Happy Spring 2026!
It’s creeping up to almost a year since my last fitness check-in. How did we do?
(note: I am 5 foot 8 inches tall and all exercises below were done as sets of at least 5)
December 2025
- weight: 150 lb (goal: 145)
- squat: 175 lb (goal: 215)
- stiff-legged deadlift: 225 lb (goal: 245)
- pull-up: 10 reps weighted 20 lb (goal: met!)
- comfortable tackling V4 boulders (goal: met!)
The holidays happened, and in a not-so-unexpected turn of events there ended up being a lot of large meals and the weight target was looking a little low. But I can’t be too unhappy about it, since I’ve made solid progress in almost every other goal.
Some mild knee discomfort has kept me from progressing my squat and deadlift further. I’ve toned back the weight progression on these and started working some accessory exercises to strengthen some of the supporting muscles. So how has that worked out?
(end of) March 2026
- weight: 149 lb
- squat: 205 lb
- stiff-legged deadlift: 260 lb
- strict press: 95 lb
- pull-up: 5 reps weighted 55 lb
- one V6 sent, many V5s doable after a few tries
A trip to Taiwan happened, which certainly didn’t help with the body weight situation. But anecdotally no matter what I try to lose, 149 pounds plus or minus a few seems to be a natural equilibrium point for me. I’ve also realized that, in what shouldn’t be surprising at all, my physical performance feels far worse if I haven’t eaten enough. So while losing a few more pounds would, in my mind, be wonderful, I’m not sure it’s feasible and have decided that it’s no longer important to me.
Climbing has become the dominant form of exercise I do; a typical week includes three climbing days and three gym days. I’m just about a year into bouldering and making it solidly to the V4-V5 range in that time was very rewarding — better yet, the progression hasn’t stopped, although since injury prevention is still a primary goal of mine, I’m intentionally being conservative on the fingers.
Somehow that shift in focus hasn’t prevented significant progress from being made in my squat and deadlift though. Despite a little bit of backsliding due to travel, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, and by quite a lot, too. Part of that is also due a shift in training for power rather than hypertrophy, since climbing progression has become a priority and I don’t want big legs to weigh me down (guilty!). That said, there are some strength end goals I’d like to hit eventually, if for no other reason than that they are roughly nice multiples of my body weight:
Final (for now) strength goals
- weight: at most 150 lb
- squat: 225 lb (1.5x BW)
- stiff-legged deadlift: 315 lb (2x BW)
How long will it take to attain these? Who knows. I can try to set reasonable end-of-2026 goals, though:
(goal) December 2026
- weight: at most 150 lb
- squat: 225 lb
- stiff-legged deadlift: 290 lb
- pull-up: 5 reps weighted 75 lb (+0.5x BW)
- comfortable tackling V6 boulders
- muscle-up! (I reckon I’m strong enough, it’s just a technique issue)
These are more conservative than last time, which is probably prudent given that I didn’t quite make many of those goals. But it also reflects the shift I’ve gone through in focusing more on climbing and calisthenics-style movements, and a decent amount of the progression since last post and also what I will gain going into the later half of the year isn’t fairly represented here. Things like pistol squats and core strength have improved dramatically, and perhaps the next check-in will change the way I track progression and set goals to capture that.