Balle on Starting Strength

[Balle]

Began the starting strength program today after a long absence in the gym, over a year to be exact

Lifting background: Used to lift in Year 11 (11th Grade?) with a buddy of mine; didn't know anything about lifting or bodybuilding back and only did what he did. Made some gains from that but then got lazy as I went to college.

During college I've been to the gym a few times in Year 12 (I'm in a sixth form) and for the past month I've been working out just to get myself back into it.

Stats
Age: 18
Height: 5'8
Weight: 180lbs

Workout routines are shown below:

Workout A
Squat (A2G) 3x5
Flat Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
**Dips 2x8

Workout B
Squat (A2G) 3x5
Standing Military Press 3x5
Barbell Row 3x5
**Pullups 2x8

I've decided to do barbell rows instead of power cleans for the time being. Dips and pullups are to be done after each workout, with additional exercises being done on friday, if I see fit.

[Balle]

Diet

I'm currently cutting therefore I'm consuming around 2000 calories a day MAX.

Diet isn't completed properly since I'm testing it this week to tweak it.

Meal 1 - 7am - Weetabix, semi-skimmed milk, banana, flaxseed capsule, multiviamins
278 calories, 14.2g fat, 51g carbs, 9.6g protein

Meal 2 - 10.40am - Clueless as what to add here since I'm in college

Meal 3 - 1.45/2pm - 400g serving of kala chana (doubt you guys will know what this is), flaxseed capsule
522 calories, 16g fat, 83.2 carbs, 36g protein

Meal 4 - 4.30/5pm - [post workout] Optimum 100% Whey Protein shake, banana
225 calories, 1g fat, 30g carbs, 25g protein

Meal 5 - 6pm - 2 egg whites, chicken breast, 1 slice of bread
362 calories, 6g fat, 18.4g carbs, 54.7g protein

Meal 6 - 8.30pm - Chicken breast
231 calories, 5g fat, 0g carbs, 43g protein

Before bed - flaxseed capsule, multivitamins, glutamine
10 calories, 10g fat

Total(Meal 2 hasn't been accounted for in the totals)
Calories: 1628
Fat: 52.2
Carbs: 182.6
Protein: 168.3

[Balle]

Monday 15th May 2006 - Workout A

Squats 3x5: 175lbs (79kg)
Bench Press 3x5: 135lbs (61kg)
Deadlift 1x5 175lbs (79kg)
**Dips 2x5
Workout was good, but decided to go a bit light initially; reckon I could have lifted more for the deadlift.

[Balle]

Wednesday 17th May - Workout B

Squats 3x5: 180lbs (81kg) PR!
Standing Military Press: 82lbs (37kg)
Pendley rows: 125lbs (57kg)
**Pullups 2x3 BW
** Lat pulldowns 3x8, 42, 49, 56kg (123.2lbs)

Squats felt great! Was a bit disappointed tho since I felt like I could have pushed more..

Pendley rows felt more comfortable than barbell rows therefore I did those in my working sets.

Still not great at pullups, could only do 3 reps hence me doing the lat pulldowns

[kethnaab]

Diet

I'm currently cutting therefore I'm consuming around 2000 calories a day MAX.

terrible terrible terrible idea. You're 18, you are in the "anabolic prime" of your life. At least go for a "clean bulk" where you target your carbs right around your workout times and eat maintenance on days you don't train and just above maintenace on days you do.

don't "cut". Unless you're fat (180 isn't fat), then you should not be cutting, not at the age of 18.

Total(Meal 2 hasn't been accounted for in the totals)
Calories: 1628
Fat: 52.2
Carbs: 182.6
Protein: 168.3

good God man. That's terrible. your carbs are fine, but your protein is low and your fats are way low. ugh. you may as well not even bother lifting weights with those macro intakes.

[GSP]

terrible terrible terrible idea. You're 18, you are in the "anabolic prime" of your life. At least go for a "clean bulk" where you target your carbs right around your workout times and eat maintenance on days you don't train and just above maintenace on days you do.

don't "cut". Unless you're fat (180 isn't fat), then you should not be cutting, not at the age of 18.

