Whoo Whoo!! I’m in the 300lbs bench press club! Did 305 yesterday pretty easy. About 2 years ago I was stuck at 275.
Anyhow my ultimate end goal is 405, I think it will be another 2 years before I can even have a chance at 405.
how did you achieve it in terms of training etc and BTW well done!
Well I weight train about 2-3 times per week (rest 3rd week) and I’m in the gym for about 50min or less. I mostly do singles. I pretty much subscribe to Westside but after reading the CFTS I cut back on all the hypertrophy stuff to the minimum.
I have also cleaned up my diet from the past 2 years. About 2 years ago, I was not really in the right training environment, but now since I have moved, I can cook high quality food it’s really done my body good (I’m a Trader Joes junkie!). I also have access to full body massage, I don’t get as much as I really need, but it’s better then nothing which was the case 2 years ago.
Nice work. It’s nice when hard work pays off… right?
But on the diet issue I dont know if its because I hit 40 but I find it makes a huge difference when I watch what I eat. I finally got to 11.7 after 3 years of steady training (I started @ 12.63 fat) and although it was hard i felt much better recovery wise when I ate better… and my endurance was better too when I cleaned up… I find that coffee and red wine (two of my biggest vices btw) make me look less lean. It’s hard to give those two things up but I do see a difference when I cut back… I started to eat less acidic foods too like red meat and still eat it but not as much.
CONGRATS AGAIN!!
Thanks NYCJAY!^^ I also failed to tell you guys I eat red meat once a week like Charlie said. Before I would go 2-3 weeks without eating red meat but now I drag myself to Whole Foods and order a buffalo burger at least 1 time a week for a treat.
What’s in the future?
100m001,
Congrats on the lift! Did you gain any body weight during your progress? Did you lose fat and gain muscle and stay the same body weight? Thanks
405… Anything more than that I too worried about pec tears and such.
Those are all good questions but I’m afraid I really can’t answer them with scientific accuracy. I CAN however just give you the numbers but keep in mind I don’t know the change from muscle to fat ratio. People now say I’m “big” and “stocky” compared to my 1999 self. My legs however have always been big, my legs look just like bens in 88 even when I was in high school. I’m one of those all legs guys and I know it’s why my squat is so much higher in proportion to my bench.
1999 BP of 205@ a body weight of 170
2004 BP of 245@ a body weight of 180
2009 BP of 275@ a body weight of 190
2011 BP of 305@ a body weight of 210
- BP= Bench press.
Mind you, from 1999 to 2004 my training SUCKED, I did stuff at random and ate CRAP. 2004 was around the time I found out about REAL training and such. I also took time off and did not train for a while from 2003-04; I almost quit sports altogether.
hope you don’t mind, I added your chronological age in as well as that is a factor IMHO. Well done.
I expect your situation in 2003-04 where you almost quit sports altogether is very common around that age. As a point of interest, and not wanting to be too nosey, what was the reason you carried on?
Close but no cigar. 
As of today, I’m 31, I was born in 1979.
As far as sports, I almost quit because I had no money, or free time to train without worrying about my basic needs so I had to find some kind of way to support myself. So I put sports on the back burner in my mind and got into many hustles in and around Los Angles until I found a good job which then led to me starting my own business that is even better because I can make my own schedule and get REST. So once I got my needs met, a lot of pressure to quit the sport was reduced.
Also, I have always been driven by “what if” or “how fast can I go if I find a good program” and so, once I found out about the CFTS, it only fortified my belief to continue training because I had a clear cut program that produced solid results for other people. I now think of myself as some kind of “Skunk Works” project and it’s unbelievably fun!
But yes, I have seen talented people have to quit the sport and it’s terrible. I spoke to a girl I know who ran a 51 second (+or-) open 400 and was offered a low paying contract by Adidas have to quit because it was not enough money for her and her family to survive on. She now works a 9-5.
Happy Birthday, I took it off your profile which shows Date of Birth July 6, 1977 (34)
Oh,lol^^ I never fill out online info with real personal info.
Yeah that’s the tough thing about track in the US tough to make a living. A female 51 sec 400m runner can make enough to live in Europe. 51 sec in the US might get u a small contract…