bread kills me too haha its ok 
RE: Bread: At least I’m not the only one!
Weekend Update:
This weekend was awesome! The wife and I took the kids down to CT for a couple family gatherings. It was nice to see them after such a long Maine winter, and we had a lot of fun.
I’m proud of myself for more or less sticking to my diet. I did allow myself a couple cheats (small slice of cake, a couple alcoholic drinks, and a few smaller things), but I allotted for the calorie intake, and don’t regret my decisions one bit. It’s been 6 weeks since I’ve had anything coming close to a cheat meal, so I doubt a little indulgence this weekend will destroy my progress.
My brother commented that I was “starting to look a little jacked,” and it really motivated him to firm up our plans to go to the gym. He almost bailed on me, but I stood firm and he went. I’ll say that he was a good student, but it was funny that his outlook on the gym was pretty much what everyone makes fun of on this site (he wants a “cut” beach body; he does lots of curls and benching; no lower body work; uses machines almost exclusively; etc, etc)
I showed him the Starting Strength program, and explained the basic principles of why it works. He was skeptical at first, but once he realized that the size and definition I’ve been gaining on my arms has NOT been because of isolated exercises, it started to dawn on him that maybe there was something to it, lol.
I’m not sure if he’ll keep it up, but I hope he does. He did agree to go to the gym with me everytime I’m down in CT, so maybe next time I’m down there he’ll have made some progress.
All in all, it was a good weekend, and the compliments I received from family were worth all the hard work I’ve been doing in the gym. I can’t wait until they see me again in the fall - I’m sure they’ll be shocked (as I’m sure I will be)!
Thank you T-Nation, because without this wonderful site and all the people on it, I wouldn’t have been able to get even this far!
Keep up the good work darwin, youll be jacked in no time at all…
Ya think I should post a log soon? Im seriously thinking about it…
[quote]BigKDawg wrote:
Keep up the good work darwin, youll be jacked in no time at all…
Ya think I should post a log soon? Im seriously thinking about it…[/quote]
Thank you. It’s been hard work making the lifestyle change, but for the most part, people have been understanding and accomodating. I’ve grown to love natural foods, and despise virtually all junk. My brother opened a bag of doritos at the family gathering on Saturday, and a couple taste buds said “ooh, yummy!” while the rest of my BODY felt ill at the thought of eating something like that, lol. Needless to say, I didn’t touch the chips.
Start a log!! I’ve found that it helps keep me honest, and it’s nice to have a personal space where I can ask questions and get answers, rather than getting drowned out in the beginner’s forum.
The ego-boosting compliments don’t hurt, either, lol…
[quote]darwin420 wrote:
BigKDawg wrote:
Keep up the good work darwin, youll be jacked in no time at all…
Ya think I should post a log soon? Im seriously thinking about it…
Thank you. It’s been hard work making the lifestyle change, but for the most part, people have been understanding and accomodating. I’ve grown to love natural foods, and despise virtually all junk. My brother opened a bag of doritos at the family gathering on Saturday, and a couple taste buds said “ooh, yummy!” while the rest of my BODY felt ill at the thought of eating something like that, lol. Needless to say, I didn’t touch the chips.
Start a log!! I’ve found that it helps keep me honest, and it’s nice to have a personal space where I can ask questions and get answers, rather than getting drowned out in the beginner’s forum.
The ego-boosting compliments don’t hurt, either, lol…[/quote]
Funny story about eating crappy food. My diet is pretty damn good in terms of eating health foods in their raw natural state in addition to lots of stuff like homemade yogurt, kefir, raw eggs, raw milk, fruits, veggies, etc, white/green tea. etc… so my body has accomadated over to the healthy spectrum quite some time.
One day I decided to go over to Wendys with a friends and ordered 2 burgers… BAD DECISION! After eating em, about 10-15 minutes later, I literally had most of my energy totally drained from me and felt so bad I just had to lay on the floor feeling like total and utter crap for a good hour. Suffice to say, I learned my lesson that day to say F–k YOU to crap food once and for all.
