Got to the gym early this morning, lots more people (to be expected at that hour). A quick look around and everyone was either on cardio machines or weight machines. The squat rack was collecting dust. Excellent! 🙂

Squats

• 2x5x45 (empty bar warmup)
• 1x5x50
• 1x3x80
• 1x2x105
• 3x5x135 (work)

OK, silly male ego time, but it felt cool to be squatting with the 45# plates on the bar. 🙂 Rest between warmup sets was just enough to change plates. Rest between work sets I didn’t time, but was around 3-4 minutes… not much but still a little more than I usually do. For me, to consider a 5 minute wait between sets is difficult to do because geez… what do you do during that time? I don’t go to the gym to socialize, I want to stay in my mental zone, I do poke a bit at my iPhone to check Facebook or Twitter or something, but that’s “light” and doesn’t bug me much. One can only pace the gym so much or just sit and stand around… but I guess I’ll learn to get over it. 🙂  I mean, I’m making it to 3-4 minutes now so I guess that’s progress. 😉  Just not used to it, just breaking old habits.

Press

• 2x5x45 (empty bar warmup)
• 1x5x45 (formula calculated this to 35# but that’s not going to happen, so I just used the empty bar again)
• 1x3x45
• 1x2x55
• 3x5x70 (work)

I couldn’t remember if I did 2 or 3 work sets, so I just pounded out another to be sure. In doing the presses I found not only better form than last time, but I also was exploding upwards. That pointed out to me that I wasn’t as explosive as I should have been during squats.

I’m noticing in both my squat and my press that I was favoring my right side. Stands to reason, but being aware of it I can work to stop it and work to have my form more balanced.

Chin-ups

• 1x8xbodyweight
• 1x7xbodyweight
• 1x5xbodyweight

Since I’m still doing the inverted rows hanging off a low-pegged Smith machine bar, I’m finding better body positioning. That is, in that setup the body doesn’t have much room to move or adjust itself since you have hands on a bar that doesn’t rotate and feet (heels) in contact with the floor. But I’m working on the mechanics a bit, finding a better position that works through the whole range of motion. So that said, I was able to get just about every rep with my chest to the bar and chin above the bar, save the last rep of each set which I just pushed out because, as I mentioned previously, I’m remembering the negative… when I go down it doesn’t need to be uber-slow, just a bit slower than the up and that I’m still focusing on the muscles during that motion.

Overall, the workout felt good. Yes, squat weights are feeling heavier and there’s some mental games going on in my head saying “whoa… you shouldn’t be doing this… that’s fucking heavy!” but it’s only heavier than I’ve done before and in the end my body can handle it. It’s all in my head. I need to ensure I keep focused on form, especially during the warmups. I know when I came into the gym I was a little distracted because on my walk to the gym I was thinking about my day ahead and didn’t start thinking about the workout until I was almost there. But once I got into things I was there and good and frankly, if I hadn’t figured out my day that would have nagged and distracted me during the workout. It’s just me, so I got it out of the way up front.

I keep feeling like I could do more weight, more sets, more reps, but that’s not the point of the program. Just be slow and steady, slow and steady. Hell, if I can keep up this 10# increase per workout in my squats, I’ll be squatting over 200# for reps by the end of the month. No idea how I will progress and if that’s a realistic expectation, but even if not by the end of the month, it’s not like it’s years away or even months… maybe month or two. So, just stay slow and steady, in into the gym, do my business, get out of the gym, feed myself well, and lots and lots of rest.

Next workout… deadlifts. Can’t wait!

Back from the gym. Good day. Gym was a bit busier than usual, but it was no problem for me. Most people there were using machines or cardio stuff. Squat rack and bench were all mine. Works for me!

Here’s the breakdown:

Squat

• 2x5x45 (bar only warmup)
• 1x5x50 (warmup)
• 1x3x75 (warmup)
• 1x2x100 (warmup
• 3x5x125 (work)

Set felt good. I remember on the previous workout that I put the bar on my back and felt “whoa! that’s heavy”. This time, yes I felt weight up there, but it just didn’t feel “heavy”… no dialogue in my brain going “oh shit! what are you doing!”. 🙂

Form is feeling good. I’m getting more comfortable with the form and style, especially the low-bar squat. I still have a way to go on form, but I’m getting there. Will watch the DVD again to pick up on things I missed the first time around, refine, etc..

