To start, anyone trying to make sense of my inconsistent performance should read Rip's article in the old CF journal about older trainees. Not a whine, these are just facts of life I deal with. An additional consideration is that I am active duty Navy, and military height-weight silliness has been discussed thoroughly on this board. Just another fact of life.
I started SS about two years ago, after realizing in CF just how abominably weak I was. I started from zero and went through all the usual form problems until I seemed to figure it out. My PRs were 275 squat / 290 DL, but the presses stunk and I never did more than 125 on PCs. I gained a good thirty pounds, most of which has stayed but has seemingly morphed into gut. I could have done more and better, but life intervened, deployments, stuff like that, until I transfered to England. Life here is sweet, my home gym is filling up nicely (a York GHD and an Eleiko PL bar make it so, thanks to Ebay). And now I'm determined to get this train rolling again, and keep it rolling until a)there is no more novice progression available and I move this thread to intermediate, and b) compete in a master's competition. I expect squat to break 300 and DL 340 or more before the novice progression is exhausted this time out. I'm already microloading the press at 115, but the bench can get to 160 or higher before I have to microload.
Today was squat and press:
230 x5reps x3sets
Working the squats back from 200, a little pyschological letdown after passing 225 (four wheels), these felt heavy but do-able. Could push through slow, no forward lean at all (thanks, GHD).
115 x5x4x4
My previous press PR was 112.5, but this is my third go at 115. I find I need more than four days rest on the press, and I'm also not benching right now (no bench at home, need to catch it at work). However, I also realized during the second set how much elbows need to be forward of the bar, and feel had I been doing that all along, I would have nailed 115 this time out. I'll give it a week and try again.
Big concern right now is eating, since Navy PRT is coming up in a month and the waist has to be slim, and it isn't. I want to eat more in order to do hard things, but have to keep it under control. A lot more metcon, push-ups, etc. in the next few weeks.