A Guy With a Cat Face on His Aviator: DARinaldi's Training Journal

[darinaldi]

Some quick background info about me:

For most of my life I've been slightly overweight. I'm lucky (?) that it's evenly distributed so it tends to obscure how much there is, but I could easily stand to lose 20 lbs of bodyfat. It's been like that since I was young, due to a love of food, minuscule athletic ability, and a metabolism that holds onto fat as if it were gold.

I've exercised periodically since college, but never made any real, lasting progress due to nutrition and zero knowledge of weightlifting programming.

Finally, after discovering that I was now 215, I got angry enough to really change my life. I found this site in August when researching proper nutrition, and have been lurking ever since. First I started with the nutrition forum, then gradually started reading about exercise programming as well, and eventually stumbled upon Kethnaab's magnificent write-up for Starting Strength. I promptly ordered the second edition of the book, and have read it forwards and backwards, as well as doing some seriously strong lurking in Dave76's Rippetoe thread and in many people's journals.

This is the first time I've ever used freeweights, and I'm excited that I seem to be on the right track to reshape my body into what I wish it were for the first time in my life. I can't wait to see where this takes me.

[darinaldi]

Yesterday was my first official workout. I have a history of back problems (my L5 split in half four years ago and it never recovered to its full strength or flexibility afterwards), so I set the weight on the squat and deadlift very low to start with, to work on form.

Squat
45x5x2
65x5
85x5x3

Bench press
45x5x2
65x5
85x5x3

Deadlift
95x5

I want to bring a camera with me and post some videos to critique, since I'm not sure my form is spot-on for the squat or deadlift. Ten years of opera training and being drilled on tilting the pelvis forward for better singing posture makes it tricky for me to keep the arch in my lower back without constant vigilance.

All in all, an easy workout. I know I won't be saying that in a few weeks.

[darinaldi]

Today was the first official "B" workout. It didn't go as smoothly as Monday's, mostly because I was a dumbass and went to the gym at 10 at night after getting home from my company's tedious Christmas party. It was late, I was tired, and things were heavier as a result. Nothing made me strain, but I could feel how under-energized I was.

Just like last time, I started out with a brief warmup of 5 minutes on the treadmill, and then started lifting.

Squats
45x5
45x15
90x5x3

OH Press
45x5x2
50x5x3

Chinups
BWx1
negativex5
negativex6
negativex4

Hypers
BWx10x2

No, that second squat warmup wasn't a typo. My gym is a real iron gym, not a health club, but the owners/trainers espouse their own method that involves lots of supersetting, no rest time between sets, and very fast reps. One of the owners saw me at the squat rack (not hard, I was one of three people there), and thought he'd be helpful by coming over and having me do it very fast for high reps. I was too tired to argue, so I did it and just took a long pause before starting my work sets.

My shoulders suck. They are weak and pathetic. I'm weak all over, but even by my standards they're weak. I thought I was starting really low on the OH press by putting 2-1/2s on, but I was pretty tired by the last set. I hope it's due to the newness of the exercise and being tired, or else I'll be stalling pretty damn soon on this, sadly.

I'm still learning how to clean (more on that below), so in the meantime I planned on doing chins. Unfortunately, my chinning ability sucks even more than my OH pressing ability. My lats have always been very weak for my bodyweight. At least I can do one now from straight hang, which is more than I've ever been able to do before. So I did that one, and then three sets jumping up and controlling the negative. I did as many per set as I could do in a controlled manner. It wasn't many, and it wasn't pretty.

The hypers were part of the continual rehab of my back, and after that I finished up by spending a lot of time working on hang cleans, trying to learn the form in order to work up to a real power clean. I don't know if I have long forearms (doubtful) or am just inflexible (very likely), but racked position is not comfortable for me at all.

Last time I tried I couldn't rack the bar without rowing it up, but by the end of this session I seemed able to get it up there by jumping and shrugging. It was really ugly form, but I think I'm starting to understand it now.

[darinaldi]

Since I'm hopping on a train right after work today, I decided to try something new and get up early to workout instead of going after work like I've always done. I'm not a morning person, but fortunately I went to bed very early last after sleeping for only 15 minutes the night before.