Bench Press

• 2x5x45 (bar only warmup)
• 1x5x75 (warmup – I screwed up, should have been 60 but my “plate math” wasn’t working)
• 1x3x75 (warmup – Should have been 80, but I couldn’t get to the 2.5# plates and at just 5# of difference and this was a warmup set? Meh… just went with it)
• 1x2x100 (warmup)
• 3x5x125 (work)

My first work set wasn’t kind to my right wrist. I’ve banged up that wrist pretty bad over the years (martial arts), but I know what the problem was: I wasn’t setting the bar correctly in my hand. I corrected and was just fine on the last 2 sets.

Another habit to break? You’re supposed to hold your shoulders back, like the shoulder blades touching as if trying to hold something between them. Well, I used to try to push my pecs forward, like doing a shrug, in an effort to really work the pectoral muscle. That’s not desired here, and while I wasn’t working on doing that, certainly my arms and body are used to pushing further out (there’s range of motion still in there, technically). Of course, with heavier weights this will stop on its own. 😉 Still, it’s a form issue that I am aware of and will just have to work to break the habit.

So: mind bar position in the hands, squeeze the bar with the hands, keep shoulders back.

Pull-ups

• 1x9xbodyweight
• 1x6xbodyweight
• 1x5xbodyweight

Note: Monday was chin-ups (palms towards you) and today is pull-ups (palms away). This is intentional.

These actually felt a lot easier than Monday’s chin-ups, not sure what that says. One thing I noticed was how fast I was moving. I need to slow down… at least, going down. When I pull/chin up, sure, explode up there. But on the way back down, I need to go slower than I did going up. If I focus a little more on the negative motion, that’s going to help build the strength. I’m not dropping down (my shoulders and elbows would hate me), but I should slow down more.

And again here, squeeze the bar with my hands.

So that’s really the big thing from this workout: form is becoming more comfortable, but still a long ways to go. I’ll watch the DVD again and re-read the relevant pages from the Starting Strength book to mind my form details. I’m aware of my grip, but not aware enough… squeeze the dickens out of the bar, leave fingerprints in it. And don’t forget the negatives on the chin-/pull-ups.

Feel good!

Today’s workout was another “first workout”. The exercises were squat, press, and deadlift.

While Monday’s workout didn’t have me leaving the gym feeling exhausted, I did feel worked. And no question, I worked something given the muscle soreness I had. 😉  Worst? my thigh adductors. The form Rippetoe describes for the squat brings those into play, which is good. But walking to the gym helped to warm things up and the first set of squats helped further warm and stretch things out. Felt fine after that.

It felt kinda funny today to spend it all at the squat rack, but that’s how it goes. 🙂

Went like this:

Squat

• 2x5x45 (bar-only warmup, every exercise starts this way)
• 1x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x3x65 (warmup)
• 1x2x95 (warmup, calculations should have been 90, but “plate math” was easier to just go 95)
• 3x5x115 (work)

This was my second time squatting, so now I can actually follow the routine. The pattern will basically be like this, where I figure out what the work weight will be (right now, I’m going up 10# each workout, so Friday I’ll be doing 125# for my 3×5 work sets), and then the warmups are basically: 2×5 bar only, 1×5 40% of work weight, 1×3 60% work weight, 1×2 80% work weight. Those warm ups are good. Using the bar only helped me to get stretched and limber (esp. given my soreness) and also to just remember to work on form. I did recall the last warmup set thinking “ok, this is a little heavy”, and that’s what it should be: that it’s easy to do, but it mentally prepares you for the heavy that’s about to come. And sure enough, I put the 115 on my back and my brain went “whoa! cool!”. 🙂

I’m still getting used to the low-bar position, but I did much better with it today. The flexibility will come, just have to keep remembering to pull my elbow back to make the padding/pocket for the bar to rest on.

I felt worked, but not exhausted. The work sets weren’t killer, so I know I’ve still got big progression in me for a bit longer.

Rest? I didn’t rest much during the warmups… just enough to figure out the plates I needed and put them on. I don’t recall how much I did rest between the work sets, but probably 2-3-ish minutes. I just recall making sure I felt fresh and like I could do it.

Press

• 1x5x45
• 1x5x55
• 4x5x65

This was my first press, so I started with the empty bar and went up 10# each set. When I hit 65# I thought that was good enough to start with. I did feel like I could have done more, but I realized as I was going along that I was forgetting some key things about my form, like moving back under the bar as soon as it clears your head. Just a lot of points to remember and I didn’t remember them all, tho that one was probably more key than any others. Basically by the 4th set I’d remember it on my 2nd rep and finish out the last 3 reps properly. That also got the squeeze at the top, like you never stop pressing. I opted to do a 4th set just to help reinforce the movement and form.

