolā¦ dangā¦ edit failā¦
In my immortal status, 935 pounds is the best cumulative weight Iāve been ever amass between bench/deadlift/squat
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