My starting strength log

[nydude1814]

I'm doing starting strength for around 5 weeks now, I started with just the bar (45 lb) on all the exercises and my current stats are:

Squat: 145 (started with 65 increasing 10 then 5)
Bench: 115 (started with 65 increasing 5)
Deadlift: 175 (started with 85 increasing 10)
Press: 70 (started with 45 increasing 5)
Rows: 115 (started with 65 increasing 5)
Body Weight: 207 (started with 215)

My stats are 33 y/o male, 6.1" 207 lb

Decided to post my workouts here instead of just writing them down in a document. Today is my next workout, will try for 150 squat (+5) 75 press (+5) and 120 rows.

What else to say. It looks like I got stuck on the bench, my last workout I've tried 120 and failed badly even tho workout before that I was able to finish 3x5x115. Will try to make micro-weights from sock and coins as suggested by someone in the forums, and increase 2 lb only.

[no_one089]

Good luck man hope to see some good progress in here

[nydude1814]

Squat: (warmup) 10x45 10x45 5x85 5x115 3x135 (work) 5x150 5x150 5x150

Dropped number and reps of warmup sets and it helped. Work sets went smooth with medium bar speed.

Press: (warmup) 10x45 (work) 5x75 1x75 and fail. 5x70 3x70 and fail. Apparently I just can't increase 5lb on press anymore. I did not have the micro-weights ready, so finished with 70lb, but the first set exhausted me so much much only could do 3 reps on last one.

Rows: (work) 5x120 5x120 5x120. Definitely starting to feel I'm hitting my limit, can't "bang" the bar agaist my upper abs/lower chest anymore, just barely able to touch it.

Next workout Monday, will increase squat/dead +5 and bench will try to increase 2.5. Have to manufacture my own micro-weights before that.

[nydude1814]

Good luck man hope to see some good progress in here

Thanks for the reply man. Good luck with your return to the gym hope your back feel better soon. Your coming back starting point is more then my PR heh

[nydude1814]

Did door-gym chinups this morning: they are not officially in the workout, I just do them once a week as not to let them deteriorate (I worked very hard from not being able to do single one to 4 reps before starting strength)

Anyway: door-gym palm parallel grip chin-ups, 2xBW 4xBW 5xBW 3xBW

Doing either regular grip pull-ups or reverse grip chin-ups on a pull-up station in the gym gives me wrist pain (so that I can't turn the wrist at all afterwards). Seems to be the only ones I can do comfortably is palms facing each other ones, and gym does not have a station for that.

[cosjav]

Doing either regular grip pull-ups or reverse grip chin-ups on a pull-up station in the gym gives me wrist pain (so that I can't turn the wrist at all afterwards). Seems to be the only ones I can do comfortably is palms facing each other ones, and gym does not have a station for that.

I do these exact same type of chinups in my workout didnt realise they were chinups and I've been calling them pullups all this time... But I do these because they are easier than the wide grip pull ups (palms facing forward)...

I actually sometimes get a bit of wrist pain after doing bench press... u?

[getfit74]

Good luck bro!

[nydude1814]

I do these exact same type of chinups in my workout didnt realise they were chinups and I've been calling them pullups all this time... But I do these because they are easier than the wide grip pull ups (palms facing forward)...

I actually sometimes get a bit of wrist pain after doing bench press... u?

Yea I'm getting that too after bench and military press (if I clean from floor and bar lands on the wrists with momentum).

[nydude1814]

Went to the gym at 6 am, pre-workout meal around 60g designer whey. Finally made my own micro-weights (two socks stuffed with pennies) each 567 grams (1.25 lb).

Squat:

• 45x10
• 45x10
• 85x5
• 115x5
• 135x3
• 155x2 fail on the 3rd rep unable to raise out of the hole
• 155x5 sucked it in and pulled it out
• 155x5 almost died
• 155x3 got lightheaded and room went spinning after 3rd rep, decided not to try the 4th

Bench press:

• 45x15
• 5x85
• 5x117.5 using micro-weights
• 4x117.5 5th rep racked on the 2nd set of pins
• 4x117.5 unable to get 5th rep off the chest, slided weights off

All in all much better then my attempt at 120 previous workout A.

