Today was not a good workout. But you drag yourself to the gym anyways, because that’s what discipline is about.

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x80
• 1x3x125
• 1x2x165
• 3x5x210 (work)

I opted to keep my progression the same this workout as last workout since the bar speed last workout was very slow. This session it was faster, but I could tell my form wavered a little bit. I’m debating if I want to do this again on Monday or go ahead and jump to 215#. That will depend how I feel. See the commentary section below.

Presses

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x55
• 1x3x70
• 1x2x85
• 3x5x102.5 (work)

My first microload! Decimals! 🙂  The odd thing here was feeling suddenly strong. Whereas on Wednesday I felt I struggled with 100# work sets, today only a couple of minutes after set 1 I felt this burst of “go” and pounded out set two. After only a couple more minutes of rest, set three. Odd that I didn’t need so much rest, that I felt so much stronger, and I did not feel at all like today was a struggle. Stressing sure, but not a struggle.

Chin-ups

• 1x11xbw
• 1x10xbw
• 1x8xbw

I don’t know what happened here. I feel like I’m stalling out. I’m debating if my body lets me get to 3×10 across that I should just go ahead and go to real pull-ups and chin-ups, even if that means things like 5 sets of 2 reps, or maybe 2 sets of 2 reps then 3 sets of 3-5 negatives. Whatever, but no more of these “inverse row” things.

Commentary

Today was not a good day.

I didn’t want to go into the gym. I had no motivation. I felt worn, I felt tired. I tossed around ideas of skipping today, but that would just start down the slippery slope of skipping. I thought that maybe I’d do a light workout instead, maybe just do the warmup sets and not the work sets, but no… what good is that? If the work sets aren’t going to happen, my body will tell me and I’ll listen to that, not listen to my brain and lack of motivation.

My guess? While I’m off work this week, it’s been nothing but work. Whittling down a huge to-do list, lots of running around, lots of doing things, and it’s rather non-stop. I’m tired! I haven’t gotten as much sleep either. So I do believe it’s just that creeping up on me. So how will this affect Monday’s workout? I don’t know for sure, have to wait and see how I feel when I get there. But it does tell me that I need to chill out this weekend, nap, and get some good recovery time in.

It also makes me think about how much longer I’ll be able to stick to this program. I’m not 18 years old and can’t recover like one. I cannot eat like a horse; in fact, I’m actively working to trim back on that because the fat gains are too much and I do need to lose. Consequently, that does mean my recovery ability will decline and I may in fact lose some strength or at least I may stick at a certain point for a while. It does make me think that after a couple more weeks of this program I might switch to something like the Wendler 5/3/1 to see how that fares for my body (and even in that, maybe pare it back a bit, like instead of 5 sets of assistance, only 3). We’ll toy around and see. It’s not so much to care about progressing with how much weight I lift, but progressing with putting a constant growing stress on my body so it will improve and adapt and work towards my goals. My goals have shifted slightly (e.g. the fat loss) so I need to adjust accordingly.

But in the end, my body will tell me what’s what and when to switch. My brain is eager to switch, but I need to force it to wait until my body says it’s time.

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x80
• 1x3x125
• 1x2x165
• 3x5x210 (work)

Today’s work reinforced that it was good to do the major reset. I continue to tweak and solidify my form. Chest up was key, but one thing I found I was paying more attention to was my foot positioning: the width apart, and the angle of my feet. When I walk the bar out, my feet are closer together so I have to fully reset them before I squat. I wasn’t quite getting things where they should be and then always end up adjusting as I go along. I worked to get it right from the onset. After I was done with my sets, I stood in front of a mirror, put myself into my position, then looked at myself in the mirror. My heels were perhaps a hair over shoulder width apart, and my feet were angled out more than I thought they should be… but actually when I looked at them from another angle, they were at a good 30 degree angle. Point was, I was more comfortable here, less stress on my hip and knee joints. With everything happier, well, I’m happier.

