2012: High points, low points and what you learned.

High points:
-Got my technique down much more, finally everything is coming along nicely.
-Got a lot stronger.
-Solid progress.

Low points:
-Struggled with knee pain, shoulder impingement and me being too lazy to go train.
-Sometimes missed way too many sessions.
-Break in spring fucked up my diet.
-It took me most of the year to finally get the snatch. This is mostly because I was not very smart in taking care of my problems...

Lessions learned:
-Stay consistent. Move your ass to the gym.
-Stick to dieting until you get the results you want. Don't half-ass it in between and lose everything.
-I need to get stronger.
-I learned a lot about my capabilities, my shortcomings and my body.
 
he told me to even avoid the stairs and use an elevator every single time. i didnt listen to him.

Well, that's not entirely true, is it!
 
High points:
- Had a good last 6 months in training.
- Hit some good milestones. Beat 500 deadlift, over 200kg squat and 300 bench + 100kg push press. 1300+ big 3
- Form has gotten better
- My mindset is alot better when approaching heavier weights

Low points:
- 531 didnt seem to do much for me, maybe I was to impatient. Too little work and only one set of heavy work doesnt work out that good.
So I got little progress in the first 5-6 months.
- Slight knee pain sometimes. Hip still snaps
- Bench press still sucks
- Wasnt near my 2012 goals



Lessons learned:
I need to work hard in the gym. Thats when I make the most progress.
Ab work is great and ive felt direct ab work has been very helpful.
Stay consistant, dont give up and the PRs will come.
Its obvious my progress is not as fast as it used to be and Ive learned (ok, trying to learn) to accept that.
 
high points:working out whenever I had time.

low points:-Not being consistant with workouts.
-Poor dieting
-Trying to relive old goals,old achievments
 
Low points: tearing a tendon in my finger during a BJJ match, then getting surgery, then tearing my pec while benching only a few weeks later and needing surgery again. Was out of BJJ and weight training almost completely from February thru June.

High points: Recovering from the injuries to improve my PL total from 985 to 1050 lbs. Six weeks after pec surgery I re-learned how to bench starting with just the bare bar. Worked up to 245 lbs so far and still going strong. Also got some stripes on my purple belt.

Lessons learned: Take prehab, mobility work, and warming up seriously. Deload when needed. Don't get egotistical about the numbers. Just put in the work and the numbers will come.
 
My S&C high point for the year was stumbling in the door of f13. Great place, great people. I've finally learned what strength is, and how to obtain it. I have a long long way to go before I'll consider myself to be a strong person, but the path is now clear!

No obvious low point really. I do have some challenges in the New Year, being away from home and gym for 125 of the first 150 days. Hopefully gyms and racks appear and it ends up being a non-issue.
 
High points:
First year of lifting and made pretty decent gains. Made good friends through this forum.

Oh and also was able to make it to 215 BW which is pretty ridiculous when I think about it.. Thank God I cut back down.

Low points:
To much injuries in the later part of the year and ended up hindering progress which could have had me at a 315 bench and better numbers in the squat and deadlift.

Now my bench is weaker then when I first started lifting.

Kidney stones.

Knee Pain which just started a month ago

What I learned:
I'm only 19 and I should slow my training down and try to program more intelligently instead of going into the gym and gunning for a PR in everything I do. It did work great for a bit but does result in injuries later.
 
Low Point 1: March 2012 I was in the worst shape of my life. I'd been out of the bjj gym for over a year and gotten my first office job. I'd gained well over 50 pounds in that time.

High Point 1: April 2012, I got my ass back in the gym, started doing Starting Strength and made kickass gains right from the start.

Low Point 2: 2 months later or so, as the weight continued to increase, I developed the following atrocious form to keep from having to go back to a weight I could handle. It was hurting my groin badly and it caused my first plataeu which took a lot of work to get past. [embed] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OXXIST-VAWc [/embed]

High Point 2: A couple months later yet, I'd made major improvements on my form and worked past the plateau. [embed] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=73KRRY1gOx4 [/embed]

Low Point 3: In September right when I should have been peaking to max out at the end of the Starting Strength routine, my work schedule moved and I was out of the gym for about a month in a half. Lost a lot more strength then I'd have liked at that point.

High Point 3: Getting an Anytime Fitness membership and getting back into the gym, starting the 5/3/1 routine. Since then I've made a focus on doing the little things like stretching and running and staying in shape. My form has improved and in only a couple months time, I've thrown a ton of weight on all my lifts.

Lessons Learned:

- Start light. Every routine's book says it, but you just have to experience it yourself first before you're willing to listen. Anyone with a mindset that attracts them toward powerlifting is usually going to want to jump strait into pushing themselves. It comes with the territory, and you really do have to learn the hard way I think.

