A New SurlyDuff - Under Construction

[SurlyDuff17]

Figured I would start a workout log, in order to keep myself honest, and maybe get some insight from the board every now and then. I was told by a friend that this process of writing down my thoughts, frustrations, and random musings in my head can be somewhat cathartic...so here goes.

I am a 35 year old father of two toddlers that is coming off a long period of inactivity in the gym. I used to run marathons and be in relatively good shape until I tore my hamstring during my last marathon and limped my way through the last five miles (I thought I was just cramping up). After that disaster, I sat on my butt and ended up focusing on my family and the arrival of my two kids. Although they keep me in good shape running after them all the time, I recognized that I was trading away my muscle for some fat. I was not getting too out of shape, but I was definitely getting weaker, and smaller.

So I am starting afresh. I am now in the second week of Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength plan. I am also continuing muay thai kickboxing training, which I started about a year ago. Punching a bag after a long day of work can also be very cathartic. And with these, I am trying to add muscle to this tinsy frame. I recognized that I just was not eating enough throughout my day. A bowl of cereal and a banana at breakfast, sandwich and chips for lunch, and a dinner with veggies and starches will not make a man large or strong. So I revamped my intake and started eating all day. I am only taking fish oil, whey, and creatine as supplements. So far the results have been pretty good. My lifts have all gone up, according to the plan, and I have already added 4 lbs in the past two weeks. My first two weekends, which are my typical screw-up days, went really well. I kept my calories up and my alcohol intake down.

Summary of my results so far:
Height still 6'0"
Weight: 170-174
Squat: 135-175
Military Press: 60-75
Pendelay Row: 70-85
Bench: 105-125
DL: 150-205
Avg Cals - 2896/day (336 carb/87 fat/194 protein)* note: I know that these don't all add up; I think I mistakenly used the net calories, which subtracted exercise calories burned and I'm too lazy to re-average the amounts.


I've still got a long way to go, but I am excited about changing my soft, twiggy body into a leaner, bigger body that will be able to keep up with my ever-growing kids.

[SurlyDuff17]

Today's Workout
Squat - 175*3*5
Standing Military Press - 85*3*(5,4,4)
Pendelay Row - 95*3*5

Oh man. I am tired and sore and shot. This was a rough day. I decided to keep my squats at 175 from Wednesday, and it still didn't get any easier. I almost thought I was going to end up like this on the last rep but I got through it. I guess I'm going to go ahead and up the weight and see what happens.

I also am in need of taking measurements tonight because I have gone from 170 to 175 in a little over two weeks. Maybe all of it is muscle but I feel that is likely not the case. I need to check tonight. Still, I feel like I shouldn't start screwing with the diet too much until after the first month. Right?

[SurlyDuff17]

Another day another workout - Starting Strength workout A
Squat 185*3*5
Bench Press 135*3*5
Deadlift 225*1*5

I had a good workout, and I am really enjoying the Starting Strength series. I have increased the weights on all of my lifts almost every single day. It is a really good feeling to keep putting more plates on the bar every time I go into the gym. I know at some point soon I will likely slow down or become stagnant and have to reset, but so far it is fantastic.

I am also increasing in size. Since I started this program about 3 weeks ago, I have gone from 170 to 177. I have been eating quite a bit, and I have also taken creatine. I don't know if the creatine has added to my weight gain at all, but I have increased in size. I took measurements last night and realized that I have gotten slightly bigger. All of my measurements have increased, which unfortunately includes increases in my waist and hips.

Neck: 15.3" to 15.5"
Shoulders: 43.0" to 48" (I think I might have measured incorrectly the first time)
Chest: 39" to 40.2"
Arms: 12.5" to 12.9"
Waist: 33.3" to 34"
Hips: 37.8" to 38.2"
Thighs: 19.7 to 20.9
Calves: 13.0 to 13.5

Now, normally I would be freaking out about my waist and ignore everything else, but I am trying to take it in stride. Sure, I don't want to add more fat to my midsection because my pants won't fit much longer at that rate. However, every other measurement has gone up. That is exactly what I want and need. I might need to tweak my diet, I just don't know where right now.

[SurlyDuff17]

Starting Strength - Workout B (with a few add-ons)
Dips - BW*3*10
Squat - 195*3*5
Military Press - 85*3*5/5/2 (time to reset)
Pendelay rows - 105*3*5
Power cleans - 105*1*5


So I started the day warming up and foam rolling. By the time I finished, I found that the one power rack in my gym was taken. A woman was doing power cleans in the rack, so I wasn't angry, but I didn't want to just waste time just standing around, so I went for dips. 3 sets of 10 were easy, but I ended up wondering if it made my military presses more difficult. Regardless, that's two days without finishing the lift, so I am going to perform a reset and lower the weights. My first reset since starting this program. Everything else keeps going up.

The diet is going well and the scale actually dropped this week. I started to worry about having gone from 170 to 177 in 3 weeks, but yesterday I weighed 174.5. So really, only 4.lbs in 3 weeks. I probably still added some fat to the muscle, but I am much less concerned about the intake at this point. I'm just plugging along.