I am new-ish to lifting and just wanted a place to record my progress. I’ve been doing a traditional 5x5 program for about 4 months now and I love it (A: squats, bench, barbell rows; B: squats, overhead press, deadlift). My goal currently is to just get stronger. I suppose my specific goals will change and evolve over time.
Today’s workout:
Squat: 5x5 @ 125 lbs
Bench: worked up to ORM - 100 lbs
Row: 5x5 @ 75 lbs
Squats felt good and solid. OHPs sucked as usual. Almost went to failure on my last rep. Deadlifts were hard; I rounded my back on the last one. I’m going to stick with this weight for a while.
Squats felt very solid. I need to woman up and do 130 next time. After all, if the weight doesn’t scare you a little bit, you’re not doing it right, correct?
The benches were obviously a bit hard. I don’t have a spotter so failure is especially entertaining as the men in the weight area get to watch me roll the bar with baby plates on it off my body.
The barbell row was too easy. I should be at 80 lbs but I was running out of time and wanted a weight I could bang out quickly.
Good job in taking the plunge to start recording your training. I just put a friend of mine through 12 weeks of the 5x5 program and he has made some fantastic strength and aesthetic improvements.
Enjoy the fun ‘beginner gains’, and good luck with hitting those goals. Consistency is your best friend for strength.
130 lbs scared the shit out of me for every rep. It was heavy and it was hard. I got it done and I’m like 90% sure I made it to parallel on each rep, so there’s that. I’m going to be squatting 130 lbs for a few weeks before I’m brave enough to move up.
I have like no upper body strength. OHPs feel really good the first 3 reps of each set and I think “maybe I need to go heavier,” but then I can barely move reps 4 and 5. I am going to keep working 60 lbs until I build up some more strength.
I must have been totally gassed by the time I got to the deadlifts; I couldn’t get my third rep off the ground. I did 5 reps at that weight on Monday, but I know I’m running a sleep and calorie deficit right now. Some days you have it, some days you don’t. I know that I need to work on 165 lbs for a while anyway.
So what do you do when you’re running about an hour late in the morning? You switch your 5x5 to a 3x5 and don’t wear makeup to work. Was only 15 minutes late into the office (nailed it).
Squats felts AWESOME, but I am not going to add weight until I get a few more 5x5s under my belt. Sets 4 and 5 are where the real magic happens, in my opinion. But dude, I am in striking distance of a 5x5 with one plate. o.O
Bench felt good, but sets 4 and 5 are where I failed last time, so no increasing weight until I hit the 5x5 at least twice.
Rows felt heavy but awesome. I’ve been focusing a lot on form - making sure I’m bent over all the way, elbows locked in, etc.
Felt really really weak this morning. 130 lbs was harder than on Monday, OHPs came close to failure on the last rep, and DL #3 didn’t make it off the ground again. I think the sleep and calorie deficit that I have during the week (I usually just eat real food on the weekends but restrict during the week) really takes a toll on my lifting. I think I may have to choose between gaining strength or leaning out soon. I know real bodybuilders go through bulking and cutting cycles, so maybe I have hit where my body can naturally go at my current calorie level?
I don’t know, I’m just making this up as I go along.
I do know that I am 20 lbs overweight, so if I can just maintain my lifts while getting rid of this extra weight without losing muscle, that’s probably a good goal for now.
Haha! I really empathised with this. For me I think the fear helps my survival instinct kick in. You get to the bottom of your squat and It’s either stand the hell up or get flattened.
Right now I’m using Isagenix, which in my opinion is just SlimFast with more protein (regular shakes are 26g protein and the pro shakes I use after I lift are 36g). Two shakes a day, snacks (aim for 10g of protein), and a regular meal (they say low GI, between 400 and 600 calories, but mostly I just aim to eat “clean”). On weekends I usually do 1 shake and 2 normal meals just simply because I usually have things going on and my meals are usually out of my hands.
My biggest diet struggle is not eating my kid’s leftovers or giving in on pizza when it’s in the house.
Wanted to find my ORM for squats. It turned out just about what I calculated to be. Something in my shoulder was wonky on my 4th set at the bench (and I couldn’t quite get the 5th rep), but I stretched it out during my rest and was able to put up 5 on my last set. It felt heavy, but good. I’m staying at 85 lbs for another week or so. Rows were heavy but solid. I’ll probably stay at 80 lbs until I move up on bench.
I was planning on only doing 125 lbs on the squats, but decided to do 130 lbs and I’m glad I did. Squats felt SOLID. I may move up to 135 lbs on Friday. Overhead presses felt like they always do - first 3 were easy, 4th was difficult, 5th was almost to failure. But I got the full 5x5 up. I want to wait until I can bang them out with only 90 second rest between each set before I move up. I’m not sure if that’s the “right” thing to do, but it’s what I’m going to do. Dropped weight on the deadlift. No regrets.
And now just for fun, I wanted to share jayteebee’s guide to what not say to women at the gym:
“That’s a lot of weight for a girl.”
“You don’t see too many girls in the weight area.”
Things you can/should say to women at the gym:
“You have good form on your lifts.”
“I like your shoes.”
And please, for the love of god, unless you ask first, don’t grab the bar or unload the plates for her.
This has been a very special public service announcement.
This would be the cause of fatigue and missed lifts. That’s very, very little fuel for doing nothing let alone a reasonably taxing program. Also not sure why you’re giving yourself such a restricted amount of calories?
Good approach on progressing your loads, BTW. It’s slow(ish) but very sustainable.
It still ends up being between 1500-2000 calories a day. The shakes are about 250 calories each, the “official” snacks range between 100 and 240 calories, and I often add my own snacks during the day, especially when I lift. Frankly, I’m an overweight woman in my 30s and calorie restriction is the only way that has ever worked for me to lose weight.
Fair enough. Not sure where you get the overweight from based on your picture though. Although, all being said and done there’s a big difference between 1500 cal/day and 2000 cal/day.
