Magnetotail's training log

[Magnetotail]

Thought it might be helpful to keep a log here, making it easier to get feedback when things start stalling again. Plus, it's a good reference for me to look back at.

I started training about 2 years ago, doing typical bodypart split things, stuff that was giving me some progress, but nowhere near the progress I could have been making. Did one of Joe DeFranco's Westside programs for a while, made some decent gains on that. Then finally got round to properly doing Starting Strength around November 2009. I've come a long way since I started, I was initially around 66kg at 6 feet tall, very very skinny. Numbers from my last two workouts are as follows:

Age: 20
Height: 183cm
Current BW: 88.4kg

3x5 Squat: 155kg
3x5 Bench Press: 97.5kg
3x5 Press: 57.5kg
1x5 Deadlift: 180kg
3x5 Chin Ups: BW + 16kg


I did cleans for a while, reaching 3 reps at 90kg, but never felt confident in my form. I was wasting more time nailing down form on an exercise I didn't enjoy than I felt was worth it, so I just dropped them. Maybe one day I'll come back to them.

Eating is my downfall, in that I'm the fussiest eater I know - I just don't really like food. Not very helpful in trying to lift heavier and heavier weights, but I've managed to gain over 20kg since I started so it's not all bad. I manage about 4500-5000 calories on a very good day, nearer to 3500 on an average day. This is the reason my body weight has started to stall, though my progress in the gym hasn't (yet). I'd be nowhere without GOMAD.

Next session is tomorrow.

[Magnetotail]

Overhead Press:
3x5 - 58.75kg

Chin Ups:
3x5 - BW +16kg

Weighted Sit Ups:
3x6 - 24kg


Started squats, was just going to be a medium/light day at 120kg for maybe 2 sets of 5. Felt a pain in the right side of my groin through all my warm up sets so decided to skip it all together, to save making the pain any worse when I come to squatting heavy on Friday.

Press wasn't easy, but it didn't look like failing, will be nice to finally be doing 60kg next time. Tried wearing my belt for the first set, didn't really feel a huge difference so left it off for the next two.

Chins were fine, last rep of the last set was a bit of a slow one, but should be good to keep moving up on this until at least past 20kg, fingers crossed.

Not stalling today was nice, and a bit of a surprise given I'd been pretty ill over the weekend and had barely eaten anything on Saturday. I think milk kept me going, though I had lost a little bit of weight.

Overall I felt fine, but I think I should have reduced the frequency of my deadlift earlier given it kind of wore me out last week doing it monday and friday. Will give it a rest this week and come back to it next week, hopefully Friday's squat will be unaffected.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 87.4kg

Bench Press
5,3,3 - 98.75kg

Deadlift
1 x 200kg
1 x 210kg


Skipped squatting again for a similar reason to last session, should be back to normal next week.

Bench press I didn't even expect to make the first set, so to at least get 5 reps out once I was happy enough with. Illness over the weekend is finally showing through with a kilo loss in weight and the lack of progression on the bench.

Wasn't planning on doing deadlift until next week initially, but wanted to show myself I was making some good progress overall so decided to try 200 for the first time just for one rep. Knew I wouldn't have the energy to move my planned weight (185) 5 times, but thought I could manage 1 rep at a heavier weight. 200 went up fairly well, well enough for me think I was able to put on another 10kg. 210 was tough, but I reckon there is still more in me, perhaps towards 220kg and upwards for 1 rep. Was good to know I can lift over 200kg, since I'd never tried it before.

[Magnetotail]

Squat
5,2 - 160kg

Overhead Press
3x5 - 60kg

Chin Ups
3x5 - BW +18kg


Squats felt really, really heavy. The pain in the right side of my groin was there on the last warm up set and then hurt a lot after my first working set. The set was pretty solid, but I didn't want to make the problem any worse. Did 2 reps on the second set, felt very heavy but not unbeatable, could probably have finished the set but decided to stop because of the groin problem. Not sure where to go from here with squats, might just try this again next week and see if the pain has gone by then.

