My new hobby: lifting heavy shit

[Megabreth]

I've decided to quit lurking around this magnificent forum and start posting.

A brief history:

I was a skinny-fat lard Marine for several years until somebody introduced @fit to me. I did it for two years and loved it...until I realized that in two years' time, I started AND ended at 6'1, 170 lbs. Bullcrap! And I was still very under-strong. At the tail end of that two years, I bought Starting Strength and started reading it because I knew it would teach me how to lift properly.

I soon quit my @fit membership and dove into the SS novice program. In three months I gained 22 lbs, wtf! :D I've also decided that I love the feeling of straining, grunting, and moaning to lift a new PR on a regular basis--something I didn't experience at @fit. Plus I've never been a huge fan of cardio.

In my next post, I'll paste my lifting history so far, then in subsequent posts I will make regular updates.

[gamedog]

Welcome aboard Megabreth! Looking forward to seeing your progress on here.

[Megabreth]

3/12/2010: Squat 95lbs x 3 x 5, Bench Press 105x3x5, Deadlift 135x1x5
3/15/2010: Squat 115x3x5, Press 65x3x5, Power Clean 65x5x3
3/17/2010: S 125x3x5, BP 110x3x5, DL 165x1x5
3/22/2010: S 135x3x5, P 70x3x5, PC 75x5x3
3/24/2010: S 145x3x5, BP 120x3x5, DL 185x1x5
3/26/2010: S 155x3x5, P 75x3x5, PC 95x5x3
3/29/2010: S 165x3x5, BP 125x3x5, DL 200x1x5
3/31/2010: S 175x3x5, P 80x3x5, PC 105x5x3
--from here on out, I stopped getting perfect 3x5 sets across--
4/2/2010: S 185x5/3/3, BP 135x5/3/3, DL 215x5
4/5/2010: S 185x5/4/3, P 85x5/5/5, PC 115x3/3/3/3/3
4/7/2010: S 185x5/5/5, BP 135x5/5/5, DL 255x5
4/13/2010: S 190x5/5/5, P 90x5/5/5, PC 125x3/3/3/3/3
4/15/2010: S 195x5/5/5, BP 140x5/5/5, DL 240x5
4/17/2010: S 200x5/5/5, P 95x5/5/5, PC 135x3/3/3/3/3
4/21/2010: S 205x3/3/2, BP 145x4/3/3, DL 255x5
4/26/2010: S 205x5/5/3, P 100x5/5/5, PC 145x3/3/3/3/3
--from here on out, I decided to add pull-ups to workout A and chins to workout B--
4/28/2010: S 205x5/5/3, BP 145x5/5/5, DL 270x5, Pull-ups 3/2/2
--reset on the squat--
4/30/2010: S 185x5/5/5, P 105x5/5/5, PC 155x3/3/3/3/3, Chin-ups 3/3/2
5/3/2010: S 190x5/5/5, BP 150x5/5/5, DL 280x4, PU 3/2/2
5/7/2010: S 195x5/5/5, P 110x4/5/5, PC 160x5/5/5/5/5, CU 4/4/4
5/11/2010: S 200x5/5/5, BP 155x5/5/5, DL 280x5, PU 3/3/3
5/13/2010: S 205x5/5/5, P 115x5/5/4, PC 165x3/3/3/3/3, CU 5/5/4
5/18/2010: S 210x5/5/5, BP 160x5/5/5, DL 285x5, PU 4/4/4
5/20/2010: S 215x5/5/4, P 120x5/5/-, PC 175x3/3/3/3/3, CU 5/5/5
6/1/2010: S 215x4/3/2, BP 155x5/5/5, DL 280x5, PU 4/4/4
6/4/2010: S 205x5/4/3 and go home in disgust
6/7/2010: S 205x5/5/5, P 125x5/5/4, PC 165x3/3/3/3/3, CU 6/6/4
6/9/2010: S 210x5/5/5, BP 160x5/5/5, DL 290x5, PU 5/5/5
--took some time off due to time (read: sleep) and budget (read: food) issues. Apparently raising a six-month-old infant isn't easy or cheap.--
6/26/2010: S 185x5/5/5, BP 145x5/5/5, DL 260x5, PU 6/6/6
6/29/2010: S 190x5/5/5, P 115x5/4/4, PC 150x3/3/3/3/3
7/1/2010: S 195x5/5/5, BP 150x5/5/5, DL 265x5, PU 6/6/5
7/6/2010: S 205x5/5/4, P 120x5/4/5, DL 275x5, CU 5/5/-
7/8/2010: S 210x5/5/4, BP 155x5/5/5, PC 155x3/3/3/3/3, CU 7/7/-
--at this time, I got to the point in Practical Programming where I found out that I might be overtraining in my squats. From here on out I decided to make Wednesday my "light" day for my squats.
7/10/2010: Front Squat 105x5/5/5, P 120x4/2/2, DL 280x5, PU 6/6/6
--when I couldn't press properly, I realized that front squats were a terrible idea for my subsequent bench/press movements. On my next light squat day, I will deload 80% like the book says to do. Lesson learned.--
7/12/2010: S 215x5/5/5, BP 160x5/5/5, PC 160x3/3/3/3/3, CU 8/7/3

