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Thread: Will I stand up next to a mountain?

  1. #141
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    Jul 2015
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Sunday 2/17
    February Wilks goal - 250

    Press 125 - 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 125x5x3
    Bench Press 145 - 45x5x2, 75x5, 105x3, 125x2, 145x5x3

    I skimmed the pages of Practical Programming and found an intermediate program that splits upper body and lower body on separate days, where the first lift is heavy and the second one is light, for the given lifts, and I decided to go with that. My next workout will be heavy squats and lght deadlifts, or maybe a variation such as paused deadlifts.

    The presses were good, but the end of the second work set was a struggle. The third set was better. Bench presses were fine, but tougher than they would have been without the presses beforehand.

  2. #142
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    Tuesday 2/19
    February Wilks goal - 250

    Squats 365 - 45:5:2, 135:5, 225:3, 305:2, 365:5:3
    Deadlifts 315 - 135:5:2, 185:5, 235:3, 275:2, 315:5 hook without straps

    Good day. I was nervous about the squats because I hadn't done any for 8 days. They were very challenging, but never in doubt. On a few of the reps, I could actually feel some of my leg muscles increasing their force production as I came up out of the hole. It was a neat feeling, but could it be a sign of form deficiencies?

    Deadlifts were not easy, due to being after heavy squats, but they were also never in doubt.

  3. #143
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    Thursday, 2/21
    February Wilks goal: 250

    Bench presses 185 - 45x5x2, 85x5, 125x3, 155x2, 185x5x3
    Presses 110 - 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 100x2, 110x5x3

    Barely finished the last work set of bench presses. I'm thinking about attempting a 5 lb increase next time instead of 10. Presses were not easy, but I felt stronger on the last set than I did on the first two.

    Will do heavy deadlifts and light squats on Saturday.

  4. #144
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    Saturday, 2/23
    February Wilks goal *WAS* 250 - read on

    Deadlifts - failed 375 - 135x5x2, 225x5, 285x3, 335x2 (with chalk), 374x4 (with straps)
    Squats - not done

    I hurt my lower back on my deadlift work sets. Either on the 4th rep, which was successful, or the 5th, which failed, I felt a small pop in my lower back. I tried the 5th rep again, but couldn't get the bar off the floor, and when I tried squats, I could still feel pain in my lower back on the empty bar sets, and then at 135 it was too much, so I stopped.

    Wish I had recorded that deadlift set so I could post it for the coaches to critique!

    (I did record a work set at either 345 or 355 a few workouts ago, and didn't see any bending then, but might have done that this time.)

    My back hurt a lot over the weekend, and I did a whole lot of nothing. Just turning over in bed is a chore, as is tying shoes, or anything that requires any bending in the lower back. Lying down, sitting, and standing aren't so bad, and I think it's getting better slowly, but this is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened, so it's probably way past time for me to get a lifting belt when I resume lifting heavy. For now, I'm just going to rest a few days.

    This means that I *won't* make my February goal, but I still have my eyes on the 300 Wilks score for the year.

  5. #145
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    Jul 2015
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    Saturday 3/2

    Press 125 - 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 125x5x3
    Bench Press 145 - 45x5x2, 75x5, 105x3, 125x2, 145x5x3

    My back is still hurting, but getting better, so I repeated my upper body lifts from 2/17, where the presses were heavy and the bench presses were lighter. The lifts went well, so I will either do a light lower body workout in the next couple of days, or maybe just wait half a week to do upper body again, repeating the heavy bench/light press that I did a week and a half ago.

  6. #146
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    Jul 2015
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    Default Resumed lifting 3/2020

    I started lifting again in early March, just before the Covid lockdown, and have continued through it, being blessed to have a power rack and weights at home.

    I'm 49, 6'0", and 260 lbs. Would like to lose weight eventually, but right now focused on increasing my strength. My ultimate goal for this year is to deadlift 500 lbs. My 1RM deadlift was 435, from 3 years ago, so 500 is definitely a challenge. Here are my logs starting for March. All weights are 3 sets of 5, except deadlifts, which are one set of 5, except where noted. I'll add April and May in separate posts.

    Saturday March 7th - 155 squats, 80 presses, 185 deadlifts

    Tuesday March 10th - 165 squats, 85 presses, 195 deadlifts
    Thursday March 12th - 175 squats, 90 presses, 205 deadlifts
    Saturday March 14th - 185 squats, 95 presses, 215 deadlifts

    Tuesday March 17th - 195 squats, 100 presses, 225 deadlifts
    Thursday March 19th - 205 squats, 105 presses, 235 deadlifts
    Saturday March 21st - 215 squats, 110 presses, 245 deadlifts

    Tuesday March 24th - 225 squats, 115 presses, 255 deadlifts
    Thursday March 26h - 235 squats, 120 presses, 265 deadlifts
    Saturday March 28th - 245 squats, 125 presses, 275 deadlifts

  7. #147
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    Default April's lifts

    Tuesday March 31st - 255 squats, 130 presses FAILED (5, 5, 4), 285 deadlifts
    Saturday April 4th - 260 squats, 185 close grip bench presses FAILED (2, 2, 2), 290 deadlifts

    The weights started to get heavy, so I reduced my squat and deadlift jumps to 5 pounds. I guessed that 185 was about right for bench presses, being about 50% higher than my press weight, but I was wrong, and decided to reduce bench press work sets to 160.

