Getting Big in Little China

[pyaarawala]

Cool first session. I thought that template was for females or older trainees with recovery issues from pulling every workout?

You have PP 3rd Edition? It's on pages 86-87. He goes over how the novice programming changes as the novice is on the program for a longer amount of time. The setup above is the third one, and I'm supposed to continue this until I finish up my LP.

[pyaarawala]

^^Actually Ginja I decided to just do the classic A/B workouts with no chins just yet. I'll be pulling every day though. I'll do chins here and there if I have time but it's not completely necessary at this point.

Workout B

SQUAT

230x5
230x5
230x5

These are getting hard already. Pretty gay.

PRESS

125x5
125x5
125x4

Again I missed the last rep on the last set. The bar got away from me. First set was real tough but second set was much better as I focused on staying more tight. I'll deload if I miss it again next time. I'm not too disappointed since this is the only lift I didn't give a generous starting point at. As well as squats actually.

POWER CLEAN

135x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x3

These felt pretty strong. It's annoying as hell to keep lowering the 35s onto the 45 lb plates on the floor. I use 45 lb plates on the floor to get the right height to clean from, because 1 plate on the bar is 145 lbs in my gym, not 135 lbs. So I can't actually pull with 1 plate till I get to a 145 lb power clean.

[dk240t]

Squats are always hard.

Don't let them get in your head.

[GinjaNinja85]

The classic A/B is my favourite template! That other one makes no sense to me. Intermediate programs have you pulling 2-3 times a week. Seems silly to reduce it to 1.5 times IMO. I was referencing SS 3rd Ed. I didnt notice that part in PP3. Must've skimmed over it. What I took from the book is that I'm going to keep frequency up as much as possible but use the back off method on squats and triples method on press and bench. With pulling, reps can reduce down to triples, doubles or singles before resetting to 5s/3s. There's a few pages on that and it an awesome read.

[pyaarawala]

Squats are always hard.

Don't let them get in your head.

Yeah you're right. And the fact that they don't turn on the AC when I go in the morning doesn't help either.

The classic A/B is my favourite template! That other one makes no sense to me. Intermediate programs have you pulling 2-3 times a week. Seems silly to reduce it to 1.5 times IMO. I was referencing SS 3rd Ed. I didnt notice that part in PP3. Must've skimmed over it. What I took from the book is that I'm going to keep frequency up as much as possible but use the back off method on squats and triples method on press and bench. With pulling, reps can reduce down to triples, doubles or singles before resetting to 5s/3s. There's a few pages on that and it an awesome read.

Hmm, that's not what it says in PP3. But whatever, at this stage it doesn't matter right now. I still have ways to go before I have to think about changing my programming. I've been doing good with my diet, workouts, and rest lately. I just need to keep it up.

[GinjaNinja85]

Yeah you're right. And the fact that they don't turn on the AC when I go in the morning doesn't help either.



Hmm, that's not what it says in PP3. But whatever, at this stage it doesn't matter right now. I still have ways to go before I have to think about changing my programming. I've been doing good with my diet, workouts, and rest lately. I just need to keep it up.

I saw the bit your talking about. I'll keep deadlifting minimum once a week whatever that says. Look at page 96 for the bit I'm talking about. It's in there.

[pyaarawala]

^^Will do. Thanks

Workout A

SQUAT

235x5
235x5
235x5



BENCH

170x5
170x5
170x5



DEADLIFT

195x5

STANDING CALF RAISES

280x12
280x12
280x12

------------------------

[pyaarawala]

I saw the bit your talking about. I'll keep deadlifting minimum once a week whatever that says. Look at page 96 for the bit I'm talking about. It's in there.

I reread that page in the book and see what you mean. What's funny is that I never did that the first time during my LP. I just switched onto TM right away once I couldn't make progress on all reps of 3x5. I really gotta do it right this time.

June 9th Weight: 80.4 kg (176.7 lbs)
June 16th Weight: 79.3 kg (174.5 lbs)
June 23rd Weight: 79.3 kg (174.5 lbs)
July 9th Weight: 78.0 kg (171 lbs)
July 20th Weight: 77.3 kg (170 lbs)
July 27th Weight: 77.2 kg (169.8 lbs)

Somehow ended up losing 0.1 kg. I'm eating about 2500 cals/day, sometimes more. But I'm focusing mostly on hitting my macros than calories. As long as I don't lose too much or gain too much, I'm happy. Although I'd prefer to gain a little instead of lose a little to ensure strength progression.

