40 Days of Power Lifting
Hey guys! I figured that since I’ve reached a milestone (that being the end of a 40-day work-out plan my boyfriend designed for me), I’d fill you in on what happened. I don’t know too much about power lifting, so I left the planning and calculations to my boyfriend. The goal was to increase my one-rep max (that’s the highest amount of weight you can lift in one repetition) so that by the end of the term I’d be able to do 5 reps of my one-rep max. Gosh, does this make any sense?
We had 5 exercises, which we divided into two separate days. One day, I’d do overhead press, stiff leg deadlifts and bent rows. The second day consisted of squats and bench press.
My one rep max for overhead press was 60lbs, for stiff leg deadlift was 110, for bent rows was 85, for squats was 155 and for bench press was 90. I met “gains” in all exercises – in other words was able to turn a 1-rep max to at least a 5-rep max at the end of the 40 days – except for bench press where I ended off at 75lbs x 5 rather than 90.
According to this “one rep calculator,” I’ve probably made the following gains, which I will test in a few days after sufficient rest.
Overhead Press – start: 60lbs one max rep; End: 68lbs = +8lbs
Stiff Leg Deadlift – start: 110lbs one max rep; End: 124lbs = +14lbs
Bent Rows - start: 85lbs one max rep; End: 96lbs = +11lbs
Squats - start: 155lbs one max rep; End: 174lbs = +19lbs
Bench Press – start: 90lbs one max rep; End: 84lbs = -6lbs
I used to hate weight-lifting, but now I truly enjoy the crap out of it. At least, now I know I can carry my boyfriend to safety should he get injured in the zombie apocalypse.
Yes, these strong arms may save a life some day. Or kick someone’s ass. Who’s to say?! 
In addition to weight lifting, I’ve continued with regular walking. My feet are still not where they used to be and I’m afraid to start running again and royally screw ‘em up (even more so), so I’m slowly coming to grips with the fact that I may never be a “runner” again; at least not how I had once defined myself. But I guess the sign of growth and maturity is that I’m focusing less on what I can’t do and more on what I can. The fact of the matter is, I’m one strong azz cranky one, ya know?
<3,
The Cranky One
p.s. Trigger warning: some of the recommended posts below may take you to earlier posts where I was obsessed with weighing myself and engaging in body dissatisfaction. It’s cool to have a time capsule of my evolution, but it’s also…embarrassing/sad.
Tags: fitness, power lifting
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6 People have left comments on this post
Id love love love love for my girl to be a powerlifter.
STRONG WOMAN!!
And don’t be embarrassed by those old posts. I have come to see that most of us have to go through various stages in order to get where we are in terms of body image and understanding of things. Those stages are necessary for growth!
Awesome that you’re actually liking lifting now! I’m curious about your figures. After 40 days of steady progressive lifting, you don’t seem to have made a whole lot of progress. And your bench going down rather than up is really unusual. What do you think is going on there? Is it a diet/nutrition issue? I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Well, some of us have nothing but embarrassing past posts…
Love to see the evolution from “worried about what I weigh” to “welcome to the Gun Show!” though. How awesome is that?
I’ve recently gotten into strength training and I love it, too! It is so challenging sometimes that it makes my head spin but I hope it will whip me into some strong arming too!
@Kara – I don’t know how to answer your question :/ I am not knowledgeable when it comes to powerlifting, which is something I’m working to change, but right now I can’t claim to know anything other than what my boyfriend tells me and what my experience dictates. We’ll see what happens when I test for my new one-rep max.