Yet another skinny guy

[Contrail]

I'm a novice, about 2 weeks into Starting Strength now. Actually, I'm doing more like Kethnaabs program (dips added to the deadlift day and chins/pullups added to the powerclean day). I'm a 23-year old skinny guy, 6'2", 167 lbs. My cheapo BIA scale says I'm 10.5-11% bodyfat, and the mirror says I'm 0% muscle. We're gonna fix that.

Goals: Get bodyweight to 185, squat at least my bodyweight, be able to do 3x15 dips/pulls/chins. I also want to regain the flexibility I used to have ~5 years ago.

My most recent workouts:

Tuesday:
Squat 3x5x105 lbs
Bench 3x5x85 lbs
Deadlift 2x5x132 lbs
Dips 5/4/4 reps

Thursday:
Squat 3x5x115 lbs
Press 3x5x55 lbs
Powerclean 5x3x85 lbs
Pullups 2/0/0 reps (I've done better than this before, but I felt like crap on thursday for some reason)


I'm an experienced cyclist (2 centuries under my belt), and ran track back in high school (did the 400m, 300m hurdles, and high jump), but have never lifted weights seriously. I'm absolutely having a blast so far, but we'll see how that changes when they start getting heavy.

[Contrail]

Squat 3x5x125 - lost my balance and failed mid-3rd set, so I wrote off that set and did a 4th set to count as my 3rd.
Bench 3x5x95
Deadlift 1x5x154
Dips 6/6/4

Squat and bench are both pretty heavy now - I'll do 5 lbs increase on both instead of 10.

[Contrail]

Another day, another 4 PRs:

Squat 3x5x130 lbs
Press 3x5x60 lbs
Power clean 5x3x90 lbs
Chinups 5/5/2 sets

No problems. Bar speed on squat is still low, but this was easier than 125 lbs 2 days ago.

[Contrail]

I didn't notice when I did it, but I must have strained my right knee doing squat yesterday (probably didn't keep my knees out far enough). If I try to air squat, right about when I get to parallel, my knee joint hurts and I can't put weight on it. I suspect I won't be squatting tomorrow, but hopefully will be by sunday.

Maybe this is just a necessary evil of joints getting stronger? I don't want to have to back down on my squat weight.

[Locutus]

Maybe this is just a necessary evil of joints getting stronger? I don't want to have to back down on my squat weight.

It could be knees out, but it could also be the squishy gym shoes. How does barefoot feel? Also, how does it feel with a hefty dose (up to 800mg) of ibuprofen?

For penance you should watch a bunch of videos in the Rippetoe forum.

$45 squat shoes at http://www.vsathletics.com/product.php?xProd=1823 but the available sizes are quickly disappearing.

[Contrail]

Couldn't squat
Bench - 3x5x100 lbs
Deadlift - 1x5x165 lbs
Dips - 5/5/4

[Locutus]

Couldn't squat

I hope you're icing it..

[Contrail]

I iced it some on tuesday, but I don't think it did much. I can't spend much time with my leg propped up smothered in a bag of ice at work. I've done a few doses of advil to help any inflammation, but taking it doesn't affect the pain to the point where I'd want to put weight on it.

It's nothing to do with a muscle, it feels like I mashed the lateral meniscus of my right knee (like the figure on p.48 of starting strength). In fact, I can feel that the pain is localized to the outside half of the knee joint when I squat down.

Based on the improvement over two nights, I'll probably be fine to squat (maybe not a PR progression, but significant weight) by sunday.

[Contrail]

Also, I'm thinking of getting some minimalist cross-training shoes, like Puma H-street or Nike Free, that would have a much firmer heel for lifting, but still be versatile so I could run/jump/play/do backflips* without changing shoes. What size are your VS shoes? If they're 11.5-12.5 I could try them, but I at least want to inspect them up close to see what the heel is like.

* no, I can't really do backflips without a diving board.

[Locutus]

My VS are only a 9.0. People who don't use squat shoes seem to like sambas and chuck taylors, both of which are cheap.

Squat shoes would still be better, though.