Cookieman's SS Log!

[Cookieman]

Hi everyone! I just started weight-lifting about 2 months ago. Luckily for me though, I started off doing a program similar to the practical programming novice program instead of just lounging about in the gym doing random exercises. So far my gains have been pretty decent for the most part and I am happy to see myself progressing with the weights so far.

Just to introduce myself to everyone, I'm a college student at UCSB. I'm going into my sophomore year in the fall, not really sure yet what I want to do with my life. For the majority of my life lived so far, I have not been physically active. I basically just sat around and played World of Warcraft and other games for the majority of high school. The summer before college started though, I decided I didn't want to live the rest of my life in such a sedentary fashion so I took up boxing. Boxing helped me realize that to get to the physical levels that I wanted, I would have to work hard. My life has turned around for the better as now I am involved in Brazilian Jiu-jutsu / Judo.

Stats: 5'6 165 Pounds. I'm guessing 18-22 Percent Body Fat.

Program:
A B A Week One
B A B Week Two

A: 3x5 Squat, 3x5 Bench, 2 Sets of Dips To Failure.
B: 3x5 Squat, 3x5 Press, 1x5 Deadlift, 2 Sets of Chin-ups to Failure.

That's pretty much the program I've been doing. I just switched to 1x5 Deadlift but before I was doing 3x5 Deadlift.

Stats:
Squat: 210x5x3 (Last workout, easy). Did 220x5x3 3 weeks ago but decided to start at a lower weight due to no lifting/shitty diet during spring break.
Bench: 135x5x3(Two workouts ago. This was hard) I think it might have to do with the 4 hours of sleep I had the day before and the fact that I didn't eat anything before I lifted.
Press: 90x5x3(Last workout, easy). I had gotten up to 95x5x3 a couple of weeks ago and tried 100x5x3 but couldn't get it due to an arm injury which has healed now.
Deadlift: 205x5x1(Last workout, very easy). I had missed a lot of deadlift days so that is probably the reason why my deadlift is weaker than my squat right now. I am sure that soon my deadlift will surpass my squat.
Dips: 10, 5 or so. I'm having a lot of difficulties doing dips, but I have made progress because when I started this program two months ago I wasn't able to do one dip.
Chin ups: 2, 1. This is the only part of the program on which I am failing to make any progress at all.

As for diet, I've just been trying to eat a bunch and I've been trying to drink a lot of milk. Any tips on easy things for me to make? I'm just learning how to cook.

I usually go to BJJ 3x a week, and Judo 2x a week. I would like to up this to BJJ 5x a week, and Judo 2x a week. I just need to make sure that I make time for myself to go. BJJ is for around an hour and 20 minutes and Judo is for about 2 hours.

Thanks everyone that took the time to read this. Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[LeonidasfromSparta]

First of all welcome!

I have a couple of suggestions:
1) BUY THE BOOK!!!
2) You should add back extensions instead of dips
3) Switch the chins to the A workout
4) Add the p.clean that should alternate with the deadlift after a couple of weeks from the beggining
5) Eat a lot
6) GOMAD
7) Calculate and consume at least 1gr protein/lb of bodyweight.

Good luck!

[Cookieman]

Today's workout

Squat 215x5x3(I thought this was pretty difficult today, I really had to really push through on the last last ones. I felt like I was losing balance on some of them. I think I'm dropping down too quickly)
Bench 140x5x3(This was pretty easy)
Dips 10, 6(My form is getting better on these/ I'm doing down deeper)

Thanks for the suggestions. I already have the book but I haven't read it yet, need to take some time to read that. Why would back extensions be better than dips? Sorry, I'm a noob at this. I'll start adding the power-clean once my friend gets back because he can probably teach me the basic-form for the power clean. He has read Rippetoe's Starting Strength and knows it pretty well. As for the 1gram protein/lb of bodyweight is that protein in terms of purely whey protein? Like since I weigh 165, do I consume 165 grams whey protein daily or is that counting other foods that I eat?