Squats
45x5x2
75x5
95x5x3

Bench press
45x5x2
75x3
95x5x3

Deadlift
105x5

My back was feeling a little tight and sore this morning, so I really tried to concentrate on a good back position for my squats and deadlift. The squats were okay; it wasn't a struggle, but it wasn't easy like on Monday. I imagine it will get harder and harder each time now.

Bench was like squat: I didn't have to use exertion to get the bar up, but it wasn't a breeze also. I did a 10-lb jump this time, but it probably won't be too long before I lower it to 5 lbs each time.

Deadlift was very easy. I could have put a lot more weight on the bar, but I'm being very conservative on this for my back's sake. I'm upping the weight 5 lbs each time for squats and 10 lbs each time for deadlift. I should be able to progress like this for quite some time, especially on the deadlift.

My biceps and lats are actually sore from the chinup attempt on Wednesday. I had some serious biceps soreness yesterday, which is still in effect today. I have avoided the major leg DOMS though, since I started so low on squat poundage even for me.

I liked working out so early this morning. I feel good now, and I think I want to continue doing this, though it will force me to go to bed early for the first time in my life (I usually sleep ~2-7) and get more sleep than I have been. Also, it was nice that there were so few people there this morning: just me and five benchers/curlers.

Random question, if anyone at all is looking at this (and I'm not sure why anyone would be, since I've done nothing to introduce myself on this forum): how do you get the weights off of the bar when you're done deadlifting? Do you do one more rep and rack it, or is there a technique I'm not aware of for shimmying the weight off the bar while it's still on the ground?

[darinaldi]

Squats
45x5x2
75x3
100x5x3

OH Press
45x5x2
55x5x3

Hammer Grip Chins
BW-100x8
BW-80x6
BW-80x3

This workout didn't quite go so well. My back was feeling a little tight going into it, and I stupidly didn't stretch it enough. It felt funny during the squats, and so for the last set I actually looked in the mirror, and saw that my hips were going out of alignment when I was going down, with the left side higher than the right. This traditionally happened when my back was thrown out. My back started feeling sore after I was done.

The press was fine. I have weak OH pressing strength so it wasn't easy, but it also wasn't a struggle. Because I was at a different gym while visiting family, I took advantage of their Gravitron for the chins. I started at half bodyweight for a set of eight, then upped it. I was only able to do six at the new weight, so I kept it there and totally crapped out on the last set. :P I can't wait to have upper body strength....

Because my back was bothering me still, I did 20 minutes on an elliptical trainer, which always seems to relax my lower back a bit. Then I went home and iced it for a while.

I'm really frustrated right now, because my lower back is so much weaker than I thought it was. I know that I started very low on the squats, but my back seems unable to handle even that weight. I could be doing so much more weight if it weren't a problem; my quads, hams, and glutes can totally handle much more weight, but my back isn't ready for that.

I need to start doing daily lower back work again like I used to do when rehabbing after my herniated disc. I'm going to be overseas next week, so I'll take advantage of that time away from the gym to focus really hard on lower back work. I'm also borrowing a digital camera and bringing it with me next workout to tape my squat form and see how I could improve it. I don't think I'm arching my back enough or keeping it tight enough, and I need to have perfect form on this because of my back problems.

I'm frustrated, but hopefully this will get me to correct any problems now, while the weight is so low, to prevent anything bad happening down the line when the weight is much, much higher.

[darinaldi]

My back is still bothering me. I actually took yesterday off from work and just rested & iced it. Today I'm at work and it's still bothering me.

I've been Googling core stability exercises like mad, since the old PT exercises I was given after my herniated disc don't seem to have actually done jack**** for my core. I also booked a chiropractor appointment for tomorrow afternoon.

Looks like I'm going to be on a hiatus from lifting for a little while, as I tend to this injury and really try to build core strength before I start squatting & deadlifting again. I'm so depressed that this happened just as I was starting. I knew I was going to be taking a break next week while I was overseas visiting my daughter, but I thought I'd be able to write it off and keep on progressing. Instead, I'll be rehabbing my back for a few weeks first. Necessary, but frustrating all the same. I just need to keep telling myself that this will make things better and prevent worse injuries down the road.

I knew I'd probably never be squatting or deadlifting huge numbers due to my back, but I really thought I'd get a hell of a lot farther than this.

