OK so life-story short. I used to love working out. I got hurt and I never really got back into it as much. I messed my back up doing a deadlift with a little too much weight. A few months later, I started smoking, and stopped working out for a bit. About 3 or 4 months later, got back into it (while still smoking), stretched something in my sleep 3 weeks later after getting back some of my lost strength, and messed up my shoulder for a long time. Since then I've lost a lot of weight. I weigh roughly 170lbs whereas I used to weight 187lbs. Not to mention I haven't been eating a lot.
Starting monday I'm gonna be doing the following
1. Go complete cold turkey on cigarettes FIRST AND FOREMOST.
2. Start a cardio routine.
3. Get back into weightlifting with rippetoe's routine. Best routine I've ever done and back at my "prime" I got the greatest results while remaining proportional.
4. Eat much better.
5. Get my sleep cycle back on track.
My stats now are as follows:
Age: 21
Height: 5'11
Weight: 170lbs
Short-term goals:
Get my heart back to better health
Regain my lost strength. Size to me isn't a huge issue, but strength comes first.
Run a mile without getting so winded.
Feel better about myself and get my self-confidence back
I used to...
Bench press: 250lbs
Squat: 300lbs
Deadlift: 360lbs
Powerclean: 200lbs
Long-term goals:
Bench 300lbs
Squat 400lbs
Deadlift: 500lbs
Run 5 miles without getting winded
Sprint a mile (there was a time where I could ALMOST sprint a mile.. before I fainted)
Never smoke AGAIN
Be like a Greek God
My workout will be as followed:
Weightlifting in the mornin':
Switch routines every other day
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Pull-up 2x8
Squat 3x5
Military Press 3x5
Powerclean 3x5
Dips 2x8
Cardio in the evenin':
1st week:
1/4 mile run (1 lap around a track)
40 yard sprint (20 yards forward, 20 yards back)
2nd week:
1/2 mile run (2 laps)
2 laps of a 40 yard sprint
and work my way up linearly.
I will start THIS Monday. I'm hoping you guys can cheer me on and keep me going. As far as my shoulder and back is concerned. It's back to normal.
Funny I was looking at my old log in my signature. I asked if I could reach 300-400-500 by the end of this year. I probably could have easily before the half year was over if it weren't for me injuring myself. It's not a realistic goal but I could possibly do it before Jan 1st 2009. If not, I'll still be working out, going for my long-term goals. Right now I just want to ease into it and not hurt myself and make sure my form is spot on as always. I'm pretty sure by the end of this year I'll be back to where I stopped my last log.
Good on you for quitting smoking....forever! If cold turkey is a but much to take, try some Nicorette gum to ease you through the hardest part of hit all. congrats.....
I'll tell you what, after the 3rd set I could barely stand, not to mention my breath was a little short. This is what I get for smoking. My form was good
Bench Press
175x5
155x5
155x5
175 on the first set was too much for me actually and my form was crippling. I lowered it to 155 to be safe and to not hurt myself.
Good news is my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore, neither does my back. Even on the bench press (which pretty much messed my shoulder up even more the last time I worked out) I didn't feel any pain. Looks like I'm at least healed and ready to go. I just want to be careful.
I skipped deadlifts and cardio for now. I'll do deadlifts Friday, and the cardio workout next week. My legs are hurting like HELL. I haven't done squats in at least a few months. As far as my diet is concerned, it's an AYCEC (all you can eat clean) buffet. No smoking today so far.
Once I fully get back into working out, I'm gonna unleash hell.
I skipped deadlifts and cardio for now. I'll do deadlifts Friday, and the cardio workout next week. My legs are hurting like HELL. I haven't done squats in at least a few months. As far as my diet is concerned, it's an AYCEC (all you can eat clean) buffet. No smoking today so far.
Once I fully get back into working out, I'm gonna unleash hell.
Good luck man, quitting smoking can be tough, but if you want it, take it.
Getting out and doing some walking might be beneficial to your sore legs. Maybe not running, but walking.
I might also suggest looking into a running program. You might make better gains, taking it easy to start with a run walk protocol, ie run 30s, walk 60s and progress from there. I am starting to look into "ChiRunning" so if it works out for me I'll let ya know.
Og.
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
Felt good, my soreness didn't bother the lift at all, I completely ignored it and was in the zone. It was only before the workout like walking and sitting down somewhere low is where the pain bothered me. Now after the workout, the soreness is there, but it's more bareable.
Military Press:
95x5
100x5
100x5
Nothing spectacular to report here. All went well.
Powerclean:
145x3
145x3
145x3
145x3
145x3
I found out that with powercleans I'm actually suppose to do 5x3, and I made that change today.
