The route to strength and the road to a 200kg squat

A weak man is not as happy as that same man would be if he were strong.
- Mark Rippetoe, Starting Strength

Let me preface this, I have consistently flip-flopped between training programs of hypertrophy and strength. I’ve never consistently gone for goals or actually followed through to the end of a program. I’ve been going to the gym for 6 years and my all-time lifts have been:

• Deadlift 1 rep of 220kg (485lbs) as seen above,
• Squat 3 reps of 170kg (375lbs) during the rugby season,
• Bench 1 rep of 140kg (310lbs) during the pandemic,

None of these were within a month of each other.

Weighing 100kg I would assume that this puts me above average but not that impressive. This has led me to assume after said 6 years I am an intermediate lifter. Although I don’t think I ever understood what that meant until I read Starting Strength.

Reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe made me reconsider how strong I really was and how strong I could really be (weaker and stronger respectively). Rippetoe defines the three levels of strength as:

• Beginner: Strength increases each session
• Intermediate: Strength increases each few sessions
• Advanced: Strength increases after planning and monitoring intensity and volume every few months (maybe).

To make it clear let's simplify and ignore advanced (unless you dedicate your life to strength training it is unlikely you will ever reach the advanced stage) nor do I intend to as I believe I can hit my goals like squatting 200kg before even reaching a higher level of intermediacy. Assuming you train 3 days a week this is how we’ll define each level.

• Beginner: Each session weight goes up.
• Intermediate: Each week weight goes up.

Now you may have gathered these two rankings are not based on your years of training but at what rate you are growing. So if I were to choose which one I wanted to be I would choose beginner. Luckily for me, I had recently taken 5 months off training (while traveling across Europe) and gathered that my strength has gone down so significantly that I will be able to train like a beginner. So that is exactly what I did. This was the initial program I used from Starting Strength:

Workout A:

1. Squat 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 repetitions)
2. Bench 3 x 5
3. Back Extension 3 x 5
4. Chin Ups 3 sets each until failure

Workout B:

1. Squat 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 repetitions)
2. Overhead Press 3 x 5
3. Deadlift 3 x 5 alternated with Power Cleans 5 x 3 (this set arrangement allows me to focus on technique)

Week 1: Monday: A, Wednesday: B w/ Deadlift, Friday: A

Week 2: Monday: B w/ Power Clean, Wednesday: A, Friday: B w/ Deadlift

Rules:

1. I would start the program with each lift at a comfortable 6/10.
2. For each session and exercise, I would increase the weight relative to how easy it was the last time I did that exercise. For example, if I did a Deadlift and it was a 5/10 the next session I would increase that by 10kg (22 lbs). If I benched and it was a 9/10 the next session I would only add 2.5kg (5.5 lbs).
3. If I failed to hit the 5 repetitions I would lower my repetitions to 3 for that and future sessions.
4. If I failed to hit 3 repetitions in a future session I would either go back to the 5 repetitions with the weight I missed from step 3 or I would replace the exercise with one that focussed on the weakest part of my lift.

Let’s take an example of how this played out. On the 6th week of running this program, I failed to hit the overhead press in my notebook (where I log my workouts) the session had been written down as 60kg for 5 then 3 then 3 again. So for the next few weeks, I went down to 3x3 starting at 60kg. Then on the 10th week, I failed to hit 67.5kg for more than one set where I hit one set of 3 and then was unable to get it up at all. So now I had an option of going back to 3x5 of 60 kg or going to another exercise. Here I knew that my issue, which many can relate to, was that the overhead press starts at the hardest point and often the first repetition is the most difficult. Hence, instead of masking my weak point, I decided to replace my overhead press with a rack press where I would start at a dead start for each press. For now, I’m thinking I’ll stay with that until I can hit 60kgs or perhaps earlier.

So far I’m 10 weeks in and I feel great. I consistently am growing stronger and unsurprisingly I am also gaining muscle. I started the squat at a relaxed 3x5 100kg and am now hitting 3x5 147.5kg 10 weeks into the program. If I were to calculate 3 sessions a week adding 2.5kgs per week I should be at 175kg but I’ve been sick and had a few missed sessions so am not there yet.

Me a few weeks in, hitting 120kg

I plan to run this program until I either discover I’m an intermediate lifter at some stage (complete stagnation using the above rules) or I hit my desired goal of a 200kg squat. My calculated 1rm (rep max) is currently 180kg assuming I can hit 150kg for 7 but as I get to a calculated 200kg (170kg for 7) I will begin to dial in and instead of using 3x5 I’ll begin going to 3x3 then 3x1 until I am near 200kg and then will attempt that big ol’ number. I’ll report back when I get there.

My horrible handwriting and my previous weeks workouts.