Deadlift:

Now I understand why its called deadlift. Deadlift used to be my favorite lift, because it was so easy. 155 still felt like picking up groceries off the floor. 165 Felt "its getting a bit heavy".. 175 felt "definitely very heavy"..

• 1st attempt at 185 bar wont move
• 2nd attempt at 185 bar wont move
• 3rd attempt at 185 with mixed grip bar wont move
• 4th attempt at 180 bar wont move
  
• Got myself thinking there, problem was spending too much time preparing to deadlift (bent over getting grip ready) and my legs were already killed by squats, so I was already tired from just being bent over for 10 seconds before I pulled.
  
  So instead I tried "grip it and rip it" thing, just rested by walking by the bar a bit, then quickly turned to the bar as if trying to surprise it, bent over and pulled.. Success!
  
  Finished 180x5 but almost blacked out

Next workout keep squat the same, next bench keep the same, next deadlift +5lb.

[cosjav]

I know what u mean with deadlift... when the weights get heavier its harder to mentally pump urself up for the first rep, I've fallen victim to tiring myself out b4 even starting too, lol... I just rest a little and then take a deep breath only go into the starting position when I'm definitely ready to pump through the first one

[nydude1814]

6am - pre-workout meal 1 turkey breast fried

Squat:

• 45x10
• 65x7
• 105x5
• 125x4
• 135x3
• 155x5 same weight, bar speed slow
• 155x5 bar very slow almost stalled a few times
• 155x5 bar speed very slow

Overhead press:

• 45x8
• 55x5
• 72.5x5 +2.5lb microloading
• 72.5x5 bar speed medium
• 72.5x5 bar speed slow

Rows:

• 45x10
• 65x10
• 122.5x5 +2.5lb microloading
• 122.5x5 slow bar speed
• 122.5x5 very slow bar speed

Somehow I feel rows more in my lower back then in my upper one. Did 3 slow good form pull-ups on my way out of the gym (could have done more, did not wanna go to failure). Also checked my form in mirror, and I'm not rounding the back.

Overall an ok workout

[nydude1814]

Seems to be a pattern with my squats, each Friday 8pm workout squat goes up +5 and I ace it, then Mon 6am workout I try again for +5 and only get 5/4/3 or 5/4/4, then Wed 6am I use same weight, still very hard but pull out 5/5/5, and then Fri 8pm is great again.

So it looks like 8pm I have much better energy then in the morning.

Squats:

• 45x10x2
• 95x5
• 115x4
• 135x3
• 160x5x3 +5 lb medium/slow/slow bar speed

Bench:

• 45x10
• 97.5x5
• 117.5x5x3 same weight, slow bar speed

Deadlift:

• 95x5 felt like doing warm-ups on DL for the first time
• 135x4
• 165x3
• 185x5 +5 lb, slow bar speed

Also tried doing chin-up with wrist-straps on a bar on top of the power rack, i think got a grip a bit too wide and my right wrist exploded in pain.. Otherwise it did not really bothered me, even on the bench. Well I'll be taking vacation in April and will probably take a 2 week break from lifting, hopefully wrist will get a good rest then.

[nydude1814]

Was updating my lifting stats in the profile and noticed a FAQ link about the "rep system".

So when people say "I will rep back" it means the rep points? I thought it meant "will reply to the post" doh :-) Anyway, whoever replied into this thread, thanks! I "repped" your posts.

[nydude1814]

Door-Gym palm parallel grip chin-ups: 6/5/3 completely exhausted could not get a single rep on the 4th set

[cosjav]

Was updating my lifting stats in the profile and noticed a FAQ link about the "rep system".

So when people say "I will rep back" it means the rep points? I thought it meant "will reply to the post" doh :-) Anyway, whoever replied into this thread, thanks! I "repped" your posts.

