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  1. #1
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    Getting Stronger Everyday

    Hey, this is my first journal. Welcome. My hope for this journal is that it will help me determine some quality goals and keep me focused in the pursuit of those goals.

    Let's start with why I'm here. I want to get strong and big, and stay lean! But who doesn't?

    I really wish I had some concrete long term goals. I don't have in my mind the ideal physique that I'd like to see when I look in the mirror. I don't have an amount of weight I want to be able to lift on certain exercises. I don't have a target body weight. And if I did have any of these things, I'm not sure they would be appropriate for me.

    A large part of the difficulty I'm having in setting these goals is that I'm only now beginning to learn about what I'm capable of in terms of strength and size. I'm still somewhat new to weightlifting and very new to eating healthy.

    This is something that I need to figure out, because it has implications for how I train and how I eat. So I've decided to make an interim set of goals that, while they aren't as numeric or measurable as I would like, are things inside and outside of the gym that I need to work on to be able to make progress.

    Goals:

    Lifting:
    • Get more comfortable with existing exercises (deadlift, front and back squats, barbell row, press, bench press, dips, pull-ups) and increase weight: I've been doing some of these exercises longer than others. Deadlifts, squats, barbell row, and press are all pretty new. I finished reading "Starting Strength" recently, and I've identified some things about what I'm doing that I need to correct. In other cases, the book has helped me understand more about exercises like the deadlift and squats, and I'd like to progress by adding weight.
    • Learn new exercises: One more core exercise I'm just beginning to learn is the power clean. Other than that, I'd like to learn and integrate some alternate exercises for the above list to give myself some variety in the gym and keep my body from adapting too much to a particular set of exercises.
    • Always maintain good form: This one is important to me. Part of this goal is in learning what good form is (because in most cases I haven't been taught anything about these exercises). Part of it is learning the "feel" of good form, as there is sometimes a disconnect between what I feel and what I'm actually doing, and I need someone to tell me whether what I'm doing is correct or incorrect. Another part is making sure that my form doesn't suffer under certain conditions. I need to make the extra effort to maintain good form if I get tired, and I need to avoid trying to lift more weight than I should, both of which have occurred in recent months.
    • Develop an appropriate program that effectively integrates existing exercises with new ones: I really have a lot to learn about programming. My current program is my first attempt at getting away from machines and working in some big compound exercises. I'd like to tweak it a little for the near future based on some of the things that I've read in "Starting Strength" and also add in some new exercises to hit muscles differently.
    • Manage resting time: Unless I'm careful, resting time between sets can degenerate pretty rapidly into a waste of time. Yeah, I can get pretty winded during my workouts, but I think I can push myself to recover more quickly. Part of what's holding me back is psychological. I want to keep an eye on the clock so I don't waste time and I want to push myself to start that next set.
    • Start stretching regularly: I have not done much regular stretching, and now is a fine time to start. I've heard that it's good for the muscles and good for flexibility. I've had a little tightness in the hips and arms when doing squats, so I'm hoping that stretching will help this and also be preventative.
    • Allow injuries time to heal: I've been lucky to be free of real serious injuries, but I need to pay more attention to big and little pains while lifting, as a sign that I'm doing something wrong or pushing my body too hard. Though it can be frustrating to be delayed by injuries, I have to accept that they need time to heal and make adjustments to my schedule so they don't get worse or heal slower.
    Cardio:
    • Don't bail on cardio days: It's harder for me to be motivated to do cardio. I just need to bring the same level of commitment to my cardio training that I do to my weight training. I think that having some variety is a good thing. I alternate between biking, elliptical, stair machine, maybe some occasional rowing, and jogging outside if it's a nice day.
    Diet/Nutrition:
    • Track nutritional intake: While I have started to eat much better food in the past couple months and have been pretty successful at cutting out a lot of junk, I haven't been tracking my nutritional intake. As such, I don't really know how many calories or grams of protein I'm getting and whether it's enough for me. I need to start tracking this without letting the little OCD part of me make it more difficult than it should be.
