Jdorty: Getting back into it, starting with a 5x5

[Jdorty]

I worked out mostly consistently from 2006-2009, with doing work outs and sports in high school from 2003-2006. Stopped working out consistently in around 2009, worked out off and on for maybe six months after that. When I stopped I was at 170 lbs ~9.5% bf. Today is my second day on JasonDBs 5x5 novice workout program, I've been running off and on for a month, consistently for the past two weeks, stopped smoking a little over a week ago. Currently I'm not on a strict diet, but I cut out beer during the week and soda/energy drinks altogether. Currently weighing 180.4, down from 187 two months ago. I estimate my current bf% to be around 18%. Pics are below if you want to hazard your own guess.

Meh, I only have 25 posts so I can't post links, even though I've been a member here for 7 years, lol. Pictures are in my photo gallery on my profile, if interested. Just trust me, I don't look like my profile picture anymore, hah.

I might be at 20%, not sure. For supplements I'm using protein, creatine, vitamins, and fish oil. I run about five days a week, plan on switching to HIIT once I develop a base.


Day 1:
Workout A
Squat 5x5 - 135 lbs
Bench Press 5x5 - 135 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 - 95 lbs
Barbell Shrug 3x8 - 155 lbs
Skullcrusher 3x8 - 75 lbs
Chins 3x5-8 - 5, then 4 so I did a set of curls
or Striaght Bar/Incline Curl 3x8 - 60 lbs for one set of 8
Hyperextention 2x10 - 90 lbs on a machine, switching to equipment next workout
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 15,14,13 lbs at heaviest weight on cables (140)


Day 2:
Workout B
Squat 5x5 - 155 lbs
Deadlift 1x5 - 185 lbs
Standing Press 5x5 - 95 lbs (got 4 on last set, keep weight the same next workout)
Barbell Row 5x5 -10% - 95 lbs
CGBP 3x8 - 95 lbs
Straight Bar or Incline Curl 3x8 -70 lbs
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 140 lbs 16,15,14 reps


Some of the lifts I could have gone heavier, but on squat and deadlift especially, I would rather keep my form perfect and increase at a steady pace due to not lifting for so long. Just for clarity, I go as deep as possible past parallel on squats and my stance for deadlifts is sumo/wide style.

The plan is to develop a base for lifting and cardio (I've been smoking and drinking heavily for three years) and go from there. If I'm not happy with gains or fat loss in 6-8 weeks, I will start a more strict diet and worry more about a cutting phase. I know my body pretty well, and I feel that getting more activity in while cutting out beer and soda will lead to quick gains and being more toned, but we shall see.

Will try to update every other day after workouts.

[Jdorty]

Went out last night and hung out at sister/brother-in-law's house. Drank and smoked cigars. Felt terrible today and got an energy drink before I worked out. Another bad idea. Had terrible indigestion or acid reflux or something and kept feeling like I was going to spit up acid, especially during squats. I think the only reason I was able to increase weight on compound exercises is because I started low first two workouts, not because I felt stronger today. Definitely little drinking and no smoking tonight, even if I go out.

I will be working out mon, wed, fri from now on. This was my original plan, but since I didn't start until tuesday this past week, means I won't be getting 48 hour rest before next week's workout. I feel like my third week is when I should start seeing great gains, as I'll be on a regular schedule and the creatine should be fully in my system.

Not currently on a diet, as I said, but looked up my calory intake from food wed-fri and looks like I'm taking in about 1800-2200 calories on average. Protein-Carb-Fat ratio isn't great though. May start on a better diet in the next few weeks, we'll see where I'm at and how I'm feeling.


Day 3:
Workout A
Squat 5x5 - 165 lbs
Bench Press 5x5 - 145 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 - 115 lbs
Skullcrusher 3x8 - 75 lbs Didn't go up in weight, couldn't complete third set. If I can't again next time, will drop weight
Chins 3x5-8 - 5, then did straight bar curls
or Straight Bar 3x8 - 70 lbs for two sets of 8, failed on last rep second set.
Hyperextention 2x10 - 190 lbs on a machine, couldn't find actual equipment for this, might switch exercises because I'm not hugely fond of machines
Barbell Shrug 3x8 - 185 lbs (moved towards end of workout, will do last next workout so grip doesn't fail on cable crunches)
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 20, 10, 10 lbs at heaviest weight on cables (150, found cables with 150 max instead of 140, grip was giving out on last two sets and couldn't hold rope)



Will update again on Monday!!

[Jdorty]

Day 4:
Workout A
Squat 5x5 - 185 lbs
Bench Press 5x5 - 155 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 - 135 lbs
Skullcrusher 3x8 - 75 lbs Didn't go up in weight, but completed sets this time (barely)
Chins 3x5-8 - 5, then did straight bar curls
or Straight Bar 3x8 - 70 lbs for two sets of 8, finished both sets this time
Hyperextention 2x10 - 200 lbs on a machine
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 20x3 150 lbs
Barbell Shrug 3x8 - 195 lbs

Had to go to work early and couldn't sleep last night, so a bit tired, but overall I felt pretty damn good today at the gym anyway. Should sleep like a baby tonight! Starting a HIIT workout in the morning, 30 second jog, 30 second sprint, repeat five times.