Yeh I still dont understand the repping system fully... like how do u rep back? Do u just choose a random post made by that person and rep them? and im not sure how to increase ur body points either...

[Jerm08]

Are you breathing properly? That may be the reason you got lightheaded.

[nydude1814]

Are you breathing properly? That may be the reason you got lightheaded.

I think so, altho by the 3rd rep I'm panting as a dog. I'm holding the breath until I'm up from the hole, as per the Starting Strength book, but when I'm struggling to pull out a rep (and it takes 3-4 seconds), I'm way out of breath once I finished the rep.

I remember there was a fad when I a kid when you breath like crazy, then take a deep breath and hold it and get your friend to push on your chest, and you get lightheaded. It was supposed to make you high :-) I think here its the same effect except its the bar weight that squeezes you.

Anyway going to the gym at 9pm today, after like 3 cups of coffee and like 400-cal dinner, will see if having more energy in the evening holds.

[nydude1814]

9:30pm Monday, gym was absolutely packed. There was a company of like 15 kids all around me (squat rack is surrounded by flat bench stations), all doing bench presses. They were all benching way more then me, some doing 225, glad it was workout B, otherwise I would have felt embarrassed to bench there in front of them :-) Altho they always had a friend spotting and helping to pull.. Then between the sets they were doing pushups.

Also finally saw someone else doing squats in the squat rack, guy was doing progression, I saw him do 135x5, 155x5 and 185x4. He was squatting just to parallel, not ATG.

Anyway I definitely had much more energy in the evening:

Pre-gym meal right before the workout 3 cups of coffee with around 60g of half-n-half milk total, and around 400 cal turkey breast 1.5 hour before

Squats:

• BWx10x2 squat rack was busy
• 45x10
• 95x5
• 115x4
• 135x3
• 165x5x3 +5 bar speed medium/slow/slow

Overhead press:

• 45x7
• 55x5
• 75x5x3 +2.5 bar speed very slow

Rows:

• 95x5x2
• 115x4
• 125x5x3 +2.5 bar speed medium

Also did 50 min light cardio right after the gym, light as in avg heart rate 145 instead of usual 155.

[cosjav]

Also did 50 min light cardio right after the gym, light as in avg heart rate 145 instead of usual 155.

Wow, thats really long... I'm usually so buggered after my workout that I can barely manage 20mins

[nydude1814]

Wow, thats really long... I'm usually so buggered after my workout that I can barely manage 20mins

Well I cheat, I only allow myself watch TV while I'm doing cardio, so I had to get my daily TV fix, so had to keep pedaling. Before I did cardio=tv time resolution, and got a TIVO it was really hard to get myself to do lengthly cardio.

[nydude1814]

Squats:

• 45x10x2
• 95x5
• 115x4
• 135x3
• 155x2
• 170x5x3 +5 lb bar speed very very slow

Bench:

• 55x7
• 85x5
• 100x4
• 120x4/5/4 +2.5 lb bar speed glacial

Continued to struggle with my presses as usual.

Deadlift:

• 95x5
• 135x4
• 155x3
• 190x5 +5 lb bar speed slow

Gained 4lb of weight previous week, and decided to drop my calories to around 2200 from 2500 for a few days, so skipped my 3pm meal today and feeling weak all day, but definitely burning some fat away as got renewed comments at work "you seems to lost more weight".

Going to do my cardio now

[nydude1814]

Squats:

• BW x 10
• 85 x 5
• 115 x 4
• 135 x 3
• 155 x 2
• 175 x 5 +5 lb bar speed very slow, bad form
• 175 x 4 4th rep finished more like a good morning
• 175 x 3 3rd rep again hips raised first, had to good morning it out and I think I was also on my toes
• 155 x 3 backout set trying to correct form but just too tired

Seems the burst of energy I had by switching to working out in the evenings is all used up, and I'm hitting the wall again. Will try to keep same weight and concentrate on form on Monday.