    • Aim for a caloric surplus from nutritious food that allows for building lean muscle. Shoot for +10 lbs lean muscle with appropriate diet, lifting, and cardio work: Since my weight hasn't changed much in the past few months, I'm thinking that I'm not achieving a healthy caloric surplus. So, the goal here is to eat more good food to achieve this. I pulled the 10 lbs out of the air just to give me something to track progress. I have no idea if this is appropriate, and I'm not totally committed to that number. But we'll see what happens.
    • Prepare enough healthy meals throughout the week and especially on the weekends: I find that when I eat less healthy food, it's primarily because no healthy options are available or I need something quick and easy. If I have time to make healthy meals, I'll eat them. If I have good food at home, I will eat it. If it's the end of the week and I finished the meals that I've prepared for the week and the fresh fruits and veggies, I will turn to prepared meals or snacking. I also notice that I'm better at eating more regular meals during the week at work, because of the structure to my day. My weekends don't have the same structure, and even if I'm at home for most of the day, I don't eat as consistently on the weekends.
    Education:
    • Learn about new exercises: Specifically, I'm looking to learn worthwhile, challenging exercises, and learn how to do them correctly. "Starting Strength" was quite good at this. I'll be on the lookout for other books, online articles, and the boards to help with this.
    • Learn about how musculature and skeletal structure works: I don't know much about the muscular and skeletal systems, so I want to make it a point to learn about muscles and bones and how they fit together and function. I imagine this will help me understand exercises at a different level by knowing the muscles involved. It might help diagnose injuries. And hopefully I'll be able to converse more intelligently with others.
    • Learn about nutrition, diets, healthy recipes: Expand my knowledge with some solid sources that I can refer back to. I'm just at the very beginning of learning about nutrition and good diets, so there is plenty that I don't know on these topics. I'm also always on the lookout for tasty and healthy recipes that anybody could make, as I'm not the most proficient in the kitchen.
    • Learn about supplements and their effective use: Though I take some supplements, I haven't really invested the time and effort to do a lot of research to find what would be most effective for me to use or the most effective way to use them. I don't want to go overboard on the supplements, but would like to identify suitable products and become more educated in general.
    Organization and Mentality:
    • Prepare in advance for workouts and psych myself up for each exercise that I will be doing: This is an important one for me. I'm still learning my strength capabilities, and I cannot leave it up to myself to decide how much weight I'll lift on the spot at the gym. When I guess right, it's great, but more often I'm either too conservative because I remember it being hard last time, or I'll try to lift too much and not finish a set, or do it with bad form, or hurt myself. At this point, I cannot let myself go to the gym without having planned out my warm up sets and work sets for the exercises I am going to do. I also need to get mentally prepped for the exercises before I show up at the gym, even visualizing exercises or remembering key points of the lifts so I can make the most of my time in the gym and keep the intensity of my workouts high and focused.
    • Keep a better log to track weights, sets, and reps in the gym: I've been doing this, but I think I can do it a little better to make the log more useful. And maybe this journal will help too.
    • Take consistent weekly body stat measurements (weight, bodyfat %) to track progress: I bought a scale recently, and after weighing myself throughout the day, saw quite a bit of variation in weight before and after meals or drinks or with various amounts of clothing. So in order to get consistent readings of weight and bodyfat percentage, I'm going to be taking measurements on a regular basis under the same types of circumstances.
    • Get enough sleep: I've been particularly bad about this for the past several months. I never successfully transitioned to being a morning person after getting out of school, and the thought of being in bed by 10pm is particularly unpleasant, but I really do need to make an effort to get enough sleep. This will be a challenge for me, because currently, my energy dips in the late afternoon and early evening, and picks up again later at night. I hope additional sleep will positively affect my workouts in a significant way.
    • Keep this journal up to date: As part of making this a useful resource, I'd like to keep it up to date with my log, my progress, and other relevant issues.
    • Keep it challenging and enjoyable: I'm currently learning new things, and I enjoy challenging myself to get stronger. I've met some good people on bb.com who have been willing to share their experience, knowledge, and encouragement. It really is enjoyable at the moment, and it must stay this way!

