California Dreamin' - My Journey to Bench 225

[xk5]

Hey everybody! I was maintaining a workout journal in the first couple months of this year but did not maintain due to a move and a monster amount of work. Now that that is over I have plenty of time to dedicate to my lifting. I started lifting seriously in November of last year and my lifts were at pathetic levels, squatting 90lbs, benching 115lbs, deadlifting 120lbs, etc.

Right now I'm in the middle of a bulk, I have increased from 180 to 193 in the last couple months. I have extreme difficulty gaining weight so I eat approximately 6000 calories a day during my bulk. I will be starting a cut in two weeks because in four weeks I will be spending a good amount of time at the beach and don't want to be lugging around any fat.

I'm using the Starting Strength program at the moment so I'll just get to where my lifts are at now. This journal will continue until I can bench 225, then I'll start a new one!

Thursday

Squat -> 165lbs, 5/5/5
St. Press -> 105lbs, 5/5/5
Pendlay Row -> 135lbs, 5/5/5

Saturday

Squat -> 170lbs, 5/5/5
Bench -> 150lbs, 5/5/5
Deadlift-> 275lbs, 5

I'll be going to the gym tonight and will post the results later...

[xk5]

Monday

Squat -> 170lbs, 5/5/5
St. Press -> 110lbs, 4/3/3
Row -> 140lbs, 5/5/5

Got two days off, back to the gym on Thursday...

[xk5]

Thursday

Squat -> 175lbs, 5/5/5
Bench -> 155lbs, 4/4/5 (No spot on the first two sets so played it safe)
Deadlift -> 285lbs, 5

Everything seems to be on track, weighed in at 192lbs at the gym...

[xk5]

A truly wretched work out today. Felt pretty good going into it but once I started the standing press I knew I was in trouble, the first set felt insanely heavy for some reason.

In addition the freaking gym was closing in 20 mins so I had very little time to rest in between sets. I still can't believe they close at 8 PM on Saturday =P.

Squat -> 175, 5/5/5
St. Press -> 110 - 3/3, 105 - 3
Row -> 140, 5/5/5

At least the squats felt pretty good, will be moving up to 180lbs on Monday...

[xk5]

Squat -> 180, 5/5/5

Felt really worn out after the squats, took a lot out of me...

Bench -> 155, 5/4/3

Did not have a spot for bench, think I could have hit 5/5/4 with one so I'll move up to 160 next time when I'll have my spotter again.

Deadlift -> 1x275, 2x295

Felt exhausted on the deadlifts so only managed two reps.

Got two days off...

[xk5]

Squats are still going good hitting PRs pretty much every session...

Squat -> 185, 5/5/5
St. Press -> 110, 4/4/3
Rows -> 140, 5/5/5

Overall pretty pleased with progress, I always have trouble moving up in standing press, 5lbs always seems so damned heavy but it's getting there. Looking forward to bench on Saturday, going for 160...

[xk5]

So today was another bad bench day... I think I'm just gonna stick with my squats at 185 until I go up in my other lifts because they are exhausting me so much I think it's killing my other excercises...

Squat -> 185, 5/5/5
Bench -> 160, 3 + 155, 4/3 (Only got 3 reps at 160 so went back to 155 and managed only 4 and 3, very disappointing. Didn't have a spotter again should have one back next time though.
Deadlift -> 225, 5 (Back felt ravaged after the squats and bench for some reason so didn't want to push my luck.)

Overall a poor workout... I have cut back on my eating a small amount and maybe that is my problem. I'm eating 4k right now instead of 6k because I'm trying to cut some fat down for the beach in two weeks.