100% agree.
Zep,
Sounds like you’re off to a good start. Good luck.
[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:
Day 1…
A Workout
- Squat 3x5 @ 185
- Bench 3x5 @ 165
- Deads 3x5 @ 185
- chins 5,4,2 @ bodyweight of 175 (weighed as I left gym on medical scale)
Time in gym: 50 min to an hour
Squats were disappointing as its not the weight I want to start with, and I feel like I broke form on a couple reps even lost balance on one. I may decide to stay at 185 and try to clean up form before I add weight. This is the reason I decided to do 3x5 on deadlifts instead of the 1x5 that was recommended. I figured it would help me get stronger. Pissed at pullups for obvious reasons. I just felt like I was totally out of breath after I would do 2 or 3. Squats and deads took a lot out of me. Bench went up with a bit of a struggle, but nothing bad. I didnt need a spot, nor did I feel like I needed one. I would have thought that I would have been a little bit stronger on my squat as I can leg press a lot compared to my squat, but it might boil down to inflexibility or lack of core strength. My wrists hurt a bit, but I am fairly sure that it was caused by my lack of shoulder flexibility which lead to my hands being in an awkward position during the squats. Ill work on form more next workout.
Time to sit back, relax, and watch a little monday night raw and kill some milk/chicken.
-Zep[/quote]
If you’re breaking form on squats, lower the weight. I’d suggest going down to one pair of wheels (135#).
I suspect your press weight is high as well. Depending on your arm leverage (longer sucks), your press may be really weak. I’m barely at 145# for singles a couple of years out. Suggest starting at 55-65#. The longer you progress w/o failure, the better you get. Starting lighter can be better.
Since you’re struggling with bench, lower that as well. Maybe 135# or so. First few weeks you really shouldn’t feel challenged by the program.
Enjoy your time doing 3x5 on the deads. You’ll reach the point where one set is enough. Just watch that your form doesn’t fail on those either.
My leg press was something like 10 x 1010#, whereas my squat started at about 200# for 5 reps (I should’ve started lighter). Leg press doesn’t count. Your balance, back strength, core strenght, and glutes all come into play on squats, none of them are taxed for shit on leg press.
Flexibility and form are all what you’re working through the first month or so of the program.
Keep at it. You’ll sort a lot of this out yourself eventually.
If you haven’t hit the “Squat Rx” video series on YouTube, take a look at it. Boris Bachmann does a really good job of detailing how to do squats.
What kind of footwear do you have?
[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:
Honestly, I feel like it was the deadlifts that lit my back up so well. I have a small weight set in my basement (90 lbs and a 20 lb bar). I went down to do my shoulder/arm work. Picking up the weight off the ground I could really feel my middle and upper back at work due to the soreness. I used to think people were nuts when they said that the deadlift works the back.
-Zep[/quote]
Ha ha I love that feeling.
[quote]k-dingo wrote:
[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:
Day 1…
A Workout
- Squat 3x5 @ 185
- Bench 3x5 @ 165
- Deads 3x5 @ 185
- chins 5,4,2 @ bodyweight of 175 (weighed as I left gym on medical scale)
Time in gym: 50 min to an hour
Squats were disappointing as its not the weight I want to start with, and I feel like I broke form on a couple reps even lost balance on one. I may decide to stay at 185 and try to clean up form before I add weight. This is the reason I decided to do 3x5 on deadlifts instead of the 1x5 that was recommended. I figured it would help me get stronger. Pissed at pullups for obvious reasons. I just felt like I was totally out of breath after I would do 2 or 3. Squats and deads took a lot out of me. Bench went up with a bit of a struggle, but nothing bad. I didnt need a spot, nor did I feel like I needed one. I would have thought that I would have been a little bit stronger on my squat as I can leg press a lot compared to my squat, but it might boil down to inflexibility or lack of core strength. My wrists hurt a bit, but I am fairly sure that it was caused by my lack of shoulder flexibility which lead to my hands being in an awkward position during the squats. Ill work on form more next workout.
Time to sit back, relax, and watch a little monday night raw and kill some milk/chicken.
-Zep[/quote]
If you’re breaking form on squats, lower the weight. I’d suggest going down to one pair of wheels (135#).
I suspect your press weight is high as well. Depending on your arm leverage (longer sucks), your press may be really weak. I’m barely at 145# for singles a couple of years out. Suggest starting at 55-65#. The longer you progress w/o failure, the better you get. Starting lighter can be better.
Since you’re struggling with bench, lower that as well. Maybe 135# or so. First few weeks you really shouldn’t feel challenged by the program.
Enjoy your time doing 3x5 on the deads. You’ll reach the point where one set is enough. Just watch that your form doesn’t fail on those either.
