Bluebirds, Butterflies, and Barbells - A Starting Strength Journal

[MatTheCur]

Thanks man, gonna try some BBB OHP after I bench today. Today I put up a mirror in front of the squat rack:

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v367/petergibbons316/Mirror.jpg[/xIMG]

Just make sure it doesn't warp.

That sucks. The mirrors at my gym in front of the power racks are warped. Throws me off sometimes.

[PeterGibbons316]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it. The mirror was only like $30 at Lowe's which I am pretty happy about. When I first put down the floor and bought the rack I looked into getting some large gym mirrors but they were incredibly expensive, so I didn't bother with it. Then I'm walking through Lowe's trying to find the steel wool to clean my barbell and I stumbled across this beauty. Couldn't be happier with it so far. Drilling into the concrete foundation was fun, never done that before.

[PeterGibbons316]

5-3-1, Cycle 4, Week 2, Day 2
BW: 220.8 lbs.

Bench Press
45x5
45x5
135x5
175x3
210x3
240x3
270x7 (vid) PR

Easiest PR I have had in a while. Wasn't focusing on my elbows so they were coming forward pretty badly, need to work on that still.

CGBP
190x6
215x3
240x9 (vid) PR

First set of 3 felt good so I did 3 more before racking. Was trying to use a lot of leg drive on these just for kicks. Nice PR on these.

Rows
95x5
95x5
145x5
195x3
215x3
240x8 (vid) PR

Huge PR on these. Previous best was 230x7, so 10 more pounds and one more rep. Really happy with that. I actually took the time to get a nice breath before each rep which I think helped a lot. Need to remember to continue to do that.

Dips
220x15 PR
235x3
270x3
305x7

No PR here. This was BW + 85 lbs which I have gotten for 7 reps before when I was 5 lbs heavier.

OHP - BBB
100x10
100x10
100x10
100x7
85x8

Almost embarrassed to post this . Exactly 90 second rest between all sets. This was really, really hard. I'm not used to this short rest period ****. I liked it though, and definitely felt it in my shoulders. Should I try this same weight next time, or drop to 90 or 95 lbs you think?

Vid:



Notes:
Pretty good day today. Had a good bench PR that came pretty easily which surprised me. Rows were incredible and finally starting to catch up to my bench which I think is good. And of course the extra OHP work was killer.

[pezking7p]

very nice. Keep weight the same for the OHP stuff.

[Woody-5]

270x7 bench. Easy PR. Damn dude.

[The Shoeless Wonder]

whats bbb?

dont feel bad, i cant press for sht.

depending on what your goal is for ohp, id say drop the weight so you can hit all the reps across all sets

[PeterGibbons316]

whats bbb?

dont feel bad, i cant press for sht.

depending on what your goal is for ohp, id say drop the weight so you can hit all the reps across all sets

BBB = Boring But Big

It's a 5x10 with 50% of your working max. The focus is on hypertrophy so it's done with short rest between sets.

[ddog171]

Nice job on the PRs. 270 x 7 is strong. As for the BBB, the first time I did them, I was fried, not use to the volume. Plus you had CGBP and dips before hand to tire you out. You will get use to the volume, but it is never really easy. I would probably drop to 95 and have a goal of working up, or do 5 x 8 to get use to the volume.

[liftingson]

Nice PRs man!
BBB..it will creep up on you! I think I might would drop down 5lbs and try to hit all sets for 10. Jelly of your rows, thats one lift I've never been comfortable with..One arm rows, Im fine, bent over bb rows..I just cant get it right.

[PeterGibbons316]

Thanks guys. I knew after I finished my first set that it was going to be really hard, and then after my second set I could tell I wasn't going to make it. I'll probably just leave it at 100 lbs and keep working at it.

[PeterGibbons316]

Do me a favor everyone. Some friends of mine are getting married and entered a contest for a free photographer. They are paying for the wedding themselves and don't have a lot of money, so this would really help them out. If you have a few minutes, click this link and vote for Tiffany and Eric:

https://www.********.com/sunnystudio..._data=wlbb%3D1

Link to their entry page: http://www.thesunnyblog.com/?p=4823

Thanks for your help!

[Ironlife]

270x7 is getting into Jrahe territory mirn that!


Have u maxed recently? 270x7 should be around 335?

[johnblythe]

Do me a favor everyone. Some friends of mine are getting married and entered a contest for a free photographer. They are paying for the wedding themselves and don't have a lot of money, so this would really help them out. If you have a few minutes, click this link and vote for Tiffany and Eric:

https://www.********.com/sunnystudio..._data=wlbb%3D1

Link to their entry page: http://www.thesunnyblog.com/?p=4823

Thanks for your help!

done

great work on 270 btw brah

[liftingson]

voted man. they are pretty far behind some of the other couples. U should make a thread and use the power of the MISC. the misc could make get them lots of votes.