The weight is conservative, but that’s fine. I need to get form right. Weight will come.

Deadlift

• 1x5x95
• 1x5x105
• 1x5x115
• 1x5x125
• 1x5x135

This was my first deadlift, so again it was just a basic 10# progression. I started at 95# tho because of the nature of the deadlift: needing to have the bar somewhat off the floor. The gym has 25# and 45# plates, so I figured to just start at 95# and that’d get me going. I probably should have put some risers underneath the plates to bring them to 45-plate height, but meh… I’m not sweating it. Yes I noticed form was a lot better on the 135 due in part to the height of the bar, and if the gym had bumper plates I’d use them. But, I’ll manage. Besides, it gets me to stretch my hamstrings a little more, which is good.

Another case of feeling like I could have done more, but again, let’s be conservative. This is one where I need to spend more time working on my form. I wasn’t bad, but I betcha a video of the lifts would have been ugly. 😉  I got better as I went along, but basically I need to review the DVD and book again on press and deadlift form, do more “dry work” at home (I have a 6′ rattan staff from my Kuk Sool days, which offers no weight, but it’s a bar and enough to help me work on form). I’ll get there.

Overall, the workout was good. I’m trying to be conservative, focus on form, and that weight and such will come in time.  I do like the utter simplicity of this workout plan. And that it’s so proven and tested gives me a lot to look forward to.

 

Finally! Back to the gym. I can’t remember the last time I looked so forward to going to the gym (any gym, be it weights or martial arts). I’ve been really looking forward to starting Starting Strength. And today I did.

I’ve been reading the Starting Strength book and watching the DVD. I haven’t gotten through all of it yet, I wanted to focus on what was needed at the time: squat and bench press, as that’s todays workout. Between now and Wednesday I need to read and watch press and deadlift. But it was evident that the true SS program wouldn’t work for me, primarily because the gym I go to just doesn’t have the space nor proper equipment setup for doing power cleans. Shame. So instead, I’m doing Rippetoe’s Practical Programming novice routine. You can quickly see the programs at the SS wikia. But as well, I can’t do the PP routine exactly as-is either because I can’t do chin-ups/pull-ups because I’m just not strong enough. So instead, I’m doing inverted rows, which are a recommended exercise for building the strength needed to do full-fledged chin/pull-ups. I put the Smith machine on the 3rd peg from the bottom, which is just enough to allow me to hang with my back just off the ground, feet on the floor. Once I can do 3×15 of that, I’ll reevaluate my strength and determine from there what to do.

Today, being the first day, is about determining weights. Start with an empty bar, do a set of 5 reps, move up in 10# increments, lather/rinse/repeat until the speed of the bar slows down, there’s your weight, do 2 more sets and you’re done. Next workout will move up from there.

Here’s how things went for me (hrm… wordpress.com’s nested list support seems to be screwed up… even if you edit in raw HTML mode it reformats and screw things up).

Squat

• 1x5x45
• 1x5x55
• 1x5x65
• 1x5x75
• 1x5x85
• 1x5x95
• 3x5x105

Bench press

• 1x5x45
• 1x5x55
• 1x5x65
• 1x5x75
• 1x5x85
• 1x5x95
• 1x5x105
• 3x5x115

Inverted rows (chin-up position)

• 1x7x0 (bodyweight)
• 1x6x0 (bodyweight)
• 1x4x0 (bodyweight

One thing to note is rest periods: I didn’t do much. If I’m reading Rippetoe correctly, there isn’t any sort of hard line about how much rest to take between sets: it’s whatever is necessary. During the warm-ups sets you may only need enough time to change the weight on the bar then get back to it. During the work sets, you may need 3 or 5 or 7 or more minutes between sets. The bottom line seems to be, take whatever rest you need (within reason) to get the 5 reps. Since this is my first workout, I don’t really know where things lie, so I just kept moving: do 5, change the weight, get back under the bar. Once I got to a point where I felt “ok, this is the work weight” I took a little more time between sets, but never more than 2 minutes. Is this too little rest time? Well, probably. At this stage of the game, no it’s not. It’s constantly pounded into you to be humble, don’t let ego drive you — realize that on this program, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be lifting heavy ego-satisfying weights, so just be patient. It’s better to start too low than too high. So I figured the worst that could happen from too little rest between sets is I might not get as high a weight as I could, but I saw no harm in this. I’m trying to be conservative. That said, things will change now that I know my starting weights.

