club Rebel Stronk: The art of lifting heavy things and putting them down again

[Rurik Harrgath]

Welcome, strong friends, to the House of Stronk!

 

 

Here, atop an epic and magnificent mountain peak, this skyhall of legendary lifters, this pinnacle of peak performance, is the anvil upon which we forge our awe-inspiring might!  With my goals shifting to purely strength and wellness going into 2024, I wanted to start a club for any and all likeminded (strongminded) Rebels with an interest in maximizing their Strength attribute.  Feel free to discuss any aspect of the modality, whether training and programming, nutritional support, any strength sports, share a video of your PRs or ask for a form check, even discuss your goals and successes!  

 

No sign-up necessary, all are welcome, and no commitments made, join us to grow, thrive, and put your might to the test!

 

[Artemis Prime]

Oooh - this is nice! As I transition from Ranger to Cleric, strength is becoming a more important stat for me. I was doing a program that added weight based on RPE, but turns out I'm not very good at assessing my RPE and plateaued big time due to constantly underestimating what I could lift. So I ended 2023 with Stronger by Science's general beginner workout, and have been pretty consistently adding weight to the bar. I also started using Fitnotes to track my workouts, and their estimated 1RM feature has been pretty cool and helpful. I still think I could be lifting a little heavier than I am, but I'm definitely doing much more than I was.

 

My next 4 weeks of training is going to be mostly focused on perfecting my deadlift technique, with some emphasis on building up some bar time with assisted pull ups as well. After that, I will run another cycle of the workout I just finished and assess whether to continue with beginner programs or look into some intermediate work instead.

[sylph]

Perhaps hanging around with some directly strength-focused peeps will help me get back in gear. I've been in a bit of a slump as it pertains to the 'making time to workout' part of ...well... working out

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Thanks for setting up the forum!!  One of my goals this year is to increase my deadlift to 150 pounds (currently 105).  

[sarakingdom]

I think maybe this is me, although at the moment I'm most likely to be lifting me. But I have been thinking lately that I need to focus more on strong.

[Sepherina]

This is fantastic!  I am always wanting to learn more about strength training.  Right now I am spending a sizable amount of gold for a trainer.  So far the investment has been worth it.  I have learned some of the basics around lifting and I am in my best shape so far.  Injuries have also been non existent. But I also feel like I want more than just the trainer is providing. So lots of stuff around this on my end.  Financially I would love to not be paying out as much to train by the end of the next year.

[Waanie]

Thanks for setting up this thread! There will be an informal powerlifting meet at my gym by the end of March, so it's time to start training for that . My main goal remains in the kettlebell sport, but I will try to add on some work on the big three as well. Today I started light, with 5x5x60kg deadlifts after my main KB training .

[Artemis Prime]

First lift of the year in the books! I'm not super committed to the goals below, as I mostly just want to lift more than I am right now, but here are some numbers to give me an outline of what I'm shooting for.

 

Dumbbell Front Squat: Current estimated 1RM on FitNotes - 75lbs. I have 80lbs in dumbbells. My goal for the year is to max this out at which point I'll switch to landmine squats. I'd love to get a rack, but that probably isn't happening in 2024.

Dumbbell Overhead Press: Current estimated 1RM on FitNotes - 40lbs. Not a hard goal here, but maybe something to aim for is 68lbs, which puts me in the "elite" category on Strength Level. All the data on that site is self-reported, so I have questions about it, but it works as a rough estimate.

Deadlift: Current estimated 1RM on FitNotes - 100lbs. I'd like to get to 125 as that would be BW.

 

My current training block isn't that focused on increasing 1RM. Deadlift especially is very light but lots of reps as the focus is on perfecting technique. I should do a form check video - tomorrow should be a good day for that because it's a short workout and I'm off work, so I'll have time to mess with angles and lighting, because working out in my basement is not conducive to making videos.

[Rurik Harrgath]

On 12/29/2023 at 2:34 PM, Artemis Prime said:

As I transition from Ranger to Cleric, strength is becoming a more important stat for me.

 

I'm dabbling in Cleric this year too, though primarily Barbarian.  So double-pump the strength stat!   

 

On 12/29/2023 at 8:22 PM, sarakingdom said:

I need to focus more on strong.

 

Stronk is stronk!

 

3 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

First lift of the year in the books! 

 

I'm just about to go do mine!  Not 100% sure what yet, but I'm thinking Deadlift to stretch those sleepy muscles out, bench later this week, and spend some time finding the rocks around our property that I'd like to use for stone lifting.

[Jarric]

I'm in for this - I'd like to hit a couple of big benchmarks on squat and deadlift by the end of the year (5RM of 1.5 x bodyweight and 2 x bodyweight respectively), so it'll be good to have this as a bit of a push.

