View Full Version : PVC's SS Log (Finally)
Background information: 5’9”, 160 lbs (give or take...probably a bit heavier at the moment).
I’ve owned the book SS:BBT for a year now, and SS is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Two years ago, in a vain quest for rippling abs, I went from about 150 lbs to 132 lbs in two months. Call it an eating disorder, call it negative self-image – whatever your diagnosis is, I was quite unhealthy. Before this I was in pretty decent shape.
Fast forward to another half-year later. I had gained the weight back, but I was in much worse physical shape than before I had lost all that weight. I tried some weight-training stuff, which helped a little, but it was mostly bodybuilding garbage. Through research I found out about SS (or “Rippetoe’s”, as the bodybuilding forums called it), and decided to buy the book after realizing that there was no way I could learn how to do the movements properly from the shitty online descriptions. Got the book around this time last year. I tried doing the program without gaining weight, and I predictably didn’t progress very far.
I joined my school’s rowing team this September, and have gotten into decent shape from that. The season ended in November, and since then SS has been creeping forwards from the back of my mind.
Today I was out jogging, and about a mile and a half in I just stopped and said to myself “This sucks. This just fucking sucks. I hate running, and I couldn’t give a fuck how many miles I can run. I’ve known about SS for a year, and yet I’m still a weak piece of shit. I want to be big and strong, and I’m wasting my time.” I walked home.
That’s my story. I’m on vacation right now, so I can’t start today – but come Jan 2nd I’ll be at it full force. This unfortunately comes with a price. I've been rowing as a ightweight (<160lbs), and I obviously won't be able to compete in this category if I gain any bodyweight. Rowing tends to favor long-limbed individuals, and being a heavyweight at 5'9" might put an end to my short-lived rowing career. This is not ideal, but I can live with it. When it comes down to it, I'd much rather be really strong than be a good rower.
Also, I’m going to have to have a chat with my parents about this. I’m 20, and I don’t live with them, but they do pay my college tuition. And my mom freaks out if I gain any weight...which isn't helped by the fact that my dad weighs 210lbs and is quite overweight (and if I'm not mistaken, I should be aiming to end up at around 210 lbs). I doubt it’ll go over well. But I’ll try. The thing is, I’ve been putting this off for a long time, and I don’t want to waste any more time dreaming of being strong and not doing anything about it. Fuck all the people who tell me that I’m just going to be a fat lard at the end. Fuck all the people who are holding me back. I’m doing this. Finally.
Cmanuel
12-29-2009, 11:50 PM
Welcome to the world of barbell training! You've picked a good place to keep a log. We will be watching and helping if you ever need it.
Not sure how often people look at these logs, but I didn't think it was worth starting a new thread for these questions.
For one thing, I still don't fully understand the concept of weight gain vs potential for strength gains. I know that novice trainees need to consume enough calories to recover properly so that they can continue increasing their lifts, and for underweight skinny guys like me this will result in a substantial gain in bodyweight. Overweight novice trainees don't need to gain as much weight, and this is because they've got extra energy stored (as fat) in their body as it is...so they just allow for their body composition to change to have more muscle and less fat. Right? Which would mean that, for the purposes of gaining strength, it's better to be a fat guy than a skinny guy, even if they have the same baseline strength levels. Right?
And so, to get to my question...should I be gaining as much weight as possible right now, even though I can't start training for another two days? I suppose it's irrelevant over the long term, but suppose instead of having to wait two days I had to wait a week. Would it make a difference then?
Also, how much should I be looking to weigh by the end of SS? I know Rip has made fun of people asking this question, but I need a ballpark answer so I have something to aim for. 70sbig.com seems to be obsessed with being 200lbs (an "adult male")...is this a reasonable goal? More? Less?
misspelledgeoff
12-31-2009, 01:41 PM
I'd say 40 pounds of muscular bodyweight over the next year would suit you pretty damn well. you'd officially be an 'adult male' in 70's big parlance.
i doubt eating a whole bunch now would have much of an effect on your training in two days (or two weeks for that matter). all that rant about is it better to be fat or skinny pre-SS is just conjecture and interwebz argument.
eat big and train hard. you'll be amazed at what happens.
ScooterLibby
12-31-2009, 02:16 PM
I was once in your shoes as a weak ass 155 lber trying to do the program during tennis season. I kept wondering, "why won't I get stronger?"
Then I stopped being an ignorant fuck, started eating 5,000 calories a day, gained 20 pounds (still going), and put on 100 pounds on my squat, 150 on my deadlift, 50 on my bench, 30 on my overhead press, and 70 on my power clean, with barely any fat at all.
A 20 year-old doing this program won't get fat at all and stands to gain more muscle than you wouldn't think possible
I was once in your shoes as a weak ass 155 lber...Then I stopped being an ignorant fuck
Do you mean to imply that I'm an ignorant fuck? On MY log??!? You, sir, are out of line. I challenge you to a duel.
Seriously though, thanks for the replies. I guess I should just shut up and train then? And maybe get a job...milk is expensive in Canada.
Mr.City
12-31-2009, 04:04 PM
Get a cow. It's like milk on tap.
Just got home from vacation, and was pleased to find a coupon book from McDonalds in the mail! It is most definately a sign.
02/01/10
Squat: 155 lbs
Bench: 115 lbs
Deadlift: 225 lbs
Weekly Weigh In: 166 lbs, wearing jeans, belt, shoes, and with a bowl of cereal in me...so probably closer to 160.
Lifts felt good. I'm planning on putting up a form check sometime next week, as soon as I find a camera and a day where my gym isn't too busy (probably next weekend). Drank 1/3 gallon of milk today, and planning on building up to the full gallon over the course of this week. I bought 2% lactose free milk since I'm lactose intolerant. I've tried using lactase pills with regular milk, and they don't seem to help too much, whereas lactose free milk doesn't give me any problems. BUT, a gallon of regular whole milk can be purchased for $4 at one of the grocery stores near me, which is a very good deal up here in the Great White North. I might give this a try, since you can't beat that price.
Edit: make that 1/2 a gallon of milk today :)
04/01/10
Squat: 165 lbs
Press: 95 lbs
Power Cleans: 55 lbs
Squat felt good, and the guy who worked in with me told me I was below parallel. Press was a little bit difficult, but I made all the reps. Power cleans were garbage, and I SERIOUSLY need to practice them. The gym near my home that I was at today doesn't have bumper plates, and there weren't enough plates left to stack up since they were all being used, so I kind of did hang-cleans from 9" above the floor. I know it's not ideal. But I go back to college on the 11th, and their gym is quite good for a commercial gym. It's got a cardio room, a machine room, and a free-weight room with 4 squat racks, 3 bench press benches/stands, a deadlifting/powercleaning platform, and 45 lb bumper plates. AND they allow chalk. So I'll be able to fix my cleans soon, but until then I'm just going to have to do my best with what I've got.
Eating: Today I'll be eating about 3000 dry calories, plus 2/3 GOMAD. I figure if I can get to 3500 dry calories with full GOMAD I'll be set for a few weeks, so I've got a goal to work towards. Also, I'm sticking to 2% lactose free milk, but I'm adding chocolate milk syrup to it. This adds about 100 calories of sugar to every glass (500 ml), so my GOMAD will be around 2800 calories. I've noticed that I'm taking in quite a bit of sugar in my diet, but I'm following the advice from 70sbig.com and ignoring macronutrient ratios as long as I get enough protein. Which means that I can use up this whole sheet of McDonalds coupons for my lunches without feeling like a fatty :p
One more glass of milk and I'll have drank 5/6 GOMAD!!! I'm gonna make it, even if I have to stay up late enough for my stomach to settle. I was insprired to eat lots today because at the gym I was surrounded by individuals who are larger and taller than me and who looked at me like I was some skinny idiot wasting space in their gym (which overall isn't too far from the truth). Plus I saw myself in the gym's wall-to-wall mirrors, and I'm skinnier looking than I thought. I've been getting complements from my family for the past couple of months that I look more muscular from rowing, so it's pretty easy to let it go to my head. Well, no more of that garbage. My goal for this Saturday (one week into the program) is to weigh 170 lbs - a weight gain of 4-10 pounds (the scale said 166 lbs when I last weighed myself, but I was fully clothed and had eaten a bowl of cereal). I'm not sure how realistic it is to gain 10 lbs in a week (probably not realistic at all), but in this case, just like shooting an apple off of someone's head with a bow and arrow, it can't hurt to aim high.
Some more info while I'm thinking about it:
Previous PR's
Squat: 205 lbs
Deadlift: 255 lbs
Bench Press: 140 lbs
Press: 110 lbs
Let's see if eating like a bear really works :). If it does, I should match/surpass these PR's at the end of next week without stalling. Fingers crossed.
Today was shitty for eating. I hung out with friends for a large part of the day, which resulted in lunch being substituted for some chips and cookies. And a 7up. I've eaten about 2000 dry calories today and 2/3 GOMAD, which is disappointing because I was planning on matching yesterday's intake. I've decided that tomorrow will be a "balls to the walls" day where I push my calorie intake to the max: full GOMAD, and 3500 dry calories (about 6300 in total!). Wish me luck.
I know I've only been on the program for four days, but I'm starting to feel like a fat guy. I don't mean "feeling like a fat guy" as in feeling like I'm carrying around a ton of unwanted weight; I mean that I feel how a fat guy probably feels: very sluggish, and I get out of breath easily, like when I'm going up stairs. I've read on logs here that other people have felt this way at the beginning of the program, probably due to two things:
1) Feeling unbearably full all the time
2) Squat is weak relative to increasing bodyweight
So once I PR on the squat (i.e. above 205 lbs) and my body gets used to this ridiculous calorie intake (it does get easier, right? RIGHT??!? PLEASE GOD), I'm expecting this issue to fade away.
Platus
01-05-2010, 10:32 PM
PLEASE GODIt does get better. I think it is more of a conditioning thing coupled with being plain worn out from asking much more from your body than you used to. Give a few weeks.
