t-money's log, in search of the one training program to rule them all

[t-money]

Hi guys,

So I've been a lurker reading people's logs and enjoying the vicarious gains for a bit. I've been making some changes to my training lately (and have been for years actually, in search of the one true form of exercise), and I thought, why not get some input? Some motivation?

Exercise/training history
-I jogged a couple times a week, maybe three or four miles each time, for many years. Needless to say, this got boring.
-About four years ago, I got into workout videos and did two cycles of Insanity, and settled on a kind of improvised program that incorporated about two sessions of five miles jogging and three or four of the longer Insanity workouts. This also got quite dull!
-Two years ago, I decided to start to do longer distances and actually train for races. In all I completed three full marathons and five halfs, but I never logged a time I felt I could be proud of. It was always around mile ten that I would just inwardly say, "Fuck it", and start to wonder why I was doing this to myself. I also found while training for the fulls, running forty miles a week on average would always end up with me getting sick, so I couldn't follow a program as meticulously as I *thought* was needed to get a good time.
-I had a light bulb, life-changing moment a little over a year ago when I read that the average woman is anemic, so I thought, "Maybe me too?" In the past decade, I'd been an on-and-off vegetarian, for up to a year or two at a time, as I had read pro-veg books and websites extensively and come to believe that it was the best way to eat. Also, running engenders anemia through foot-strike hemolysis. So, I went to the doctor and found I was severely anemic, like, maybe you should look into blood-transfusions anemic or at least eat a cow every now and then and stop torturing yourself through long slow cardio, that kind of anemic. I started megadosing iron, and went from thinking running a slightly sub 9 minute mile was all I could ever hope for to running a 6 minute mile in the space of a couple weeks without training specifically for it.

This is a lot of words.

So, screw running and vegetarianism both. I quit running and joined a CrossFit box, did that for a good six months, and now here I am doing starting strength. I'm currently in between jobs, so no crossfitting, but I always felt my raw strength was a limit to being able to do crossfit well, so I figured it was a good time to just focus on that. I'm doing more of a StrongLifts/SS hybrid, as I started with StrongLifts.

I'm six weeks in, but I didn't start with the bar on any exercise, although I probably should have started with minimal weight on squats and deadlifts as I went back down to minimal weight after I rebooted my form on those lifts.

I'm 28/F, 5'8" and 155 lbs.

My lifts from last workouts:
Squat 5x5 @ 135 lbs
Bench 5x3 @ 105 lbs
Barbell rows 5x3 @ 105 lbs (I wanted to keep these as they balance the bench well. One big problem I have with bench is keeping my back tight.)
Power clean 5x3 @ 90 lbs (Just added these two workouts ago)

Deadlifts 1x5 @ 175 lbs (My max weight for five reps is 195, but I got stupid sore in my lower back, so this is where the form reset came in. I'll probably switch to 2x3 very soon.)
Overhead press stalled at 71 lbs for two work outs, can't get 5 reps for 3 sets much less 5, so this is one I'm going to switch to 5x3 as well

I also incorporate push-ups and pull-ups/chin-ups, but not so far in a structured way.

In other news, did I say I'm over being vegetarian? I started a super low carb diet last week and my lifts definitely felt the switch for the past two workouts. It's basically a bacon, steak, and eggs diet (Sweet, sweet bacon, I have a lot of neglect to make up for over the years), with some green vegetables thrown in for color. It does wonderful things for satiety and bacon love, although we'll see about the lifts.

Goals for program:
Squat 155 for reps in the next month, 200 by the end of the program
Deadlift 240
Bench 135
Overhead press 95
Power clean ??? I have no idea what a reasonable goal would be for this one as we ladyfolks apparently lack the neuromuscular efficiency to generate much power.

I want to incorporate front squats eventually, but I have to control my urge to fiddle with everything.

Yay lifts and gains and bacon!

[Agilic]

You have found the one.

[t-money]

Good luck. Stick with it and you should be able to exceed your goals.

Thanks! I certainly hope to exceed, but I wanted to aim a tad low to feel like I accomplished something in a reasonable amount of time.

You have found the one.

YES!

Today's workout was kind of a ... I don't want to say disaster, but it was a learning experience.

7/22/16
Squat:
1x10 @ 45 lbs
1x3 @ 95
1x3 @ 140
1x2 @ 140
1x3 @ 140
1x2 @ 140
1x3 @ 140

The goal starting was to do 5x5. I knew at 2 reps in that 5x5 was not happening, so decided to aim for 5x3. But it started to get really gnarly with the overhead press.

