recomp time

[kxs]

I just signed up here, mainly because at WBB not that many people are doing the Starting Strength routine. I'll be cross-posting my journal from there to here to hopefully get some more Rip-specific feedback.

[kxs]

I started Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength routine today. This will be my first time in a weight room since '04.

I'm 6'2", 228 lbs, 20% body fat.

Goal: Kind of vague for now, 230ish lbs, 12% body fat

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squats:

135 x 5 x 2
185 x 3 x 2

As soon as I went down for my initial warmup squat, I knew I was in trouble. It didn't feel like a warmup, it felt like it used to feel when I was doing 70% of my 1RM. I'm lifting alone, so by the end of set 4, I stopped as I was afraid if I went down for another rep I wouldn't come back up.

Dumbell Chest Press:

30s x 15 x 1
35s x 10 x 1
40s x 8 x 1
40s x 6 x 1

Crap. This is not a good start.

Deadlift

135 x 5 x 2
225 x 5 x1

I've never done deads before. I think I like them, but I'm sure my form was horrible. I don't like working out alone, at least at first. Once I get back into the swing of things I'll like it though. I tried to keep my back straight, head pointed forward, and my shins are skinned up, so I know I dragged the bar properly.

Barbell Bicep curls

50 x 10 x 1
60 x 8 x 1
60 x 6 x 1

By now I feel like complete crap. This isn't part of SS anyway, I probably won't bother with them again for a while. For now I should be sticking to the program.

Cardio:

20 minutes of running and walking on treadmill


Overall impressions:

I am weak. When I was in high school I was squatting with 3 45s on each side of the bar. However, now I don't do anything, and haven't for a while, and my body has seriously deteriorated. Moreso than I expected. I am disappointed, but I don't feel discouraged. I feel like I just need to keep trying until I make that initial breakthrough. I won't stay this weak if I keep at it.

I also have no endurance. No surprise there. Gaining muscle is more important to me than being able to run an 8 minute mile, but at one point I could run a 7 minute mile, so I'd like ot get back to that. I barely made it a quarter of a mile only running at 5.5 mph. Pathetic.

I have some work to do.

[kxs]

Day two, at long last, now that my bathroom remodel and the holidays are over. I'm disappointed in myself for not getting a good start on this. My workout wasn't great again. My wife and I went to the gym, and I felt obligated to show her what I do and help with some machines, none of which I wanted to use. I did the best machine versions of squat, military press, and low row that I could, but didn't bother recording weight as machine weight won't have much to do with free weights. I barely feel sore at all.

However, wife and I talked and she was actually just as annoyed at having to follow me around as I was at having to lead her around, so we agreed to lift separately and meet up for cardio after whenever we go to the gym at the same time. Hallelujah.

We also worked out a way for us both to go 3 times a week at minimum, which works perfectly. I have half of a Barnes & Noble GC to use for Starting Strength so I can legitimately do the Ripptoe program and answer my own questions when I have them.

[kxs]

Day 3:

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squats:

bar x 10 x 1
90 x 10 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
170 x 5 x 3

Deadlift:

65 x 5 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
145 x 5 x 1
165 x 5 x 1

Bench:

bar x 10 x 1
65 x 10 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
115 x 5 x 2
115 x 4 x 1

situps on decline bench (I only lowered my body to parallel with the ground, didn't touch back to bench):

bodyweight x 15 x 1

15 minutes of cardio

edit: I meant to say that I am a wussy wuss man. For someone of my size these numbers are pathetic. But I guess we all have to start somewhere. Hopefully I'll be able to increase the weight consistently as the program describes.

[kxs]

Day 4

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squats:

bar x 10 x 1
95 x 10 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
185 x 5 x 3

I increased my squat weight by 15 lbs, which is exciting to me. Though the program says I should be able to go up 10 - 15 lbs each session, depending on how the weight feels. I may only try 10 lbs next week, the weight felt pretty heavy by the last set.

Overhead Press

20 x 10 x 1
40 x 10 x 1
60 x 5 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
70 x 4 x 2

I wasn't sure how much weight I could or couldn't do here, so I overshot it by trying 80 and had to back down. Then I couldn't get full sets of 70 lbs. I will try 70 lbs again next time.

Bent Over Rows:

bar x 10 x 1
55 x 10 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
115 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1

I again wasn't sure how much weight I would be able to do with this one, and even 135 felt pretty good, so I'm going to increase to 145 next time after warmup sets to see how it goes. These two younger guys were doing kind of the same exercise next to me, but their backs were incredibly rounded while doing it. Their knees were locked and bottom half of their torsos almost vertical, but then their upper spine hunched over while they rowed. Man it sucked, but I also felt like I'd be a complete ass telling them they were doing it wrong when this was only my 4th day in the gym.

No abs, they still really ache from Monday.

30 minutes of cardio, 2.9 miles on the elliptical. That thing really helps my left knee, which has some sort of undiagnosed (I assume patella) problem.

Overall I feel good about my work. I kind of sucked on military press, but squat felt decent and rows felt great. I'm kind of looking forward to the point that I can add dips and chins/pullups, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

[kxs]

Day 5:

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squat

bar x 10 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
200 x 5 x 3

Good, I'm at 200 lbs on squat. I doubt I'll keep being able to increase by 15 lbs between workouts for too many more workouts. Otherwise I'll be up over 300 in less than 2 weeks! These felt good, but 200 also felt pretty heavy, especially on the last set. I may only add 5-10 or even no lbs next week, depending on how my warmups feel.

