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Thread: First Lifting Session 3/14/2018

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    Default First Lifting Session 3/14/2018

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    Hi guys, I'm new to the program and am posting here to get feedback and to motivate myself.

    I've spent a lot of time doing lots of cardio (up to 1.5 hours a day) and weight machines/dumb bells, while on a caloric deficit, with basically nothing to show for it. This has pushed me to finally start SS after having read most of the book a few years ago.

    Body stats: 5'8" or 5'9" (Not sure exactly, so I'm going with 5'8"); 230 lbs

    Nutrition: I've worked out a diet with about 230 grams of protein per day (I'm doing two 50-gram protein shakes a day to get that level without eating too many calories, given my current weight). That puts me about even for body maintenance (slight deficit), were I not working-out at all.

    First day:

    Squat
    Body weightx1x3
    45x1x5
    65x1x5
    95x1x5
    115x3x5

    Bench Press
    45x1x5
    65x1x5
    95x3x5

    Deadlight
    95x1x5
    135x1x5
    155x1x5

    I'm confident my bench press was truly maxed out - I almost faltered on my very last rep and felt drained. I felt pretty exhausted after my deadlights, and feel like my deadlift work set weight was good. I am second-guessing myself on my squat work set weight, but feel like I'm at a good level for starting (that said, I'm second-guessing myself a bit based on seeing other guys' starting squat weights, including in relation to their other lifts).

    Looking forward to whatever feedback/suggestions/encouragement/insults anyone wants to provide. I want to make sure I get a good start, especially from the nutritional side of things, so I can be as successful as I can be.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
    Posts
    319

    Default

    Hi Noob!

    How old are you?

    This would be a great first session for a rank novice. Which is great, because that's what you are. I'd highly suggest you get verified and request a form check on squats from the Starting Strength Coaches board. You can find information on both by going to the stickys on that board.

    If you can swing a visit to a coach in person or afford to hire Starting Strength Online Coaching, do so.

    Don't let anyone insult you. Don't compare your lifts - especially your first day - to anyone else. Where you start doesn't matter very much, and neither does where you end on LP in terms of a lifting career. Just be sure to add reasonable amount of weight each time to each lift.

    On the nutritional side of things, use the search function in the nutrition forum run by Santana. You may not find the exact situation you're in replicated (likely not), but you will get the guidance you're looking for. You seem to be off to a good start on nutrition: 1g of protein per lb bodyweight is a good stock recommendation.

    On your bench press for this session you made jumps that were too big. The good news is that you are likely able to get 100x5x3 on your next time benching, simply because you are so unaccustomed to training. When you do your first press workout, you may try 10 pound jumps from the bar, i.e. 45-55-65, maybe 75.

    Without video, it will be difficult for anyone to tell you how much you should go up in load next time on squat and deadlift.

    Last bit that I can see already: I'd highly suggest doing multiple sets with the empty bar. The extra reps help warm you up and give you additional practice. 2-4 sets with the empty bar is the norm.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    10

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    Thanks, Brian, I appreciate the feedback!

    I'm 32. I'm hoping I'm young enough to take advantage of the kind of NLP - I think I'm using that correctly (Novice Linear Progression?) - to stack weight on the bar the way Mark describes in one of the articles on the website - I think +10 for squats, +5 for press/bench and +15 for deadlifts (per workout), to start?

    I don't have a smartphone or anything, but I would like to do a video to get my form checked, if I can find a way to manage that. There are two SS coaches I found on the .org website who are not far from me, and I'm hoping to be able to do a some sessions with one of them at some point, to clean up my form. I taught myself the lifts at home with Mark's YouTube videos and a broom, so I'm sure my squat is at least off a bit.

    The only lift I didn't feel great about (form-wise) was my deadlift. I basically had to reset myself each lift, because I kept putting the bar down even with my toes (I started each lift with it right over the top of the tongue of my shoe). Any tips on how to fix that?

  4. #4
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    Mar 2017
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
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    92 is young enough to take advantage of the NLP.

    based on age and weight, yes, 10 pounds and 15 pounds for SQ and DL respectively is a reasonable guess - but this will only work for your first week or two, so don't get hung up on going to smaller jumps. And again, without a coach's eye on these, it's hard to know.

    Make the appointment to see a coach post haste.

    re; the DL. First; use the search, noob!

    Second - you're setting the bar down incorrectly. This is a very common mistake. The most common reason this occurs is because you will break your knees first on the way down. The bar will then travel out and around the knees - which are now in front of the mid-foot - so the bar ends up well forward of the midfoot. To prevent this, the best thing to do is to reverse the way you stood up, by breaking at your hips until the bar is past the knees on the way down. Resetting each rep to practice the 5 step set up is not a bad thing to do, especially on your warm-ups.

    Keep it up!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    192

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    NLP will still work in a small deficit

    My n=1 experience is to aim for 1-2lb a week weight loss

    I started out with 95 3x5 on bench at 47 years old 6'4" 295

    I am now at 225x3x3 255 lbs body weight after about a year

  6. #6
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    Mar 2018
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    Quote Originally Posted by billb7581 View Post
    NLP will still work in a small deficit

    My n=1 experience is to aim for 1-2lb a week weight loss
    Thanks for the information on your experience!

    By this do you mean eating at a 3500-7000 calorie deficit per week? That seems awful low for building muscle mass.

    What kind of calorie deficit did you find worked for you?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    1,301

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    Quote Originally Posted by NoobLifter View Post
    Thanks for the information on your experience!

    By this do you mean eating at a 3500-7000 calorie deficit per week? That seems awful low for building muscle mass.

    What kind of calorie deficit did you find worked for you?
    I think recommendations that specific are useless. You need to monitor your calorie intake and weight loss exactly over the course of 1-2 weeks, if the results are too low or too high then titrate the calories up or down as needed and repeat. Losing 1-2lbs a week as an obese male novice is not the same thing as trying to lose 1-2lbs a week as an advanced lifter trying to get from 10% to 8%BF. You have a giant spare tire to pull calories from. You will be fine.

  8. #8
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    Mar 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by NoobLifter View Post
    Thanks for the information on your experience!

    By this do you mean eating at a 3500-7000 calorie deficit per week? That seems awful low for building muscle mass.

    What kind of calorie deficit did you find worked for you?
    There are a handful of situations where the combination of muscle gain and fat loss occur relatively readily. The first of those is in overfat beginners. I want to really stress the term overfat in the above sentence. This phenomenon doesn’t happen in lean beginners for reasons I’m going to explain in a second.

    Adding Muscle While Losing Fat - Q&A

  9. #9
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    Mar 2018
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mugaaz View Post
    Losing 1-2lbs a week as an obese male novice is not the same thing as trying to lose 1-2lbs a week as an advanced lifter trying to get from 10% to 8%BF.
    I was asking because the stats he proved gave him a starting BMI the same as my current BMI. While I know this isn't the best measure of body composition, I was curious what kind of meal planning he used to get those results.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mugaaz View Post
    You have a giant spare tire to pull calories from. You will be fine.
    Notwithstanding what I just said, what you said here is really what I need to be focusing on - thanks for this!

  10. #10
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    Mar 2018
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by billb7581 View Post
    Thanks for sharing this link! That was a good read, and very helpful for someone in my situation.

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