 

First lift of the year was this morning. Bench for 70kg x 2 x 5, then went up to 72.5kg x 2 x 5. I have a feeling my 5RM is something like 75kg, so I'd like to push this up a bit more too.

[ViperN7]

Hi everybody, I'm still finding my way around the forums. I'm glad I found this club! Thanks Rurik for making a place to talk about strength! 

 

Sadly I'm not able to exercise as much as my norm right now due to a health issue. My focus for the time being is on trying to eat enough and lift enough so that my body doesn't decide that I don't need these muscles anymore. As far as I can tell, it's mostly working so far (to my surprise). 

 

That being said, I'd really like to be able to do pull ups at my previous level which was 2 x 5. And I'd really love to set a new deadlift 1RM of 200 lbs by the end of the year....although if I can increase it at all I should consider that a success. 

 

Does anyone here have thoughts on how much protein is needed to maintain muscle (with only strength training about once a week)? I've been getting a minimum of .68g/lb a day, averaging about .75g/lb. I feel like it would be better to be up around .8g/lb or higher (based on things I've read,) but I just can't eat that much these days. Any thoughts are welcome. 

[Sepherina]

 

1 hour ago, ViperN7 said:

Does anyone here have thoughts on how much protein is needed to maintain muscle (with only strength training about once a week)? I've been getting a minimum of .68g/lb a day, averaging about .75g/lb. I feel like it would be better to be up around .8g/lb or higher (based on things I've read,) but I just can't eat that much these days. Any thoughts are welcome

I think this really depends on your overall fitness and current goals.  Are you just maintaining muscle or building muscle? Are you looking to gain weight, lose weight or maintaining it?  

 

 

As for increasing it, there are several ways to do it.  You don’t seem to be too far off your .80 g/lb.  Maybe swap out a snack for a more protein dense one?  I use cottage cheese often to make scrabbled eggs instead of milk, or have apples with peanut butter.

[ViperN7]

33 minutes ago, Sepherina said:

I think this really depends on your overall fitness and current goals.  Are you just maintaining muscle or building muscle? Are you looking to gain weight, lose weight or maintaining it?  

Hi, thanks for your thoughts. Right now I'm not trying to gain or lose weight. I'm just trying to avoid losing muscle at a time when I can do less than half of my normal exercise (by "a time" I mean several months, probably more than half a year when all is said and done). 

I guess it would be helpful to know the minimum amout of protein I need to be eating to maintain my muscle. 

[Jarric]

13 hours ago, ViperN7 said:

Hi everybody, I'm still finding my way around the forums. I'm glad I found this club! Thanks Rurik for making a place to talk about strength! 

 

Sadly I'm not able to exercise as much as my norm right now due to a health issue. My focus for the time being is on trying to eat enough and lift enough so that my body doesn't decide that I don't need these muscles anymore. As far as I can tell, it's mostly working so far (to my surprise). 

 

That being said, I'd really like to be able to do pull ups at my previous level which was 2 x 5. And I'd really love to set a new deadlift 1RM of 200 lbs by the end of the year....although if I can increase it at all I should consider that a success. 

 

Does anyone here have thoughts on how much protein is needed to maintain muscle (with only strength training about once a week)? I've been getting a minimum of .68g/lb a day, averaging about .75g/lb. I feel like it would be better to be up around .8g/lb or higher (based on things I've read,) but I just can't eat that much these days. Any thoughts are welcome. 

 

This is always going to be a bit of an individual thing - there's plenty of studies on protein intake, but they can only tell you what is ideal for a population average, not what is ideal for your specifically. You've said that, as far as you can tell, what you're doing is working. I'd keep monitoring that, and if it keeps working then you're probably doing fine.

 

Or you could experiment with a little more protein, and document any changes in trends to see if it helps or not. There will come a point where your body is using all of the protein it can possibly use, and increased protein won't make a difference, though judging by the levels you've mentioned you're probably not there yet.

 

This is quite a good, in-depth article on protein if you want a more scientific opinion: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/barbell-medicine-protein-recommendations/

[ViperN7]

On 1/26/2024 at 7:59 AM, Jarric said:

This is quite a good, in-depth article on protein if you want a more scientific opinion: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/barbell-medicine-protein-recommendations/

Hi, thanks for your thoughts and the link. It's such a relief to read an article about strength and protein that feels like a biology textbook, not a flashing neon ad. 

 

In other news, I finally did pull ups again today (I have been unable to for about 2 weeks due to a combination of weather and health.) 

My "two sets of five" went 3/1/1 and 3/1/1. Pretty good for the current times. I want my sets of 5 again, though. 

I was paying a lot of attention to the process today, and I feel confident saying it's an endurance problem. (And since I have an endurance problem showing up in my running as well, that makes sense.) 

