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csl7037 -> RE: Any serious weight lifters here? (6/5/2008 1:32:25 PM)
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It's going to be hard to do what you want with less equipment. Maybe you can try some new things for a while, though. I know I'm bad about getting stuck in ruts.
Talking about me bulking and working up strength, made me go back to an article I just read. I love Jen Heath because she's got like 4 kids, she looks phenomenal, and she's so willing to share and give advice. In an article about why women should take creatine, she said:
quote:
"I can't describe to you how much creatine has helped my performance over the years. I wouldn't dream of going without it. When I first started preparing to become a competitive bodybuilder, I was doing reps on bench at about 90 pounds. I was repping squats at about 135 and bent over rows at about 60. I was curling 15 pounds (per arm) and shoulder press topped out at 15 per arm. Back then I didn't take any other supplements except fish oil and a multi-vitamin. I'd pretty much come to a standstill.
"It was then that a trainer friend told me I ought to take creatine. Since I'm the opposite of hesitant, I jumped right on it. I continued to lift with the intensity I'd been using, just with the creatine added into my scheme. At the end of three months, I'd increased my bench to 135, my squat to 165, my bent rows to 90. I was able to curl 25 pounds and my shoulder press went up to 25.
"I can honestly say that since I wasn't really incorporating anything extra in my routine, that the strength increase was largely due to the creatine supplementation. I now (performing reps) bench 155, squat 185, bent over row 155, curl 35, and shoulder press 35.
"I believe that creatine has played a major role in my strength increases. I look the way I do now because I've been able to excel at my weights, and I have creatine to thank for a lot of that. I'd never not take it!"
She makes it sound great but, given my 4th of July goal, I don't want to try that now. The chance of bloating and there not being enough time for my body to adjust to it if it needs to makes me want to wait. Maybe after the 4th though. I thought that was really interesting, though, because she laid it on the line with her weights. I usually only have dh to use as a guage for how much I'm lifting - and comparing to your numbers would just be silly. She gives me something here to shoot for and a good benchmark to use.
She said, when she started to compete, she was doing reps on bench at about 90 pounds (I'm adding total 35 to the big bar - what's that 50-55?); repping squats at about 135 (I'm using 45s = 105-110?); bent over rows at about 60 (I do these on the machine at 70 but I don't think that's the same); curling 15 pounds (per arm) - my last set is with 16s but it's really too heavy for me; and shoulder press topped out at 15 per arm (I have terribly weak shoulders and one with a possible rotator cuff issue I'm hoping to just keep delaying dealing with - I don't push shoulders past 10s and I'm in no hurry to try).
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