obtaining manimal status

[Manimal]

With the server reset I lost my log so I have to remake it. Numbers from start to current

working set numbers, havent tried to max yet and wont until I start TM or the advanced novice program

I believe today officially marks 2 months on the SSLP

Bench 155-220
Press 130-170 (failed last workout on 175 on the very last rep of the last set)
Squat 150-265
Deads 180-285
Chins BW-BW+40

The only lift I've missed on so far is the Press, 3 times. this last time was the most official miss as all factors (sleep, food, mental state) were in perfect order.

General Nutrition, I mostly follow a Warrior Diet type program. I eat 1 big meal a day consisting of 1700-2500 calories in either beef or eggs and vegetables. I get my remaining calories from peanut butter. I cant drink milk but I found I can stomach cheese, so cheese has become a staple in my diet (glad, because I'm getting really tired of peanut butter).

Todays workout:
Bench 220x3x5
Squat 265x3x5
Deads 285x1x5

Benches flew up, literally pushed the bard so hard my shoulders untucked. I've never felt so relaxed going into a set knowing I was going to get it.

I warmed up higher on my squats today, previously I was having bad problems keeping my knees out on my first working set. Today I did my last warmup with 1 rep with my working set, looked like crap but everything after that felt like gold.

Pretty bummed, found a set of Ivanko plates and Ivanko barbell on craigslist for 250 but someone beat my to it by about an hour.

Video of Todays Squats ( I dont know why it's sideways). I know I'm on carpet and im barefoot and my knees seem to slide on a couple of the reps. Any criticism is welcome. Oh I also have a photo of my new power rack thats on concrete that I will use wearing my converse. Oh and there is shit everywhere because my parents are hoarders, it was quite difficult to create space for all of our equipment.



Powertec Workbench Power Rack

[Manimal]

slight issue. I reevaluated my diet today and found on the average day i only consume 120-150g of protein. This is roughly 3/4 of what Rip suggests in PP2 for a guy my weight (currently 210 and 22-23% BF by my estimation, looking at that squat video that belly makes me think maybe another percent or so). Going to look into proteins again although the last time i was on whey I had bad GI troubles from it, although I think the troubles were more related to the flavoring used rather than the protein. Furthermore, Im not quite sure how to handle the calorie increase, Ive gained a pound this month eating between 2700-3200 Cals/day and all my lifts continue to move solidly. I guess I need to move to a leaner ground beef (currently eat 80/20) or most likely move to eating ground chicken or turkey again.

BW 211

[Manimal]

HAHAHAHA, figured out the google cache thing and found my missing logs

mkarr0110
01-09-2012, 10:14 PM
A month and a half into SS and I think im just as addicted to the website as I am to lifting. Figured I'd stop lurking and start posting. My brother is along with me for the ride although he doesnt get as excited as i do about analyzing squat check videos.

height 5'7 BW: 207 (I started at 205 at a BF% of 23ish)

My starting numbers to current numbers
Bench 155x3x5 ----> 200x3x5
Press 125x3x5 ----> 155x3x5
Squat 150x3x5 ----> 225x3x5
Deads 180x3x5 ----> 245x1x5

I dont plan on attempting a 1rm until Im done with SS

(started deadlifts with more volume cause i was being tarded and didnt read the programming section correctly)



mkarr0110
01-11-2012, 07:37 PM
I do a pretty standard for all of the exercises. I start with empty bar x2 for 5 reps then 95lbs for 5 reps go to 115/135 for 2-3 depending on the movement then for 1s the rest of the way up.

Today's workout
Press 160x3x5
Squat 230x3x5
Chins BW+30x3x5

Squats felt heavy, for the first time i could really feel my spine load, I felt everything compress. More than ever I realize the importance of proper form mechanics. It made me a bit more afraid but also a bit invigorated by how powerful my body is capable of being.


jmoye
01-11-2012, 07:44 PM
Great progress keep it up! That is some insane pressing for under 2 months in. Awesome.



mkarr0110
01-11-2012, 07:56 PM
Great progress keep it up! That is some insane pressing for under 2 months in. Awesome.

Thank you, Its not pretty but i get it up there. By far pressing is my favorite movement.


devilbones
01-12-2012, 09:20 AM
Nice job and welcome. Your press is really high compared to your bench and stuff.


skipbeat
01-12-2012, 12:55 PM
strong as fuck press mate. gotta get that squat&deadlift up! how old are ya?


mkarr0110
01-12-2012, 08:39 PM
Im 26, I lifted a bit in high school but injured myself squatting on a smith machine. Ive done mostly body weight stuff since then. My buddy started doing SS about a year ago and i was really resistant at first, because I was nursing a herniated disc. The doc said the best thing i could do was to strengthen my back muscles and thats when i decided to start.

