Starting: 5'11, 106 lb. Ending: Let's Find Out

Training Training Logs
141

I couldn’t agree more with pk0ad. You’re doing a good job lifting, you just need to EAT. If it’s 2 AM (which it shouldn’t be cause you need your recovery haha) and you didn’t get enough food for the day, drive to fucking Denny’s and eat your face off. I don’t care if it’s two hours away and you have a huge exam in five hours. You don’t have any room for inconsistency with eating at this point. It looks like you understand this, but I just want to underscore it even more.

Also, I’m sure you know this but just in case you don’t, deadlifting is a lower back exercise (and hamstrings, etc). Your low back shouldn’t round of course, but you will DEFINITELY feel it in the spinal erectors. Also, chest up is a great cue to keep your back from rounding. You should be able to read your shirt in the mirror. And drag the bar up your shins (lessens the moment arm, for you nerds).

I’m sure you already know all that, but I just want to be sure so that you don’t hurt yourself and lose your two most important lifts again. :slight_smile:

142

I want to say I appreciate all the support, and it’s definitely a good motivator for me. I also want to say I agree with everyone who says I need to just eat more. Training wasn’t really a priority for me over the summer and my progress definitely took a hit and suffered for it. I think that making it work over the summer is a bit of discipline I’ll have to teach myself, and hopefully I’ll learn enough about cooking this year to be able to prepare my own meals and not be so dependent on the people around me for food.

I also like hearing other people’s success stories, it helps a lot. I think that after pretty much dicking around all summer I need to start making some progress again weight wise, and if I can do that i think I’ll get my head in the right place. Really, nothing I do matters if progress isn’t being made.

I’m lucky in that two of my three roommates here work out, and one of them is in the ROTC. He knows his stuff, and he’s recommending me some blogs of guys he follows and seems to know what he’s talking about. Having that around is good because it helps keep my head in the game. He also has a pull up bar which I’m invited to use whenever which is nice.

I should be able to eat more now that my stool is becoming normal again. The goal is to hit 3/4 of a gallon of milk today (I didn’t finish the whole half gallon yesterday due to schedule issues. I may have to start taking the half gallons with me to classes) as well as all my meals so I should be able to hit 4000 cals today.

Gym log for today is as follows:

Pull Ups: Unweighted
6/6/5
I’m unhappy with my ROM, and had some difficulty with the weighting, the weight belts they have at this new gym (no clasps, so the belt basically opened up and the weight dropped on me twice), and the pull ups in general so I’m starting from the bottom. I was fatigued when I started, which is why the numbers are as low as they are. It’ll still be substantially fewer pull ups, but I’ll know I’m doing them right this time.

Military Press: 75 lb
5/3/2
Lowering to 65.

Squats: 125 lb
3x8
I want to lie down forever and not move. It was a good end to succeed here after an otherwise kind of crappy day, but it was also exhausting.

Schedule changes have made Thursday a bigger problem day for me than Tuesday. I leave my dorm at noon and shouldn’t get back until after 6. Probably around 7 or 8, with room for about two meals in there and one of them being forced to be off campus due to the nature of my cafeteria (but not too far off campus as it’s a thirty minute break between a class and a lab.) This presents an issue primarily with milk since I’ve been told it will go bad far before those 7-8 hours or so are up, and I don’t actually have time to get back to my dorm at all in that time span.

Does anyone have experience with that? I can usually take my milk to the gym and it’s fine in that hour visit (but I finish it all there) but I’d like to be able to have some kind of milk with me with every meal and that not being possible is rather upsetting.

143

Drink milk at home and in the cafeteria. For crying out loud, don’t go toting a gallon of milk around like it’s a magic talisman of weight gain. Only have 30 minutes? Find and eat a cheeseburger. You’re in college, you should be surrounded by high calorie, quick serve food. If you’re going to be in class for a while, put away two cheeseburgers and bring a snack for class. Still hungry after dinner? Phone in for a late night pizza. The biggest size. No sleep until it’s gone.

144

It’s not a problem because of food intake, there’s always food around, I just prefer having access to milk because it’s protein and calorically dense, and because I don’t have access to a cafeteria those days (only outside restaurants, and even if I were to have access they typically carry Darigold milk which tends to give me stomach issues.) I would much prefer to be the “freak who carries around a bunch of milk” if possible than to drink a bunch of soda but it’s not diet ruining, I’m starting to cook for myself and have plenty of access to fattening, protein heavy solid foods regardless.

