rgove's log

[rgove]

26 year old male
180cm

I first started with SS for a few months in 2007, but being only semi-consistent with the lifting and making no effort at all with the eating, I didn't make much progress except to get over the newbie learning curve of technique and flexibility.

Now I'm trying again with the help of better motivation, better equipment and the intention of actually DTP. And much to my surprise (not that I had any excuse to find it surprising), just a little effort to eat better has not only had an immediate effect on the scale, it has also allowed me to approach my previous PRs with much greater speed and much less fatigue than last time around.

[rgove]

Weight: 60kg
Avg calories: 2860

Ever since I was a teenager I've had a tendency to allow my thoracic spine to slouch, not just when lifting weights but all the time. This isn't a case of flexibility but just of habit: I can correct it but it requires constant attention, and I've only recently worked out how to extend the thoracic spine properly without hyperextending the lumbar, which is what I used to do when thinking "chest up".

So my plan is to start well within my comfort zone so I can focus on form, but lift every other day for the next few weeks until it starts to actually get challenging.

Fri
Squat: 35kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 35kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 4,3,1

Sun
Squat: 39kg, 5,5,5
Press: 20kg, 5,5,5
Deadlift: 45kg, 5

Tue
Squat: 43kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 37kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 4,3,1

Thu
Squat: 47kg, 5,5,5
Press: 22kg, 5,5,5
Deadlift: 50kg, 5

[rgove]

Weight: 61kg
Avg calories: 2900

Sat
Squat: 51kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 39kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 3,2,1

Mon
Squat: 55kg, 5,5,5
Press: 26kg, 5,5,5
Deadlift: 55kg, 5

Wed
Squat: 59kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 41kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 2,2,2,1

• Recovering very well so far, but I'm going to drop it back to 3 workouts a week anyway, to give myself a 2 day break before next week, when at current rates of improvement, I will exceed my old PRs in all of the big 3. This is really enouraging.
• Deadlift has fallen behind squat purely through not being done as often. Since I'm finding deadlifts reasonably easy so far, I will rectify this by training them every workout for a bit.
• Chinups not showing any progress. Maybe I'll follow others' advice and do a few sets every day when I walk past my rack.

[rgove]

Weight: 62.5kg
Avg calories: 2800

Based on these numbers and the ones from the previous two posts, my current caloric maintenance level is substantially lower than I thought it was, and certainly less than 2000. Since my current lifestyle is pretty idle except for the weight training and one bike ride a week, this isn't too surprising.

Sat
It's a bit cold in the room where I lift, so I normally go for a short walk before starting. Today I went to my local climbing shop to get some chalk, but as I knelt down to pick it up, something went in my left knee. After a couple of ibuprofen and a careful warmup, it didn't feel too bad, so I went ahead and increased the squat weight anyway without too much difficulty. (Form check video here.) However, the deadlift warmups were aggravating it much more severely, so I did chinups instead.

Squat: 63kg, 5,5,5
Press: 29kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 3,3,2,3

Mon
Left knee feeling better, but right knee feeling worse to the extent that they're both about the same now. Not enough to seriously inconvenience me today.

Squat: 67kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 43kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 60kg, 5

Wed:
Looks like the advice I received in the above thread has worked. Shoving my knees out hard all the way through the squat movement makes it a lot easier to keep everything tight. I'm just going to have to slow the drop down a bit so I can consistently get the correct timing and control of the bounce.

Squat: 69kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Press: 30kg, 5,5,5
Deadlift: 64kg, 5

[rgove]

Weight: 63.5kg
Avg calories: 2600

Sat
Squat: 71kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Bench: 45kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 68kg, 5

Mon
Squat: 73kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Press: 31.5kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 3,3,3,3 *PR*

Some serious biceps soreness the next day, especially around the insertion on the left forearm. (I am left-handed for writing and other tasks requiring fine precision, but right-handed for strength.)

Wed
Squat: 75kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Bench: 46.5kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 62kg, 2 and 50kg, 5

Squat was not too bad but I'm still pitching forwards too often, putting unnecessary strain on my low back. Bench press was seriously hard: in the final set I would definitely have given up after 4 or even 3 reps in the absence of spotter pins, but surprised myself by pushing through it.

