Achievement unlocked - benched my body weight 2x5

[episodic]

Yay - benched 180lbs 2x5 (then 3x5 of 145lbs). Squatting 225 now, too. Deadlifting 225. Man is it a pain to cut AND increase lifts. I keep wanting to 'gain' - then I realize I'm gaining and I go low carb to cut, and back and forth. I'm teetering between 2300-2700 calories a day. I'm getting tons of protein usually over 160 grams a day.

Anyone want to critique my typical diet?

Breakfast 1/2 cup gluten free oats soaked in keifer overnight with a few blueberries and stevia along with a 3 egg omelette w/cheese.

Snack - greek yogurt

Lunch sweet potato with 1/2 to 3/4 cup cottage cheese with a banana mashed up with it all and some blueberries (this is what I call my bowl of mush).


Dinner hamburger patty (no bread) cheese, an onion, a whole bunch of mushrooms, an apple, all fried together

Snack cottage cheese and a spoonful of almond butter mixed together.

I'll vary the proteins but pretty much these are my days.

 

[mple]

Congrats, but out of curiosity, why did you drop to 145 if you can put up 2x5 at 180?

I feel you on how difficult it is to cut and make progress with lifts. I'm eating 1700 kcals a day right now which is about 20% under my maintenance. Physically, I feel fine, but losing reps even when I decrease weight on my work sets sucks.

Your diet looks fine. Not sure how much fat you're getting it, but make sure you take in at least 0.3g fat per lb of body weight.

 

[episodic]

Congrats, but out of curiosity, why did you drop to 145 if you can put up 2x5 at 180?

I feel you on how difficult it is to cut and make progress with lifts. I'm eating 1700 kcals a day right now which is about 20% under my maintenance. Physically, I feel fine, but losing reps even when I decrease weight on my work sets sucks.

Your diet looks fine. Not sure how much fat you're getting it, but make sure you take in at least 0.3g fat per lb of body weight.

I went down because I only had a spotter for a minute, and I feel comfortable with 145 by myself.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Congrats

 

[blinky8225]

Congrats! Have you tried http://www.leangains.com/ ? Many people report getting stronger while shedding fat.

 

[purbeast0]

don't worry about cutting and gaining strength. unless you are just starting out lifting, it's very difficult to do that. once you've been lifting for a while, it's kind of a given that you will lose strength as you cut, since you are losing weight after all, and some of it is going to be muscle. the key is to try and minimize that as much as possible.

i'm in the same boat and have lost around 10lbs sine january, and my lifts definitely feel it. i can also feel it in my clothes feeling a bit looser in my arms, shoulders, and chest. but i've also moved my belt over 2 slots. i just hate how it messes with my head more than anything.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I went down because I only had a spotter for a minute, and I feel comfortable with 145 by myself.

Ciongrats! now some things ....

Are you collaring the weights when you bench? That is a no-no if you are. About 1 person dies each month in the US doing bench press. Half of the time, the root cause is people collaring the weights. You need to be able to dump them if you get stuck.


Easy ways to make gains on bench.

1)
Do shoulder mobility exercises for a month. bodybuilding.com has some good articles on this.

2)
Make sure you are using proper form. bodybuilding.com has articles on this also. Google for it. Pinching shoulder blades and contracting shoulder muscles helps a ton.

If not doing 1 and 2, I bet you could get to 2x195 or maybe even 2x200 in a month. If you already do these things, that is good. Keep at it. the gains will come.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

don't worry about cutting and gaining strength. unless you are just starting out lifting, it's very difficult to do that. once you've been lifting for a while, it's kind of a given that you will lose strength as you cut, since you are losing weight after all, and some of it is going to be muscle. the key is to try and minimize that as much as possible.

i'm in the same boat and have lost around 10lbs sine january, and my lifts definitely feel it. i can also feel it in my clothes feeling a bit looser in my arms, shoulders, and chest. but i've also moved my belt over 2 slots. i just hate how it messes with my head more than anything.

I've noticed that I made some gains recently.

I bascially starve myself for 4 days (calorie deficiency). Then I do 3 days of slight caloric excess.

So, if maintenance is 2500 cals, I might do this:
1900
1100
2100
1400
2600
3000
2500
-----
14600 weekly total

This is when maintenance is 17500. So, I still get a 300 calorie deficiency that is good for a pound loss each week. Those few days of excess calories seems to help though. Might be psycological though. I can't miss exercise days though. I have to keep the metablism up.

 

[Howard]

I don't understand how some people have upper body strength so close to lower body strength.

 

[Saint Nick]

I don't understand how some people have upper body strength so close to lower body strength.

My lower body is so strong compared to my upper. Makes me look sorta weird with my huge legs and skinny torso/arms

 

[Howard]

My lower body is so strong compared to my upper. Makes me look sorta weird with my huge legs and skinny torso/arms

Yep

I can squat/DL twice what I can BP, which basically sucks ass when people ask how much you can bench

 

[SkullWalker]

Congrats! I am still 45pounds away from benching own weight and my progress is slowing down :\

 

[Whisper]

I don't understand how some people have upper body strength so close to lower body strength.

My squat's always frustrated me, as it's only slightly higher than my bench. My guess as to why is that it's a mix of 1) never having a spotter so always being too freaked out to go heavy enough, 2) something dealing with form and/or biomechanics, and 3) recent back "tweak." That, and my bench is about my strongest (comparatively) exercise other than perhaps straight leg deadlifts, which skews things a bit.

Given that my leg press (I know, I know) is up with others who regularly squat 60-80 lbs more than me, and my deadlift is actually slightly heavier than many of theirs, leads me to believe it's probably primarily a mix of #'s 2 and 1 above. I'm also thinking with #1, it's possibly led to underdevelopment of some of the accessory muscles used in a squat that obviously aren't as important in deadlifts or leg presses.

But to the OP: congrats, and keep up the good work.

 

[Howard]

My squat's always frustrated me, as it's only slightly higher than my bench. My guess as to why is that it's a mix of 1) never having a spotter so always being too freaked out to go heavy enough, 2) something dealing with form and/or biomechanics, and 3) recent back "tweak." That, and my bench is about my strongest (comparatively) exercise other than perhaps straight leg deadlifts, which skews things a bit.

Given that my leg press (I know, I know) is up with others who regularly squat 60-80 lbs more than me, and my deadlift is actually slightly heavier than many of theirs, leads me to believe it's probably primarily a mix of #'s 2 and 1 above. I'm also thinking with #1, it's possibly led to underdevelopment of some of the accessory muscles used in a squat that obviously aren't as important in deadlifts or leg presses.

But to the OP: congrats, and keep up the good work.

Do you work out at home or at a gym? You shouldn't be afraid of progressively-increasing weight if you have safety bars of some sort.

 

[KIAman]

Nice job OP! I just got up to 185lbs too, although I am 15lbs heavier than you so not my body weight yet.

Curious about squat/bench ratio.

I'm 200lbs

Squat: 5x5x265
Bench: 5x5x185

I squat around 40% higher than my bench but my body looks very proportional... I think.

As to what I eat, I really need to clean it up. I probably eat anywhere from 2800 - 3800 calories a day. I don't exactly track my ratio but I do make sure I never drink sugar drinks or eat candy or white breads or potato products.

BTW, I was stuck at 175lbs bench for the longest time until I finally got several good nights sleep and out of nowhere, 175lbs was too easy for me. I shot up to 185lbs in 1 week and it was still easy.

Sleep FTW!!!