06/01/10
Squat: 175 lbs
Bench Press: 125 lbs
Deadlift: 240 lbs
Squats felt good, bench felt good. I was a bit nervous about moving my bench up by 10 lbs this workout, but I decided to do it because my bench is only 20 lbs heavier than my press, and I think it's because I'm underachieving on the bench. I'm going to go up by 10 lbs one more time before slowing it down to 5 lbs from then on, since it felt so easy this workout.
Deadlifting was hard, probably because my deadlift started off proportionately larger than my other lifts. No more 15 lb increases. I'm sure I'll be fine increasing by 10 lbs for a while. My grip is the limiting factor on these; I think it's time I got some chalk. Anyone know where I can buy some? Keep in mind that I live in Canada.
Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast
4 pcs bacon - 360 calories
2 eggs (only 2 eggs left, so I was limited) - 140 cal
2 pcs toast - 180 cal
Total: 680
Lunch/Post Workout Meal
1 Double Big Mac - 700 cal
Large Fries (a.k.a. Uncomfortably Large Fries) - 560 cal
Large Sprite - 290 cal
Total: 1550 cal
Dinner
Lettuce Wraps (soy made to look and taste like ground beef, using large pieces of lettuce as wraps. Not an ideal meal for getting 70s big, but it sure as hell beat anything I could possibly cook myself)
Some greek salad
A shit ton of watermelon
Total: Something like 800 calories
Miscellaneous
1 Gallon of 2% Lactose-Free Milk - 2080 cal
Chocolate Milk Syrup - About 500 calories per gallon of milk (I overestimated 800 calories in an earlier post)
Total: 2580 cal
Daily Total: 5, 610 calories
Not bad for a day's work. I didn't quite meet my goal, but in this, as with women, I'll take what I can get.
For tomorrow, I'm not looking for an eating PR or anything. I might take it a bit easy. Not TOO easy, mind you, but for my mental sanity I'm not going to kill myself trying to eat an entire horse, as the saying goes. I've been craving a beer or two, but at night I've been too busy trying to cram in the last of my milk to have a beer. Tomorrow will fix that. In fact - ignore what I just said about taking it easy. My goal for tomorrow is to finish a gallon of milk before 8:00 p.m. EST so I have time left to enjoy some beer.
Didn't quite make my goal. I finished the milk just now, at 10:30 p.m. EST. I guess I'll try again tomorrow? The problem is milk makes me feel very full, so I have trouble drinking it quickly. Maybe I'll adjust over time and with practice, but for now it's a chore to drink it all. Today's menu:
Breakfast
4 pcs bacon - 360 cal
3 eggs - 210 cal
2 pcs toast - 180 cal
Total: 750 cal
Lunch
2...uh...Pizza pockets? Not exactly. I don't remember what they were called, but they were similar enough. Let's just go with pizza pockets.
Total: 680 cal (dropped the ball a bit on this one)
Dinner
Tacos. With ground turkey (shudder). My dad doesn't eat beef, so the rest of us had to suffer.
And some pineapple for dessert.
Total: 800ish cal
Miscellaneous
1 Gallon of milk
Chocolate milk syrup with 2/3 of the milk before I ran out
Total: 2300ish cal
Daily Total: 4530 cal
Plus I'm planning on having a couple of beers before bed, so add another 300 calories. 4830.
Pretty shitty, I know. And I wouldn't be surprised if I do worse tomorrow. I can eat more on the days that I lift, and tomorrow will be two days removed from a lifting day. I'll do my best to eat enough...but sometimes my best kind of sucks.
Was sick all of last night. I puked up my entire dinner and 1/3 of a gallon of milk at 12:30 am, and proceeded to puke about once every hour for the next 7 hours. Went to a doctor this morning and was told I have gastro, and should be on a diet of clear fluids and bananas, rice, applesauce and toast (BRAT).
That sucks.
All I've consumed today is 750 ml of orange soda. I'm going to be eating more tonight since I feel much better, but breaking 5000 calories isn't going to be manageable for a few days. I'm not sure how much of an effect this is going to have on my training this week. I'm supposed to be matching some of my previous PRs this week, and now I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it. One day at a time, I guess. I'll see if I feel well enough to train tomorrow, and take it from there.
09/01/10
Squat - 185 lbs
Press - 1x5x100, 2x5x95
Squat felt good, surprisingly. Press was shitty - my form turned to garbage and I barely made the first set of five. I had to leave out the power cleans because I started to feel a bit sick after the presses.
Weekly weigh in: 166 lbs. Fuck. I probably did gain a couple of pounds, since this weigh in I had empty bowels, an almost empty stomach and no belt. But still, I'm incredibly disappointed. I guess this just means I have to work even harder this week. Sick = 90s small. Fact.
Body weight goal for next week: 171 lbs. I was going to say 170 lbs, but one of my high school teachers told me never to shoot for a grade ending in zero (other than 100%, obviously). His reasoning: getting a 70% means you just barely got a B. You scraped by - you might have even gotten a 69-point-something that was rounded up. Not impressive. But if you get a 71%, you have a "solid" B, which looks much better on a report card.
So, goal: 171 lbs.
EJLouis
01-09-2010, 07:25 PM
06/01/10
I think it's time I got some chalk. Anyone know where I can buy some? Keep in mind that I live in Canada.
If you haven't found any yet. Hit an outdoor store that has rock climbing gear (MEC has it). I would recommend a small bag, actual chalk and a refillable chalk sock. (The chalk sock will keep the mess to a minimum and hopefully won't be frowned upon at the gym)
http://www.mec.ca/Main/home.jsp?bmForm=mec_quick_search&bmFormID=1263086481949&bmUID=1263086481949&bmIsForm=true&bmPrevTemplate=%2FMain%2Fhome.jsp&bmText=quick_search&quick_search=chalk&bmSubmit=search&search=Search&amSearchField=chalk&bmHidden=Ntk&Ntk=productsearch_en_rankonly
Cheers,
A fellow Canadian
Thanks EJ. I completely forgot that climbers use chalk too! Unfortunately I'm not close to a MEC, but my university has a rock climbing wall and a climbing club, so I'm sure I can get some chalk off of them.
Back to the subject of eating, here's the deal: I've got 1 and 5/6 gallons of milk in my house (drank 1/6 of a gallon today, against doctor's orders), and I head back to university tomorrow afternoon. I am finishing this milk before I leave. And since there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to finish 5/6 of a gallon tonight, I'm going to be drinking quite a bit more than a gallon tomorrow - and have to finish it before about 5:00 pm. This is going to be hard. In another thread in which I asked how you guys space out your GOMAD, some of you said you find it EASY to drink a gallon of milk in a day, and one of you said you finish by 3:00. Fucking nuts. But I've got to do it. I've read people's logs where they don't eat enough or don't do GOMAD because it's "too hard", and end up not gaining any weight and stalling, and I would think to myself "why don't they just stop being a pussy and eat some more?" Well, it's time to practice what I preach. I refuse to be a pussy. 171 lbs or bust!
The 1.67 GOMAD idea is a no go. Last night I threw up AGAIN, and I’m positive it’s from the milk. Well, it’s from me having gastro, but if I hadn’t drank any milk I know I wouldn’t have thrown up. I should have known something was wrong earlier…the milk in my stomach felt like it was just sitting there. Maybe it was a bad idea to have more? I ended up having 1/3 of a gallon yesterday, and it just sat there in my stomach all night bubbling and not digesting (until 3 in the morning when it came up, along with my dinner).
This puts me in an unfortunate position: there’s no way I can eat 5000+ calories a day without liquid assistance. I was hoping to make it to 205 lbs on my squat by the end of this week, but it might not be possible considering the circumstances. This sucks. On the plus side, the juxtaposition of this post and my previous one is quite hilarious. But I would rather just be able to drink the milk. Maybe I'll try GOJAD (gallon of juice)? Or GOSAD (soda)? Or GOBAD (beer)?
Cmanuel
01-10-2010, 02:35 PM
What about eating a shit ton of peanut butter? 70/30 Ground beef is also calorie dense... as is mac n cheeze......
dont do the GOBAD, haha has "bad" idea written all over it (pun intended)
12/01/10
Squat: 195 lbs
Bench: 135 lbs
Deadlift: 250 lbs
Squat was hard. This is because I'm not eating enough. More on this later. It's 5 lb increases from now on. I also realized just how much my shitty old running shoes are holding me back in the squat. I'll be getting squat shoes ASAP, but buying books for the new semester might put them out of my budget for another month. I'll see how much books cost. Until then, I've got a pair of Chuck Taylors to wear that, at the very least, are a flat shoe.
Bench felt fine - hard, but I got the reps and my form was good. 5 lb increases from now on in this lift as well. Weird thing though: the side of my left hip kept cramping up during my sets, and I don't know why. I didn't think I was doing anything different with my left leg than with my right. If anyone could shed some light on this that would be great. Fortunately it didn't interfere with my deadlifts, but right now I can still feel some tightness from where it was cramping.
Deadlifts felt hard, but good. My grip felt a lot stronger this time than my last deadlift workout, and I didn't even use chalk. The lineup at the front desk was massive, and I would have had to wait 15 min to get chalk. I decided to live without it until next week, when there won't be so many people (first week of each semester is free for students at my school's gym). I honestly have never seen so many people doing bicep curls as I did today. Crazy stuff.
Eating has been hard. My stomach cannot currently handle large volumes of food. And I'm still iffy on the milk. I'm nursing a glass right now for the first time since Saturday, and I'm going to try to finish 1/3 of a gallon today, but we'll see how that goes. Today I was so thinspired by how much bigger everyone else at the gym was compared to myself that I made the trek to McDonalds and forced down a Double Big Mac combo. I feel very proud. Hopefully I can resume eating normal (read: abnormally large) portions soon. I HAVE been trying to drink lots of soda to make up for the lack of milk and food. Yesterday I drank 1/2 a gallon of Mountain Dew. Yeah, I'm awesome. But I think I may be well on my way to developing Type II Diabetes.
I missed my workout yesterday on purpose, because I was feeling tired due to lack of eating. So since I took 2 days between this workout and the last one, I'll train Thursday and Saturday this week and keep the schedule like that.
