I've seen videos of Dressel squat cleaning 285/2 from the blocks (he's listed at 190 BW), and Carsten Vissering, USC sprint breaststroker and noted gym rat, squatting 500 and hang power cleaning 330 (he's 6'5" and well built so I'd say 215-220 BW).
FWIW, I think 1.5xBW squat and 2xBW DL should be good first benchmarks for a healthy adult male taking weight training seriously but still recreationally or as cross training. 2xBW sq/2.5xBW DL is legitimately strong for those types of people.
Jeff,
Would you say those are good benchmarks as a “maxing our” lift (like being able to to a few reps only at those weights), or should you be able to do a certain number of normal reps at that weight.
Just wondered your opinion. Personally I don’t squat or DL anywhere near my BW (in fact I do 105# right now for both), but I do different events from, for instance, you, and so don’t need to lift as heavy to go with my larger yardage base.
Mostly talking about 1-rep maxes. Assuming lifting for strength and not simply body maintenance.
I think the first benchmark should be doable and beneficial for almost any male amateur competitive swimmer at any distance range. You'd be amazed just how much progress can be made getting your nervous system used to heavy squatting, 1.5xBW squat shouldn't require a whole bunch of extra muscle mass or dedicated training.
The second benchmark is really only useful for sprinters. A double bodyweight squat does generally require quite of bit of extra muscle mass which is obviously detrimental to distance swimming. Assuming there's not some advantageous genetics going on!
FWIW, I'm pretty much smack dab between those two benchmarks, and I definitely go into oxygen debt pretty quickly when my legs are motoring. To get to 370-380 squat would be... a little overkill for me, I think. My best ever was a couple years ago before I got back in the water of 365 at about 200 BW.
Idle curiosity on my end--do those benchmarks translate to using a leg press machine? I know there's the whole muscle stabilization issue comparing free weights to machines, but do the general BW multiples translate?
I started lifting again a few months ago after more or less being out of the weight room for ~10 years except for a month or two of lifting here and there. The small gym I use at work has machines and dumbbells only, no bars/Smith machines/anything else.
I haven't done any 1RM sets, but have been pretty pleased with where I'm at for my normal twice through 3x8 circuits on the machines.
No, leg press is a completely different animal - and even different between leg press machines depending on the leverages/gearing/pulleys going on. I probably wouldn't try to max out a leg press anyhow, just seems a recipe for injury if done incorrectly. 3x8 is probably good. When I was in college we did some unilateral work on the leg press machine, now that is tough!
No, leg press is a completely different animal - and even different between leg press machines depending on the leverages/gearing/pulleys going on. I probably wouldn't try to max out a leg press anyhow, just seems a recipe for injury if done incorrectly. 3x8 is probably good. When I was in college we did some unilateral work on the leg press machine, now that is tough!
Yeah, each of the leg press machines I've used at work gyms over the years has felt different. Heck, even the leg press machine I used as a teenager in our swim team lifting program was really just a plate holder, while all the ones I've used since then have had weight stacks, in addition to feeling different from one to the other.
I lift three times a week, one day focused on heavy lower body with bodyweight core exercises, one day a mix of progressive lower body or progressive upper body (I alternate by week) and cardio, and one day that's heavy upper body with bodyweight core exercises.
Speaking of the leg press machine, I don't have any room for growth on it. On my max days, I do both sets of 3x8 on the machine's max of 480, and on the progressive days I stick with 1x8 at 440, 1x8 at 460, and 1x8 at 480.
I've done some unilateral stuff in the past, but due to my jacked up left knee, I have to cut way down on weight if I'm doing any weight-added unilateral stuff that's not in the controlled movement range of a machine.
I haven't done any research on lifting. I just default back to the same exercises that I did in our lifting program from my teenage swimming days, making some substitutions for the closest machine approximation to free weight exercises I used to do that I don't have access to anymore. I'm sure lifting science has changed in the 15+ years since I lifted back in the day, but it worked for me then and seems to be working for me now! :D
Idle curiosity on my end--do those benchmarks translate to using a leg press machine? I know there's the whole muscle stabilization issue comparing free weights to machines, but do the general BW multiples translate?
I started lifting again a few months ago after more or less being out of the weight room for ~10 years except for a month or two of lifting here and there. The small gym I use at work has machines and dumbbells only, no bars/Smith machines/anything else.
I haven't done any 1RM sets, but have been pretty pleased with where I'm at for my normal twice through 3x8 circuits on the machines.