Today’s gym log:

Bench Press: 95 lb
7/6/5(6?)
I honestly can’t remember if the last set is five or six reps. I considered going for an eigth rep on the first set, but realized it was shaky and I had no spotter, and that the lack of fatigue could probably help in the other sets. Technically when you break this down I did the same number of reps as last time, but there was a much higher consistency here and I believe less fatigue so I’ll take it as an improvement.

Low Row: 7 plates
3x8
These are already getting as hard as rows get. However, I’m definitely feeling them and I’m still sore from doing these on Wednesday. Rows have now become one of my most enjoyable exercises from least enjoyable.

Deadlifts: 125 lb
3x8
These were EASIER than last time, and I definitely think I benefited from focusing on keeping my chest up throughout the rep. I’m pretty sure I scratched up my leg a bit where the bar is traveling which is fantastic news, I feel like a high school girl that was just asked to prom. Best part? There’s no pain or anything in my back. I’m definitely more “aware” of my lower left back, which is where I get the pain, but it isn’t unpleasant or painful at all. In fact, it’s actually rather pleasant, I’m enjoying it as though it’s a continuous massage.

145

Weight day!

Last week’s weight: 115.8 - 117.9 pounds
This week’s weight: 117.9 - 119.8 (.7?) pounds
Change: +2 pounds

You know, stepping on that scale was terrifying. I’ve been looking forward to it all week, but there’s still that doubt… that all the eating wasn’t enough you know? Especially since a lot of the posters on this site eat so much more than I do, that I never felt like I was quite stuffing myself hard enough.

But seeing the scale read at about 118 pounds was fantastic.

As for extra variables: I ate literally the exact same thing as I did last week, brought and finished a half gallon with the same levels of milk there (I manage to get in about a quarter gallon of milk between classes before gym on Wednesdays) and went there at close to the same time, so I’m not worried that it’s a fluke. It feels like I genuinely gained two pounds.

I’m sure the progress will slow eventually, but I’m not too worried about it. This is more than I wanted, I only expected a single pound a week. So this is fantastic news to me.

Originally when I set out lifting I aimed for 140 pounds. That isn’t a lot by any stretch, but it was about 35 pounds heavier than I was when I set it and the weight of a thin friend of mine. It was never to be the biggest guy around, and I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point. I’m not sure if that’s still my final goal now, I would definitely like to be larger I think, probably 160-180 pounds, but I’m not going to extend that goal until I hit this smaller one. As is I’ll be able to hit that goal in about ten more weeks, which is infinitely better than the year I thought it’d take.

The progress wont be perfect, there’ll be a few hiccups, mostly centered on my trips back home, but I’ll deal with those when I get to them.

Pull Ups: 12/12/8
Fuck yeah. Going for 13/13/9 next time. The full range of motion makes them significantly more badass, I definitely feel them more.

Military Press: 65 lb
8/8/6
Not sure if the last rep counts, since I set the bar down momentarily before doing it. Was going to stop at 5. I should be able to hit 3x8 on Sunday, but after that I’m going to move up to 70 lb and NOT 75 lb since I’m tired of this fucking spring motion I’m doing between 65 and 75 pounds. I think the jump’s just too high for this rep scheme.

Squats: 135
3x8
Disclaimer: I was not in front of a mirror while doing these. On the last set and a half I managed to get a reflection in the window when low enough, but that’s it. This is important to me because that’s most of how I judge that I’ve gone low enough. I had to kind of play by feel here, so my ROM might not have been perfect. If I hiccup at 145 lb that’ll be why. However my ROM FELT great and I definitely felt it working so I’m moving forward with it. Needless to say, my legs got fucked.

146

That is fantastic man! And your lifts are doing nicely. It’s all good news today!

I know exactly what you mean about the scale. I remember how happy I was a year ago when I first saw the scale jump up (actually I still feel like this whenever I see it haha). “This actually works! I actually got bigger! I’ve been 115 - 120 lb for a year but not fucking anymore!” Best feeling ever.

So now you know how much food you need. What you’re eating is apparently pretty dang good for now!

Having to increase your press by 5 lb is fine. It usually takes a while to progress compared to bigger lifts like squats.

147

not sure if I missed this somewhere, but are you taking creatine at all?

keep it up, man. I’m rootin for ya.

148

Thanks, I appreciate both the comments- it keeps me motivated.

No creatine. I want to avoid supplements for the most part, because I think I need to get the discipline down before I start using them, or I’m going to crutch on them and expect some kind of supplement wizardry. I’m not big enough to justify it I think, I want to make as many gains as I can the old fashioned way and if I need the extra boost I’ll possibly start considering them in a couple years.

