5lift's goal to stronger foundation

[5lifts]

Goal : Going for strength. My main recreation is surfing. Unlike other parts of the country, up here in Northern California, you're surfing against very strong swell that will knock you unconscious. I think having additional strength will help with my paddling & keep me safer.

Program : The Original Starting Strength Novice Program. I used to workout at Crossfit and learned some of the basic lifts. It's probably best to start from scratch so I can perfect my form as I go.

I'll be surfing roughly 3x a week. If it's completely flat out, I'll be doing conditioning on kettlebells on those days.

This is my current plan:

Mon
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Tue
Surfing
or
Kettlebell swing (44lb) 3x25
Kettlebell press (44lb) 5x5
Turkish getup (44lb) 1x5

Wed
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
5x3 Power Cleans

Thu
Surfing
or
Kettlebell swing (44lb) 3x25
Kettlebell snatch (44lb) 5x5
Kettlebell row (44lb) 5x5

Fri
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

(alternate weekly)

Today will be first day to the gym, so majority of the time will be figuring out the starting weight. Would love any recommendations or comments.

Thanks

[5lifts]

Adding some stats:

5'7 165lb

Nutrition: Mostly paleo with 1 cheat day. Lots of fat, grass fed beef when I can get it etc.

[5lifts]

Got an easy start to get used to the movement.

Squat - 115 @ 3 x 5 (a bit light, need to up this next time)
Bench - 115 @ 3 x 5 (This one felt a bit light too, but need to get the movement down)
Deadlift - 135 @ 1 x 5

Easy, looking forward to this getting harder.

[5lifts]

Training Day 2 (3rd day)

Warmed up to squat

Squat - 125 @ 3 x 5 (relatively easy)
Press - 85 @ 3 x 5 (struggled a bit at the 5th rep)
Power Clean - 115 @ 1x3 (worked up to the weight, need to get this technique down).

I tend to round my back at the beginning pull stage of power clean, really need to get that part down.

[5lifts]

Training Camp @ Oakland - Press + Deadlift

Press:

Warmed up via 4 warm ups.

Pressed 85 @ 3 x 5 (Ready for 90)

Dealift:

Warmed up to 1 x 5

225 @ 1 x 5 - Need to work on not rounding the back, keep shoulders forward and butt up.

[5lifts]

Training Day 3

Felt sick yesterday and couldn't train, making up with a Tuesday training. Sore throat but feeling much better.

Squat:

Warmed up to working weight

135 @ 3x5 (relatively easy, no problem)

Bench:

Warmed up to working weight

125 @ 2 x 4 (failed last rep)

115 @ 1 x 5

Deadlift

Warmed up to 225

225 @ 1 x 5

Some practice drill for hang clean.

[5lifts]

Training Day 4

Sickness getting better. Thursday is relatively quiet in the gym, got a whole squat rack to myself.

Squat:

Warmed up to working weight

145 @ 3 x 5 (starting to feel heavy, bar still moving at relatively good speed)

Press

Warmed up and made a mistake by sticking 105 lb on the bar. Failed and had to push press the bar up, that was a bit embarrassing.

95 lb @ 3 x 5

Need to keep that bar traveling once it hits the bottom. It's surprising how critical getting the right grip on the bar is. Once I fixed my grip on the 2nd set, the bar went up smoothly.

Power Clean:

Warmed up and decided to hit 135, was too lazy to chase down light weight plates. This turned out to be a mistake, ended up working WAY too hard.

135 @ 5, 5, 4 + 1, 3 + 2

Failed once and had to slow down and refocus before finishing the sets. 135 was definitely too big of a jump from 115. Pulled some callus off the finger, ugh.

[5lifts]

Training Day 5

Rough day. Failed 1 bench, jammed finger, still healing from pulled callus. Didn't help I showed up with 3 fools taking over my olympic platform doing sissy dances.

Bench

Had to start on bench press 'cause all squat racks were taken by dudes either dancing or squatting 2 inches deep with 400 lb. Fools.

125 1 x 4 (failed). Missed the last set, jammed my finger while trying to escape the bar from crashing down. I think it's an issue of focus and lack of technique, not strength. Will attempt 125 again, perhaps with a spotter.
120 2 x 5

Squat

145 @ 3 x 5 - Not too bad, should have checked the logs and realize that was the same weight as Day 4. Will definitely be increasing the next round.

Deadlift

235 @ 1 x 5 - Have to keep that back straight. The injury on my right hand had me change my right grip to underhand. This helped my pull tremendously. Will be experimenting with over and under hand.

[5lifts]

Training Day 6

Relatively good workout day, really need to get better at power clean. Felt like I'm doing more work than needed to bring the weight up.

Squat

160 @ 3 x 5 - Weight is starting to come up, can definitely feel that right leg is quite a bit more dominant than left and is carry a larger portion of the weight. Really had to remind myself to balance the weight and use tailbone to bring weight up.

On side note, dude squatting by me had incredible form, very inspiring.

Press

100 @ 3 x 5

This was a bit of a surprise. Didn't think I could push the weight, but when the confidence boost after the bar went up was a huge help.

Power Clean

130 @ 1x5
135 @ 2x5

Technique with Power Clean still needs work. Really struggling with the first pull. Re-reading SS to fully understand the cues.

[5lifts]

Training Day 7

Didn't sleep too well, didn't eat too well. Switched schedule from evening training to morning training. Surprised by how many hardcore lifter there are at the gym in the morning, definitely a slight motivational boost.

Was real nervous about the Bench, been playing the technique over and over in my head. Decided to bring the weight to 125 and see if I fail again. Amazingly it worked out alright, last failure is likely a technical failure.

Need to keep the wrist more straight during squat, right wrist is starting to bother me during the lift. Will have to tape myself sometime soon for form correction.

Squats

165 @ 3x5

This is really starting to feel heavy.

Bench

125 @ 3x5


Deadlift

240 @ 3x5

The hand injury had me struggling with the grip on my right side. Hook grip on 2 reps and had to switch to underhand for the rest of the 3. Had to take a break in between 3rd rep to 5th to readjust and make sure my form are correct.