Fitzy stops being lazy

[fitzy21]

This is my first log here.
basically, i've been wicked lazy this summer, and even though i worked at a sports camp, i neglected my own advice on challenging the kids to get stronger.

so i figured i'd start with a really basic strength program. and since i have Starting Strength, i figured i'd use the basic program from there, with a few tweaks.

my main goal is to get stronger to be a better swimmer. i'm hoping to get back on the swim team. i was kicked off my sophomore year midseason, because i chose to deal with personal problems with drinking. grades went down, i got kicked off after having a pretty good 1st half of the season. so now, 3 years later (i'm a "5th year" senior) and hoping i'm eligible to swim again, since i have my overall GPA above the minimum standard again. so, my main goal is to get stronger while losing weight.

right now i'm 6'2 @ ~245 pounds
so my plan is to do the SS program on Sun/Tue/Thurs and have 2 days of conditioning/gpp type work in there somewhere, most likely wed and friday and have saturday off. i'm thinking of just starting off with 1 day of conditioning/gpp just to build up to 2 days...sound like a good idea?

swim practice starts in a couple of weeks. so i have a bit of time to get into this program a little bit.

i do have a shoulder problem, so i'm taking the OHP and switching for rows for now. and i'm gonna add some type of work to help my shoulder girdle out and get it stronger. lots of soft-tissue work, i'm loving the tennis ball and i'm gonna have my dad bring my foam roller up next time he comes up to school.

so any help with exercises to get and keep my shoulder healthy would be great

[fitzy21]

9/2/07

Dynamic Warmup
high knees pulls
high knee running
butt kicks
side shuffle
toy soldier
glute bridge
arm circles
band pull aparts
band presses (band behind back and press straight forward)

Workout A
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Squat:
Warm-up
1x5xbar
1x5x95
1x5x115
1x3x135

Work set
3x5x185

This felt good. I felt I could have definitely added more weight onto the work set, but wanted to keep it conservative for now. But overall it went well. Between 1-2 minutes of rest between work sets, really didn't keep full time on this, just wanted to make sure I got at least 1 minute.


Bench:
Warm up
1x5xbar
2x5x95
1x5x115

Work Set
3x5x135

the first 2 sets went good, but had trouble staying tight on the 3rd set. and i shifted the weight to the left side - i have trouble with my right shoulder.... it was hard keep my shoulder blades underneath and tight. so i'm thinking of staying at 135 for a while before adding more weight - good idea? or should i try something different? i only had a noticeable problem on that last set.

Deadlift:
Warm up
1x5x90 (20kg + bar)
1x5x111 (30kg + bar)
1x3x155 (50kg + bar)

Work set
1x5x221 (80kg + bar)

all went up easy. no trouble with the workset, just some fun scrapes on the shins went conservative here.

[RobLL]

Fitzy - good luck with it all, including school

[fitzy21]

thanks Rob

school is going good so far. took a semester off last fall...then came back for spring semester, which was rough. but i feel much more calmer and ready to kick ass again in school and with lifting

[BFG]

good luck fitzy, can I ask is this a sports specific programme?

[fitzy21]

Originally Posted by BFG

good luck fitzy, can I ask is this a sports specific programme?

not right now

i want to get a base level of strength before moving onto a more sports specific program.

as a swimmer i know i'm gonna need to protect my shoulder area and get more powerful in the hip region.

[bigDman]

Originally Posted by fitzy21

not right now

i want to get a base level of strength before moving onto a more sports specific program.

as a swimmer i know i'm gonna need to protect my shoulder area and get more powerful in the hip region.

as a swimmer you are defiantly going to want to do a bunch of rotator cuff work or some dynamic warmup for the shoulders which can be found in the Insideout DVD

[fitzy21]

yea i know, i have the DVD, just not up here with me at school. next time i go home, which who knows when, i'll get it.

thats why i was asking if anyone could help out with some exercises that i could include right now

i know scap pushups, pushup +, face pulls, band pull aparts...i do those plus some others and pec stretches, and its gotten better, but i still need more work done.

