From: krw@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (keith.r.smith)
Subject: Re: Weight Lifting posts
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 20:55:43 GMT

In article <Bz293u.JBM@mail.boi.hp.com> smay@boi.hp.com (Scott Smay) writes:
>This has been a very interesting and informative discussion for me. I am very 
>impressed with nearly all the performances described, even those of the
>so-called "girly men". It is interesting and a little perplexing to find out
>about so many who are not just stronger, not just significantly stronger, but
>are amazingly stronger than I am.
>
>A little background: I'm 34, 5'9", 155 lbs. I can run a 10k in about 37
>minutes, ski 25km in about 80 minutes. I do a lot of whitewater kayaking.
>I lift weights about 9 months a year, though I'd never done bench presses
>until this last year.          
>
>On bench press, I will be (or would have been until this thread started) happy
>when I can do 3 sets of 8 reps of my own body weight. Right now I can do
>3X8@135, and I've done an occasional single set at 155 with great effort.
>Watching around the gym, this is definitely lower than the average, though not
>by a lot. I see lots of people working with about 200 lbs. Those who work with
>the 150 lb range seem to be in the 10-20 rep range. What is a little 
>confusing and sometimes irritating is that most of these guys have slighter
>builds than I. 
>
>My objective is to build strength, not mass. Advice or references would be
>welcome. I read this group daily, and don't see my workout being radically
>different than some successful ones described here. One possible difference
>is that I tend to use weight training as an adjunct to more aerobic sports.
>However, I am not using a low weight X high rep routine. I rarely get reps
>above 8 or 9 (or below 7) and do work to exhaustion except on warmups. Am I
>just up against a genetic limit?
>
>cheers,
>scott 
>
Hi Scott!
I suspect that you are some ways away from any genetic limits. 
My suggestions are as follows:

	1) do your strength training positively no more than twice
	   weekly
	2) include either full squats (front squat style, flat-footed,
	   where your butt goes lower than your knees, like, almost to
	   your ankles) or heavy deadlifts no more than once weekly,
	   but don't do both in the same week (if you are doing them
	   _properly_ then you won't be able to do both in the same week)
	3) include paralell bar dips into your routine

	4) don't be afraid of using higher reps.....
	<<anecdote alert>>>>
	When I was in high school, I weighed about 148 at a height of 5'10.5"
	I found that if I could do 50 push-ups, then I could also BP 200lbs
	for a single.  This did not work the same, the other way about.
	........ something to consider
	In any event, this was after 2yrs of regular training

	5) have a training partner help you through a set of "negatives"
	   on the BP when you are at the end of a set, and cannot do
	   more "positives"

	6) do your BP's in a power rack, do one set from the lowest
	   position that you can climb under, do another from a few
	   inches higher with more weight, and do a third with even
	   more weight, starting just six inches shy of lock-out

Keith R
Newsgroups: misc.fitness