Yet another skinny guy

[Contrail]

I'm a novice, about 2 weeks into Starting Strength now. Actually, I'm doing more like Kethnaabs program (dips added to the deadlift day and chins/pullups added to the powerclean day). I'm a 23-year old skinny guy, 6'2", 167 lbs. My cheapo BIA scale says I'm 10.5-11% bodyfat, and the mirror says I'm 0% muscle. We're gonna fix that.

Goals: Get bodyweight to 185, squat at least my bodyweight, be able to do 3x15 dips/pulls/chins. I also want to regain the flexibility I used to have ~5 years ago.

My most recent workouts:

Tuesday:
Squat 3x5x105 lbs
Bench 3x5x85 lbs
Deadlift 2x5x132 lbs
Dips 5/4/4 reps

Thursday:
Squat 3x5x115 lbs
Press 3x5x55 lbs
Powerclean 5x3x85 lbs
Pullups 2/0/0 reps (I've done better than this before, but I felt like crap on thursday for some reason)


I'm an experienced cyclist (2 centuries under my belt), and ran track back in high school (did the 400m, 300m hurdles, and high jump), but have never lifted weights seriously. I'm absolutely having a blast so far, but we'll see how that changes when they start getting heavy.

[Contrail]

Squat 3x5x125 - lost my balance and failed mid-3rd set, so I wrote off that set and did a 4th set to count as my 3rd.
Bench 3x5x95
Deadlift 1x5x154
Dips 6/6/4

Squat and bench are both pretty heavy now - I'll do 5 lbs increase on both instead of 10.

[Contrail]

Another day, another 4 PRs:

Squat 3x5x130 lbs
Press 3x5x60 lbs
Power clean 5x3x90 lbs
Chinups 5/5/2 sets

No problems. Bar speed on squat is still low, but this was easier than 125 lbs 2 days ago.

[Contrail]

I didn't notice when I did it, but I must have strained my right knee doing squat yesterday (probably didn't keep my knees out far enough). If I try to air squat, right about when I get to parallel, my knee joint hurts and I can't put weight on it. I suspect I won't be squatting tomorrow, but hopefully will be by sunday.

Maybe this is just a necessary evil of joints getting stronger? I don't want to have to back down on my squat weight.

[Locutus]

Maybe this is just a necessary evil of joints getting stronger? I don't want to have to back down on my squat weight.

It could be knees out, but it could also be the squishy gym shoes. How does barefoot feel? Also, how does it feel with a hefty dose (up to 800mg) of ibuprofen?

For penance you should watch a bunch of videos in the Rippetoe forum.

$45 squat shoes at http://www.vsathletics.com/product.php?xProd=1823 but the available sizes are quickly disappearing.

[Contrail]

Couldn't squat
Bench - 3x5x100 lbs
Deadlift - 1x5x165 lbs
Dips - 5/5/4

[Locutus]

Couldn't squat


I hope you're icing it..

[Contrail]

I iced it some on tuesday, but I don't think it did much. I can't spend much time with my leg propped up smothered in a bag of ice at work. I've done a few doses of advil to help any inflammation, but taking it doesn't affect the pain to the point where I'd want to put weight on it.

It's nothing to do with a muscle, it feels like I mashed the lateral meniscus of my right knee (like the figure on p.48 of starting strength). In fact, I can feel that the pain is localized to the outside half of the knee joint when I squat down.

Based on the improvement over two nights, I'll probably be fine to squat (maybe not a PR progression, but significant weight) by sunday.

[Contrail]

Also, I'm thinking of getting some minimalist cross-training shoes, like Puma H-street or Nike Free, that would have a much firmer heel for lifting, but still be versatile so I could run/jump/play/do backflips* without changing shoes. What size are your VS shoes? If they're 11.5-12.5 I could try them, but I at least want to inspect them up close to see what the heel is like.

* no, I can't really do backflips without a diving board.

[Locutus]

My VS are only a 9.0. People who don't use squat shoes seem to like sambas and chuck taylors, both of which are cheap.

Squat shoes would still be better, though.

[Contrail]

Sunday 9/28/08 - I'm giving more detail on my warmup procedures, cause I'm bored and like typing. Or something.

1/2 mi jog
Stretches, static: toe touch, sideways lunge, seated butterfly, seated knee-to-chest
Stetches, dynamic: shoulder dislocations, leg kicks

Squat: Going into this workout, I was unsure how I'd do, as I had joint pain in my right knee and hip. At one point during my warmups, I started getting it in my left hip too, and then all pain went away. I think my squat form was at times better than ever today.
Bodyweight 5x10
44 lbs 2x5
65 lbs 1x5
85 lbs 1x3
105 lbs 1x2
125 lbs 3x5 - 130 was my pree-knee-trouble PR, so I'll try that again on Tuesday and hopefully go for 135 on Thursday.

Press
44 lbs 1x5
55 lbs 1x3
65 lbs 3x5 - last rep of last set was very slow, I might have cheated with a little bit of a back arch

Power clean: no problems
44 lbs 1x3
65 lbs 1x3
85 lbs 1x3
95 lbs 5x3

Pullups: 3/3/2 - I had hoped to get more here, but they feel a lot harder for me than chinups.

Abs: a new exercise for me. I added this because I feel my back getting a lot stronger from squat/deadlift, but my abs in front are only barely getting worked by overhead press, which is not much weight, cause my arms are twigs. Anyway, I did situps on the glute/ham setup, going from parallel to the ground to past vertical. For adding weight, I held a curl bar across my front shoulders.
Bodyweight 1x15
20 lbs 2x10 - planned to do a third set, but decided I didn't need it

[Contrail]

Tuesday 9/30/08

Squat - Couldn't do it. I hate my knee. I'm going to be conservative about what I try to do with it and just let it heal.

Bench press
105 lbs - 5/3/3 sets (1st failure)

Deadlift
176 lbs 1x5, no problem

Dips
5/0/0 too unmotivated and pissed off at my knee to continue

I haven't been able to get much sleep since Sunday's workout, so I still felt a little weak in general, and my abs were quite sore, so I'm dropping the abs from the workout for now, and I'll add them back in cautiously later.

I still haven't gained any weight or changed my body composition (within margin of error) since starting SS. I'm gonna up the milk.

[Locutus]

If you can do GHRs, back extensions, or the reverse hyper without pain those could be good to still hit your hams. Also, I wonder how massive doses of ibuprofen would affect the loading abilities. I think Mark actually recommends 5-7 days of 800mg four times a day for weird inflammation injuries.

I bet the bench press trouble was partly mental and partly rushed warmup. If you need to you can use smaller jumps via 0.5 and 0.25kg plates, too.

[Contrail]

Thursday 10-2-08

Squat: didn't do

Press: 70 lbs, 5/5/4 (1st failure at this weight) - I think my form is bad. In particular, grip too narrow. My hands are touching my shoulders in the rack position (like just my index finger overlapping my shoulder). I'll try a wider grip in the future.

Power cleans: 100 lbs 5x3, no problem

Pull ups: 6/5/4

[Contrail]

Friday 10-3-08: Donated blood. Perhaps not a SS-friendly activity, but I did it anyway. On that day, however, I set a Milk PR, at about 3/4 gallon (2%).

My knee feels pretty good, I'm planning to get back to squatting on Sunday!

[Contrail]

Sunday 10/5/08

Squats - nope. Argh.

Bench - 105 lbs 3x5, PR!

Deadlift - 187 lbs 1x5, PR!

Dips - 6/6/5 reps, PR!

Not much trouble on any of it.

[Contrail]

I WILL squat tomorrow. Any more waiting and I'll probably turn into [more of] a pussy.

Any suggestions how much I should deload from my previous PR after taking time off from the exercise?

[Locutus]

I'd just do the 125 again.

[Contrail]

I just got home and put away a stuffed-to-spillage burrito full of delicious fried stuff, tomatoes, onions, guacamole, cheese, hot sauce, etc. Then there was still food in my possession, so I had a few handfuls of nuts and a quarter of a honeydew. Did I mention the liter of milk?

My 5'5" 170 lbs (zero muscle) roommate had a root beer and two granola bars (ie Quaker chewy sugar bars) for dinner.

[Tuesday]

Just noticed your training log and you kind of remind me of me when I was younger. I was a competitive cyclist around when I was in college and for some time after. At my leanest I was 6'0" and 145, probably 6% bf. Right now I weigh about 100 lbs more than I did then with 15% bf, and I am far stronger than I ever thought I'd be.