My leg press was something like 10 x 1010#, whereas my squat started at about 200# for 5 reps (I should’ve started lighter). Leg press doesn’t count. Your balance, back strength, core strenght, and glutes all come into play on squats, none of them are taxed for shit on leg press.
Flexibility and form are all what you’re working through the first month or so of the program.
Keep at it. You’ll sort a lot of this out yourself eventually.
If you haven’t hit the “Squat Rx” video series on YouTube, take a look at it. Boris Bachmann does a really good job of detailing how to do squats.
What kind of footwear do you have?
[/quote]
Ill look up that video asap.
I am using a pair of flat bottomed nike classics. The ones pictured in the link below are the high top version of what I have. I do not tie them tight.
I have also made the decision to go down weight to 85/155 for everything, and to add a C workout which includes isolation work for shoulders bis and tris. I am not sure yet as to how the C workout is going to fit in with ss just yet. Suggestions are welcome.
-Zep
Suggestion - do not make a separate day. No need. You should be able to get everything done around an hour.
A Workout:
Squat
Press
Deadlift
curls
side/rear raises
Chin ups 3xfailure
B Workout:
Squat
Bench Press
Power Clean
pushdowns,dips etc
At this point, you can see why people “split” up their workouts (besides for recovery).
This goal that you stated in the first post is exactly what SS is intended to do. In fact, all the factors like the amount of sets, length of recovery, amount of daily weight increase, calorie intake etc are all designed to help you accomplish your stated goal as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I don’t mean this to sound like a jerk, just blunt so you understand my feeling on this…
I’m sure you know more about weight training for novices than Rip does, but he has done it before. In fact, he wrote the book on it, literally. How about run the program exactly as intended for a while (start with your 8 weeks), before you start to make changes.
In Practical Programing he addresses exactly this issue. Novices do not need complexity in their programming. They need consistancy and increased weights. Everyone wants to add exercises or increase the complexity of their program because they think they will make faster gains or out of boredom or whatever. There will come a tme that you will need additional sets, more exercises, and more complex programming. Just from looking at your weights, you are not there yet.
Just for comparison… I went from a 95lb squat to 280 lbs in less than 10 weeks doing exactly the programming. I am still progressing at 5 lbs per workout, and weigh 35-40lbs more than I did when I started. Week number 9 was the first time I added pull ups to my workouts and I still have not moved to the “advanced novice” stage.
Sorry if I sound like a prick. It’s just that in my admittedly limited understanding, I think the best way to screw up the outstanding gains you’ll make in your first week is to ignore what Rip thinks and do what YOU think instead. So, my recommendation is to just do the program, build your foundation, then you can do whatever the heck you want. And remember that my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
[quote]RJdoesSS wrote:
This goal that you stated in the first post is exactly what SS is intended to do. In fact, all the factors like the amount of sets, length of recovery, amount of daily weight increase, calorie intake etc are all designed to help you accomplish your stated goal as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I don’t mean this to sound like a jerk, just blunt so you understand my feeling on this…
I’m sure you know more about weight training for novices than Rip does, but he has done it before. In fact, he wrote the book on it, literally. How about run the program exactly as intended for a while (start with your 8 weeks), before you start to make changes.
In Practical Programing he addresses exactly this issue. Novices do not need complexity in their programming. They need consistancy and increased weights. Everyone wants to add exercises or increase the complexity of their program because they think they will make faster gains or out of boredom or whatever. There will come a tme that you will need additional sets, more exercises, and more complex programming. Just from looking at your weights, you are not there yet.
Just for comparison… I went from a 95lb squat to 280 lbs in less than 10 weeks doing exactly the programming. I am still progressing at 5 lbs per workout, and weigh 35-40lbs more than I did when I started. Week number 9 was the first time I added pull ups to my workouts and I still have not moved to the “advanced novice” stage.
Sorry if I sound like a prick. It’s just that in my admittedly limited understanding, I think the best way to screw up the outstanding gains you’ll make in your first week is to ignore what Rip thinks and do what YOU think instead. So, my recommendation is to just do the program, build your foundation, then you can do whatever the heck you want. And remember that my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.[/quote]
Already noted. If a little bit of arm/shoulder work interferes with the program to the point of stalling progress, then I will re-evaluate their addition to the program. Thanks for the advice.
-Zep
[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:
Already noted. If a little bit of arm/shoulder work interferes with the program to the point of stalling progress, then I will re-evaluate their addition to the program. Thanks for the advice.
-Zep[/quote]
Wasn’t this already answered in regards to chin-ups? Maybe it was someone else or another thread. A couple sets each workout will not deter strength gains or interfere with recovery.