But as well, that foot position coupled with “chest up” really worked my adductors and posterior chain more… which is good, because obviously everything else I’ve been doing has been because those are weaker parts of my whole and so my quads were compensating. Yesterday I did watch Matt Wenning’s “So You Think You Can Squat” series and that put some good thoughts in my head. Anyways, I got the 3×5 but my bar speed was very slow. Next workout I’m going to keep my weights the same, keep focusing on form, but work to get the bar speed up to a “normal” speed.

Bench Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x75
• 1x3x105
• 1x2x135
• 3x5x155 (work)

As well, I continue to work on form here. I’m getting the hang of putting my feet back and pressing my heels down so that I get a full body drive from the legs up, but I’m still far from mastery of the technique… still feels weird to me, but every time I bench I get a little better and more aware of doing things right.

I am not sure how much longer I can keep up 5# jumps, but I wouldn’t be surprised if before the end of the month I dropped down to 2.5# jumps. I don’t want form to go to crap here all for the sake of weight.

Deadlift

• 2x5x95 (warmup)
• 1x5x125
• 1x2x175
• 1x5x210 (work)

Whoops! I slipped up and did 5 @ 125 instead of 3. No big deal.

This is starting to feel heavy, but not “oh God I can’t do this!” heavy. I do think that either next or certainly the subsequent deadlift session is going to need to go to a mixed grip on the work set. Until now it’s been exclusively double-overhand grip, and likely I’ll continue that for all the warmup sets, only using mixed for the actual work set.

I do think I can continue 15# jumps here, but again, that’s not going to last much longer.

Gear

I had another change of gear today. The only athletic type shoes I own is a pair of Nike Free, which I bought years ago due to Kuk Sool because they offered protection to the feet while allowing a lot of movement. I used them to lift because they’re what I had. As I read about what shoes to wear when lifting, running shoes or anything that has a lot of cushion in the heel is bad because that creates a lot of give and an unstable base under the bar — makes sense. Wrestling shoes or dedicated lifting shoes are best, but the other recommendation tends to be the good old Converse Chuck Taylor. They are basic, simple, flat soled, and not a lot of cushion to them. You see a lot of powerlifters using them. The Free’s were starting to tear and come apart on me, so I opted to buy a set of Chucks. Wore them today. Not sure I noticed any real difference other than they don’t look as fruity as the Free’s. 😉

Diet

I’ve put on about 15-20# since I started this SS-inspired program about 6 weeks ago. It’s lifting, it’s eating. Trouble is, I really can’t afford to get bigger, at least, due to fat. There’s no question I have some fat gain, but there’s also a fair deal of muscle gain — both are evident. The issue becomes my clothing. I’m starting to push to the edge of what my clothing can handle, and there’s no way at this stage that I’m going to start buying a whole new wardrobe.

But I know what I’ve been doing, and it’s been consuming too many calories overall. I’ve been very focused on whatever it took to maximize my strength gains, and that worked. But now, I gotta trim back. I need to keep the strength and muscle gains up, but shed fat. I weigh about 240# now (6’3″ tall), and using the US Army bodyfat method I’m around 20% BF, maybe 20-25% is a better range to say. So, if I could shed down to 200#, that’d be cool. That’s actually been a goal of mine for some time (remember the up-day-down-day thing I was doing?). Of course, it’s hard to say how that’ll play out as I’m building muscle too, but I still think 200# a reasonable target. Exactly where my weight ends up isn’t as big as issue as the overall body composition improving.