Your knee is worrying and so is the way you're treating it -- trying to bypass treatment and recovery. That's a good way to ensure your problem becomes a long term issue.

You say you can deadlift and power clean fine, but if you squat below parallel, the pain gets so bad you can't put weight on the leg and that the pain is on the outside of the knee, right? You also say you're getting some associated hip pain with the knee pain when you squat, but at no other time, right? If your form is good, it sounds like it could be an iliotibial band issue.

First, because they aggravate your knee, accept that you're going to take some time off heavy squats, deads, and power cleans (yup, you're an upper-body-only guy for at least a week. Seated press (a sub for standing press), bench press, chins, and dips should be your only heavy lifts for a while). The stretching also probably hurts you more than it helps.

Then try a vicious massage on the vastus lateralis (the outermost quadriceps muscle) and surrounding muscles, particularly around the origin near the hip and insertion near the knee. Use your knuckles, a stout dowel, or a hard ball (or get your girlfriend or roommate to do it to you, if you think they might like to hurt you) and do your level best to leave bruises. It will hurt a lot when you do it, but it should loosen things up in your hip and knee. For a few days do this as often as you can tolerate it.

Some more ibuprofen would probably help, too. That's 4x200mg with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as before bed for a total of 16 tablets or 3200mg/day, not "a couple tablets."

As soon as you're able (i.e. you can air squat with weight on your knee, even if it still hurts a little) do the Starr rehab protocol with squats as detailed in the sticky from Mark's forum:
http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=700
After you've done that, add deads and cleans back in and work your way back up to your earlier weights.

However, if after a week of high-dose IB, RICE, and vicious massages your knee doesn't feel good enough to do the Starr rehab protocol, go see an MD. There's a good chance you really fucked something up in there and may need more substantial treatment.

Oh, and the Nike Frees / Puma H-Streets / Chuckies / Adidas Sambas are fine for mixed-mode CrossFit workouts, but if you lift heavy, like you do with the program you're on, you want weightlifting shoes:
http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/sportivny/library/farticles015.html

[Contrail]

Thanks for all the comments and advice, Tuesday.


As soon as you're able (i.e. you can air squat with weight on your knee, even if it still hurts a little) do the Starr rehab protocol with squats as detailed in the sticky from Mark's forum:
http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=700
After you've done that, add deads and cleans back in and work your way back up to your earlier weights.

I already can do this. In addition, when I do so, the knee starts warming up and any remaining shred of pain goes away fully. I think this means I'm ready do start with the Starr method, so unless that sounds like a bad idea to you, I'll do 2 sets of 25 reps with the empty bar today and ice it right after the workout.

Whatever the hip pain was that day, it was pretty minor, and I wouldn't say it was "associated" with the knee pain. In fact, I might not even call it pain, more like stiffness or that feeling you get when you know a joint is about to pop. In any case, it hasn't come back since then, over a week ago.


Oh, and the Nike Frees / Puma H-Streets / Chuckies / Adidas Sambas are fine for mixed-mode CrossFit workouts, but if you lift heavy, like you do with the program you're on, you want weightlifting shoes:
http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/sportivny/library/farticles015.html

Point taken. I guess I can part with the money if I know I'll get something that fits, so I'll look for an online store with a good exchange policy. There's nowhere here to try them on before buying.

[Locutus]

However, if after a week of high-dose IB, RICE, and vicious massages your knee doesn't feel good enough to do the Starr rehab protocol, go see an MD. There's a good chance you really fucked something up in there and may need more substantial treatment.

I was under the impression that the starr rehab protocol was for muscle belly injuries, which this doesn't sound like. The Starr protocol also states to do *no* other exercises, so are you saying he should be upper body only for however long, and then squats only? I'm not sure I agree with your prescription here.

I think another problem is that he hasn't tried ibuprofen much at all, especially not the high 800mg doses multiple times a day. (Unless he has, feel free to correct me Contrail). He should make some progress with the vicious massage via this crazy foam roller he recently bought.

[Contrail]

Tuesday 10-7-08

Squat: 125 lbs 3x5 - no problems. Locutus will probably be in here later to comment on how good my form was *wink wink nudge nudge*. I just felt like I could do it without issue, so I did. I feel great now, and i'm icing it.

Press: 70 lbs 3x5 PR! no problems

Power Clean: 105 lbs 5x3 PR! no problems

Pullups: 5/3/3 sets PR! no problems

[Locutus]

Squat: 125 lbs 3x5 - no problems. Locutus will probably be in here later to comment on how good my form was *wink wink nudge nudge*. I just felt like I could do it without issue, so I did. I feel great now, and i'm icing it.

lol, yes. Your form was very good, you've correctly figured the knees out cue. I think you also went shoeless? For squat shoes, VS has shoes in the $70-100 range, and I think at this point in time they all have the reduced 3.3cm heels (I e-mailed them about a month ago to check this. The heels USED to be 4.2cm, way too huge).

You may want to consider getting some very loose knee wraps (like neoprene or something) to keep your knees warm and prevent future trouble.

Now just don't injure yourself in your flag football games...

[Contrail]

I just discovered this spreadsheet (http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/WLSTANDARDS.pdf) and compared it to my lifts, rounding bodyweight down to 165 (from ~168):

Squat: Untrained and 20% of the way to Novice
Press: almost Untrained
Bench Press: almost Untrained
Deadlift: Untrained and 25% of the way to Novice
Power Clean: Untrained and 38% of the way to Novice

The document doesn't state whether it's talking about 1RMs or what, so I'm comparing it to the rep ranges I'm using for SS. If I used my 1RMs, I'd be at least untrained in everything and have "the minimum level of strength necessary to maintain a reasonable quality of life in a sedentary individual." Hehe.

So, in conclusion, my upper body is weaker than my lower body, which I already knew, and is to be expected based on the sports I've done.

In other news, I haven't been able to get much sleep the past 2 nights, so I still have some moderate DOMS and am not looking forward to today's lifts. Knee feels great though.

[PowerTricks]

no, I can't really do backflips without a diving board.

http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/t_backflip

Well pretty soon you can with this tutorial ;)

[Contrail]

http://www.trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/t_backflip

Well pretty soon you can with this tutorial ;)

Haha, pretty cool.

Thursday 10-9-08: I went into this workout with a bit of trepidation (sore, tired, etc), then unexpectedly dominated.

Squat 130 lbs 3x5 - piece of cake

Bench Press 110 lbs 3x5 - piece of cake, PR!

Deadlift 198 lbs 1x5 - piece of cake, PR!

Dips 8/6/5 sets - holy crap I'm the man, PR!

I'm traveling this weekend and might have to miss my Sunday workout. We'll see. Lifting with my dad would be fun, if we can find a place to do it :)

[Locutus]

Thursday 10-9-08: I went into this workout with a bit of trepidation (sore, tired, etc), then unexpectedly dominated.

Yeah, lifting can get rid of that sick feeling. You just don't know until you touch the bar.

One thing, the Kethnaab version uses 2 sets for the dips. Or you could just drop 'em.

[Contrail]

Had to miss 1 workout due to travel.

Tuesday 10-14-2008

Squat 135 lbs, 3x5, no problems, PR!

Press 75 lbs, 5/3/2 sets, first failure at this weight

Power Clean 110 lbs, 5x3, no problems, PR!

Chin-ups 6/4/1 sets, didn't have much left grip-wise after those cleans.

Feeling good, working on my nutrition more. I have to pack ridiculous quantities of food to bring to work in the morning.

[Contrail]

Thursday 10-16-08

Squat 140 lbs 3x5 - no problems, but form deteriorated a bit on the third set, PR!

Bench Press 115 lbs 5/4/3 reps - first failure at this weight

Deadlift 209 lbs 1x5 - this was pretty heavy but felt good, and it's the first time in my life I have lifted an object over 200 pounds! therefore, PR!

Dips 6/5/4 sets

I ate like a fiend too, and bodyweight was up a bit this (friday) morning, about 169.5.

[Contrail]

Sunday 10-19-08

Squat 145 lbs 3x5, no problems, but it's pretty heavy, PR!

Press 75 lbs, 5/4/5 sets, 2nd failure at this weight. I really have no idea what happened to my 2nd set, but my 3rd set was accomplished with massive aggression and explosiveness. Should be no problem next time.

Power Clean 115 lbs, 5x3, no problems, loving it, PR!

Pullups 6/5/3 sets, PR! but I might have kipped a little more than usual

[Contrail]

Tuesday 10-21-08

Squat 150 lbs 3x5 - no problems, actually felt lighter than 145 last time, PR!

