A training log -- I've been keeping a paper log in a composition notebook, but I have crummy and big handwriting, so I'll start using this place to record my comments and observations, and then maybe I can show neat columns of weights lifted in my notebook, like the examples in SS-BBT3.
Me:
Female, 59 y/o and seeing the end of my sixth decade approaching rapidly. I had a sedentary profession, following 7 years of university study, also largely sedentary. History of debilitating sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy), but shoulders, knees, hips and other joints are still working nicely and pain-free. Height 5'6", weight and bodyfat % none-of-your-business, but you can assume too much. I'm doing the SS program while also restricting calories, logging them on myfitnesspal -- with 1800 cals per day, 115g pro, 180g carb, 70g fat as targets. (I lost 30 lbs, slowly, with same calorie target in 2015 and have kept that weight off.) I've done long-slow cardio for nearly 40 years (jogging at first, up to half-marathon distance in my 30s, until bunions developed from that), and between ages 30 and 44 I was also a backpacker (cardio/endurance activity). After my first lumbar MRI I was advised never to run or lift anything heavier than 20 lbs again, which advice I've followed for about 15 years. I had a dog at that time, so I still walked at least an hour a day, and have continued that until now. On the SS program, I still hike about an hour on non-lifting days, which I consider part of "active rest" since I was well used to doing it before I began strength training.
Goals:
Backpacking this summer in the mountains of California.
Improve markers of metabolic syndrome (blood lipids, blood pressure, waist size).
Squat at least 100; Deadlift at least 125; press at least 50; Bench at least 75.
Why I'm doing SS:
I went on a hiking trip to CA last summer, for which the group hired a mule packer to carry our tents, etc, into the mountains so we could hike with just day packs. On our longest hike during those several days, I fell twice while coming down the mountain. I did not trip over anything; the cause of the falls was strictly leg fatigue. So I realized I needed to do something more to get stronger. I turned to the internet for info, and found a lot of confusing stuff, until finally one day I was watching exercise videos on YouTube when one of Rip's "On the Platform" pieces came up -- and a thumbnail image of the cover of SS-BBT3 was there. I ordered the book from Amazon immediately, on December 1st, 2017, and worked at the slow lifts, starting by doing the squat movement for several reps with nothing but body weight, which was enough to give me DOMS in the adductors the day after my first squats. I found technique bars of 20 lbs and under at my local gym and worked at SS for about 3 weeks in December, and then I got pneumonia. So this log covers only the period after recovery from that illness. For about 3 weeks I couldn't do much of anything physical, so I used the time to study the book and to watch a crap-ton of SS videos. Then in January I started again.
Sometimes I've had to modify the exercises due to equipment limitations at the commercial gym and the YMCA I've been using. Their technique bars are made with diameters that don't fit regular plates, so you have to improvise. Also, at the beginning I included bent-over, single-arm dumbbell rows for a while, in addition to doing both the press and bench press at every workout. I was using such light weights that the workouts did not stress me much, and I wanted something to do between sets. So if someone wants to see what happens to me after I cut out the rows and start just "doing the program as written," feel free to skip on down to February 8, 2018, which is when the weights got heavy enough to make me feel beat up, and I dropped the extra exercise. I still deadlift every time I lift, but have dropped doing sets across on the work sets of that exercise, too. (I think that still counts as doing the program, since Sully's book says masters females can tolerate more deadlifting than the men, and moreover, I'm not doing power cleans.)
My abbreviations: SQ=squat; PR=press; BN=bench; DL=deadlift; LAT=lat pulldowns; BW=bodyweight; DB=dumbbell; KB=kettlebell
Th 1-18-18
SQ 20x5x3 (warmup was BWx6)
PR 20x5x3
RDL 20x5x3
DB Bench 20x5x3
Row 10 lb each hand, 3x10
Su 1-21-18
SQ BWx6
20x5x1
30x5x2
20x5x1 (a back-off set, because I was overly fatigued to do 3 sets at 30 lbs)
PR 20x5x3
BN 20x5x3; DB Bench 30x5x1
RDL 30x5x3
Row 15 lb ea hand, 3x10
Tu 1-23-18
SQ BWx5
18x5x2 (changed from YouFit to YMCA; different equipment)
30x5x1
PR 20x5x3
BN 20x5x1
30x5x3
DL 30x5x1 (using plastic "step" platforms and 4' bar with fixed plates)
DB RDL 30x5x1, 35x5x1
Row 15 lb ea. hand, 3x8
Th 1-25-18
SQ BWx5
15.4x5 (small bar and plates from Studio 1)
20x5
30x5x3
PR 15.4x8
28.6x5x3 (I messed up converting KG to lbs and lifted more than I'd planned! DOMS in triceps the next few days.)
BN 25x5x3
DL 35x5x3 (using kettlebell, hereinafter KB)
Row 17.5 lb each hand, 3x10
Sat 1-27-18
SQ BWx15
22x5x2
35.2x5x3 (Too much good morning-type action - HIP Drive!)
PR 26.4x5x3 (Breathe after bar is back to your collarbone.)
BN 30x5x2
35x5x1 (DB)
DL 40x5x3 (KB) (still feels pretty easy)
Row 17.5 lb each, 2x10 (No 3d set b/c feeling beat up)
On Squat and Press, I've found the weight where form starts to suffer.
Tu 1-30-18
SQ BWx15
22x5x2
26.4x3x2
35.2x5x3
PR 26.4x5x3
BN 35x5x3 (DB)
DL 35x5 (KB)
45x5x3 (Rack pull empty bar, standing on stacked plates so bar is 9" above my soles)
Row 15 ea hand for 1x10, 17.5 ea. hand for 2x10
Th 2-01-18
SQ BWx10
20x5
30x5
40x5x3
DL 45x5x3 (Rack pull standing on stacked plates with bar 9" above my soles - did exercise out of order due to traffic at the rack)
PR 30x5x3
BN 40x5x3 (Hard grind; bar wobbling L to R a lot)
Row 17.5 ea hand, 3x10
Sat 2-03-18 -- coaching session with Robert Santana -- I did not have a chance to write down all warmup sets.
SQ BWxmany
15x5
26x5
45x5x3
PR 32x5x1 (plus warmups w/ less weight that I did not write down)
DL 105x5x1 (plus warmups w/ much less weight that I did not write down)
BN 45x5x3
Row 17 lb ea hand, 15 reps
I didn't ask Robert how he knew that I'd be able to pull 105 from the floor, when I didn't know it myself. From comments of other coaches in the videos I'm guessing it had something to do with bar speed on my deadlifts at lighter weights. Anyway, he's the reason for the 60-lb jump on DL from what I'd pulled the previous workout. On the next workout I took a bit of weight off the bar so I could do sets across and practice form.
Tu 2-06-18
SQ BWx10
20x5x1
30x5x1
45x5x3
PR 32x5x3 (30-lb short bar + microplates and zip ties)
BN 45x5x3 (still a struggle)
DL 40x5 (KB)
65x5 (from the floor -- the Y has 10-lb 17-in plates)
95x5x3
LAT 65x6 assisted pullups w/ neutral grip, then 65x6 with chin grip, then 65x2 w/ neutral grip
Three weeks/ Nine workouts done. Next post will summarize workouts from 2-08-18 to 2-16-18, which are closer to "doing the program as written," because I cut out the rows and began to alternate PR and BN instead of doing both at every workout.