[PROGRESS] 3 years of powerlifting, BW 130 lb --> 155 lbs, SQ/BP/DL 300/143/308 lbs

csf

New member
Hey ladies,

TL;DR: my 3 years of progress video (SFW)

Bodyweight changes -- I think they are quite evident from the video, but if you'd like to see a small album of some less SFW pictures you are welcome to PM me.

Preamble

I've been following the sub for a while and thought I would show what I've been able to accomplish the last 3 years training primarily towards improving the big three: squat, bench, deadlift. My lifts in 2011 were sloppy, and I did almost everything wrong formwise, proof that sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.

Details:

I'm 5'4", 26 years old. My bodyweight in 2011 was around 130 lbs, and now it is at least 150 lbs. I gained slowly throughout the last 3 years, with a small cut here and there to break it up. Weight is great, you guys. No coach until the last few months, where I travel to the Barbell Compound (outstanding gym, go there) in Chicago every month or so to keep things in check. And no -- no drugs or weird supps, just protein powder, BCAAs, and creatine. For the last 1.5 years I've been very active in Illini Powerlifting, my school's club/team. For the first year I ate/lived vegan, and now vegetarian (because of this the creatine affects me very strongly, it almost feels like I'm cheating haha).

I started lifting to look better, and began with P90X early in 2011. I didn't like it much except that moving weight felt fun to me, so I started going to the gym instead and following some of the P90X routines. Somewhere along the way I got turned on to squatting, which lead into the other two main lifts. No program at first, and I flirted with 5/3/1 and GZCL, but I made the best progress on the cube method, which I've been running fairly consistently for over a year now. A good portion of my volume comes from assistance work: SLDL, barbell rows, lift variations, etc.

For some intermediate steps, after about a year of "powerlifting", I managed a 245 lb squat. Progress slows down considerably!! My deadlift lagged behind my squat numbers almost consistently until this past year; I struggled to get this lift right, and after toying with conventional for a while and continually re-aggravating my sacroilliac joint (though I didn't know that was the issue at the time), I switched to sumo. My 1 RMs now are a 300 lb squat, 143 lb bench, 308 lb deadlift. I have a lot of videos on my YT channel if you want to see more steps along the way.

I still have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. If nothing else I learned that getting strong is one hell of a marathon, not a sprint -- with ups and downs from injury to stress to things out of our control. Thanks for the support and information over the years, ladies. This and /r/weightroom are two subs where I learned so much that I am certain it factored into my progress.
 
@csf Wow. Thanks for posting this. This was amazing to see. I am your height and start weight and REALLY started lifting in May this year. One day I hope to do a 300lb deadlift... right now, I just cant imagine. I just saw you do it, so maybe I can, at least, just imagine for now.

Rock on!
 
@csf Dear /@csf:
Please cut down to the 63 kg weight class so I can attempt to compete at 72 kg and not feel like a kitten with a barbell.

Thx.
 
@csf Awesome work!

What belt are you using? I've been thinking about getting a belt but it's been impossible to find a good one in brick 'n' mortar and I'm hesitant to shell out $100 for an Inzer or something sight unseen.
 
@fmontanay2 I got mine from strengthshop. They now have a US store. Lever 13 mm. They are super quick with shipping and have really nice customer service, and they are good for IPF meets -- used it at raw nationals. It's a little less expensive than an inzer, but it's also non-leather.
 
@iamscience Took a long time, man! I thought I had herniated disks for a while, but I never had sciatica. It was just a dull throbbing lower back pain without any of the tells of a disc bulge. I went to a slew of not-so-great physical therapists who never bothered to figure out what the actual problem was, and last year I went to a proper PT. She figured out my issues and gave me a comprehensive routine that involved strengthening my laterals, working on my stabilizers (think balance work), and fixing my abhorrent hamstring flexibility.
 
@csf Awesome progress!

I've never heard of the cube method but reading through the page (thanks for the link) I'm seriously considering switching to it. I've been on Stronglifts for a few months and the constant focus on PRs has gotten a bit daunting (not on all the lifts, just some). Increasing the weight used to be really motivating, but it started to get heavy enough (mainly on squats) that I began dreading workouts and my adherence to my workout schedule has really dropped.

Anyway, I'm rambling, sorry. Can you tell me more about your workout schedule and how you picked your accessory lifts?
 
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