Bench 115 lbs 3x5 - pretty tough, but I got it. PR!

Deadlift 220 lbs 1x5 - piece of cake, PR!

Dips 8/7/6 reps. I could have easily done 9, maybe 10 on the first set, but I stopped after 8 because I figured that would make my 2nd and 3rd sets higher, and I feel like roughly even sets across are probably best for increasing reps in the long term. Anyway, PR!

My first 4-PR day since before my knee trouble, and that makes me feel good. I'll relish this while it lasts.

[Locutus]

Bench 115 lbs 3x5 - pretty tough, but I got it. PR!

Judging by the bar speed, I'd classify this as "a piece of cake," too. ;)

[Contrail]

Thursday 10-23-08

Squat 155 lbs 3x5. No comment - not terribly hard, but no piece of cake either. PR!

Press 75 lbs 3x5. Piece of cake, except for the very last rep. PR!

Power Clean 121 lbs 5x3 (yay, kg plates). Finally no longer a piece of cake. The 3rd rep of my 1st and 2nd sets, I didn't quite jump far enough, and had to muscle the bar up the last few inches into the rack position. In later sets, I caught a couple off balance and had to take a small adjustment step forward or backwards after the jump. Is the forward/backward adjusting normal? Overall it still felt good - it felt like the weight was finally making me perfect my form on this exercise. In any case, PR!

[b]Chin ups - 6/6/4 sets. PR! but just barely so. I was trying to make it 3x6 sets across. The methodology that I like for dips/chins/pullups is to not technically do each set to failure, but to decide before each set how many I'm going to attempt to do (and make the decision ambitious enough such that if I pull it off, it'll be a PR).

I've had a little nagging pain in my right hip joint the last few days, and it made squats and power cleans a bit harder psychologically. I think the pain is simply the joint getting stronger, it doesn't affect ROM or speed or anything and I can just ignore it. It didn't get worse as a result of the workout.

[Contrail]

Saturday 10/25/08:

Scale says bodyweight is 170.0 this morning (and it says 11.8% bodyfat, but it's so variable on that thing, I don't trust it at all). This is the first time I've measured myself at 170+ upon waking, before eating or drinking anything, so that's a milestone of sorts.

Hmm, so what did it? I ate ice cream last night for the first time in months. :D

[Contrail]

Sunday 10-26-08

Squat 160 lbs 3x5, PR!

Bench 120 lbs 4/4/2 reps, first failure at this weight

Deadlift 231 lbs 1x5, PR!

Dips 8/8/6 reps, PR! (barely)

I wasn't psychologically there today, which resulted in things like a phantom set of 0 reps between 2nd and 3rd squat work sets, and not being able to do my last warmup of deadlift, yet going on to nail the work set.

[Contrail]

Tuesday 10-28-08

Squat 165 lbs, 5/5/5 - these felt moderately heavy, form seemed fine, bar speed was slow on only the very last rep. Next time: BODYWEIGHT SQUATS!! PR!

Press 80 lbs, 5/5/5 - holy victory, batman. I really didn't expect to get these on the first try after needing 3 tries at 75 lbs. If Locutus were there, he'd probably say these looked like a "piece of cake" for me too. PR!

Power Clean 126.5 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3 - didn't miss any reps, but some got ugly...
first 2 sets: piece of cake, good form
third set: form was crap, I kept getting one side higher than the other on the jump, toppling backwards, etc
fourth set: pretty good form
fifth set: pretty good form too, but I was getting tired and not quite dropping my body far enough.
Anyways: PR!

Pullups 4/4/2 reps - yikes, ouch, I don't know what happened to me on these. I was going to attempt for 6/5/5 which would have been a PR by a margin of 2 reps. Instead, disgrace :(. Oh well, not every day can be the best day.

[Locutus]

I really didn't expect to get these on the first try after needing 3 tries at 75 lbs.

Don't forget that the 0.25 and 0.5kg plates will soon be your friend. It's much preferred to get all 15 reps instead of trudging through three workouts and almost stalling.

GJ though!

[Contrail]

Thursday 10-30-08

Squat 170 lbs - 5/5/5. Quite hard, but enjoyable. PR!

Bench Press 120 lbs - 5/3/4. I probably rested longer before my 3rd set than before my 2nd. 2nd failure at this weight

Deadlift 242 lbs - 3/2. Aiming for 1x5, I had to stop after my 3rd rep and re-chalk (45 second break at the most). After doing so, I could feel my back rounding some on the 4th and 5th reps. I might start doing work set with mixed grip. PR!

Dips - 7/8/7. I have no idea why the first set was so hard, but 2nd and 3rd sets felt as expected. A tie with previous PR for total reps in 3 sets.

Friday morning bodyweight: 171.3 lbs! PR!...heh. Although, this means I need 1 more workout to technically squat my bodyweight.

[Contrail]

Sunday 11-2-08

Squat 175 lbs, 5/5/4 - my first legitimate "I'm just not strong enough" failure on squats. Form was fine, and I'm excited about tackling these again on tuesday.

Press 85 lbs, 3/2/2 - not good. 2.5lb microloading is knocking on my door. I started using a wider grip on these, which makes them feel better, like I'm getting the weight farther behind my head.

Power Clean 133 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3 - awesome. PR!

Chin-ups 6/5/2 - strict form. I'm going to stay 100% strict on pulls/chins from now on, and work towards 6/6/6 of each.

[Contrail]

Tuesday 11-4-08

Vote 1 rep. Same as previous PR.

Squat 175 lbs - 5/5/5. Booyah. PR! This meets one of the goals I set for myself when I started this log, so:

NEW GOAL: Squat 225 for 5/5/5

Bench Press 120 lbs - 5/5/5, piece of cake, PR!

Deadlift 253 lbs, 4+1 (very short break). Wow, this was really hard. I'll make sure have someone watch and tell me how much I'm rounding my back next time I deadlift. PR!

Dips - 8/8/8, yay for sets across! Now I get to start trying for 9/9/9. PR!

I just now realized that this was a 4-PR day!

[Contrail]

Thursday 11-6-08
This was a really terrible day. Nutrition and sleep have sucked this week, due to work. Today I didn't get to spend any time on a bicycle, and every day that happens, I'm sad.

Squat 180 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake. PR! and that's where the good news ends

Press 85 lbs, 4/3/0. 5 lb increases on this are definately over. Something's up with my shoulders too: my shoulder mobility is in general terrible, but they're especially tight lately, and kinda sore.

Power Clean 133 lbs, 1/2/2/quit. I repeated this weight, because I don't think the bar I used last time for it is really a 20kg bar, even though it says it is, so it probably wasn't really 133 lbs on sunday. I just couldn't make them rack today.

Pull ups Didn't even try.

I'm thinking of taking an entire week or so off from all lifting, to let my joints catch up on recovery. I'm definately going to work on shoulder flexibility more.

[Locutus]

I think there are a couple deloads listed on the starting strength wikia.. I'd suggest that rather than not lifting at all.

[Contrail]

Good call. I re-read all of the stalling/resetting/deloading stuff in the FAQ and this is what I think I'm going to do:

1. Keep squats the way they are, I think they're going well

2. Reset my press and deadlift down by about 10% and reduce the increases on those to 2.5 lbs and 2.5 kgs, respectively.

3. Keep my current bench press weight, but do a 2.5 lb jump next and see how easy that is.

4. Keep power clean how it is, and hope today was just a fluke.

5. Shoulder dislocations: 5 sets of 10 a day, no excuses. Is this the best thing to do to gain overall shoulder mobility?

As an indication of just how badly my shoulders suck, I can't do shoulder dislocations with a broomstick/PVC at all. I can do them with a rope (because it allows the wrists to rotate), but to keep my elbows locked out, the rope just barely clears the top of my head. I can't do an overhead squat whatsoever - it just seems physically impossible.

[Locutus]

Those are all decent ideas. I'd hold out for maybe a workout or two more ... because ONE bad day doesn't mean much.

You can also do something like holding the weights constant for a week, and only doing a single top set.. or reducing reps. Lots of ways to deload.

(Also, I'm guilty of taking ibuprofen before basically every workout. Don't take it besides that, but .. seems to help.)

[Locutus]

For the shoulder dislocations, yeah, that pretty much seems like the best thing you can do (besides overhead squats with a broomstick). You don't NEED to go all the way down to the other side to get a good stretch, so don't stress about it.