[Megabreth]

Thanks, gamedog! I look forward to taking a ton of knowledge from this commmunity, and hopefully giving some back as well.

[Megabreth]

7/14/2010
Bodyweight: 183 lbs

Squat: 170x5/5/5
Press: 120x4/4/3
Deadlift: 285x5
Pull-ups: 6/6/4

I stepped on the scale today and was extremely dismayed at the fact that I've lost 2 pounds this week, on top of losing 6 pounds earlier two weeks ago due to illness. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out I'm not eating enough--and that's because I'm not hungry enough to eat enough (oh no, not this crap again!) So, I'm making the commitment to eat faster; and so far today, for the most part, it's allowing me to eat more food. I'll continue with this practice and re-introduce myself to GOMAD in the next day or two.

Today was a light squat day, and I was able to bust through those with no problem. The press gave me trouble for the third time, so I'll deload when I go in next Monday. I'm also going to micro-load my press. Unfortunately, I went to Ace hardware and couldn't find oversized washers. I found chains, but had no way to weigh them (you'd think they'd have scales to weigh things like a bag of nuts or bolts, wouldn't you?). So on Monday methinks I'll use a string or small rope to hang a 2.5 lb plate from the middle of my bar, and hope it doesn't smack me in the face on the way up. I bet it will.

If anyone reading this has any advice, please feel free to tell me I'm acting like a n00b and guide me to the right path in my little crisis here. :)

[Megabreth]

7/16/2010
Bodyweight: 186 lbs

My son was sick two days ago. Now I feel sick. Unfortunately, this happens all too often because he regularly attends a daycare.

Last night I took a couple doses of NyQuil and slept about 12 hours. I packed my gym bag this morning anyway in the hopes that I'll feel well enough to lift this afternoon.

[mikeylikey]

The press gave me trouble for the third time, so I'll deload when I go in next Monday. I'm also going to micro-load my press.

Looking at your log I see you upped the weight on presses a number of times following workouts where you missed a rep or two. I did the same thing, and I think I am paying for it now - stuck at 115.

When I had my first squat failure at 195, dropped back to 185 and focused on form, and I'm up to 240 now with zero issues - so hopefully can have the same success on press. Good luck.

[Megabreth]

Noted. Thank you!

[gamedog]

7/16/2010
Bodyweight: 186 lbs

My son was sick two days ago. Now I feel sick. Unfortunately, this happens all too often because he regularly attends a daycare.

Last night I took a couple doses of NyQuil and slept about 12 hours. I packed my gym bag this morning anyway in the hopes that I'll feel well enough to lift this afternoon.

God damned daycare! Those places are like little clandestine laboratories where they weaponize pink eye and the common cold LOL!!!

Good luck today at the gym! And keep that cold or whateveritis at bay! ... I use Jagermeister and a bed time of 7:30/8PM in cases like that...

