Goals for 2014

[Dub]

The year is about to change again, it's time to revisit our goals.
If you hung around last year, check your previous goals HERE. Did you achieve those goals? What went well, what didn't?
And of course, lets set the goals for 2014.

My goals last year:

Front Squat: 140kg
Deadlift 175kg
Bench Press: 95kg

I did achieve two of those. Deadlift was 180kg. Even though I changed from conventional to sumo, it's still a DL for me. The bench I got, the front squat was 10kg short (130kg). I still got a nice 15kg improvement. I had a minor contact injury while rollerblading in the summer, which led to series of events and pain that still is present somewhere in my hip when squatting. So I had to squat high for a month or two. Also the strict dieting was not really wise when trying to get huge strength gains.

Anyway, time for new goals. I have two:
Deadlift: 200kg (440lbs). By the end of 2014.
Bench Press: 100kg (220lbs.). Before summer/june.

Simple is good. With only two goals it's easier to focus my training. The plan involves stronger triceps for benching, and stronger back, glutes and hammies for the deadlift. I'll try to peak my bench using one of Yuri Verkhoshanskys programs.

[KenDowns]

My goals for 2013 were these:

Deadlift: 5 plates (current 455)
Squat: 400 lb (current 320, no idea if this will happen in 2013)
Bench: 1.5x body weight (not expected in 2013)

In short, results were not great.
Deadlift: Still at 455. (most recent best lift: 435)
Squat: from 320 to 335. Encouraging, but 400 is many years away at that rate.
Bench: Many PR's at intensities below 90%, but 1RM barely budged, from 220 to 225.

The easy wins are long gone and even the medium-easy stuff is over. At my present rate I may not make my goals before age catches up to me (48 right now). Serious work is in order.

Long-term goals
Same

Specific for 2013
1. Make 2013 the year of breaking past plateaus. Add real gains to bench and squat.
2. Learn to get strong beyond what comes naturally from just showing up
3. Improve my competition score from 985 in Nov 2012 to 1025+ in July 2014

Immediate Short-term, First Quarter 2013
1. Leg Drive. Heavy leg work to get squat to 345 by end of March.
2. Attempt "Get better at deadlift by not deadlifting" and see if this works for me. Give it 3 months of dedicated effort with deadlifting only 1/month.
3. Heavy back work. Attempt to add 10# to bench by end of March by focusing on back. I've got the gains at lower intensities to support this, need to carry it into the higher intensities.
4. Work on neglected body parts. Abs and rear delts in particular.

[Proper Knob]

Results were not great also. Made progress on lower body lifts, but still not quite up to what I envisaged. Upper body lifts sucked, yet again.

Any pressing PR's would be nice.
Deadlift to edge closer to 500lbs
Front Squats 10 x 100kgs
Squat 10 x 140kgs and 1 x 170kgs

[Khronos8]

Goals for 2013
My 2013 goals were:
Not Die
Stay Injury Free (especially my back)
I don't really try for 1RM anymore... so kind of stuck there.

Would like to be able to do a solid set of 5 body weight pullups.

wishlist:
top set of 450 x 5 for back squat
top set of 315 x 5 for front squat
complete a 420 buckeye pyramid
top set of 500 (singles) for deadlift
military press 250
power clean 250
get 6 x 6 with 30 second rest on MMA misery complex.


Accomplished in 2013:
Not even close on the pullups. Gained weight, didnt do enough of them.
got 465 x 5 on back squat
got 315 x 5 on front squat
didnt get anywhere near a buckeye pyramid all year
Deadlifted 605
OH press of 255
full squat clean of 255 (not sure if I could power clean that).
Gave up on complexes for a while.

So... mixed bag. Didn't get anywhere near my goal, got most of my wishlist. WTF does that mean?

Goals for 2014
to not die
stay injury free (knees, shoulders, lower back... all currently ok, but I'm paranoid)
Perform a 420lb based buckeye pyramid. This one the challenge is actually finding a spotter rather than not being able to handle the weight.
Deadlift 650 (really, where do I want to go from here? 600 is "enough" for me. I think (know) that I have the potential to lift more... but why try?)
5 solid body weight pullups.
Squat clean 315.

[WeedGirl]

I want to exceed the intermediate exrx strength standards for everything except cleans by at least 20lbs. And maybe start doing cleans. Don't want to get huge, so this seems like a nice strength based goal, and wouldn't mind "cheating" by losing some weight if I can maintain strength.

[jlmoss]

1) 1200 or more total on the three big lifts. Current best is an even 900; 330 Squat, 345 Dead, & 225 Bench.
2) Ability to do three sets of 10 pull ups. Current best is none. I have to use bands to assist in completing my pull ups/chins.
3) Drop under 200 lb. Currently hovering around 225 - 240 lb's.
4) Look sexy nekkid.

All seem pretty obtainable within next year.

[WeedGirl]

300lbs combined would be huge... That's a 33% increase in a year! Good luck!

[jlmoss]

Yeah, it may be a little too much maybe? I don't know, I've never lifted this heavy before...

The trainer at my gym told me that I was much more stronger than I thought and I could hit past a 1000 total within a month with just a little more mental toughness. I did get those totals for each lift on my 1's days of 5/3/1, so I had already done a good bit of volume work with each set supersetted with accessory work. So, I figure he may be right.

[Oscar_Actuary]

I succeeded with my goal.

to not die

This year I will either achieve the goal of getting the Actuarial "ASA", or I can turn in my man card

2014 will be a bounce back year. More announcements to come. I'll be around more, but not right now.

good to see many of you.