Given that, I need to drop my protein intake down to 180-200 grams a day (i.e. 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight). I know I’ve been overdoing it here, on purpose. Trouble is, I started to get bad about carbs too… I shouldn’t have, thus here I am taking in too many calories in a day; I was good about this at first and actually lost a little weight, but then I got consumed by building bigger strength numbers — let’s hear it for that ego again *sigh*. So the big thing is to scale back protein intake and strive for 0 carbs in a day — that won’t happen, but if I target that it’ll help guide my choices and habits. I reset my squat, this is a reset of my diet. 🙂

Commentary

I still feel I’m doing alright. I’m getting better with my form in every way, but still a long way to go. I am slowing down, but I have to expect that will happen. With the diet change, my gains may slow and I may get pushed onto an intermediate-level program a little sooner than expected. It’ll be what it’ll be.

Bottom line: I continue to enjoy the journey.

My change-up was a good thing.

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x80
• 1x3x120
• 1x2x160
• 3x5x205 (work)

In the prior workout I was doing 230# work sets, but my form went to crap — not good. I opted to do a major reset, drop 10% (rounding down, be conservative), and work to fix my form. While there may be a lot of things to fix, I wanted to pick just one or two things so as to not overload myself. The two cues I set for myself were: 1. chest up, 2. abs tight. I focused on those, reminding myself of them when I got under the bar, again after I walked out before I did my first rep, and then resetting and checking myself between each rep. I didn’t focus on moving the weight or getting the rep, I focused on good form, especially the 2 cues.

Yes, things were better. Tougher no question, and I really felt it on my thigh adductors, which tells me I was doing more to include my posterior chain — all good improvement. So, it was a smart move to drop the weight and pick up the form. Remember: the body doesn’t know how much weight you’re lifting, just that there’s a stress. The poundage, the reps, those numbers are only known to the ego. Better to have the right form.

I will progress from here in 5# increments.

Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x55
• 1x3x70
• 1x2x85
• 3x5x100 (work)

Nice round number. 🙂 I could tell my bar speed was slowing down on these tho, not always getting the full push through of my head and the shrug at the end. So, I think this is another time to slow down. I’m going to drop down to 2.5# increases, so I’m happy I bought those fractional plates ahead of time. Again, I worked on cues like “chest up” to fix form.

Chin-ups

• 1x10xbw
• 1x8xbw
• 1x7xbw

What happened here? I didn’t feel as strong for some reason, but I noticed I was being stricter on these too… I guess my brain got into a “strictness” groove and it just carried over here. Not going to complain.

Commentary

Not the toughest, most demanding physical workout I’ve had, but it took a lot more mentally because I had to be very into what I was doing, keeping focused on fixing my form, constantly reminding myself of my cues. I do think it paid off, and long-term this will have been a wise move to reset and move on.

I do think things are starting to slow down, but that’s expected. While I know I need to focus on the now, I am starting to think down the line about exactly what I’m wanting for a more long-term program. The Wendler 5/3/1 is appealing to me because it continues to focus on strength, throws in some mass building and balance, is straightforward and logical, and I also think it’ll be something that I may be able to better recover from. We’ll see… much to research and consider.

During the last few reps of a true 20RM squat, just do what Jesus tells you.

– Mark Rippetoe

I wasn’t doing 20RM squats, but I think Jesus was talking to me today.

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x90
• 1x3x135
• 1x2x180
• 3x5x230 (work)

This was the toughest work set so far. The bar speed was slow. A time or two I had to take two breaths before the next rep. Last rep of each set involved a good involuntary yell. I almost didn’t get rep 15 out… around rep 12 I thought “Lord, am I going to make it? should I give up now? hell no! keep going… if you can’t do it, then you won’t do it, but until that point, keep doing it.”.

It felt good to accomplish it, but holy crap….

There were two guys in the gym that were watching me: the owner, and another guy that’s certainly the strongest guy I’ve met in the gym. They offered some observations about my form going to shit during the work sets. I didn’t agree with 100% of what they said, but there’s no question some of the things they said jived with things I myself observed and felt. Biggest things? 1. my abs were NOT tight, 2. my chest was not up. Now, before this workout I was wondering to myself if I had been going low enough, hitting parallel, so I think that was more on my mind than anything else. I know when I got under the bar I would cue myself to tighten my abs, but once the bar started moving all I cared about was moving the weight and getting the reps. Form went to hell.