... Lastly, what made you decide that spinny/short bar wasn't 20kg?

[Contrail]

... Lastly, what made you decide that spinny/short bar wasn't 20kg?

I picked it up in one hand and picked up a regular bar in the other hand. The difference was minor, but real.

[kaisermetal]

holy shit you are squatting like 20lbs more than me on squat and without any form troubles?? hahaha i quit :)

maybe if we bet who can get first to 300 on the deadlift??

you should do shoulder dislocations everyday, before starting SS i was with rotator cuff injuries and a lot of pain in my shoulder, it really helped me get my mobility back, you should get the inside out dvd too, it has lots of dynamics stretches to help with your shoulder.

i always do inside out and magnificent mobility warm-ups before my workouts, and if I who had lots of pain everywhere to have none can do it, everybody can do it.

[Contrail]

Squats are crazy for me. Every time it's 5 lbs heavier, but overall, it doesn't actually feel harder to lift. I'm absolutely in love with squatting. The only part that gets harder is getting that weight all onto one leg (well, mostly) to be able to step back out of the rack before each set.

I allowed my form to sort of develop and personalize. I squat with a pretty narrow stance, compared to most guys with long legs like mine, but I point my toes WAY out (like 45 degrees). That was the cue I finally needed to be able to keep my knees out throughout the ROM.

And I'm adding a new goal to my list:

NEW GOAL: Be able to do overhead squats with excellent form, at any weight.

And for posterity's sake, all of my current goals:

1. Squat 225 for 3x5
2. Bodyweight > 185
3. Be able to do 3x15 strict pullups or chinups (long-term goal)
4. Do proper overhead squats

[kaisermetal]

i tried once to do some overhead squats and they aren't difficult as they look...

[Contrail]

Well, I haven't figured it out. I can't seem to bend my hips very far while keeping my arms overhead. Some combination of calf/core/shoulder flexibility is missing.

This gives me something to do on my off days, besides wishing it weren't an off day!

[kaisermetal]

have you ever watched the magnificent mobility dvd from eric cressey??? it helped me a lot with better mobility and warm-ups it made me go back to bench press in no time.

i know how you feel, at the end of the week i get so happy and depressed at the same time, because i'll have more time do rest and more time to wait to set foot on the gym again.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 11-9-08

Squat 185 lbs, 5/5/5, not so bad. PR!

Bench Press 122.7 lbs, 5/5/4. First failure at this weight. I had fun, though.

Deadlift 231 lbs, 3/2, like 30 seconds rest/rechalk. Does this still count as a set of 5? I focused on keeping my back arched like crazy (kinda like this (http://www.independentcritics.com/images/entrapment%20SPLASH.jpg) :D), which worked well.

Dips 9/8/7... same total reps as PR from last time, but shuffled around.

Now it's time to EAT.

[Locutus]

You shouldn't really need to rechalk during a set. I would personally not even let go of the bar. Maybe it's time for alternate grip on the top set.

Trying to "overdo" the arch might actually work well for you since your upper back has that hunchiness. If your lower back *actually* looked like that, you'd be hyperextending (which most people aren't capable of near the bottom).

And, at some point you will actually make better progress by doing the deadlifts once per week or less.

[Contrail]

But at least that picture is pretty hot, right? :cool:

I think getting more chalk is just an excuse for me to be able to step away from the bar, re-set my feet, and re-psych myself for the rest of the reps. I'll try not to be a pussy in the future.

[kaisermetal]

where is that picture from? :cool:

[Contrail]

From the movie Entrapment (it's Catherine Zeta Jones' rear)

Tuesday 11-11-08
Morning bodyweight: 172.8... PR! hehe

Squat 190 lbs, 5/4/5. I didn't think I could do the 5th rep on the 2nd set, so I didn't attempt it, but I did attempt it on the third set, and lo and behold, the weight came up. I'm not gonna re-do 190 just because of that. PR, kinda

Press 75 lbs, 5/5/5. I expected this to feel quite light, but it was actually surprisingly heavy.

After my first set of presses, The Law came on by and made me put my shoes back on. After maybe 30 workouts in this gym, this is the first time that's happened. If it happens again, I'll give in and get some flatter shoes to lift in.

Power Clean 133 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3. Fairly okay. I caught a couple reps low here and there, but nothing to worry about. Squishy shoes made my landings scary, though. PR (for full-size Oly bar)

Chin ups - 5/5/3 sets, strict, dead-hang, full elbow extension to chin-over-bar. I think this is a tie with my previous non-kipping PR. Felt good. I look forward to hopefully getting 5/5/5 of these next time.

I think Dips might be messing up my shoulders a little bit, causing them to feel sore going into overhead presses. Maybe I'll drop them (or just reduce sets), but I don't want to drop pullups, because those are the only "pulling" work I do, SS doesn't include any, really.

[Contrail]

Ooh, this is tempting:

The "Onus Wunsler" beginner program, from SS:
Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
1x5 Deadlift / 5x3 Power Cleans (Alternating)

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
3x10 or 5x10 Back Extensions (unweighted if progressing to GHR, weighted if not)
Chin-Ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

I think my version of that would be for the third exercise to rotate between the 3: Deadlift, Power Clean, Pull/chinups. That keeps each of those to a frequency of once/week, and it mixes things up by not always pairing the same press with the same pull from the floor (would that be good or bad?). Any comments?

One more question for the peanut gallery: warmup sets for pullups: assisted pullups? jumping pullups? cable pulldowns? or just don't bother?

[Locutus]

O
I think my version of that would be for the third exercise to rotate between the 3: Deadlift, Power Clean, Pull/chinups. That keeps each of those to a frequency of once/week, and it mixes things up by not always pairing the same press with the same pull from the floor (would that be good or bad?). Any comments?

One more question for the peanut gallery: warmup sets for pullups: assisted pullups? jumping pullups? cable pulldowns? or just don't bother?

Yeah, sounds like a plan, and you still get the PCs/deads once a week. Why not do them intermediate style: Power Clean 6x3, Chinsxwhatevs, Deadlift 1x5.

Probably doesn't matter for pullup warmup. I tried some REALLY light lat pulldowns the other day for like ten reps, which seemed to work just fine.

[Contrail]

Thursday, 11-13-08

I took a few steps backwards the past few days by not getting enough food and sleep. Sometimes I hate my job.

Squat 195 lbs, 4/4/2

Bench press 125 lbs, 4/2/2

Because of my switch from 4 exercises to 3 exercises, I wasn't sure what pulling work to do: I'll be doing deadlifts in my next session, and did both pullups and powercleans in my last session. Combined with the horrible recovery, I decided to just do this:

Power clean - warmup sets only

Morning bodyweight had been 172.8 for a few days, but dropped to 170.4 this morning (friday) after catching back up with 12+ hours of sleep.

[K.Diesel]

For bodyweight pullup/chinup, personal preference is assisted pullups (machine or band). If unavailable, then pulldowns.

[Contrail]

ROFL: I started a fitday journal, only to get this hilarious error message:


Your goal weight is greater than your starting weight.

[Locutus]

I'm pretty sure that mini-bar is still 20kg, and that reason the bars feel different is just due to the shorter length. I used a normal-size Oly Bar yesterday, and it wasn't really any harder than the crazy short bar.

[Contrail]

Let's sneak it into the locker room and use the scale?

[Locutus]

Let's sneak it into the locker room and use the scale?

totally.

[Contrail]

Sunday 11-16-08

Squat 195 lbs - 5/4/3. 2nd attempt at this weight. Lovably hard.

Press 77.2 lbs - 5/5/5. Pretty easy

Deadlift 242 lbs - 5. Pretty hard, did it with very strict attention to back extension.

[Contrail]

Tuesday 11-18-08

Squat 195 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! Every rep was a battle.

Bench 125 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! Piece of cake, nice bar speed.

Pullups 5/5/1. Just dunno why I couldn't hack the 3rd set.

[Contrail]

Thursday 11-20-08

Squat 200 lbs! The big two-zero-zero! 5/5/3. Nothing in particular wrong, the weight simply defeated me. First try at this weight.

Press 80 lbs, 5/5/5. Ties previous PR. 14 fast reps, 1 pretty slow. I still hate this lift, but I'm excited that it's going to be heading into PR territory again.

Power clean 138.5 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3. PR! I managed to get under these, but they weren't pretty.

Morning bodyweight for the last few days: 173.6, 174.2, 173.8, 173.8. But my BIA scale can't decide if I'm 12% or 16% fat.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 11-23-08

Squat 200 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! That was hard.