I was really happy to finally hit 60 for my working sets on the press. It's not super heavy for most, but it's taken me a while to get here as my pressing isn't particularly strong. Felt tough, but I think there's a good way to go on this with the help of microloading.

Chins were hard work, last rep of the third set took about 7 seconds to push through. Not sure how much heavier this was than monday's sets because I reckon I'm a bit lighter than then again.

Recovery this week has been a nightmare, I've not been eating anywhere near enough. Had to travel between houses from one side of london to the other, really not ideal, but I'm back in my own house for good now. Need to really try and catch up over the weekend.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 86.9kg

Bench Press:
5,4 - 100kg

Chin Ups:
5,5,4 - BW +20kg

Absolutely battered from football yesterday and staying up for the Superbowl (I'm in the UK). So overall just unsuccessful today. Will start eating seriously again and pick it up on Wednesday.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 86.7kg

Overhead Press:
3x5 - 61.25kg

Deadlift
1x4 - 190kg

Overhead press was tough, as usual, but it moved well enough. It's so much more fun than the bench press, and I think progressing in this is really helping me on the bench.

Deadlift felt really fucking heavy, and I apparently looked like I was about to burst. I was halfway up on the 5th rep, but just couldn't lock it out. Felt good to do reps at this weight though. I'll give this another go next week and hopefully should see out 5 reps.

Overall felt good today, managed to get rid of a cold yesterday within about 24 hours thanks to vitamin c, eccinacea and Vicks First Defence - not sure which worked but something did, even if just as a placebo. Weight still dropping due to familiar problems with eating, but I feel my strength is still progressing, need to get back on track though!

[DustyMillar]

Hi Mingenotail, got to tell you unless you have a great desire to be heavy I'd be happy, you're shifting good numbers for a guy @ 86.7kg what's your fat% ?

[Magnetotail]

Hi Mingenotail, got to tell you unless you have a great desire to be heavy I'd be happy, you're shifting good numbers for a guy @ 86.7kg what's your fat% ?

Thanks, I'm not really sure what body fat percentage I am. I don't have callipers or anything, and I would never trust scales to tell me as they appear very inaccurate. If I were to guess, I would say around 12%, though I'm really not sure.

I'd like to get closer to 100kg and start shifting some really heavy weights, I just hate food so it's kind of difficult!

[Magnetotail]

Bench Press:
1x4 - 100kg
6,7 - 90kg

Chin Ups:
1x5 - BW +20kg
10,5 - BW


Just a poor day all round. Cold kicking in, felt bad with a sore throat. Not eaten anywhere near enough. Will take a step back and have a serious look at my diet and how to improve my appetite. Groin still sore for squatting so putting off bringing that back into the picture.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 87.5kg

Squat:
1x5 - 120kg

Press:
5,5,4 - 62.5kg

Deadlift:
1x3 - 190kg

Did the first set of lights squats and felt the same pain I've been having. Not really sure what to do about this.

Press should have been completed, but I put 20kg plates on and I hit the ceiling ruining my final set. So I'll move up next time and make sure I use the smaller plates.

I wasn't planning on deadlifting, but for some reason when I get in the gym I feel like I can completely ignore the entirely rational decision I'd already made. I will not be deadlifting until a week wednesday, regardless of any urges I get.

Overall, I felt better today. Got back a kilo in bodyweight after eating pretty solidly over the weekend. Still battling off this niggling cold, but I'll keep eating and give 100kg another go on the bench on wednesday and hope to get back to well over 88kg bodyweight by next week.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 88.3kg

Bench Press:
5,4 - 100kg
2x6 - 90kg

Just kind of messed around today cause I still feel pretty rough. I really miss squatting, I'm hoping to be able to go light friday and monday and then be good to start heavy again wednesday. Would quite happily have not gone today, but felt like doing something.

Eating is much better, hopefully get my bodyweight up over 90kg for the first time soon, and my recovery should be much better from then. I'll reset to 92.5kg on the bench and hopefully with the better recovery I should push past 100kg when I get back to it.

