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Thread: Andrew's training log

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Andrew's training log

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    I started my training on 25/02/10 (a week ago). I'll post weekly updates. I'm using kgs here because the gyms here use them and it is easier for me to think in those terms.

    Starting Stats

    Age - 22
    Weight - 70.0kg
    Height - 5'10
    PR 5 Rep Squat - 55kg
    PR 5 Rep Bench - 50kg
    PR 5 Rep Deadlift - 55kg
    PR 5 Rep Press - 30kg
    PR 5 Rep Power Clean - N/A
    Experience - 2 years' of attending the gym intermittently with poor programming. I experienced novice gains 2 years ago in terms of gaining weight from 64kg - 74kg and this has dropped down since then. I didn't track my lifts back then, but didn't progress all that much with them. My PRs are estimated to some extent for that reason, and because I didn't do that much compound lifting, and none with the form given in Starting Strength.

    Goals

    Musts

    - Reach intermediate level. In quantitative terms, I mean I would like to reach the weights given for intermediates in the tables at the back of PP. These are given below, assuming a bodyweight of 75kg and translated into 5 Rep Maxes.

    5 Rep Squat - 100kg
    5 Rep Bench - 75kg
    5 Rep Deadlift - 115kg
    5 Rep Press - 50kg
    5 Rep Power Clean - 70kg

    - I would like to gain weight in as clean a way as is possible, without sacrificing overly on strength gains

    Nice to haves

    - Bodyweight - 80-85kg

    - Improvement on chins from 3 sets x 4 reps BW to 3 sets x 12 reps BW

    - Improvement on dips from 3 sets x 5 reps 20kg assistance to 3 sets x 5 reps BW.

    Method

    I am putting my faith into the SS community, ie Rip and all the supporting people/documentation. This means following the basic SS workout for as long as I am gaining on the lifts with it, followed by applying the principles in PP.

    I am going to be monitoring all of my food intake and measuring bodyweight weekly. I will adjust my macronutrient ratio/total calories to ensure bodyweight increases at approx 0.8kg/week in the early stages and then around 0.4kg/week from then on and that the gains are as clean as possible. I will use some periodization with my diet as well, ie weeks where I eat less, as appropriate for my exercise programming. To start I am not taking creatine or any tablet-type (e.g. glutamine, tribulus) supplements but may use these as time goes on.

    I am aiming to get 7-9 hours sleep every night but won't monitor this strictly unless I feel it becomes a problem. I'll limit CV activity to fairly light levels done infrequently as appropriate for good recovery for strength training.

    Timescales and long-term goals

    I would like to achieve the above goals by the end of 2010. I can only have faith in SS and my ability to stick to the method and hope that this timescale is realistic. If, somehow, I achieve the goals before then, I think I'll carry on until the end of the year anyway and try to increase the lifts further. According to what I've read, the beginner programme will last me about 3-6 months until I stop making gains on my lifts. At this point I will move to an intermediate programme. However, the fact I am not totally untrained may mean this happens sooner. I'll have to wait and see. I hope to milk the novice gains for as much as possible, mainly by eating well.

    My long term goals are to be as fit, strong and healthy as possible. I see the best way of doing this to be to get as strong as possible as the first step. After 10 months of strength training I will decide what is the best next step. I think I would quite like to get fitter for football (soccer) and running. But I would like to start that phase a lot stronger.

  2. #2
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    Welcome Andrew.

    If your 'must have' goal is 75kg of bodyweight and you want to " gain weight in as clean a way as is possible", then I suggest you rethink whether this is the right program for you.

    Now if you said your goal BW was 90kg and you wanted a 150kg squat and you were willing to eat to get there, I'd say you probably came to the right place.

    Also, no disrespect but you are 70kg in BW at 5'10". That is skeletal.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    End of 2010? You should hit all of your goals by the end of April. :/

  4. #4
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    puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusie!

    Talk about low aspirations, most people can do these weights within like a month.

    Otherwise you're wasting your money on the gym and concerning yourself with the minutia.

    "I am putting my faith into the ss community", nobody can do things things for you, it should be "I am putting my faith into myself".

    Also the numbers in PP are bullshit, until I saw A.C doing 405 for sets across i didn't realise it was possible. However I now know it is.

    Also the ss program includes eating.

    My other favorite quote by Jim Wendler is "nobody got strong just thinking about it"

    Plus you're not doing the program if they include dips.

    I'm just saying how it is.

  5. #5
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    Sep 2008
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    Sorry if I sound harsh, I'm just trying to get you see the light!

    Thanks

  6. #6
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    Feb 2010
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    Thanks a lot for the comments everyone.

    Misspelled Geoff - the 75kg I mentioned was just the weight I was looking up in the table in PP. My target bodyweight was 80-85kg but maybe I shouldn't be too precious about the 85kg limit. I think I'll up the amount I'm trying to gain a week to more like 1kg in the early days and then 0.5kg from then on and see where that takes me (more like 90kg by the end of the year). I've done searches but can't find a huge amount of advice about diet/weight gain programming for SS - what I've found is quite vague when it comes to recommended calories and target weight gains per week, but to me, this amount of weight gain seems sufficient for making the most of SS.

    Sami - I just want to be realistic and don't really know what I can get to and how quickly.

    beast - Ditto above. I just know that I have been going to the gym for a while and not gained that much and am just cautious that SS will make such a massive difference for me. I agree though that other people have done this with SS and that if I don't it is only going to be my fault. About the dips, I am not doing them or chins to start with but I will probably try to introduce them in a few months. The nice to haves are pretty irrelevant though, the main thing is getting those main lifts up as high as possible.