Bench 130 lbs, 4/5/1. I narrowed my grip a bit for the 2nd set, which made it feel a lot smoother and helped me get that last rep. I dunno what happened on the third set, I simply had nothing left in the tank.

Deadlift 253 lbs, 0 reps. I got it like 1" off the ground. This is somewhat worrying, because I *did* this weight before.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 11-25-08

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/1. Last rep of 1st set REALLY SLOW. 2nd set fine. 2nd rep of third set came out of the bounce, went up a bit... went up slower... stopped... went back down. Hello, safety pins. First try at this weight.

Press 82.2 lbs, 5/5/4. Fifth rep of 3rd set was really bad, complete with excessive back arching, side-to-side wiggling, triceps shuddering. So even though it went up, I'm not going to count that as a successful 5/5/5. First try at this weight.

Chinups 5/5/5. Piece of cake, somehow. PR! (for strict dead-hang). I did warmup sets for chins for the first time: seated lat pulldowns, using the chinup grip, at increasing loads and decreasing reps, from 40 to about 150 lbs, just like warming up any other exercise. I used a neat trick which I think helped a lot with the mind-muscle connection for pullups: I closed my eyes during the work sets. This way I could better envision myself pulling the bar down, rather than myself up. Either my chinups got a lot stronger since last week, or this really helped. Now to repeat the 5/5/5 with the pullup grip next week!

[Contrail]

Friday 11-28-08 (would have been yesterday, but gym closed for thanksgiving)

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! A few of those reps were rather sketchy though.

Bench 130 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! "Piece of cake."

Power Clean 143 lbs, 1/3/2/3/1. First try at this weight. Form was actually pretty good, I was hitting the 2nd pull hard, they just didn't all go up. There was definitely a guy deadlifting a massive 121 lbs on the other platform, grunting and straining like he was giving birth. Kinda distracting.

[kaisermetal]

wow i'm officialy your fan now :cool:

100lbs jump on squats with good form, someday i'll achieve that too

:rolleyes:

[Contrail]

Oops, typo :p

Sunday, 11-30-08

Roll snowball, 3 sets, ~4/3/2 minutes
Snowman midsection deadlift, 1 rep
Snowman head powerclean, 1 rep

First snowman of the year: priceless

Monday, 12-1-08

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/0. I decided to re-do 205 lbs because some of my reps really shouldn't count. I've gone past the weight that I can lift with decent form, and I ought to reset my squat.

Press 82.2 lbs, 5/5/5 PR! These felt fine.

Deadlift 253 lbs, 5 reps. First 3 double-overhand, then switched to mixed grip for the last 2, but I did it all as a continuous set. Back rounded a little bit on the 5th rep, but nothing too severe.

I'm going out of town and will only have access to a hotel "fitness room." Until sunday. I'm praying for a pullup bar. We'll see what kinds of workouts I can squeeze in there. When I get back, I'm resetting my squat by 10% and repeating the last weights I did this week for the presses and pulls, and we'll see how things go from there.

[kaisermetal]

BW squats, pushups and pullups from the door.

you can always adapt and have fun with those variations.

Hell i remember when i went travel with my friends that i would pack everything i could on my bags and start deadlifting it

[Contrail]

The only workout I managed to squeeze in while away was a 6 minute cindy on wednesday, doing the pullups kipping on some parallel handles attached to a weight machine. I finished the third round right about at 6:00 exactly.

The limiting factor was quite clearly the pullups. After getting all 5, I'd blow through the pushups and squats without any trouble at all, only to finish them and grimace at the fact that I had to do more pullups now.

Today (saturday 12-6-08): 5k Run, 24:05 on indoor track

[Contrail]

Sunday, 12-7-08

Squat - 180 lbs, 5/5/5

Bench - 130 lbs, 5/5/5

Power Clean - 143 lbs, 3/3/2/3/1. 2nd try at this weight.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 12-9-08

Squat 185 lbs, 5/5/5, good form, good bar speed

Press 85 lbs, 5/5/3. First try at this weight since I failed at it, reset a bit, and microloaded.

Pullups 5/5/5 using super-secret eyes-closed trick. PR!

I need to eat more, morning bodyweight is hovering 175-176. Drinking more than a half gallon of milk in a day makes me pretty sick, though. My sister gradually developed lactose intolerance when she was about my age.

[kaisermetal]

what do you mean by closed-eyes secret trick?

[Contrail]

It's a secret!

[Contrail]

Thursday 12-11-08

Squat 190 lbs, 5/5/5. Good bar speed, okay form.

Bench 132.2 lbs, 5/5/5. Fair bar speed. PR!. Onwards to benching plates

Deadlift 258.5 lbs, 3 reps. On the 2nd rep, I felt a sharp pain in my abs, right about where my appendix used to be. On the 3rd rep it got worse, so I stopped (I could have finished). 1st try at this weight.

I'll start icing it tonight when I get home. Perhaps this is a sign that I should either be wearing a belt, or adding some ab assistance exercise?

[Locutus]

Yeah, a belt might be warranted. Sounds like that area could be prone to herniation from the surgery? Ab exercises are always warranted (I just never do them myself, heh)

[Contrail]

I seriously doubt the surgery would have anything to do with injuring myself now, 10+ years later. I think it might have been nothing, I haven't felt any more pain in my abs whatsoever since deadlifting, even with doing situps yesterday:

Friday, 12-12-08

Living Room Cindy - Max rounds in 10 minutes of:
5 pushups
10 situps (unanchored, crossed arms, from shoulder blades on carpet to elbows past knees)
20 air squats

I finished 4 squats short of 6 rounds.

Ice Skating - 90 leisurely minutes. This was HARD! I'm not kidding. My hip flexor type muscles felt trashed, and my lower back even started to get fatigued.

Saturday morning bodyweight: 177.8 (PR!)

[Locutus]

Ice Skating - 90 leisurely minutes. This was HARD! I'm not kidding. My hip flexor type muscles felt trashed, and my lower back even started to get fatigued.

Hehe. Ice skating always made my feet tired in weird ways.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 11-14-08

Morning bodyweight: 178.4 lbs, PR!

Squat 195 lbs, 5/5/5. Not so bad, but form did deteriorate a little.

Press 85 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! pretty hard though

Power Clean 143 lbs, 3/2/3/3/3. We'll call that a success and a PR! and try a 2.5kg jump next week.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 12-16-08

Morning bodyweight: 180.6 lbs (BIA: 14.9% BF) - whoa, a 2.2 lb bodyweight increase in 1 day? What the hell did I eat?

Squat 200 lbs, 5/5/5. No problems. Form and bar speed were quite good on the first 2 sets and a little worse on the third.

Bench 135 lbs, 5/5/5. Piece of cake, PR!

Chins 6/6/5. PR!

Wednesday morning bodyweight: 180.0 lbs (BIA: 13.5% BF) - maybe I was just retaining water weight on Tuesday or something.

In any case, my bodyweight is finally going up steadily, and I think that's really helping my lifts. I really surprised myself with how easy that bench press was. And my press-ganged spotters were like "wtf did you drag me over here for?"

[Contrail]

Thursday, 12-18-08

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/5. not that great, but okay

Press 87.2 lbs, 5/5/4. first try at this weight

Deadlift 258.5 lbs, 5 reps. PR! All double-overhand, bam-bam-bam-bam-bam, piece of cake. Maintained nice back arch and everything.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 12-21-08

My regular gym is closed for the next 3 weeks, so I'm at a different one, which is a little worse in equipment selection. I can't do power cleans safely at this gym, so I'm substituting something else with similar intent and entertaining variety.

Squat 210 lbs, 5/5/5 - piece of cake. Maybe my depth wasn't quite there, or maybe I'm just magically strong as hell. PR!

Bench 137.5 lbs, 5/5/5 - also a piece of cake! Awesome! PR!

Tabata C2 Row Actually not tabata, it was 30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest, with the damper adjustment set to 128. In 5 intervals, I rowed a total of 750m. My biceps, abs, and upper back were on fire afterwards.

I figured rowing was a good substitute for power cleans, it's a power-generation movement that you do with the posterior chain, so why not. I'd never really used a rowing machine, so I wanted to try it too. I may do the same next week, or maybe I'll do wallball throws or something else.

[Locutus]

Why not chins/deads/chins?

[Contrail]

Cause there's also no straight pullup bar at CRCE, and that pisses me off. These 3 chin workouts are going to have to be parallel handle chins.

