OK SS Let's Go!

[WatsupHannity]

June 23- Pretty standard workout. Did it at a gym out of town so that might be why the weights felt a little heavier than I thought they should have.

Squats - 205 lbs. - 5,5,5
Military Press - 127.6 lbs. - 5,5,5
Pendlay Row - 175 lbs. - 5,5,5

Will need to start microloading the P Rows.

[WatsupHannity]

June 27 workout:

Attacked the 181.3 lb. bench press again after my rough performance last time- got it off! Third set was easier than the second set actually. I think I learned something this workout... that I must focus on efficiency of movement and holding very good form. I found the sets to be easier when I wasn't letting the bar lean right or left, forward or back during the set, as sometimes had been occurring previously.

Squats - 210 lbs. - 5,5,5
Bench Press - 181.3 lbs. - 5,5,5
Deadlift - 285 lbs. - 5
Chin-ups - 8, 6

[Sami]

I may try getting both in fact. When I was at Foot Locker they had the high-top Chucks and the low-tops; I was a bit surprised that the high-tops had really squishy soles, especially around the heels. The low-tops seemed a little better but still a bit soft. I was under the impression that these shoes would have very little give, therefore absorbing less energy, and that's why they are popular for squatting. Am I looking at the wrong Chucks?

I think they flatten out and firm up pretty quickly.

[H0neyBe4r]

Quick question, why would one do pendlay rows, and chins as support? Wouldn't it be better to do weighted chins instead of rows if one doesn't want to do power cleans, since they work more muscles?

A beginner might not be strong enough, but @WhatsupHannity clearly is.

[WatsupHannity]

Quick question, why would one do pendlay rows, and chins as support? Wouldn't it be better to do weighted chins instead of rows if one doesn't want to do power cleans, since they work more muscles?

A beginner might not be strong enough, but @WhatsupHannity clearly is.

Love to hear the opinions of more advanced lifters on this as well. I think I may know why but I know next to nothing in the grand scheme of strength training so I'll defer to others.

[WatsupHannity]

Got up quite early and flew to Vancouver yesterday, I was pretty zonked by my evening workout but gave it my best shot. Squats went fine, I'm going nice and deep and I think my form is very good (the gym I was at had like a million mirrors so I could see every angle). However, I really feel like I'm pushing differently on each rep. Like my hip drive will be much more on a given rep than the next one. I should really videotape my squats when I'm back home next week and put them up here.

Military press was a success at 130 lbs., but I'm a bit concerned about the pain I'm getting in my right shoulder. I find that the low-bar squats really push on the rotator cuff, leaving my shoulders tender just from squats, and I'm wondering if that is playing a role. I gently rotated my shoulders between sets of presses which seemed to help. Oh yeah, 130 lbs. was a bastard but I got it up.

Pendlay Rows was a qualified success, in that I did 3x5 but I missed making contact between the bar and my torso on a few of the reps. I shouldn't have gone to 180 but I left my microloads in the hotel room, so I think I will go for 177.5 next workout, then 180 the w/o after that and try to get back the momentum of successful sets.

Squats - 215 lbs. - 5,5,5
Military Press - 130 lbs. - 5,5,5
Pendlay Rows - 180 lbs. - 4?,4?,3? (see explanation above)

[WatsupHannity]

I have neglected to mention the elephant in the room of my life, so to speak, which is that I am having fairly major jaw surgery on July 16. This will put me out of commission for quite a while; going by what the surgeon said it will be a minimum of 6-8 weeks before I can work out again, although I'll see what I can do to work around that. It's common to lose a lot of weight after jaw surgery (hell it's no wonder, I will be on a liquid-only diet for 4 weeks!) and everyone is advised to try to bulk up a bit beforehand. Being undernourished interferes with the body's ability to recuperate from the surgery.

I hope to hit the surgery date with plenty of added mass to help me heal as quickly as possible. After surgery, I will try to down the super high-calorie smoothies through a feeding tube (olive oil and peanut butter ftw). By any chance has anyone reading this gone through such a surgery? I would love to know how a strength-trainer dealt with eating enough and getting back to the weights as soon as possible.

So yeah, basically phase 1 of this program comes to an abrupt end July 15! But I've had a great time on it so far and I really feel I'm adding quality mass and strength. I'll keep journalling during the recuperation period and after, as I transition from invalid back to strength super stud

[WatsupHannity]

Ran into a guy at the gym today who was also doing Starting Strength. Figured it out pretty quickly because how many guys go from military press to power cleans? It was nice to finally meet someone in real life who's doing this program and chat about it. He was only in his second week and still finding the rhythm of the program, but he had read the book thoroughly and had some good pointers on how I could improve my setup on squats and bench press. Told him about this website so maybe he'll saunter on over.

