A deviation from the norm. Got out of the house and headed towards Woodlands this morning. Only upon reaching did I realize it was my friend's private man-cave gym setup. From his facebook post, I thought it was some commercial entity and was asking if he could sign me in for a day pass to test out myOne-RMs :)
Some weeks back I was thinking to test out my 1 Rep Max trinity of Deadlift, Bench Press and Squats to gauge current strength level now after 13 months of almost entirely body-weight strength training, saved for 2 adjustable dumbells and few scraggly plates + an EX bar at home.
Thinking back... it has been ~ 27 years since having stepped out of a gym doing weight training for the last time...
The mood this morningwas a little apprehensive. While my old PB numbers for benching and squats are still in the head, I have absolutely no clue about dead-lifts though. It wasn't something that I ever did much back then in the 80s-90s.
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| Starting out at 80kg after few warmup sets |
Took some refresher tips from my friend just to recap and focus on the things to be doing today (or as much as possibly can) on the correct form. But certainly that couldn't be whipped up in such a short time.
Cleared the deadlift at 140kg (309lb). Next step up with another 2.5kg plate added per side was a no go. I don't think it was my best attempt/ effort but it is what it is. Morevover, probably too much time and strength had already gone by when I started to go real heavy.
Benchpress was pretty easy, effort wise at 80kg. 90kg was still quite doable and thus hoping to ramp up to 100kg next... but nope. That wasn't happening..
Acquiesced after the failed second attempt. My friend too has been stuck not getting to a 100. So I asked him how about we both try 95kg! That just sparked something and we quickly changed out the plates. And YES! Both of us cleared that.
Looking at the videos after reaching home, I saw all my mistakes. All those years away from the gym has certainly reduced all the muscle memories even for doing proper bench press.
For the deadlifts, it certainly wasn't being done correctly
and attributed being able to clear the 140kg boils down to my cores. Obvious from the clips and recalling the sensation from earlier-- I really wasn't driving down hard enough with the
legs and was rounding my back. Position/ stance wasn't optimal either. Apart from quads, I should have engaged glutes/ hams and calves more before lifting.
While overall what's done today isn't too shabby and the key thing as mentioned was simply to gauge what body-weight training has resulted by now. However I reckon now its time to also re-evaluate the necessity of getting back to a gym. Or at least adding more weights at home to enhance strength training.
It's not about which is being superior but how to optimize a program where doing both complements each other
1RM Squats? Nah... already been 2.5 hours by the time I cleared that final 95kg bench press. Have to come back for that test of strength another day.
But "moral of the story" today, as always, I would say, we are our own agent of change.
Start Moving, Keep Moving, Don't Stop Moving.