Mrp's ss log

[MRP]

Just started SS this Monday. I'm 26, 5'10", 253lbs. Looking to get 70's big. Got the weight, now just need the strength. Right now I'm working out in my garage on a homemade power rack and platform.

[Mr.City]

What are your lifts at?

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x3; 95x5; 135x5
WS: 165x5

Press
WU: 45X5X3; 65X5; 75X5
WS: 95X5

Deadlift
WU: 135X5X3; 165X5; 175X5
WS: 185X5

12/1/09
Bench Press
WU: 45x5x3; 95x5; 125x5
WS: 155x5

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45X5X2; 95X5; 135X3; 155X2
WS: 175X5X3

Press
WU: 45X5X2; 65X5; 75X3; 95X2
WS: 100X5X3

Deadlift
WU: 135X5X2; 165X5; 175X3; 185X2
WS: 205X5

Need to work on my bar position and grip on squat, just doesn't feel right. My elbows seem to hurt a little in the position I'm in. I'm thinking though that I'm just not quite flexible right now and it will improve. Will study the book and DVD though.

My press grip and bar position also feels a little off, so I'm going to study up on that as well.

[Mr.City]

Be sure to raise your elbows when you put the bar on your back. Also, did I'm curious to schedule. You lift Monday, but then only practice the bench on Tuesday? Unless I'm mistaken (and I very well could be since it's been a while since I've read the back of SS) I thought Wednesday would the day to practice your bench.

[MRP]

I should have done the bench on Monday. I took Monday as my starting day working from the SS learing schedule. Doing sets of 5 until it slows down. I was going to do bench today but wanted to get it out of the way to start on my A day. I'm going to do Deads on A and B for a while as outlined in Practical Programing, and after I start slowing down on the dead then I'm going to introduce the Power Clean to the B Day. (pg 105, 106 of PP 2nd edition)

[Mr.City]

Every step by the book. Good show, man. I look forward to seeing you get strong.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 135x3; 155x2
WS: 185x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 115x3; 135x2
WS: 160x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 165x5; 175x3; 185x2
WS: 225x5

Still feeling the soreness right after my sets on the inside of the elbow on squats. I think its just flexibility. I'll start stretching it out see if that works it out. Squats felt good, felt on a few reps my heels lift and tilting forward. Other than that felt good. Deads are going great by my standards. Already up to 2 plates. I've always up till SS been apprehensive about deadlifts due to a back injury in Middle School. (yes I know it was a long time ago, and no it wasn't from lifting, just a freak throwing my back out) But surprise, learning correct form and doing it right alleviates all that fear and lets me feel strong! Well not too strong yet but making progress.

[misspelledgeoff]

your lifts are almost exactly where mine were a few months ago.

watch out for that sore elbow. listen to City about keeping your elbows up and back. it's no fun getting elbow tendonitis from teh squatz. sometimes widening your grip a bit will release some pressure on your elbows, but be careful to keep your upper back tight while doing it.

[MRP]

Body Weight: 256

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 155x3; 165x2
WS: 195x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 105x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 165x5; 185x5; 205x2
WS: 245x5

Squats felt better widening my grip. I did notice I need to keep the elbows up more, maybe get some tape to make sure my wrists aren't bent either.

Press still feels like I need to work on form. Can't feel any specifics but just doesn't feel quite right.

Deads felt heavy today. First work set that felt real heavy. I didn't struggle with any reps, but still felt heavy. I think I'll keep going on this week with the deads then probably introduce the power clean next week. Any suggestions on when to introduce cleans accorting to PP Novice progression?

I won't be working out on Friday, will move it to Saturday. I'm going to be in Orlando, FL for a work product expo. Be better weather than the snow they are predicting here in Central IL.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 165x3; 185x2
WS: 205x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 115x3; 135x2
WS: 165x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 185x5; 205x3; 225x2
WS: 255x5

Everything is feeling pretty well. Deads are finally at my bodyweight. Not sure if I need to switch to a mixed grip yet. So far I've been going with the double overhand grip.

[Paul Sousa]

My advice on the grip, don't go switch grip until your grip is what causes you to fail. Grip strength will help with press and bench so keep going double overhand as long as possible.

[MRP]

Didn't work out on Saturday. Combination of 1 1/2 days of walking around a product expo, and a Friday night of a 80's Rock Tribute band at the Hard Rock in Orlando, FL. Makes for a really tired and worn out person.

[MRP]

Body Weight: 257

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 165x3; 185x2
WS: 215x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 110x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 185x5; 205x3; 225x2
WS: 265x5

My calves were a little sore starting out on my squats. Maybe from all the excess walking last week? Squats and presses felt pretty good. Getting heavier though.