However, after all that my low back was so fatigued that it was clear I wouldn't be able to use the planned weight of 72kg for the deadlift. Even the warmups were going up so slowly that I just dropped the weight right down to get the volume.

[rgove]

Weight: 64.5kg
Avg calories: 2700

Sun
Squat: 76kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Press: 36kg, 4 and 34kg, 5,5 *PR* (accidental misload)
Deadlift: 70kg, 5 *PR*

Tue
Squat: 78kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Bench: 47.5kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Chinup: 3,3,3,2

Last bench press set was my hardest ever, but made unnecessarily hard by completely losing back and shoulder tightness.

Weight still shifting forwards too often on the squat. It's been many days now since I had what I felt was a properly balanced set of 5, so I'm going to repeat the weight next time and simply not allow myself to shift when it gets hard.

Thu
Squat: 78kg, 5,5,4 (first test of safety bars)
Press: 35kg, 4,4,3
Deadlift: 72kg, 5 *PR*

Maintained good balance right through squat set 2, at the cost of much slower speed. Couldn't quite keep it up for set 3. Looks like my lack of consistency has prevented the right muscles from getting stronger, so I'm going to drop back a bit next week.

Deadlifts, on the other hand, are feeling excellent.

[rgove]

Weight: 64.5kg
Avg calories: 2600

Sun
Bench: 48kg, 5,5,4
Squat: 74kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 4,3,3,3 *PR*

For the last several bench workouts my left arm has weakened surprisingly suddenly while my right arm is still fine, leading to a seriously unlevel bar. I need to back off a bit and stop this from happening, as it just reinforces the strength asymmetry and also twists my back.

Tue
Squat: 70kg, 5 and 74kg, 5,5
Press: 34.5kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 76kg *PR*

Much experimentation with squat form today. I had not previously experienced the problem of knees sliding forwards in the hole, but I now realise that this is because my knees were already as far forwards as physically possible. Deliberately increasing hip flexion during the descent fixes this. I think I've now got a form that's pretty close to optimal, though I still find it difficult to be completely consistent through a whole set.

Thu
Squat: 76kg, 5,5,5
Bench: 46kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 4,3,2,1

Going on a trip next week. Next update will be on Sunday November 21.

[rgove]

Weight: 63.5kg
Avg calories: 2000 if I'm lucky

Sun
Squat: 78kg, 5,5,5
Press: 35kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 80kg, 5,5,5 *PR*

Travelling for the rest of the week, I had a pretty miserable experience. My stomach just wasn't accepting anything -- I was weak from hunger a lot of the time, but whenever I put anything in my mouth I felt on the verge of gagging.

[rgove]

Weight: 65kg
Avg calories: 2550

These numbers don't make sense. I must have been dehydrated last week.

Tue
Bench: 46kg, 5,5,5
Squat: 76kg, 5,5,5
Chinup: 4,4,3,3 *PR*

I know doing the lifts in this order is NDTP, but I can see no other way of giving my arms time to recover between the bench and chinup.

Thu
Squat: 79kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Press: 35.5kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 84kg, 5 *PR*

Squat balance and consistency is pretty good now, but I need to improve use of the bounce reflex. As the weight gets heavier I feel that it's just pushing me down through the point where the rebound should happen.

[rgove]

Weight: 65kg
Average calories: 2550

Sat
Bench: 47kg, 5,5,5
Squat: 81kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Chinup: 4,4,4,4 *PR*

Chinups caused a serious pump in the forearms like I've never had before. My plan is to keep doing 4 sets until I reach 5,5,5,5, then drop back to 3 sets until I reach 10,10,10, then start adding weight.

Tue
Squat: 83kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Press: 36kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Deadlift: 86kg, 5 *PR*

Deadlift very well controlled. Still don't know where my limit is on this lift.

Thu
Squat: 85kg, 5,5,5 *PR*
Bench: 48kg, 5,5,6 [sic] *PR*
Chinup: 5,4,3,2

Bench press was incredibly easy and very well controlled. I think I'm good for 1kg jumps for at least a couple more workouts.

Squat form is also very consistent now, but also very hard. I've seriously got to start gaining weight again or I can feel I'm going to hit a wall next week.