Overhead press

• 45 x7
• 55 x 5
• 77.5 x 5 +2.5 lb bar speed slow
• 77.5 x 4 bar speed very slow
• 77.5 x 3 bar speed very slow

Rows:

• 115 x 5
• 125 x 5 x 3 +2.5 lb bar speed very slow

Rows getting hard and I think my back is rounding, so I decided to start learning power clean. Just as I was practiced an older guy walked by, asking if he could use a squat rack, I've said "go right ahead, I'm just trying to learn power clean" and the guy actually knew how to do it, showed me a few times and watched and corrected my form as I practiced with just the bar. It seems timing of the shoulder shrug is kind of hard to get, I seems to either do it either too late or too early, uncoordinated like, but a few times I got it just right. He suggested practicing with just bar until I get form down..

Overall very tiring workout, seems days of easy gains on squat are over.

[nydude1814]

Weekly chin-ups BW x 5/5/5 (could have done 6 on 1st two sets but didn't want to go to failure), progressing slowly but muscles fatigued from my training method on them.

I'm doing "greasing them muscles" method of increasing the number reps on chinups/pullups. There is a thread about it in the exercises forum. The method is basically do 1 to 3 reps as often as you can throughout the day, every day, but never to failure. The idea is that once you go to failure, its next to impossible to do next set. So by never going to failure and doing a few reps very often, you train the body for number of reps.

I did them 2-3 times a day for sure, sometimes even if I too lazy to put up door-gym bar, I just do one or two reps directly on a door frame.

Today is my official weekly weight-in day, weight down to 201.2 lb.

Also I ordered and received Animal Cuts supplement from bb.com store, and took my first dose yesterday evening. I can definitely feel the thermogenic effect, I had night sweats all night, and it felt like I had a fever. Also could not get asleep for a long time, definitiely should take in in the mornings only, but I was curious yesterday so took it right after it arrived. Will see if it has any affect on weight loss.. Ahh here is another side effect, I woke up in the middle of the night having to go pee, and was very thirsty, so it looks like its a strong dia/dua...? (forgot the word) effect, basically the opposite of water retention

[nydude1814]

Squat:

• 45 x 10 x 2
• 85 x 7
• 115 x 5
• 135 x 4
• 155 x 3
• 175 x 5/4/4/3 same weight, tried to get 5 on backout set after like 7 min rest but no mas

Bench press:

• 45 x 10
• 85 x 7
• 105 x 5
• 120 x 5/5/4 same weight

Deadlift:

• 135 x 5
• 155 x 4
• 175 x 3
• 195 x 5 +5lb no deload between reps?

Saw another guy do deadlift, and he was doing it without putting the bar down between reps. He was not touching the ground or bouncing, just kind of slow reps like curling.. I've asked him and he said that is the way you supposed to do deadlift reps, so I'm wondering if I was doing it wrong all this time. I've tried it, but I can't seems catch myself just an inch or so off the ground, a few times I did its definitely harder then stopping, but if bar taps the ground, then the rep is IMHO easier because of the bounce.

Ok the guys from the Rippetoe Answers thread clued me in. I was doing them right, will continue to attract attention in the gym by banging the bar on the floor :-)

[cosjav]

According to the Rippetoes FAQ you are meant to rest the weight between reps (not bounce) to start with and then when u move on from starting strength you can advance to not resting the weight between reps...

(LINK: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...8&postcount=12)

Question - Do I need to deweight between reps of a deadlift?

Yes. What you do as a physique athlete in future years is entirely up to you, but in order to properly learn and reinforce proper technique, you MUST begin all deadlifts from...a deadlift position, bar on the floor, motionless.

Watch someone perform a set of 8 "touch-n-go" reps. Specifically, look at their body positioning at the beginning of the first rep, relative to the rest of the repetitions in the set. Notice how the first rep looks very dissimilar to the 2nd rep, as well as all subsequent reps? You only perform 1 proper rep this way, and 7 marginal reps. This is bad news for a novice because the motor skills learned during that 1 proper rep will get overwhelmed by the improper performance during the other 7 reps.

