Daddy's Starting Strength Log

[Mike Mantzouris]

I am a 43 y.o. Novice looking to get bigger and stronger. I have three little ones (6,6,3) and I had gotten to a point where I could hardly pick them up without sweating and/or wrenching my back. I was 215 (28.5% bodyfat) in Sept 2010 at 5'10" and about 14 weeks ago I had lost down to 163 lbs at 10% bf. I just felt a little too weak and I decided to get a barbell and start a program. I started too low and took a long time to get heavy. Before I went on vacation last week, I was up to squat 235, ohp 105, bench 185, row 180, deadlift 300 (all are 5x5 except deadlift 1x5).

For the last 5 weeks I have been reading and watching all of Mark's books, videos, etc... I decided to go heavy with the milk then (up to 182 lbs this morning at 12.5% body fat according to my scale) and really dive into SS when I returned Monday (Aug 22). I also booked some sessions with a Starting Strength coach. I worked with him Wednesday and today and we did the following:

Wed - Aug 24
Squat - lots of work with no barbell teaching me the motion. Warms with the bar, 95,135,155 and work sets of 185 3x5. I thought I was going parallel before but I clearly was not. I did these with good form. This ended our workout at one hour so I went home and did a double Krav Maga class to "catch up" on volume.

Fri - Aug 26
Squat - got right to work with the trainer today. 45 2x5, 95 1x5, 135 1x3, 185 1x2, 195 3x5. All below parallel. Felt strong.

OHP - got some great technique from the coach. Hand position. Wrist position was a problem for me on my left hand because I am protecting a rotator cuff injury. He helped me work through it and I had three explosive sets of 85 lbs. It was a little light but I was practicing form.

Deadlift - this is basically my strongest lift. He tested me at 135 x5 and helped me keep it closer to my thighs and kept me from arching too much at the top. He also taught me to let the bar go down faster which I don't do at home. Then I did 225 x 5 pretty fast so he threw a third plate on. I thought he was going to be conservative but he said he thought I could lift it and to get myself psyched up. I was very happy that I got 315 for all 5.

Overall I am extremely happy I am using the services of this coach. I have a video of my old squats and one of my squats from today and it's like night and day.

Thanks for reading my log. Monday is squat 205, bench, and maybe cleans with the coach.

Best,

Mike

[Mark E. Hurling]

Welcome geezling, and glad to see the log started here. Since you're doing krav maga you might be interested looking in on Sullydog's log in this section, he does that as well. Not to second guess you or your coach, but if you have rotator issues is explosive the best way to go even at 85 lbs. for your OHP? I'm nursing some recurring shoulder problems myself just now, so I'm a little sensitive to the matter. Anyway, good luck and good lifting.

[Mike Mantzouris]

Welcome geezling, and glad to see the log started here. Since you're doing krav maga you might be interested looking in on Sullydog's log in this section, he does that as well. Not to second guess you or your coach, but if you have rotator issues is explosive the best way to go even at 85 lbs. for your OHP? I'm nursing some recurring shoulder problems myself just now, so I'm a little sensitive to the matter. Anyway, good luck and good lifting.

Thanks for the welcome and I appreciate all advice. I am very sensitive to the rotator cuff issue and I have experimented with every hand position on the bar. I was a little tentative to do the first set a little wider than how I usually do it at home but I decided to trust. As a result, I went a little too slow and the weight felt heavy so we kept my 85lb warmup for the worksets. Contrary to what I would have thought, I had a little shoulder pain on the first set of 85 and zero pain on the two fast sets. Maybe when I was too slow, my bar path "wiggled" a little bit and that's what hurt? Thanks again!

[Mike Mantzouris]

Had a great workout this morning! I worked with Paulie at SBBC again this morning and we did Squats, Bench, Chinups. It took exactly one hour and it felt good.

My BW is up to 183 lbs this morning and I have been hammering down the milk and getting well over 5k calories per day. No soreness at all from Friday's workout.

Squats - All at or below parallel. Lost some focus on the second set but the weight felt light all the way through. Ready for 215 on Wed.
45x5x3
95x5x1
135x5x1
185x3x1
205x5x3

Bench - My first time benching with him and I had some bad habits. I always lift alone and my face was too far under the bar. I was mistakenly bringing my shoulders together by doing a sort of shrug. He taught me to bring my scaps together and that made a world of difference. Also, I found that when the weight starts to get heavy, I tend to bring the weight lower on my chest creating an unnecessary moment arm and making the weight even heavier. I need to focus on holding my breath as long as possible to "stay tight". By the third work set, I held my breath through 4.
45x5x3
95x5x1
135x5x1
165x3x1
195x5x3 (PR)

Chinups - Full scap extension at the bottom
BWx10
BWx8
BWx8

Thanks for reading and I would love to hear from you.

