Starting Strength Coach's Training Log

Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Squat 405 lbs x 5 x 3
Press 202.5 lbs x 5 x 3
Row 280 lbs x 8 x 3
YouTube Video
Instagram Video
If y’all have found my training log and videos helpful, please like and follow/subscribe and feel free to send me any training questions that you have.

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Friday, March 22, 2024
Squat 360 lbs x 5 x 3
Bench 275 lbs x 5 x 3
Deadlift 510 lbs x 5
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Monday, March 25, 2024
Squat 450 lbs x 3 x 3
Press 205 lbs x 5 x 3
Chin BW x 10, 8, 7
Youtube Video
Instagram Video

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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Squat 410 lbs x 5 x 3
Bench 277.5 lbs x 5 x 3
Row 280 lbs x 8 x 3
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Instagram Video

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Sunday, March 31, 2024
Squat 365 lbs x 5 x 3
Press 207.5 lbs x 5 x 3
Deadlift 515 lbs x 5
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Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Squat 455 lbs x 3 x 3
Bench 280 lbs x 5 x 3
Chins BW x 10, 9, 8
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

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Saturday, April 6, 2024
Squat 415 lbs x 5 x 3
Press 210 lbs x 3 x 5
Row 290 lbs x 8 x 3
YouTube Video
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1 Like

Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Bench 282.5 lbs x 5 x 3
Deadlift 520 lbs x 5
YouTube Video
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1 Like

Friday, April 12, 2024
Squat 460 lbs x 3 x 3
Press 212.5 lbs x 3 x 5
YouTube Video
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Monday, April 15, 2024
Bench 285 lbs x 5
Press 190 lbs x 5 x 5
Chin BW x 10, 8, 8
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

3 Likes

Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Squat 465 lbs x 3 x 2
Row 295 lbs x 8 x 3
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

1 Like

Saturday, April 20, 2024
Press 217.5 lbs x 3 x 2
Bench 255 lbs x 5 x 5
Pull-up BW x 8, 7, 7
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

1 Like

Wednesday, April 23, 2024
Squat 370 lbs x 5 x 5
Deadlift 525 lbs x 5
Prowler 90 lbs + 2 Kids x 40 yd x 10
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

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Haha nice!

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@mechinos It certainly makes pushing the Prowler much more fun! It’s my favorite part of my workout now.

Friday, April 26, 2024
Bench 287.5 lbs x 3 x 2
Press 192.5 lbs x 5 x 5
Chin BW x 10, 10, 8
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

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I have been following for a while, struggle to figure out your programming.

I worked with Petrizzo in Long Island, met his wife Rory, one of the Nicks, went to a Squat and DL camp in Manhattan.

Wondering if you are doing Texas Method or some Baker programming.

Either way, your log is boring AF, lol - not that you need to entertain me.

A program can be “boring” and still be effective. Anyone who can overhead a grown adult 25 times has my attention.

@The_Myth I don’t follow anyone else’s program to the letter. I just make small changes to my program to drive further strength adaptation. I usually start folks off on a Novice Linear Progression. A good rule of thumb for a lifter that is a novice, has never done a linear progression, or is resuming training after a long layoff due to illness or injury, is to start with a linear progression and move forward from there. After an illness I usually repeat the previous week’s training and then pick up where I left off or I run a very short LP. I like to run a short LP so I can experiment with the small incremental changes that I make to the programming of each lift as I strive to add more weight to the bar.

Programming for strength training started making much more sense to me once I stopped thinking in terms of hopping from template to template (for example: Novice Linear Progression to Texas Method to Heavy Light Medium to 4 Day Split to 5/3/1 to Conjugate Method) and started treating programming like a science experiment. Programming for strength training is like a science experiment where the lifter is an organism that is being subjected to the stress, recovery, adaptation syndrome in order to improve their strength adaptation.

I know this is going to sound ridiculously simple, but if I can add weight to the bar the next workout for a given lift, then I know the stress that I applied was enough to drive a strength adaptation. If I miss a weight, or things get to be a grind with a lot of fatigue and some technical failure during the lift for multiple workouts in a row, then I know that a programming change needs to be made. More stress needs to be applied, and the stress recovery adaptation cycle needs a longer period of time to occur. Your log book, your previous week’s training, and your demonstrated ability to add weight to the bar, are your most valuable data points and should dictate your programming decisions. Make one change at a time to each individual lift when necessary and see what happens. If your performance improves then it was the right move. If your performance declines then one change can be easily walked back.