Deadlifts felt like I might need to either slow down or start introducing power cleans. My upper right trapezius has been sore for the past few days and was hurting a little during all my deadlift reps, warmups on. It didn't affect me but it was just nagging me. The last 2 reps of my deadlifts were pretty hard.

As far as recovery, up to this workout I had enough sleep, but I think I might not be getting enough protein in my diet.

[Mr.City]

I usually am pretty conservative with deadlifts. Plus I think you'll enjoy power cleans. They're fun.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 165x3; 185x2
WS: 225x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 115x3; 135x2
WS: 170x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 185x5; 205x3; 225x2
WS: 275x5

Everything felt pretty darn good. Squats were heavy but went up great. Bench felt great! Deads were still getting heavy. I've decided to Deadlift again this Friday, my next A day, and then this Saturday do my power clean intro workout and add it into my next B day (Monday).

Maybe it was the McGriddle breakfast and the Pizza Hut buffet today that made everything easy, who knows? Have to go to the sports store to buy another set of 45's. I've only got a 300lb set right now. So while the 2 wheel squat was a milestone for me, I didn't get to experience the whole effect with the 35's and 10's. But 225lbs will always be 225lbs no matter which way you load it!

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 205x2
WS: 235x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 115x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5x2; 185x5; 225x3; 255x2
WS: 285x2 - Missed Set

Well Squats and Presses felt great. No problems. Deadlifts were another story tonight. I was planning on switching programming this week to doing Deadlifts on my A day and Power Cleans on my B day. So now I'm definitely going to do it. I started to feel a little queezy during my middle warmup sets.
So I guess the process would be for me to power clean on this next Monday, then re-attempt the 285x5 on Wednesday. If I don't make it on Wednesday then I'll do a re-set.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 205x2
WS: 245x5x3

This week has sucked. I've been drained. I Skipped Mon and Fri and only did squats on Wed. Not sure exactly what it is but energy has been nil. So yeah. My pretty lame excuse for having a crappy week.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 205x2
WS: 255x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 120x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 185x5; 225x3; 255x2
WS: 285x5 *redemption*

Squats felt pretty good. Last set on Press was kinda tough. Redeemed myself on my missed set on 12/19 of the Deadlift. I used a mixed grip on my work set. I supinated my non-dominant hand.

[Bloodninja666]

Nice progress in a month.

[MRP]

Thanks. Other than last week I've felt pretty good about my progress so far. Hopefully I can keep up the gains. I've noticed the difference in my body composition as well. Not as pudgy as before, starting to firm up. Still though seeing the scale at 264 today was a little shocking. But I'm trying to tell myself that as long as it is coming with some re-composition and strength then who cares.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 265x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 115x3; 135x2
WS: 180x5x3

Everything went up pretty well. Nothing to complain about except I didn't lift yesterday so I moved it to today. I really need to look hard at my recovery. I'm definitely not getting enough sleep. I'm pretty sure I'm getting the calories but need to make sure to look harder at my protein. And stay away from fast food so much, makes me feel drained.

So Happy New Year's Eve everyone!!

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 275x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 125x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 185x5; 205x3; 255x2
WS: 300x5 *PR* (back to double overhand grip)

Everything felt pretty good today. Hard to start today, 3 degrees and a small space heater in the garage still make for a cold start. Its gonna be like this all week though so I better get used to it.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 285x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 135x3; 165x2
WS: 190x5x3

Squats were REALLY heavy today. Had to fight through them all. Rep 4 on my third set I started to lose balance forward on my toes and caught myself, and Rep 5 was very slow. I'm going to chalk it up to a crappy day because my warmups were feeling heavy too. I'm going to stick with 10lb jumps until I actually dump a set.

Bench felt pretty good for the most part. My first 2 sets felt a little heavy/off. I really concentrated on form on the last set and it went up really pretty easy. I'm debating on taking another 10 lb jump on this (would be my 3rd 10lb jump).

Really need to figure out why I've been so tired lately. I skipped my Monday workout. Pretty much just ate dinner and went to bed after I got home from work. Moved yesterdays to today as I had to hit the grocery store for a bunch of meat. Was crazy at the store to because we had a storm move through last night and dumped about 5" of snow. Ate some 70's big country fried steaks last night. Delicious. Well time to go make some pork chops for tonight.

[Strato]

Excellent progress in such a short time. Just curious, did your elbow pain go away? Was there anything you did to alleviate it?