Forgot to note- the military press above is done at 65 pounds, so technically it’s not really an improvement, but it’s definitely not too bad of a setback and I think I’ll be able to move past it soon enough.

149

ok, just wondering. creatine tends to cripple my appetite if taken at the wrong time, just wanted to make sure you weren’t making that same mistake.

150

I didn’t know that about creatine. Thanks for the heads up!

Today’s log is a bit different because all of my rest periods were 3 minutes long. Not exactly, but my rest periods were all done to a song about 3:05 long, so they’re consistent. The flipside to this is that I normally take longer rest periods- closer to five minutes, so I felt a lot more fatigued. I’m not completely sure if I’m going to keep rest periods at 3 minutes, but I’ll do it until I figure something else out.

Deadlifts: 135
3x8
I love feeling my legs work on these.

Bench Press: 95 lb
8/6/4
This is where I think rest periods made the most impact. The first set was easier than I benching has been for a while, and then fatigue really took a toll on me in that last set. After rowing the bar back up to proper position (I caught it on the secondary set of hooks our bench has) I considered going in for another rep but realized that the ten seconds or so of rest I got wouldn’t be enough, so I left it alone. I think I’m stronger, but more fatigued despite the lack of overall rep advancement.

Rows: 8 Plates
3x5
I think the first set being 5 reps was because I jumped into it too quickly and the other sets were kind of bound to that number due to the change in confidence. I’m going to try for 3x6 next week.

151

Whatever you do with the rest periods, keep it fairly consistent and your body will adapt. It’s not extremely important really. :slight_smile:

152

Good to hear!

Pull Ups: 13/13/10
Because fuck everyone.
I wont be weighting these at the new gym despite my recent success because the chained belts here suck dick and the weight keeps dropping off. But I am very happy about the rep range, and hope to increase it even further. I think 50 pull ups over 3 sets is a good goal to aim for for now.

Military Press: 65 lb
3x8
Easier than I remember, I barely had to force these out. 70 lb next!

Squats: 145 lb
3x8
Oh mother of god I want to die my legs are so dead this is fantastic. There was a bit of trouble in the second set, where I somehow went down on the 6th rep weird and had to temporarily rerack and the unrack the weight, which helped a little although the 8th rep still sucked. Third set was better though. I managed to get to parallel on my first and second reps which is better than usual, and felt my quads really stretching, but I don’t think I’ll want to stretch them that way with a heavier weight. 155 lb next! I’m kind of terrified that I wont get stronger fast enough, but I’m really proud of where I am now- I rebounded off of both back and knee pain, and with the twiggiest legs you’ve ever seen on a person and weighing 118 lb I’m about to squat 155. It’s not a lot of weight but it’s nice to be able to think that after all this time.

153

I like what I’m seeing here.

154

if you’re gonna do weighted dips or pullups, it’s a good investment to get your own chain belt. fack, I should go get my own bb CLIPS soon… I’m sick of hunting for clips at my gym.

155

Last week’s weight: 117.9 - 119.8 pounds
This week’s weight: 119.1 - 121.4 pounds
Change: +1 pound

The difference in rates isn’t due to eating, but rather drinking. I’m pretty sure that on the days I drinking excessive amounts of milk I follow it up with just the worst, most liquid shits I’ve ever had. I’ve laid off the milk a little. Still have the same amount on gym days, and I’m able to both eat and drink more at once, but I’m going to dabble about with my milk intake and see if it was just poorly timed diarrhea or if milk actually messes up my stool. I had the same problem with the Darigold chocolate milks at the cafeteria when I started drinking them in large amounts (probably close to half a gallon a day at the height of it all). Well, not quite. It was more of a gas, cramping, and shit problem, but it built up over time so I’m not sure if it’s just excessive dairy or that brand in particular.

Still trying to figure out breakfast. I think I can make up all the lost milk calories in food, and if not I’ll see about sticking with the milk.

My back hurts a bit, but the pain is different. It used to just fire constantly and like a horrible bitch, but now it’s centralized to activation of the specific area and only in certain ways. I could take that as me still messing up a bit, but with recovery over time making it hurt less, or that it’s not something to be worried about since the pain isn’t very substantial. I think it’s a direct result of the couple reps I goofed on on Sunday, but we’ll see. The pain should be completely eliminated by Friday, and if it’s back on Saturday I’m going back to a physical therapist. It’s covered by my tuition.

Bench: 95 lb
8/8/7
I wanted to try for an 8th rep, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it. So close too! I’ll definitely nail it next time. There isn’t an excuse not to.