- For me, I HAVE to stretch and do warmups and jump rope and run. I do not like the heavy on my feet rigid way I felt when I neglected that sort of thing, and my body does not respond well to it.

- Consistency > intensity. When I worked out before, I'd often skip a workout because I didn't think I had 100 percent in me that day. I've learned the value of workouts that are 70 %

- Some lift specific things: I'm built to squat high-bar. I have a better deadlift then a squat, long limbs and a short torso. Going low-bar only make me fall forward and have a hard time hitting depth. I learned how to properly lockout a deadlift by firing my glutes and exploding as the bar gets to knee level. And I learned what it really meant to squeeze the bar and pull it apart on pressing movements.
 
i got only low point:

winged scapula from very heavy lifting
 
High point 265 bench at 180 lbs. My personal record.

Low point. Doing a light clean in the gym and failing somehow throwing the bar into the rack. Letting the loudest smelliest fart out during a max rep 5/3/1 squat day. Cleared my area out though!

What I learned: To deload and focus on the four main lifts when I am cutting for beach season (go ahead and rib me for it, girls like abs) avoid the volume I use during my winter bulk. It's never too late to change your diet habits and gain some success, even though you fell off the wagon for a bit... like I have right now! :p

Btw oh hai Sherdog S+P I have been gone forever!
 
My high point would be the following realization: Strength is Power. Numerous dynamic effort days every week, ripping the bar as fast as possible from the first warm-up to the last work set. Pulling/pressing/squatting as fast as possible keeps me fresh much longer and I get more reps in, also lets me work in the 90% range like I just don't give a fuck. All my numbers soared after focusing on a lot of power training.

Biggest low point unfortunately got the last laugh: I had set a bunch of ambitious goals at the beginning of the year that I didn't think I would get. Mostly due to the above realization, I had them well within my sights, but then injuries got the best of me, and I had to sit out pretty much all of December and watch the year end on the sideline. Now I'm just wondering how much strength I will have lost once I start training again.

All in all, got some new goals in 2013, but most of all I want to focus on training safely, and I think if I stay injury free I will comfortably reach my desired lifting totals.
 
High Points- Finally choosing a program and, for the most part, sticking to it.
- Remaining consistent with my lifting for just about the entire year.
- Breaking a couple all time pr's, which had been around for years, and getting very close in many other lifts.
- Starting boxing, realizing my conditioning was horrible and making huge improvements in it.

Low Points- Attempting Smolov while sick, essentially wasted a month of training and really hurt my progress.
- Pride and disinterest getting in the way of me improving upper body lifts (bench and press).

Lessons Learned- Staying on a consistent program is definitely the way to go, as opposed to just trying to make things up as I go or using quick gain programs(Smolov).
- Strength and power is great to have but without the conditioning to back it up won't be too useful.
- The gym or track isn't just a place to improve my body but also somewhere to calm my mind. Lifting or going for a run while in an off mood is a great way to get myself back on track.
- I really need to get back to strengthening my upper body, the discrepancy between my upper and lower body is getting a little ridiculous.
 
High Points - Making pretty good progress with all my lifts, getting very close to some arbitrary benchmarks I set a few years ago. Getting a garage dedicated to lifting gave me a fortress of solitude where I can just chill and lift. Easily my favorite time/place of the day.

Low Points - Losing a lot of cardio, and losing my motivation to run. Adding a few minutes to my 5k time. Similar setbacks in my time on a 2k erg piece. My new years resolution is to undue both these things.

What I've Learned - Progress is going to be slow, but that is OK because lifting has become an important part of my life for reasons other than getting strong.
 
High points: learning the truth about weight lifting and jumping from 190 ish to 210 ish in 3 months while carrying the same bf % (noob gains ftw).

Being able to do multiple pull ups.

low points: injuring abs twice doing squats, so having to rehab that. DL is the same as my squats, still need to figure that out.

What Ive learned: gaining strength and size is remarkably simple as long as you arnt to the elite level yet, and I wish I had started doing this much earlier.

I need to suck it up and post form videos for both squats and dl to figure some things out.

I should switch to strength based goals instead of size based goals.
 
high points - started training again after years of drug addiction
low point, my deadlift is only400, whilst my bench is 300 due to a previous injury
what i learned - you cant train when injured, consistency is key, and showing up is 90 % of the battle for me
 
High point/s: Made a squat PR and was mostly injury free (lifitng related injuries)

Low point: Had to abandon Muay Thai training pretty much the whole year since work left only few spaces for me to work out.

What I learned: I really suck at morning and mid morning sessions. :D
 
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