Mike

[Mark E. Hurling]

One of the things that helps keep my shoulder blades together was to get my grip width on the bar (narrow and a little over 16") and pull myself up so my forehead touches the bar. Then back down and start benching.

[Mike Mantzouris]

One of the things that helps keep my shoulder blades together was to get my grip width on the bar (narrow and a little over 16") and pull myself up so my forehead touches the bar. Then back down and start benching.

Thanks! I will try that. There are two rings on each side of the bar. I think he called them powerlifting rings (inner) and weightlifting rings (outer) but I wasn't paying enough attention to that to be sure. If I put my pinkies on the inner rings, is that 16 inches?

[Mike Mantzouris]

Another great workout in Red Hook Brooklyn today! Paulie is really, really good at coaching me. I gained 2.6 lbs over the last two days and am up to 185.6 (13.4%BF by scale) this morning.

Started with Squats. Had really good form and hit depth for all. Started to round shoulders on rep 4 of set 2 but he corrected me. Weight felt light.
45x5x3
95x5x1
135x5x1
185x3x1
215x5x3 (3-4 min rest)

OHP - Felt good and light throughout. We worked on the perfect hand position for me. His original position hurts my forearm a little and we "un-rotated" it slightly and it was painfree on both my forearm and shoulder. (My left upper forearm has a self-diagnosed tendon strain from a martial arts injury as well as a slight impingement in my left rotator cuff.)
45x5x3 (did extra set to really warm it up)
65x5x1
85x3x1
95x5x3 - These felt strong and I was able to "clank" the weights at the top. (2 min rest between)

Power Clean - A lot of form work and sets I couldn't even count with just the bar. Maybe 9 sets of 3 altogether.
45x3x3
95x3x3
105x3x3 (PR) - At the end of this I was very sweaty. We didn't have a lot of rest in between and I feel that I was getting the form down by the end.

I would like to get good at power cleans as I think it will have some good carry over to my Krav Maga classes and sparring.

[Mike Mantzouris]

BW 186.0 (13.4% BF). Still drinking a gallon a day and eating well.

Squats first. Going for 225 today so warmed up with abs on GHR machine x 20 and back extensions x 10.
0x5x1
45x5x3
95x5x1
135x5x1
195x3x1
225x5x3 - Felt very light today and I hit all sets for depth. Sets 1 and 3 were better because I was inside my head for set 2. The best cue I got today from my Strength Coach was to sit back. Set 3 was my best because I set my back in position before my first descent and kept it there. Going to do 235x5x3 on Monday at home by myself.

Bench Press
45x5x3
135x5x1
185x5x1
205x5x3 (PR). I was feeling very strong today so I asked if we could go up 10 on the bench today. Hit all of these very well. My breathing needed some work on the first set. I know that you are supposed to hold your breath for the first three but I really liked pausing at the top and letting out a small breath after each rep. It keeps my cadence the same rather than holding for three and then pausing and taking two. Coach said that if I liked that better, I could stick with it.

Deadlift - Going for 335 today. Not as nervous about this as I was about the squat but for some reason my form suffered a little. Rather than activating quads first and then back, I changed my back angle too early and used my back primarily for the work set. I was able to muscle it out but it felt heavier than it should have. We talked about what I did wrong and I asked if I could try another set to fix it. He thought that was a good idea and i activated quads first and back second. The weight felt MUCH lighter.
135x5
225x3
330x5 (PR)
330x1

Just decided that I am going to keep up the calories until I hit 200 lbs and then work on tapering off and leaning back down. All the calories have been the key to my success lately.

Mike

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks! I will try that. There are two rings on each side of the bar. I think he called them powerlifting rings (inner) and weightlifting rings (outer) but I wasn't paying enough attention to that to be sure. If I put my pinkies on the inner rings, is that 16 inches?

Yeah, that's reasonably close. By the way, nice PR's there.

[Mike Mantzouris]

Yeah, that's reasonably close. By the way, nice PR's there.

Thanks Mark! I have been pretty happy with myself all day for the PR's!

I put my pinkies on the inside rings today and my shoulders were painfree. I also lifted myself up under the bar before the bench press to set my scaps and it worked great. I was able to keep tight throughout sets 2 and 3. Set 1 got a little loose but the Coach said he couldn't tell. Thanks for the advice.