[Megabreth]

No kidding! In about two weeks I'll be quitting my job and doing the stay-at-home dad thing for a bit, and see if that makes any difference.

Unfortunately, I did not make it to the gym yesterday--and it's a good thing I didn't. I could barely eat dinner. And despite taking an hour-long nap at noon, I still passed out at like 7.

Jager, huh? Although I'm not partial to the stuff, I wouldn't mind some scotch or gin before bed on a sick day. I've been considering it, in fact. Thanks! I'll take a shot or two before taking another nap today, and hopefully make it to the gym tonight.

[Megabreth]

7/19/2010
Body weight: 187 lbs

Squat: 220x5/4/3
Bench: 155x3/5/3
Deadlift: 290x3

WTF Megabreth, what happened here? Well, for one, I was on the tail end of last week (and still didn't feel 100% this morning). Two, I missed Friday's workout because of sickness. Three, my weekend was not very restful because of events kind of outside my control. My eating also suffered because of the first two conditions.

I'm happy to report that my 220 squat was the most I've ever lifted. I came close to missing my fifth rep on my first set. Unfortunately, on my second set, I did miss my fifth rep. By the time I got to the bar on the third set, I was so tired and sore (my ass felt like I had deadlifted 500lbs) and I failed early.

Moving on to bench--that was the weirdest part of my workout. I was supposed to lift 165 today. And the warmup felt great. But when I attempted my first workset, I failed after two reps! So I took off the 5 plates and pretended that never happened. Benched 155, and still only got three reps. Benched again--same weight--and got all five. Benched same weight AGAIN, and got three reps again. D'oh! I haven't failed reps at the bench in a while, so it was a joy to roll it off my body. Abs of steel, baby!

Then the deadlift. Again, warmups felt great, but I was only able to pull 3 reps. That doesn't bother me; I'll just give it another try on Friday.

On Wednesday I plan to squat 175, press 105 (because I'm resetting), and power clean as normal.

[Megabreth]

7/22/2010 (Yes, I was supposed to lift yesterday, but was still sick and decided to rest instead.)

I am too tired to type this, so please forgive me.

Body weight: I dunno. Forgot to weigh myself this morning. I was still around 187 lbs yesterday.

Squat: 195x5/5/5
Press: 105x5/5/5
Power Clean: 165x3/3/3/3/3
Chins: 6/5/5

I squatted too heavy. This was supposed to be a light squat day (i.e., squat 80% of Monday's lift) but Mr. I-passed-AP-Calculus-in-high-school-but-can't-do-basic-math-to-save-his-life lifted 90% of Monday's squat. I dread what this will mean for me on Friday; somehow I suspect I'll be disappointed. The 90% squats were hard.

Press felt great. This is lift #1 coming off of a reset from last week.

Power cleans felt great as well. Appropriately, each first rep was quite easy and each third rep made me grunt very loudly. On my last rep, I tried to use the Valsalva manuever by doing the following - stand, take deep breath, address the bar, perform lift. By the third lift, I felt like I was almost ready to pass out. I don't think I'll be using this again for any of my O-lifts.

I also tried to do the Valsalva maneuver for my chin-ups as mentioned by Rip the other day (deep breath at top of chin, hold breath, do rep, exhale inhale at top again) but got too distracted and lost count of my chins after the first (or second, not sure) rep. Continued the chins without any fancy breathing, and ended up doing slightly worse than last week's chins. No worries; at least it's not a barbell lift, and I was only operating at 85% today anyway.

[Megabreth]

Ok! After a very long hiatus--there are a lot of things that have happened in the last few months, but I will spare you the sob details--I am getting back into this.

I will give you some of the happy details, though: I have moved to Texas! I now live in San Antonio. I came SO close to moving to Wichita Falls; but apparently the Navy training school that was out there has been moved to, well, San Antonio. My wife is now an instructor at Fort Sam (it's an Army base, but they're doing a multi-branch operation there). And as hot as she is, and as much as I really like her, I decided to follow her.

