Getting Big in Little China

[pyaarawala]

Started Starting Strength about 5 weeks ago but I'm just making the log now. Started at 5'11, 149.6 lbs. I'm eating to gain 0.5-1lb/week, leaning more towards 1lb/week now since the lifts are starting to get somewhat heavy.

GOAL IN 3 MONTHS:

SQUAT - 310 LBS -- BENCH - 225 LBS -- DEADLIFT 405 LBS!! -- OVERHEAD PRESS 135 lbs!!
CLEAN -- 225 LBS!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Week 1 - 149.6 lbs

Squat - 95 lbs 3x5
Deadlift - 95 lbs 3x5
Bench press - 75 lbs 3x5


Week 2 - 151.58 lbs, 17.3% bf

1) Friday, June 1st

Squat - 115 lbs 3x5
Deadlift - 115 lbs 1x5
Bench Press - 95 lbs 3x5
Overhead Press - 45 lbs 3x5 **PRACTICE**
Power Clean - 45 lbs 3x5 **PRACTICE**

2) Monday, June 4th

Squat - 125 lbs 3x5
Deadlift - 135 lbs 1x5
Bench Press - 105 lbs 3x5

3) Wednesday, June 6th

Deadlift - 145 lbs
Clean - 65 lbs
Squat - 135 lbs (felt rly tired from deadlift/clean)
Press - 65 lbs

Week 3 - 151.36 lbs (68.8 kg), 17.7% bf

1) Friday, June 8th

Squat - 145 lbs
Clean - 85 lbs
Bench - 115 lbs
Press - 75 lbs

Week 4 - 156.86 lbs (71.3kg), 18.5% bf

Squat - 155 lbs
Deadlift - 185 lbs
Bench - 125 lbs
Clean - 95 lbs

2) Tuesday, June 19th

Squat - 165 lbs
Deadlift - 195 lbs
Bench - 135 lbs

3) Friday, June 22nd

Squat - 175 lbs
Press - 85 lbs
Clean - 95 lbs

4) Sunday, June 24th

Squat - 185 lbs
Deadlift - 210 lbs
Bench - 140 lbs

In the beginning I was doing another program along with SS, but that really screwed things up but now I'm only strictly doing SS. And my #1 goal is to get BIG and STRONG! I was adding 10lbs per session on each exercise before, but I'm going to lessen the weight addition to make sure I don't stall. Squats, Bench, OHP, and Cleans will all be +5lbs per session, but deadlift will be 15 lbs per session.

Still working on perfecting my form on all exercises as well, especially the cleans and bench! Hope my weight goes up even more as I perfect my form!

[pyaarawala]

Week 5 - 159 lbs, 19.1% bf

1) Tuesday, June 26th

Squat - 195 lbs
Press - 90 lbs
Clean - 105 lbs
^^Finished these 3 in an hour, so added the following:
Pullups to failure - 8 clean reps
Bicep curls - 40x8, 50x6, 70x4 all clean reps

Squats are feeling heavy, but am still making decent progress. Enough to be adding 10 lbs/session. I'm confident to add 10lbs/session at least till I get to 2 plates.
Press is also feeling heavy. Feeling a bit out of control on that one so to be safe, 5 lbs/session.
Cleans still gotta work on hip extension. Will be adding 10lbs/session till hip extension comes nicely.

Weight: Gained 3 lbs in one week! Don't know if it's water weight or fat, guessing mostly water weight because I don't think it's possible to put on so much fat in such a short amount of time even while watching my caloric surplus. But I don't mind, I wanna be BIG!

[pyaarawala]

2) Thursday, June 28th

Squat - 205
Deadlift - 225
Bench - 145

Squat + deadlift felt super heavy. Not feeling too good today while doing squats.

[pyaarawala]

3) Monday, July 2nd

Squat - 215 lbs - 1x5 (5th rep was off), 1x4, then 1x2. Felt pretty heavy, increase by 5 lbs from now on.
Press - 95 (not too difficult, barely had any rest time in between)

Didn't get to do cleans

[xRequiem]

In, looking good so far. Cleans are meant to be done 5x3 btw. Also, 15lbs per session on deads is going to catch up to you really fast. I did that for a while and it made me stall and have to reset. good luck though

[pyaarawala]

In, looking good so far. Cleans are meant to be done 5x3 btw. Also, 15lbs per session on deads is going to catch up to you really fast. I did that for a while and it made me stall and have to reset. good luck though

Really? It was going pretty decently for me so far. It's getting pretty heavy but still doable, I might drop it to 10 lbs a session soon then. SS recommends 10-15 lbs on deadlift though, and 5 lbs on the rest.

