What a long, strange trip it's been..

[tysellers99]

Well here we go..Name is Ty, but you can call me Ray. 33 y/o male, 6'3-4" depending on what gas station I'm in, weight is hovering around 248-250 lbs.

Started training for football at 14 in 1997; had a good coach who had us squatting (high bar, with lots of box squats), benching, pressing and hang cleaning. Went to college to play ball (DT at D1AA school - now FCS) and was taught to low bar squat and continued with the bench, press and hang clean. Spent a year there before I quit on the recommendation of Dr. due to spinal stenosis in my neck (suffered stingers every day in practice for 2 years, the one that got me to call it quits had me unable to lift my left arm for 3 days).

After that I continued to lift off and on but stuck to the bro split - lots of upper body and isolation exercises on lower body but with little to no consistency. This time also included ACL reconstruction's on both my left and right leg About 8 years ago I decided to start squatting again and stuck with it for 6 months or so until I tweaked my back and was advised to give it up. Stupid me, I listened - wish I had stumbled upon Rip back then! Since that time I have been "exercising" sparingly with no real training. 5 years ago I tipped the scales at 315 and decided I needed to do something about that so over the next 3 years I dieted down to about 225-230 but did no training, hardly any exercising either due to complications from multiple surgeries to fix a pilonidal cyst that took 2.5 years to clear up. Stayed at that weight for a couple years but wasn't really happy with it because I knew I was so weak. Heard about Starting Strength/Rip through the Art of Manliness. Bought and read Practical Programming 3rd edition and decided I would give it a try so I bought a belt and jumped in. That was 6 weeks ago and just now stumbled upon the forum; figured this could be a great way to hold myself accountable and get some ideas/tips to continue progress. Form feels like crap in the squat; hips are super tight from years of sitting in a car/desk for work and little activity due to knee and back pain. Don't have access to a starting strength gym/coach in my area but have thought about driving to Atlanta and checking out Atlanta Barbell just to get some help with my technique. We shall see.

Here's my progression thus far:

2/27/17 - sets/reps weight lbs
Squat - 3x5 155
Bench - 3x5 135
Deadlift - 1x5 185

3/1/17
Squat 3x5 185
Bench 3x5 155
DL 1 x 5 225

3/3/17
Squat 3x5 205
Press 3x5 95
DL 1x5 245

3/6/17
Squat 3x5 215
Bench 3x5 165
DL 1x5 255

3/8/17
Squat 3x5 225
Press 3x5 105
DL 1x5 275

3/10/17
Squat 3x5 235
Bench 3x5 185
DL 1x5 295

3/13/17
Squat 3x5 245
Press 3x5 115
DL 1x5 315

3/15/17
Squat 3x5 255
Bench 3x5 195
DL 1x5 330

3/17/17
Squat 3x5 265
Press 3x5 125
DL 1x5 340

3/21/17
Squat 3x5 275
Bench 3x5 205
DL 1x5 350

3/23/17
Squat 3x5 280
Press 3x5 135
DL 1x5 360

3/25/17
Missed due to travel

3/27/17
Squat 3x5 285
Bench 3x5 215
DL 1x5 370

3/29/17
Squat 3x5 228 - added in a light day during the middle of week; possibly went out to fast on squats - it has always been my worst lift
Press 3x5 140
Power Clean 5x3 95 - Never power cleaned, haven't hang cleaned in almost 15 years so starting low

3/31/17
Squat 3x5 290
Bench 3x5 225
DL 1x5 380

4/3/17
Squat 3x5 295
Press 3x5 145
PC 5x3 105

4/5/17
Squat 3x5 236
Bench 3x5 230
DL 1x5 390

4/7/17
Squat 3x5 300
Press 3x5 150
PC 5x3 115

Happy with the progression thus far. Have gained about 10 lbs but pants still seem to be fitting the same. Hoping I can use this LP to move on in to an intermediate program and get to some PR's. While I was still playing ball I squatted 505, benched 355, pressed 245 and hang cleaned 330. If I could get close to those numbers but at a lower body weight (played at 280) I would be pretty happy. Long term goal is a 2.5xBW DL, 2xBW squat, 1.5xBW bench and 1xBW press. Squats are starting to feel like grinders but have been able to get through them. Form definitely needs work to get to where I want to go so I'll have to make the trip to Atlanta before too long to get that looked at.