[LeonidasfromSparta]

Today's workout

Squat 215x5x3(I thought this was pretty difficult today, I really had to really push through on the last last ones. I felt like I was losing balance on some of them. I think I'm dropping down too quickly)
Bench 140x5x3(This was pretty easy)
Dips 10, 6(My form is getting better on these/ I'm doing down deeper)

Thanks for the suggestions. I already have the book but I haven't read it yet, need to take some time to read that. Why would back extensions be better than dips? Sorry, I'm a noob at this. I'll start adding the power-clean once my friend gets back because he can probably teach me the basic-form for the power clean. He has read Rippetoe's Starting Strength and knows it pretty well. As for the 1gram protein/lb of bodyweight is that protein in terms of purely whey protein? Like since I weigh 165, do I consume 165 grams whey protein daily or is that counting other foods that I eat?
Well first of all, if you are doing your own program, than you're not doing THE PROGRAM. Back extensions are not a substitute for dips, they strengthen your back erectors and are an important assistance exercise that help the squat and deadlift. Dips can be added later, after a couple of months if neccessary. I suggest you read the book now, it explains all the exercises thoroughly (including the p.clean). As for the quantity of protein, obviously you should include all protein that comes from food (for example 8 oz of chicken breast has 40g of protein). Also I forgot to include in my first reply that you should get the some weightlifting shoes, and microplates, believe me they will be neccessary in the near future. Anyway keep on training heavy and eating buddy!

[Cookieman]

7/1/2010

Squats 220x5x3(Felt Good, I don't think I went deep enough on the last rep on the last set)
Overhead Press 95x5x3(Easy, Felt like I could do 10 pounds more)
Deadlift 225x5x3(Felt pretty good)
Chin-ups 1, 1

Right now I'm lifting in some converse shoes which I bought because I heard they had a flat surface which was good for squats. Today I weighed in at 168.2 on the scale at the gym. Should I still buy microplates even if I don't have my own home gym? I'm just lifting at the university gym right now.

[mikeylikey]

I bought microplates about 2 weeks ago, wish I hadn't. It just makes me tempted to take smaller jumps, when what I really need to do is man up and eat more and stick with the big jumps.

YMMV, especially since you've been at it a little longer than I have.

[Cookieman]

7/3/2010

Squat 225x5x3(Felt Good). Two plates! Thought I'd never see the day.
Bench 145x3x1(Fail), Went to 140 then failed twice at 140x4x1 and 140x3x1. I don't get it. I thought 140x5x3 was easy the last time I did it.
Dips 8, 4.

[LeonidasfromSparta]

7/1/2010

Squats 220x5x3(Felt Good, I don't think I went deep enough on the last rep on the last set)
Overhead Press 95x5x3(Easy, Felt like I could do 10 pounds more)
Deadlift 225x5x3(Felt pretty good)
Chin-ups 1, 1

Right now I'm lifting in some converse shoes which I bought because I heard they had a flat surface which was good for squats. Today I weighed in at 168.2 on the scale at the gym. Should I still buy microplates even if I don't have my own home gym? I'm just lifting at the university gym right now.
Chuck's are good, but not the best thing. Try some weightlifting shoes if you are serious about this. And you should buy microplates, regardless of where you train. You can man up as much as yuo want, but there comes a point in the bench and the press, where you have to microload. As for yesterday's workout, it's just a bad day (it happens to everybody). Try again next time 145, but this time eat big, drink your milk and rest.

[Cookieman]

Great workout today.
230x5x3 Squat(Felt Good, good bar speed)
100x5x3 Military Press(Felt Good, bar speed starting to slwo)
235x5x1 Deadlift(Felt okay)

As for microplates, I'll look into them. Any suggestions on where I can buy them? I'm not ready yet to spend a lot of money on weightlifting shoes, but I'll think about it over time. I just bought these chuck taylors and I'm pretty poor so I'm hesitant about buying an expensive pair of lifting shoes.

[LeonidasfromSparta]

Great workout today.
230x5x3 Squat(Felt Good, good bar speed)
100x5x3 Military Press(Felt Good, bar speed starting to slwo)
235x5x1 Deadlift(Felt okay)

As for microplates, I'll look into them. Any suggestions on where I can buy them? I'm not ready yet to spend a lot of money on weightlifting shoes, but I'll think about it over time. I just bought these chuck taylors and I'm pretty poor so I'm hesitant about buying an expensive pair of lifting shoes.
I bought my microplates at Iron woody's online, but if you live in the US maybe you can buy them directly on some shop.

[Cookieman]

Workout on the 8th.
235x5x3 Squat(Felt Amazing, Good speed/Good depth)
145x5x3 Bench Press(Felt Good)
10, 8 Dips.
Overall a good day.

Workout on the 10th.
240x5x3 Squat Failed on 2nd set and 3rd set at 4 and 3 respectively.
105x5x3 Got 2 on the first set, 5 on the second set, 0 on the third set. This sucked.
Deadlift 245x5x1 Got it, but felt heavy.
This day really sucked. I had spent 3 hours earlier in the day doing a Judo class and a BJJ class so when I went to lift weights I had already felt so tired.

