Press One Bench Two Squat Three Pull Four

One of my goals with weight training is to reach an estimated combined total of 1,080 pounds in the squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift. This is the classic "press one plate, bench two plates, squat three plates, deadlift four plates" mark of "advanced intermediate" distinction that everyone who lifts has heard about. Ideally, I'll accomplish this at a bodyweight between 148-152 lbs.

I spent the first three months of the year focusing on strength gains and learning the basic lifts. It turned out to be more like three and a half months - including two, 20% deloads (!). Going forward, the idea is to spend half the year focusing on max strength (October - March) and the other half on conditioning (April - September).

Truth told, I anticipate peaking in August (the same month as the Seattle Open and the Master Worlds, btw) and using September largely as a transition month given the seasonal pick-up in my life at the Daily Planet. But the general idea holds.

My strategy will be to return to StrongLifts 5x5 training three days a week, which was very effective during my initial strength cycle earlier this year. My goal is to rep 105/145/200/235 for a rep total of 685 by the end of October. This would restore me to near where I was in late April at the end of my last strength phase (105/160/210/245).

From here, I want to switch to Russian Strength-Skill training over the balance of the year as a skill-enhancing/staging phase. Then, in 2018, I'll go back to StrongLifts 5x5 in earnest for the 90-day push to a rep total of 835 (135/175/230/295) by the end of the current strength phase in late March. Based on the Epley 1RM formula, this would give me an estimated combined total of 973 pounds in the Big Four after two strength cycles.

If all this goes as planned, I'll reach my Press One Bench Two Squat Three Pull Four goal sometime during my third strength cycle from October 2018 - March 2019.