[MRP]

Thanks, I've been a little down on myself about missing the training days that I have. But looking back I have made some pretty good progress. My first goals are a 1 wheel press, 2 wheel bench press, 3 wheel squat and 365lb deadlift. I wasn't that confident about deadlifts when I started but the progress I've made by doing them the way Rip teaches has surprised me. In High School Football lifting that was my weakest lift. I squatted (high bar, parallel) mostly and then did a little bench. I have to say I am loving the Low Bar squat. It is much more comfortable on the back and I know from the book that I am training more muscles.

I'm still having some pain in my left elbow during my sets. Nothing that lasts afterwards anymore. After I widened my grip it seems to be fine. Although when I consciously tighten my back and work on elbows up it seems to be even less of pain.

[MRP]

BAD DAY TODAY

So I warmed up on my squat and loaded it to my WS of 295lbs. The first set was hard but ok. The second set I got one rep then got stuck in the hole on the second rep. So I go to dump it and it rolls down my back onto the pins. I haven't practiced dumping squats yet. I didn't feel any pinching or anything, but it felt a bit sore after it rolled down my back so I just stopped for the day. We'll see tomorrow morning if I was just a wuss or if I did the right thing stopping. I doubt I need a reset yet. I haven't been sleeping the greatest and have been stressed at work and not eating the way I should either. So yeah.

[MRP]

Looks like I should have manned up and at least done my Presses and Deadlifts. Back on it tomorrow. Going to try to get what I missed on Monday.

[MRP]

BWT: 263 Est bf% 25

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 290x0 / 275x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 130x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 185x5; 225x3; 255x2
WS: 310x1

Warmups on squat felt fine. Got to the bottom of 290 and yeah...just stayed there. I de-loaded to 275 and finished all my work sets, but they were still difficult. I don't know if I need to de-load from there or what. I'm definitely going to only go 5lb jumps now.

Presses felt really strong today. No complaints at all there. Next session will be 135 - my initial training goal for this lift.

Deadlifts, deadlifts, deadlifts.......... Warmups felt good here too. Go to do 310 and the first one goes up hard, but ok. Rep 2 nada. Combo grip nada. So I just left it there.

I know I have been not recovering well. I don't know if the past few weeks have been me overtrained or what. I know that last week though my energy level was that of a bear in hibernation. I'm getting some protein supplements by Wednesday so I'll see if that helps. I really don't think I need to up my calories. I'm pretty certain I'm at least in the 4000cal range before milk. Although I haven't geen on GOMAD consistently. So I'm open to all suggestions on recovery/deloading.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 280x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 135x3; 165x2
WS: 195x5x3

Squats felt pretty good. Really focused on knees out. The last set was slow coming out of the hole though. I need to work on the stretch reflex/bounce out of the hole.

Bench was pretty good. The last 2 reps of set 3 were pretty difficult. First time I can remember bench being real hard.

So in an attempt to figure out why recovery was bad the past few weeks, I've dedicated to GOMAD. Before I was barely doing GOMAD on workout days and lucky to do Half GOMAD on recovery days. So GOMAD no matter what!

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 285x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 135x5x2; 135x3+1 push press

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 185x5; 225x3; 275x2

My back was tight starting and throughout my whole squat set and most of the press. I'm so freaking bummed I can't call my press my initial goal. 2 freaking reps away from my goal. Since I've been having problems with deads I figured I'd at least keep the motor pathways active to see how I can hit it next week.

This will be day 3 of GOMAD. So I don't know how long I need to wait until that starts helping. My #1 setback has been breakfasts. I haven't been getting up early enough for bacon and eggs, so I just end up getting a bagel and coffee at work, or a bowl of cereal and coffee. Going forward sleep is going to be a better priority. I'll have the bedtime of a 5 year old (or 75 year old) and wake up early enough for a freakin man sized breakfast.

I'm going to stop messing around and skipping power cleans too. That has to be hurting my progress on deadlifts. Monday will be first power clean day. I don't know if I should do my plan of PP novice by still pulling every workout since my deadlifts have been suffering. Next week on my A day I'm going to do another warm up only and see how I feel.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 225x3; 255x2
WS: 290x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 135x3; 165x2
WS: 200x5x3

GOMAD seems to be helping me pretty good. Today was the first day of me changing my diet around a bit. I think though that no matter what I'm going to stick with GOMAD.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 185x3; 225x2
WS: 295x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5x2; 65x5; 75x3; 95x2
WS: 135x5x3 PR

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 185x5; 225x3; 275x1
WS: 300X3

Back was rounding very bad the last 2 reps of deads. Decided to stop instead of going forward with bad form. I'm going to re-set these on Friday. Not sure by how much though. Need to nail the form down.