[Magnetotail]

Squats:
3x5 - 110kg

Press:
1x4 - 63.75kg
5,5 - 55kg

Power Clean:
5x3 - 70kg

Squats still hurt, even with such a light weight. I'm just gonna push through it though I think, cause my workouts feel so empty without squats. I'll squat heavy-ish on monday, maybe 140kg, and go from there with my new plan.

I thought I might miss the press, but not in the first set. My form was all over the place, so I'm going to start over at 55kg, adding 2.5kg a time and hopefullly push past this in a couple of weeks. I'm blaming all my recent failings on illness/poor eating resulting in awful recovery. Not things are getting back on track as this cold fades away and I'm starting to eat more again I think I should be good to progress some more with linear progression after taking a step back in a few of my lifts.

Decided to start power cleans again, cause they are quite fun. Need to properly read the chapter in SS again and get my technique down. 70kg was very easy weight wise, just wanted to get a feel for cleans again.

Overall, despite recent setbacks I feel like I'm in a good place to move forward again. Going to drop the bench to 92.5, press to 55, squat to 140 and move up from there hopefully with good recovery. I'll squat heavy 3 times a fortnight at 3x5 and deadlift once a fortnight, as follows:

Week 1:

Monday: Squat, Bench, Clean
Wednesday: Light Squat, Press, Weighted Chin Ups
Friday: Squat, Bench, Clean

Week 2:

Monday: Very light squats, Press, Deadlift
Wednesday: Squat, Bench, Weighted Chin Ups
Friday: Light Squat, Press, Clean

Usual sets/reps of 3x5, 5x3 or 1x5 for the appropriate exercise.

[Magnetotail]

Squat:
3x5 - 150kg

Bench Press:
3x5 - 92.5kg

Clean:
5x3 - 75kg


Groin hurt after the squat a bit, but I think it's ok to push through the pain, it feels like it's slowly going away so I'm just going to work through it as planned. This felt like really hard work today, probably because it's been a while since I've squatted heavy.

Bench was harder than it should have been, but recovery should have been better recently so I'll just get on with it for now. I think this may also have felt harder because I hadn't done heavy squats for a while and I was just exhausted after those. Probably wasn't used to that feeling recently.

On cleans I have such a hard time brushing my thighs with the bar. This weight is still relatively light for me but it's such a difficult movement to critique yourself on because it's goes way too fast for me to think about how I'm doing every little step. I'll keep going up and keep working at it.

Overall a tough day, even with some resets, first time in a while I've done a full workout but it felt good.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 88.5kg

Overhead Press:
3x5 - 60kg

Chin Ups:
5,5,4 - BW +20kg

[Magnetotail]

Squat:
1x3 - 160kg

Bench Press:
3,3,3,3,2 - 100kg

Started cleaning but the pain in my elbow was horrendous. Still rehabbing damaged radial nerves in my arms from about a year ago, and some stuff in the gym gives it problems - ie. cleans and chin ups. Will be cutting out cleans until this problem appears to have fully resolved.

Didn't feel great on the squat. I could have made the last rep on the bench but my spotter took it too early.

[Magnetotail]

Bodyweight: 88.2kg

Deadlift:
3,1 - 200kg

Press:
3,3,3,2,4 - 65kg

No idea how my bodyweight stayed above 88kg after having just 2 big meals over the weekend and a fraction of my usual milk intake.

I was very happy to pull 200 for 3 reps, but my breathing was horrendous. I found it really difficult to get a decent full breath before pulling. I couldn't tell if it was the belt or the cough I've had for about 3 years that happens to be worse at the minute. For this reason I didn't even try after the first rep of my planned second set of 3, I just wasn't feeling it.

I've moved to 5 sets of 3 on the pressing movements. I much prefer it cause I feel like even if the first set is really hard I can still push out more sets of 3 after. Failed the 3rd rep on my 4th set, though I still felt like I had it in me. This made me re-evaluate my grip width, as it felt too close. I noticed my elbows weren't perpendicular to the floor half way up the rep so I moved the grip out a few inches. Felt way, way stronger and managed 4 reps just to show myself that technique had held me back and not my strength at that weight.

[Magnetotail]

Bench Press:
3,3,3,3,2 - 102.5kg

Chin Ups:
10,8,6 - BW