[Frenzy1]

Starting out I'm 5'10", 161 pounds, 25 years old.

5x Maxes on January 15, 2008 are:
Bench - 50 lb dumbells
Pendlay Rows - 130 lbs
Deadlift - 200 lbs
Squats - 145 lbs
Overhead Press - 80 lbs

1x Maxes on January 25, 2008 for Lightweight Challenge:
Overhead Press - 90 lbs
Squats - 200 lbs
Deadlift - 245 lbs?
Lightweight, baby. (IT's A RACE)



Guess I'll throw a little background in here. I started lifting probably 3 years ago when I got a YMCA membership but I was intimidated as fuck and basically just copied what other people were doing, so yeah 3 different types of curls. I had that membership for a year and never did anything but leg press, curls, seated bench machine. Shit was too expensive for me though so I bought a used bench and some weights and started on the program from Arnold's book. I don't think I did more than 2 weeks of consecutive solid lifting and again it was only bench/curls until Hulkamania pointed me here.

I started biking to work this summer and picked up Starting Strength to learn how to squat and it's become my favorite lift. Pisses me off that I've been "lifting" for 3 years and lurking here for around 2 years now but I was too intimidated to try the big lifts, but I think I've got the kick in the ass I needed.

Year End Goals:
- Pack on 40 pounds of muscle by the end of the year, ideal bodyweight at 200 pounds.
- Close Captains of Crush #2
- Strict Overhead Press my bodyweight

3 Month Goals (April 16, 2008):
- Squat 200x5 (February 25, 2008) - New Goal 250x5
- Deadlift 250x5
- Overhead Press 125x1

My home setup isn't the best but I've got a bench which serves as a squat rack but not a bench (the supports are too narrow so I can't setup my bench grip on it before I lift, it screwed up my right wrist trying to change my grip mid air every time I lifted the weight out and put it back). Still a little uneasy squatting in it since I need to be pretty precise putting the bar back in but I'm sure it'll get easier.

I'm going to start with the basic Starting Strength workout (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), modified a bit because I don't feel good doing power cleans (wrist problem).

Workout 1:

Squats
Dumbell Bench
Deadlift

Workout 2:

Squats
Overhead Press
Pendlay Rows

Days in between possibly:

Ab Work (not sure what to do here yet, I'm thinking Turkish Get Ups, Saxon Side Bends, Hanging Leg Raises/Laying Leg Raises).
Chins/Pullups
Bas Rutten MMA Workout CD's
Captains of Crush

[Frenzy1]

Lifting Day 1 (Tuesday, January 15)

My original plan was to start my workout the next Monday but I was too pumped up the night before so I'm going to do a Tuesday/Thursday split this week just to get used to the lifts.

I need to reread the Starting Strength chapter and setup the warmup weights.

Squats: 40x5, 70x5, 100x5, 100x5, 135x5, 145x5, 145x5
Bench: 30x5, 40x5, 45x5, 45x5, 45x5
Deadlift: 70x5, 120x5, 170x5, 210x5


Off day:

Felt really sore today in my shoulders and legs since I haven't worked out in about 3 weeks.
Did Turkish Getups x5 with 20 lbs to try out the movement and Saxon Side Bends x 20 with 5's and 2 rounds (bleh) of Bas Rutten Boxing CD.

[Frenzy1]

Lifting Day 2 (Thursday, January 17):

Woke up with a leg cramp and the flu, good start! Felt pretty good at the start of the workout but I started feeling like shit as it went on.

Squats:

I'm having a problem with squats, my bench supports are only about 25 inches wide and I'm not flexible enough to get a good thumbless grip on it that way and it ends up bending my wrists back when I'm holding onto the bar. What can I do to increase my shoulder flexibility?

40 x 5
40 x 5
70 x 5
100 x 5
130 x 5
155 x 4
150 x 5
150 x 5

Overhead Press:

40 x 5
55 x 5
70 x 5
90 x 3
80 x 5
80 x 5

Pendlay Rows:

40 x 5
70 x 5
100 x 5
130 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5

[Frenzy1]

Lifting Day 3 (Monday, January 21):

Still have the flu, workout went as usual though. I'm going to upload deadlift and squat vids, I tried to fix the good morning with heavy weights out of the bottom by keeping my head back after watching Squat RX vid which I was doing last week. For deadlifts I don't think I'm rounding or arching my back, it seems pretty straight although I think I'm keeping my back too parallel to the ground after I straighten my legs and I really need to work on grip strength or getting rid of my sweaty hands.

Squats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHqft7cPICk

I've switched to high bar grip with thumb wrapped around for my current gym setup, no shoulder or wrist pain today.

40 x 5 x 2
70 x 5 x 2
100 x 5
125 x 5
155 x 5 x 3

Dumbell Bench:

50's felt really easy today now that I'm using my legs like in Starting Strength, going for 60's next time.