I would think im built for pressing, even though my weight is high its mostly in my chest, im 5'7 208 with a 47 inch chest and a 33 inch waist



mkarr0110
01-13-2012, 10:16 AM
Squats are starting to feel very heavy, form break down is apparent, not quite sure what to do. I know i can move the weight, its just really hard to focus on my form at the current levels.

Squats 235x3x5
Bench 205x3x5
Deads 255x1x5

My brain doesnt quite grasp that the benches are getting heavy. The thought that keeps running through my head when im pushing is, "I can move this faster!"
My brain is eager to prove my "bro" status, I cant wait to see what my numbers look like in March and even into the summer months



mkarr0110
01-16-2012, 09:41 AM
Interesting day, couldnt sleep all night so I was pretty happy when my bro woke up early and was willing to go at it. Decided to add a 3rd set of empty bar to squat warm ups, it feels alot better going through the workout progression this way. Press was crazy today, hit 2 sets really well, felt so strong even though form was terrible. Bad form caught up to me on the 3rd set attempt, I racked the bar way too low and only pressed it twice. I was really disappointed because i felt so strong today, so i waited 2 minutes and did another set of 5.

squats 240x3x5
Press 165 2x5 1x2 1x5
Chins BW+35 3x5
Chins BW 1x10

BW hovering around 210 211, need to start recording my calories and sticking closer to maintenance on non workout days and cut back on the peanut butter a little bit. Not looking forward to the cut to get back under 200 after finishing SS.



elderly mayan
01-16-2012, 09:56 AM
Nice progress for such short period of time.
I am curious about press tho - is it strict or push-press (leg drive)?



mkarr0110
01-16-2012, 10:30 AM
strict press, Im kind of curious what my push press would be. After watching Donny Shankle videos id like to try some jerks.



elderly mayan
01-16-2012, 10:53 AM
Impressive... 0.8x bodyweight for 5 reps and this all when training for less than half year - you're good!
I can almost feel that your bench press technique is off somewhere, because there always is close relation with ohp and bp and seems like you should bench around 250lbs for 5 with strict OHP like that.
1) shoulder blades not tucked
2) no arch
3) legs not planted in floor and no drive through them
4) too slow on way down, in attempt to be strict and avoid bounce
5) bar path goes in C curve and eats up strength
Maybe I am wrong...



mkarr0110
01-16-2012, 11:15 AM
I was a little ego driven when starting my LP with OHP so i started high, I knew going in that I am very adept at overhead movements and have great genetic potential there.

I can bench alot more than my numbers reflect right now but i decided to start lower, my 1rm going into SS on the BP was 225 and my 5rm was 190ish but i decided to start the program at 150. The weight/my arms would shake alot so i wanted to take more time to build up the neuromuscular pathways.



mkarr0110
01-18-2012, 07:56 PM
everything felt so strong today, feel guilty walking away without doing some auxiliary stuff. Benches flew up, I cant believe how light today felt.

Squat 245x3x5
Bench 210x3x5
DL 265x1x5
mkarr0110
01-20-2012, 12:10 PM
Training never fails to have some bits of excitement, my brother nearly passed out and almost dropped the weight on himself pressing his second set of 150. Being stubborn meat heads he did 2 more sets of 150 and got his numbers for the day.
I thought I messed up my squats today by working out right after our power rack was delivered and had to carry the boxes up the long driveway. Also decided to start moving the chins by 2.5 rather than 5s, the weight was just adding up too quickly.

Press 170x3x5
Squat 250x3x5
Chins BW+37.5x3x5



mkarr0110
01-22-2012, 06:22 PM
Power Rack is built! got from Powertec for $600 total after the handling fees. Arms are really tired from tightening so many bolts since our drill wasnt strong enough to tighten the nuts all the way. Still need to move the bench from upstairs along with all the weights. Pardon the massive mess in the background my parents are hoarders, Its been a long process to clear enough room out for our rack and bench/half rack.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...r86/photo1.jpg
mkarr0110
01-23-2012, 08:21 PM
Good day although a bit backward, squats felt light and deads felt heavy. Too much warmup for the deadlift, my grip was giving out by rep 3.

Squat 255
Bench 215
DLs 275

[Manimal]

First day in the garage on the new power rack, it took a bit more than i expected to adjust. Im very much a creature of habit so being in new surroundings doing something overly stressful was very taxing. The clutter of the stuff we've yet to clean out was alot more bothersome than i thought it would be.

