Well since my log is geared toward more of a strength and powerlifting type of routine (and my goals are based on that) I'll start my log here. Starting from my Monday workout. I'm gonna do Workout B here a little later today.
Age: 21
Height: 5'11
Weight: 175lbs
Short term goals are to reach 1000lbs total on the 3 big lifts.
Long term goals are to reach the 300-400-500 club.
I don't care how much muscle or weight I gain during this time.
After that I plan to do some hypertrophy work to work on my chest mainly, and sculpt my body, including running and be on a strict cut diet since I've always wanted to have prominent six pack one of these days just to see what it'd feel like to have a "ooh look at him" type of body.
Bench: 250 1RM, 205 5RM
Squat: 300 1RM, 260 5RM
Deadlift: 360 1RM, 315 5RM
Military Press: 1RM never tested, 5RM 120
Powerclean: 1RM 200, 5RM 175
All 5RM PRs are based on PRs from a 3x5 set/rep scheme.
Monday: 12/08/08 - Week 4
Squat:
245x5
245x5
250x5
Bench Press:
185x5
185x5
185x5
Deadlift:
290x5
So far this workout has been my hardest one, I ate really well over the weekend though, and I ate a lot. Strange though on my last set of bench presses it was my best. Visualizing does help in some ways.
Not sure though if I strained my core muscles too much doing the deadlift (hernia), but I can still move, there's no real pain, just feels like soreness in the lower ab area. Like I said I want to be real careful I don't hurt myself again working out as it has happened with my shoulder and lower back (and lats) before.
do the powercleans first if you are going to do them. Biggest chance of injury so you will want to be fresh
I'm just following the SS guidelines is all . If I started fresh on powercleans I could probably up the weight 5 more pounds than I usually do. I do take it easy on powercleans believe it or not. I am not trying to injure myself, it's something that my whole workout is based around since in the past I've had some accidents from being overzealous.
Decided to not up the weight for my legs right now since I wanna be careful not to get overzealous and have another injury. This coming Monday though I know I can add 5lbs to my squat and do 255x5 for 3 sets. It'll be a 5 pound PR for 3x5 .
Also last time I did deadlift I believe I got the form wrong a bit so I retaught myself by looking up instructional videos and found at the start I was standing a little too far behind the bar in the positioning. I corrected that today and did 290x5 easily. I'll add 10lbs next time I do workout A.
This is usually the week I stop being consistent with workouts, but I'm REALLY looking forward to Monday. My motivation is still going strong, and I wanna set some PRs for myself!
Actually cross that, my PR for squats was 260 for 2x5, or 255 for 3x5 with the 3rd set having 7 reps. I was looking at my old posts to make sure because I couldn't remember what my actual squat PR ever was. In any case, at least I know my squat PR that has been bugging me for a while now... lol.
I just can't get powercleans down to good form. I stopped at the 2nd set. I'm gonna replace them with pendlay rows from now on, but still do powercleans at a much lighter weight to work on form.
Pendlay Row:
165x5
Only one set since I did 2 sets of powercleans.
Overall though, this workout was really really good. I couldn't believe how easy squats were to me today. The 1st set of 255 was a breeze. Most importantly of all I'm finally back up to 260lbs. When I do all 3 sets for 5 reps Wednesday at 260lbs, I'll have set a new PR for myself! I only did 2 sets of 5 at 260lbs last time I attempted a year and a half ago.
Yes!! A new PR for my squats when I did my 3rd set! Plus I'm back up to 300lbs on my deadlift. I have 10 more pounds to go for my bench press and 15 more pounds on my deadlift to be back where I was for those movements.
Just a quick update. I took a week off working out since I came down with a bit of a cold. I'm all better now and I want to start again, I haven't lost motivation. I will workout today and I'm also gonna start implementing proper warmup sets as well.
Yeah, my diet is good. It's not a set diet nor do I keep a log of everything I eat, but I know I eat a lot and definitely enough protein.
Warmup sets are bad for me for lifting weights, they're more detrimental to my performance than good I discovered. I'll show you an example
45 x 12
95 x 6
135 x 5
155 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 1
Then my workout for squats
Squat
260x5
That's all I could pull off, the last rep was really hard for me I could barely come back up.
Bench Press
175x5
185x5
195x5
My legs were shot from squats so I didn't even try deadlifts.
Perhaps I did my warmup sets wrong, I don't know, but (I know this is gonna sound really fony) my body has a way of adapting to certain aerobic/anerobic situations very quickly, for example: I bike ride for 10-15 minutes and my legs get very tired since my body is more for explosive movement, but after that time my legs are fine for the rest of the bike ride. Doing lighter weights for warmups just makes my body adapt to more lighter weight and more reps. When I don't do warmups besides a few body squats to stretch, I'm fine.
Well, some news. I found out my bar is less than 25lbs, it's actually 15lbs so all my PRs and lifting stats should subtracted by 10, lol. Doesn't hurt me much at all though, if anything it just helps clear my suspicions as well as gives me a much more accurate number of what I can actually lift, especially if I do go for an actual 45lbs olympic bar .
A reminder - All my lifting stats before the date of 12/29/08 should be subtracted by 10 since I discovered recently my barbell is actually 15lbs instead of 25lbs. I really need to invest in a 45lbs olympic barbell.
Monday: 1/05/09 - Week 8
Squat:
250x5
250x5
250x5
Military Press:
102.5x5
102.5x5
102.5x5
Pendlay Row:
140x5
140x5
140x5
Hopefully my rows will catch up with my bench press in due time. I'm not cheating on them at all. I'm making sure all reps are full and I don't move my back. I'm keeping perfect form.
Added 5 more pounds to my PR on squats. It wasn't actually too hard. I can definitely do 260 on the 2nd and 3rd sets next workout. Deadlifts were definitely real hard this time. I'm not gonna increase the weight next time I do deadlifts. Also today my bench presses were spot on. My form was perfect and I was completely stable.
Don't let the bar issues throw you off. All of your PR's are still good since you've always been using the same bar. The only time it would make a difference is if you went out to a different gym. Good thing you found out now instead of then!
Thanks guys! And yeah I'm not letting the bar weight mistake throw me off at all. Like I said before it just confirmed my suspicions and at least it's more accurate for me when I do use a 45lbs olympic bar. Anyway, my workout today.
Froday: 1/09/09 - Week 8
Squat:
255x5
260x5
260x5 PR
Military Press:
105x5
105x5
105x5
Pendlay Row:
145x5
145x5
145x5
The concentric phase on my squats are actually getting faster but my legs are getting the same amount of fatigue. I love it!
Darkmind's Starting Strength log
. If I started fresh on powercleans I could probably up the weight 5 more pounds than I usually do. I do take it easy on powercleans believe it or not. I am not trying to injure myself, it's something that my whole workout is based around since in the past I've had some accidents from being overzealous.
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