Can you believe that since July, I have not been able to go to any gym? It's true. But now I have one at Randolph AF base (a gym that actually has bumper plates and a platform! Also, fuck you, Gold's Gym, for not transferring my membership; I'm happier now), and am in the process of putting together a gym in this huge Texas garage I now have. I also have a new training buddy that I've convinced to do the PP novice program (which is good, cuz the dude has never done a deadlift in his life, so it would be very scary to teach him a power clean at this juncture).

So Friday afternoon, I got into my gym clothes and actually got under a bar. My performance was very poor: Squat 105x5/5/5, Bench 70x5/5/5, Deadlift 135x5. But I have the feeling those numbers will shoot up very fast.

Then, when I got home, a wonderful thing happened. I was fucking ravenous. It was 4pm, and I went to Whataburger for a double cheeseburger w/ bacon combo, plus a glass of milk when I was done. Two hours later, I was still hungry, and had two chili dogs. An hour later, I had the bowl of dessert featured on the 70'sBig diet page (holy shit it was heavenly). Woke up this morning and had a huge breakfast and a glass of milk, two more glasses of milk a little after that, and now I'm about to have lunch.

Basically, after than one workout, my appetite switch was turned back on, and I'm ready to gain some weight again. I weighed in at 182 lbs this morning and I am now hell-bent on turning that into 250 or more.

Oh, nice changes to the forums! It looks a little more modern here.

[Megabreth]

10/10/2010
Bodyweight: 185 lbs

Squat 125x5/5/5
Press 75x5/5/5
Power clean 95x3/3/3/3/3

Not much to say here. Felt great, bar speed was good, and still happy to be lifting again.

Drinking lots of milk and Shiner Bock, in addition to eating a lot of food.

[Megabreth]

10/12/2010
Bodyweight: 186 lbs

Squat 135x5/5/5
Bench 105x5/5/5
Deadlift 145x5

Squat feels good, although I'm finding myself forgetting to keep my lower spine in full extension, so my lower back felt a little sore during and after the workout.

Bench pressing 70 lbs during my warmup felt so easy that I kept adding weight on, and came to 105. I think I was benching poorly last week, having forgotten to keep my shoulders squeezed together and my head up (just off the bench). When I employed these cues again, I felt a lot stronger on the bench.

I could have deadlifted a lot more, but didn't want to push it. I'll have plenty of time to progress on this lift. Plus I was a little tired, as it was 8pm at the end of a very long day.

Ate a second dinner (pork chops, smashed 'taters and green beans), two beers, and two glasses of milk when I got home, before passing out.

[Megabreth]

Welp, I had to take time off again.

This time is different, I swear. I bought and installed a squat rack in my garage. Now I don't have to worry about finding child care when I want to put forth an honest strength workout. Now I can just lift when my toddler is taking a nap. Thanks to this, I have been consistent in lifting for the last two weeks. I have no more excuses. I want to be strong now.

Lifting data from the last two weeks (I'm just going to be lazy and post the work set weight, with the implication that I did sets and reps as per the book):
11/14/2010: Squat 155lbs, Bench 115, Deadlift 155
11/16: Squat 165, Press 90, Power clean 115
11/18: Squat 175, Bench 125, Deadlift 175
11/22: Squat 185, Press 95, Power clean 115
11/24: Squat 195, Bench 135, Deadlift 195
11/26: Squat 205, Press 100, Power clean 135
11/29: Squat 215, Bench 145, Deadlift 205

My squats on 11/29 were really hard. I felt my form start to break down, and felt slightly sore in my lower back. And my feet actually went numb! Starting next week I'm going to increase my squat sets by 5 lbs (instead of 10 like I've been doing). The deadlifts were easy, which is not surprising considering my PR was 290 back in July. But I suspect that my lower deadlift weight is helping me with my squats. I'm wondering if I should eventually start alternating deads and cleans with back extensions (or in my case, "supermans" since I don't have a roman chair) as is lined out in PP. My bodyweight is 196...maybe I should start taking olive oil shots, as I don't think I could possibly eat more food than I've been eating.