[Dave76]

Random question, if anyone at all is looking at this (and I'm not sure why anyone would be, since I've done nothing to introduce myself on this forum): how do you get the weights off of the bar when you're done deadlifting? Do you do one more rep and rack it, or is there a technique I'm not aware of for shimmying the weight off the bar while it's still on the ground?

They make something called a bar jack. If you're at a real black iron gym, I'd be surprised if they don't have one.

With your back issue, go very slowly with the increases when you get back into the gym. I was going to suggest hypers but I notice you're already doing them.

Put a link to your journal in your signature and post in the SS thread a few times. Visit other SS journals and post in them. You'll have people here soon enough.

[Qiez]

Yo. Is there a reason youre doing 5x3 for squat? Are you trying to get the form down.

It always takes a lil bit for ppl to come to your journal.

Ill be following, keep up the progress.

Eat/sleep!!

I take the weight off one side of the bar then the other side lol. Works for me.

[darinaldi]

They make something called a bar jack. If you're at a real black iron gym, I'd be surprised if they don't have one.

I'm sure they do have one. I had to Google it to see what it looked like, since I'd never heard of it before. Nice.

With your back issue, go very slowly with the increases when you get back into the gym. I was going to suggest hypers but I notice you're already doing them.

I certainly will be. I thought that 5 lbs on the squat and 10 lbs on the DL was conservative enough, but I just didn't have the core strength even for that on my back, I guess.

Put a link to your journal in your signature and post in the SS thread a few times. Visit other SS journals and post in them. You'll have people here soon enough.

I thought it was silly to have my signature in my own journal, but I do try to include it in everything else I post. I just haven't felt like I had anything to contribute to the SS thread: I haven't done enough to have real answers, and pretty much all of my questions have been answered so far.

I appreciate your input. Thanks for stopping by!

[darinaldi]

Yo. Is there a reason youre doing 5x3 for squat? Are you trying to get the form down.

It might just be the way I'm writing it. I've been writing it as pounds/reps/sets, so 100x5x3 for me means 100 lbs for three sets across of five.

Ill be following, keep up the progress.

Thanks for the encouragement, although until I rehab my back there won't be any progress.

[darinaldi]

So I went to the chiropractor last night, and after being put through a barrage of tests he believes that my recurring back problems are mostly being caused by my iliopsoas muscles. My various accidents have built up a lot of scar tissue on the musculature back there, and that has caused my psoas muscles to overcompensate by taking over much of the function, getting crazy tight in the process while the other muscles don't get used.

I do feel better today after my session last night, and I'm going to be returning for a course of ART once I return to the States in ten days. I'll probably do low-impact cardio and bodyweight exercises during this time as I let my back heal and properly develop the muscles there. We'll see as things progress.

[darinaldi]

I haven't posted anything here in almost a month, due to re-injuring my back, so here's a brief update:

Since getting back to the States right before Christmas I've been getting ART treatment and stretching a lot to work on my psoas muscles and hamstrings, which are definitely contributing to my back problems. My back has been slowly improving, but I haven't felt ready to start squatting and deadlifting with a bar yet. In the meantime I've been doing lots of bodyweight exercises to try and maintain the LBM that I do have, using this program by Alwyn Cosgrove as a template.

Since my back has been improving, with the pain ebbing and stamina and flexibility increasing, I'm hoping to start returning to the gym in a week and start lighter on the squats (deads never bothered me at all--I started very low for safety's sake, but felt that I could do a lot more on them than I was, which I didn't feel when squatting) and progressing more slowly. I'm also going to be very aggressively working on core stability. I ordered a copy of Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance by Stuart McGill, which I've heard recommended by many knowledgeable people, and should be receiving it Friday. I plan on devouring it as quickly as I did Starting Strength.

So, updates should continue soon, and I should be back on track again after an unscheduled one-month hiatus.

[CYTX]

Hope you are back to full strength soon man. Get that lower back and mid section stronger and you'll moving up in weight in no time. My lower back constantly hurts due to my awesome hip and hamstring flexibility but I find if I rest then they get tighter andd it all gets worse so I have to keep busy for relief.

I'll be following along man.

[darinaldi]

Hope you are back to full strength soon man. Get that lower back and mid section stronger and you'll moving up in weight in no time. My lower back constantly hurts due to my awesome hip and hamstring flexibility but I find if I rest then they get tighter andd it all gets worse so I have to keep busy for relief.