Pretty much after the 3rd set I was really starting to feel it. I might just stay at 145 for a while to actually get my technique back spot on.
My last set was my best. Seems my body is starting to memorize the movement again.
Bench Press:
160x5
165x5
175x5
Now this was weird. I was almost struggling with 155 for all 3 sets last Monday, and today I was able to push 175 on the last set.
Deadlift:
245x5
Easy peasy.. just trying to be careful, ya know? I bet I could do 265lbs next Wednesday easily. 245 just seemed like I wasn't even being worked.
Thus ends the first week of my comeback. So far going strong. Plus quitting smoking is f'ing hard, but it's having its physical benefits for sure.
I'm feeling good, real good. Getting back into working out is making me feel better about myself. What I plan on doing probably is once I reach my short-term goal of 1000lbs total on the 3 main lifts I'll do some sculpting. I know I lack some chest compared to my shoulders and arms. Either way, as of right now I still lack everything.
Highlight of my workout was my 3rd set of powercleans. I finally got the technique down again and it became easier and it just felt freakin great. I'm starting to relike powercleans again. I have a feeling I might have to stop starting strength once I reach some certain numbers and go with Bill Starr's 5x5 program. I'd love to give that a try, but for now I'll keep doing starting strength until I stop progressing.
I love how my squats are coming back quickly to me. It's awesome. Right now I'm trying to be careful on Deadlifts. Well I'll hopefully be back to where I was in 3 weeks and I know I'll be able to go beyond and reach my goal of 1000lbs total on 1RM! See you guys on Monday!
Thanks, Most of this progress is because of muscle memory though. My progress will slowdown dramatically once I'm back to what I used to be. That doesn't mean I'll stop lifting, there are goals I will still want to meet.
I weighed myself in this morning with an empty stomach and just my undies on at 175. I've gained 5lbs so far. All muscle it seems since my stomach doesn't look any different. I will admit it's hard to get something to eat around my house but I try to make due with what I got. Although gaining muscle mass isn't my number one concern right now.
Man you have put a lot on your plate. Getting back to working out. Nutrition. Quitting smoking. I wish you all the best.
No kidding, hard part but good part is since quitting smoking my appetite is bigger, not to mention having the urge to smoke especially since most of my friends are smokers.
I had to stop after the 3rd set on powercleans since with correcting my technique I have to retrain the movement and I was getting too exhausted. From doing so though, the jump part on the powercleans is now almost involuntary . Whether that's a good thing or a bad I don't know but it feels more right.
Today I was actually struggling a bit on squats. I'm at the point where my gains are gonna slow down and I'm gonna have to be more careful. I'm almost back to where I was though. It feels good! Hell, bowling balls are a lot lighter to me now lol. I'm gonna continue this program for quite sometime until I actually completely stall, which then I'll start Bill Starr's 5x5 program.
I felt like I could do 245 for 3x5 but I wanted to be careful, plus I cheated a little bit on the last rep on the last set of squats on Wednesday because I didn't go ATG. I can't let my ego get the best of me.
Military Press:
110x5
110x5
110x5
Felt really good here. My last set was real nice, perfect form all around.
Powerclean:
160x3
160x3
160x3
165x3
165x3
Now that I'm getting the technique down a lot better I'm making myself explode up faster at the first pull. I get faster and faster.
Thus ends week 3. I feel like I need to start eating even more to make better progress. I'm not gaining any fat, but I am gaining muscle, but it's all just muscle memory. I do need to start eating a caloric surplus. Next week I'm gonna start doing assistance exercises: dips, and pullups. I may add in some sort of glute exercise, since my hole weakness is starting to show up. I know I can't do GHR or reverse hyperextension due to lack of equipment though so we'll see. I might just do romanian deadlifts and really focus on my glutes for that exercise.
Bad news first: I started smoking again a couple weeks ago. It hasn't affected my workouts but it sucks. I need to get some money together and try nicorette. As I understand it that stuff is pretty expensive, but in the long run it'll be cheaper than buying smokes every 4-5 days (I smoke 5 a day).
Good news: My sleep cycle is getting better. I'm not oversleeping, I'm getting exactly 8 hours every night and feeling refreshed, only thing is that I go to bed around 1am. That's just another thing I need to work on is going to bed a little earlier even though I like my late nights sometimes.
I guess I kinda misused the ATG statement. I do go below parallel but I my hammies don't loosen and I still have some hip drive. According to Rippetoe he doesn't like ATG because of those reasons, so I guess with his routine I'm still doing OK.
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.
Darkmind's Ultimate Comeback baby!
See you guys on Monday!
Linear Mode