    So with this intro wrapped up, I hope you'll return and offer your comments, suggestions, and questions about my goals or future posts. I'm pretty much self-taught at all of this, so if I'm going about something the wrong way or making bad decisions, I could use your help in offering advice or corrections.

    The work starts Monday.


    -J
    Last edited by AnotherSet; 07-27-2008 at 01:29 PM.
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  2. #2
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    The Program and Week 1 Looking Ahead

    My current program is my first attempt at working in some big compound exercises. I've split it up into a leg/shoulder day and a chest/back day that each get hit twice per week. The first round of the week starts with 5 core exercises (bolded below) that I want to hit every week. The second round targets roughly the same body parts, except that I'll sub some alternate exercises in for some variety and to hit my body a little differently. Since my knowledge of exercises is somewhat limited, it currently consists of simple variations like using dumbbells instead of barbells or using an incline or decline instead of flat bench, but I hope to soon learn other exercises and add them as alternates.

    Program:

    Monday - Legs/Shoulders
    Squat
    Press
    RDL
    Power Clean
    Calves Var.

    Tuesday - Chest/Back
    Bench
    Row
    Deadlift
    Dips
    Pull-Ups

    Wednesday - Cardio
    HIIT or LISS; stepper/bike/elipitcal/jogging outside if it's nice out
    Abs

    Thursday - Legs/Shoulders

    Friday - Chest/Back

    Saturday - Cardio

    Sunday - Off

    Weighed myself on my scale right after waking up today, and was surprised/disappointed by what I read. However, that's my starting point. I'll work from these stats and continue measuring the same way.

    Weight: 172.6 lbs
    BF: 10.6%
    Lean Mass: 154.3 lbs
    Fat Mass: 18.3 lbs

    This Week's Challenges:
    • Get back to the gym after a week off, prepare my workout log in advance, prepare mentally for each workout, and focus on good form.
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    Lifting History

    OK, this will hopefully be my last long post for a while. I wanted to provide a little information about my weightlifting background in case you're interested in the person behind this journal.

    Lifting History:

    I began going to the gym in senior year of college and continued the following two years in grad school. So it's been a few years, but I still consider myself new to it because I only recently became serious about it and started actively seeking advice from books, the Internet, and other people on how to do this correctly. My commitment to this lifestyle is just a couple months old.

    In high school and college, I had nothing in the way muscle, and had a little belly that I concealed pretty well in my unimpressive frame. I certainly wasn't strong. The lack of size and strength and fact that I was totally new to lifting weights made me feel out of place in the gym. I worked on machines exclusively, because they were easier to figure out, and I thought I should leave the free weights to the "experts." I put together a program with a push day and a pull day, because I remembered hearing someone in the dorm sophomore year saying that you weren't supposed to do push and pull on the same day. Everything was 3x10 because it seemed like a nice round number. I did see some progress in those couple years, but it was nothing compared to what I've seen in the last few months. I just didn't know enough to achieve my potential. There would be weeks at a time that I didn't make it to the gym, and then other times that I'd be there 4 days per week.

    When I came to DC, having never been a member of a real gym, the same insecurities about feeling small and weak compared to the muscle heads came back. I joined a gym down the street and picked up where I left off, attendance irregularities and all. I had done a little bit of research on programs, and came up with a 3-day push, pull, legs, and later a 4-day program, again mostly on machines.

    Ah yes, injury. Somewhere in there, I tried out some free weights. I was doing a dumbbell bench press and near the end of one set, my left arm gave out on the way up. My shoulder went through an awkward motion as the dumbbell came down and hit me in the chest. There was a piercing pain in my shoulder, and it hurt to raise my arm in front of me, do an incline press motion, or hang from anything. I thought it would heal in a couple weeks, then in a couple months it was marginally better. It was over a year before I was 99% recovered. I don't know what went wrong initially. I guess I hadn't built up my stabilizer muscles and couldn't handle the weight. That experience made me wary of free weights. If I wanted to work more with free weights, I needed to learn how to do it correctly.

    One of my resolutions for 2008 was to get to the gym regularly. I had read something online about starting a new habit by making an effort to do something every day for 30 days and by achieving this, it would be easier to transition to a continuous habit because you wouldn't want to break the string of success. It worked, and an obsession with needing to get to the gym soon developed. I was adding exercises and my workouts were going long, so I decided to try a 5-day program which would let me break out individual body parts even more and have fewer exercises per day. I had my days for chest, legs, shoulders, back, and arms. But I just kept adding more exercises in, because I thought that the more different ways you can hit all your muscles each day, the better. I had heard that legs were a good portion of muscle and added a second leg day in there, which brought me up to a 6 day routine that was taking me 8 days to complete with cardio.

    In April, I joined the BB.com forums and started to ask some of my basic questions there. The other posters helped me recognize that I was probably overtaxing my CNS, and I ended my streak. Perhaps trying to exercise every day wasn't the best goal to have. but it did help me establish a reliable attendance record, and helped me become more dedicated and interested in learning more.

    I know I still have a lot to learn, but the boards and books and articles online have been very helpful. I've learned more in the last three months than in the previous three years. I have hundreds of links and articles that I've bookmarked from reading the boards, and while I can't keep up with it, I'm always interested in finding out about other great books, magazines, or online resources that can help me improve. If you have one I should bump up on my list, suggest away.

    I started a variation of my current program back in June. It is my first real foray into work with free weights. Progress was slow for a while since most of the movements were new to me, but I'm getting more comfortable and I'm ready to make some more significant progress in the coming months.
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    Week 1 - 7/28/2008 - Legs/Shoulders

    I wasn't planning to go very heavy today. I just wanted to get organized, get back to the gym, and focus on good form and those nagging issues. For the most part, it went as planned.