[pyaarawala]

Workout B

SQUAT

240x5
240x5
240x5

Feeling it in lower back again. Form looks fine on video though.

PRESS

125x5
125x5
125x5

Finally hit 3x5. Form got better as the sets progressed as always with the press. If only I can keep my form tight from set 1 it'll help big time.

POWER CLEAN

140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3



Form is a bit off. I can see my elbows clearly pointing down when I catch the bar, and I'm still somewhat muscle-upping the weight. Next time I can hit 145 which will be 1 plate. It should look quite badass, and I don't have to worry about lowering the bar onto the 2 plates on the floor anymore.

INCLINE DB BENCH

55x10
55x10
55x8

Gonna work on these till I can get 3x10.

ALTERNATING DB CURLS

25x10
25x10
25x10

------------------------------

[GinjaNinja85]

Nice session Hassan. On power cleans, I'd say you need to focus on being much more explosive on the 2nd pull. The hip extension, ankle extension and shrug need to be powerful. I generally just explode upwards, or shrug and jump at the same time. Also, you need to get the elbows round quicker, like you said already. Practice makes perfect though

[pyaarawala]

Nice session Hassan. On power cleans, I'd say you need to focus on being much more explosive on the 2nd pull. The hip extension, ankle extension and shrug need to be powerful. I generally just explode upwards, or shrug and jump at the same time. Also, you need to get the elbows round quicker, like you said already. Practice makes perfect though

Yeah man, I'm gonna try to focus on that next time. Just gotta really haul that bar upwards with no fear.

Workout A

LIGHT SQUAT

165x5
165x5
165x5

I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to be doing light squats or not. I know in PP I'm not supposed to do them until after I've already progressed to not pulling every workout (alternating deadlift/cleans and back extensions/chins). And light squats are supposed to be introduced once I have to do one reset. I believe the light squats will do me more good than harm though, especially since the lower back really kills after squatting.

BENCH

172.5x5
172.5x5
172.5x5

Easy except for the last rep of each set. Maybe I'm not staying tight enough.

DEADLIFT

205x5

Easy.

-----------------------------

I wanted to do chins and calf raises but no time.

[GinjaNinja85]

What happened to you? No training?

[pyaarawala]

What happened to you? No training?

Hey man. Yeah I ended up stopping for a month but now I'm started again, under the direct supervision of an SS coach I got a 3 month nutrition + programming package with one nearby. I'm back in the US for good now btw, so I'm definitely taking advantage.

I'm extremely busy now preparing for the USMLE Step 1 as well as working part-time in a clinic, so I don't have much time to be posting around the board much. So I think for now I'll ditch this log (or maybe just update much less frequency, like in a few months or so), and just have a written log for myself and my coach.

Thanks for all the support guys! I restarted SS from scratch and am on one very different diet. Paying someone for a nutrition plan really forces you to eat properly, or at least it works like that for me. And I'm learning a lot too!

One major thing is, I was using the completely wrong squat stance the entire time which was killing my low back.

[GinjaNinja85]

Hey man. Yeah I ended up stopping for a month but now I'm started again, under the direct supervision of an SS coach I got a 3 month nutrition + programming package with one nearby. I'm back in the US for good now btw, so I'm definitely taking advantage.

I'm extremely busy now preparing for the USMLE Step 1 as well as working part-time in a clinic, so I don't have much time to be posting around the board much. So I think for now I'll ditch this log (or maybe just update much less frequency, like in a few months or so), and just have a written log for myself and my coach.

Thanks for all the support guys! I restarted SS from scratch and am on one very different diet. Paying someone for a nutrition plan really forces you to eat properly, or at least it works like that for me. And I'm learning a lot too!

One major thing is, I was using the completely wrong squat stance the entire time which was killing my low back.

Good to hear your on track. Best of luck bud.