    Saturday April 11th - 265 squats, 160 close grip (CG) bench presses, 295 deadlifts

    Saturday April 18th - 270 squats, 130 presses (succeeded!), 300 deadlifts

    It's a blessing to have a power rack and weights at home, but only useful if I use them...

    Tuesday April 21st- 275 squats, 165 CG bench presses, 305 deadlifts
    Friday April 24th - 280 squats, 135 presses, 310 deadlifts

    Getting 135 on presses was very encouraging. On past novice LPs, that's been a real sticking point.

    Monday April 27th - 285 squats, 170 CG bench presses, 315 deadlifts
    Friday April 30th - 290 squats, 140 presses FAILED (5,4,3), 320 deadlifts FAILED (4) - grip failed

    I did some biceps curls on the 24th, 27th and 30th, but then stopped doing them. Grip strength has always been an issue for me.
    Last edited by ICTRob; 06-07-2020 at 10:32 AM. Reason: put first line in title

  8. #148
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    Default May's lifts

    Monday May 4th - 295 squats, 175 CG bench presses, 320 deadlifts with narrow bar (35 pound women's bar)
    Saturday May 9th - 300 squats, 140 presses FAILED (5,5,3), 325 deadlifts with narrow bar

    Saturday May 16th - 305 squats, 180 CG bench presses, 275 deadlifts - decided to go light on deadlifts, alternate light/heavy with deadlifts and squats

    Tuesday May 19th - 255 squats, 140 presses, 330 deadlifts with narrow bar
    Saturday May 23rd - 310 squats, 185 CG bench presses, 275 deadlifts

    At this point, I decided to change to one lift per day. Squats and deadlifts were starting to get really heavy, so I wanted to reduce their frequency, but also keep going forward with presses and CG bench presses. One lift per day seemed like a good way to do both. I also decided to reduce the jumps on presses to 2-3 pounds.

    Tue 5/26 - 142 presses
    Wed 5/27 - 335 deadlift with narrow bar
    Thu 5/28 - 190 CG bench presses
    Fri 5/29 - 315 squats
    Sat 5/30 - 144 press 5,5,4,1

    I'm not counting that last press as a failure after watching Nick Delgadillo's video on pressing. He said, and I'm simplifying, that you need to generate stress to make progress on the press, and you do that by raising the weight every workout as long as you can do 15 reps. It doesn't matter if you can't do 3 sets of 5. As long as you can do 15, you should do that to generate stress, and keep raising the weight until you can't do some combination of sets that add up to 15 reps.

  9. #149
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    Jul 2015
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    Default June week 1

    Mon 6/1 - 340 deadlifts with regular 45 lb. bar
    Tue 6/2 - 195 CG bench presses
    Wed 6/3 - 320 squats
    Thu 6/4 - 147 presses
    Fri 6/5 - 345 deadlift FAILED with 45 lb. bar - grip slipped at top of last rep
    Sat 6/6 200 CG bench presses

    Will go back to the 35 lb. women's bar for deadlifts. With the weights I have, I think I can load it up to 355. The bar can handle more, but all of my big plates are bumper plates, and their width takes up a lot of room on the sleeve. If I can find some iron 45 plates, I could use that bar for loads above 355.

    The highlight of the week was on Saturday. After I did 3 sets of 5 reps for close grip bench presses at 200 pounds, I decided to go for it and try 225 for the first time in my life, and I did it. About 4 years ago, I did 3 sets of 5 bench presses for 213, so back then I *would* have been strong enough to do a 225 single, but I was apprehensive about maxing out, and after that 213 work set I stopped doing bench presses. Might have been shoulders or elbows, might have been my apprehension about having a spotter in the gym, whatever the reason, I stopped, and never came close to 225 again.

    Now that I have a power rack at home, I just set the pins and lift.

    There are a ton of folks who have done 225 and much more already, and it's not a big deal in the crowd, but this was a big deal to me, and it felt great.

  10. #150
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
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    216

    Default June week 2

    starting strength coach development program
    Mon 6/8 Squat 325x5x3 (5 reps for 3 sets - I *think* that's the right way to write it)
    Tue 6/9 Press 150x5x3
    Wed 6/10 Deadlift 345x5 with narrow bar
    Thu 6/11 Bench 205x5x3
    Fri 6/12 Squat 325x1, 350x1, 375x1
    Sat 6/13 Press 153x5x2, 153x4, 153x1

    Following Nick Delgadillo's advice to just do 15 reps on presses and keep increasing the weight.

    Doing my own thing on Fridays, going for a 1RM on whichever lift I did on Monday, which would be a squat or deadlift. This week it was squats. Next week I will do deadlifts on Monday, so on Friday I'll go for a 1RM on the deadlift. I will start doing 1RMs on Saturdays too, either for the bench or press, whichever one I did on Tuesday, instead of 3 sets of 5.

    I'm trying to balance the stress needed to make progress with the recovery needed to make progress. We'll see if this is a good balance, or if I'm going too easy on myself.

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