I had a special workout yesterday, so I thought I'd put it in my journal.
I finally got up the nerve to find my 1RM for Squats, Deads, Bench, and 3RM Chins. I was so stoked at the numbers I put up, I had to share them with you guys and gals. Not huge numbers, but way more than I've ever had on the bar. But I was confident I was ready to try this since I spent the last month or so getting ready. I viewed it as my own little meet.
Squat --------- 265 1RM
Bench Flat ----- 245 1RM
Deadlift -------- 315 1RM
Chins ---------- +45 3RM
As a reminder, my stats are 51 years old, 178 pounds, lifting for about a year and a half. (I lifted about a half year before that, but without purpose and without a clue)
I was surprised it took almost an hour to complete the four exercises. After warmup sets, there were a lot of 1 rep sets because I had no idea what my limits would be. I increased by 10 pounds at a time.
By far I am most proud of the Deadlift. 300 pounds was my goal and at 285 I thought I had maxed out. But I pulled 295 real clean, then 305 and 315. I think I had 320 or 325 in me, but I had already done a lot of 1 rep sets and I think it was affecting me.
I left off in this journal doing my Lower/Upper split. I kept doing that up until the middle of April. Then I tried "The New Rules of Lifting" by Alwyn Cosgrove. I thought I'd go for a change of pace and try a hypertrophy routine. I hated it because it was too high rep and short rests between sets. It was more like a cardio routine, as a matter of fact, they turned out to be intense HIIT sessions. All the NROL routines are strictly timed rest periods, so I stopped.
In the middle of May, I went back to the Lower/Upper split trying out different exercises, especially lower body accessories. I gravitated back to basic compounds without too much programming except to keep it balanced and challenging.
That brings me up to now. Now that I have 1RM maxes, I'm anxious to start a routine with the intention of improving them. It's Obvious I've been reading Maximum Strength, but I'm not sure that's the routine for me. I plan to start it and see what happens.