Mr.City
01-12-2010, 03:57 PM
Your dedication to eat is inspiring.
Thank you sir. But it's not from nothing. I've done the program wrong before, and I'm not going to waste my time doing it wrong again.
14/01/10
Squat: 200 lbs
Press: Garbage
Power Clean: 65 lbs
I got stuck on the press again. I might have been too ambitious in picking my starting weight...looks like I'm going to have to reset it. Power clean form was terrible at first, but got better by the last set (the 5 sets of 3 idea for cleans is fucking genius). Still need to eat more, yada yada...As of yesterday, I can eat standard amounts of food for an Average Human Male. Which is not really that much, but it means that my sickness is gone. I have also been able to consume 1L of milk in a day without getting stomach pains, so that's probably back to normal too. I can now resume stuffing myself like a Thanksgiving Turkey.
17/01/10
Squat: 205
Bench: Fail at 140 lbs
Deadlift: 260 (PR)
Weekly Weigh In: 169 lbs (PR)
Even with those two PR's, today was still disappointing. My bench and my press have both failed. I have to do two things:
1) FUCKING EAT MORE
2) Reset and start microloading (2.5 lbs per workout)
I gained three pounds this week, but it's not enough. I haven't been doing GOMAD because I was sick last week, but that's no longer a valid excuse. I'm at half gomad right now, and I will build back up to the full gallon over the next couple of days. I have failed myself. I'm pretty disappointed, honestly. I'm really going to have to push it this week. I swear I will gain 5 lbs this week, I swear it. Or your money back. I'm going right now to eat some more lasagna. I WILL REDEEM MYSELF
Squat: 210 lbs (PR)
Press: 85 lbs
Power Cleans: 70 lbs
Squats were mostly good, but I seem to be having a problem with keeping the bar set on my back properly. It's always fine for my warm up sets, but during my work sets it feels like it's rolling a bit on my back. I might be putting it in the wrong position for my worksets because I'm nervous about the high weight - which of course is Really Fucking Stupid. Not the part about being nervous, but about changing my form. I'll make sure I pay more attention to this next time, since it's been creeping up on me for the past couple of workouts. Fortunately the issue isn't so bad that I can't finish my sets.
For my deload of the press, I decided to try pausing at the top to take advantage of the stretch reflex. Man, what a difference. Those reps just shoot up. Before I think I was using too great a ROM, bringing the bar lower on my chest than it needs to go. With this pausing at the top, I was having the opposite issue: since the stretch reflex starts to kick in when the bar gets just below my chin, it's very easy to use a smaller ROM. I believe I nearly fixed this by the third set by thinking of it like the bench press, where the second you feel the bar touch your chest you explode it upwards.
Cleans were okay. My elbows are rotating around the bar better now, but the timing of my landing still needs some work.
I'm inspired by the olive oil thread. I'm going to go buy a bottle and take shots of it throughout the day, since I'm still having trouble eating. In fact, today was terrible for eating. I have literally felt full every second of the day. I have not been even remotely hungry. I have had to force-feed breakfast and lunch to myself, and I still haven't had dinner because if I try to eat right now my stomach will explode. Not good stuff. Hopefully a few shots of olive oil every day will help get the calories in until my body gets used to the caloric excess (I'm reading right now that 4 oz of olive oil is about 1000 calories).
Mr.City
01-19-2010, 07:21 PM
When it comes to the bar rolling, it is rolling up or down? This is key in determining your bar problem. Rolling may indicate that the bar is too high and vice versa. And of course, you are keeping up the chest and the elbows, right?
When it comes to the bar rolling, it is rolling up or down? This is key in determining your bar problem. Rolling may indicate that the bar is too high and vice versa. And of course, you are keeping up the chest and the elbows, right?
It's rolling down. Does this mean it's too high or too low?
It might be that I'm not keeping my chest up properly. I'm trying to, but I'm not sure if I'm actually doing it. Again, that might be because of how I'm unracking the bar.
gordonrumble
01-19-2010, 07:52 PM
An interesting idea if you're already getting your protein and nutrients in and just want more pure calories is olive oil. Get a small cup, fill it half with OJ and half with OO. They'll separate, so the olive oil is on the top. Chug it. All you'll taste is OJ, and it's a massive calorie bomb. I just did one using a large cup and a half cup of olive oil, and as usual, it was an easy 800-1000 calories in five seconds, no bloating. I could eat a meal right now (and will).
An interesting idea if you're already getting your protein and nutrients in and just want more pure calories is olive oil. Get a small cup, fill it half with OJ and half with OO. They'll separate, so the olive oil is on the top. Chug it. All you'll taste is OJ, and it's a massive calorie bomb. I just did one using a large cup and a half cup of olive oil, and as usual, it was an easy 800-1000 calories in five seconds, no bloating. I could eat a meal right now (and will).
I will do this. Thanks for your input.
Can you do that? Can you follow the rules and grant someone the gift of life?
DISCLAIMER: Do not read this post if you get queasy. I'm about to talk in detail about the wonderful subject of vomiting. Don't read it and then complain about it afterwards. Once you go down the rabbit hole, there's no turning back.
I tried the olive oil thing. I drank about 250 mL, with orange juice as suggested. No bloating? My ass. I was so full all day I could hardly move. I had to lie in bed for hours. Seriously. This sucked. Then I managed to take a nap for about an hour, which I thought would help me digest the stuff. Nope.
At around 7:00 pm I decided to go for a walk, to help me digest. That's right. 7:00 pm. I drank the oil at 2:00. After 5 long, painful hours, I still felt like shit. So I walked for a good 45 minutes or so, and I didn't feel any better. I probably could have thrown up at any time in this nearly 6-hour window if I had wanted to, but it wasn't going to happen unless I specifically let it. At this time, I decided to let it. I realized that I was just feeling worse and worse as time went on, and that I would probably throw up eventually that night if I didn't make it happen now. So I manned up and went to the nearest park, kneeled down, and let it out.
Now, you'd think it's all fine now and I can resume eating and drinking milk, right? Wrong. I can still feel some oil left in my stomach, that didn't make it out when I puked earlier. I tried to force it out (finger-down-throat style), but I couldn't puke again, probably because there's not enough stuff left in my stomach for my body to puke. Thing is, I know that whatever shit is left in my stomach is not going to digest. It's going to come out, sooner or later. If I go have a meal now, it'll sit in my stomach for hours until finally I'll puke it out.
So, I think what I have to do is make myself throw up ASAP so I can finally eat (haven't eaten since lunch because of the fucking olive oil). I think the best way to do this is to drink a large volume of liquid, enough to make me feel bloated, and then force myself to puke. Feel free to offer any better suggestions.
I learned something today: shortcuts don't work. I decided to do the olive oil thing because I was having trouble eating a lot and drinking the gallon of milk. I thought this would be an incredibly easy way to take in calories and that maybe this wasn't so hard after all.
Wrong.
Never take shortcuts in life. Never. Shortcuts = bad. If you take a shortcut, you will puke.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drink as much water as I can handle so I can puke again. And then eat.
Solution: I'm going to eat anyways. I've got this vegetable lasagna in the fridge that's been sitting there for a few days, and if I don't eat it now it's going to go bad. I figure that if I don't puke it up, that's great, and if I do, it doesn't really matter because it's only vegetable lasagna.
21/01/10
Squat: 215 lbs
Bench: 125 lbs (deload)
Deadlift: 270 lbs
The bar rolling wasn't a problem for my squats except for the last couple of reps on the last set, so I think I've pretty much fixed the issue. I tried doing the bench with a narrower grip, because I think I was going too wide before.
I need to find some chalk for deadlifting. The rock climbing room in the basement was out of chalk (WTF!!), so I had to make due without it. I want to hold off on doing the reverse grip for as long as possible, so chalk will be a necessity very soon. I asked a trainer where I could get some, and he recommended going to the other climbing wall in the city - the one in the middle of buttfuck nowhere. I'm going to check the bus routes to see if I can get down there this weekend.
I'm very excited: next deadlift workout I do I'll be pulling 280, which means I get to use the 25 lb plates! WOOOOOT!!!!!! AND I will also be squatting TWO plates!!!! That workout will be fun. AND: from then on, every other deadlift workout will see me moving up to a larger set of plates until I hit three 45's per side. That will be fucking sweet. I don't think I've seen anyone in my gym deadlift more than three plates. I would be honored if I could be the first.
24/01/2010
Squat: 220 lbs
Press: 90 lbs
Power Cleans: none, a bunch of jocks came in to deadlift just as I was finishing my press sets
Weekly Weigh In: 171.5 lbs (i.e. not enough)
Goal for next Sunday: 175 lbs. This can and will be done.
blakjak12
01-25-2010, 12:00 AM
I like the confident attitude!
26/01/10
Squat: 225 (2 Plates!!!!)
Bench: 130
Deadlift 280 (2 Plates + 25's !!!!!!!!!)
Well, I've reached my goals. For a long while now I've wanted to be able to squat 2 plates and deadlift 2 plates + 25s, and now I can. So, I guess I'm done SS! Awesome. Now I can move on to Crossfit so I can become elite. It was nice posting here for a while. Good luck everyone!
I've been neglecting this log for the past week. To catch up:
Sunday:
Pussied out. Put off the workout all day, then decided "well, it can't hurt to just miss one." Which I guess is technically true. But the attitude that facilitates the missing of a workout is destructive. So NO MORE MISSED WORKOUTS. Except for the ones on the 14th and 16th, since I'll be on a cruise and won't have access to barbells.
Tuesday:
Squat: 225 lbs
Bench Press: 135 lbs
Deadlift: 290 lbs
Chin ups: 4/3/3
Because of my missed workout, and because of the hamstring tightness I was experiencing, I moved the weight down to 225 for my squats. Still no good. I ended up doing them too high to prevent my back from rounding, and my knees felt a little bit tender for the rest of the day.
Today:
Squat: 230 lbs
Press: 100 lbs
PC: Missed it because of the lineup for the platform, going back tomorrow morning to do them as well as chinups.