Yes, my squats were less than my bench, which isn’t how it should be, but not unheard of for a n00b. I actually felt like I could have done a lot more, but again, let’s err on the conservative side. Plus, Rippetoe keeps saying that 85# is a typical starting point for most people, and kinda pounded on getting too far from that to start isn’t good. I wasn’t sure if that was for pure novices or what (because before my layoff I was doing 105 for a lot more reps, so certainly I know I could do more), but again… screw it, be conservative. I’m going to go up 10# a workout and you do squats every workout, so I’ll get up there in no time.

I did my best to stay with form that Rippetoe lays out. Makes a big difference! Of course, I still have a lot to refine and work on, but boy…. I could tell. It did feel odd in some respects, but it felt better in others. For instance, I’ve been doing high-bar squats and having a dog of a time getting the weight off the balls of my feet. Trying low-bar squats now feels so much better, so much more balance, but it’s also rather awkward since it’s a new movement. Plus, it’s going to take a few weeks for my arms and shoulders to get more flexible to have them pulled closer together and further back; wasn’t bad today, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.

I also need to get used to the Valsalva Maneuver. Spent all my life doing the “exhale on the exertion, inhale on the return” and I need to overcome that habit. There was a lot of stuff today to have to think about, so I tried to focus on the main things e.g. in squat to lift with my hips, but then I’d forget to do things like stare at the floor in front of me. I’ll get it all eventually, which is another good reason for not just warm-up sets but also starting light.

I got in and out of the gym pretty quickly too. I liked that! I know that won’t last, that workouts will get longer, but still it’s nice to get in and get out.

Anyways, I’m digging this. Progress should be slow and steady, but I’m sure will get more interesting in a few weeks.

A few random notes to myself:

• on the bench press, putting my ring finger at the “groove” in the knurling gives me the best range of motion
• watch your head on the squat rack. 🙂
• 3rd peg from the bottom of the Smith machine for the rows
• I might want to find out an iPod solution, because I’ll need something to do in between those long sets. 🙂

I’m glad I opted to not do much “work” over the long weekend, because it gave me a lot of time and ability to read, to think, rethink, and reevaluate.

I am changing my fitness goals and I do believe a more straight-up strength training program is in the cards for me. No matter what, it seems that route will lead me closer to where and what I want. My goals may change again later on: maybe I realize I didn’t want this, that I don’t like it, that I want something totally different, or this is good but just needs refinement or has a hole that I need to fill. Either way, the bottom line is to shut up and lift.

Before I can lift, I need to figure out how.

While originally I was leaning towards the StrongLifts 5×5 method, I’m thinking I may instead do the “original” system of Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength”. I ordered his books and DVD, and since he’s up in Wichita Falls I reckon the should get here within a few days. Meantime, I’ve been reading through the SS wikia. Why his? Frankly, there’s more information and a lot less hype-y bullshit. It’s old-school, proven, and straightforward. Plus, there’s a lot more support and resources for learning how to do things right, which is key. Just watching some YouTube videos of Rippetoe discussing proper form on squat taught me a LOT that I didn’t know, and apparently a lot of people don’t know since I’ve obviously gotten a lot of wrong advice over the years.

The one catch? I will not be able to do the original SS program (A – squat/bench/deadlift, B – squat/press/power cleans). Instead, what I’m going to have to do is his Practical Programming Novice program: Mon – squat/bench/chin-ups, Wed – Squat/press/deadlift, Fri- squat/bench/pull-ups. Why? There’s just no way at the gym I go to that I can do the power cleans. Not enough room, consideration for other patrons, etc.; if you saw the gym, you’d understand. Kinda sucks, but there we go. I’m actually not even sure how deadlifting will work out given the room factor. Regardless, I think things should work out alright.

Another thing I’ve decided is to fully track my progress here, including weights. There’s an ego thing involved for sure because hey… we’re men, we’re supposed to be strong, and lifting weights less than 3 digits (or really, 135#… meaning a proper olympic bar with 2 45# plates) is a hit to the male ego. To post that today I only benched 85# is like proclaiming to the world in a tangible, measurable way how wussy I am. But… screw it. We all have to start somewhere. My strength is what it is. The difference? I’m doing something about it. If this program works out as it should, I’ll be putting on more weight every workout, I’ll be growing stronger by the day, and it won’t be all that long before I stop working with “wussy weight” and am moving around more weight than I ever imagined. But I have to be humble. I must check my ego. I must remember the long-haul. In the end, it will all pay off.