[pyaarawala]

Took a week off since I flew from China to US and had to get settled in and find another gym membership. Today was my first day of Week 6.

Wednesday, July 11th

Squat - 220 lbs (pretty heavy, adding 5 lbs per session from now on)
Deadlift - 240 lbs (left hand hurt due to grip and was heavy, but weight was still somewhat liftable)
Bench Press - 150 lbs (didn't use a spotter this time, rested 4 min between sets - pretty easy)

[sam1973]

Took a week off since I flew from China to US and had to get settled in and find another gym membership. Today was my first day of Week 6.

Wednesday, July 11th

Squat - 220 lbs (pretty heavy, adding 5 lbs per session from now on)
Deadlift - 240 lbs (left hand hurt due to grip and was heavy, but weight was still somewhat liftable)
Bench Press - 150 lbs (didn't use a spotter this time, rested 4 min between sets - pretty easy)

These are good lifts for your body weight. I was also adding 10 lbs to squat and DL per session, but now am adding only 5 lb per session to squats. Since I do only 1 set per week it's doable till now. Subscribed to your thread. Good luck with lifting

[pyaarawala]

These are good lifts for your body weight. I was also adding 10 lbs to squat and DL per session, but now am adding only 5 lb per session to squats. Since I do only 1 set per week it's doable till now. Subscribed to your thread. Good luck with lifting

Thanks man. I might just keep adding 15 lbs to DL till I hit 3 plates or so, then reduce it to 10. But I'll see how I feel next time I'm deadlifting. Squats I definitely gotta reduce to 5 lbs because those are just getting really heavy and difficult to complete.

[xRequiem]

Well, I added 10lbs a session on deads all the way to 395x5. If I did 15lbs I probably would have stalled a lot faster.

[pyaarawala]

Well, I added 10lbs a session on deads all the way to 395x5. If I did 15lbs I probably would have stalled a lot faster.

Since I'm on 240 lbs on DL, I'll add 15 lbs next session to get to 255 lbs, and then starting the next session after that only add 10 lbs a session so that it evenly adds up to 315 (3 plates) and 405 (4 plates) eventually (and hopefully :P)

[pyaarawala]

Week 6, Workout day 2) Friday, July 13th

Squat - 225 lbs (got in all the reps. was heavy but I felt stronger today and did well on squats today)
Press - 100 lbs (feeling good)
Clean - 115 lbs (getting the hang of the weight, but still need to practice form as I go, will be adding 5 lbs per session as I go)

Added the following exercises just cuz I was feeling it:

Wide grip pullups - 3 sets to failure
Set 1: 8 reps
Set 2: 6 reps
Set 3: 3 reps

Dips - 3 sets to failure
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 8 reps
Set 3: 5 reps

Stability ball front planks - 3 sets to failure
Standing leg raises on Captain's Chair - 3 sets to failure

[xRequiem]

Since I'm on 240 lbs on DL, I'll add 15 lbs next session to get to 255 lbs, and then starting the next session after that only add 10 lbs a session so that it evenly adds up to 315 (3 plates) and 405 (4 plates) eventually (and hopefully :P)

Makes since, do you pull sumo or conventional? You should check out meh log some time.

[pyaarawala]

Makes since, do you pull sumo or conventional? You should check out meh log some time.

I do convential deadlifts. Got a link to your log?

[xRequiem]

In my sig haha

[pyaarawala]

Week 6 Workout Day 3) Sunday, July 16

Deadlift - 230 lbs (screwed this one up. I did DL first cuz the squat rack was taken and I mistakened the weight for squats, and did 230 instead of 255 on deadlifts. So I'll do 255 next Workout A session)

Bench Press - 155 lbs (pretty easy, had a spotter this time. Should be able to maintain linear progression for a while on this.)

Squat - 230 lbs (on each set I only did 3 reps and rested no more than 60 sec then pulled out the last 2 reps. for some reason the bar was hurting on my traps and it felt really heavy today)

Current body weight: 160.4 lbs

[pyaarawala]

Week 7: Workout Day 1 - Wednesday, July 18th

Squat - 235 lbs (felt pretty strong today, got in all 3x5 nicely)
Press - 105 lbs (was heavy, did 1x5, 1x3 then quickly got in 2 more reps after 40 sec rest, then 1x4 and couldn't do the last rep)
Clean - 120 lbs (still seem to be arm pulling, hoping I can get my form down soon)

It's the beginning of Week 7 and I forgot to check my weight, FML

[pyaarawala]

Week 7: Workout Day 2 - Friday, July 20th

Squat - 240 lbs (1x5, 1x2, 1x2) - totally screwed up today, felt so weak.
Deadlift - 255 lbs (1x5) - this was the only exercise today that I managed to finish
Bench Press - 160 lbs (3x2) - no spotter

Today was AWFUL! It's the first day of Ramadan and I went to the gym RIGHT after stuffing myself after breaking my fast, and I just felt so weak today and couldn't lift ****. I really hope this doesn't keep happening because I have whole month left of this. And my gym closes at 11 and I break my fast at 9.