Back on track with squats. What helped: I used a rower for my warmup, and I focused on not bending my knees until my torso was stretched as far forward as my hamstrings would allow (which isn't dissimilar to how you do a normal stroke anyways). Then I did the "touch your toes" stretch a couple of times in between warm up sets, and I was pretty much good to go. Still not "great" flexibility, but at least it didn't prevent me from going below parallel.
Tomorrow I'm going to do the power cleans, since I've been putting them off a lot - I think I've only done them a couple of times to be honest. Gotta stop doing that. I'm intimidated to do them because I'm using such light weight it's embarrassing, plus my form is crappy. But I know that if I don't start doing them consistently it's going to be like that forever.
I originally ordered a pair of Rogue 2010 weightlifting shoes, because their website said they were in stock. The day after I ordered them I got an email saying the shoes would be out of stock for 2-3 weeks, so I cancelled the order and bought a pair of VS Dynamos instead. The order was processed yesterday, but as far as I know it hasn't been shipped yet. I'm in Canada, so I don't know how long it'll be, but I'm expecting to get them by the end of next week (just when I leave for my cruise, what perfect timing).
Squat: 235 lbs
Bench Press: 140 lbs
Deadlift: 300 lbs
Squats were fucking hard. One of the reps in every set was so slow I sincerely thought I was going to be crushed. I didn't eat enough over the weekend, and I haven't had any milk since Friday! I went home for the weekend, and everything my mom buys is low fat. And she had the car, so I couldn't go buy milk/real food.
I need to get a form check up, desperately, since my squats were so bad. I don't have a video camera, and my gym doesn't allow them anyways, but my phone should be able to take videos. I say should because it won't. I took it in to Best Buy, and the guy there said I probably need to update the software on my phone. I'll try that and see if it works.
Bench presses were surprisingly good. Like, really good. They went up with very little struggle.
Deadlifts were hard, but I got them. I think I'll have to switch to doing them once per week soon (i.e. probably now), but since I'm on vacation next week I'm just going to push through the deadlift set at the end of this week.
Dude, you drank 250ml of olive oil? That's 2250kcal in oil. Having never had that much oil in one go?
That's this much:
http://aceitesandalucessierramagina.com/tienda/images/250-Cristal+Caja.jpg
Bad move man. Bad move. Just have a couple of tablespoons. Not a glass of it.
Tim Lofton
02-08-2010, 07:44 PM
Yeah. What he said. Eight ounces of straight oil is a bunch to dump in the gut. I do no more than two ounces (60 ml) at a time, usually with OJ, or maybe a few tablespoons with a milk chaser. Also, make sure your olive oil hasn't gone rancid. That'll give you fits that you won't want to revisit for sure.
Yeah, okay, I fucked up. That was like 3 weeks ago. Leemelone.
Forgot to add to my last post: Chinups 4/4/4, and the chins are why my bench was so easy. What a fucking miracle. If only squats had an assistance exercise like that, I'd be set.
Camera phone is fixed and can now take videos, so if all goes well I'll have a squat form check up tomorrow. AND I have just learned that my squat shoes cleared Canadian customs at 1:35 a.m this morning, so I'm expecting them to arrive sometime today. Exciting stuff.
THE SHOES ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm excited.
Squat: 240
Press: 105
PC: 75
First workout with the shoes, and they helped me get depth in the squat. I need practice though - one rep in each set of my squats was too high. Press was fine. I finally did the powercleans today, and they need some work. They'll progress quickly though.
Squat: 245 lbs
Bench: 145 lbs
I had to miss doing deadlifts due to time constraints, and I'm pretty pissed off about that.
HOWEVER, the squats were awesome. A message to all n00bs reading this (but then again, who reads my log anyways?): GET SQUAT SHOES. NOW. They are so fucking useful it's unbelievable. I didn't notice it last workout because I was still figuring out how to lift with them...but now that I've figured it out, my squat form has gotten much better. Buy first, ask questions later.
Bench was a little bit unstable. I kept accidentally letting out too much air around the fourth or fifth rep, and because I was still supporting the weight above me I couldn't get all of the air back in that I had breathed out, so I wasn't tight for the last rep or two of each set. I might have to switch to holding my breath for the entire set, because if I keep doing what I did this workout I'm going to stall. But we'll see. Strength-wise I was fine for the bench, so that's a good thing.
Deadlifts would have been 310 lbs. That would have been nice. I'm leaving for my 5-day cruise at 4:00 am tomorrow, so I'm not training again until Thursday. I'm supposed to repeat my last workout when I get back to training, so I should be doing 245 Squat, 145 Bench, and 300 Deadlift since that's the last weight I used on the Deadlift. However, I think I'm going to do 305, just to get some progression in there. I'm hoping this won't fuck up my progress and cause a stall. Talk me out of it if it's a bad idea.
Since I didn't deadlift today I decided to fool around with the grippers that I bought a while ago - they're not Captains of Crush, but they look identical and I don't see how they could be any worse. I did two sets of 10 with the 150 lb gripper (to compare, a CoC #1 gripper has 140 lbs of resistance) for each hand, and then a set of 21 for each hand. I was about a centimetre away from closing the 200 lb gripper (a CoC #2 has 195 lbs of resistance). I'll test this again in a month or so to see if my grip strength has improved.
Alright folks, I'm back from my cruise and it was awesome. All-you-can-eat food. Never been happier. And our waiter for dinner was awesome - he quickly realized that I was a big eater, and he always ordered up a second main course from the kitchen for me without me even having to ask.
And of course other stuff was fun too. But I'll stick to the stuff relevant to training.
With a few calculations, I've discovered that I could potentially reach my short-term goals for strength and size by the very end of March if I train perfectly - i.e. not a single missed workout, not a single missed meal, not a single missed ounce of milk. So I'll make it my goal to reach my goals by the end of March. Those goals are:
BW 200 lbs (adult male)
Squat 315 lbs
Deadlift 365 lbs
Bench 185 lbs
Press 135 lbs
Clean 135 lbs
I guess we'll see how this goes. The hardest part will probably be the bodyweight gain. I've still got ~20 lbs to go until I hit a BW of 200, which means I need to gain 4 lbs per week. This is hard. Maybe not for some of you, but for me it is. I will try my best though.
Tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity to film my squats, but wouldn't you know it, my phone is dead and I left the charger at school. Shitty. Maybe next week.
Squat: 245 lbs
Bench: 145 lbs
Deadlift: 305 lbs (ugly as sin)
First workout since vacation. I've been overestimating my weight a little bit - my actual weight right now, on an empty stomach and bowels, is 178.5 lbs, so I've still got 21.5 lbs left to gain.
First set of squats was good, second was okay, third was kind of bad, but I got them done. I think my body needs to readjust to heavy training, and I'm sure Tuesday's squats will be better.
Bench press was fine. I tried holding in a breath for the entire set instead of breathing between reps, and it certainly does help maintain tightness. The tradeoff is that you have to make sure not to pass out by the end of the set. I'm sure this will become less uncomfortable as I practice it more.
Deadlifts were horrendous. I stupidly decided to pull 305, even though my last workout I pulled 300...and that was nearly 2 weeks ago. The set was brutal, and after the first rep the entire set was round-backed. My back is sore, and I'm going to have terrible DOMS tomorrow. Let this be a lesson kids: never get greedy. Or your dick will fall off. Probably.
Gottatri2lift
02-22-2010, 08:51 AM
Good luck on the deadlifts! I went to Key West for a week and a half. Came back and took 4 weeks to get back 'comfortably' pulling 390.
Pruduence and perseverance (sp) are some of the best things taught by the bar.
Squat - 250 FAIL 5/3/3
Press - 105
PC - 85 lbs
Uh oh. My squats shouldn't be failing yet, should they? I think I was under-recovered from those deadlifts last workout. My eating and sleeping were just a bit subpar these past couple of days - probably would have been fine normally, but with that deadlift set factored in I think I was burned out.
Checklist:
1) Eat more
2) Sleep more
3) Record a form check (this Sunday, I PROMISE)
4) Get a belt
Squat: 250 FAIL 5/5/4
Bench: 150 (PR)
Deadlift: 295
Well, I failed my squats again. Since my bench is still going up, I'm inclined to believe that this is a form issue as opposed to a recovery issue. I'll need to check the book again, but I believe I'm supposed to deload 10%, which means that I'm going to be squatting 225 on sunday. I'll record it too so I can get some feedback.
Bench was the first PR I've had in 2 weeks because of my trip (and thank god, because I've been starved for a PR). Form isn't perfect: when the bar touches my chest, I get into this panicky "GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!!" mindset and I end up pushing as hard as I possibly can to get it off my chest. This might sound like a good thing, but when I do this I end up pushing upwards at a funny angle, which makes the rep harder. The reps for which I did this were noticeably slower than the reps I did properly, so I've got to make sure to do it right before it causes a stall.
Deadlift was fine. My low back was completely burnt out from failing that last set of squats, so my workset felt a bit harder than it should be, but no complaints really.
Mr.City
02-26-2010, 07:13 PM
Nice job on the bench.
EJLouis
02-26-2010, 09:11 PM
Bench press was fine. I tried holding in a breath for the entire set instead of breathing between reps, and it certainly does help maintain tightness. The tradeoff is that you have to make sure not to pass out by the end of the set. I'm sure this will become less uncomfortable as I practice it more.
So this is where I saw the tip. Thanks. I'm only able to hold my breath for 4 reps. So the last rep is ugly and I'm quite flat to the bench having lost all tightness.
Form isn't perfect: when the bar touches my chest, I get into this panicky "GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!!" mindset.
Ha! That's how I feel with squats when I'm in the hole. I'm so scared to become a statistic. "Man in underwear found crushed to death in basement"
BTW Congrats on the bench PR.
Squat: 225 (reset)
Press: 110 (PR)
PC: 95 lbs
Squat: 230
Bench: 155 (PR)
Deadlift: 305
I'm still having this problem with squats about bar positioning, and it's pissing me off. A lot. My left elbow is in pain by the end of my sets, and I STILL can't figure it out.