After thinking about it, I’m going to do a full reset on squats. Is this the right time to reset like this? Well, in reading the Rippetoe tomes I don’t think this merits a full reset… I think I would just forge ahead, either keeping the weight the same for the next workout or microloading (e.g. going up 2.5# instead of 5#). It’s probably too early for a reset. But, I don’t care. The program is a little biased towards young guys, and while I’m not old, I’m not young either. I don’t need to risk injury… better to lift today and tomorrow than just today. Plus, going to less weight will help me get my form in order. I know I’ve been chasing the weight numbers because hey… it feeds my ego like it’s never been fed before. I’ve never done this before, never moved weights like this, and with all the other crapola in my life, having something good like this is wanted and needed. But, ego is starting to take over. I have to remind myself of Henry Rollins:

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I’m old enough to know to learn from the wisdom of others. No, my ego didn’t want to hear what the 2 guys in the gym were telling me, but it’s what I needed to hear. When I thought about all my possible options, I think that a full reset, dropping 10% (25# in this case), and working my way back up with a greater emphasis on the form points that I’m not hitting (chest up, abs tight) is what is needed.

Oh, and the belt… wore it lower today, that felt better. I also think I should tighten it up one more notch… it’ll be really tight when I’m standing around, but when I’m under the bar it’ll be just right. As it was, tight when I stand around lead to being a little too loose when I was under the bar.

Bench Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x75
• 1x3x105
• 1x2x135
• 3x5x150 (work)

Put more of the Dave Tate “So You Think You Can Bench” series into play. Had the feet further back, rolled the bar to the front of the pegs, pushed into my heels as I pressed, squeezed the bar. I wasn’t perfect with it, but it was better. I can feel the difference the “whole body” and pressing with the legs makes. A long ways to go before I really get it, but this is a start. Also, I was doing better at remembering to squeeze my grip really hard… made my wrists a lot happier.

Pull-ups

• 1x12xbw
• 1x9xbw
• 1x8xbw

I admit, I’m getting tired of doing these reverse/inverted rows. I really want to move to actual pull-/chin-ups. Today I thought, “maybe I’ll just work my way to 10 reps across” and see how that goes… then move on. But no no no. I said I have to get to 3×15 before I move on, and I need to stick to my plan. I still am getting stronger, because reps are going up… and hey, bodyweight is going up too. So if both weight and reps are increasing, I am getting stronger. Just forge on. I’ll be there soon enough.

Commentary

Today was a humbling experience.

It was good for me.

On the one hand, it was nice to have the ego stroke of moving big weights and setting more PR’s. But on the other, it was a time to be humbled and realize that I need to slow down, back up, fix some problems, and from there I can progress. It’s a long-term journey, not a sprint (probably the only way I’ll allow “marathon” to be used in my exercise regimen is here as a metaphor). I have to remember, I’m not doing this for the ego stroke, for a competition, or for anything other than trying to be strong, useful, and healthy… it’s really for my health and well-being. Injury will not help my physical, mental, nor emotional well-being. A little humility will allow my ego to be fed for much longer. 😉

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x90
• 1x3x135
• 1x2x180
• 3x5x225 (work)

Whoo hoo! 2 plates. 🙂 If you don’t know what that’s about, the bar weighs 45#, and then I have 2 45# plates on each side of the bar, for 225# total. 45# plates are the typical “large plate” you see (there are larger) in the gym, so it was kinda cool to be squatting 2 large plates (well, 4). 🙂

Used my belt for the first time too. I’ll comment more below.

Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x50
• 1x3x65
• 1x2x80
• 3x5x95 (work)

The more I press, the more I like the exercise. At first I didn’t care for it, but I am growing to enjoy it.