    I'm recording my warm-up sets until I become more comfortable selecting the weight and number of reps & sets for warm-ups.

    Squat
    45x5
    45x5 (tried OH Squat)
    95x5
    135x3
    185x2

    205x5x5

    Press
    45x5
    45x5
    75x3
    95x2

    100x5x3

    Romanian Deadlift
    45x10
    95x5
    135x3

    175x8x3

    Power Clean (learning, from the jump position up)
    45x5
    45x5
    65x5
    65x5

    75x5x3

    At this point I disregarded my written program and threw in two sets of squats at higher reps. Temptation got the best of me. I'm disappointed that I gave in.

    Squat
    135x10x2

    Standing Calf Raises
    55x10
    95x5
    135x3

    155x10x3
    155x7x2 (couldn't manage the last three reps! )

    First day back went pretty well. I planned out all of my sets and weights in advance, reviewed some key points that I needed to work on in each of the first four exercises, stretched the hips and shoulders before going to the gym, and tried to get to the gym earlier so I'd be a little more alert. Some exercises were a little easy as planned, but I resisted the temptation to mess with the weight at the gym. I'll make incremental adjustments for next time, and hopefully this will give me a more controlled and reliable indication of my abilities and make my progress more consistent.

    This was my first time doing back squats in a few weeks. My wrist and hips both felt OK this time. The power clean was just awkward. I'll comment on this one more later. Calves are one of my weakest areas, so I'm not all that surprised I missed that one.

    I got over my hang up about videorecording my exercises in the gym. I wanted to see what I'm doing. They didn't look as bad as I expected. I'll see about posting them. I might bring the camera again later this week for deadlifts and front squats.

    One last piece of motivation that I didn't mention before: When I was home last week, my mom commented that I looked skinny. This comment got to me, because I thought I was making progress in the last few months. But I guess I've become leaner more than I've added muscle, so it isn't necessarily noticeable to others (at least with a shirt on). It also bugs me that I'm so bothered by that comment at all. Too bad it's a negative, but hopefully it will help me pick up the intensity and make some REAL noticeable progress in the next few months.

    Today was a decent first day back. I look forward to going at chest and back tomorrow.



    -J
    Last edited by AnotherSet; 07-29-2008 at 07:55 PM.
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    Videos from Yesterday's Workout

    This is the first time I've filmed myself in the gym, so the camera isn't very well situated. I'll try to do better next time. It was interesting to see these videos, though. I've picked out some things I'd like to work on.

    Squat



    I want to see myself go a bit lower to be satisfied that I'm going to parallel.

    Press



    Need to make everything tighter from the neck down. I also need to make sure I'm setting the bar on my shoulders at the end of each rep. I was stopping a couple inches above the shoulders. And I think I need to bring my elbows forward under the bar a bit more.

    RDL



    It seems like the reps were a little fast, so I'd like to slow this one down and feel more of the stretch in the hamstrings.
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    Week 1 - 7/29/2008 - Chest/Back

    Bench Press
    45x5
    45x5
    85x5
    125x3
    155x2

    185x5x3

    Cable Row - Neutral Grip Medium Width
    40x5
    60x3
    70x2

    90x5
    90x8x2

    Deadlift
    135x5
    135x5
    185x5
    225x3
    250x2

    285x5x2

    Dips
    BWx15
    BW+10x10
    BW+20x10
    BW+25x10

    Pull-Ups
    BWx10
    BWx6
    BWx6 (last one was weak)
    Pull-ups were more challenging than I'm used to because I actually went all the way down. That's how I'll do them from now on.

    Crap! How different one can feel within 24 hours. I was tossing and turning all last night. I couldn't have gotten more than 2 hours of solid sleep. I was tired from the start of the day, the kind where you get up and your eyes are already burning. I'm surprised I was able to summon the energy and get through this workout pretty well.

    But the more pressing concern for me is the strong return of pain in my left wrist when I do any kind of rotating motion, like turning a key in a door lock. At the end of last week, it was feeling much better. I know I aggravated it while unracking and racking the RDL yesterday, which is just a couple inches higher on the squat rack than my hang position. As of now, barbell rows are out because of the position they put my wrist in during the upper half of the motion. I tried a neutral grip cable row tonight, and that felt OK. Anything with a supine grip is out too. I hope that it's OK to continue doing exercises that involve the wrist if there's no pain.
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    First in, hopefully a few more will follow...I don't know if you post in any other journals, but usually you gotta follow others journals to get them to follow your own.

