From: mcgregor@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov (George McGregor)
Subject: Re: Weight Lifting posts
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:51:17 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.
>
You are not alone :-).

>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. 
>

I'm 37, 6' 2" and 185-190 lbs. I know precisely how you feel.  If it's any 
consolation I've been at it 4+ years, and my maximum bench was and still is 135 lbs.

>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 
>

I'd like to build strength and mass, and this group is a superb resource.

The quickest and most useless advice I've received was, "It's all in your head".

The better advice/suggestion came after the guy gave it some thought, and his
first question was, "How many push-ups can you do?". (The correct answer is 10
with difficulty :-).  He then suggested doing push-ups regularly until I could do
fifty (that's correct 50).  Start off by doing as many 'complete' ones as you can
filling out the remainder with negatives.  As they become easier you can vary
the spacing of your hand position and strive to do them more s-l-o-w-l-y.  His
other observation was that I was _not_ giving the workout enough time.  Currently,
the only time I have is my lunch hour which is, in reality, less than one full hour
of a workout.  I realize his advice _may_ counter the "Hardgainer" column, but his
success/acheivement(s) are substantial (he has moved up to 315 lbs. in his bench
workout).

Above all, don't give up, there are alot of folks still struggling.


Hang in there,
-- 

  George McGregor    @	NCI Frederick Biomedical Supercomputer Center
  c/o PRI, Inc.		Phone: (301) 846-5789                  
  PO Box B, Bldng. 430  mcgregor@ncifcrf.gov
Newsgroups: misc.fitness