[Cookieman]

7/13

Squat 240x5x3. Fail. 5, 4, 5.
Bench Press 150x5x3 Fail. 5, 5, 3.
Dips 5, 3.
Didn't feel good today at all. I have to start eating more, my diet and sleep patterns have been all over the place recently. I haven't been eating enough food and some days I get a lot of sleep some days I don't. I hope I can fix up these issues soon.

[Cookieman]

7/15/2010
Squat 240x5x3(Felt Good, Finally got it!!!)
Military Press 105x5x3(Felt Good, 3rd set was brutally ugly form.)
Deadlift 245x5x3(Felt easy)

Weight 171.

[Cookieman]

7/19
245x5x3 Squat(Good depth, felt hard but doable. I was leaning forward on some so I had to do a mini-good morning on 2 or so).
150x5x3 Bench Press(Pretty difficult, wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do the last rep on the last set but I pushed through it)
Dips, 7, 4.
Weight at around 172 pounds. Once my gains stop and I have to go to intermediate, I'll probably start cutting. Since I want to compete in BJJ, I'd like to compete at around 150-155 or some weight class close to that.

[Cookieman]

7/21/2010

Squat 250x5x3 5, 5, 3. This felt really damn heavy. I'm having a lot of trouble with form here, when I rise sometimes I good morning it up. It sucks. Pissed at squats today.

Overhead Press 110x5x3. The last rep on the last set was a huge struggle but I got it up.

Deadlift 255x5x1. Felt pretty hard, wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get the 5th rep but I got it.

I don't know what to do with my squats. My form is deteriorating badly and I'm getting the weight up but doing it in a weird way. I have the book but I haven't read it yet, I think I should probably get on that and try to fix my form issues before I get hurt.

[Cookieman]

7/24/2010

Squat 250x5x3 Squat( Difficult, but doable. I tried to make sure I took breaths at the top and held my breath during the rep. This helped a lot. I think I'm only hitting parallel now. I used to be able to go below parallel on my squats.)

Bench Press 155. Failed 4, 4, 3. Felt hard. That's probably why I failed. Good form though.

Dips 9, 4.

Overall, an ok day. I didn't eat anything before working out except just a little bit of milk. That's probably why I failed.

[Cookieman]

8/2/2010
Didn't eat before lifting. Just had a cup of iced coffee 20 minutes before.
Slept 6 hours.
As expected, bad results.

255x5x2(5, then 2) This sucked. Went down to 240x5x1.
Overhead Press, Couldn't get one rep of 115. Went down to 105 and did 2 sets.
Deadlift 265x5x1.

I'll have more time to focus on lifting and jiujutsu now that my first summer session is over. I need to eat more.

[ivankannan]

How long have you been training Jiujutsu?

[Cookieman]

I've been training BJJ for about 8 months, but only about 6 months constantly. These last 2 months have been hectic for me and I have been going sparingly(5 times in one month or so.)

[Cookieman]

8/4/2010
Horrible workout today.
255x5x2 (3, 3). Then did 225x5x1. Squat
Bench 155 5, 4, dunno about the 3rd one because the guy spotting me helped me up too much, didn't know he would do that.
Dips 7, 4.

[Cookieman]

8/6/2010
I decided to go lower on squat cause I think i'll probably deload on it.
200x5x3 Squat, This was really easy. Ass to grass.
110x5x3 Overhead Press. This was also pretty easy.
275x5x1. I failed on the fifth rep, I couldn't lock it out. I'll probably get it next time.

[Cookieman]

8/10/2010.
A good workout today.

Squat I did 215x5x2, then I did one at 225x5x1 ATG. I'll probably do 220x5x3 ATG next time. It felt good and easy, like it should. I just want to work on getting good form and slowly inching my way back up.

Bench Press 155. 5, 5, 4(Fail), 5. It felt good but I failed on the third set. I was so pissed at myself because I knew I could have gotten it. I then decided to do another set and I got it without any trouble. This made my day.

Dips, 10, 7.

I'm feeling better now that I lowered the squat. I'm glad that my bench is going up and I hope it doesn't stop anytime soon.

[Cookieman]

8/12/2010

Squat 225x5x3 ATG. Felt Good and easy.
Overhead Press 115 lbs. 3, 3, 3. This sucked.
Deadlift 285, got 2 then failed. This was hard.

[Cookieman]

8/14/2010.

Squat 230x5x3 ATG. Easy and Good.
Bench 160x5x5. 5, 5, 4, 4, 4. Haha, I really wanted to get the 5th rep. I basically did 5 sets today. I actually got the closest to the 5th rep on the 5th set and it was DAMN close. Next time I'll just try 160x5x3 for bench again.
Pull ups. 1, and 2 negatives. I don't really know why I can't get these at all.

