I still remember my first time in a weight room. It was part of my 9th grade PE class at Skyline High in Oakland (Titans!).
I remember seeing someone — who I later learned was another young man named Jamal from the football team — bench pressing 185 lbs for a comfortable set of 10, and thought to myself “wow, that’s strong.”
It was intimidating to my shy 14 year old self for sure, but fortunately for my ego they already had the PE class only using the machine bench press with a stack of plates and pulley system, as I don’t think I could have had the courage to go across the room and try to bench with those guys back then.
I remember doing 65 lbs on the machine for a tough set of 10, and thought that was ok, but I obviously had work to do, because my reference was now Jamal, who represented “strong.”
This is, unfortunately, how our brains work. Absent any concrete framework, “strength,” or whatever quality you hope to develop in yourself, is often defined relative to the strongest person you know personally, and that’s it.
There are several problems with this of course: 1) we’re all on our own journey 2) we all have our own goals 3) looking at someone else and what they’re doing does not provide accurate instructions on how to improve yourself. We talked about this recently with the Do Like I Do myth.
There is one bright side to this though, as 20+ years later we are deep in the Information Age, moving into the Experience Age. Now, you can easily watch world record compilations on your phone, and build warped frames of reference around that, which can further alter your perception of yourself and what path you might take for your own self-development.
The hopefully obvious downside to this is that we now have a Lack Of Context Problem: not only is what you are seeing a fraction of the work the person is doing, you are also completely blocked from seeing their life and the support system that brought them there, who their parents were, what kind of culture and system they came up in, what kind of sacrifices they made. You can’t even talk to them.
Further, a lot of these athletes and their managers know this, and — in the interest of building a popular following to provide more opportunities for them to build their career — selectively curate their media to reflect a laid back, everyman/everywoman persona, someone you can have a beer with. Specifically to persuade you into buying into their mythos. Be like Mike.
I will always remember Jerry Rice’s 2010 Hall of Fame induction speech:
“I’m here to tell you that the fear of failure is the engine that has driven me throughout my entire life. It flies in the faces of all these sports psychologists who say you have to let go of your fears to be successful and that negative thoughts will diminish performance. But not wanting to disappoint my parents, and later my coaches, teammates and fans, is what pushed me to be successful.”
Now, Mr. Rice was and still is a childhood hero and inspiration of mine, so I’m not here to knock his story. It is his lived experience; it is valid.
But if we are going to have a method of teaching people like *you* to realize your best self, as your coach I want the path there for you to be one of abundance, one of validation, and perhaps one of letting go of things like fear of failure, your past trauma, your demons.
So how much weight should you be lifting? It depends on your goals, age, training age, lifestyle, sleep, nutrition, stress levels, etc.
The truth is that all “standards” of strength, like a 2X bodyweight Deadlift, or 300/400/500 lb clubs, are arbitrary, especially when we consider the Adolescent (<18 years) and Masters cohort (35+ years).
As the past year has taught as well, the future is not a given, and it is ok to adapt and change with the forces that transcend us.
That being said, we can set some SMART goals at your intro that feel meaningful to you, and guide them with standard rates of progress that are backed by evidence and experience.
We can also remember our priorities around Functional Independence and Longevity:
- 40-60 lb Deadlifts are a necessity of life at all ages, as many common items get from the store and move around at home weigh about that much, and/or more awkward / de-leveraged to form equivalent weights.
- Being able to Air Squat and comfortably is a necessity
- Being able to walk up and down stairs is a necessity
- Walking at least moderate distances (¼ mile – 1 mile) is a necessity
- All of these things will decline on their own over time, so we need to build up a buffer and maintain it as best as we can
For a novice lifter, with a consistent training program (~3x/week) strong for you will look like adding 5-10 lbs on the bar for at least 4-8 weeks. We call these “Beginner Gains,” because they happen relatively quickly and easily. You’re basically just realizing the strength you already have, and developing the technique, coordination, and courage to access it.
The next phase will follow something like a “linear progression,” where we more strategically add weight and volume to your training in sawtooth pattern, going up a small amount (in weight or volume) each week until bar speed significantly decreases, and then dropping down and “climbing” again.
But this isn’t a straight line process either, as your life outside of the gym can fluctuate, and we’re often working on more than one movement or quality at a time. We are always prepared for daily adjustment as well so that you can stay abundantly engaged with the process (i.e. not operating based on fear of failure).
About 8 weeks into the process, we can look at the data we have collected over those weeks (as we do) and make some reasonable projections on the future. Based on your experience, you may have decided that certain things are boring and not relevant to your overarching goals, while other things excite you. Great, let’s focus more on the things that excite you.
As we enter into the 12-24+ week timeframe, things become a lot more adaptive and free-flowing. We may find that 80% x 5 reps x 3 sets isn’t creating meaningful adaptations, or you get scared when we test 1RMs so they’re not translating into courage at higher percentages. So much can happen :).
Fortunately we have many tools available still, and can lean on things like Prilepin’s chart, exercise selection and variations, and collect enough data through your training to discover your very own effective dosing of intensity and volume.
On an annual basis, making 10-15% gains (after your beginner phase is finished) year over year in your lifts is phenomenal, and later on 5% is still great. But the process to get you into that cycle isn’t a straight line, unless you have a professional system and/or coach that takes care of all the ongoing fine tuning, as your real life unfolds.
The bottom line is consistency and feedback loops are king/queen. So many people simply lack the patience, discipline, or habits to get into an annual cycle at all. If you’re showing up regularly and enjoy training, and someone smart is at least occasionally watching you move and studying your progress to make planning decisions going forward, you are destined to become your strongest self. And *that* is strong.
Coach Mauricio