Squat and bench felt good, went nice and deep on squats, but last few reps of both lifts were close to failure. Pretty sure I'm close to where I need to be now, so I will mostly be increasing those lifts by 5 lbs at a time. Maybe 10 on squats seeing how things go.

Pretty sure I'm at a slight caloric deficit on the average day, but my ratios for protein, carbs, fat are pretty far from where they should be. Hopefully start looking more into improving my diet further soon.

Edit: Kind of annoyed at my chin ups. I may start doing pullups and chinups at home in addition to the gym. Pullups and dips used to be some of my best exercises back in the day. Makes me a sad bear.

[Jdorty]

So I did a HIIT cardio session today. Sort of. By sort of I mean that my legs were so tired from yesterday's squats that my sprints felt like slow motion. I was still dead afterwards, only started with five intervals (30 sec jog, 30 sprint being one interval). Plan on doing the same thing Thursday, then going up by one or two intervals each week.

Need to get some lifting shoes for squats and deads. Gym won't let me take my shoes off (gym also only has one squat rack, piece of **** gym) and I hate hate hate doing those lifts in normal tennis shoes. Used to lift in my old wrestling shoes, but they've been MIA.

[Jdorty]

130618_0000.jpg

Yummy

Edit:

IDK if it is the supplements, simply not drinking, smoking and drink soda, or working out, but I have felt 1000x times more energy and an overall better mental state. Staying so busy with work outs, cardio, work, and cooking has made not smoking a breeze, only have cravings on long drives for work. I'm sure it is a combination of all of the aforementioned activities.

If anyone is curious, current supplements are:

Controlled Labs Oximega and Greens (fish oil and greens): 2 servings a day, morning/evening
Controlled Labs Orange Triad (vitamins): 2 servings a day, morning/evening
Controlled Labs Green Magnitude (creatine, 5g): 1 serving a day
Syntha-6 Isolate (protein): 1 serving a day, more if I feel I haven't had enough protein intake

Drinking a minimum of 160 oz of water daily. Three cups of whole milk. Rest of diet is sometimes good, sometimes not. Just now working on improving it.

[Jdorty]

Day 5:
Workout B
Squat 5x5 - 190 lbs
Deadlift 1x5 - 275 lbs
Standing Press 5x5 - 105 lbs Failed this last week and made a note to stay same weight. Did a set of 95, felt super light, so I did 5 more sets with 105, wasn't easy, but not almost failure wither.
Barbell Row 5x5 -10% - 145 lbs
CGBP 3x8 - 115 lbs
Straight Bar or Incline Curl 3x8 -Did chin ups instead since I've been failing them. Got 5, 5, 4. Better but still pretty terrible.
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 150 lbs 3x20


My last two reps on last set of squats were pretty bad, got too close to goodmornings. I think its from doing the spribnts yesterday. I'm going to keep doing the HIIT on tues/thurs, but damn if it doesn't make my legs tired all the time doing squat, sprints, squat, sprints, squat mon-fri.

[Jdorty]

Day 6:
Workout A
Squat 5x5 - 195 lbs
Bench Press 5x5 - 160 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 - 145 lbs
Skullcrusher 3x8 - 80 lbs Failed last rep 3rd set
Chins 3x5-8 - 5, then did straight bar curls
or Straight Bar 3x8 - 75 lbs for two sets of 8
Hyperextention 2x10 - 25 lb, 35 lbs
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 20 150 lbs, then went to the decline bench, set it to lowest decline, and did 2x15 with a 25 lb weight
Barbell Shrug 3x8 - 195 lbs

Felt pretty good today. Squat form was not perfect last two reps of last set, but it was just barely off, much better than Wednesday's last set. Finally found the hyperextension equipment, tucked away in the deepest, darkest corner of the gym! These felts much better than the machine I had been using. I switched to actual sit ups with weight simply because the cable machines didn't feel like they had enough weight.

[Jdorty]

Day 7:
Workout A
Squat 5x5 - 200 lbs
Bench Press 5x5 - 165 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 - 155 lbs
Skullcrusher 3x8 - 80 lbs
Chins 3x5-8 - 5, 4, 3 - Not great, but just held them as long as possible while lowering for last reps
or Straight Bar 3x8 -
Hyperextention 2x10 - 35 lbs
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 20 @ 150 lbs
Barbell Shrug 3x8 - 195 lbs - Chalk should come in tomorrow, making these easier to grip

Still going up on the important lifts to me. Squat and bench weren't super easy, but not so close to failure that I don't feel like I can keep increasing weight.

My diet has improved quite a bit, health wise, but I'm not keeping track 100% of calorie intake yet. I plan on taking progress pictures in 4-6 weeks, with flexed and unflexed, then deciding what I want to do calorie/diet-wise.