[ViperN7]

Question for the strength-minded folks! 

Do you feel like it's important to do both squats and deadlifts as opposed to deadlifts only? I usually see the recommendation to do both promoted with a muscle balance explanation, saying squats work the quads more whereas deadlifts are more focussed on the posterior chain. 

I've been doing deadlifts only for a few years (I do some bodyweight squats just as regular movement in my day.) The deadlifts have certainly built my quads! I'm a runner as well which I believe works my quads, too. 

I'm evaluating my strength routine and considering whether I've got gaping holes in it. I don't want to create imbalance problems. 

So I'm looking for opinions. Do you feel like squats and deadlifts should be done together, or help you in different ways? 

Thanks for your thoughts! 

[Jarric]

On 2/4/2024 at 2:53 PM, ViperN7 said:

Question for the strength-minded folks! 

Do you feel like it's important to do both squats and deadlifts as opposed to deadlifts only? I usually see the recommendation to do both promoted with a muscle balance explanation, saying squats work the quads more whereas deadlifts are more focussed on the posterior chain. 

I've been doing deadlifts only for a few years (I do some bodyweight squats just as regular movement in my day.) The deadlifts have certainly built my quads! I'm a runner as well which I believe works my quads, too. 

I'm evaluating my strength routine and considering whether I've got gaping holes in it. I don't want to create imbalance problems. 

So I'm looking for opinions. Do you feel like squats and deadlifts should be done together, or help you in different ways? 

Thanks for your thoughts! 

 

I guess it depends what you're trying to achieve with your lifting. If you're looking to get big legs, do both. If you're looking to compete at powerlifting definitely do both, because both are competition lifts. I would suspect squats would also help more with jumping strength than deadlifts alone. However, if your main goal is just to be able to run without injury, I don't know if squats are necessary in addition to deadlifts, and I wouldn't expect it to create a big imbalance. And if you do discover an imbalance, you might be better off addressing that more specifically at the time.

 

I would tend to do both for general strength. Squats are more of a leg exercise and deadlifts are more of a posterior chain exercise, so they do work muscles in a slightly different way, and it's easier on you to put them both in your training than to just do double deadlifts. Most people can also deadlift a fair bit more weight than they can squat (though I've known some exceptions), so squats are a bit less taxing on your nervous system and can therefore be done to a slightly higher volume.

[ViperN7]

On 2/5/2024 at 11:23 AM, Jarric said:

 

I guess it depends what you're trying to achieve with your lifting. If you're looking to get big legs, do both. If you're looking to compete at powerlifting definitely do both, because both are competition lifts. I would suspect squats would also help more with jumping strength than deadlifts alone. However, if your main goal is just to be able to run without injury, I don't know if squats are necessary in addition to deadlifts, and I wouldn't expect it to create a big imbalance. And if you do discover an imbalance, you might be better off addressing that more specifically at the time.

 

I would tend to do both for general strength. Squats are more of a leg exercise and deadlifts are more of a posterior chain exercise, so they do work muscles in a slightly different way, and it's easier on you to put them both in your training than to just do double deadlifts. Most people can also deadlift a fair bit more weight than they can squat (though I've known some exceptions), so squats are a bit less taxing on your nervous system and can therefore be done to a slightly higher volume.

Hi again, thank you for your input!

 

[ViperN7]

I did it! 

I did 2 sets of 5 pull ups today! It's only the second time I've managed it since getting sick, and the first was in October. 

My pull up frequency is shifting from once a week to twice a week, and I think it's adding up. 

[Elastigirl]

3 hours ago, ViperN7 said:

I did it! 

I did 2 sets of 5 pull ups today! It's only the second time I've managed it since getting sick, and the first was in October. 

My pull up frequency is shifting from once a week to twice a week, and I think it's adding up. 

[Jarric]

16 hours ago, ViperN7 said:

I did it! 

I did 2 sets of 5 pull ups today! It's only the second time I've managed it since getting sick, and the first was in October. 

My pull up frequency is shifting from once a week to twice a week, and I think it's adding up. 

 

 

Awesome job! I meant to post a congratulations gif, but this was too cute not to share

 

[ViperN7]

22 hours ago, Jarric said:

 

 

Awesome job! I meant to post a congratulations gif, but this was too cute not to share

 

This is the perfect gif 🙂

[ViperN7]

I did it again! 

2x5 pull ups! 

This makes the third time in my recovery arc, and it's less than 2 months after the second time! (There were 4 months between the first time and second time.) 

We are getting somewhere. Slowly, and surely, we are getting somewhere. 

I feel so good I think I'm gonna go do weights next. 

 

What kind of strength projects are the rest of you working on?