One thing I found myself thinking, since I hit a “plate milestone” on the squats was that here I was doing 2 25# plates, which is something in and of itself. I did the math on how long until I’d be pressing 135#… 40# increase, if I can keep up 5# per workout that’s 8 workouts, and if everything stays steady and good, that’s mid-August and I’ll be pressing 45# plates over my head. Kinda neat to think about because I never imagined I could or would be doing such a thing. But then I remembered something Jim Wendler said about goals:

It’s always been one of my goals to standing press 300 pounds. In the summer of 2008, I did just that. When someone asked me what my next goal was, my response was simple: “305 pounds.” If you bench press 225 pounds and want to get 275, you have to bench 230 first.

And so, I put my dreams of “1 plate” in the back of my head, and finished out my last set at 95# because I have to get through that set first. 🙂

One day at a time, one workout at a time, one set at a time, one rep at a time. You can so easily get caught up in where you want to be and the dreams of tomorrow, but to do this lift you have to be right here right now and in this moment and not caring about the next rep until the next rep is the current rep.

Deadlift

• 2x5x95 (warmup)
• 1x3x115
• 1x2x165
• 1x5x195 (work)

I wore my belt here, but I knew it would be a little different due to the body position so I figured to wear it on my warmup sets just to get the right feel. Well… as soon as I got into position over the bar a sharp pain shot up the left side of my back and into my left arm. I think I pinched something due to the belt and the fact I had to really bend over to get the bar (remember, it’s using 25# plates so the bar is much lower to the ground). I think it was just too much angle and so a nerve got pinched. I took off the belt and waited a few minutes, it died down, I lifted and used the belt only on the last 2 sets since those were indexed by 45# plates and thus created a better angle.

Commentary

Another strong workout. PR’s continue to happen, tho there’s no question I can feel the weights getting closer to limits and things are slowing down. That’s fine, that’s to be expected.

The belt will deserve a blog posting of its own, and I’ll get to that once I’ve got a few more workouts under my belt (pun intended). However, initial results are good. It feels strange tho… I’ve lifted with belts in the past but it was alway the “commercial” stuff where it’s 2″ in the front and 4″-ish in the back, which I now learn are kinda pointless because it’s your abs that need to push against something so why the little tiny 2″ wall up front… doesn’t give you much to push against. There’s no question there’s more wall here. The belt is mighty thick and doesn’t flex much, so it is a little uncomfortable, but as I found a groove it wasn’t bad. That will be what I have to do over the next some workouts is find the positions and tightnesses that work for me. I can already tell that the buckle position needs to be rather centered for my squat, but it needs to be a little to the right for the deadlift so the fold of the leather that holds the roller bar is more centered and doesn’t poke into my stomach when I bend over. Squats are tighter than deadlifts. Squat ends up with a fairly even positioning (tho I’ll play with getting it higher or lower, wherever there’s best abs push it seems), but deadlift wants a low in the front and high in the back position… and I really have to push it into that position (and the one-notch looser than squats helps).

All cool.

While I’m sure I’ll be on this novice-style program for many more months, I find myself starting to think about intermediate programs: Texas Method? Starr Method? Greyskull LP? Madcow 5×5? Wendler 5/3/1? Something custom to my needs? I’m not sure and certainly not making any decisions just yet, but I want to be read on the topic so when it’s time I can make a decision and just keep rolling along. I will say that I’m wanting to keep my strength but I will want to try dropping some body fat. Everything else…. we’ll see when I get there.

The gym will be closed tomorrow for Independence Day, so I had to get my workout in today. No worries… just throws things off in a minor way, shouldn’t affect anything of consequence I would imagine.