My brother just e-mailed to say, and I quote:
“my legs are REALLY sore today”
hahaha. Welcome to the lifting world, bro.
WEEK 7 - Monday, 5-12-2008
Today was a good day. I felt strong, I felt I had intensity. Today I upped my weights in everything but Squats, and kicked my own ass.
That’s what I call a GOOD day in the gym.
LIFTS:
BACK SQUAT:
(warmup) 135x5, 155x5, 175x5
(working) 200 3x5
→ Finally got that last rep. Wednesday it’s on to 205. Gains are definitely slowed to a crawl, but that means I have to REALLY work for it now1
MILITARY PRESS:
(warmup) 45x5, 55x3, 65x1
(working) 80x5, 80x4, 80x2
–>First day at 80, and I’m fairly pleased. I hope to have the full working sets conquered over the next couple sessions.
DB ROWS:
(warmup) 40x5, 45x3, 50x1
(working) 70x5, 70x4, 70x3
–>The difference between 65 and 70 was enormous. I should have these conquered in a couple sessions, though.
PULL-UPS:
BWx0 … I’m able to pull myself up higher each session. Instead of doing negatives, I pull myself up as much as I can, and hang for as long as I can, then slowly lower myself down.
HYPEREXTENSIONS:
BW+15 3x5
INCLINE SITUPS:
BW+20 3x5
–>Starting to get difficult. I’m amazed at how strong my back and abs are, considering 2 months ago I wouldn’t have been able to do a single BW situp.
Todays workout was challenging, but I felt good and strong. I’m amazed at how much I’ve progress in such a short amount of time, and all I feel is pride in my accomplishments!
WEEK 7 - Monday, 5-12-2008
Today was a good day. I felt strong, I felt I had intensity. Today I upped my weights in everything but Squats, and kicked my own ass.
That’s what I call a GOOD day in the gym.
LIFTS:
BACK SQUAT:
(warmup) 135x5, 155x5, 175x5
(working) 200 3x5
→ Finally got that last rep. Wednesday it’s on to 205. Gains are definitely slowed to a crawl, but that means I have to REALLY work for it now1
MILITARY PRESS:
(warmup) 45x5, 55x3, 65x1
(working) 80x5, 80x4, 80x2
–>First day at 80, and I’m fairly pleased. I hope to have the full working sets conquered over the next couple sessions.
DB ROWS:
(warmup) 40x5, 45x3, 50x1
(working) 70x5, 70x4, 70x3
–>The difference between 65 and 70 was enormous. I should have these conquered in a couple sessions, though.
PULL-UPS:
BWx0 … I’m able to pull myself up higher each session. Instead of doing negatives, I pull myself up as much as I can, and hang for as long as I can, then slowly lower myself down.
HYPEREXTENSIONS:
BW+15 3x5
INCLINE SITUPS:
BW+20 3x5
–>Starting to get difficult. I’m amazed at how strong my back and abs are, considering 2 months ago I wouldn’t have been able to do a single BW situp.
Todays workout was challenging, but I felt good and strong. I’m amazed at how much I’ve progress in such a short amount of time, and all I feel is pride in my accomplishments!
Darwin, fantastic progress man. The pics show it all. and you’re getting there with your favorite exercise, the military press!!
Keep it up
I got more compliments in the gym today on my Squat form. I’m the only person in there that goes ATG. I absolutely refuse to compromise on this, even if it means a slower progression on my squat numbers.
Yea, its weird being one of the few, the proud, the ATGer’s. Where I work out, its mainly a bunch of boys doing their sissy boy workouts and almost no one even uses the squat rack for its intended purpose (which is squatting!) I give it plenty of use though doing OH squats, front squats, and back squats all the time. I agree with you on back squats though, ATG is where its at for full ROM strength and flexability.
[quote]Tonino wrote:
Darwin, fantastic progress man. The pics show it all. and you’re getting there with your favorite exercise, the military press!!
Keep it up[/quote]
Thank you! I really REALLY hate the military press, but I can’t deny how much it has built up my shoulders. Besides, don’t they say the best exercises are the ones you hate the most?
nah, i love squats!