Getting concrete…. I may stay out of the gym this week and instead work on form and movement at home. Why? Well, one simple thing is I just gave blood so I need to wait a few days to let me arm heal up. But more importantly, I still have a lot of information to digest. Plus, it’s difficult to refer to my laptop while in the gym. Instead, I can watch videos, read instructions, and work on the basics at home so I’m not wasting time (mine and of others) in the gym. Mental. Visualization. Preparation. Get it right, get form down. That’s been my biggest issue so far, so why continue to fuck around and do it wrong?

Onwards and upwards.

I must like going to the gym because I hate that I haven’t worked out in over 2 weeks. I caught something (I’m thinking when I went to the Lazarus A.D. show), sore throat, then turned into a wicked sinus infection. It’s taken 10 days of antibiotics and finally I can breathe normally (take my last tablet tonight). Still a bit of hacking up crap, but geez… this sucked! Anyways, I finally feel well enough to go to the gym. Thing is, I won’t be going back for a few more days as I’m going to donate blood tomorrow so I’ll need a few days off. I think it’s a worthwhile trade.

While the time off has sucked, it’s also done me well. I was doing a very simple full body routine. It was a good routine to get me back into the groove, but I knew it wasn’t a routine I could stay for the long term, just enough to get my body used to lifting again. I was thinking about what to do and was thinking about taking a traditional 2-day split working 4 days a week, doing something like upper body Mon/Thu and lower body and abs Tue/Fri. I’d keep with the same basic compound exercises I’m already using but then add in an isolation exercise per bodypart, like keeping bench press and add in dumbbell flies, or expanding to hit other muscles in the group, like keeping barbell rows and adding in lat pulldowns. That was my plan.

But I’m not so sure I want to keep on it.

I was flipping through old bookmarks and went to the Beast Skills website. There was a video of the guy in a powerlifting competition and he mentioned how he used the “Wendler 5/3/1 method”. Never heard of that before, so off to Google I went.

Very interesting stuff. I like his approach, simple, no bullshit. You can Google for all the information you want, or pick up his eBook. I bought the eBook, it’s a quick read, but is full of a lot of useful information. Found a bunch of other useful information out there too.

So I tossed around the notion of trying his method, but the more I read the more I realize no, it’s not right for me. I’m still a beginner (some classify a beginner as anyone that can’t yet squat 1.5x his bodyweight; so, I’m a beginner); it’s a routine meant for later. But as I dug around I started to read about guys like Mark Rippetoe and his “Starting Strength“, and even found this StrongLifts 5×5.

I got to thinking.

All my life whenever I lifted weights I did it in a bodybuilding manner, so naturally when I started up again here I was taking that approach and mentality.

The more I think about it? I don’t want to do that. Well yes, I do want to look good… I don’t want to look like a fat blob that can move a lot of weight but can’t tie his own shoes without getting winded (Jim Wendler’s whole reasoning for coming up with 5/3/1 resonates here), but I also really no longer care about worshiping Joe Weider. I want functional strength. And yes, I want to move a lot of weight. Sorry, CrossFit doesn’t appeal to me (sorry Dave!). For the first time, powerlifting holds some appeal in my book.

So I think I’m going to throw it all out the door and start over. From what I can read, the SS or SL5x5 would be a good place to start. And really, SS would be THE place to start, but I’m going to start with SL5x5. Why? Because they’re both based upon the same theory, but SL5x5 is actually better for the pure rank beginner, especially since I don’t have a strength coach to help me out. Even the SS wikia promotes this approach (it’s a wiki so take it for what it’s worth, but still. Updated: apparently that blurb comes straight from Olympic Coach Glenn Pendlay, so I reckon that’s some sound backing). In trying to sort the wheat from the chaff, the only real downside to the SL5x5 is that I’ll probably stall out faster and want to back off to SS (e.g. from 5×5 to 3×5) or SL does have a “SL3x5” and “SL1x5” sort of deload progression so, there’s something to it all. But either way, they should get me going. Then once I truly stall out on these, then something like Wendler’s 5/3/1 can come into the picture. When will that be? Who knows… everyone’s different.

But I think I want to give this a try. I’ve been rolling it around in my head for a few days and while initially it’s going to feel like a big step back, the ego check will be good because well… I think reading Wendler’s book gave me a lot of perspective, to consider the real long term goals: on his system you’ll only go up 5#/month on bench/overhead and 10#/month squat/deadlift, but that’ll add up to around 50# and 100# at the end of a year, and over the long haul, that’ll amount to some amazing gains. But it’s all about the long-term, not about the instant ego gratification. I’m older now, I think I’m willing to accept that. 🙂

I’m also going to order some of Rippetoe’s books.

We’ll see how it goes.