    I'll make a couple of comments (a little slow at work today, I had a big deadline last night, so I have a few minutes):

    GOALS: I think you are looking for a concrete way of goal setting (probably a math/numbers guy???). Its much more of an art than a science. You just have to pick numbers that you think, with a lot of hard work, you can achieve. They can be pretty arbitrary. For example, a good goal might be a 405 deadlift. Is that anymore important than a 400 deadlift? No not really, but you get to add an extra wheel, which makes it cooler/easier to identify and its achievable.

    I usually break them down into very long-term goals (couple of years away), long-term (like year or two) and medium-term (within a year). For real short-term stuff (like this week) I don't really consider those goals, so much as action-items or something like that.

    PROGRAMMING: I think your program is decent, for someone who requires week-to-week (intermediate) progression and has outgrown workout-to-workout (linear/novice) progression. Workout-to-workout progression is basically the Starting Strength model. I honestly think you should try something like that until you can no longer make linear gains. Why make gains once a week when you can make them 2 or 3 times a week? You should always have the simplest form of progression that you can handle and linear is the simplest. I think you should read Rip's second book, Practical Programming. It will clear all this up for you. It is as valuable as Starting Strength. This type of program would also help you nail your form on the lifts as you do them much more often. Also, there is no need to learn new exercises just for the sake of new exercises or to work the muscles differently.

    edit: I just noticed this on Rip's board, which pretty much sums up what I am saying here:

    Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
    Why not switch to intermediate sooner rather than later? Because it wastes an opportunity to progress faster rather than slower, and opportunity you won't have again. Linear progress is the fastest progress, and since the point of training is to get stronger, the most efficient way is a linear progression, for as long as it works. Bleed it for all it's worth while you can, because you'll be doing intermediate-level training for a much longer time than you'll ever be able to do a novice progression.

    Also, you can rest pretty long in this type of training. I sometimes go up to 5 minutes if I know a set is going to be a son-of-a-bitch. Limit sets may require 10 minutes (serious).

    VIDEOS: The RDL looks good, but I am not an expert. The press looks like you are pushing the bar backwards (notice the bar path is not straight). Push straight up and move under, don't push back and also move forward.

    The squat looks like your knees are moving too far forward. It could be that your stance is too narrow, but can't tell from that angle. Point the feet out a bit and really push the knees out and the hips back. This is also why good depth is hard to get. Why not go here and have Rippetoe look at it:
    http://strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36
    As I Lay Dying > Creatine

    Most athletes should live and die in the squat rack. --Matt Reynolds

    PLing/Getting Huge Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113315851
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    Hey Alpha Zulu. Thanks for stopping by and for providing some input. You've given me some things to consider. I would like to look for a few more good journals to follow as time allows.

    It's good to hear that numeric goals tend to be arbitrary. At least I'm not missing anything big there. Four months ago, I had no idea whether I would someday be capable of a 405 deadlift or a 315 squat. I couldn't comprehend lifting that amount of weight. And while I might be able to determine whether I'm capable of it now, I'd also want to put a realistic date on it, and I'm just starting to realize my potential rate of progress. I'm not freaking out about it as much as I was before when it was all just a mystery. Now that I'm closer to learning these exercises and logging my progress, I should hopefully be able to set some targets in the coming weeks.

    After reading your post and Rippetoe's comment, I'm not sure what to do about the program. In a way, it makes sense, and I don't want to blow the chance of taking advantage of those gains while they're available. However, I didn't initially adopt this program for a few reasons. (Excuses?)

    I questioned my ability to recover enough to do squats 3x/wk or deadlifts 2x/wk. I guess I also need convincing that I would be able to increase weight at every workout. I don't have the confidence that I will see gains so quickly and consistently. This probably shouldn't be a factor in the decision, but I'd miss some of the exercises I would cut out. For example, I like the feel and challenge specific to the dumbbell bench press that I don't get with the barbell.

    I'm going to give this some more thought. Maybe I could try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes.
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    Week 1 - 7/30/2008 - Cardio

    30 min. on the elliptical. Enough to get drenched but not be out of breath.

    Standing Cable Crunches
    90x10
    100x10
    110x10
    110x8

    Lower body stretching. Little bit of DOMS and tightness from this week's leg work. Felt good.
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    Originally Posted by AnotherSet View Post
    I questioned my ability to recover enough to do squats 3x/wk or deadlifts 2x/wk. I guess I also need convincing that I would be able to increase weight at every workout. I don't have the confidence that I will see gains so quickly and consistently.
    The challenge with squatting heavy 3x a week comes when the weight is heavy enough to really start taxing your recovery abilities. At this point, its not that heavy. And when it does become too hard, the next step is cutting the squats to twice a week. Then moving to a program of weekly progression. And in the version of the workout given in Starting Strength, you are only deadlifting 3x in two weeks (so 1.5x per week). But if that is really a concern, in Practical Programming, there are several different variations laid out that include varying amounts of chinning, cleaning, and deadlifting including DLing as little as every other week.

