I’m not tracking all that stuff…it’s just MyFitnessPal. All I care about is total calories and protein. Entering food into MyFitnessPal is easy enough since it has a database. People asked me to share what ate so that’s what I’m doing and posting the report is the easiest way.
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Ah. If it’s easier to do that, then by all means, continue.
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Workout today was cardio + lifting.
Morning: Exercise bike - 500 cal
Started StrongLifts 5x5
Front Squat - 45 lbs - 5x5
Bench - 120 lbs - 5x5
Rows - 75 lbs - 5x5
Pull-ups: 3x - 11,11,10,1 (aim 3x11)
Dips: +5 lbs - 3x - 11,10,9 (to failure)
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Food for today
| FOODS | Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Cholest | Sodium | Sugars | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | ||||||||
| Strawberries - Strawberries 6, 9 fresh | 80 | 19g | 1g | 2g | –mg | –mg | 12g | 5g |
| Banana, 1 medium | 105 | 27g | 0g | 1g | 0mg | 1mg | 14g | 3g |
| Protein Oatmeal, 1 serving(s) | 592 | 45g | 28g | 38g | 0mg | 301mg | 2g | 12g |
| Lunch | ||||||||
| Flatout Proteinup Pizza, 1 serving(s) | 631 | 55g | 29g | 48g | 30mg | 1,496mg | 11g | 24g |
| Dinner | ||||||||
| Homemade - Garlic Aoili, 1 Tbsp (15 g) | 85 | 1g | 8g | –g | –mg | 80mg | –g | –g |
| Maseca - Corn Tortilla, 0.67 cup | 293 | 61g | 3g | 8g | 0mg | 0mg | 3g | 5g |
| Accenthealth - Almond-encrusted Tilapia, 4 oz. | 280 | 15g | 12g | 29g | –mg | 260mg | –g | –g |
| Snacks | ||||||||
| Grapes - Red Grapes, 92 Grams | 62 | 16g | 0g | 1g | 0mg | 0mg | 15g | 1g |
| Melon Cup - Melon, 1 cup | 75 | 13g | 0g | 1g | 0mg | 25mg | 12g | 1g |
| Homemade - Kombucha, 500 mL | 100 | 10g | –g | –g | –mg | 4mg | 10g | –g |
| Sesame Berry Squares, 1 serving(s) | 191 | 23g | 7g | 5g | 0mg | 31mg | 14g | 7g |
| TOTAL: | 2,494 | 285g | 88g | 133g | 30mg | 2,198mg | 93g | 58g |
Just stick to the program for the next many month, it probably will be boring after a while, but keep at it. Keep pounding away on those workouts, it will get you results.
Diet/calorie wise it’s a very personal thing so it’s up to you what to do.
You are averaging about 2000 cal a day right?
Do it for 2 weeks then look at your weight and your body. After 2 weeks you can get a better picture of what’s happening on the calorie intake you’re on. Adjust from here, 2 weeks later re evaluate and repeat. Be prepared to up calories when the weights start to be a bit heavier, it will be heavy quickly.
Did you try back squatting?
On squat university there are great tutorials for a lot of things. Mcgill Big 3 is a great routine to keep the core stable.
The warmup where you hold a weight in front of you working on mobility is very good too.
I once tried squatting and just ignoring my bad form. Well, I ended up injuring my hip area so I’m weary of squatting with learning form first. So yeah, only did front squat.
I feel like I’m going to plateau quickly on my bench though. Not sure what to do then.
Today no workout. Doing a one day meditation retreat at home. I do these once a month. I don’t eat past noon so my total calories will be below usual.
Did you consider the advice I previously gave you on the subject?
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Yeah, fair enough.
I am actually being completely non-rhetorical when I ask if you considered it. If you didn’t, can I ask why not?
Here’s my 2 cents, follow a program that has used and proved by hundreds of beginners. I personally used 5/3/1 for beginners, and worked wonders for me, here’s a link: (Hope Jim won’t mind me posting)
5/3/1 is great, and I would say it’s 100% worth buying his latest book (providing you know the basics of 5/3/1). Also don’t be scared of the “slow progress” that the program has, people tend to ignore that the increase in reps on your PR sets increases strength.
Next step is to work out your nutrition, nutrition is 80% of gaining/losing weight, I used a TDEE when I started out, and it worked wonders for me personally:
I plugged in the details, then used a calorie counting app to hit the macros.
for your ankle flexibility, there’s tonnes of information on Youtube, squat shoes will help, but I recommend to get a good amount of ankle mobility too.
Enjoy lifting.
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Yes I have, by making sure I get all reps in and playing with rest times, etc.
Would it make sense to milk StrongLifts 5x5 a bit and then switch to 5/3/1 Beginners?
Also, what does FSL mean?
You can. It’ll get your weights up the fastest. It’s really up to you. I personally find 5/3/1 much more “fun” because of the slightly varying reps and the (helpful) addition of assistance work, but there’s nothing wrong with doing SL5x5 for another couple weeks if you want to.
First Set Last. It means after doing your main sets, you go back to the first weight used for the first set and repeat it. I believe Jim said you could do it for 3-5 x 5-8 but I pretty much only see it used as 5x5.
Thanks! I will start 5/3/1 Beginners today. I think long run I’ll be doing 5/3/1 so might as well learn it now.
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You won’t be disappointed, remember it’s a marathon not a sprint.
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Starting 5/3/1 Beginners today
Week 1
Front squat
Weight in lbs
65% 57.5 1 5
75% 67.5 1 5
85% 77.5 1 5+ (20 reps)
65% 57.5 5 5
Notes
- Luckily I own micro plates
- Probably could have did more than 20 but was getting pretty winded
Bench
Weight in lbs
65% 85 1 5
75% 97.5 1 5
85% 110 1 5+ (14 reps)
65% 85 5 5
Assistance work:
Dips: +5 lbs - 12,9,8,7,8,7 (Goal: 50 reps)
EZ Curls: 49 lbs - 20,20,10 (Goal: 50 reps)
Medicine ball/leg raises: 2x25
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How exactly did you determine your TM?
There is a spreadsheet out there where you type in your estimated 1RM for each of the lifts and it calculates out everything for you.
No lifting today. It says to condition on off days. Can I just cycle? Doing 400 calories of cycling at the moment.
I was going to stop logging what I eat/calories until I start stalling on my lifts.
Planning to also work on squat form on off days.