[quote]BigKDawg wrote:
Yea, its weird being one of the few, the proud, the ATGer’s. Where I work out, its mainly a bunch of boys doing their sissy boy workouts and almost no one even uses the squat rack for its intended purpose (which is squatting!) I give it plenty of use though doing OH squats, front squats, and back squats all the time. I agree with you on back squats though, ATG is where its at for full ROM strength and flexability.[/quote]
Since the squat rack is in its own little corner of the gym, and nobody really uses it anyway, I generally do my squats, milpress, and deadlifts in that area. Only once has anyone asked me if I was done with the rack, and that was the guy who was “squatting” well above parallel. He had probably 250 on the bar, but his legs were TINY (at least compared to mine), and you could tell he’s never done a proper squat in his life.
The only time I accept going just below parallel is if I’m breaking into new rep numbers on my final sets, because I know that next time around, those reps will be ATG. Other than that, I’m very vigilant about maintaining ATG control, even if my squat develops more slowly as a result.
haha quarter squats. you can roughly quarter squat 1.5 to 2 times what you can full squat.
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
nah, i love squats![/quote]
Hahaha. Me, too.
Speaking of which, although I might just be paranoid and it might be too early to tell, I get the feeling that my upper body (specifically my chest) is not developing as quickly as my legs. Is it something I should worry about right now, or should I just continue with Rippetoe’s as written for a few more months and re-evaluate?
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
haha quarter squats. you can roughly quarter squat 1.5 to 2 times what you can full squat.[/quote]
Yeah, I’m sure I could squat 300 if I did quarter squats. Doesn’t mean anything, though. And you’re just cheating yourself out of a good workout.
nah, its just that normally our lower bodies were used a whole lot more by our ancestors and were stronger.everyone carried things on their back for example. how many people do you see doing that now? most people use their arms with a curved back and get injured…
my chest kinda stalled at around 95kgs. it just would go up sooooooo slowly(1-2 more reps every workout) . but then i got into olympic lifting and there chest is kinda useless so i dissed it 
my military press stalled too and i got it deloaded now.
i think usually its the squats that need a deload last. not sure. maybe its the deadlift, but idk the deadlift is kinda weird
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
nah, its just that normally our lower bodies were used a whole lot more by our ancestors and were stronger.everyone carried things on their back for example. how many people do you see doing that now? most people use their arms with a curved back and get injured…
my chest kinda stalled at around 95kgs. it just would go up sooooooo slowly(1-2 more reps every workout) . but then i got into olympic lifting and there chest is kinda useless so i dissed it
my military press stalled too and i got it deloaded now.
i think usually its the squats that need a deload last. not sure. maybe its the deadlift, but idk the deadlift is kinda weird[/quote]
I can see that, and won’t argue. My goals are two-fold, I want to get as large as my genetics allow WHILE maintaining and aesthetically pleasing physique. That means a certain amount of balance. I suppose it’s too soon to start worrying about anything like that though, so I’ll stick with it - I plan on doing Rippetoe’s for a total of 6 months (2 months down so far), unless there is a REAL need for me to change.
Funny story:
So, last night I’m at the store with my kids, picking up some stuff for my wife, who’s really ill this week… My son, 5, is all excited because we’re picking up pears and other good fruits and veggies, when he notices this lady pass us in the aisle.
This …woman… was HUGE. I’m surprised she could walk on her own legs. Her cart was full of junk - I think the healthiest thing in there was whole milk, to give you an idea. My son is just staring at her and her cart, and then turns to me and says (loud enough for all to hear):
“Daddy, no wonder she’s so big. All she’s eating is junk, and that’s not good. She’s probably sick all the time.”
I couldn’t stop myself. It was rude, but I had to laugh. I love my son, and he’s so right (and I’m glad he’s learning these lessons so young, because I was never taught about good healthy eating).
Anyhoo, I just wanted to share.
so what did the huge lady do? did she stomp her foot and create an earthquake?