Very true. My main point, which I could have expressed differently, is that within the SS framework many people do chins and pull ups. These are compound exercises specifically for strength training. It is not recommended for any novice or intermediate to do isolation exercises to build strength. This is true for all the strength programs I’m aware of, whether it’s SS, 531, TM or whatever. If you do them to accomplish some other goal, that’s up to you.
And Zep, I realize I came across as a douche in the last post and I apologize, this is your log, and you can do what you want.
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
[quote]Zeppelin0731 wrote:
Already noted. If a little bit of arm/shoulder work interferes with the program to the point of stalling progress, then I will re-evaluate their addition to the program. Thanks for the advice.
-Zep[/quote]
Wasn’t this already answered in regards to chin-ups? Maybe it was someone else or another thread. A couple sets each workout will not deter strength gains or interfere with recovery.[/quote]
Yeah. I had a thread called vertical vs horizontal pulling or something similar to that. Like is said, as long as Im gaining, Im not going to be picky.
-Zep
A Workout
Squat 3x5 @ 155
Bench 3x5 @ 155
Deads 3x5 @ 155
Pulldowns 3x10 @ ???
Then off to play ultimate frisbee under the lights at the local Div 1 HS.
-Zep
pulldowns 3x7 @ 130 (cable stack)
-Zep
B Workout
Squat 3x5 @ 160
Press 3x5 @ 85
Clean 3x5 @ 85?
Pullups 3xfail
Curls 3x7-10 @ ?
Lateral Raises 3x7-10 @ ?
rear raises/face pull/something like that 3x7-10 @ ?
Waiting on rain/tornados to clear up enough so I can go to the gym.
I still feel like my hands/arms are all caddywampus while squatting. A little pain in my wrists, but it goes away as soon as I walk away from the squat rack, not a lingering injury or anything like that.
-Zep
Not sure if the last post actually went up so Ill just make a new one. Like I said, were getting some pretty rough weather here in Ohio. Here is today’s actual #'s.
Squat 3x5 @ 160
Press 3x5 @ 85
Clean 3x5 @ 85
Curls 3x7 @ 55 (straight bar)
Lateral Raises 3x7 @ 20 (dumbells)
face pull 3x7 @ 100 (cable stack)
I decided to move chin ups back to the A workout. Here is how they will look from here on out.
~A Workout~
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 3x5
pulldowns 3x5
Chin ups 3xfailure
~B Workout~
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Power Clean 5x3
curls 3x7-10
face pulls 3x7-10
lateral raise 3x7-10
Wrists felt better, still some pain though. During the first two sets of face pulls my wrists popped. Tomorrow I will post pics of bar position during squats as well as a video of my clean form.
-Zep
Nobody was available to take pictures/record all day.
Today I went for a 45 minute bike ride at 17.5 mph. (Slow for my usual rides, but it is the first one of the year that is actually outdoors, so Ill take it.) Legs were a bit sore. I am about 20-25 lbs heavier this summer than I was last winter (2009/2010) and at least 15 lbs heavier than I was last year at this time, so Ill take it. I remember at one point I was down at 148. Oh well, I digress.
Upper back feels really nice today. Face pulls FTW. Looking forward to tomorrows lift. Time to have a shake and go to sleep.
-Zep
Missed workout today due to my waking up at 8 pm (Gym closes at 9pm). Ill get it in tomorrow and shift my days. Legs are feeling good. I dont think postponing one day will be detrimental at this point. Definately not a good habit to get into, but nevertheless not a huge deal at this point. Ill go at 8 am tomorrow as I will probably still be up at that point.
Yet again, nobody available to take pics. F***.
-Zep
I am dying to get in the gym. I feel good, and I want to keep adding weight. I really have been eating a lot cleaner than usual and I am already up at least a full pound. I am about an hour away from home right now though and wont be going back until tomorrow night so Ill just have to wait till monday. I know Im slackin a bit. I intend to pick it up though as I think I finally got my sleep schedule right. This, as I have found is key to not being tired and getting to the gym while it is open. Lesson learned. I havnt forgotten about the pics.
Due to my odd sleep schedule, which got worse over the last 4 or 5 days, I have been a total vampire, and my only chance to get out of the house/my room for the last 4 or 5 days has been going to the gym. People there are nice. I have also found out that the gym I lift at is the one all the police use. Kinda cool I guess.
-Zep
I hope the gym is open today.
Happy memorial day everyone.
-Zep
Wow, haha, im doing a similar routine and named my log ‘RobRaynerBB’s Last Stand’, my apologies 
Great minds think alike?
[quote]RobRaynerBB wrote:
Wow, haha, im doing a similar routine and named my log ‘RobRaynerBB’s Last Stand’, my apologies Great minds think alike?[/quote]
Haha Im honored.
You said that you are doing a simlar program. What are your goals?
-Zep