[MRP]

Ok I have to admit when the scale read 270 I got scared. So I've dropped GOMAD and am sticking with a pretty strict low carb diet right now. All I'm doing is using fitday to plan meals. Going for 12 cals/lb body weight and 1g protein per lb bodyweight. So a lot of meat and a lot of eggs. I'll keep posted on how this is going.

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 225x3; 275x2
WS: 300x5x3

Bench Press
WU: 45x5x2; 95x5; 135x3; 185x2
WS: 205x5x3

Last 2 reps on squat felt a bit high. Not sure how bad though as I don't video or have a training partner.

[MRP]

Been out of commission for a while. Tripped over the forklift at work and caught myself with my right arm. Ended up fracturing my rt radial head and a pretty bad wrist/forearm strain. So I'm still nursing that. I would lift through the strain, but I have another follow up with the fracture in a week. So for now I've been doing conditioning work and focusing on my diet so that when I get back into lifting I'll have fixed some of the issues I was dealing with before I got hurt. So here's to a good report next week saying I can lift again.

[Sami]

Damn, that sucks. You were making good progress too. Good luck healing.

[MRP]

Thanks Sami.....I'm still debating on whether or not to go back into a strict SS cycle or go into the CFWF, or WFAC GPP Program. I'm easily ove 30% bodyfat. I like being strong, but I also don't want to be this fat. Now I don't want to cut or be "ripped", but I do want to be healthy. In the early stages of sleep apnea, hard time running, stairs suck etc. Anyways, I have a few weeks to totally decide which route to take.

[Sami]

I'd go pretty serious on dieting down now whilst you can't lift heavy anyway. But then you'll likely lose a lot of muscle if you can't do the heavy compound lifts. Hmmm, dunno actually.

I suppose you can lose some weight now, since you're getting weaker anyway by not lifting heavy, you might as well make things easier by being lighter. Then you can build back up again when you can. With muscle memory, you should be able to get stronger faster and with less fat gain, hopefully.

[CThomas]

If you're going to be out of commission a week or more and if you have access to some of the usual machines - leg press, leg curls, some cable stuff - you should be able to do the RFL diet. I just lost a little under 3kg in three days before I had to come off it, and visually most of this was fat. I have an unusual metabolism though.

Hope you're back in action soon.

[MRP]

No access to gym. Lift in my garage with a homeade power rack and platform, thats it. So I think I'm going to accept the strength loss and get some weight down too. Got my diet dialed in to around 7-9 cals/lb right now. With a planned carb re-feed once a week. So I'm doing a generic RFL without buying the book and without being able to maintain the muscle either. Trying to figure out what my conditioning work is going to be though. Planning on some running and dot drills. May make some boxes and do plyos (as much as I have buried the mental pain of these from H.S.). Sprint drills. So yeah. Any suggestions on good condtioning work will be greatly appreciated!

[MRP]

BACK AT IT FINALLY!!! After a few vacations and mostly a fractured Right Radial Head got back into the garage today. Went down to pretty much my starting weights due to the long layoff and wanting to make sure I give my arm the time to heal.

Body Weight: 248

Squat
WU: 45x5x2; 135x5; 155x3
WS: 185x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5; 65x5; 85x3
WS: 95x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 155x5; 175x3
WS: 205x5

My legs were noticeably tight/sore during my squats. And I was definitely wobbly after my set.

[GripAU]

Expect some intense doms tommorrow man!

[MRP]

The ibprofen will start before bed fo-sho! <----I am sooooo white

[MRP]

Squat
WU: 45x10; 95x5
WS: 145x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5; 65x5
WS: 95x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5; 155x5
WS: 185x5

[MRP]

Back at it today. Lowered weights low enough so I don't get debilitating DOMS this time. Cleaned up my diet a lot. Looking to gain strength and get to around 225lbs. Following SS and doing some light cardio ie: walking in A.M. and some light Met-Cons on off days. Willing to take the slower progress to get some recomp.

[MRP]

So I'm back at it again. Been a tough year so far. Have a physical test coming up soon for a job at the fire department so I'm going to be doing some other met-con stuff as well. I know it will interfere with my SS progress but I have no choice but to do it to get ready for this. I'm still going to run SS along with it, but the recovery I'm sure will suffer.

Wish me luck

[MRP]

Bodyweight: 238lbs

Squat
WU: 45x10
WS: 135x5x3

Press
WU: 45x5
WS: 65x5x3

Deadlift
WU: 135x5
WS: 185x5