A deeper shade of sore

[JamesMichael]

This is my second go around with Starting Strength. The first time I had great results for a short period, and then a head injury sidelined me. It took months to recover, so by the time I was able to lift I was completely detrained and lazy. In December I started back up for a couple of sessions. Then I had a kid go to the hospital, a string of flu/strep/flu/strep/strep etc between 3 kids. Started a new job which called for 70 plus hours a week. So in between December and March I had maybe three workouts. Everyone has their excuses I guess. But now everything is back at a manageable level so I'm getting back in the groove.

Last time in 11 weeks I went from

Age 35
Height: 5-10
Weight: 175 -> 205
Squat 160 5x3 -> 295 5x3
Bench 130 5x3 -> 225 5x3
Press 85 5x3 -> 160 5x3
Deadlift 225 5x1 -> 405 5x1


I never had any resets, but at the end was erratically skipping workouts or exercises the last month. I was pretty toasted as the weight got higher. I took 10lb jumps on squats up to 250 then I went down to 5lbs. 20lb jumps on deadlift up to about 375, and 5lbs on bench and press all the way through. This time I'm going to be a little more conservative and start taking smaller jumps earlier. Might not help all that much but maybe it'll keep me out of the fetal position.

So a year later I'm 36 now and weigh 190. Lost a ton load of strength, go figure...

So there's the background next post I'll start logging.

[JamesMichael]

Skipping the random workouts

3/11 - 3/13 Starting Strength Seminar - Friggin awesome

3/16
Squat 225 5x3 These were pretty easy. But earlier workouts with lighter weight were tough
Deadlift - 305 5x1 Got my reps, they went pretty quick but I was out of breath for 30 minutes afterwards

Had to stop there as me and a coworker went down to the gym during the day and had a meeting with a client that we barely made it back in time for. A lot of our workout time was spent showing him the lifts.

[JamesMichael]

3/18
Squats
warm up - bar x5x2, 95x5, 145x3, 185x2
Work - 230 5x3 pretty easy. It was work but nothing special

Press
Warm up - bar x5, 65x5, 85x2
Work - 110 5x3 During the second set I put on a belt. It was either going to be to loose or too tight, so I went for tight. But I didn't allow enough of my shirt to be out of it, so at the top of the lift I had to struggle as much with getting shirt clearance as I did the weight. 110 was pretty tough and had to fight hard for the last rep.

Cleans
Warm up - 95 x 2
Work - 135 3x4 Gym was closing down, last 3 sets I only rested 1-2 minutes. On my last rep of the 4th set I missed the jump position but wanted it up so I arm pulled the bar. That caused my back to get a little tweaked. No big deal this time. But since my cleans need work I think I should just let those reps go, reset and try to lift the right way instead of getting hurt by being stupid.

[JamesMichael]

3/21/2011

Ok back at the gym!

At the gym for my youngest kid's bjj practice, check.
At the gym for my next kids bjj practice, check.
At the gym still for my next kids/and wife's mma class, check.

Take them home so I can pick up my just delivered Rips weightlifting shoes! Yeah! They fit like a glove. Or in this case a shoe. My wife is not happy that I have once again 'invested' our money in a noble cause. So I'm telling her that in the long run it really is saving us money since I won't have to spend as much on the medical bills caused by an unstable bar on my back. Yeah, she's not buying it, I don't blame her.. lol but she knew what she was getting into when she said yes..

So I head back up to the gym, damn I feel like I live in this place now. Time to squat, bench and deadlift.

Squat
Warm up: bar x 5, 95 x 5, 135 x 3, 185 x 2
Work: 235 x5x3.

Bench
Warm up: bar x 5, 65 x 5, 95 x 5, 135 x 4
Work: 155 x5x3

Deadlift
Warm up: 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 235 x 2, 285 x 1
Work: 315 x 5


Ok so squats were pretty easy, but honestly I really didn't get any warm fuzzy’s from the shoes. It's not that they didn't do exactly what they are supposed to, I felt balanced and stable. But honestly I feel pretty balanced and stable in running shoes too. I normally wear a pair of converse like shoes with a pretty flat bottom and little cushion. Oh well the halls of Valhalla didn't open up and Valkyries weren't at my sides helping to hoist the weight. At least now I don't have to worry about mud getting on my gym shoes. Don't get me wrong though, the shoes are great, I probably just don't have enough kinesthetic sense to know how much they are helping me.

