I joined the 1000 pound club
As of the end of October 2023, I can now claim that I am a member of the 1000-pound (454 Kg) club at a body weight of 128 Kg. The 1000-pound club is an unofficial strength sports standard where to achieve membership you need to be able to lift a combined total of 1000 pounds across the three powerlifting exercises of Deadlift, Squat & Bench Press.
I've been going to the gym regularly since April 2022 & have done a number of training programs since then.
At the beginning of my gym journey, I was training 3 times a week using the strength programme gzclp, which has you complete a heavy set of deadlifts, squats & bench & increase the weight on the bar every week until you start failing. I stuck with the program for around 9 months & this period of me going to the gym was the most sporadic & inconsistent of my training journey.
I have had brief periods of time in the past where I've been to the gym before, but usually, I stop going after about 3 months. Therefore, I was quite surprised when this time I stuck with it for 9 months & was still excited about going to the gym and improving on a weekly basis.
During this initial period at the gym, I managed to increase my deadlift to around 170 Kg for three reps, my squat to around 150 Kg for three reps & my bench to around 80 Kg for three. After I started stalling & learning more about working out, I decided that I was going to start doing a more hypertrophy/bodybuilding based routine that incorporated a lot more volume & periodization.
I stumbled upon the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel around this time & learned a lot from it. I based my training around their teachings, focusing on building the volume & frequency of my training across each block, interspersed with 3 mesocycles each. This resulted in a lot of size gains as expected & I am still following this training programme to date, with a new block scheduled to start sometime in November.
From around January 2023 to October 2023, I made significant size gains & moderate increases in the weight/volume of my lifts. In the middle of October, I finished my second training block & started a 4-week strength/resensitization phase. In my first week of this phase, I managed to lift 200 Kg for three in the deadlift, 170 Kg for two in the squat & 92.5 Kg for 3 in the bench. This puts my powerlifting total at 462.5 Kg or around 1019 pounds. I still have two and a bit more weeks of my strength phase & am hoping to increase these lifts to 215 Kg in the deadlift, 180 Kg in the squat & 100 Kg in the bench, which would put my total at 495 Kg or around 1090 pounds.
Some of you in the know may realise that the numbers I have given above for my lifts are not 1 rep maxes as traditionally used when talking about the 1000-pound club, but rather 2-3 rep maxes. I have intentionally not gone for any 1 rep maxes & don't plan to as I am not planning on competing and believe the injury risk of going for 1-rep maxes when not competing is not worth the payoff. I have also decided not to use any estimated 1-rep maxes when calculating this figure & will continue to use my 2-3 rep max.
The one area where I have been disappointed in my gym & healthy living progress is my ability to lose weight (or more specifically fat). At my heaviest 5 years ago I was 140 Kg & I had to hold my breath when putting my shoes on. Since then I have lost around 12 Kg & am a healthier weight, but in my opinion, I still have a long way to go.
My main impetus for starting this healthier lifestyle was to lose weight & be active for the next 20 or so years so that I can spend quality time with my future children. On that front there is good news & my wife & I are planning for our son to be born early next year. However, I must say that I have failed in my goal to lose any weight while I have been working out at the gym. This is wholly my fault as I tend to overconsume food at the weekend.
Therefore, my next weight/strength-related goals will be to lose at least 1 Kg a month for the next year & still be a member of the 1000-pound club this time next year, but at a much lighter body weight. I am going to continue with my current training regime, focusing on bodybuilding/hypertrophy with interspersed strength work as needed to resensitize to lower volume.
Hopefully this time next year, I'll have another success story to tell you.