What I tried this time was setting the bar higher on my back. Here's how I set it this time (and someone PLEASE comment on whether or not this is correct):
Take one arm. Reach it across your body and put it on the back of your shoulder. Now, place the tips of your fingers just above the crease made by your underarm. Flex the muscle here.
Feel how it's kind of a "point" that sticks out? I put the bar on my back such that it was resting right on top of this point. IS THIS CORRECT?
Either way, it wasn't correct ENOUGH. My elbow is still battered, and I don't know exactly how to fix it. AND, why is it only my left elbow? So many questions.
My bench press was all over the place. I think it has something to do with the bench I'm using: it's too low. I use it because it has the least padding out of all the benches, so it doesn't absorb as much of the force I'm creating to move the barbell. But its height is creating another problem. When I plant my feet with my knees pointing outwards, I get really a really bad cramp in my left hip. It's very distracting, so what I end up having to do to prevent this is to point my knees and my feet straight forward. But then this makes it harder to arch my back effectively, which makes it harder to bench heavy weights (if you can call my 155 lb bench press "heavy). I don't know why this causes cramps exactly, but when I use a taller bench this isn't an issue, so I've found my remedy for this at least. I'm also going to do chinups next time I'm in the gym, just in case. If I stall on my bench press before I reach 185 lbs I'm going to strangle a kitten.
Deadlift was okay. I finally get to DL three plates next time! My 6-day vacation really put a ballsack in my training - I'm only just starting to hit PRs again, and even then, only in the presses.
Speaking of presses, I'm pressing 35 lb plates next time, which I'm hella excited about.
My eating might be an issue. I've been consistently eating 4500 calories per day for this entire week (3000 dry + 1500 from 3/4 GOMAD), either on the dot or a bit more, and I thought it would be enough, but with how my bench felt today I'm nervous that it's NOT enough. Now, maybe I'm just not used to my presses feeling difficult since I'm only now starting to PR again, but I'm nervous. That's why I'm adding chinups, and it's also why I'm going to add back in that last 1/4 gallon of milk, which will bring me up to 5000 cals per day. My BP is weak enough as it is, and I'm not going to risk it stalling. Or the kitten gets it.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I benched my old bodyweight. If I could travel back in time 1 year, I would be able to bench press the old me. Take THAT skinny guy!
Squat: 235 lbs
Press: 115 lbs (PR)
No power cleans
Chins: 4/4/4
What an awesome workout. I finally built up to using two 35's on the press, and it felt INCREDIBLE. I nearly psyched myself out because of the switch to larger plates, but telling myself "don't think, just lift" right before my sets really helped.
I think I fixed the bar rolling issue on the squats. No elbow pain today! I looked up more and made damn sure that my chest was out.
I might be giving up on power cleans. More on this later, but I really, REALLY hate power cleans. Yes, I know this makes me a pussy.
Squat: 240 lbs
Bench: 160 lbs (PR)
Deadlift: 315 lbs (PR, FINALLY)
Thank god I finally got that 3-plate deadlift, I've been "almost there" since early February. It felt strong. Nice.
Bench was a bit harder than expected. I'm going to take this as a sign that I'm not eating enough.
Squat went well from the nipples down. Above my nipples, however, it wasn't so great. My grip/positioning of the bar was shit again. I thought I had "fixed" this problem last time, but I think I just got lucky with bar positioning. Still need to figure it out, and I'm hoping I can do it before my squat starts PRing again.
Squat: 245 lbs
Press: 120 lbs (PR)
Chins: 4/2/1
My grip on the squat was worse than ever. I need to fix this. Now.
My last rep on my third set was garbage. By grip slipped way too much, it fucked up my form, and I barely made it up. Technically I made all my reps, but I'm going to count it as a fail. This is getting ridiculous, and there's no way I can keep increasing the weight on my squat unless I get this bar placement issue fixed. So I'm keeping it at 245 lbs until this happens.
Press felt hard. Maybe I'm not eating enough, maybe I need to microload soon, maybe I just don't know the true definition of the word "hard". I dunno. It wasn't "slow", or a grind or anything, but it felt much harder than it has in the past. "Uncomfortably hard" is the term I guess I'd use. I think I'm just going to keep going and hope for the best, but I'm anticipating having to switch to 2.5 lb jumps pretty soon.
Chins were shitty because my left bicep was in pain from squatting shitty. Balls.
SamGriffin
03-10-2010, 01:31 AM
I think the bar should be just below the spine of the scapula and wedged up against it.
The spine of scapula is marked in red here: http://img.search.com/thumb/9/9b/Spine_of_scapula.PNG/300px-Spine_of_scapula.PNG
Are your wrists straight? Try chalking your hands and holding the bar down near the heel of your hand.
GripAU
03-10-2010, 03:13 AM
Nice job on two 35's! I hAd that feeling too, like last week, feels great hey!? I'm due to get my
first set of wheels this next Monday. Another step to bW press. So psyched!!
Are your wrists straight? Try chalking your hands and holding the bar down near the heel of your hand.
I haven't tried chalking my hands for the squat, I'll see if that helps.
Nice job on two 35's! I hAd that feeling too, like last week, feels great hey!? I'm due to get my
first set of wheels this next Monday. Another step to bW press. So psyched!!
Yes, it does feel awesome, and I really can't wait to be pressing 45's.
Today's workout:
Squat: 245
Bench: 165 FAIL 4/3/3
Deadlift: 325 (PR)
Today was good for the squat, very minimal elbow pain. I kept my chest up pretty well, which is probably what has been causing it. Weight felt pretty light since I did the weight on Tuesday as well. We'll see how Sunday's session goes, which will be my first squat PR since I reset it.
Bench was bad. I don't know exactly what's going on here.
Deadlifts were pretty damn hard. I think I've reached the point where I can't properly progress on the deadlift 3 times every 2 weeks. I'm going to anticipate a stall for this and switch up my programming. Since I'm not doing cleans, I think my weekly programming will look like this:
Workout 1
Squat
Bench Press/Press (alternating)
Back Extensions
Workout 2
Squat
Bench Press/Press
Deadlifts
Workout 3
Squat
Bench Press/Press
Back Extensions
Which has me deadlifting twice every 2 weeks (i.e. once a week). If that's still too much I'll program it less often, but I'm sure I can progress on it like this for a while.
Also, I'm wondering if being overtrained on the deadlift can interfere with my other lifts...like the bench press. I'm going to ask Rip about this.
EDIT: Almost forgot, bodyweight is now 186.5 lbs
Smack made me realize that I may be jumping the gun on switching up my deadlift programming. It might be that I actually do need to, or it might be that I just had a bad day. I'll go up to 335 on Tuesday and if that gets shitty I'll switch it up. Also, I'm ordering a belt today.
Squat: 250 (PR)
Press: 125 FAIL 5/5/4
Do you see that? 5/5/4. I was just one rep away.
To be fair though, there was no way in hell I was making that rep. When I brought the bar down for the last rep to get that stretch reflex, the bar just sat there on my shoulders. I was done. There was no failed struggle halfway through the rep - the bar wouldn't even budge off my shoulders. Might be time to microload, but I ordered a belt yesterday and I'm expecting to get it by the end of next week, so I'm going to see if I can squeeze out a couple more 5lb jumps on the press. If I could get to 135 (i.e. a plate per side) before having to microload...well, that would be pretty fucking awesome.
Squat was pretty good, AND it was my first squat PR since god knows when (and you could know too, if you feel like sifting though my log. I sure don't). The problem with my elbow/bicep tendon is 80% related to me not keeping my chest up properly. By actually keeping my chest up properly most of the time today, bicep tendon pain was minimal. It's still there a bit, but it's not that bad, so I'm going to ignore it unless/until it becomes a bigger problem. Also, I think using a belt will help me keep my chest up, since it'll help me stay tighter overall.
I wanted to do chins and dips, but I ran out of time since the gym closed at 5:00. I was the last one there.
Squat - 255 lbs (PR)
Bench - 165 lbs FAIL 4/3/2
Deadlift - 315 lbs
Squats felt good. I need to get a video up to make sure I'm hitting depth. Most reps I know I'm hitting depth, but I might be going too deep. For one or two reps in each set I don't know if I'm hitting depth - but if the other ones are too deep, then these ones are fine. Form check coming your way this Sunday if I can manage to get a fucking USB cable for my phone.
Bench is shit. Slightly worse than last time, which was 4/3/3. I'm going to have to reset it, and do 2.5# jumps.
I took it easy on the deadlift. Technically I was scheduled to pull 335, but I knew I wouldn't get it based on the warmups. Actually, my plan was to do 330, then 335 on Sunday, and from then on I would deadlift once per week in the second of the three weekly workouts. But I realized today that there was a damn good chance my deadlift would stall if I tried 330, so I did a slight reset. It doesn't bother me at all: my deadlift is miles ahead of my squat.
Squat - 260 (PR)
Press - 125 FAIL 5/1/0
Chins - 4/4/4
Weight: 190 lbs
I'm starting to look a bit sloppy in terms of the amount of fat I have. Like, pretty sloppy. And it's getting warm outside. I'm cutting down to half GOMAD and will be more "carb-conscious" than I've been up until now, but I'll still be looking to take in almost as many dry calories as before. I might buy some protein powder and add it to my milk to make sure I'm getting adequate amounts of protein.
Squats were hard. I found it difficult to maintain tightness for the duration of the rep, so hopefully the belt that's in the mail right now will help me with this. I'm going to program in a light day, which will start on Sunday. It was my goal to not have to program a light day until I was squatting at least 275, but in order to meet this goal I'd have to make it through 3 more workouts before programming in a light day - and I don't think my squat will make it that far without stalling if I don't put the light day in now. I'm still going to film my squats on Sunday, but I'll only be doing 205 (80% of heavy squat days), so it won't be that important. But I'll also get videos of my bench press and deadlift up, which will be useful (even though my bench will be reset to 150 lbs).
Press was horrible. First set was essentially a 5RM, since in the second set I made 1 rep before I nearly passed out and had to rack the bar. I didn't attempt a third set. I'm resetting this to 110 lbs, will go up by 5 lbs until I hit either 120 or 125 (depending on whether I feel I can make it to 125 when that scheduled workout comes), and will start microloading from there.