[Cookieman]

8/17/2010

235x5x3 Squat. ATG. Really really easy. I think I'll be able to get 255 when I reach it again.
115x5x2. 95x5x1. Military Press I got 115x5x2 but with really shitty form. I'm having a lot of form issues with the Military Press so I'm going to read the book/deload. For some reason, I'm not able to pick it up correctly and I'm always falling over backwards. When I go up I also have trouble bringing the weight up evenly. I'm also dropping the weight too quickly. I'm sure that if I continued to go up in weight, I probably would be able to get it but I'm going to try to improve my form and technique before attempting higher weights.

Deadlift 275x3x1. Couldn't get the 4th one. I'm having a really difficult time with the grip on the deadlift. My fingers are giving out too quickly.

Also, I only drank a bit of milk before I went. No food.

[Cookieman]

8/19/2010

Squat 240x5x3 ATG. Felt good. Getting harder.
Bench Press 160 5, 4, 5, 5. I failed the 2nd set because I only rested for about 2 minutes after the first one and I really wanted to try to see if i could get it. This was a dumb idea.

Chin ups- 2, 2.

[Cookieman]

8/21/2010

Squat 245x5x3. Didn't feel too hard, but this wasn't totally ATG.

Overhead Press. 95x5x3. Deloaded. This actually felt pretty heavy still. I got it with good form though. No bounce/no help from the legs.

Deadlift 275x3x1. Couldn't get the last two reps. I'll probably have to deload on deadlift.

[Cookieman]

8/24/2010
Squat 250x5x3. Felt pretty good.
Bench Press 165x5x3. Fail at 3, 2, 1. Felt difficult.
Chin ups, 2+2 Negatives. 1+2 Negatives. I'm seeing improvement.

Earlier in the day I had a grueling BJJ class and that usually saps my strength for the upper body workouts. Also, I didn't sleep at all the day before.

[Cookieman]

9/15/2010
Wow, what a long break from lifting. I went back home to San Diego after my finals were over and during that time I didn't lift.

Squat Tried 240. Only got 240x3. Then I got 230x4. Then 230x5. Damn, will have to work my way back up.
Overhead Press 85x5x3.
Deadlift 245x5x3.

It's been a long break, but I will get back to my numbers before. I also lost about 5 pounds during the entire break and ate mostly junk food with low nutritional value.

[Cookieman]

9/19/2010
Today went light. I'm going to work my way back up and focus on form.
180x5x3 Squat.
90x5x3 Overhead.
255x5x1 Deadlift.

[Cookieman]

10/13/2010

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been pretty busy with school and my lifting has suffered. I've started to get back into the habit though luckily.

225x5x3 Squat. Felt okay. A lot harder than it did before when I was able to do 225x5x3 effortlessly.
Overhead press 95x5x3. Felt easy.
Deadlift 225x5x1. Easy.

[Cookieman]

10/20/2010

235x5x3 Squat. Felt good. Not slow/not fast.
Overhead Press 100x5x3. Felt ok.
Deadlift 235x5x1. Felt ok, I'm having trouble gripping it though.

[Cookieman]

10/23/2010
240x5x3 Squat. Felt good. A bit slower. Good explosiveness.
Bench 155x5x3. Felt alright.
Chin ups, 3, 3 negatives.

[Cookieman]

10/27/2010

245x5x3 Squat. Got 5, 5, 2. This felt heavy, but I am surprised that I failed on the last set. Today I lifted in my tennis shoes because I forgot to take my Chuck Taylors with me. This threw me off balance and I kept leaning a bit too far forward on all my squats.
Overhead Press 105x5x3. Felt awesome.
Deadlift 245x5x3. Very easy. Grip was fine today.

[Cookieman]

10/29/2010

Didn't eat breakfast or lunch. Only had some hot chocolate.
245x5x3 Squat. 5, 5, 6. Felt amazing. Good resistance but I wasn't anywhere close to failing. I did a 6th rep on the last set because my 5th rep was bad form.
150x5x3 Bench. 5, 2, 2. This was hard. Today I used the fatter bar on bench which I find makes it feel a lot heavier. The bars are the same weight though.
Chin ups, 3(+2 negatives), 1(+3) negatives.

[Cookieman]

11/9/2010.
Tried working out again after a week of inactivity.
250 Squat. I got the first one, but on the second one I think I dropped down too hard and then tried to go up too fast. I strained my groin which really sucked. That was pretty much the end of the workout for me. Went home and iced it. Hope to be squatting again soon, I'll probably start it again once I feel better and probably at a lower weight(230 or so?).