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Thread: Baby Steps

  1. #1
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    Aug 2013
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    Default Baby Steps

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    The better part of the last year's training has been spent spinning my wheels, program hopping in an effort to train like the cool kids do, and being in denial about my ability to recover with the current stressors in my life. I am actually amazed, after years of doing manual labor, how draining mental and emotional stress can be, but spite of being a slow learner, I think I have finally managed to pry my head out from between my own butt cheeks and work with the limitations I have right now.

    On the positive side: I have learned a lot about what I can and can't handle programing wise and I have managed to not go backwards in my strength levels.
    On the negative side: I am still weak.

    The current plan is to train only twice a week and do each lift once a week (replacing dips for bench because of my shoulder issues). I'm going to basically use Andy's three week 8/5/2 protocol, except with back off sets as needed. No planned deloads, but I'll evaluate at the end of each three week cycle whether one is necessary or not. Adding 2.5 lbs to Press and Dips and 5 lbs to Squat and deadlift every three weeks.

    I walk 1-2 miles or so a day during the week just to keep my head clear and hike or some other such thing on week ends. Only other conditioning is coed naked wrestling with the misses.

    I'm currently only tracking calories and protein intake. Calories and carbs are a bit higher on training days and I am only eating between 12PM and 8PM. Still eating three meals within that time frame, but this is a choice based on easier compliance and less to think about. I wouldn't mind losing a little fat, but I am still small for my height and probably need more muscle to get much stronger, so the tracking is just to avoid fat fucking myself or losing too much weight too fast.

    Current stats:
    44 YO
    6'8"
    252 lbs. @ 19% BF based on the US Navy calculator. Probably a bit higher than that though.
    My left shoulder is a bit messed up from the combination of an old AC separation and around 20 years of doing pretty labor intensive work.

    Last edited by George Christiansen; 03-18-2017 at 08:57 AM.

  2. #2
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    This week:

    Tuesday 95 minutes
    Press 135 x 8 x 3
    Squat 270 x 8 x 3
    Chins BW x 5,5,4,3,3

    Friday 90 minutes
    Weighted Push Ups BW+20 lbs x 8 x 3 (Until I can do enough dips)
    Deadlift 315 x 8, 285 x 8, 250 x 8
    TRX Rows BW x 8,8,6,5,5

    Sore for the first time in a while after yesterday's session. Probably the addition of the rows and push ups after doing neither in a while.

    It's spring break for our kids this week (Almost eight year old autistic girl and almost five year old pain in the ass boy.) Fortunately my wife has off too. They have been pretty good considering I had to remove my son from school four out of five days last week for hitting other kids and the teachers. We are trying new meds for him and hope to see some compliance PR's next week. Ebay's child selling policies suck.

    The girl has been whining quit a bit over the littlest things lately. Hard to tell if she is responding to what has been Olympic level bad behavior from our son the last month or so (he is always a PITA, but he is setting new PR's recently). She is not very verbal, so it could simply be that she has allergies or something.

    Everyone thinks their kid is a special case, but we have documentation. This is largely why my recovery sucks.

  3. #3
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    This week:

    Tuesday 95 minutes
    Press 150 x 5 x 2, 140 x 5
    Squat 300 x 5, 280 x 5 x 2
    Chins BW x 7, 5, 4, 4

    Friday 95 minutes
    Dips x 4 x 5
    Deadlift 315 x 5, 350 x 3, 315 x 3
    TRX Rows BW x 8, 7, 6, 8

    I think I need to make a few tweeks for this to work. I am going to drop the 8's week and just go owith a 5's week followed by a 3's week. I am also going to change the set protocol to try and deal with the fact that my first set almost always sucks and the fact that sets across are just too much if I am going to do full body session. Gonna go with 4 sets on upper body stuff and 3 on lower using RPE/bar speed to decide on whether to use back off sets of sets across each session.

    Basically this:

    - Warm up to a single with the top weight fro the session.
    - First Set - previous session's weight; done for the current rep range.
    - Second Set - current session's weight; done for the current rep range.
    - Third and/or Fourth Set - Weight adjusted by RPE of second set.
    - Last Set - done for AMRAP.

  4. #4
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    This week:

    Tuesday 95 minutes
    Press 140 x 5, 150 x 5, 145 x 5, 140 x 6
    Squat 275 x 5, 300 x 5, 275 x 6
    Chins BW x 6, 6, 4, 4

    Friday 90 minutes
    Dips BW x 4 x 5
    Deadlift 300 x 5, 325 x 5, 300 x 5
    TRX Rows BW x 6, 6, 6, 7

    I decided to go back to ending my warm ups with a single at the day's top weight, which is what I did during my LP. That and doing a set with a heavy enough to be heavy, but light enough to not cause a tone of fatigue weight before the top set seems to get rid of my first set blues.