This won't happen in a set of 5 on the basic deadlift when you deweight between reps, unless you are pulling a load that is beyond your capabilities and you fatigue prematurely.

By deweighting, you also (intelligently) limit the amount of weight you can use, because the stretch reflex and the bouncing of the weights off the floor will not occur. This will save your lower back from potential injury.

Pull from the floor, every single set, every single repetition. Once you gain more experience, do as you wish.

(EDIT: oops, just realised u already had ur answer )

[nydude1814]

(EDIT: oops, just realised u already had ur answer )

Yea I kind of embarrassed myself in the thread there :-) I admit I only read first 10 or so pages of the deadlift section of "Starting Strength" book, and then when it went into charts and graphs and drawings of angles and torques, it kind of reminded me so much of college that I've just skipped all of that, and in the middle of it was the above advise from the sticky.

[nydude1814]

Squats:

• 45 x 10
• 95 x 5
• 115 x 5
• 135 x 4
• 155 x 3
• 175 x 5 x 3 same weight bar speed very slow

Overhead press:

• 45 x 7
• 77.5 x 4 same weight very slow bar speed
• 77.5 x 5 last rep kept standing there for 15 seconds pushing it out. Was actually expecting applause, but no one was watching :-)
• 77.5 x 5
• 77.5 x 4 thought could get 5 again :-\

Rows: not done, was just too tired, practiced power clean instead

Power Cleans

• 45 x (did not count, somewhere around 15-20) worked up some good sweat
• 65 x 3 x 5 donno if my form was any good or not. I'm trying to control myself not to lift with my arms bended, but one has to bend them in the end to rack the bar, so arms getting confusing signals (no do not bend yet, now bend).
  
  Also pulled muscle in my neck trying to watch myself in a sideways mirror to check form, practical lesson not to be an idiot

Dips:

Well here is a surprise. I can't do a single bodyweight dip. I thought if I can do 7-8 BW chinups, that dips will be at least duable. Had to use assistance machine, I could do BW-100lb x 8 and BW-60 lb x 3. Did them on BW-60lb assistance until failure.

Overall impressions:

I have vacation in 3 weeks in a warm place with a beach, so I'm definitely eating less and trying to lose as much flab as possible, (hopefully around 2 lb per week weight loss continues) and this is affecting my stamina.. Squats were extremely hard, and presses too. I also only had 2 meals today, breakfast and lunch, due to an emergency at work did not have my 3pm and 6pm meals, just some apples before workout.

Story about "that guy"
Gym was packed, I'm starting to do my warmups in a squat rack, a guy comes in asks how many sets I have left, I say "around five", he asks to work in, I say ok.

I have 95 lb on the bar without the safety clips. Guy lowers the bar to the squat rack guard rails, one pin at a time on each side. Thankfully weights did not slide off. Then he proceeds to do (here you probably thought biceps curls?) Wrong! He proceeds to do that never put bar down deadlift, except for the first rep he picks up the bar off the squat rack guard rails, does around 7 reps of deadlift without putting the bar down, then puts the bar back on the squat rack. Then he gestures to help him put the bar back on the top pin, so I can continue with my squats. We do so, each holding one side.

I proceed to put 115 lb on the bar, do my next warmup set, just as I finished guy wants the help to put the bar back on the guard rails. He does not change the weight, does his thing again, then again we put the bar back where it belongs. I proceed to load 45'th, guy does the same thing all the way until my first work set at 175 lb, at which point he gave up..