[AliLeo94]

Week 7: Workout Day 2 - Friday, July 20th

Squat - 240 lbs (1x5, 1x2, 1x2) - totally screwed up today, felt so weak.
Deadlift - 255 lbs (1x5) - this was the only exercise today that I managed to finish
Bench Press - 160 lbs (3x2) - no spotter

Today was AWFUL! It's the first day of Ramadan and I went to the gym RIGHT after stuffing myself after breaking my fast, and I just felt so weak today and couldn't lift ****. I really hope this doesn't keep happening because I have whole month left of this. And my gym closes at 11 and I break my fast at 9.

You have two options:

Lift an hour or two hours before Iftar, depending on the duration of your workout

OR

Break your fast with some dates, a **** load of water and protein shake. Then, head to the gym.

[pyaarawala]

You have two options:

Lift an hour or two hours before Iftar, depending on the duration of your workout

OR

Break your fast with some dates, a **** load of water and protein shake. Then, head to the gym.

Thanks for the tips, man. I think I'll try working out fasted first. Because it's really tempting to eat a lot when it's time to break my fast, haha. I don't think I have the discipline to fast the whole day then only break my fast with a small amount of food.

[pyaarawala]

Week 7: Workout Day 2 - Monday, July 23rd

Since I did terribly on my last workout, I decided to do last Friday's workout again, effectively moving my SS two days behind.

Squat - 240 - 3x5 (was finally able to pull it off, still felt heavy though but just gave it my all and pulled out all the reps)
Bench Press - 160 - 3x5 (had a spotter this time, was a bit tough but doable).

Didn't do deadlifts today since I was successful on the deadlifts last session. Seems like working out fasted is the way to go during Ramadan.

[jshaw5]

Nice progress so far man, good luck with your goals. Most of my workouts are fasted (lift first thing in am), I like that better.

[michaelkirby]

Nice work man.
I'm running ss at the moment currently week 5. Starting to get tought now but it will be worth it in the long run.

[QuickNick]

GJ man! I cant even imagine trying to do SS with any sort of fasting conditions. I am just now reaching the point where my squats are getting heavy. Glad to see you getting past your hurdles.

[QuickNick]

Nice work man.
I'm running ss at the moment currently week 5. Starting to get tought now but it will be worth it in the long run.

Nice, Im on week 5 also.

[pyaarawala]

GJ man! I cant even imagine trying to do SS with any sort of fasting conditions. I am just now reaching the point where my squats are getting heavy. Glad to see you getting past your hurdles.

Yeah man it's pretty tough and I'm only assuming it will get harder when the weights get even heavier. Squats are my biggest issue because on those weights I really seem to struggle and it takes 100% mental focus to get all those reps in. I always feel like just stopping because squats are really hard in my opinion.

Nice work man.
I'm running ss at the moment currently week 5. Starting to get tought now but it will be worth it in the long run.

Thanks man. How are your lifts now? Got a log?

Nice progress so far man, good luck with your goals. Most of my workouts are fasted (lift first thing in am), I like that better.

Thanks man. Same to you

[michaelkirby]

Ya lifts are getting there.
Squat 192
Bench 148
Press 88
Deadlift 210
Rows 160

Can certainly feel a stall coming with press but other than that the numbers are goin up every workout.

[pyaarawala]

Ya lifts are getting there.
Squat 192
Bench 148
Press 88
Deadlift 210
Rows 160

Can certainly feel a stall coming with press but other than that the numbers are goin up every workout.

Nice, you do rows too? You don't do cleans? I guess it's fine but I want to increase my vertical so I prefer cleans.

Yeah those damn presses are really tough. I missed reps for the first time on my last workout on a measly 105. I hope I can reach at least 1 plate while on SS. Gluck with your program man!

[jshaw5]

Do you ever record your lifts? Posting videos in your log is a great tool, allows yourself and others to critique your form and suggest changes.

[pyaarawala]

Do you ever record your lifts? Posting videos in your log is a great tool, allows yourself and others to critique your form and suggest changes.

Yeah I always want to but I never have a friend with me to record me lift. I used to stick my phone into a 5 lb plate and record myself at my old gym, but my current gym doesn't seem to have a good spot to place it and record my lifts n get a side shot.

I'll look for a buddy to record my squat especially because they're getting really heavy and I hope my form isn't deteriorating.