[jshaw5]

Unsubbed for weak OHPing. Haha j/k. Nice job with the workout, your bench is getting ridiculous. Voted for your friend, hopefully they win it, wedding photography is fukin expensive.

[PeterGibbons316]

Thanks for voting everyone. I'd love to be in a position to pay for their photographer, but that's just too much money for me unfortunately. I will try a MISC thread.

270x7 is getting into Jrahe territory mirn that!


Have u maxed recently? 270x7 should be around 335?

Haven't maxed since January where I got 315 easy, but then failed 325. I'm probably good for 330 now, but not planning to max until I finish my cut and switch to TM - probably around August or maybe even September.

[400Lb Gorilla]

nice benching fukker 270x7 is fukking hyyyyooooooooogggggeeeeeeeeee

[The Shoeless Wonder]

nice benching fukker 270x7 is fukking hyyyyooooooooogggggeeeeeeeeee

just like your mom

[dopamine72]

^^^ Lmao

270x7? Wtf man. Might have to unsub cuz its making me depressed to see you getting so close to my bench strength and I can't even lift.

Srsly tho, crazy ass progress. You should do a PLing meet when you get dat 1500 total, which you obviously can achieve.

[Farley1324]

That bench is outa here

[PeterGibbons316]

5-3-1, Cycle 4, Week 2, Day 3
BW: 222.8 lbs.

Squat
45x5
45x5
155x5
215x3
270x3
305x3 (vid)
355x8 (vid) PR

So this was pretty huge. Previous best was 245x8, so same reps - 10 more lbs. Calculator puts my max at 440 with this. Sounds a little high, but who knows.

I LOVE the mirror I put up. The biggest thing today was my grip. I was draping my hands over the bar and pushing down on it (I think perhaps part of the reason why my elbow was screwed up for so long), and I just saw how bad it was in the mirror today. So I worked all through my warmups on getting my wrists straight and really driving the bar straight into my back and not down on it. I was really able to keep everything tight this way and I think that helped a lot today.

Front Squat
155x4
190x3
215x3
240x7 (vid) PR

I looked at my board before these and said "OK, need 7 for a PR....that isn't gonna happen - I'll just do as many as I can." Got 7

Good Morning
155x5
225x8 (vid)
225x8 (vid)
225x8 PR

Camera died after the 2nd set, but I'm pretty sure the last set would have looked UGLY! Got my 3x8, but I think I am going to just stick with this weight. Maybe try for 3x10 before I increase the weight. Definitely not trying to rush the weight increases on this exercise.

EZ-Bar Curls
95x7 PR
95x7
95x6

I need to warm up for these next time. Wrists and forearms felt goofy after the first set.

Hanging Leg Raises
BWx6 PR
BWx6
BWx7 PR

Did these instead of ab wheel today. I really like them. I'm touching my feet to the rafters above my rack on every rep, but I'm really having to swing my feet up there. I tried a couple slower reps and couldn't even complete them, so lots of room for improvement on these.

Vid:



Notes:
Pretty ****ing spectacular day today. Good thing my basement doesn't have a lunk alarm, definitely would have set that thing off on my squat set

[pezking7p]

355x8??? FUUUUUUU!

[PeterGibbons316]

Thanks fellas. LOL @ whale pic.

Srsly tho, crazy ass progress. You should do a PLing meet when you get dat 1500 total, which you obviously can achieve.

Thanks man, this makes me feel really good. I have been toying with the idea of going to a meet at some point, it's just not that big around here so I would have to drive like 2-3 hours to get to one I think.

[Ironlife]

At this rate youll overtake LIME on squats in 9 weeks time

[PeterGibbons316]

At this rate youll overtake LIME on squats in 9 weeks time

lol, I make an effort to not care about anything LIME does. I'm sure he would just write me off as a fatass since he is like 50 lbs lighter than me though.

At this point a 5-plate squat is looking well within the realm of possibility for this year. Pretty happy with that.

[pezking7p]

5 plate squat would be hyooge and well within your capabilities.

[Farley1324]

At this rate youll overtake LIME on squats in 9 weeks time

lol

He do his squats to depth yet? Move out of his parent's house yet? Get out of community college yet?

[Ironlife]

lol

He do his squats to depth yet? Move out of his parent's house yet? Get out of community college yet?

1) no
2) no
3) no

[liftingson]

nice squats man. killing those good mornings!

[FastCatChamp]

All good sessions.

Keep up the work beast boy!