[Contrail]

Those bastards closed the gym at 4pm today "due to the weather." Bullshit. It's the winter in Illinois, there will be ice on the ground, and the world doesn't stop turning just because there is. They closed the gym early because they're already closed for the next 2 days, and they wanted to go home.

[Locutus]

wow, that's some bull. oh well, guess you're stuck resting until ?? (could start anew on Friday?)

[Contrail]

My current plan is to try to go mooch a 1-day trial or guest pass at gold's gym tomorrow, which is open part of the day.

If this plan works, then tuesday's WO will happen on wednesday and thursday's on friday, no big deal. Hopefully it won't cost me any money either.

[Contrail]

Well, that was an adventure.

Wednesday, 12-24-08

Bike ride 5 miles, 34 degrees, raining steadily, slushy mess on roads

"Fit"ness center day pass $10

Squat 215 lbs, 5/3/5. Kept my shoes on for these. About half of the completed reps turned into serious goodmornings. On the failed 9th rep, I forced myself to stay very strict about "Chest Up," and had to set the bar down after it wasn't moving upwards any more. First try at this weight.

Press I wanted to do 87.5 lbs, but they didn't have any micro plates. So I did 90 lbs, 5/5/5. Whoa. PR! I'm not 100% sure I was strict with keeping my knees locked, so I'll repeat this weight.

Miscellaneous-ups 6/5/6 reps, PR! I did each set on a different pair of handles, moving around the place to try to find good ones. I didn't.

Bike ride back home 5 miles, 36 degrees, not raining anymore, yay

Fried chicken: priceless

[K.Diesel]

Too bad about your gym closing. It could be worse. You could live in Baltimore where schools and other places have actually closed over the threat of snow/ice, with nothing actually on the ground.

Good lifting and way to improvise.

[Contrail]

Friday, 12-26-08

Morning bodyweight: 181.8 lbs, 2 days in a row. PR, I think. Onwards to 185!

Squat 215 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! A few goodmorning-ish reps, but good enough for government work.

Bench 140 lbs, 5/5/4. No surprises, first try at this weight.

Deadlift 265 lbs, 4 reps. Felt that same minor twinge in my abs as a few weeks ago. First try at this weight.

[Contrail]

Holy moly! Saturday morning bodyweight: 184.0 lbs (BIA = 14.9% BF)

[LCN]

I like following your blog a lot but I'm a little confused by your exact workout scheme.

Is it this:

A
---
squat
bench/press
deadlift/powerclean

B
--
squat
bench/press
pull-ups/chin-ups

?

[Contrail]

Not quite, it's:

1st exercise is squat
2nd exercise is bench/press alternating
3rd exercise is power clean on sunday, pullups/chinups alternating on tuesday, deadlift on thursday

So I do power cleans, some sort of chin, and deadlift each 1x per week.

Except right now it's a little messed up, because I can't do powercleans safely at my interim gym, and some workouts are getting moved by a day due to closures for weather, christmas, and new year's.

Oh, and thanks for being a fan!

[Contrail]

Sunday 12-28-08

Morning BW: 182.2, 14.1% BF

Squat 220 lbs, 5/5/5, PR! About 4 of those reps were pretty sketchy and a couple might've been cut high, so I'll do 222.5 before moving on to the big 2-plates.

Press 90 lbs, 5/5/4. 2nd try at this weight

Pullups Narrow parallel-bar grip. 6/6/6. PR!

L-tuck 3x20seconds. I wanted to do L-sits, but couldn't get my legs up and straight. I'm doing this to help my abs out a bit for deadlifts.

Bad gym pun: there are all these signs that say "Please clean after use" on various machines, but I didn't see a single person doing cleans after using them.

[LCN]

Not quite, it's:

1st exercise is squat
2nd exercise is bench/press alternating
3rd exercise is power clean on sunday, pullups/chinups alternating on tuesday, deadlift on thursday

So I do power cleans, some sort of chin, and deadlift each 1x per week.

Except right now it's a little messed up, because I can't do powercleans safely at my interim gym, and some workouts are getting moved by a day due to closures for weather, christmas, and new year's.

Oh, and thanks for being a fan!


That model seems pretty appealing, I might switch over to it. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate power cleans into my routine without making my DL frequency too low.

Did you just come up with that yourself? The one I posted is the "Wichita Falls routine" from the SS wikia.

[Contrail]

Well, I just read this paragraph from the wiki:


Which Version Should I do?

This largely depends on how often you'd like to powerclean, deadlift and do pull-ups. If you want to deadlift and powerclean 1-3x/week and pull-ups aren't a priority (you'll get to add them eventually) do The Original Starting Strength Program. If you'd like to Deadlift, powerclean and do pull-ups about equally, do The Onus Wunsler Beginner Program. If you don't ever want to do powercleans and you only want to deadlift 1x/week, but you'd like to do pull-ups 2x/week do The Practical Programming Novice Program. You will gain extraordinary amounts of strength on any one of these fine programs.

And I thought, gee, I like power cleans, pull/chinups, and deadlifts all - but none of the programs had all three of those with at least once per week frequency, so I improvised.

[Contrail]

Tuesday 12-30-08

Squat 222.5 lbs, 5/5/5 PR! Onwards to 2 plates in 2009

Bench 140 lbs, 5/5/5 PR! yay

Deadlift 265 lbs, 2 reps. I definately hurt my abs on this one, in that same spot as before. I can conclusively say that it has nothing to do with my appendectomy scar, it's in a very different place. I'll ice it and start with the starr rehab... although, does this mean I have to stop squatting for a while? Grrr

Barbell Curls 45 lbs, 8/8/8. I feel dirty.

[kaisermetal]

Tuesday 12-30-08

Squat 222.5 lbs, 5/5/5 PR! Onwards to 2 plates in 2009



isn't 220lbs already 2 plates?? congrats man!

[Contrail]

225 is 2 plates: 45 bar plus 45x4 plates.

Friday, 1-2-09

Squat 225 lbs, 5 reps. Then I felt my ab injury say hello, so I decided I better stop and take this rehab business seriously.

Deadlift (rehab) 45 lbs, 3x25. If I go up 20 lbs per workout on this, I'll get back to 265 lbs, which is what I injured myself on, in 11 workouts.

How much can I keep lifting while doing this? I'm thinking bench press and pullups should be fine to do, maybe press also?

[Contrail]

Catching the log up

Saturday, 1-3-09

Deadlift rehab45 lbs x25, 55 lbs x25, 65 lbs x25

Sunday, 1-4-09

Front squat Technique practice, worked up to 105 lbs 3x5

Bench 142.5 lbs, 5/5/4, first try at this weight

Deadlift rehab45 lbs x25, 65 lbs x25, 85 lbs x15

Situps 30lb bar across shoulders, 15/15/12 reps

Monday, 1-5-09

Deadlift rehab 45 lbs x10, 65 lbs x15, 85 lbs x15, 105 lbs x10

Pullups 5/5/5 reps

Tuesday, 1-6-09

Squat 195 lbs, 5/5/5. Reset this because I don't want to push it and hurt myself while healing up my abs

Press 90 lbs, 5/5/5

Chin-ups 6/6/6 reps

Deadlift rehab 65 lbs x10, 85 lbs x10, 105 lbs x5, 125 lbs x5

Situps 40 lb bar across shoulders, 11/11/9 reps

Thursday, 1-8-09

Squat 200 lbs, 5/5/5

Bench 142.2 lbs, 5/5/5 PR!

Pullups 6/5/4 reps

Deadlift rehab 85 lbs x10, 105 lbs x5, 125 lbs x5, 143 lbs x5

Half L-sit (1 leg tucked, 1 leg out, alternating), 4x 10 seconds

[Contrail]

Sunday, 1-11-09

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/5

Press 92.5 lbs, 5/5/5 - PR on first attempt!

Deadlift rehab 105, 125, 143, and 165 lbs - all x5

Slant board situps + 20 lbs across shoulders, 16/13/9 reps (yowch, I like these)

Morning bodyweight is kinda plateaued at ~185 lbs. I swear I'm eating as much as I can stomach.

[Contrail]

I'm starting to think about what to do once I'm not just doing SS anymore, which will probably be 1-2 months from now.

I want to keep doing regular lifts, squats, presses, and pulls, but also add more O-lifting, gymnastics, and some metcon. Unfortunately, there are only so many days in the week!