I was so exhausted from putting the bar up and down from 1 side, so I think it affected my work sets.. Anyway will not reset, instead will start to microload squats, next workout will be 177.5

[nydude1814]

Squats:

• 45 x 10
• 85 x 5
• 115 x 4
• 155 x 3
• 177.5 x 5 +2.5 lb bar speed very slow
• 177.5 x 5 or 6 lost count so did 1 extra rep to be sure
• 177.5 x 5
• 177.5 x 1 & 155 x 2 backout sets for form correction purposes

Overall squats started badly but finished great. I decided to skip 135 lb warmup thinking it will make me fresher, went to 155 directly, felt very heavy so I was afraid I'll fail work sets for sure. But I made it out fine, form breakdowns were not very bad, just one or two GM's

Then I did a thing I'm very proud of. To correct my form, I went right back to the bar after the last set, put the bar on my shoulder, and sat down ATG very very slowly, while paying close attention to every muscle, and checking all the cues along the way. I could feel my lower back muscles snap tight right around quarter squat position, as I leaned forward. I pushed the knees out. I arched my back so tight that my ass felt like it would touch the ceiling..

At the very bottom just when I bounce I stopped. I made sure that I'm not sitting on my calves, that my back is as arched as it can be, my knees are pushed out to the max etc. All this time my quads were burning like hell, and my hamstrings felt like guitar strings about to snap.

Then I've looked at myself in the mirror, winked, and slowly pushed up. It would be a great ending to the story to say I went up with great form, but when I was around parallel I started falling forward into a GM, but stopped myself and again paused to analyze whats going on. My weight was not on my toes, but not on the heels, it was closer to the toes then the heel. I concentrated on straightening my back and pushed it out. (all that time I was holding my breath too, but I did a pre-breather before this ,like you do before you dive)

Some guy was standing there and like "wtf are you doing dude", so since he was watching I told him I'm fixing my form, then dropped the weight to 155 and did the same thing again, while he was watching my form. Guy confirmed that my back is not rounding, and that my form was good.. I did 2 reps with the above method of pausing and checking cues.

So squats started badly but ended up great.

Bench press

• 45 x 10
• 95 x 5
• 105 x 4
• 120 x 5 x 3 same weight bar speed slow

Deadlift

• 135 x 5
• 165 x 4
• 200 x 5 +5 lb bar speed very slow and felt very heavy

Dips (assisted)

• BW-100lb x 6
• BW-100lb x 4

[nydude1814]

Official Saturday morning weight in: 199.2 down 2 lb for the week.

Parallel grip chin-ups BW x 6/6/6 +1 rep in all sets from last week. Last set was to failure (no way could have done 7'th rep) but if I were only doing 1 set I would probably get around 8/9.

I think will start doing these in a gym instead, I found the parallel chin-up grip handles on top of the assisted dips machine, altho they are spaced a bit wider then door-gym ones.

[nydude1814]

Squats:
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 4
155 x 3
180 x 5 x 3 +2.5 lb bar speed slow

Overhead press:
45 x 7
45 x 5
80 x 5 x 3 +2.5 lb bar speed slow

Power Cleans:
45 x 10 x 1
95 x 3 x 5 bar speed fast

Power cleans felt exteremely easy. My only worry is that my form is off and I may not know it, since no one in the gym have knows how to do them, and the guy I met who knew I did not see again. I did the mental que "slow off the ground", "straight arms" etc, still when i was in the position to rack the bar bar was always almoust too high, so I did not have to bend my knees (or bent them very little) to catch it.. IMHO adding more weight will slow the bar down and improve the form. Will increase +10 lb

Palm parelell grip chinups:
BW x 5
BW x 4

Did these in the combo assisted dip/chinup/pullup machine station.

I bit disappointed because: I can do 6-7 reps on door gym. My form is off, and what is throwing it off is that the machine has steps to boost ppl under the bar, and they get in a way of my legs. I like to have my legs bent backward and crossed over, but here they bump into the steps this way. So I have to keep the legs straight, or in fact pull them up in front of me. Both of these feel un-natural.. With the straight legs on the very bottom my legs touch the ground,, and with legs pulled up in front of me I feel I work my abs a lot and not my back. So I have to constantly pay attention to the legs and where they are positioned, instead of just doing chin-ups.. I may have to go back to good old door gym on these.

Overall impressions:

Went in, lifted, went out.. Gym was packed at 9pm as always. 2.5 weeks until vacation.