Briks' Log

[Briks42]

Ok, might as well start a log here since I'm on the site all the time anyway. I 've always tracked all workouts in a notebook, but can't hurt to track in 2 places.

Quick Stats (As of last night, 7/26/10):
Age- 28
Height- 6'3
Weight- 196.0

PR's:
Squats- 240x5x3 (300x1x1)
Deadlifts- 285x5x1 (355x1x1)
Bench Press- 245x5x3 (275x1x1)
Powercleans- 135x3x5
Press- 127.5x5x3 (Seated. Finally will be able to begin doing standing tomorrow)

Background:
I have always been super skinny my whole life. My dad had the same probelm when he was young but eventually got into weightlifting and some powerlifting stuff in his mid 30's and made huge gains. He never became giant, but he got up to about 200 lbs at 5'10, all of which was muscle. NFL defensive back type build.

He got me into weightlifting in high school. When I was a sophomore I outgrew everyone in my family and got up to my current 6'3 height, at probably about 140 pounds. I gained a little more weight but not much and finished high school at about 6'3 150 pounds. My main problem was that I hated doing squats and deadlifts. My dad preached the importance of these exercises, but I was a stubborn young kid and made excuses for why I didn't have to do them, when the reality was that I was just a pussy and didn't want to work hard. I would rather complain about being a hardgainer than put in the work.

So I was basically an upperbody only lifter, and not even a consistent one. This continued through college and post-college. Even though I wasn't terribly consistent and I stayed skinny (top weight of about 160 pounds until 2009), I was able to build a decent upper-body strength base and build some decent muscle in my upper body. My legs were (and still are) a complete joke though.

Finally, halfway through 2009, I was training a buddy (upper body only, of course), and he asked why we don't do legs. I had no good explanation, so instead we started doing legs. By doing legs I mean we did sets of 20 rep squats (with 115 pounds I think) that left us unable to walk for a week. But at least it was a step in the right direction. Our form was decent and our depth was good because I had my dad's teachings to draw on.

Around the same time, I also had an important discovery about weight gain. Two of my good friends had allowed themselves to get up to 6'5 322 pounds and 5'11 300 pounds respectively after college, with all of the gain being fat. In 2009, they had begun a long (and eventually successful) journey of weight loss. The thing I came to realize is that counting calories is essential in weight loss, and that also applied to weight gain. When I actually analyzed my diet, I realized that what I had always assumed was me being a hard-gainer was really just me not eating enough calories to gain weight. Sure, I do have kind of a fast metabolism, but that was not the problem. The problem was me. Me only eating 2000 calories a day and remaining a stick was the same thing as them eating 5000 a day and becoming obese.

Also at the same time, my uncle discovered crossfit and introduced me to it. I never actually did crossfit workouts really, but read up about it and eventually discovered Starting Strength from there. I slowly implemented pieces of Starting Strength into my programs but didn't actually begin the real program until Feburary of 2010.

So in February I started (with a 195 pound squat 1-rep max) for real. Of course, a couple of weeks in I hurt my back shoveling snow (during that insane blizzard) and was out of commission for a month. Since then I have also had to miss a couple weeks due to a strained intercostal and missed a decent amount of workouts and eating due to vacations and such. That said, I have still made decent progress. I am not going to stop going on vacations and getting fucked up with my friends, so I know my progress isn't going to be as fast as if I was 100% dedicated. I never miss workouts for any other reasons though, and with most of my vacations for the year out of the way, I am ready to make huge progress the rest of the year.

[Briks42]

I will post my workout from last night and then going forward post all of my workouts here:

7/26/10
Weight- 196.0 pounds

Squats-240x5x3 (matches PR)
Bench Press- 235x5x3

This was my first workout using knee sleeves for squats (blue Rehbands) and it felt incredible. I have a history of knee problems. My left knee has been dislocated about 15 times since the first time it dislocated in 1996. The result is tons of loose cartilage and tons of instability. During sets it sometimes even slips out of place or something, the result of which is incredibly painful and makes me have to stop the set short. The right knee suffers from tendonitis. The knee sleeves made a ton of difference last night. They made my left knee feel perfectly stable and even the right knee felt better during and after the workout. Mentally it is a huge relief not being scared that my left knee is going to buckle at the bottom of a squat.

Bench Press was pretty easy as I'm working back up toward my top weights.

Last night was also supposed to include weighted chins, but I have a strained muscle in my back near my lat right now and was playing it safe.

The strained muscle story is going to make me look like a complete retard, but it relates to my presses, so I will tell it tomorrow when I recap my press workout.

[gamedog]

Hey Briks, first off, GOOD ON YOU for starting up a log on here!

Secondly, your bench kicks ass. I'm hoping I can hit the 230 to 250 neighborhood whilst still on the "Novice With A Light Wednesday Thrown In" program.