Before making a change ask yourself if you have been training consistently (rarely missing training sessions and not program hopping), training with correct form, eating, sleeping, resting at least 5 minutes between sets, making appropriate weight increases, and if yes, only then make the smallest possible individual change that you can make to the program to stimulate a strength adaptation. Ask yourself, “Do I need more recovery or do I need more stress to drive the strength adaptation?”

Generally speaking: If you feel beat to hell, everything hurts, every lift is slow, and your sleep is suddenly terrible, then it is a recovery issue (the stress needs to be applied over a longer period of time or multiple workouts). If you feel fine, life/training is going along splendidly and all of a sudden you start failing reps, then you most likely need more stress (more stress applied with more volume and/or intensity).

If on the other hand you choose to commit the common mistake of saying to yourself, “Wow, that was really hard. I am going to go on a cut, go on a bulk, do hypertrophy for a block” or whatever looks greener on the other side of the fence and buy a template online and make a wholesale programming change and plug your numbers into a highly advanced 1RM calculator and switch to a super secret Soviet periodization program, then in the best case scenario, progress is unnecessarily slowed, or in the worst case scenario, absolutely no progress is made and you get weaker. Whatever the case, too many changes were made and you cannot undo them in the case of a performance decrease, or definitively identify what was the cause of success in the case of a performance increase.

I actually make the best progress with my own training by training every 3rd day. Firefighters have really messed up schedules and consequently, we are all on a constant quest for the Holy Grail. We continually try to finagle the perfect secret squirrel training program. I have tried every schedule iteration, from the traditional 3 days per week to the 4 day split, and training every 3rd day is more effective by far.

I finally came to the realization that our problem as firefighters is not that we don’t have the time or the opportunity to train (for example, I have access to my home gym and my firehouse gym), the problem is that our ability to recover between training sessions is severely impaired. I work 24 on / 48 off. On nights that I am on shift, I am usually woken up several times after midnight to make medical runs. This consistent sleep deprivation has a very negative effect on recovery and it is a factor that needs to be taken into account when it comes to programming.

Training on my second day off has been the most effective. I can’t strength train very well on my first day off due to lack of sleep. I have tried training at the firehouse for a period of time, and I have been successful for a while, but our call volume has continued to increase over the last few years with everyone moving to Texas. Having to make runs between sets was getting tedious and causing a 1 and a half hour workout to take 3-5 hours. While I really enjoy training with the boys, training out in the garage is my favorite. I get to set an example for my wife, kids and the folks that I coach. I get to listen to my music. I get to focus on self improvement. It’s really the only time that truly belongs to me anymore.

Like @mechinos said, my training methodology is simple, but extremely effective and I can utilize it to get anyone stronger. Within 3 months I trained a 29 year old rookie firefighter from a squat of 185 lbs x 5 x 3 to 335 lbs x 5 x 3. I trained my 55 year old Captain from a squat of 135 lbs x 5 x 3 to 275 lbs x 5 x 3. Over the last month I have begun training a 70 year old woman. On her first day she was unable to perform a body weight squat and deadlifted 45 lbs x 5, today she squatted 22.5 lbs x 5 x 3 and deadlifted 85 lbs x 3 x 2.

Monday, April 29, 2024
Squat 470 lbs x 3 x 2
Power Clean 135 lbs x 3, 185 lbs x 3, 205 lbs x 3, 225 lbs x 3, 245 lbs x 3 x 2
Prowler 90 lbs + 2 Kids x 40 yd x 10
YouTube Video
Instagram Video

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I know what you mean. Good post.

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Awesome post - typical SSC type post. I appreciate it.

To be clear, I did not mean to imply that your post was bad because it was boring, and to be honest, it was just a study in linear progression, which is effective, but can be boring.

Frankly, I think it is a gem and by posting I hoped to bring others to your methodology and to your log. You seemed to be slogging away in anonymity. I am sure you were fine with that, but I saw something more.

Thanks for the lengthy and thoughtful response.

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