    Check here for the quick and dirty, but once again, you should buy Pracitical Programming: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi...inner_Programs

    This probably shouldn't be a factor in the decision, but I'd miss some of the exercises I would cut out. For example, I like the feel and challenge specific to the dumbbell bench press that I don't get with the barbell.
    You are right, this shouldn't really be a factor in your decision. There will be plenty of time for exercise variation in the future, especially if you decide to get into upper/lower splits or Westside type training, which is a pretty logical next step.

    That being said, you could probably get away with using DBs instead of barbells (maybe 50% for each??). There is a line in SS where Rippetoe mentions the value of DB pressing but says it is simply too hard to teach someone who has never lifted before those motor patterns. So if that is not an issue for you since you can do them already, perhaps it could work, but I don't want my name attached to that modification. The only problem I see is that DBs get damn hard to make continuous progression with since you are basically forced to add 10 lbs to the total amount of weight each time. BTW, my own two cents here is that setting consistent PRs on big exercises is a lot more enjoyable than the "uniqueness" of any particular exercise or variation.

    I'm going to give this some more thought. Maybe I could try it out for a few weeks and see how it goes.
    Why not? There is literally nothing to lose. You have relevent numbers for most of the lifts, so you wouldn't be wasting a day or days figuring out what weights you can do. And you may only be able to progress like this for 2-4 weeks but that is 2-4 weeks that you would be progressing faster than otherwise.
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    Week 1 - 7/31/2008 - Legs/Shoulders

    Front Squat
    45x5
    45x5
    95x5
    135x3
    165x2

    185x5x5
    I know. I'm not supposed to be doing this yet, but it was fun.

    Press
    45x5
    45x5
    75x3
    95x2

    105x5
    105x4
    100x5

    RDL
    45x10
    95x5
    135x3

    185x8x3

    Power Clean
    45x5
    65x5
    75x5

    95x5x3
    Still really awkward. I just wanted to try a bit more weight to see if a slightly heavier bar would help things become a little more compact.
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    Week 1 - 8/1/2008 - Chest/Back

    DB Bench Press
    30x5
    30x5
    40x5
    50x3
    70x2

    85x5x2
    85x4

    Cable Row - Neutral Grip
    50x5
    70x3
    80x2

    100x5x3

    Deadlift
    135x5
    135x5
    185x5
    225x3
    255x2

    290x5x2

    Dips
    BWx15
    BW+10x10
    BW+25x10
    BW+35x10

    Pull-Ups
    BWx10
    BWx8
    I noticed a slight pull in what may or may not be my teres major, so I called it a night. For those of you with the muscular vocabulary more at my level, I mean the muscle just below the armpit. Since I'm not deadlifting anything until the middle of next week at the earliest, I think it will be OK by then.
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    Beginning a Starting Strength Program

    Originally Posted by Alpha Zulu View Post
    Why not? There is literally nothing to lose. You have relevent numbers for most of the lifts, so you wouldn't be wasting a day or days figuring out what weights you can do. And you may only be able to progress like this for 2-4 weeks but that is 2-4 weeks that you would be progressing faster than otherwise.
    OK, I'm in. I'm still really impressionable at this point in the game, so you've piqued my curiosity enough to try it. Next Monday, I'll begin the Starting Strength program with the basic 5.
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    Originally Posted by AnotherSet View Post
    I noticed a slight pull in what may or may not be my teres major, so I called it a night. For those of you with the muscular vocabulary more at my level, I mean the muscle just below the armpit. Since I'm not deadlifting anything until the middle of next week at the earliest, I think it will be OK by then.
    It'll heal up quickly. I actually did something very similar earlier this week, getting out of bed of all things. I didn't even mention it in my journal because I knew it would go away quickly. Ice it a bunch, take 800mg of ibuprofen a few times a day for a few days, and put it through a full range of motion and it'll be fine.

    Originally Posted by AnotherSet View Post
    OK, I'm in. I'm still really impressionable at this point in the game, so you've piqued my curiosity enough to try it. Next Monday, I'll begin the Starting Strength program with the basic 5.
    I think this is a good decision. You will probably get a solid few weeks out of it. If it doesn't last very long, at least you can rest very easy knowing you have exhausted this means of progression.