[slimsaw00]

cool man I'll be checking this out from time to time. thanks for checking out my SS log.

Good Luck!



-Matt

[fitzy21]

so had my 2nd workout today

Dynamic Warmup

Workout B
Squat 3x5
overhead press - standing military press 3x5
Body row - fat man pullup

Squat:
2x5xbar
1x5x115
1x5x135
1x5x155

3x5x195

Felt great, was a bit tight at first, even after dynamic warmup, but it worked itself out in the end. weight went up easy. think i'll keep progressing like this.

OHP
2x5xbar
1x5x65
3x5x70

this was a bit tough, especially the last set, but worked through it. shoulder felt real stable though throughout the sets

Body row
3x5xBW

this was also tough, but plan on keep on practicing. last rep on each set i held at top and squeezed my shoulder blades together for roughly 5 extra seconds.

ended with some shoulder injury prevention stuff with a rubber band

~roughly an hour to finish whole workout

[fitzy21]

ok, back to Workout A today

9/6/07

Squat
1x5xbar
2x5x135
1x3x185
3x5x205

Bench
2x5xbar
1x5x95
1x5x115
1x5sx135
3x5x145

Deadlift
1x5x90 (20kg + bar)
1x3x133 (40kg + bar)
1x3x210 (75kg + bar)
1x5x265 (130kg + bar)
3x1x331 (130kg + bar)

notes -

went up 10 pounds in squats. felt great. i like the progress i'm making here. 10lbs every workout

bench - surprised myself by going up 10 lbs. felt good, and stayed tight throughout the sets

deadlifts - ok, by this point, i was having a great workout and wanted to push the DLs. so i did my workset of 1x5x265 and i was still wanting to up the weight after that, so i decided to do some singles. i switched to mixed grip for the singles

now the hockey team was testing, which was a great atmosphere to be around, music was great, i felt great. so i put on 130kg to the bar and lifted it. and it felt great. by the 3rd one, i felt tired and knew i couldn't get a 4th, but damn i'm happy.

[slimsaw00]

nice work man! I know what you mean its so motivating knowing that each time there will be more weight on the bar. there's always improvement whether it be more weight, or more reps.



-Matt

[fitzy21]

thanks Matt

i'm glad i have a couple days off until i hit the gym though ahahaha - i'm starting to feel it right now

[slimsaw00]

yeah this program gets very difficult fast, especially if you don't have your rest/nutrition in order. I sleep and eat a lot. . . I could probably do a little more of each, LOL.



-Matt

[fitzy21]

yea, my nutrition could be better...i'm trying to figure it out while living on a college cafe menu haha.

though, i have increased my veggie and fruit intake quite a bit. so thats good.

[fitzy21]

a bit sore today. stairs - they're not fun, up or down. good thing i don't have to climb many stairs for the rest of the day.

[slimsaw00]

yeah I hear ya. . . Thursday I tried to avoid stairs at school. Its odd that all of a sudden I'm experiencing soreness; maybe its simply due to the increase in weight.

I need to catch up to you! haha. Maybe if I could nail my deadlift form I'd be good. Keep it up man.


-Matt

[fitzy21]

i'm not looking forward to my workout today...i'm hungover and starving, but the cafe isn't open right now and the gym closes at 5....so yea...i'm gonna push through it.

not sore anymore though, which is good.

[fitzy21]

that was not fun at all. i'm really feeling the effects of being hungover, training and not having food in my system.

anywho

9/9/07
Workout B
Squat 3x5
standing Military press 3x5
body row 8x3

Squat
2x5x bar
1x5x115
1x5x185
1x5x205
3x5x215

military press
1x5xbar
1x5x65
3x5x75

body row
8x3xbw

squats were strong. i'm excited i'll be moving to 225 on tuesday - haven't squated 225 in a long time

press was alright, it was hard and i was feeling really fatigued at this point.

body rows were tough, especially the last 2 sets.

i felt really light headed walking back to my room...