I agree. Just stay around maintenance and eat natural foods. Your body will recomp without going into a heavy caloric deficit.

good God man. That's terrible. your carbs are fine, but your protein is low and your fats are way low. ugh. you may as well not even bother lifting weights with those macro intakes.

Eh, he's over 1g protein per pound of body weight. Lot's and lot's of people have put on mass between .8 and 1 g per pound. I would agree with adding a bit more fat though.

[Balle]

I don't plan to bulk until October; I'm over 17% bodyfat therefore a cut is what I'm after.

I've changed the diet since I've last posted and I'm now eating at least 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, with carbs being slightly higher on workout days.

On non workout days I drop the carbs by 30g, protein and fat stay the same.

Current ratios work out like 43/40/17 carbs/protein/fat and I'm working on increasing the fat intake

[Balle]

Friday 19th May - Workout A

Squats 2x5: 190lbs, 1x3 190lbs PR!
Bench Press 3x5: 145lbs PR!
Deadlift 1x5: 203lbs PR!!!
**Dips 2x6
**Ab crunch machine, 3x15 132, 143, 154lbs
** Hanging leg raises 3x12

Workout was GREAT!

Could only do 3 reps on the last set for squats

Had 2 guys practising their boxing skills right next to me while I was benching; there's no boxing bag in my gym but one of the guys was a coach and the other his pupil. Kinda weird since I had to wait for them to stop throwing punches before I could load more weight

Deadlifts were FANTASTIC!

[Balle]

Week 2

Monday 22nd May - Workout B

Squats 3x5: 195lbs PR
Military Press 3x5: 85lbs PR
Pendley Rows: 120lbs
**Lat Pulldown 2x6: 63kg PR

Squats felt light towards the end and I focused on using near perfect form for the rows. In all a good workout

[Balle]

Wednesday 24th May - Workout A

Squat 3x5: 200lbs PR! ................felt great!
Bench Press 3x5: 150lb PR!
Deadlift 1x5: 220lb PR!!! .............felt difficult but I managed (keeping close to perfect form)
**Dips 2x6 BW
**Ab Crunch Machine 3x15 50, 60, 70kg
**Hanging Leg Raise 3x10

[Balle]

Wednesday 31st May - Workout B

Squats 3x5: 205lbs PR
Military Press 3x5 85lbs
Pendley Row 3x5: 130lbs PR
**Lateral Pulldowns 2x8: 63kg

****ty workout, didn't get to eat much throughout the day so felt tired

[Balle]

Friday 2nd June - Workout A

Squats 2x5, 1x4: 220lbs PR! ....could only rep 4 for the last set.
Bench Press 2x5, 1x4: 155lbs PR! .....same as squats ....started to feel tired after
Deadlift 1x5: 245lbs PR! ....could only do 3 reps on 220lb, but decided to change the grip and attempt a heavier load. Felt GREAT!!
**Tricep pushdowns 3x10: ? Not sure how much weight was on because I just kept adding plates to it

..didn't get too eat much throughout the afternoon, hence the tired feeling.

In all...a fantastic workout!

[Funky_monkey]

you should be eating 3,000 kcals a day - 200+g protein, 60-100g fats (focus on healthy fats) and the rest should be from carbs, which would probs fall at around 400g. breakfast needs sorting out for sure - 40g protein at least.
you can bulk up more now than you ever will. don't waste time cutting up. you can do that in a couple of years.

[Balle]

you should be eating 3,000 kcals a day - 200+g protein, 60-100g fats (focus on healthy fats) and the rest should be from carbs, which would probs fall at around 400g. breakfast needs sorting out for sure - 40g protein at least.
you can bulk up more now than you ever will. don't waste time cutting up. you can do that in a couple of years.

Thanks but it's a personal thing why I'm cutting.

Won't be in the gym until after next week due to exams

I'm only cutting til around August/September, I just wanna see if I can actually achieve a shredded look.

Oh, by the way the diet posted in my earlier posts is not my current diet. I've changed it alot since I started this journal

[BenT]

Hey, first post in the journal. Nice progress, and good job picking starting strength... Do you have the book, if not you should most definitely consider getting it? It's well worth it.

By the way, having your AS level exams these days?

[Balle]

Nah A2 exams, last one's on Thursday. Haven't been in the gym for a while, been busy revising for the exams so I should be looking forward to going next Monday.