    Now go order Practical Programming so you know how to proceed when things start slowing down.
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    Yeah, it's already feeling a bit better. Should be fine for next week. What I'd really like is to have my wrist 100%.
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    Great videos. Fantastic form on your squat. It's nice to see some people still follow good form. I'll be checking in for more vids.
    The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
    Vince Lombardi
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    Originally Posted by Cnstnce View Post
    Great videos. Fantastic form on your squat. It's nice to see some people still follow good form. I'll be checking in for more vids.
    Hey thanks. But you haven't seen my deadlift yet...
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    Week 1 - 8/2/2008 - Cardio

    Bike today: 20 minutes HIIT

    Leg Raises
    15x3

    Plank
    30 sec. front/30 sec. each side x3
    First time doing this. Challenging.
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    Deadlift Video

    Filming myself doing these exercises is a great learning experience. My deadlift the other day:



    I think I need to drop weight, lift my chest more, and arch my back more on the way up and on the way down. I want to make this right next week.
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    Week 1 Goal Check

    Lifting: I videorecorded my squat, press, and deadlift this week in the gym. Aside from feeling really self-absorbed, I think videorecording myself can give me a chance to find things that need correcting that I might not otherwise notice. It has been quite illuminating to see what my form actually looks like on these exercises. I'd like to do this again until I get these problems fixed. Finally, after getting some great input from Alpha Zulu (thanks man), I will begin the Starting Strength program on Monday.

    Cardio: Completed my cardio work for this week.

    Diet/Nutrition: I started the week well, but my diet went downhill (as in not eating enough well-rounded meals) as the week went on, and so did tracking of the diet. I need to become more consistent with this.

    Education: No significant progress this week. But I did get Strength Training Anatomy from the library yesterday. I flipped through it a bit, and it seems to be pretty good at depicting and labeling all of the muscles involved in many exercises. The human body is really something.

    Organization and Mentality: The week started off well. I was rested, I planned my Monday workout in advance, and I began keeping a log. As the week progressed, it all fell apart. I was really tired, I wasn't prepared, my mind wasn't engaged in the gym, and I couldn't keep up with it all. I'd like to blame this on the training class I'm attending in Baltimore each day and being in traffic for 2.5 hours. I have another three weeks of this training, so I wouldn't be surprised if it continues to affect my progress in the next few weeks. Hopefully when I return to work and my normal schedule, I will be able to get more sleep, devote more time to the preparation of my workouts and meals, and get more mentally focused. Finally, this journal has survived its first week. I realize I have been quite verbose, so I will try to keep my posts short and to the point.

    This Week's Challenges:
    • Prep for Starting Strength, prep mentally for each workout, and work on the form problems identified in last week's videos.
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    Good first week. That sucks about the training class, that is a hell of a lot of commuting to do each day. Even if you weren't perfect as the week went on, just getting in the gym, etc... is a lot of commitment given the circumstances.
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    Starting Strength - Week 1B - 8/4/2008
    You didn't miss anything. I'm starting with the B workout. It just happened to work better that way based on what I did on Friday.

    I was pumped for squats all day today! There we were, reviewing drive mapping and filesystem mounting in Linux, and all I could picture in my mind was me squatting and earning those to-be PRs. I also was lucky to have a little bit of a break in the middle of the day to review the Programming and Power Clean sections of SS, and I read through the Press in the evening, so I was definitely more engaged.

    Squat
    45x5
    45x5
    95x5
    135x3
    175x2

    215x5x3
    I almost got stuck on the last rep, but made it. I'm waiting to see how I will possibly add 5 lbs. to this on Wednesday. (Let me know if I need to tone down my optimism. )

    Press
    45x5
    45x5
    75x3
    95x2

    105x5x2
    105x4
    So close. I should have it on Friday. I tried for the last rep, and even though I wouldn't have gotten it, I gave up too soon when the bar stopped moving. I hate when I do that. When you get stuck, do you give yourself a certain count to make progress before scrapping the rep?

    Power Clean
    45x5
    45x5
    65x5
    65x5

    75x5x3
    I feel so uncoordinated with the power clean. The lift has too many dependent parts and is too quick of a movement for me to learn just from a book. I've seen some youtube videos, and I think it helps, though they're all so fast and drastically different. You have some who are very explosive, their feet leave the ground for only a split second, and they rack the bar really fast. Then you have some others who jump a little slower which buys them a little more time to rack and the movement looks more fluid. I've been stepping through some of these frame by frame. It's going to take me a bit longer to get the jump, shrug, stomp, and rack at the appropriate speeds and get it all feeling natural.