25 x 5
35 x 5
50 x 5 x 3

Deadlift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wiP5m4UvF4

70 x 5
120 x 5
160 x 5
185 x 5
210 x 5


Off day:

Chins, 5 x 5

Turkish Getups:

30 x 5
30 x 3
30 x 2

Saxon Side Bends w/ 5's

Captains of Crush Trainer x 10x2 and reverse x 10 + holds

[Frenzy1]

Lifting Day 4 (Wednesday, January 23):

I wasn't feeling the heavy squats today, going to try to figure out my 1RM's on Friday for Squats and Deadlift.

Squats:

40 x 5
70 x 10
100 x 10
130 x 5 x 3

Overhead Press:

Trying for 1 RM. I guess it wasn't very strict before since I managed 90x3 a week ago, no legs this time.

40 x 5
60 x 5
80 x 3
90 x 1

Pendlay Rows:

70 x 5
90 x 5
110 x 5
130 x 5
140 x 5 x 2

[Diesel6]

Good log man, I'll be following. Here's an article on strict overhead press form that I highly reccomend reading (if you haven't already). It'll get your form perfect and should help you put up more weight.

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-overhe...ect-technique/

[Frenzy1]

Pendlay Rows Form Video up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK-7n5oo2AA

I think I'm right on the brink of it being too heavy, the last rep had a bit of body english but they look pretty good to me. The damn phone books were shifting around on me, I need to figure out a better way to set that up.

I'm rowing more than I bench and almost as much as I'm squatting, I'm good at pulling exercises and terrible at all pushing exercises for some reason, time to get that Deadlift up I guess.


Thanks for the link Diesel, some stuff in there I haven't read before. I need a lot of work on my presses.

[Frenzy1]

Lifting Day 5 (Friday, January 25):

Squats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn-3T7jtK-o

Going for maxes today on Squat and Deadlift. Good call on the humping, it seemed to make it a lot easier locking out the Squat.

40 x 10
70 x 5 x 2
100 x 5 x 2
120 x 1
140 x 1
160 x 1
180 x 1
190 x 1
200 x 1
210 FAILED, got about halfway up and then I couldn't move it and had to roll the bar down my back. I watched the video though and my form was way off, I was leaning too far forward, ugly.... I had a box setup behind me figuring I'd be able to get to it if I got stuck but that didn't work. I guess I need to set up some supports at the bottom. First time doing 1RM's though so I guess I learned my lesson pretty quick.

Dumbell Bench:

Well I can't fit more than 50 on to my adjustable dumbells with the current weights I have so no 60 this week.

25 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5 x 3

Deadlift:

I'll save Deadlift for tomorrow, not feeling it after the Squat failure.

[LPF4]

Originally Posted by Frenzy1

Starting out I'm 5'10", 161 pounds, 25 years old.

5x Maxes on January 15, 2008 are:
Bench - 50 lb dumbells
Pendlay Rows - 130 lbs
Deadlift - 200 lbs
Squats - 145 lbs
Overhead Press - 80 lbs

Current 1x Maxes:
Overhead Press - 90 lbs
Squats - 200 lbs
Deadlift -

3 Month Goals:
- Squat 200
- Deadlift 250
- Overhead Press 125

Looks like you need to do some updating since you've already reached your 3 month goals (2) in less than a month.

Since you're trying to add weight you should start logging your diet so you can see how you're doing. How many calories are you taking in per day?

Keep up the good work.

If you can you need to buy an olympic set of weights. Use some flip flops, Chuck Taylors or go barefoot when you lift. Your shoes look like they're tennis shoes which aren't bad. At least they're not running shoes.

[Frenzy1]

Originally Posted by LPF4

Looks like you need to do some updating since you've already reached your 3 month goals (2) in less than a month.

Since you're trying to add weight you should start logging your diet so you can see how you're doing. How many calories are you taking in per day?

Keep up the good work.

If you can you need to buy an olympic set of weights. Use some flip flops, Chuck Taylors or go barefoot when you lift. Your shoes look like they're tennis shoes which aren't bad. At least they're not running shoes.

Well my goals were originally supposed to be x5 so I'll just update that.

I was logging my diet at first but it was getting pretty repetitive since I eat basically the same thing everyday, I'll add up how much calories it comes to. I try to eat 4-5 meals per day, breakfast, lunch, 1 hour pre-workout, post-workout, 2 hours before bed. In a day I usually eat:

Big bowl of Cornflakes/Oatmeal w/ Milk
4 Eggs w/ Spinach/Brussel Sprouts/Corn
Bowl of Cabbage Soup x2
Banana x4
Glass of Milk x3
Ground Beef or 2 Pork Chops w/ Potatoes or Brown Rice and Veggies

I'd ballpark it around 3000 calories, maybe 170g of protein.

Why olympic weights over the ones I have? Same weight, same height (8.5" from the floor same height with phonebooks).

Thanks for the comments.