Relation between muscle and lifts

I found this interesting article, that tries to form a relation between muscle gain and the gain in the lifts. In the article the author gives a very simple relation between the amount of muscle you gain and the increase in 1 rep max weights for deadlift, squat and bench press. While it may not be accurate and perhaps not applicable to everyone it gives us a chance to formulate and set good goals.

According to the author if you gain x lbs of muscle then you should be able to lift 4.5 times x lbs more weight in your deadlift. So for every lb of muscle you gain you should life 4.5 lbs more than you did before the gain. All the calculations are based on 1 rep max. Similarly for every lb of muscle you gain you should be able to sqaut about 4 lb more and bench press about 3 lb more.

So for my next muscle gaining phase I will use this information and come up with better goals for my deadlifts, squats and bench press.

Filed under: bench press, deadlifts, lifts, muscle gain, squats

I live by the numbers: Compound Exercises

In my previous post I wrote about my body weight, muscle weight and fat % goals. Today I will write about my weight training goals, in particular about my compound exercise goals. If I have to choose the 5 best exercises I would choose the following exercises and in that order

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Bench Press
• Pull ups
• Overhead Press

It is very easy to understand why I like them. These are the exercises where I can lift heavy. Heavy like lifting close to or more than your body weight. Lifting so much weight simply means one thing, those exercise require more number of muscles and also mostly bigger muscles. One cannot bicep curl one’s body weight. The muscle is way too small and no other big muscles are involved. Also the distance these weights are moved is big. Work done is weight times the displacement. So you do more work moving the weights to a longer distance. Engaging more muscles means more hormone response, more repair and more muscles!

Now back to my goals. On October 1, 2009 this is what I could lift in my first work set

• Squats: 150 lbs, 10 reps
• Deadlifts: 170 lbs, 10 reps
• Bench Press: 90 lbs, 10 reps
• Pull ups: Body Weight + 15 lb, 10 reps
• Overhead Press: 60 lb, 10 reps

And this is my goal by the end of December 2009

• Squats: 185 lbs, 8 reps
• Deadlifts: 200 lbs, 8 reps
• Bench Press: 120 lbs, 8 reps
• Pull ups: Body Weight + 25 lbs, 8 reps
• Overhead Press: 85 lbs, 8 reps

Let us see if I can reach my goals. I am confident that I can.

Filed under: bench press, best exercise, deadlifts, goals, muscle gain, squats