Deadlift

65 x 5 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
185 x 5 x 1

1 x 65 x 5
1 x 95 x 5
1 x 135 x 5
1 x 185 x 5

Cool, 20 more lbs for deads. I should be able to deadlift more than I can squat, so I expect my dead gains will eclipse my squat gains soon. I didn't even feel like this was too bad. Oh, and I wore pants, so no bloody shins 200+ is my goal for next week.

Bench Press
bar x 10 x 1
65 x 8 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
120 x 5 x 1
115 x 5 x 1
115 x 4 x 1

UGH. First off, I did a terrible job of eating today. I slept through breakfast, ate a sub and some pretzels for lunch, no pre-workout snack, so by my last deadlift set I felt out of gas. Still, it pisses me off that my bench weight sucks so much. I don't feel like I made any progress since last time. I feel like I regressed. It's embarrasing to be as big as I am and struggle with a measly 120 lbs. Heck, in high school I was at least lifting 190 lbs. This sucks.

No abs, I'll do some next week.

20 minutes of cardio, after bench I was just frustrated and had no energy.

edit 2: I went to a newer LA Fitness (my "normal" one is also new, just a few months old vs. a few days old). For whatever reason, the mens' and womens' locker rooms are situation such that men are on the right and women on the left (reverse of my normal gym).

So of course like an idiot I walked right into the womens' locker room on accident after bench. Woopsie.

[kxs]

Day 6:

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squat:

bar x 10 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
205 x 5 x 3

I had to pause between nearly every rep on the last set. I don't think I'll be adding much weight at all on Thursday.

Overhead Press:

bar x 8 x 1
55 x 5 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
70 x 5 x 1
75 x 5 (barely)

This felt fine until the last set: I used a rack that appeared to be designed specifically with overhead presses in mind, as the bench was in an upright position and the bar was at the right height to sit down and lift up. However, it also forced me to kind of reach back behind my head to lift the weight up, and the last time I did this I felt kind of a tight pain in my left shoulder. Later when I was stretching it popped pretty badly, though it felt better afterward. I don't think I"ll use it again, as convenient as it seemed.

Bent Over Row:

bar x 8 x 1
55 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 3

I like this lift, but I was worn out when I did these. I need to be eating more. I should have had one more warmup set, but I skipped it so I could do all 3 normal sets.

20 minutes of cardio

Overall I'm enjoying this program. It's easy to follow (the lifting part, anyway), and I'm already seeing some changes in my body. My arms, of all things, look bigger, my delts are harder, my thighs are getting bigger and firmer, and I also think I"m losing some fat. I feel stronger and more alert than I used to, and I'm enjoying going to the gym. I actually sat down to try to veg out and watch tv last night and got so bored I could hardly stand it.

I got my whey protein, creatine, and fish oil pills today. Looking forward to starting up tomorrow with that.

[kxs]

Day 7

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squats:

bar x 8 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
205 x 5 x 3

Same weight as last time, but it didn't feel so heavy tonight. I will try to increase by 5 or 10 lbs on Saturday.

Bench:

bar x 8 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
85 x 5 x 1
125 x 5 x 3

That's a bit better. Up 10 lbs from last week, and all 3 sets felt solid. Doing this lift 2nd instead of last helped, I think.

Deadlift:

95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
185 x 5 x 1
205 x 5 x 1

I felt strong on this one. StrongER, anyway. That's up 20 lbs. from last time, and my squat and deadlift weights are now the same. I expect deads to start pulling away steadily.


Cardio:

15 min. of elliptical on high incline and resistance.

I still had a lot of energy after my lifts, but not a lot of time, so I pushed hard for 15 min and really had my heart rate up.

I dunno if it's the actual effects of creatine and protein supplements, or a placebo effect, or both, but I just felt better during and after this workout than I have thus far.


edit: I went ahead and measured stuff, thanks to wifey for the assist

waist: 40"
thighs: 26"
calves: 16"
chest: 43"
upper arm: 16"
forearm: 12"
shoulders: 19" across

[kxs]

Day 8

Squats:

bar x 8 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
210 x 5 x 1

These felt ok. Moderately heavy.

Military Press:

bar x 8 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
75 x 5 x 1

Kind of an increase of 5 lbs. I may have been ok to do 80, but I wasn't sure.

Bent Over Row:

bar x 8 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
140 x 5 x 3

Increase of 5 lbs. I felt kinda sluggish on these.

37 min. of cardio.

I look leaner but still weigh about 230, so I assume I've lost some fat and gained some muscle.

[kxs]

Day 9

WEIGHT X REPS X SETS

Squats

bar x 8 x 1
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
215 x 5 x 1 (+5 lbs from last time)

Bench:

bar x 8 x 1
65 x 5 x 1
85 x 5 x 1
130 x 5 x 3 (+5 lbs)

Deadlift:

95 x 5 x 1
135 x 5 x 1
185 x 5 x 1
225 x 5 x 1 (+20 lbs!)

No cardio.

I haven't lifted since Sunday. And, I forgot to put in contacts and didn't feel like wearing my glasses, so I was lifting blurry-eyed. I just felt kind of flat. Hence I didn't increase my squat much.

I will finally be able to put 45 lb. plates on the bar for bench next time. Heh. I feel like a pussy when I put my tiny little plates on for bench, but if I keep increasing by even just 5 lbs a week I should get to 200 lbs in a reasonable amount of time.

Deadlift felt really heavy, but it felt good to put 225 on there and get it up 5 times. I don't think I'll be doing any more 20 lb. jumps, though. This is the first time it's felt heavy.