[pyaarawala]

Been about 3 months since my last post, things are going quite well. My current lifts are at:

Squat: 290x5x3
Bench: 185x5x3 (should be more but I had a minor shoulder injury)
Press: 125x3x5 (also should be more but had minor shoulder injury)
Deadlift: 325x5
Clean: 130x3x5

Form is much better on all the lifts now that an SS coach is guiding me, and most importantly, nutrition is much better. I started at 170 lbs, ~25% body fat according to my coach which is quite likely since I had a 35.5" waist. Now I'm 178, at 34" waist. Still pretty high body fat but I put on some decent amount of LBM and gained quite a lot of strength. My LP this time around is going quite well, doing 290x5x3 squat and still got quite a lot of gains to make, whereas on my last LP I got stuck on 290 squat and had to move to TM to progress it again.

Also gotta mention my strength gains are quite good for someone who's on a very conservative surplus. If I was eating a lot more just 100% trying to get strong w/out worrying about body composition, I'd have made much faster progress, but this is still good enough since I don't wanna get fatter.

[pyaarawala]

Just checking in with some lifts:

Deadlift 380x5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZGAzQ5SIdM
Squat 365x3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khTTdcbqWCY
Bench: 225x3
Press 155x3

Got a powerlifting meet in August in NJ.

[Sinaku5]

Just checking in with some lifts:

Deadlift 380x5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZGAzQ5SIdM
Squat 365x3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khTTdcbqWCY
Bench: 225x3
Press 155x3

Got a powerlifting meet in August in NJ.

**** bro you're getting strong as fuark!

And looking aesthetic as fuark!

Impressived. You've come a long way.

Keep posting on here!

[GinjaNinja85]

Lol, you got strong dude! Hope you're all good pal.

[pyaarawala]

**** bro you're getting strong as fuark!

And looking aesthetic as fuark!

Impressived. You've come a long way.

Keep posting on here!

Thanks man! I would but with prepping for my board exams and training I'm already busy as hell, and need as much time as possible for those. I'll lurk here and there, lol.

Lol, you got strong dude! Hope you're all good pal.

Thanks man!

[pyaarawala]

Got a 1102.3 lb total at 181.6 lb bodyweight (183 lb weight class). Went 9/9!

Oh and btw, I haven't been in China for a year now so now I'm just getting bigger in the US, lol.

[Sinaku5]

NICE JOB BROSKI!

DUDE GIVE US THE SPECIFICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't go MIA for another 2 years b4 u do...lol. IK you're busy and all but give us some love

[jshaw5]

Awesome job man.

[pyaarawala]

NICE JOB BROSKI!

DUDE GIVE US THE SPECIFICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't go MIA for another 2 years b4 u do...lol. IK you're busy and all but give us some love

No idea why i didnt mention the lifts, haha. Squat 407.5, bench 236, and deadlift 456.6 lbs. those were my last attempts.

Yeah man i will be dropping by more often. I love how everyone including myself has been progressing well

[pyaarawala]

Awesome job man.

Thanks!

[GinjaNinja85]

Im so jealous of your lifts! Amazing work man. Your progress has really taken off.

[pyaarawala]

Im so jealous of your lifts! Amazing work man. Your progress has really taken off.

Thank you man!

[tontyx]

Awesome progress bro..

And have you started residency now?

Your lifts are just something man. I got busy, had a baby and couldn't continue. Started again but not enjoying. Just going through the motions.

When I joined back in, I thought of starting with AllPro and not sure what it was... SLDL, Squats, Dealifts or Row.. I ****ed up my hips again and still bad. I deadlift and I get sore as hell. Now taking it easy.

One thing stuck me. You said your squat stance was ****ng up your hips?

What stance was it? How were you doing wrong and how did u change it?

What did your coach help with. I cant get a partner let alone a coach here haha.

[pyaarawala]

I need a routine that is 3-4 days a week, no more than an hour in the gym, to maintain strength/get lean. Any ideas?

[GinjaNinja85]

I need a routine that is 3-4 days a week, no more than an hour in the gym, to maintain strength/get lean. Any ideas?

Jeez, where to start. A friend of mine really rates Canditos 4 day program. I've always liked TM. Currently im doing a squat - bench -squat/dead - bench set up 4 days a week with a few accesories each day. Works through rep ranges at varying intensities like 5x5, 5x3, 4x6, 4x2, 5x4 and then adds weight every 2 and a half weeks. Seems decent. Takes a little over an hour though.

[kanglacha]

I need a routine that is 3-4 days a week, no more than an hour in the gym, to maintain strength/get lean. Any ideas?

Are you still lifting?