One cool thing tho… I should get my 4″ powerlifting belt on Tuesday and I’ll use it on Wednesday, just in time for deadlifts. 🙂

Squat

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x85
• 1x3x130
• 1x2x175
• 3x5x220 (work)

There’s no question about the mental game here. I wasn’t into it. There was a time when lifting got really boring to me because there was no mental stimulation. And well, there still isn’t, but I’m realizing it’s quite a different mental game. I really have to get focused and be in a zone, even the slightest thing can throw things off. For instance, being a non-normal gym day, the owner wasn’t there and I think in the back of my head I’ve kept him as a bit of a security blanket — that if the weight got too heavy and I had to yell for help or a spot, I know he’d be there and be strong enough to manage. Well, today he wasn’t there and that sowed a little “oh shit” trepidation in my head… which of course isn’t good because it totally runs counter to what I need! I mean, if I think I’m going to fail, damnit I’m going to fail. I have to think that I will push that weight around like it’s nothing and then I will! Now, I still pounded out the 3×5, but there’s no question it was hard and my form went all to shit. So, the mental game is dawning on me, and it’s different from any mental game I’ve dealt with before. It’s kinda cool. 🙂

Bench Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x70
• 1x3x100
• 1x2x130
• 3x5x145

This felt good, almost. I’m trying to remember the Dave Tate advice, planting my feet and really pushing with them too… a whole body pressing motion. But I noticed half-way through my second set that my legs were limp. I firmed them up and the rest of the set wobbled.  Third set I realized that I’m planting my feet at a position fine for resting on the floor but not pushing back: I need to plant my feet closer to my head so when I start pushing into it, everything slides and I end up in a “normal” position.

Chin-ups

• 1x11xbw
• 1x8xbw
• 1x6xbw

Dang. That’s a lot more than I did last Monday. Not sure what gives, but I’ll take it. 🙂

Commentary

The mental game here is very interesting, and until I started to lift heavy — heavy relative to me, where my body and brain thinks “oh gawd what the hell are you doing??!!” — I never really knew it. I can’t say I totally understand it yet, that will come in time. But it’s really an interesting thing.

I’m looking forward to getting my belt and seeing how it pans out. Plus I admit, it’ll be kinda cool to be squatting 225# — 2 plates! 😉

You know one reason I like my gym? Well, one thing I don’t like is that there’s just no way I can do power cleans (yeah whatever Rip… I’m a pussy for not doing them, fine). But apart from that, the gym is really good… especially since most people are there for “modern fitness” so they’re all using the elliptical, treadmill, or machines. Never a problem to use the freeweights. 🙂 Plus it’s always got people but never ridiculously busy. Good music too. It’s nice to get in, work, get out.

Has it been a month already?

Squats

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x85
• 1x3x125
• 1x2x170
• 3x5x215 (work)

Damn. That was… heavy. That was… hard. The first set I pushed through but I could tell it was heavy. I think I need to put more time between the last warmup and the first work set. The second set though… that was very difficult. I’ll say this: I recall upon racking the bar that I realized I was hearing the gym music again… somewhere around the 3rd rep my brain just blanked out. I’m not sure why. From the exertion? from my body going “crap! we need to focus all energies on moving this weight to the exclusion of all that isn’t important, like hearing stuff.” I don’t know, but it was interesting. But on the 3rd set? I powered through it. The difference? Mental. Between set 1 and 2 I was a little distracted from overhearing gym chatter. After set 2 I just shut my brain down and focused on what I was about to do, the task immediately in front of me, nothing else. Powered through it fine.

Nevertheless, I think it’s time for me to stop 10# increments and go to 5# increments. Furthermore, the powerlifting belt I ordered will be here Tuesday and I’ll start using it on Wednesday. I know use of the belt will aid my lifting and it can add something like 25# to your squat… I don’t want to get sucked into that. If on Wednesday I do 225# and it feels extra easy due to the belt, then fine. Friday I do 230# and just keep the program going.