Let's get it

[carson]

Welcome. You are a strong young man. By your progress I suspect that 4 plates are right around the corner for Deads. (405 lbs.) Who knows where you will end up being as young as you are. Good work.

[tysellers99]

Thanks Carson! I've never had much trouble getting stronger when I stay consistent and I love the simplicity and challenge of this program. My only worry is keeping my weight in check; I know I can get a lot stronger by eating more and putting on weight but I don't want to go back to being a fat ass either. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out as I try to get more gainzz while keeping my weight around where it is, if not less. Looking forward to the process!

[tysellers99]

Today was quite a surprise. I was dreading the workout - tired from a lack of sleep all weekend and also from trying to drink all the beers in Augusta. I somehow managed to gain 5 lbs since Friday, probably the beers cause it wasn't from food, hitting 253.1 this morning. It turns out that's incredibly helpful.

4/10/17
Squat 3x5 305 - form "felt" better for sure. 5th rep on sets 2 and 3 were tough but looked faster than they felt on video
Bench 3x5 235 - felt good, moved better than 230. I was planning on going up 2.5 lbs next time but now thinking I may take it up 5
DL 1x5 400 - these definitely moved better than 390. Had planned to add in chins and go to a DL every 5th workout but may hold off

All in all a great day, especially considering I was worried I wouldn't finish any of the sets. That's what feelings will get you. Of course, might have just been a good day and it'll all come crashing down on Friday. Or maybe beer is my magic elixir?? One can hope.

[tysellers99]

Felt good today. Weight was 250.6.

4/12/17
Squat 3x5 244 - light day. Form felt better. Struggling to remember to sit back. Here's a video from last set Squat 4/12/17 - YouTube
Press 3x5 155 - moved well. Video from last set Press 4/12/17 - YouTube
PC 5x3 125 - blah. Not heavy but don't like them. Def pulling with arms

[tysellers99]

4/14/17

BW - 251.6

This was bad. Had to lift early morning because I'm headed to Braves home opener this afternoon; props to those that do this every session - not sure I could make it in the morning even under the best circumstances. Went to a show last night that kept me up late, hardly had anything for dinner and drank some beers. Felt terrible warming up and it never improved. Should be noted that my mental focus/energy felt much worse than my body. I just had nothing to push through. Lesson learned. Have to eat and sleep to progress on this program. Mental fortitude is more important than physical; HAVE to keep focus and energy up.

Squat - 1x4 310, 1x5 285 - Grinded through reps 3 and 4 on first set and realized I didn't have it today. Backed off to 285 and barely go through 4th and 5th rep and called it a day. It wasn't there and I didn't want to keep going and set myself back even further. Going to try 310 again on Monday and get it.
Didn't even go on to bench or DL. Going to shift today's numbers to Monday and keep the program going. Going to eat a lot for Easter so should be better prepared then.

[tysellers99]

4/17/17

BW - 255.1

Squat 3x5 310 - was able to get through all 3 sets today, which felt good, but not happy how heavy it felt; especially after gaining 4 pounds over the weekend. I posted my 3rd set on the technique forum but will put it here as well

Squat 3rd set 4/17/17 - YouTube

Bench 3x5 240 - felt good, moved well. So going along nicely here

Chins BW 2,2,2 - had more but I'm going to try to LP these bad boys

[CDG]

Hey man, great job on the LP so far! You're blazing past me, that's for sure. The squats are a bit high, you don't seem to lack control or have bad knee movement, it looks like you just need to commit to more lean and go deep! I also saved reps on my chins when I started back, they seem to respond to failure after you reach 5 or 6.

[JFick]

Welcome and great work so far.

You and I followed somewhat similar paths in our lifting career. Except you seem to be a little more athletically gifted. That old strength​ loves to be uncovered again. I was shocked how quick it came back.

Keep grinding!

[tysellers99]

Hey man, great job on the LP so far! You're blazing past me, that's for sure. The squats are a bit high, you don't seem to lack control or have bad knee movement, it looks like you just need to commit to more lean and go deep! I also saved reps on my chins when I started back, they seem to respond to failure after you reach 5 or 6.

Thanks for the help dude. It does seem to be more of a mental thing to actually get down in the hole, although it does feel like I have to relax a bit to get there. I'm going to try to get in to see a SSC and hopefully get that corrected. I'll check out your log. Keep gettin it!