As for chins, I should really have been more vigilant about doing them since I dropped the cleans. I've been able to do 4/4/4 reps since day 1, on the occasional time I've decided to do them. But I really need to be doing them consistently. They'll probably help improve my body composition, and they'll also make me feel less self-conscious about my excess body fat. After all, who cares about a few extra pounds if you can do 15 chin ups? Right?
Note: this was written yesterday, but I forgot to post it.
Squat - 260 lbs
Bench Press - 150x5x1, 145x5x2
Kill me.
Due to the unfortunate after effects of Saturday night, my recovery has been shit since Sunday. I postponed my workout until today and repeated my squat - and it's a good thing too, because I wouldn't have made 265. And I wouldn't have made 260 yesterday, probably. My left knee and left hamstring both hurt because my form wasn't perfect. On the plus side, I've permanently solved my problem with bar placement/grip. Yay.
Bench was terrible. I was supposed to reset to 150, but that set felt so hard I had to put the weight down to 145 for the next two sets to avoid stalling. Yeah. It's that bad.
On Friday I weighed in at 190 lbs. Now I'm weighing in at 188.5 lbs. I know that bodyweight fluctuates a few pounds, but I also know that that's not what's going on here. I lost 1.5 lbs in 4 days due to poor eating. Not good.
I was going to try to lean out at this bodyweight and gain weight slowly from this point on, but you know what? FUCK IT. I'm shooting for 200 lbs, starting now. I'm expecting to be 192 by next Thursday. This can and will be done. And if my squat stalls before I'm squatting over 300 lbs then so help me god I'll shave my testicles and use the trimmings as stuffing for a hackey sack. No homo.
And if my squat stalls before I'm squatting over 300 lbs then so help me god I'll shave my testicles and use the trimmings as stuffing for a hackey sack. No homo.
Can't back out now!
Squat - 205 (light day)
Press - 110
Deadlift - 325
Deadlift felt real nice. I'm expecting some good PR's on the squat and deadlift next week.
EDIT: Did deadlifts with left hand prone, right hand supinated. I've been alternating this every deadlift workout, but since I'm only deadlifting once a week I need to start recording this or I'll forget.
Squat - 265 lbs (PR)
Bench - 150 lbs
Chins - 4/3/2 (100% dead-hang)
After my first set of squats, a woman who was in the squat rack next to me said "those are Rippetoe squats. Are you involved with crossfit?" I was stunned that someone in my backwards little town in Canada had heard of Rip. Unfortunately, half an hour later she was training a bunch of crossfit women and talking about how she sometimes likes to use the smith machine to train squats because she doesn't have to worry about balancing the weight. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
I did my chins with a 100% dead-hang, which I wasn't doing before. Usually I would get a little push off from my calves to start the first rep, and I would get a stretch reflex out of the bottom for subsequent reps. This time I did them right, and they were SO much harder. I might have done something to my left tricep by trying to grind out reps...I felt a weird twinge on two of the sets. It's probably nothing, but I'm taking some ibuprofen just in case. Good workout overall.
Squat - 270 lbs (PR)
Press - 115
Chins - 4/4/3 100% deadhang
I got my belt today! It really helped with squats, they felt like much less of a struggle than normally. I think I might be going too low, or losing hamstring tightness at the bottom, because my left hamstring feels a little bit funny. I'm going to do my darndest to get a form check up this weekend, even though I've promised form checks about 5 times and haven't delivered yet. :D
Press was feeling surprisingly difficult. The old me would have ignored it and hoped for the best next workout; the new me is going to start microloading.
Forgot to add, bodyweight is now 191.5 lbs. I need to ask our resident nutrition expert about tweaking my diet because I'm really starting to get fat, but I'm going to wait until I've read through some of his other posts first. Or until he puts up a sticky.
Squat - 205 (light day)
Bench - 155
Deadlift - 335
I just realized as I was typing this that I squatted 205 lbs. I was supposed to do 215, which is ~80% of my normal squat workout. Oops. Fortunately the light day is just an active recovery grease-the-groove type of thing, so no harm done.
Bench was fine. Going to try for 160 next time, and then microload from there.
I tried out my belt for the first time on my deadlifts. I need to figure this out. The belt worked great for the first rep of my workset, but after I set the bar down the belt slipped and was almost useless. It helped at lockout, because when I'd stand up my stomach would fill the belt space again, but it was always loose at the start of the pull. I'm a bit too big to use the belt's third notch, but I'm a bit too small to use the second notch. I'm going to try breaking it in a bit more and see if that helps me get the third notch.
Right hand prone, left hand supine on deadlift.
Squat - 275 lbs (PR)
Press - 117.5 lbs
Chins - 4.5/4/3
Not the most fun workout, but definitely a productive one - and as we all know, fun and productivity are, more often than not, antipodes.
I weighed in at 191.5 lbs, exactly the same bodyweight as 4 days ago. I've been consuming ~3500 calories per day since then, trying to steer away from carbs when possible and only drinking 1/2 a gallon of milk. It is of course premature to draw any definitive conclusions from four days of eating like this, but I'm going to go ahead and claim that 3500 calories is my approximate maintenance level, give or take. Good to know.
The squats were hard, and more than a little sloppy for some reps. This is because I have been eating a caloric maintenance. I'm going to have to start eating more, again, or else I will fail my squats at 280 lbs. I'm really not happy with my bodyfat levels, but unfortunately my physical appearance is only second on my list of priorities. First is getting stronger. It looks like my physical appearance is going to have to take one for the team, at least for a couple of months.
By the time I finished my squat sets I was completely drained. Even my warmup set for the presses was difficult - not physically, per se, but mentally it was difficult to concentrate on moving the weight. And since the mind drives the body, this was an issue. I actually had to leave the gym and go across the street to buy a Red Bull so that I could finish my workout. This worked beautifully: I made it through all of my sets alive. In the end, this is all that matters.
This was also my first workout microloading. I used 1 lb ankle weights I bought at Wal Mart, along with an extra collar on each side of the barbell. The ankle weights plus the collars weighed in at a collective 2.75 lbs, which is close enough to the ideal 2.5 lbs I would want them to weigh. Therefore, I technically pressed 117.75 lbs, but this number is awkward and unmemorable. So, 117.5 it is.
Afterwards I tried chinning with the assistance of a belt. I made a thread about it. I'm not typing it out here. Go do your own dirty work you cock.
Squat - 280 lbs (PR)
Bench Press - 157.5 lbs
Chins - 4
Bicep Curls (GASP!!) - 60 lbs, 1x8, 1x7, 1x6
Squats were really hard because I haven't been eating enough for the past few days. I didn't prepare for Sunday by buying milk in advance, and the convenience store near me was sold out of it. So I starved that day, relatively speaking. I tried to make up for it yesterday, and I almost did I guess, with 4800 calories and only 1000 of those coming from milk. Barely good enough to get me through my squats. I had to buy another red bull for this workout. Actually, I was thinking that if I were a really strong guy that people actually cared about - say, an Olympic Weightlifter - I would drink a red bull during every workout and get paid a shit ton by the Red Bull company to advertise on TV that it was essential to my training. Selling out? Yeah, but in a harmless way. The best kind of selling out.
I was originally planning on benching 160 today, but based on my recovery I decided to play it safe and just start microloading now. It sucks, but in the long run a 2.5 lb difference doesn't mean shit.
I did bicep curls because I was really pissed off today for a number of reasons, and when I only got 4 reps for my chinups I got even more pissed off and decided to do curls instead. It was fun. And easy. Even the last reps or so of each set, which were grinders, were the easiest thing I had done in the gym since I started SS. Suffice it to say, I'm going to keep doing them. I'll probably microload them too, since I'll be bringing my 1 lb ankle weights to the gym anyways.
Anyways, after the workout I felt better, only to find minutes later that my wallet had been stolen (lesson learned: always put a lock on your gym locker). I spent two hours looking up and calling phone numbers to inactivate my cards, and I'm still not done. I've got to physically go in to the Ministry of Transportation and cancel my driver's license, and present two pieces of ID - only problem is that most of my ID pieces were in my wallet, so my brother is driving up right now with my birth certificate, passport and some cash. Shitty day.
GripAU
04-06-2010, 08:20 PM
Fuckers. Set up a sting and catch the mother fucker that rolled your shit.
Knees are feeling a little achy this morning, I think I let them cave in a bit on some of my squat reps. Need to make sure not to do this.
andrewotbc
04-08-2010, 07:58 AM
Does the gym have cameras in the changing rooms?
Well done on your squat progress after the reset. The stall counted for nothing once you'd reset it seems.
Does the gym have cameras in the changing rooms?
Well done on your squat progress after the reset. The stall counted for nothing once you'd reset it seems.
No cameras.
The stall was due to form issues that had been lingering for a while, and they really started to ruin my squats when I was doing 250 lbs. The reset let me fix these issues.
Squat - 225x5x2 (light)
Press - 120x5x3
No deadlifts
My gym closed early, so I didn't get a chance to deadlift. I need to figure out what to do about that. I made a thread about it. Please contribute:
http://www.startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=16200
Squat - 285 lbs (PR)
Bench - 160 (woe is me)
Chinups - 5
Bicep Curls - 70x5x2 (PR)
Some weighted decline situps
Bodyweight: 192.5 lbs (PR)
Yeah, that's right. Bicep curl PR, and proud of it. I remember in grade 11 when I started doing some weight training, and I was curling 15 lb dumbbells. I wished so badly that I could curl the 20 lb'ers (the "big boy weights"). Well, apparently I can now curl 35 lbs worth per arm, without having done any bicep curls (except for last week, but that was the first time and I didn't want to overdo it). I think it would be awesome to curl over 100 lbs. I'm going to work towards that, just for shits and giggles.
Squats weren't great. First set was okay; second set I lost tightness in my upper back, started losing my grip and barely finished the set. Third set was okay formwise, but was slow. Also, I've noticed the tendency for me to go on my toes at the beginning of the descent, which is throwing me off balance. I've got to make sure not to do that. Fortunately the heel on my lifting shoes makes it difficult to really throw all of your weight on your toes, otherwise I would have been fucked.