OHP:
2x5 @ 45 lbs
1x0 @ 74
1x0 @ 72
1x0 @ 70
1x0 @ 65 !!!
3x3 @ 65
1x0 @ 65
1x3 @ 65

I rested after failing, probably not enough, but I was already feeling the burn lifting the bar, which I never felt even when I had just started weightlifting. Prior to switching to super low-carb, I had hit 5x5 @ 68 lbs and just kept missing the last rep of 5x5 @ 71 lbs. I figured I was ready to move up doing 5x3. That did not work out.

Deadlift:
1x3 @ 135
1x3 @ 160
2x3 @ 180

These were fine. They felt way too heavy for 3 reps though.

More stuff:
3x10 push-ups


So right now I don't know whether to stick it out or add some carbohydrates prior to lifting or post-lifting. I've been consistently <50 carbs a day, those coming from green vegetables, for about two weeks now. Is it a transitional thing? Are carbs just necessary to have a decent work-out when you're doing stuff that requires power? I'm getting weird aches and pains and soreness as well. I initially started with the goal to burn off some body fat, but building muscle and strength comes before that. Mark's book, of course, recommends a super high calorie diet, but he also mentions those kinds of diets don't work nearly as well for women. So much of the training and diet advice is geared towards men, so oftentimes I'm not sure what to do.

[t-money]

7/24/16

Did a metcon for kicks

CF single DT 12/9/6 Deadlifts/Hang power cleans/Push jerks scaled @ 75/105 lbs for 5 rounds
Took a little under twenty minutes

I moved slow as hell, although I pre-gamed with 1/3 cup of oats so really I'm just out of shape. I'll keep up with a metcon style workout twice a week, on SS off days. I'm looking forward to not scaling workouts! 105 lbs is my regular power clean PR, so it might be a while.

[t-money]

7/25/16
Squat
2x5 @ 45lbs
1x3 @ 95
5x3 @ 140

Bench
2x5 @ 45
1x3 @ 75
2x2 @ 107
3x1 @ 107
These were *supposed* to be 5x3

Barbell rows
5x3 @ 95
Went down because my form was suffering, jerking the weight up instead of using my upper back

Power cleans
3x3 @ 95
*Supposed* to be 5x3

My arms suffered on the power cleans and bench because of the previous day's workout, so going to be a bit more careful in the future about incorporating weights into metcon-style workouts.

Pre-gamed with 3/4 cup oats. Felt a bit better than days where I get <50g carbs, but still not great. I tend to be very unenthusiastic about large amounts of carbs unless they're deep-fried or get me drunk, so eating that much was a bit of a pain. My tracker still tells me I'm way under 100g carbs for the day. The concept of forcing myself to eat is ... weird. Can't beer aid in recovery and building muscle?

[Carnivroar]

Can't beer aid in recovery and building muscle?

It sure can. I drink 2-3 per night. Still making gainz.

[Meshuggah]

You'll be searching forever...

[t-money]

It sure can. I drink 2-3 per night. Still making gainz.

Yeah! I skipped the beer and went for Haagen Dazs. It was a lot easier and more enjoyable than oatmeal, although I think the creamy fatty deliciousness was a key factor.

[t-money]

You'll be searching forever...

Very true. I've finally come to accept that you can't have all things at one time (fast muscle gain, fat loss, deliciousness), so I've settled for just two of those things.

[t-money]

7/27/16

Squat
2x5 @ 45 lbs
1x3 @ 95
1x1 @ 125
4x3 @ 145
1x2, 1x1 @ 145

I catch myself looking up, and looking down on the very last rep made me lean forward and lose my balance. Otherwise, these were fine.

OHP
2x3 @ 45
1x2 @ 72
4x1 @ 72

I think it's time for a deload. Sigh.

Deadlift
1x3 @ 135
1x3 @ 175
1x3 @ 187.5 (whoops)
3x3 @ 190

I jumped 10 lbs on these, but I feel fine about it as I realized my lower back issues were coming from having the bar too far forward and not following the cue to drive with your legs first. I noticed in the example linear progression for women in PP there are 4 sets of deadlifts, and apparently women can handle more deadlifting, so I figured why not. Also, YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY deadlifts