Deadlift: 145 lb
3x8
Back felt kind of weird while getting in position. I can really feel it BEFORE starting although not during. I feel the muscles working there, but it’s not painful. That’s why I had blamed Deadlifts for the pain initially.

In both Bench and Deadlifts my forearms were working like champs, which is rare because my grip strength suck and my forearms suck dick. They never seemed to grip as hard as I’d like. Until today.

Rows: Skipped
There wasn’t any way I was going to get to my favorite little row machine, and to be honest I’m LEAST concerned about back progress and strength. I’m already fatigued from yoga, running, all the miles of walking, and the rest of the gym visit I’ve been put through today. I’ll just try extra hard on Sunday.

156

Today was the first bad day I’ve had in a while.

Pull Ups: 14/14/11

Military Press: 70 lb
7/7/5

Squats: 155

I first tried two reps without a warm up because I forgot. No. Not happening. It felt like my quads were being stretched, which would be great if I was doing yoga but I wasn’t. Went back and did some warmups. Then tried again. Also, no. I noticed, however, that my legs were already shaking- despite long rest periods and not even completing a single proper rep.

The truth is that I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m exhausted. I was yawning through the whole gym visit, and I knew that while I could keep trying at this weight or lower the weight, I was probably going to fail and lower my motivation, or end up doing something stupid.

Compounding the fact is that my lower back sent out a “FUCK NO” signal when I was just holding the bar at lockout. I could feel it working on both sides, but my lower left kind of pricked me and kind of buzzed away. I wasn’t going to risk hurting myself.

I’m going in to try setting up appointments with a physical therapist tomorrow, although they’ll likely tell me to go see a doctor since it’s been so long since the last time I complained about this. Adding on the general wait, and it might be a few weeks, but I want this pelvis shit over with already and since it isn’t fading on it’s own naturally I’m going to see what else I can do.

157

Rows: 8 plates
7/6/6
Those are the reps I considered to be full. I did more, but they were half reps.

Deadlifts: 155 lb
3x8

Bench Press: 95 lb
3x8
Felt almost too easy. So glad I’m done with 95 lb.

158

good on trying to stick with it, but also not pushing the squat when you knew your back didn’t feel right. live to fight another day, and all that.

however, do find a way to work around it while you get things fixed.

159

So you can still deadlift but squats hurt your back? I’m worried that you might be either tucking your pelvis under at the bottom or overextending your low back. Also do you have scoliosis by any chance? Does the bar ever kind of twist around so that when viewed from above it’s not perpendicular to your body?

I think you should film yourself with slightly lower weight and look for any movement or twisting at the lumbar. Go ahead and post it here if you need a hand.

160

The weird thing about the pain is that it’s not there when I actually squat. I get a slight unpleasant tingling, like a prick, from my lower back with the bar on it occasionally but not usually, and my back feels fine until the next morning. That’s when the pain actually kicks in, like a painful soreness. The thing is, the pain used to be a constant the next day, just a throbbing rather than a soreness. I’m sure the difference in pain means something, but I’m not quite sure what.

I was told my pelvis was rotated, about a month or so after stopping squats and deadlifts way back around May. A PT in training told me she didn’t see anything wrong with examining before school ending and that I shouldn’t need anything else, but she was clearly fucking wrong. PT and some doctors appointments are covered by my tuition, so I’m going to get that checked out.

I’m going to gauge how my back feels tomorrow and see if deadlifts did anything to it, but I don’t think they will. Then again, I haven’t tried deadlifting without squatting- only squatting without deadlifting.

I don’t have scoliosis to the best of my knowledge. I’ll try filming myself with a friend if I ever get the chance. I haven’t ever noticed it twisting, but who knows. I’ll post the video here because I wouldn’t know what to look for, although I’ll see if I can maybe get a physical therapist to look at it too. If I can’t set something up with a friend I’ll see if I can awkwardly jimmy a camera or a phone to record via mirror instead.

I couldn’t get a hold of a physical therapist or a doctor this weekend because everything is closed on the weekends here. Fucking campus life. Tomorrow I’m going in to make some appointments though, and I’ll see how soon I can get something done.

I’m going to give squats two more tries. Once this Wednesday, at the same weight. Once on Sunday, at a reduced weight. If, both times, I end up with some kind of back pain, I’m going to switch to leg presses until I can confirm that my pelvis is no longer rotated and that any back problems are done and gone. I’ll be robbed of the stability I get from squats, but hopefully I can add some mass and strength to my legs and quickly catch up.