Benches were fine. Like with my squats, I lost upper back tightness during the second set and it was difficult. But my third set was my best of the three, since I was paying so much attention to staying tight.
I had more energy than usual since I missed my deadlifts this week, so I decided to throw in some weighted ab work. Nothing too heavy; it was my first time, and I didn't want to get hardcore DOMS, so I worked up to doing a set of 8 with a 35 lb dumbbell. I'll go heavier next time. Let's see how well these help my press.
Mr.City
04-12-2010, 09:29 PM
I'm curious to see how you do on the next deadlift day.
I'm curious to see how you do on the next deadlift day.
Whycome?
Mr.City
04-12-2010, 09:35 PM
Because my current deadlift situation has me baffled. You weigh about 40 lbs less than me and have a lesser squat (no offense, you're doing a great job on SS) , and so if you can recover from deadlifting every other week using the same weights and greater, it makes me feel like I need to reexamine my form and any external stressors. That being said, best of luck
I have been recovering from deadlifting once a week so far, and I'm not expecting them to stall for my workout tomorrow. In fact, I'm making a 15 lb jump to 350 since I'll have had an extra five days to recover and since my squat will be 10 lbs stronger than if I had deadlifted on Thursday.
I honestly have nothing useful to say about what's going on with your deadlifts, sorry man. I'm just as baffled as you are. Have you put a form check up recently?
Mr.City
04-12-2010, 09:50 PM
I soon will be.
Taking a day off of training today. I'm feeling shitty due to stress from exams/not eating enough (which itself is due to stress from exams). I hate pushing the date that I'll hit 3 plates on the squat back another day, but if I squat today I'm gonna get raped.
^^^^Check out the assonance in that line. If 50 cent rapped like that he wouldn't be such a tool.
Makeshift Chef
04-13-2010, 06:19 PM
Taking a day off of training today. I'm feeling shitty due to stress from exams/not eating enough (which itself is due to stress from exams). I hate pushing the date that I'll hit 3 plates on the squat back another day, but if I squat today I'm gonna get raped.
^^^^Check out the assonance in that line. If 50 cent rapped like that he wouldn't be such a tool.
But then he wouldn't actually be fiddy cent. :D Good luck with your exams!
Squat - 290x5, 285x4, 285x2, 225x5 backoff set
Press - 122.5x4
I fucking hate exams.
1) I'm too stressed to eat properly, so my squats and my press stalled.
2) The gym closes early during exam week, meaning I didn't get to finish my presses or do deadlifts.
Gay.
On the plus side, a guy at my gym came up to me and said "are you doing Starting Strength?" He did starting strength, and now he's doing 5/3/1. Cool. I didn't think anyone at my gym really knew what the fuck they were doing.
BUT, I did learn something about the benefits of having strength, and it's this: even when you're not strong, you're strong. My lifts failed today due to inadequate nutrition/rest, and there's a good chance they will get even shittier until my exams are over. However, even if this happens I will still be stronger than I was a month ago. I will still be "strong" (relatively speaking of course), even though I'm going through a "weak" phase.
Sgsolberg
04-14-2010, 09:25 PM
This is exactly how I've felt recently. Remember, iron is a lifelong pursuit and everyone's going to have good and bad periods.
Mr.City
04-14-2010, 09:28 PM
Squat - 290x5, 285x4, 285x2, 225x5 backoff set
Press - 122.5x4
I fucking hate exams.
1) I'm too stressed to eat properly, so my squats and my press stalled.
2) The gym closes early during exam week, meaning I didn't get to finish my presses or do deadlifts.
Gay.
On the plus side, a guy at my gym came up to me and said "are you doing Starting Strength?" He did starting strength, and now he's doing 5/3/1. Cool. I didn't think anyone at my gym really knew what the fuck they were doing.
I feel your pain, brother.
Remember...everyone's going to have good and bad periods.
But I don't WANNA.
Squat - 230 (light)
Bench - 162.5 (PR, kind of...it's the highest weight I've benched for the full 3 sets of 5)
Deadlift - 345 (PR)
I think something's up with my squats...I found it difficult to maintain proper form with these sets. Probably going to fail at 290 again next workout, and have to deload. Shitty.
Bench - first set was okay, second set I almost failed the fifth rep, and third set I was only half conscious by the end. In fact, I'm only about 90% sure I got 5 reps on the last set, and they weren't the prettiest things either. They count though. I did a back off set of 135x5 to make sure everything was okay, and also because I only did one set of presses last workout so I figured my pressing muscles could use some extra work. The set was fine, but I did get pretty lightheaded by the end. Low blood sugar or something? I dunno. Point is, my bench didn't stall.
Since my squat has been going up but I haven't been deadlifting, 345 was easy for my legs but hard for my upper back. My upper back rounded a pretty decent amount on the last two reps, but overall the deadlifts were fine. Except for the use of my belt. That really sucked. I'm going to make a thread about this, since I have the night off from studying for exams.
Sgsolberg
04-16-2010, 10:43 PM
What's the problem you are having with your squats (More details please)?
Losing tightness in the hole?
Knees coming in?
Losing Lumbar extension (Good Mornings)
Or is it that it's "so damn heavy"?
What's the problem you are having with your squats (More details please)?
Losing tightness in the hole?
Knees coming in?
Losing Lumbar extension (Good Mornings)
Or is it that it's "so damn heavy"?
Well, today it felt difficult to maintain my back angle, even though it was only with 80% of the weight my heavier sets. I think it's just a recovery issue, but it's probably going to result in a reset.
Squat - 290x3, 260x5x2
Press - 122.5x3x5
Chinups - 5.75/3/3
I stopped my first squat set at 3 reps because I knew I wouldn't be able to get any more (third rep was slooooooooow). This calls for a reset. I reset 10% for my last two sets, so I'm going to consider this my first workout of the reset.
Since my squat stalled, and since my press stalled last time, I was nervous it would stall again. Many people on linear progression switch to doing 5 sets of 3 for the press when it has stalled a few times and have success, so I decided to try that. It worked well, especially since I managed to tighten my belt to the fourth hole (which I didn't know I could do). In retrospect I probably would have gotten 3 sets of 5, but I'm going to stick with 5 sets of 3 from now on and see how things go. Just for shits and giggles.
I almost got 6 reps for chinups, but just barely couldn't make it. Next time.
Squat - 265x4, 245x5x 245x4 (WTF)
Bench - 165x5x3 (PR)
Deadlift - 355x4
I have no idea what the fuck is going on with my squats. Really. 265 was too heavy, and 245 still felt heavy. What. The. Fuck.
I'm happy that I finally got back up to the weight at which I stalled for the bench press. My form wasn't great though...I keep losing tightness. That's why my bench is so shitty in the first place. I've got the sneaking suspicion that my grip is too wide.
Deadlifts were starting to get ugly, so I stopped after rep 4. This is my first legitimate deadlift stall. Damnit, and I was so close to 365, which has been my deadlift goal from the beginning (and is the only goal I'm even close to achieving).
Mr.City
04-22-2010, 11:28 PM
Oh fuck, you've hit the wall with overtraining. I had the same issue when I was deadlifting 1-2 times a week. I noticed you skipped a power clean workout though.
Oh fuck, you've hit the wall with overtraining. I had the same issue when I was deadlifting 1-2 times a week. I noticed you skipped a power clean workout though.
Powercleans are for losers. I do chinups instead; you can tell 'cause my guns are HYOOOGE.
I dropped powercleans a while ago. Yes, I pussied out.
Mr.City
04-22-2010, 11:41 PM
Recovery's still an issue though. I would just do some warm sets for the next time you squat and leave it there. The time after that, try 265. As for the deadlift, I would, since I have learned to be conservative with my lifts, deload the deadlift and nip any possibility of overtraining the bud. This is your first deadlift stall after all, right?
Recovery's still an issue though. I would just do some warm sets for the next time you squat and leave it there. The time after that, try 265. As for the deadlift, I would, since I have learned to be conservative with my lifts, deload the deadlift and nip any possibility of overtraining the bud. This is your first deadlift stall after all, right?
For the squats I was thinking of deloading to 225 and working my way back up with 10 lb jumps for a while. Would you recommend doing what you said over this method?
Yes this is my first deadlift stall. My plan is to switch to rack pulls/halting DLs right away. I don't want to push my luck trying to continue linear progression with the deadlift, especially since it's proportionately stronger than the rest of my lifts. If I try to squeeze out the last drops of linear progression I'll have to deload, work back up and then try to make 5 lb jumps or something. At best my progress will have been a bit more efficient in a few months from now than if I switch to partial movements; at worst I'll waste a couple of months of training trying to elicit linear gains that just aren't there. After performing a thorough cost-benefit analysis, I'm switching to partials.
Mr.City
04-22-2010, 11:59 PM
The deload protocol I mentioned is in PPST2. It's worked well for me. I think your deadlift analysis is a good call. Partial movments for the DL start around 2xBW, which is yours is getting close to.
The deload protocol I mentioned is in PPST2. It's worked well for me. I think your deadlift analysis is a good call. Partial movments for the DL start around 2xBW, which is yours is getting close to.
Jeez, every time I hear about something else that's contained in PPST2 it makes me want to buy it that much more. I'll try the deload protocol you mentioned.
And thanks for all the support man. It means a lot.
Mr.City
04-23-2010, 12:10 AM
No problem. Just making sure people don't do what I did.
Squats - just the warmup, as City suggested. 45x5, 45x5, 95x5, 155x3, 205x2, 235x1
Press - 125x3x5
Chinups - 6/3/3
Press is now back up to where it stalled, but I'm not going to call it a PR because I changed the reps from 3x5 to 5x3.
Just read Wendler's 5/3/1. Awesome book. Of course, this means I have to wait a while before being able to buy Practical Programming. I'm making a list of training books I want to read (it's a short list so far). Included:
Practical Programming
Power to the People
The Strongest Shall Survive
That's as far as I've gotten. Does anyone have any other suggestions (assuming anyone reads my log)? I'm also interested in books that are not solely devoted to strength training, ones that cover conditioning as well.