I'll be following along man.

Thanks for stopping by, and I appreciate the support. I'm hoping to get back into it as soon as is healthy for me.

[CYTX]

Thanks for stopping by, and I appreciate the support. I'm hoping to get back into it as soon as is healthy for me.

Dude I hate to tell you but you look like a pussy

[darinaldi]

(Oh, and thanks for teh greenz, too. I see our little friend is already deep in the red, but I plan on adding to it to help make sure that he never gets green again! )

[CYTX]

(Oh, and thanks for teh greenz, too. I see our little friend is already deep in the red, but I plan on adding to it to help make sure that he never gets green again! )

hurry and spam some posts already.

[darinaldi]

Dude I hate to tell you but you look like a pussy

This picture makes me laugh more than I can say:

[darinaldi]

hurry and spam some posts already.

I'm trying, but work is too busy today.

I'm laughing at the fact that 13 people have repped me so far since posting in Knowles' journal yesterday. Strong hate for pullup boy.

[CYTX]

I'm trying, but work is too busy today.

I'm laughing at the fact that 13 people have repped me so far since posting in Knowles' journal yesterday. Strong hate for pullup boy.

They must feel the force is strong in you

[darinaldi]

My back has been feeling almost back to normal this weekend, so I'm planning on going to the gym tonight and starting over, trying to progress farther this time I'll be back on the Starting Strength wagon, while doing core exercises up the ass to (finally) build up a support system and prevent future lower back pain like I've had for quite a few years.

I've been feeling lazy while laid up, so I did that deck of cards workout I've seen other people doing. Different people seem to do different things, so here were my choices:

• BW squats x 2
• Mountain climbers x 2
• Burpees
• jump roping x 10

This was rough. My cardio conditioning is quite below where I want it to be. I was huffing and puffing when doing large sets of burpees, and my pauses got longer and longer between each card. Also, my legs felt like rubber when I was done. They're just fatigued today, but I'll be squatting so light tonight that I'm not concerned; I'm just happy that I was able to get through it all last night.

My back held up wonderfully, and there wasn't even the usual morning stiffness this morning. The ART and the stretching really seems to be helping. So, another update will be forthcoming tonight.

[darinaldi]

Workout
Reverse Hypers
3 x 10 x BW

Squats
3 x 5 x 65

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85

Deadlift
5 x 95

Comments
Just what I wanted it to be for my first workout in a month: quick and easy. I started super-low on the squats, since I know that that's where I'll get injured if I'm not careful. I need to make a video to have my form critiqued, and do core stabilization like a mofo, and in the meantime I'm starting low and progressing slowly. I reset bench and deadlift to the weights that I started with in December, and it was easy. I'll probably make videos of them too to check my form, since it's probably not as good as I think it is. But it's nice to be back.

[CYTX]

Workout
Squats
3 x 5 x 65

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85

Deadlift
5 x 95

Comments
Just what I wanted it to be for my first workout in a month: quick and easy. I started super-low on the squats, since I know that that's where I'll get injured if I'm not careful. I need to make a video to have my form critiqued, and do core stabilization like a mofo, and in the meantime I'm starting low and progressing slowly. I reset bench and deadlift to the weights that I started with in December, and it was easy. I'll probably make videos of them too to check my form, since it's probably not as good as I think it is. But it's nice to be back.

Nice job man, slow and steady and you'll be up in weight in no time

[darinaldi]

Workout
Reverse Hypers
3 x 10 x BW

Squats
3 x 5 x 75

OH Press
3 x 5 x 55

Decline crunches
2 x 10 x BW

Power clean
worked on form

Comments
Decent workout. This was late at night and after only a couple of hours of sleep the night before, so I'm happy that it was so light or I might have been in trouble. With the squats I'm really trying to focus on recruiting my glutes to help in the drive back up, to keep my hip flexors & spinal erectors from taking the full load. Hopefully this will pay dividends down the road.