I failed on 175 again but not because i couldnt push it. During my 3rd set I felt very feint and thought i was going to pass out if i attempted my 4th rep so i decided to rack the weight. 3 minutes later i tried another set and got 4.5 reps. With the way today went I very much intend on trying 175 again. Come hell or high water if i fail again I will reset to 170 then microplate back. Also with the much higher chin up bar I found it far more difficult to do my sets of chins so I decided to reset to 25lbs (Im bad about using a limited ROM anyway).

Press 175x2x5, 175x1x3, 175x1x4
^-where i almost passed out
Squat 270x3x5
Chins 42.5x1x5, 42.5x1x3, 25x1x5

Squat video of my 2nd set, cant really see my knees from the angle but my brother says at the bottom my knees come in really hard, I cant see it but I can kind of feel it. The end of the video is my very tired self trying to describe the feeling to him after him cuing me on my 4th rep.

[Manimal]

Mediocre day today except for deadlifts, video will blatantly show why. Well then again, sooner or later my poor benching form is going to catch up to me and im going to miss a set I can surely hit. I bounce the bar around alot because I move it very quickly, the reps i slow down on look very good. Squats went ok, my knees were great today but i lost all hip drive.

Oh on a side note my brother and I fucked up his bench press royally, at the start of his 2nd set at 190 we forgot to unload my 225 and he tried it twice before we realized the problem. So he did 1x5 at 190 225 2 attempts 190x4. We decided that it would be too taxing for him to try a 3rd set.

I decided to be a good boy and start going by 5s on my DLs rather than 10s, I might have done this too late as my bad form might lead me to a reset.

Squats 275x3x5
Bench 225x3x5
DeadL 290x5

TERRIBLE BACK ROUNDING DL VIDEO (I think its because my shoulders are way forward, stupid short arms make this so much harder than it needs to be)

http://youtu.be/1kaHjOa591A

[Manimal]

Had an amazing session today. Best in a while, I hit my presses!!!!!!!!!!!!! No reset! Bro hit his at 160 as well after failing last time. I wanted video of this but i was so nervous going into my 3rd set i forgot. Squats were the best I've ever done quite possibly. I took my time, alot more time after comparing the earlier videos to this 1. I felt like I had total control over the load, clear headed and completely focused. Decided to reset chins all the way to ensure I was hitting my full ROM. Also have vid of my bros squats today, we were concerned that his lower back might be rounding out of the bottom but after closer inspection its clearly straight.

Press 175x3x5
Squat 280x3x5
Chins BWx2x5 1x9

My 2nd set I believe at 280, vivdeos are sideways again, stupid phones are stupid but incompetent people working them make things worse. Tried the rotate function on youtube and that didnt work




Bros video at 150 (2nd sessions back after star rehab)

[Manimal]

Iffy on my feelings on todays workout. Squats were ridiculously hard, DL form is still not together, and my bench is still bouncing around.

Squats 285x3x5
Bench 230x3x5
DL 295 x1x4 <---miss, quit because of so many squeeze cues figured I failed anyway due to breakdown.

Bad eating weekend, lots of bad carbs and little protein. Maybe I'll blame it all on that.

[Manimal]

Damn good lifting day, making my presses on first try was nice for a change. I think I have my routine for these dialed in finally after a few fails. Squats were shaky and if i dont keep my shit together this twinge in my hip flexor is going to become a real problem. Decided not to add any weight yet to my chins, will do next time moving by 2.5s, this time around im in no hurry. Also squatted before presses today and I think that helped alot.

Squats 290x3x5 god are these starting to feel impossibly heavy, I cant imagine 320lbs let alone 400. Im starting to think my goal for the next 6 months to a year is 400.
Press (including warm ups today) 45x2x5 95x5 135x5 150x3 165x2 180x3x5 looking at it now it might seem like too much warmup but my sets felt really damn strong today.
Chins BW(214)x3x5

Not sure what happened but i seemed to skip BW of 212 and 213 and ran right into 214, although I havent been able to weigh in when i havent eaten.

Video of Presses, 2nd set of 180, dont know why my bro chose this angle

[hamburgerfan]

Nice work so far. You'll probably have a pretty crazy squat and bench soon, as you seem to be built for those two lifts.

[Manimal]

thanks! Im really looking forward to what the next few months hold for me. I really thought I would be off SS in 3 months but, as it stands, Im nearly 2.5 months in and havent had a reset yet.