College Football Strength
I’m unsure of what exactly was the source of inspiration for using this as a guideline, but I’ve felt for a while a good all around goal for the gym would be to be as strong as a college football player while still maintaining athleticism.
I know Dan John recommends at a bare minimum being as strong as a high school football player(205 front squat,power clean,bench). I believe Jim Wendler once listed power clean #s for comparison to D1 players with 275 as an average to not feel ashamed of yourself for. Also either Basbarbell or Strength Villian (maybe both) had a philosophy of training to be like a linebacker. Big,strong,fast,agile etc.
I highly agree with this sentiment. When one performs and is built like a linebacker you’re in a great place athletically, and could relatively easily switch focuses from a very solid start off point.
Performance Abilities
As a bigger guy at 6′ ~255 I have decent athleticism. Decent cardio from the run myself into the ground years, and fairly high work capacity as well. I always do calisthenics, and run sprints regularly. Basically I keep from being a fat ass by maintaining a minimal chin up ability, and the minimal sprint ability. I primarily train to get stronger. Aesthetics are not a focus. Aesthetics are a side effect of performance increases, the stronger I get, while maintaining (or even improving) the chin/sprint performance and I’m guaranteed to look better. I joke that the only aesthetic I care about is neck size. I’ve been looking to build that Mike Tyson neck since 15 years old. (still can argue that this performance based goal though)
Power Clean
Back to being as strong as a college football player. Wendler listed 275 as not to be ashamed of. Well, last night after probably 2 months of fighting with the number I hit that bitch.
Initially I had went to the gym and was thinking do a crossfit like session of 50 singles of 225. I hit 4 singles, and dumbfounded at how light it was decided to up to 255. Which I hit for 5 easy singles. Realizing if I didn’t go for the PR it may not be close again I upped the weight. Got It. Then as usual got greedy and went for 300. At that point pop was gone. No matter. 275 was a 10lb PR, and was at a far easier perceived effort than 255 (normally not consistent) is.
Booyah!
Yes I wrote this much to say I hit my former nemesis weight of 275 in the Power Clean.
How I Upped My Power Clean
Well I stopped letting myself fail reps all the time. That probably had something to do with it. AND……
Sled work.
I’ve already written about pushing cars and sleds, I’ve also done some very heavy pulling(using the fat bar) and moderate to heavy rowing with the sled and fat bar.
All the sled work adds to the driving ability of the legs, and the fact I’ve been involving my hands in the rows + drags comes into play consolidating my ability to grip and rip.
The sled rowing is somewhere between a bent row and a power clean. It’s also done with the fat bar. There is no negative, and it seems to have added some upper back mass and more horsepower to my back work.
In essence I strengthened the system. Legs,glutes,(lunges could play in here) traps, and forearms are bigger and stronger. That’s what upped the clean. The Lattimer status clean portion is getting closer and closer. I know that I’ll power clean 405 in my lifetime.
-J