Programming help needed

[Natalia Reynolds]

Coach Rippetoe,

I just started on the SS program. I was doing CF workouts for 3,5 months now and lifting days were the hell for me, since even empty bar was incredibly heavy to throw around. My husband offered, and then insisted for me to start on SS, and I finally got to it. Last night was my 3rd workout with the program.

I'm 5'6"/110# girl with no athletic background (do you count 8 years of ballet school as a training?). I saw some (amazing for me) results with CF, but lifting is my big weakness.

My last (and the only) 'official' CrossFit Total is 276:

back squat 100
press 56
dead lift 120

Since then I increased my press to 60 and DL to 131, and just yesterday I squatted 105 for the first time!

As you can see, my lifts are so small, that it is difficult to follow your program without any 'scaling'. The biggest problem is Press. Warming up with an empty bar can be count as a part of work out for me. I know when I'll get a little bit stronger it will become easier, but right now I need some help with programming to get to this 'stronger' point.

I think it'll be ok to add 5# on squats and DL every other workout - less than 5% of increment.

But what should I do with the Press? I have access to smaller 26# bar only once a week; here, at home, 45 bar and 2.5, 5, 10# weights are all I have.
My plan was to go with 1-1-1-1-1 sets with 1RM on one day, and the next day try to do 3-3 sets with the same weight. If succeeded - jump to next weight and repeat - 5 singles, 2 sets of 3. Does this make sense? Or should I do something different?

Thank you for your time!

Natasha

[Mark Rippetoe]

That will work, but it's not the best solution. Why do you not have a light bar? Can you get one made from some 1 inch pipe/2 inch pipe and flat washers at a welder? Shouldn't be very expensive.

[Natalia Reynolds]

Thank you for your response! I'm sorry I didn't get back to it earlier, but I'm new to this forum and apparently I messed something up with the settings and never got notification about the reply.

I'll see what we can do about light bar and smaller weights, thanks for advice!

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is a rather lackadaisical board that does not notify you of replies. This is so that you'll check back manually and find other fascinating things to read.

[Tom Campitelli]

Coach Rippetoe,
But what should I do with the Press? I have access to smaller 26# bar only once a week; here, at home, 45 bar and 2.5, 5, 10# weights are all I have.
Natasha

Fractional plates with weights of 1, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25 are outrageously expensive per pound, but they are an absolute necessity, especially on the press. Going up by 5 pounds on the press becomes difficult very quickly. I don't beleive that Coach Rippetoe likes linking to vendors on here, but do a search for fractional plates on Google and buy some, if at all possible. You can also make some from 2-inch washers, but unless you are friends with a machinist, you might wind up spending money and not really liking what you get. Also, strongly think about purchasing lifting shoes if you don't already have a pair.

[Natalia Reynolds]

Hi Mark!

Since the weight in my squats jumped up - I can do several reps with 115 now! - I noticed this 'maneuver' i use to stand up with this weight.
That is just feeling, you can't see it in video, so I have to describe it.
I'm going all the way down, below parallel, starting going up with my hips first, and then there's a little stop. So my knees are still bend, my hips bend, my back is closer to a horizontal, and here the struggle starts. What I feel is that at this moment I press the bar very tightly against my back, as if I'm trying to use it to pull myself up!
I was just wondering if that is something you hear from other trainees, or that is just me being a freak I wondering if I have to do something about it, or this will be corrected by its own with the time?

BTW, my results after 2,5 weeks of SS are:

Squat 100# 1RM --> multiple sets with 115#
Press 56# 1RM --> 60# 1RM and multiple sets of 3-5 reps with 55!
dead-lift 120# --> 140#
bench 55# --> 75# 1RM, multiple sets with 65#
power-clean 45# --> 65#

Thanks in advance!

And you know, after I missed this first response, I'm here every day now

Natasha

[banderbe]

For those who don't know:

If you go to User CP, then "Edit Options", you can set the "Default Thread Subscription Mode" to instant e-mail notification.

That will subscribe you to all threads you post on and notify you when they are updated.

Note that it will only notify you the first time the thread is updated. You won't be notified again until you visit the thread.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm having a hard time visualizing what you're trying to describe, so post a video when you can. And thanks to banderbe for the info.

[Bill Ingram CFD]

I was just about to purchase some fractional plates for my gym when I noticed in a catalog that the spring clamps that we were already using weighed 1# per pair. I took some home and weighed them on a food scale. Sure enough they all weighed 8 oz +/- a half oz. Now if I need to add 2 pounds to someone's press, I just add two extra sets of clamps. Easy + cheap.