68 year old male - first SS (Greysteel) workout
I completed my first SS workout today - nowhere near an SS gym, so I have been reading both books along with The Barbell Prescription.
I have been exercising at a gym in a class since January.
While we did bench press, squat and deadift, they seemed to have a pretty complicated scheme of volumes and loads, no clear progression workout-to-workout, with a number of ever-changing auxiliary exercises,
For first 5 months or so, Tuesdays was bench press and squat + aux exercises, and Thursdays were overhead press and deadlift + aux exercises.
After about 5 months, they replaced overhead press with close grip bench press - and I really did not like that.
The first couple of months, I had been doing what they called a "viking press" because I couldn't overhead press a 45 lb bar.
When I finally got the point where I could overhead press a 45 lb bar, my shoulders felt really good.
It's a little hard to explain - especially to athletes who have never had this issue, but I had been suffering from various issues that seemed to be due to tight shoulders over the years.
When I did my first set of overhead presses with a barbell - even though the press was shaky and had to deal balance issues. it feel really, really great.
It's a little hard to explain, but when I did the overhead press, it felt like my shoulders were moving the way they were supposed to be moving.
That lead me too look for strength program, and that lead me to Greysteel - which lead me to SS.
68 year old male
5'10'
202 lbs
Today was my first SS workout - part of that was determining where to start.
Here's what I did.
Squat
45 x 2 x 5 (warmup)
75 x 5 (warmup)
95 x 3 (warmup)
115 x 1 (warmup)
135 x 5 x 3
Bench
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5
95 x 3
115 x 1
135 x 5 (barely)
125 x 4 (could not complete 135 x 5)
125 x 3 (could not complete 135 x 5)
Deadlift
65 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 3
195 x 1
225 x 5 x 3
I am pretty happy with how I feel.
I do have a question about squats - my shoulders are tight enough right now that I can't get my wrists straight in a low bar squat. I keep my elbows up and press the bar into my back and arms, and I don't feel as though the weight is pressing down on hands, wrists or forearms.
Maybe I have missed something in the books - but I think that I have read that if my shoulders are too tight to do a proper low bar squat, I should consider a high bar squat.
My dilemma is that the low bar squat felt much better on my knees than a high bar squat - which is what I was used to.
Is it likely that my shoulders will loosen up over time if I continue to do a low bar squat?
Are the specific stretches that I can do that would help my shoulder loosen up?
[If this question is answered one of the books, please feel free to tell me, "Go read chapter X of Starting Strength, your question is answered there!" There a lot of info in the books - I may have well missed the answer it it is there.]