My last squat set was 215 lbs., so if I jumped by 5 I would be attacking the 220 lb. barrier that I didn't get across previously, so I felt that microloading to 217.6 before re-attempting 220 was a good plan psychologically. Without even getting a spotter I successfully cleared the 3 sets. Bench press didn't go as well as I had hoped; the gym-hopping can't be helping that as yet again the bar had a different thickness and knurling pattern than the bars I'm familiar with. I will retry again next time. Deadlift was a success at 290 lbs. I really felt it in the hams, unlike any previous set of deads. I would say it felt slightly easier than last time at 285 did.

Small anecdote: I've been working out at Steve Nash Sports Club while I'm in Vancouver this week, and as I was chatting between sets with the guy also doing SS, a girl came up to us, said they were shooting a commercial for the place and asked us to sign waivers in case footage of us got into the commercial. Why not, so we signed. Then about 5 minutes after that I look over, and there's Steve Nash, pumping away on the old pec deck as they filmed him. Didn't expect that.

Squats - 217.6 lbs. - 5,5,5
Bench Press - 182.6 lbs. - 4,4,3
Deadlifts - 290 lbs. - 5

[WatsupHannity]

July 4 workout- Squats felt heavy through the warmups and first set, but I settled into it and the last 2 sets felt better and I got good depth and form. The 220 barrier is broken now, and again I didn't get a spotter, which shows I've improved my strength and form, but also my awareness of my ability to perform the exercise. First time around I was getting spotters every squat set from 195 lbs. up.

I'm sure I'm doing military presses sub-optimally now but I'm just gonna roll with it until the jaw surgery. I power-clean the weight up to my shoulders and then start pushing it up, but I believe my elbows get too flared. I dabbled with setting the bar on the squat rack at shoulder height and taking it off the bar with tucked-in elbows and it was a very different movement. When I get back into the routine after the recuperation period I will start with low weight again and attempt to build up with perfect form.

Pendlay rows was 15 reps, 15 torso-touches.

Squats - 220 lbs. - 5,5,5
Military Press - 131.3 lbs. - 5,5,5
Pendlay rows - 177.6 lbs. - 5,5,5

Went up to a mountain lake about 1 hour north of Vancouver with some friends... the drive had some of the most ridiculous views I've ever seen, featuring snowcapped mountains intermingled with bodies of water branching off from the Pacific. I got in some serious cardio when I swam across the lake and back, which took probably about 45 minutes. Good times.

[WatsupHannity]

Arrrr... don't touch the barbell please!!! Had a beautiful opening set on bench press where I easily repped 5 at 182.6 lbs. This coming off my last attempt where I totally failed to get 5 on any set. Planned on definitely having a successful 3x5, until my spotter, who nicely stayed away the first set, put his fingers under the bar on the 5th rep of the second set. I was barely struggling. Even though he probably barely touched it, it was easier as a result; the bar moved fluidly through the sticking point. There's a reason I put microloads on the bar... the spotter effectively wipes them out by even lightly assisting the load. Very, very frustrating and I'm sorry to belabor the issue in this journal but I'm not entirely sure what the solution is. Like all the others, I told him what I was looking for. What does "don't touch the bar at all unless I say 'spot'" mean? What does he think I'm saying that for?

I decided to microload squats the minimum today, and I'm not even sure why exactly. Probably felt a little less than 100%. Deadlift is getting nice and challenging now, the 5th rep was quite slow today. I can feel tension all the way through my calves, hams and quads on these high-weight (for me) reps. I can see how proper weightlifting shoes are going to let me just push away with every muscle fiber.

Even though I'm over a week out from my surgery date, I'm already getting nostalgic about my brief stint on SS. It's such a nice program. I'm adding weight little by little on these exercises, but in just under 2 months I'm moving weight I did not think was possible in such a short time. I have been around weights for more than 6 years now, but I've never had such an easy and effective program to follow and never had this kind of progression, on multiple movements. I want to finish out the last 10 days with a bang, and then plan on getting back into the swing of it come September or so.

Again, does anyone have any experience coming back to weightlifting after jaw or any other major surgery? Even knowing I could start moving light dumbbells after say 4 weeks would make me feel better, that my muscle and strength isn't atrophying into nothingness.

Anyways, the numbers:

Squats - 221.3 lbs. - 5,5,5
Bench Press - 182.6 lbs. - 5,5,5............ read comments above. I will call it a successful set for now because I believe I would have accomplished it today without spotter interference, and I will attempt 183.9 next time.
Deadlift - 295 lbs. - 5