    I watched Austin's deadlift video on the tubes and realized my form had drifted quit a bit, which explains why my deadlift blows even worse than usual lately. Dropped the weight a bit and worked on fixing it. Felt good. As good as deadlift can be expected to.

    Wife's been out of town all week. MIL decided to need a quadruple bypass and I guess my wife thought she'd help with the surgery or something. So no naked conditioning for me all week. I am planning a very intense two minutes or so when she gets back this afternoon.

    The boy went with her, which might have been necessary for his safety a few weeks ago, but his new meds seem to be working really well. Maybe they make them in adult size? I'd like to slip a few folks a Mickey.

    Got an electronic drum set and a keyboard this week, which is a music PR. I'm planning to try and put a band together again (the mere thought of which makes me want to punch myself in the face) and to cut through the circle jerk of explaining what I am looking for I decided I just need to record all the parts of some songs that I have wandering around here lately.

    Also got a decent video camera to check my form and to do some bass instructional videos (I hear there's a shortage).
    Last edited by George Christiansen; 04-02-2017 at 06:10 AM.

  5. #5
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    This Week:

    Monday 90 minutes
    Press 150 x 3, 160 x 3, 155 x 3, 150 x 3
    Squat 300 x 3, 325 x 3, 315 x 3
    Chin BW 5, 5, 4, 4

    85 minutes
    A-Dip BW x 5 x 3
    B-Inverted Row BW x 8 x 3
    Squat 250 x 5
    Deadlift 365 x 1

    I am going to split things up and do two upper body (M&F) sessions and on squat and deadlift (W) session to cut down the time per session and to be able to do a lighter press day without giving anything else up. Kind of stole it from Andy's 4 day split over 3 days idea. Obviously a tad different without the second squat/deadlift day. I might need to add it into the rotation if it is not enough frequency.

  6. #6
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    Yesterday:

    Had a case of the dumb, so I used 10's where I meant to use 5's. The "Oh, shit. That feels unusually heavy." was a bit depressing until my math got corrected.

    A- Press 152.5 x 5, 162.5 x 2, 152.5 x 3 (needed more rest, but was a bit distracted by my math error), 142.5 x 5, 137.5 x 5
    B- Chin BW 5 x 5
    A- Pushdown 70 x 8, 60 x 10 x 2
    B- DB Curl 50 x 8, 50 x 10 x 2

    Today:

    Set some co-ed, naked, send the wife to work with a limp and a smile PR's this morning which led to this experiment later today.

    Squat 275 x 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 One minute's rest per rep performed between each set. I am going to experiment with doing my volume days like this, but with longer rest periods.

    The dumb got me today too:

    Forgot to do laundry and didn't want to risk ripping a nice pair of shorts, so I had to lift in briefs and dress socks. I looked like a really ugly Crossfit chick...and almost as strong.

    Gonna just screw around on Friday and then switch over to the 4 day split, but on alternating days TM-ish thing-a-ma-jig on Monday.
    Last edited by George Christiansen; 04-11-2017 at 02:45 PM.

  7. #7
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    Today: 2 hrs.

    My ass and hamstrings are still super sore from all the bedroom PR's this week. Too much volume?

    This may have affected my lifting a bit.

    Not sorry.

    Press 160 x 1, 170 x No Go, 165 x 1, 135 x 5
    Squat 325 x 1, 350 x 1, 325 x 1, 375 x 3
    Deadlift 365 x 1, 390 x 1
    DB Curls 50 x 8, 8, 6
    Last edited by George Christiansen; 04-14-2017 at 10:51 AM.

  8. #8
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    Monday 4/17
    75 minutes

    Volume Press
    Press 135 x 5 x 5
    Dip BW 4/4/3/4
    Push Up BW x 8
    Pushdown 50 x 12/10/10
    Last edited by George Christiansen; 04-17-2017 at 09:32 AM.

  9. #9
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    Wednesday 4/19 105 Minutes

    Volume Squat

    Squat 275 x 5 x 5
    SLDL 225 x 6 x 2 w/ Straps
    Chin BW x 5/5/4/3/3
    Curl 50 x 10 x 2

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Friday 4/21 55 Minutes

    Speed Press
    Press 135 x 1 x 15
    Push Up BW x 10/10/8/8/8

    My right elbow was feeling a bit off during the presses, but I realized that I was from not leaning back enough on the "catch", which threw off the angle of the decent a bit. I normally do Press 1.0 and I think that not anticipating the "bounce" of the next rep threw me off.

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