    Thanks again everyone for encouraging me to be ambitious. I am just trying to be realistic when it comes to setting targets because I think that way I am more likely to stick with it and reach them. But if I do reach them sooner than I think I will push on. I hope to post the first week update tomorrow.

  7. #7
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    LOL wat? Are we actually reading the same forum?

    At your height and weight, your diet should be GOMAD and everything else not nailed down or still breathing. Target like 7K a day and do the training as prescribed. YOu will hit your strength and weight goals by April.

    If you puss around and worry about your abs then nobody here can help you.

    Quote Originally Posted by andrewotbc View Post
    Thanks a lot for the comments everyone.

    Misspelled Geoff - the 75kg I mentioned was just the weight I was looking up in the table in PP. My target bodyweight was 80-85kg but maybe I shouldn't be too precious about the 85kg limit. I think I'll up the amount I'm trying to gain a week to more like 1kg in the early days and then 0.5kg from then on and see where that takes me (more like 90kg by the end of the year). I've done searches but can't find a huge amount of advice about diet/weight gain programming for SS - what I've found is quite vague when it comes to recommended calories and target weight gains per week, but to me, this amount of weight gain seems sufficient for making the most of SS.

    Sami - I just want to be realistic and don't really know what I can get to and how quickly.

    beast - Ditto above. I just know that I have been going to the gym for a while and not gained that much and am just cautious that SS will make such a massive difference for me. I agree though that other people have done this with SS and that if I don't it is only going to be my fault. About the dips, I am not doing them or chins to start with but I will probably try to introduce them in a few months. The nice to haves are pretty irrelevant though, the main thing is getting those main lifts up as high as possible.

    Thanks again everyone for encouraging me to be ambitious. I am just trying to be realistic when it comes to setting targets because I think that way I am more likely to stick with it and reach them. But if I do reach them sooner than I think I will push on. I hope to post the first week update tomorrow.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Week 1 (22-28 February 2010)

    Workouts

    I did my first SS workout on the Thursday after being too busy the first few days and wanting to wait till I was well rested before my first workout.

    Thursday 25 Febuary 2010

    Squat - 3 x 5 x 45
    Bench Press - 3 x 5 x 45
    Deadlift - 2 x 5 x 50

    I did this all as per SS and felt it went fine and that I'd applied the form pretty well. I did 2 deadlift sets because after 1 I felt I could do another, but in future I will limit myself to just 1 and try to get to heavier weights soon.

    Saturday 28 February 2010

    Squat - 3 x 5 x 50
    Press - 5 x 32.5, 4 x 32.5, 3 x 32.5
    Chins - 4 x bodyweight, 3 x bodyweight, 5 x (bodyweight minus 5kg) (on assistance machine)

    This session didn't go that well. I was unhappy with my squat form because my knees were coming inwards when I came out of the hole. The press was also bad. The weight was too heavy and I couldn't complete the sets. I didn't attempt power cleans but I will have some instruction on how to do them and will read up on them and watch videos and try to bring them in as soon as possible. I did chins as a replacement but I'll drop them for a while once I start power cleans.

    Diet and Recovery

    I weighed myself on Tuesday morning first thing. I weighed in at exactly 70.0kg.

    Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't count calories but I would think that I had around 2500.
    Thursday - 3983
    Friday - 3384
    Saturday - 3608
    Sunday - 3583
    Week average - 3130

    I then weighed myself again on Monday 1 March 2010 and was 70.5kg. So 0.5kg gain for the first week.

    Sleep was not a problem - had 7 hours every night, and usually more like 9. I didn't ache hardly at all after workouts and didn't have much DOMS.
    Last edited by andrewotbc; 03-07-2010 at 04:23 PM. Reason: changing formatting

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by misspelledgeoff View Post
    LOL wat? Are we actually reading the same forum?

    At your height and weight, your diet should be GOMAD and everything else not nailed down or still breathing. Target like 7K a day and do the training as prescribed. YOu will hit your strength and weight goals by April.

    If you puss around and worry about your abs then nobody here can help you.
    I'm not pussing around, I just disagree that I need to eat quite that much and that SS is only suitable for people who want to eat that amount. First week I averaged about 3500 calories once I'd started. Then this week I've eaten about 3750 average. I'll see what I weigh in at tomorrow but I think I'll eat at least 4000 every day next week and again see what happens. I really don't think I should go above say 4500 just yet. If I'm making strength gains with 3800-4300 calories then I'm happy. If I'm not making strength gains, I will up the calories every week until I reach the sort of figure you suggest.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    starting strength coach development program
    Mate welcome to the forums.

    Couple of pointers.

    1.) You seem smart and also it seems like you think too much about some things.
    2.) the general consensus on here is that you need to eat everything and get as big and strong as you can. doesn't have to be that way but you will get hassled for it so either don't post it or just take it on the chin.

    if you are 70kg and really eating 4000 cal per day, then you will hit 75kg in a month or so.

    If all the compound movements are new to you, just keep practicing them.
    over and over.

    at 22, you're still young.

    there is a general hatred on here for people who even slightly care about how they look so with you starting your posts with "get my calories as cleanly as possible" in a forum of "2 double whoopers for $1.95" style threads, you're going to cop flak and get given the "eat anything that moves" and so forth.

    Don't weigh yourself weekly.
    Don't get discouraged if/when you start to gain some fat.
    Don't look in the mirror for too long

    Since you have not done this sort of training before, and you are 22, you will get novice gains again.
    so just make sure you "really" are eating those 4000 cals each day.
    if you stop increasing in strength or weight, then increase them by 300-500 cals per day... and so forth.
    each time you stop making gains in strength or weight, increase food a little.

    good thing is that you found strength training at the age of 22..
    some of us waste much more time.

    good luck

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