Feeling pretty good, but I need to get more sleep. I jogged once this weekend, I'm still up in the air about HIIT on Tues/Thurs, as I'm concerned about sabotaging my squat gains.

[Jdorty]

Day 8:
Workout B
Squat 5x5 - 205 lbs
Deadlift 1x5 - 275 lbs
Standing Press 5x5 - 115 lbs
Barbell Row 5x5 -10% - 155 lbs
CGBP 3x8 - 125 lbs
Straight Bar or Incline Curl 3x8 -80 lbs, failed last two reps last set
Kneeling Cable Crunch 3x10-20 - 150 lbs 3x20

I did cardio afterwards, intervals, but not really HIIT. Slow jogs, then 10 mph, slow jogs, repeat. For a bit over a mile. I hate doing this on treadmills. I'm going to try to do hills if I can find a good one. I think doing cardio after a workout works better than on off days. Will continue doing this.

Hey, guess who's an idiot? I was doing 5x1 on deadlift instead of 1x5 the past two weeks. Reading comprehension FTMFW. I did 135, 225, 275 today by 5, using first two as 'warm-ups'.

Chalk came in today. Will be much nicer for shrugs and deadlifts.

[Jdorty]

Day 9:
Workout A

Squat
5x5 - 205 lbs


Bench Press
5x5 - 170 lbs

Barbell Row
5x5 - 165 lbs

Skullcrusher
3x8 - 80 lbs
Forgot to mention I failed last rep Monday, so I redid same weight.

Chins
3x5-8 - 7, 5, 4
Got a few more first set this time

Hyperextention
2x10 - 35 lbs

Kneeling Cable Crunch
3x10-20 - 20 @ 150 lbs

Barbell Shrug
1x8 - 195 lbs
Hands were torn up from work, couldn't continue without straps

Was moving 2200 kgs in 25 kg weights in each hand all day, my lower back was killing me so I didn't increase squat weight today, was worried about leaning too much. Also started a blister on my hand which was torn apart by the time I got to shrugs, so I couldn't continue them.

Edit: Rotated the squat video in youtube but it doesn't seem to be showing as rotated, but when I go into the manager it shows it IS rotated ={

[Jdorty]

Squat
5x5 - 205 lbs
Wanted to work on form more

Bench Press
5x5 - 175 lbs

Barbell Row
5x5 - 165 lbs
Focused on form and contracting muscles, feels a bit awkward to me, so I stayed at same weight

Skullcrusher
3x8 - 85 lbs

Chins
3x5-8 - 6, 5, 4
Meh

Hyperextention
2x10 - 35 lbs

Kneeling Cable Crunch
Did leg raises 3x10 instead, I feel like my lower abs are weaker

Barbell Shrug
3x8 - 195 lbs
I really need straps, these crappy bars just roll in my hands and are slick even with chalk. The pullup bar is even worse, might be part of my chinup problem, feel like I slip to my finger tips, its just a smooth thin bar.


I also ran some intervals after my workout, went alright, felt like death. Posted some videos of a few exercises for form checking in the exercises section: ht.tp://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=155179043&p=1096456773#post109645 6773

[Jdorty]

Day 11:

Workout B

Squat
5x5 - 210 lbs

Deadlift
1x5 - 285 lbs
Lol last week was 275, not 175. Typo.

Standing Press
1x8 - 120 lbs; 1x7 - 120 lbs; 1x6 - 120 lbs
Man, 115 felt like it went up like nothing last week, but 120 destroyed me. I'll try same weight next week, deload the next wek if I can't get it.

Barbell Row
5x5 - 165 lbs
I hate these bars, they just roll in my hands because the weights move independently. I guess I need straps.

CGBP
3x8 - 130 lbs
Didn't feel too bad at all.

BB Curls
3x8 - 80 lbs

Leg Raises
3x15


Today went alright. Squat and Deadlift felt great, but I was disappointed with my shoulder press. So far my deadlifts, bench, and squats have all been feeling good and going smoothly, which are my three most important exercises, followed by shoulder press, BORs, and hyperextensions. Unfortunately, my BORs have been feeling crappy with this gym's bars, and shoulder press was meh today.

Did cardio today as well. Been slowly improving on that, still doing intervals on a treadmill from about 3-5 mph walk/jogs, to 30 second runs at 11.5-12 mph. Resting times varies, but I don't let my hear rate drop below 165-170, it is at 176 immediately after the 'sprint'. Still looking for a good area to run hills.

[Jdorty]

Missed Friday. Forgot my shoes and had other stuff to take care of any way. Figured the rest couldn't hurt, unfortunately my sleep has been terrible.

Day 12:
Workout A

Squat
5x5 - 215 lbs

Bench Press
5x5 - 180 lbs

Barbell Row
5x5 - 170 lbs

Skullcrusher
3x8 - 85 lbs

Chins
3x5-8 - 7, 5, 4

Hyperextention
2x10 - 35 lbs

Kneeling Cable Crunch
3x20

Barbell Shrug
3x8 - 85 lb DBs