I want to do:

A. Back squats, front squats, overhead squats
B. Bench press, overhead press, push press, incline bench press, etc
C. Pullups, chinups, rows, etc
D. Power clean, clean + jerk, snatch
E. L-sit, HSPU, planche, and front lever progressions
F. Metcons of various lengths, including running, cycling, and swimming

I don't like the idea of doing simply crossfit because it includes too much of category F, too little of heavy category A+B, and waaaay too little of category E.

So here's a theoretical weekly template for 2 on - 1 off - 2 on - 2 off:
Monday: Heavy lifts, 1 from each category A-D
Tuesday: Metcon, 15~20 minutes in length, then progressions on 1-2 of category E
Thursday: Heavy lifts, different ones from on monday
Friday: Lighter lifts from categories A and B, then progressions on 2-3 of category E

[kaisermetal]

have you tought about ws4sb?

[Contrail]

Isn't WS4SB just another strength program, with some complex wacky stuff? I prefer just keeping it simple: Squat, Press, Pull, Go home.

Tuesday, 1-13-09

Squat 210 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Bench 145 lbs, 5/5/3, first try at this weight

chin-ups 7/7/7, PR!

Slant-board situps +20 lbs bar across shoulders, 10/10 reps. I cut down the reps on this because I could still feel soreness from doing it last time.

[Contrail]

Thursday, 1-15-09

Squat 215 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Press 95 lbs, 5/5/4, first try at this weight

Deadlift 187 lbs, 5 reps

Slant situps +20 lbs, 10/10 reps

Sunday, 1-18-09

Squat 220 lbs, 5/5/5, felt fine. I'm excited about the 2-plate PR attempt on Tuesday!

Bench 145 lbs, 5/3/4. Argh, regression? Or maybe this has something to do with holding a 30-second frog stand earlier this morning. 2nd try at this weight.

Pullups 6/6/5, or maybe it was 6/5/5, I didn't count well enough. I think it's a PR in either case.

1 leg L-sit Worked through a total of 60 seconds, alternating legs in many sets.

Morning bodyweight still stuck at ~184 lbs. For the first time in a while, I wore shorts to workout and saw myself in the mirrors. Upon seeing those twigs, I am now re-motivated to eat more.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 1-20-09

Squat 225 lbs, 5/5/5, not so bad, PR!

Press 95 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake-ish, PR!

Deadlift 209 lbs, 5 reps. Still totally easy, but starting to get there. I injured myself pulling 265.

Abs Skipped 'em. Oh well.

[Phil]

Keep up the good work, you've had some really nice gains across the board, squats, deads, pullups...

[Contrail]

Thanks, Phil

Thursday, 1-22-09

Squat 230 lbs, 2/5/x. First set: I was just a pussy and didn't attempt the mentally challenging 3rd rep. 2nd set I soldiered through, but I think I hurt myself a little bit, in my lower back.

Bench 145 lbs, 5/5/5. PR! Pretty hard. Do I really have to do it heavier now? Yikes.

Chin-ups 8/7/6.

I kind of want to take a few workouts off to let my bones and joints and other slow-recovering bodyparts catch up to my muscles. Maybe I'll do a little crossfit next week, or just pig out + videogames.

[kaisermetal]

sorry to hijack but...

my social life is gone now that i have bought a psp and waiting at the bank isn't a pain anymore i always look forward to it =)

[Contrail]

New programming plan

Friday: Volume day
5x5 or 4x6 or 3x8 of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by assistance (abs, back extension, whatever)

Sunday: Recovery day
Lighter weights of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by a short metcon, ie run 1 mile, scaled Fran, etc.

Tuesday: Intensity day
1RM, 3RM, 5RM, or 3x3 of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by assistance

Wednesday (optional): Longer metcon, ie run 5k, Cindy, etc.

[LCN]

New programming plan

Friday: Volume day
5x5 or 4x6 or 3x8 of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by assistance (abs, back extension, whatever)

Sunday: Recovery day
Lighter weights of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by a short metcon, ie run 1 mile, scaled Fran, etc.

Tuesday: Intensity day
1RM, 3RM, 5RM, or 3x3 of a squat, a press, and a pull, followed by assistance

Wednesday (optional): Longer metcon, ie run 5k, Cindy, etc.



Wait isn't this the Texas Method or something similar?

I don't have your numbers in front of me but I thought you were definitely not ready for intermediate yet.

Staying with linear improvement will be much more productive until you get to the point where it is unsustainable.

[Contrail]

Yeah, it's basically the texas method plus some metcon.

I think I have gotten to the point where continuing to increase squat weights is simply getting me injured more than it's getting me stronger. My bench and press are both kind of stalling out too, but I've never reset bench and only reset press once, so maybe I can keep those novice-style.

I suppose I can try the "advanced beginner" adjustment of just swapping the middle day to front squats for a while. I'll just reset my squat and both presses and try that out.

I did some back extensions recently, and really liked it, so i'll continue alternating abs/back assistance at the end of the workout. I absolutely want to work in metcon soon, too, so that I won't be too horribly out of shape when things warm up and I get back to playing frisbee/football/cycling/etc.

Thanks for the nudge to "stay the course." :)

[LCN]

Well you're doing a lot better than I am on 1/2 your lifts, so I definitely respect your progress.

It's just that from other SS blogs I've read, most people seem to stall out at roughly 180ish bench, 130ish press, 280ish squat and 300ish dead.

Those numbers are pretty vague but I think give you an indication of how far you can go with linear progress.... which is pretty damn far.

Also I'm not sure what your injury situation is, but I would post on Rippetoe's forum for advice on it.

[Contrail]

Wednesday, 2-4-09

Long metcon day

Modified "Kelly:"

4 round for time:
- 400m run, indoor track
- 20 box jumps, roughly 18" box.
- 10 hang power cleans, 83 lbs. I like hang power cleans.

My time: 17:58

A little technique practice afterwards, with my old nemesis, the overhead squat, and I think I may have made some progress... I widened my grip to completely collar-to-collar and had a good set of 5 with the empty bar that I think went past parallel.

Lifting heavy resumes on friday.

[Contrail]

Friday, 2-6-09

Squat 185 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Bench 125 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Power clean 121 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3, piece of cake

Decline situps +20 lbs, 12/12/10, about 3 reps short of failure on each set

Here's a question, which is a better combination:

A. Power Cleans + Weight situps on one day // Deadlifts + weighted back extensions on another day
-OR-
B. Power Cleans + weighted back extensions // Deadlifts + weighted situps

[Contrail]

Sunday, 2-8-09

Front Squat 125 lbs, 5/5/5. Pretty doable. PR!...heh

Press 75 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Chin-ups 7/7/7, piece of cake except for the very last rep.

1 mile run (ARC track), 7:05, not so bad. My PR at my fastest, ~7 years ago, was 5:54.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 2-10-09

Squat 195 lbs, 5/5/5, easy.

Bench 130 lbs, 5/5/5, but not as easy as expected. Shoulder a little messed up from last bench workout, I think

Deadlift 231 lbs, 5 reps, not so bad. My shins took a toll, though.

Back extensions 25 lbs, 10/10/10. Easy

[Contrail]

Wednesday, 2-11-09

Cindy As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 air squats

My result: 4 rounds + 2 pullups

[Contrail]

Friday, 2-13-09

Squat 205 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Press 85 lbs, 5/5/5, woulda been a piece of cake, but I cut rest short cause some guy was pressuring me to get out of his way. Easy enough regardless.

Power Clean 133 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3, piece of cake.

Back extensions +33 lb plate, 10/10/10, a few reps short of failure on each set

[Contrail]

Sunday, 2-15-09

Front Squat 135 lbs, 5/5/5, pretty easy.

Bench Press 135 lbs, 5/5/5. My warmups were hard, but for the worksets I narrowed my grip a little and they were actually easier. Phew. I have to remember my bench grip: index finger goes 3/4" outside first line on the bar.

Pullups 6/6/6. I'd have to search through this thread to see if this is a PR, but I don't think it is.

Clean+Jerk for fun+games, and form practice. Got up to singles of 110 lbs, could probably go higher on fresh shoulders, but they were feeling pretty bad after all this.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 2-17-09

Squat 215 lbs, 5/5/5, not so bad.

Press 90 lbs, 5/5/5, not so bad.

Deadlift 242 lbs, 5 reps, piece of cake.

Slant situps +30 lb bar, 10/10/10.

Overhead squat 77 lbs, 3/3/3, technique practice. I'm totally rocking these now. Goal Completed!

[Contrail]

Wednesday, 2-18-09

Long metcon day
I went swimming. Or, I tried to. I managed about 300m in total, very inefficiently.