Bench press is easy now too, I'm resting about a minute in between sets. Mainly because the gym was going to close and I had to get through to get to my deadlift. Last time around I had a shoulder injury caused by benching when the weights got higher, so we'll see how that works out. I could really care less about the bench, it just helps me with my overhead press.

Deadlift, oh what a name... 315 was just a little harder than last week's 305. Not much. I'd say 5-10% feels about right. But I'm a software developer and we're asked to make completely meaningless estimations all the time so take it for what it's worth. All the sets up to 285 were with a double overhand grip, for the work set I went to an alternate grip because the gym ran out of chalk. I tried taping the set with my iPhone, but only got the first 2 reps in before me slamming down the weights caused my phone to drop from its perch. I’ll have to try that again so I can make sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

[JamesMichael]

OK back in action. Took Wednesday off because I only got 2-3 hours of sleep on Tuesday night. I’m too old to pull all-nighters. Had to make myself stop working drag my lazy ass to the gym. Just in time too, I forget that the gym closes at 7 on Fridays. Screwed up my sets on power cleans, I finished the 4th set at 6:59 and had to call it a day. I’ve ate like crap this week, lost 3 pounds in the past day or so. Lucky that it didn’t affect my lifts.

3/25/2011

Squat
Warm up: bar x 5, 95 x5, 145 x 3, 195 x2
Work: 240 x5x3

Press
Warm up: bar x 5, 65 x 5, 85 x 3
Work: 115 x 5x3

Power Clean
Warm up: 95x3
Work: 140 x4x3

Squats were stupid easy. Press is a little bit of a struggle on the last reps but nothing to spectacular. I just hope I can keep the lift going, it was one of my favorite lifts before and I could put up decent weight with it. Power cleans, well the first 2 sets were terrible. I thought I was going to have to reset, which didn’t make any sense because I’m just starting on them! I was formulating the question in my head, what in the hell could make these things so hard. My deadlift, squat, press are all relatively strong compared to this lift. I SHOULD be able to do better so what gives. As I’m thinking this I get down for the 3rd set and a random though pops into my head to set a reference point with my eyes. Bam, all three went up without me thinking about it. 4th set was the same. I can’t remember them all, but it seems like my easiest reps were the same ones where I banged my knee with the bar on the way up so I’ve still got something out of whack.

I’ve belted up with an old tapered belt that I had gotten when I had no idea what a belt was even supposed to do. Works ok, but I’m about to get a good one from BestBelts. Probably the Prime Cut, I don’t think the 13mm Ultimate will give me any extra benefit given the weight that I’m lifting. Good thing that I brought mine too on a whim. The gym’s belt was being used by a couple of kids and their trainer in a Smith machine. I say squat, they were doing quarter squats without going all the way up. The range of motion was about 4 inches. Oh well better than I was doing at their age I guess.

[JamesMichael]

Ok tonight sucked.

Squats
Warm up: bar x5, 95 x5, 145 x3, 225 x2
Work: 245 x 5x3

Bench
Warm up: bar x5x2, 65 x5, 95x3, 135x2
Work: 160 x5x3

Deadlift
Warm up: 135 x5, 225 x3, 295 x1
Work: 325 x2

No belt on the squats, they were still easy, just a little harder than last time but I’m barely breaking a sweat. Bench was ok, deadlift was fine on the first rep. All of the weights felt like a normal workout no big deal. But on my second rep of the deadlift something ‘squished’ in my abdominal area. Have no idea what it was, probably nothing. Maybe it was just my body throwing a warning sign, kind of a shot over the bow. I figured prudence was my best course of action so I stopped there. I was pissed because the weight felt very manageable, but I don’t want to be stupid and screw something up that keeps me slower over the long run. Getting old I guess, never really had anything feel like that before. No pain, no lumps, no popping, more like squeezing yogurt out of a squish tube.

That sucks, I even had a dream about deadlifting 325 last night. FML