The cleans just plain sucked. I really have to fight not to row the bar up, and it didn't help that the only bars not being monopolized by the benchncurlers were the most painfully knurled bars I'd ever seen. Made it difficult to get my hand to swing around when whipping the elbows and racking the bar, and made my palms red & sore as hell. I don't think they have any Oly bars at my gym, but I need to find as smooth a bar as I can--I think that will make a big difference. I tried to practice jump shrugs and racking the bar, progressing to an almost-hang clean. We'll see how this goes next time with a better bar.

[CYTX]

nice work, why did you do the hypers before squats. Seems like I would reverse that order.

[darinaldi]

nice work, why did you do the hypers before squats. Seems like I would reverse that order.

For what it's worth, I'm currently treating it as part of my dynamic stretching & warmup before I start lifting. Also, I'm finding that it makes me more aware of that area so that I can keep better form when squatting, and since I'm not using any weight yet it's not tiring out the muscles at all. I wish my gym had an actual reverse hyper machine--I'm doing ghetto ones on an old hyper bench, which isn't the most comfortable thing for my arms and head.

[darinaldi]

Workout
Squats
3 x 5 x 85

BenchPress
3 x 5 x 95

Deadlift
5 x 105

Comments
No real comments here. I was in a hurry, so I just stuck to the three main lifts after a brief warmup. I really focused on pushing my thighs out and driving from the hips when coming up from the hole in the squat, and could feel the difference with the extra glute recruitment. Bench and deadlift both went smoothly. I was planning on doing wussier increases for everything but couldn't find the gym's one set of 2.5-lb plates, and so just increased everything by 10 lbs and had no problems.

[CYTX]

Workout
Squats
3 x 5 x 85

BenchPress
3 x 5 x 95

Deadlift
5 x 105

Comments
No real comments here. I was in a hurry, so I just stuck to the three main lifts after a brief warmup. I really focused on pushing my thighs out and driving from the hips when coming up from the hole in the squat, and could feel the difference with the extra glute recruitment. Bench and deadlift both went smoothly. I was planning on doing wussier increases for everything but couldn't find the gym's one set of 2.5-lb plates, and so just increased everything by 10 lbs and had no problems.

Nice job, glad everything is coming back smoothly

[darinaldi]

Workout
Squats
3 x 5 x 95

OH Press
3 x 5 x 60

Reverse Hypers
3 x 10 x BW

Hang Clean
3 x 5 x 65

Comments
I think I've been resting too much this long weekend. Everything felt a little harder than it should have. My first squat rep I felt like I was leaning on my toes too much, so I rolled back and ended up accidentally lifting my toes off the ground and balancing just on my heels! It was a struggle to keep the thighs from going in while ascending, and I think I used too much foot drive instead of hip drive when coming out of the hole. I'll need to concentrate on this on Wednesday.

My shoulders are weak. Nuff said.

I worked on racking the bar for a little bit, then put some weight on it and worked on hang cleans. Putting the weight on helped my form a lot; it's still butt-ugly form, but it improved when I could no longer just arm drag the weight up and had to really shrug it and get under it. Work in progress.

[darinaldi]

Workout
Squats
3 x 5 x 105

Bubu Press
3 x 5 x 105

Deadlift
5 x 115

Comments
I actually borrowed a camera and promptly forgot to bring it with me. Oh well, some day I'll actually make videos to have my form critiqued. I thought I had warmed up enough for the squats, but the first set seemed shaky and I noticed I had a serious forward lean going on. The last two sets were much smoother, and I felt good about keeping my knees out and driving up from the tailbone. I'm on the fence whether or not I'll go up another 10 lbs on Friday for this. I don't want to push it.

Bench was okay. The weight felt heavy, though I was never in any danger of missing a rep. It just threw off my bar path a little. It didn't help that I was on a bench with the puffiest cushioning imaginable, which I hated. There are three bench stations, and only one of them has a flat, hard bench. I like that, because I feel it gives me so much more support. Next time I'm just going to wait until it's free rather than use any of the other two. I'll only be going up 5 lbs next time, to work on my bar path and keep my form good.

Deadlift was fine as usual. I really wanted to just slap the 45s on there, but I'm committed to making steady progress rather than race ahead and stall out prematurely (or throw my back out again). It'll be hard to only put 125 on there on Monday, but I'll work through the pain.

On a lighter note, I've officially surpassed my first attempt at Starting Strength in December, when I hurt my back after the fourth workout. I'm patting myself on the back right now as I type this one-handed.