ILiftAlone's Log

[ILiftAlone]

Been meaning to keep an online log so here it is.

Backround: Started doing the SS program about 10 months ago. The problem was that I was much less informed in strength training matters than I am now and ended up doing many things, programming and eating wise, wrong. Being the more educated lifter I am now I feel like I have made more progress in the last few months than I did up untill then. Still on linear progression, although some of my lifts are not where they should be (squat) because I neglected my form for a while and am now playing catch-up.

Current PR's as of 5/14:

Squat:280x5x3
Dead: 310x5x1
Bench: 220x5x3
Press: 145x5x3
Clean: 160x3x5
Pullups: My weak point. They seem to fluctuate all over the place. I usually get around 4 or 5 reps. Chins can get around 6 reps.

[ILiftAlone]

Felt good in the gym today, smooth and powerful on my lifts. I think I felt better than usuall because I missed my workout from last saturday.

Squat- 285x5x3.
Felt really good untill the last rep of the last set, that one was tough.

Bench- 222.5x5x3.
These felt good also. Last week i thought I might need to start making smaller increases but after upping my calories over the weekend I think i can the keep 2.5 jumps going. Going for 2 plates on sat, this is going to be a small milestone for me. I can remember when anything over 135 felt akward.

Back extension- 35x15x3.

Chins- 5,4,4.
Usually get more than this but I focused on making them as strict as possible so i feel good about those.

[ILiftAlone]

3/18/10

Good session. It always is when you set a PR.

Squats- 225x5x2 - Light day

Press- 145x5x3- Need smaller plates, getting ready to PR again.

Dead- 315x5- PR. Finally 3 plates. Im the man. Now that Im done celebrating I need to start getting closer to 4 plates.

[ILiftAlone]

3/20
Set squat and bench PR's.

Squat-290x5x3

Bench-225x5x3. Got my two plates. Its about damn time. Im entering manhood...

Pullups-4,3,3,4. Weak.

[ILiftAlone]

3/23

Good workout except for the fact that I missed a rep on squats because of my form. I know it was a form mistake because I got the last 2 sets just fine. Set a press PR. Its been a while since that happened. Also set a PR on cleans, felt easy.

Squat- 295x4, 295x5x2- Ill repeat next time.
Press- 147.5x5x3- That last set was brutal
Cleans-165x5x3-easy (compared to the last time I did cleans)

3/25

Today was frustrating. My hips felt overly tight during light squats, my bench form felt completely off, i missed a rep at the end, and in general just felt annoyed when I left the gym. I guess every training session cant be great.

Light Squats- 235x5x2

Bench-227.5x5x2
-227.5x4x1- Technically a PR but I missed one rep. Will repeat.

Incline Situps- 25x10x3

Chins- 4,5,4

[K.Diesel]

Good job on the bench PR! How much do you weigh?

[ILiftAlone]

Thanks K.Diesel. Im actually not sure how much I weight because I dont have a scale anymore. The last time I weighed myself I was around 210-215, that was a few months ago. Im definately not lean, but I wouldnt consider myself fat...yet.

3/27

All lifts today were PR's. A much better day than last time.

Squat
295x5x3- got all my reps this time

Press
150x5x3- Windened my grip just a tad and it made these feel so much better.

Deads
320x5- I look forward to deadlifts every week. Is that normal?

Also noticed some super strong bastard has been frequenting the gym at times Im not there. I know hes out there somewhere because I keep finding bent bars, one of which was my favorite bench bar.

[ILiftAlone]

Set more pr's. Being a novice is awesome.

Squats
300x5x3- Realized my hips have been hurting a little because I (think) was not rebounding properly, putting too much stress on them. Corrected this and felt a bit stronger.

Bench
227.5x5x3- Repeated last time because I missed a rep at the end. Got this one up but it was a damn struggle on the last rep. Might have to start asking for a spot...

Back Extensions
35x14, 35x12x2

Pullups
3,4,4- Im starting to hate this damn exercise

[ILiftAlone]

4/13

Been out of commission for about 2 weeks. After my last workout my shoulder started to hurt. I had done a heavy PR bench that day, followed by pullups. I dont know if I tore anything, I dont think I did, however I really dont know much about injuries.

The pain is on the front of my shoulder and on the top where the end of my trap connects to my shoulder. Been rolling a ball on the back of my shoulder blade and noticed tons of trigger points, painful as fuck. Maybe this contributed to it.

Anyways, decided to hit the gym today and see what would happen. Its been 2 hours since I got back and my shoulder feels about the same as it did this morning, so I guess thats good.

Squat
240x5x3 - 80% of my last PR at 300x5x3. Just keeping things relatively light to see how my body reacted.

Press
65x18x2 - going real light with high reps since this is the injured area. Ill increase the weight and lower the reps gradually according to how I feel.

Dead
285x5 - Technically this was a PR since I double overhanded it. Never done that for five reps at that weight. Felt like the bar was going to fall out of my hands on the last two reps. My grip is weak, but I blame it on my small hands.

[jacob cloud]

re: the shoulder, you might want to dig out some anatomy drawings and figure out exactly where it hurts. Mine was super vague and then I finally pinpointed (and had it confirmed by an Ortho when he gave me a cortisone shot) that it was actually biceps tendonitis. Now that I know exactly where it tends to hurt, I can self massage it and beat the crap out of it when needed. Good luck! If it is a muscle belly issue, the Starr rehab will work wonders, so keep up those high reps for awhile.