Squat - 225x5x3
Bench - 167.5x5x3
Ab work - 3x8 with 35 lbs added
Sgsolberg
04-27-2010, 10:09 PM
Book for you: Never Let Go by Dan John.
LeonidasfromSparta
04-28-2010, 02:13 AM
Book for you: Never Let Go by Dan John.
I've heard about this book too, and maybe I'll buy it. As for other books PVC, I would suggest: Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training by El Hewie, nice book.
Book for you: Never Let Go by Dan John.
I would suggest: Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training by El Hewie, nice book.
Thanks guys, I'll look into them.
Squat - 240x5x3
Press - 127.5x3x5
Kroc Rows - 50x20, 55x13
Made a 15 lb jump in my squats, will be making a 10 lb jump next workout. Didn't feel great. Did my squats feel this hard when I was progressing linearly to these weights? Probably. Probably felt harder. I guess it's that I keep expecting these weights to feel easy, and they don't. Burnout sucks.
Presses were a real grind. I just found out that one of the bars in my gym weighs 35-40 lbs (guy didn't know exactly), and I might have used that bar for my last press workout. That would mean I only did 115 - 120 lbs. I guess it doesn't matter anyways, as long as I legitimately made 127.5 today.
I could have just done deadlifts with a lighter weight, but I don't want to interfere with my squat's recovery, so I did Kroc rows instead. They're surprisingly hard, and I'm not using nearly as much weight as the guy in the video. I'll have to do these more often.
LeonidasfromSparta
04-30-2010, 03:23 AM
Thanks guys, I'll look into them.
Squat - 240x5x3
Press - 127.5x3x5
Kroc Rows - 50x20, 55x13
Made a 15 lb jump in my squats, will be making a 10 lb jump next workout. Didn't feel great. Did my squats feel this hard when I was progressing linearly to these weights? Probably. Probably felt harder. I guess it's that I keep expecting these weights to feel easy, and they don't. Burnout sucks.
Presses were a real grind. I just found out that one of the bars in my gym weighs 35-40 lbs (guy didn't know exactly), and I might have used that bar for my last press workout. That would mean I only did 115 - 120 lbs. I guess it doesn't matter anyways, as long as I legitimately made 127.5 today.
I could have just done deadlifts with a lighter weight, but I don't want to interfere with my squat's recovery, so I did Kroc rows instead. They're surprisingly hard, and I'm not using nearly as much weight as the guy in the video. I'll have to do these more often.
15 lb jump on squats? You are not a complete novice anymore my friend, so don't fuck with this. It's important to keep up constantly and smoothly. I have a lower squat than yours, and yet I keep on adding 10 lbs, not more. And be careful with the bars, because you could have stuck at the press, only because of switching the bars. Try not to change bars.
GET BIG BUDDY!
ColoWayno
04-30-2010, 04:29 AM
Hey PVC... I've embraced my brush with burnout on my second stint at linear progression... I'm switching to 5-3-1 next week.
It actually didn't occur to me that this would happen as I still think of myself as a novice, but hell, I'm 47 and have been doing this for 2 years (a good part of the second year I was even doing TM). WTH was I thinking?
Still, it was great to make some good gains in a short period of time. I think I might have stopped just short of burnout on my squats and deadlifts, but presses are shot to hell now.
Curious to see what you are going to do.
Curious to see what you are going to do.
I'm switching to 5/3/1 as well. People on these forums will get mad at me for not taking full advantage of my linear gains, but I want to enjoy my summer. I want to be outdoors, I want to run/bike and do a few cardio-based activities, and I don't want to deal with the emotional rollercoaster on SS of the progress-reset cycle. I'm going to stick with nice slow progress on 5/3/1 for a while, and when winter hits again I'll switch to the Texas Method for faster and more focused progress.
Today's workout:
Squat - 250x5x3
Bench - fail, I did two reps with 170 and knew I would fail and burn myself out if I attempted to make a full set of five, so I aborted.
Deadlift - 325x5
Dips - 1x8, 1x4 - never done these before, they were interesting. I didn't feel like much of the work was being done by my chest though.
I'm going to be tested maxes this week and next week.
Dastardly
05-02-2010, 06:47 PM
Just read Wendler's 5/3/1. Awesome book. Of course, this means I have to wait a while before being able to buy Practical Programming. I'm making a list of training books I want to read (it's a short list so far). Included:
Practical Programming
Power to the People
The Strongest Shall Survive
That's as far as I've gotten. Does anyone have any other suggestions (assuming anyone reads my log)? I'm also interested in books that are not solely devoted to strength training, ones that cover conditioning as well.
The strongest shall survive is kind of superseded by starting strength. Its only really interesting as a historical relic really, if you have the information in starting strength and some of the intermediate programming ideas in practical programming.
The exercise descriptions are not as detailed. Its got a fair bit on diet & nutrition though, but its mostly stuff you probably know already (for us internet age kids).
StrongIslander,NY
05-02-2010, 08:04 PM
Just read Wendler's 5/3/1. Awesome book. Of course, this means I have to wait a while before being able to buy Practical Programming. I'm making a list of training books I want to read (it's a short list so far). Included:
Practical Programming
Power to the People
The Strongest Shall Survive
That's as far as I've gotten. Does anyone have any other suggestions (assuming anyone reads my log)? I'm also interested in books that are not solely devoted to strength training, ones that cover conditioning as well.
you can try dinosaur training by brooks kubick and beyond body building and power to the ppl professional both by pavel
The strongest shall survive is kind of superseded by starting strength. Its only really interesting as a historical relic really, if you have the information in starting strength and some of the intermediate programming ideas in practical programming.
The exercise descriptions are not as detailed. Its got a fair bit on diet & nutrition though, but its mostly stuff you probably know already (for us internet age kids).
Good to know, thanks.
you can try dinosaur training by brooks kubick and beyond body building and power to the ppl professional both by pavel
I'll look into Beyond Bodybuilding. I've heard bad things about Dinosaur Training - namely that the author doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about.
Squat - 260x5x3
Press - 120x6 RM
Predicted 1RM for the press based on Wendler's formula: 145 lbs
Number that will be used to determine my workouts = 0.9x145 = 130 lbs
I'm officially switching to 5/3/1. This will allow me to do some hard conditioning work while still getting stronger and not fatter in the process. If you have any problems with me pussying out of linear progression early, you can suck it.
I'll be testing my lifts this week, starting with the press today. I got way too nervous for this and almost completely lost control of the bar on the first rep. This was so precarious I'm surprised I got a second rep, not to mention six of them.
Schedule for the week:
Thursday - Squat 270x5x3, Bench RM test with 160 lbs (expecting to get 6 or 7), Deadlift RM test with 325 lbs (expecting to get 6 or 7)
Sunday - Squat RM test with 275 lbs (expecting to get 6)
Monday - Start of 5/3/1, Press workout
Tuesday - Deadlift
Wednesday - conditioning
Thursday - Bench Press
Friday - Squat
Saturday - conditioning
Sunday - Rest
Based on the difficulty of the squats today, 270 on Thursday might be a stretch. Or it might not be. Going to find out though.
Bad mood. Want to lift. Excited to start 5/3/1 since I will be lifting 4 days per week, and doing hill sprints 2 days per week.
That is all.
Mr.City
05-05-2010, 07:24 PM
Good luck on 5/3/1. Which variation are you going with?
I'm kind of doing the triumvirate, except I'm limiting myself to only one assistance exercise for the squat and deadlift days since I'm going to be doing hill sprints and I want to make sure my legs can recover. My plan:
Monday - Press, chins, dips
Tuesday - Deadlift, good mornings
Thursday - Bench press, dumbbell bench press, kroc rows
Friday - Squat, ab roller wheel
Press and Bench Press assistance work are identical to the triumvirate example in the book. I might add leg presses to my squat day if my legs are feeling up to it after a couple of weeks.
Squat - 265x5x3
Press - 85x5, 95x5, 110x8
Chinups - 6,4,2
Dips - 7,4,2
Change of plans. Due to my schedule, the only days I can train 100% of the time are Sunday through Wednesday. Thursday I have guitar lessons after work and I don't have time to hit the gym unless I miss dinner (and there's no way I can lift heavy weights after a missed dinner); Friday and Saturday I will sometimes be able to train but I will also sometimes be out of town and unable to do so. So I'm going to do a 3 day per week schedule, training on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. I'll do conditioning work twice a week, wherever it makes sense during that given week.
Squats were quite hard. Turns out I lost some weight, which explains it. I'll do 270 on Wednesday, and I won't test my RM. I'm not testing my RM for the bench and deadlifts either. Assuming I get the 270x5x3 for squats on wednesday, I know the following things:
- I can bench 160x6, at least. Probably 160x7.
- I can deadlift 325x6, at least. Probably 325x7.
- I can squat 270x6, at least. Maybe 270x7.
So I'm just going to assume the worst and use 160x6, 325x6, and 270x6 as my rep maxes. That means my "functional" 1RMs for 5/3/1 (i.e. the ones my workset calculations will be based on) are:
Press: 130
Deadlift: 350
Bench: 170
Squat: 290
It's probably better to be conservative with this kind of thing anyways. Even though the weights I'm lifting will be lighter, I can still rep them out as much as possible, which calculates to a similar 1RM anyways.
Edit: Fuck it. I'm starting a new log.
Deadlift - 225x5, 260x5, 295x8
I planned this transition poorly. The squats from yesterday took their toll a bit on today's workout...I definitely would have been able to get a clean 9 reps, maybe even 10, if I weren't worn out from the squats. No assistance exercises today, since I'm going to be squatting again on Wednesday.
Squat - 270x6
Bench - 110x5, 125x5, 145x9
DB Bench Press - 35x10, 45x10, 45x8
Kroc Rows - 65x14
Ate more yesterday and today, and the squats and bench were easy. I hit my predicted squat max, so 5/3/1 will go ahead as planned.
/log
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