Now, about these knee sleeves... I've been going back and forth in my head all the time, trying to decide if I should get them or not. I had a long-standing history of knee problems when I was a little kid and all, but not so much as an adult. And the properly executed, full squats haven't hurt my knees one bit BUT, I figure it like this, I'm 31 damn years old LOL and ain't nothing wrong with keeping those 'most important of joints' warm and comfy. Sounds like they're working for you, too. How do you like them?

Also, regarding some of the pain and tendonitis in them you described, it sounds a lot like what happened to me early on, waaay back when I'd just left StrongLifts and started SS. I fixed the problem by riding the stationary bike first thing, for 10 minutes or so and then making 100% sure I was "pushing up off my heels" out of the hole. And, every time I do get a twinge in my knee, it happens when I've not been pushing from my heels.

You might already be doing that, though (pushing with the heels) and the knees are just upset anyway, in which case, baby those little fuckers LOL they gotta last you the rest of your life ;-) so it sounds like the sleeves were the right idea for you!

[MazdaMatt]

Hey Twiggy! Eat a burger! (hehe )

Solid bench, dude. That's huge compared to mine... huge compared to my hopes and dreams for that matter.

I second "weight on the heels" for knee health. I'm learning this, too.

Personally, I dumped my paper log when I started logging here. I just have to check my numbers online before I go lift.

[Briks42]

Thanks for the replies and compliments on the bench. At least I got something out of all those years as an upper-body king and didn't completely waste my time. Only mostly.

Yeah, as far as pushing from the heels, I actually conciously thought of that during my workout this past friday after seeing you guys discuss it. It didn't seem to make much of a difference for me though, maybe because i was already doing it. I'm not sure.

The knee sleeves were for me mostly about my unstable knee more than the one with tendonitis. If they help the tendonitis too, thats great, but that would just be an added bonus. The one downside is that they were pretty expensive. $77 including shipping and handling. But I figure that is worth it if they last me for a long time.

Yeah, and I do need to eat more. My main problem is the weekends. I get a ton of colories during the week and usually weigh in well on friday nights, but then if I drink all weekend I tend to not be able to eat much at all, and end up giving a few pounds back. So I am trying to cut back on the drinking if possible, or at least force myself to pound a ton of milk even when hungover. Not the best way to recover between my friday and monday workouts, but it hasnt killed me so far.

[MazdaMatt]

Milk and bacon are both excellent hangover cures. The body craves fat, protein and salt

I'm joking about "twiggy", you're not exactly scrawny, but I'm sure with a bench like that you could use a few pounds on the legs, eh?

[Briks42]

Milk and bacon are both excellent hangover cures. The body craves fat, protein and salt

I'm joking about "twiggy", you're not exactly scrawny, but I'm sure with a bench like that you could use a few pounds on the legs, eh?

Yeah, my legs are really skinny still. They are also extremely long, which makes them look even skinnier. Though of the 35 pounds I've put on since 2009, most of it has gone to my lower body, which has helped a lot. Just gotta keep at it.

[MazdaMatt]

I've got the opposite Huge ass, decent sized quads and no chest.

[Briks42]

I've got the opposite Huge ass, decent sized quads and no chest.

Just keep at it, man. Bench press and press take a long time to come around. Like I said, I had been doing bench press semi-consistently since I was fairly young.

[Briks42]

7/28/10
Weight- 197.0 pounds

Squats-245x5x3 (PR)
Press- 130x5x3 (PR)
Deadlift- 300x2x1

Squats were mostly fine. On the second set I had problems with my left kneecaps sliding out of place again on the 2nd and 4th reps, so I guess the sleeves don't eliminate that completely. The difference however, was that the pain wasn't nearly as bad when it happened, which might be a result of the sleeves. Not sure yet. But either way, I was able to continue through that problem and that was the only slight hiccup in an otherwise fine squat workout.

Presses were tough but ok. This was my first standing press workout. I had been doing them seated with no back support as the ceilings in my basement were too low, but when digging through my parents' garage, I found that my dad had a free standing rack buried in there, so I put that on the back patio and my problems are gone. I might have some weather issues to deal with from time to time, but I am very happy to be able to do correct presses finally. I will be microloading these, going up 2.5 pounds per workout.

Deadlifts were not good. My warmups all felt kinda weird and heavy for some reason but I ignored it. I concentrated on setting my back and figured I'd be fine. When I got to my work set with 300, the first rep was fine. But on the second rep, I set my back, but must have lost the tightness as the weight left the ground and I felt a bad twinge in my lower left back (where I had some problems in the past). I stopped the set at that point. I feel that I definitely am strong enough to get 300x5 without much of an issue, but I just failed to concentrate on keeping my lower back and abs tight throughout the whole rep. I definitely made the right decision stopping the set, since my back is definitely hurting me a little today in an injury type way. Its not horrible though, and I think I avoided disaster. I feel I will be able to squat tomorrow after doing a thorough warmup and the next time I pull from the floor is scheduled to be powercleans on Monday, with 135 pounds. I will see how I feel over the weekend. My hopeful scenario is no exercises missed and a re-try of 300 when I do deadlifts again next Friday night (8 days away).