I'm expecting my first real pair of lifting shoes to be delivered either today or tomorrow. Thanks to last weekend being a Thanksgiving weekend, the shoes have been taking a long fucking time to get here.

[Megabreth]

12/1: Squat 215x5/5/3, Press 105x5/5/5, Power clean 145x3/3/3/3/3

12/7: Squat 215x5/5/5, Bench 155x5/5/5, Deadlift 235x5

I had the best weekend ever. There was a Starting Strength seminar at Rip's gym, and I was there! (I was one of the Zacks). If nothing else, I received some badly needed coaching on my form. You know how we're supposed to squat all the way down to parallel? Well, I had a very bad perception of how low I was squatting. As a result, I was squatting well below parallel, which was hurting my squat progress. Also--and this is pretty important--I was leaning forward too far. This goes to show that you should have a "high" or "big" chest throughout all your lifts.

So when I got back into the gym yesterday, I squatted to the PROPER depth (which, incidentally, feels to me like a half squat) wearing my lifting shoes that have finally arrived, and I banged my reps out easily! I'm excited to see how well I do before I stall my squat and need to switch to intermediate programming.

I also found that my appetite has gone back up. It seems that last week, my bad form was preventing me from actually growing and wanting food. As of this morning, I now weigh 197.8 lbs. So close to 200 I can taste it (of course, I've probably surpassed that since I've eaten breakfast this morning). My current goal: weigh 250. I think I now have the necessary skill to make that happen.

[Megabreth]

12/9: Squat 225x5/5/5, Press 110x5/5/5, Power clean 155x3/3/3/2/3

225 lb squat is a PR for me. Yay! They were slightly tough, but I got them!

The power cleans were really hard. On the third "rep" in the fourth set, I bumped my stomach on the way up (likely because I was pulling too late). I tried twice more, but was gassed. Power cleans were the one thing I didn't leave the seminar feeling confident about. I plan to re-read the power clean section of SS and re-watch the DVD next week (I have a busy weekend planned).

Starting with my next workout, I'll now increase my weights at half the rate I've been doing. Squats, deads, power cleans, and benches will now advance 5 lbs per workout, and presses will advance 2 1/2 lbs. I think I'll repeat 155 for the power cleans on Saturday...but advance 5 lbs after that.

[Megabreth]

12/14: Squat 230x5/5/5, Bench 160x5/5/5, Deadlift 245x5

12/17: Squat 235x5/5/5, Press 115x5/5/5, Power clean 155x3/3/3/3/3

I missed a workout this week due to scheduling issues, and today's was a day late because a lack of sleep found me really sore yesterday. So I went to bed early and lifted this morning, where my workout was interrupted about 6 different times by various family members.

I'm so proud of my squat right now. I have broken through and continue to surpass my previous 220 lb wall I had last summer. I've come to realize that my problem was using too much quads in my squats due to a narrow stance--which I didn't even know was a problem until Rip identified I was leaning over too far. No more!

My power cleans felt better today. I think my previous troubles were that I forgot to lean back at the beginning of the pull, thus starting with my glenoid -forward- of the bar. It's a bad habit I've picked up with all my lifts. Although the weight felt heavy, I cleaned it with no problems.

I look very bottom heavy now (by the way, I passed 200 lbs a few days ago). With talk of things like the Greyskull LP program floating around, I'm considering moving my squats to twice a week, and deadlifting/power cleaning on Wednesdays. This would be for purely aesthetic reasons; and even then only because I'm a personal trainer now, and I don't want potential clients (especially guys) to think I don't know how to train upper bodies properly. If I decide to do this, I further wonder if I should abandon this log and start posting in the "general" log section. I probably won't, since my changes would basically be a modification to the SS foundation I've spent several months building.

Looking forward to the weekend! Kinda. I'll be on vacation, and there'll be no real gym to speak of in my area--at least none that are free to me. I may have to pay for a 3-day pass to a Golds or something. I'm also looking forward to teaching a friend how to lift, so he can get strong like the rest of us!