Press

• 2x5x45 (warmup)
• 1x5x45
• 1x3x60
• 1x2x75
• 3x5x90 (work)

This worked fine for me. Biggest thing I need to realize here is keeping my eyes on a fixed point and ensuring I throw my head forward as soon as the bar clears it. It’s partially a balance thing, partially ensuring I get the full “shrug” at the top, and just minding better form for a better benefit of the exercise.

Pull-ups

• 1x11xbw
• 1x8xbw
• 1x7xbw

I’m feeling like I’m not progressing so well here, but perhaps I am. Sure it’s just 1 rep total over last Friday so it’s still something, and I am also doing a lot better about pulling my chest all the way up to the bar. As well, I’m fixing my breathing.. I keep doing that “exhale on the up, inhale on the down” thing, but I’m getting better about breathing at the bottom as I hang, then hold my breath all the way through the movement… which serves to also keep my body more rigid and so I get the chest up to the bar better. So, I think with form and everything getting stricter yeah, I am sure I’m improving. I guess I’m a little impatient here because I want to move on to real chin-/pull-ups and not these inverse row things. But, strength will come. Just must be patient, so long as there is progress. 🙂

Commentary

Damn. Has it been a month already? I’ve been following this Mark Rippetoe Starting Strength Practical Programming -inspired workout for 4 weeks now. It’s not a true SS program since I’m not doing the SS program as defined. It is basically the PP Novice program, but again not 100% since I’m not doing full/real chin-/pull-ups, but am working my way up to that point. But what it is is still adhering to the principles of a constant linear progression, sticking to the big simple exercises, allowing my body to be disrupted and progress at the novice pace which allows for faster gains due to the ability to recover faster and being much further from the ultimate genetic potential I have, etc..

Here’s some numbers, comparing first workout to today:

• Squat

• 105# –> 215# — 110# increase

Bench Press

• 115# –> 140# — 35# increase

Press

• 65# –> 90# — 25# increase

Deadlift

• 135# –> 180# — 45# increase

Chin-ups (inverse rows, supinated grip)

• increased 3 total reps

Pull-ups (inverse rows, pronated grip)

• increased 6 total reps

Total went from 420# (4 exercises) and 355# (big 3), to 715# (4 exercises) and 535# (big 3). That’s a 295# (4) and 180# (big 3) increase, and that’s just what I’m doing for 3 sets of 5 reps… that’s not even 5RM or the vaunted 1RM. Various formulas put my 1RM total for the big 3 just over 600# and all 4 at just over 700#.

Those are alright numbers in my book. I’m not surprised that squat went up so fast because 10# jumps 3x week and the math is simple. I would reason my deadlift would be much higher if I was doing the actual SS program which would have me doing deadlifts 3 times every 2 weeks instead of 2 times every 2 weeks. But what will be more interesting will be looking a my numbers at the end of next month because obviously squat is now going to slow down but everything else is still chugging along. I don’t feel any other lift is really stressing me out like the squat is; tough sure, but not killing me like today’s squats did. Everything else will still chug along at their present increment rates (presses 5#, deadlift 15#).

I’m really liking this program, more than any other weighlifting program I’ve ever done. I started lifting as a teenager because I was tall, lean, skinny, endomorphic, whatever… just a little wuss, and I didn’t like that. Besides, girls like muscles too, right? 🙂  But lifting then as a teenager and all the on and off lifting I’ve done throughout my life has always been “bodybuidling style” and while I appreciated the hypertrophy, 1. it got boring after a while, 2. I never really felt myself getting usefully strong. This program has been the best thing I’ve ever done, lifting-wise, because there’s no ability to be bored because there’s a high level of motivation and positive feedback. You lifted a big weight today, and next workout you’ll lift more… and then you do it, and the feeling of accomplishment is awesome. I am growing, hypertrophy is inevitable, and I am liking those results. But most of all, I’m gaining a lot of strength — real stuff, useful stuff, practical stuff.

I like the program. I’m enjoying this a great deal. Excited to see how things will look after another 4 weeks. 🙂