    There was nobody at the gym tonight, which was awesome. But I wonder if I'd have better results if I went in the afternoon right after work. I may experiment with this when I'm done with this training class.
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    Originally Posted by AnotherSet View Post

    Squat
    45x5
    45x5
    95x5
    135x3
    175x2

    215x5x3
    I almost got stuck on the last rep, but made it. I'm waiting to see how I will possibly add 5 lbs. to this on Wednesday. (Let me know if I need to tone down my optimism. )
    I think you will be surprised come Wednesday. I have found many times that when the frequency is high, after a hard session, the next one, even at a higher weight, is easier. Also 5 lbs isn't even 2.5% of 215, so the bar next time won't even be noticeably heavier. Get your sleep and diet in beforehadn and you should be OK. Don't be afriad to extend the rest periods if it is getting really tough.

    Another alternative would be to front squat on Wednesdays, but I think this should wait until you are absolutely sure you have done everything possible to be back squatting 3x per week for as long as possible.


    Press
    45x5
    45x5
    75x3
    95x2

    105x5x2
    105x4
    So close. I should have it on Friday. I tried for the last rep, and even though I wouldn't have gotten it, I gave up too soon when the bar stopped moving. I hate when I do that. When you get stuck, do you give yourself a certain count to make progress before scrapping the rep?
    Not really, just until it won't go anymore.
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    Originally Posted by Alpha Zulu View Post
    I think you will be surprised come Wednesday. I have found many times that when the frequency is high, after a hard session, the next one, even at a higher weight, is easier. Also 5 lbs isn't even 2.5% of 215, so the bar next time won't even be noticeably heavier. Get your sleep and diet in beforehadn and you should be OK. Don't be afriad to extend the rest periods if it is getting really tough.
    I'm not sure if I should go heavier on Wednesday. I recorded one of my squat sets yesterday, and I noticed two things. First, the bar travels forward on the way down so it is over my toes at the bottom of the squat. Second, as you mentioned before, my knees are way in front of my feet. So I'm thinking I should fix this first. I'll try to take a closer look at my warmup sets tomorrow to see if I'm doing the same thing there or if it's only present with heavier weight.
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    Cardio - 8/2/2008

    20 minutes on the rowing machine: 1 minute fast/2 minutes recovery
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    Starting Strength - Week 1A - 8/6/2008

    I had a chance to review the squat chapter before today's workout, which I think helped me work through some of my form problems. Analysis of the videos will tell more.

    Squat
    45x5
    45x5
    95x5
    135x3
    175x2

    215x5 - Form looked decent on the video, so I bumped up the weight.
    225x5x2

    Bench Press
    45x5
    45x5
    85x5
    125x3
    165x2

    190x5x3 - This felt solid today, so I look forward to upping this on Monday.

    Deadlift
    135x5
    135x5
    185x5
    225x3

    260x5 - I dropped the weight 30 lbs. to see if I could get my back in better shape.
    260x5 - My piece of **** camera didn't write the last set to the memory card, so I decided to do one more.

    I recorded some of my warmup sets on the deadlift, and still wasn't satisfied with how my lower back looked. It looked flat at best. I did the thing where I'm lying on the ground face down lifting my shoulders and knees off the ground, and I'm not getting that same feeling in my lower back as I set up for the pull or do the pull. I don't know if this is a flexibility issue or what. The 260 looked bad enough that I'm considering dropping weight again next time. I posted to Exercises to get some more opinions.

    Last edited by AnotherSet; 08-06-2008 at 08:55 PM.
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    Deadlift Post to Exercises

    So I can find this thread again easily, here's my post to Exercises about my deadlift: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?p=202991571
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    Squat Tips

    As I went through the squat chapter again yesterday, I made some notes to pay attention to in my log book. This list is my reference in case I need a quick refresher on what to think about.
    • Maintain tension in hamstrings/adductors/glutes on the way down
    • Drive hips up out of the bottom of the squat using hamstrings/adductors/glutes
    • Lock pelvis in line with lower back
    • Don't move knees forward in the bottom half of the squat
    • Stick butt back and sit into the squat
    • 45 degree trunk angle is OK; don't be too vertical
    • Lift elbows and chest to secure bar and tighten shoulders
    • Grip hands above the bar, wrists in straight line with forearm
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    Originally Posted by AnotherSet View Post
    So I can find this thread again easily, here's my post to Exercises about my deadlift: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?p=202991571
    I agree with what was said there, start with your hips a little higher, which will move your knees back a little bit and make pulling the bar straight back a little simpler.
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    Originally Posted by Alpha Zulu View Post
    I agree with what was said there, start with your hips a little higher, which will move your knees back a little bit and make pulling the bar straight back a little simpler.
    Hmm. I thought he meant start with hips lower. If I start with them higher, it would seem to be more difficult to get my back in the proper arched condition. Let me check.
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