[Contrail]

Friday, 2-20-09

Squat 225 lbs, 5/5/5. Pretty damn hard. I feel like my form was all over the place, because I'm not really sure which of the various ways I can complete a squat is the correct one.

Bench 140 lbs, 5/5/5. Surprisingly a piece of cake. I narrowed my grip a little, and that made it super easy.

Power Clean 143 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3. Easy.

Reverse Hyper 25 lbs. 10/10/10.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 2-22-09

Front Squat 145 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Press 95 lbs, 5/5/4.

Chin-ups 8/8/7. PR!

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 2-24-09

Squat 230 lbs, 5/5/5, PR! Not that bad, actually

Bench 145 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake

Deadlift 253 lbs, 4 reps, and an ouchie on the last one. Same place in my abs as before. Goddamn it. I could have easily pulled 10 reps if it weren't for that. GRRRRRRRR.

[Contrail]

Wednesday, 2-25-09

Metcon day

A recent crossfit.com WOD, as Rx'd:
3 Rounds for time
Row 500m
21 Burpees
Run 400m

My scaling:
3 Rounds for time
Row 400m
15 Burpees
Run 320m

My time: 19:29

[Contrail]

Friday, 2-27-09

Scaled mainpage CF WOD

18 back extensions (on the silly 45-degree contraption, oh well)
320m Run
15 back extensions
320m Run
12 back extensions
320m Run
9 back extensions
320m Run
6 back extensions
320m Run
3 back extensions
320m Run

My time: 11:50

I think I may be hooked.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 3-1-09

Helen, scaled
Three rounds for time:
Run 320 meters
35 pound dumbell swings, 21 reps
7 Pull-ups

The pain monster bit hard at the start of the swings in the 2nd round. I got a major cramp in my left hamstring and adductor and fought through it to finish. Final total time: 20:00

Monday, 3-2-09

WOD is Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Skipped it because I was so sore from sunday, plus I can't deadlift heavy due to my abdominal thing.

Tuesday, 3-3-09

Barbara:
I did 2 rounds of "barbara lite," but during the 2nd round decided that was a very bad idea. Switched to "barbie" for the third and later rounds. However, after the 5 pullups of round 4, I felt like going on would be a bad idea, so I stopped. The total time for this adventure was about 31 minutes, mostly spent in a brutal round 2.

Thursday, 3-4-09

Clean+Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

121 lbs - 126.5 - 126.5 - 126.5 - 132(f) - 128.7 - 129.8

[Contrail]

Friday, 3-6-09

Jackie
1000m Row
45 lb thruster, 50 reps
30 pullups

My first timed WOD done as Rx'd, in 21:54.

[Contrail]

Sunday, 3-8-09

Run 5k
Down-and-back on the sidewalk
With 30 mph crosswind, gusts to 50+

Time: 22:50

[Contrail]

Monday, 3-9-09

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes:
3 reps, 95lbs overhead press
6 tuck-sit pullups
9 walking lunges

Result: About 4 lunges short of 6 rounds.

[Locutus]

Are you switching to straight crossfit?

[Contrail]

So far, yes. We'll see how long I want to keep it up. I suspect when summer gets here in full force, it'll be more like play sports whenever there's a pickup game, long(er) bike rides on the weekends, heavy work whenever I feel like it.

Tuesday, 3-10-09

Crossfit Total
Squat: 275. Holy crap, I squatted 275! Impressed myself with this one
Press: 105. I was hoping for 115, but not even 110 went up.
Deadlift: 275, and felt a little twinge in my abs, so I didn't try to go heavier.
CFT: 655

[Contrail]

I got sick a skipped a few days, but here I go again:

Tuesday, 3-17-09

Puppy Murph
Run 1/2 mile
35 pullups
70 pushups
120 squats
Run 1/2 mile
Partition pullups, pushups, and squats as desired

My time: 28:50

[Locutus]

Have you considered running some of KSC's metcon ideas (where it's basically day 1 strength, day 2 light metcon, day 3 heavy metcon, day 4 rest?

I'm not quite sure you're strong enough to do a lot of the crossfit WODs as written, and could still stand to gain some more weight before going full crossfit.

[kaisermetal]

good numbers bro, don't stop SS and go straight to Crossfit, you'll lose strength :(

check your PM, i sent you a message!

[Jefferson]

why are you stopping when you are still making gains?

[Contrail]

why are you stopping when you are still making gains?

If you mean why am I stopping exercising altogether, I didn't, I just stopped posting, cause I got lazy. If you mean why am I stopping lifting in favor of crossfit, that's so that I can have some fitness for the summer and play pick-up games, etc.

Locutus told me I should start posting again, plus some CF WODs are starting to come up for the 2nd time, so I'm gonna try to keep recording my times here so I can compare.

Monday, 4-13-09

3 rounds for time:
Row 400m
15 Burpees
Run 320m

My time: 20:09
My old time, from 2-15-09: 19:29

Yikes, I'm getting worse?

[Contrail]

why are you stopping when you are still making gains?

If you mean why am I stopping exercising altogether, I didn't, I just stopped posting, cause I got lazy. If you mean why am I stopping lifting in favor of crossfit, that's so that I can have some fitness for the summer and play pick-up games, etc.

Locutus told me I should start posting again, plus some CF WODs are starting to come up for the 2nd time, so I'm gonna try to keep recording my times here so I can compare.

Monday, 4-13-09

3 rounds for time:
Row 400m
15 Burpees
Run 320m

My time: 20:09
My old time, from 2-15-09: 19:29

Yikes, I got worse

[Contrail]

Sunday, 5-10-09

For time:
Row 400m
83 lb push-jerks, 15 reps
Row 400m
83 lb push-jerks, 12 reps
Row 400m
83 lb push-jerks, 9 reps

My time: 10:11.

That was fun.

[Contrail]

Tuesday, 5-12-09

Squat 195 lbs, 5/5/5

Bench 135 lbs, 5/5/5

Power Clean 145 lbs, 3/3/3/3/3

All pieces of cake. Mmmm, yummy cake.

[Locutus]

heyo, that sounds like some SS to me

[Contrail]

Yeah it was fun. I hadn't been to ARC in about a month, and guess what I learned...

WE HAVE BUMPER PLATES !!?!?!

Anyway, doing Crossfit turned out to not work very well with my work schedule and it's tough to do some of the workouts cause I'm not good enough and/or lacking specific equipment.

So here's the new plan:

Sunday: Metcon
Monday: SS
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Metcon
Thursday: SS
Fri/Sat: Off

[Locutus]

yes sirree. I have been trying to put them to good use.

[Contrail]

Gonna be there tonight? I might have to do something like 30 C&J for time to errr, "break them in."

[Locutus]

no, not until thurs or fri

[Contrail]

Monday 5-18-09

Front Squat 155 lbs, 5/5/5

Press 85 lbs, 5/5/5

Chin-ups 3xF, 11/9/9

[Contrail]

Wednesday, May 27 2009

For time:
15 squat clean+jerks, 85 lbs

Time: 4:43

I could have done that faster. I'm a slacker lately.

[Contrail]

Monday, June 1, 2009

Cycled: 23 miles, solo, in high winds
Average speed: 15.0 mph

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Squat 185 lbs, 5/. My lower back felt bad after 1 set, so I stopped these and skipped the planned deadlifts.

Bench 135 lbs, 5/5/5. Pretty hard.

[Contrail]

I've been almost literally imprisoned at work lately, but I just busted out some tabata pushups on my office floor.

8 rounds: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/4

So close to finishing it off! That'll be a good goal to work towards.

Also, I recently discovered some rafter-like I-beams that I walk past several times every day are good enough to do pullups on. They get my fingers dirty, but I could totally grease the groove if I cared to (and if I carried some tissues in my pocket to wipe my fingers).

[Contrail]

Wednesday, 6-10-09

Squat 165 lbs, 5/5/5, piece of cake, feeling great
Incline bench messed around a little, got up to a set of 5 at 85 lbs at both 30-degree and 45-degree incline. The 45-degree setting makes my shoulders pop a lot.
Deadlift 225 lbs, 5 reps
Alternating DB curls 30 lbs, 2x8 (each hand)

[Contrail]

Saturday, 6-13-09

Biked 47 miles, with a group
Average speed: 16.6 mph

[Contrail]

Sunday, 6-14-09

Tabata Pushups
6/6/6/6/6/6/6/3

Monday, 6-15-09

Biked 15 miles solo plus 21 miles with a group
Avg speed: 15.6 mph