Love Squats <3

[bigbutts]

Hi my name is Nathalie and have been doing SS for almost a month now. I've always tried to stay pretty active and keep in decent shape after having my daughter 7 years ago. I've tried a combination of spinning, martial arts, jogging, and even some weights here and there with my boyfriend to keep in shape.
There was always an obnoxious 10lb that I just couldn't get off and some cellulite that I gained in the process. Looked great in jeans but not so great in a bathing suit. I was never in the best shape of my life. I decided to start running in the beginning of 2013 and went from a 1 min run/4 min walk to a steady 30 minute jog.
I was really proud but knew that I wouldn't reach the best look for my body type by just running. My boyfriend got motivated when he saw me working out without him and decided to get back to the gym! Having played football in high school he was pretty comfortable with weight training and knew that I had to fill my body with muscles first before I could start cutting the way I was.
We started up at the gym for about 3 weeks feeling a little lost on what to do and what program to follow that would best suit the both of us. I wanted to do more legs and he of course wanted to focus on upper body.
Then one day he found Starting Strength on a forum at bodybuilding.com and decided to buy the book. We fell in love and started the program right away. I will admit like many girls out there the eating aspect of the program scared me. I had finally gotten down to 132lb just 5lb away from pre-baby weight and here I had to start gaining weight!! I went from an average 1200 calorie diet to 2000+! It's been scary seeing that scale go up.

Nat
Start 135lb
5'5"

Dan
Start 185lb
5'11"

April 1 -----Nat----- Dan
Squats -----95 -----175
SPress -----45 ------85
Deadlifts ---85------ 185

April 3------ Nat---- Dan
Squat ------105---- 175
BPress ------55----- 135
Dead/PC---- 135---- 135 (Dan does cleans while I stick to Deadlifts)

April 5------ Nat ----Dan
Squat------- 95 ----175 (We hadn't read the book yet so we didn't know we could go
SPress------ 45 -----85 up in weight every day as beginners)
Dead-------- 135---- 185

[bigbutts]

Week 2

April 8 ------Nat ------Dan
Squat ------120------ 210
BPress ------60 -------170
Dead/PC ----140 ------135

Dan did some great looking cleans! My deadlifts were tough. I was having a hard time with them, I was getting weight greedy.

April 10 -----Nat -----Dan
Squat ------125 ------215
SPress ------50------- 90
Deadlifts ----150------ 235
My deadlifts suffered. I had to drop down in weight. I will partially blame this on Dan. He was reading how the deadlifts should be significantly higher that squats especially in order to start power cleaning. He knew I had the strength but I just didn't have the technique down.

April 12------ Nat------ Dan
Squat -------125 ------220
BPress -------60 -------175 (3 weeks prior Dan couldn't do 175 2x, now he is doing it 3x5x175!)
Dead/PC -----140 -----140 (Deadlifts ok not too great)
Dips to failure N 8/8 (with 70lb assistance) --- D 12/8

[bigbutts]

Week 3
April 15 ---Nat ----Dan
Squat -----130----- (Dan didn't squat today he had some knee issues going on, ITBS, and took today off from squats, he wasn't too happy about that)
SPress-----55------95
Dead-------145----245
Eating this much is soooo hard. I feel so full by 5pm. we are eating every 2 hours. breakfast mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner, after dinner snack, and late night meal. Every time I look at the clock it's time to eat again! I'm now weighing 142lb! It'S CRAZY! I swore to myself that I would never be back in the 140s and here I am. Feeling good though my pants are a little snug

April 17-----NAT------DAN
Squat-------135*-------225
BPress-------65-------180
Dead-------150-------255
* Failed. We figured out that I was un-racking the weight improperly and placed extra strain on my lower back to the point that I couldn't even stand there and hold the weight. I wasn't putting my feet directly underneath me before un-racking. During my squats my knees were also going in and were not parallel to my feet.
My deadlifts suffered too! My back kept rounding as I was going up and I wasn't able to grind the bar against my chins. Bad day at the gym. It probably didn't help that I had a couple drinks that weekend and didn't eat as much as I should have. I felt it this week. That feeling of failure is not worth a couple drinks on the weekend. No more drinks!

Dan's knee was really hurting. He felt it even between sets while bench pressing. Taking Friday off from squats

April 19------Nat------Dan
Squat--------120*----
Spress-------60-------100
Dead---------135-----265
Dips -70lb 12/8 13/8

Brought squats and deadlifts weight down. Not to happy but I have to get my form down in order to continue.

[bigbutts]

Week 4
April 22----Nat------Dan
Squats----115------225
BPress-----70-------185
Dead/PC---135------145
Pull Ups N 2w/jump---4

We really focused on squats today from un-racking the weight, watching our knees go parallel to toes, and breathing correctly. Felt the difference on my legs afterward from pushing my knees out.
Dan fixed his ITBS!

April 24------NAT-----Dan
Squat-------120-----230
SPress-------57-----105
Dead -------140-----275 (Dan jumped 10lb on his deadlifts!)

SPress are getting harder to go up in weight. Had to buy 1lb ankle weights at Wal-Mart.

April 26-----NAT-----DAN
Squat------130------235
BPress------75------190
Dead/PC---145------150

I went up 10lb from Wed on my squats I was feeling really good about my form and felt comfortable moving up. I really want to get those caddys (aka 45lb plates!) on that bar!

[bigbutts]

April 29-----NAT------Dan
Squat------135-------245
SPress-----60--------110
Deadlifts---150!------285
Dips (-55lb) 9/8/7---15/10/5

Dan went up 10lb in deadlifts and squats! I got the caddys! Great day at the gym

[Bobster]

Keep it up you two. Looking good.

[bigbutts]

Work out B
May 1st-------Nat------Dan
Squats--------140------250
BPress---------75-------195 (I was supposed to do 80lb today but failed on the first set at the 2nd rep. Dropped down to 75 and dominated. Did 3x 80lb after my work set just to do it)
Dead/PC-------155------155
Pull Ups--4 with jump ---6,4,2
then did negatives
Check out some videos - Critiques welcomed

[bigbutts]

Here are my deadlifts and Dan's power cleans

[Briks42]

On the squats, it looks like you both have pretty damn good form for being self-taught, but both might just be a little bit high. Its a little hard to tell because of the camera angle, but I'd say keep focusing on knees out above all else, and really commit to depth, even if it means taking a few pounds off at first. But overall, they look good to me.

On the deadlifts, again, you mainly have it down, but I have 2 small critiques. One is to make sure you finish the lift at the end by extending the hips forward and standing straight up. This doesn't have to be an exaggerated movement, but you do need to get the hips extended. Besides that, the only other thing I'd say is to trust yourself and just set-up and pull hard. In the beginning it is normal to be very careful about making sure everything is correct with your setup, but it looks as if you are not pulling as hard as you could be because you are over-thinking everything a little. You have the setup down. You do a good job, so just be confident and pull hard as soon as you squeeze your chest up. Trust yourself a little more.

Sorry I can't comment about the cleans because I don't do them and would have no idea what advice to give.

All around great work by both of you though.

[bigbutts]

Thank you! You're right I know I'm definitely over thinking my deadlifts, I've felt like I need to explode a little and you've definitely confirmed that. Will work on that.
-Nat