My quest....

[fire.captain]

I am creating this log as a way for me to track my progression and hopefully motivate myself. Any constructive criticism or encouraging words are always encouraged.

In December of last year (2010) I stepped on the scale and was almost 300 lbs. After years of being unhappy with my health, energy levels and overall body appearance I finally made the decision that I was going to change it. For the next 6 months I worked very hard at reducing my weight and am now at around 215 lbs. I have made the decision to get back in the gym and am planning on following the SS program.

I have spent the past week getting reacquainted with the weights and trying not to shock my body to much in the beginning as I have not done any weight training in over 6 years.

My current 5 rep max is the following:

6/24/11_____________7/18/11
Squat- 175___________220
Bench- 135___________160
Deadlift- 235__________285
Press- 85_____________120

I am still working on my form with the powerclean and will update that weight when I am confident that I am doing it correctly.

Other info:

5' 8" tall
Male
215 lbs.

I am also trying to figure out the diet portion as I have been on a low calorie diet for awhile now and know that I need to consume more "fuel" to make the proper gains.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Hey cool, another fire dog. We've got an active duty cop here, and then me a currently non-practicing member of The Blue Religion too. I know of least 2 other fire folk who check in here now and again too. I'll just go out on a limb here and guess you are closing in on at least geezling or geezoid territory according to our geezer taxonomy here (promulgation pending, currently in draft form only). Welcome.

[fire.captain]

Thank you for the welcoming. Not close to geezling, I am 28 years old.

[Mark E. Hurling]

OK, then the Captain thing threw me off. Keep at the training and you'll pass the combine and make the cut for Team Geezer with ease.

[fire.captain]

Well all has been going well this past week, the previous week is another story. Still trying to get comfortable eating more food and find it difficult at times as I always feel extremly full and have to force myself to. Last week was extremly painful in regards to my leg muscles, they were extremly sore and tight. This week has been a whole lot better as I've only felt mild discomfort the morning after working out.

Here are final lift sets the past 2 weeks, yes I did the warm-up sets just don't feel its necessary to post them.

6/27
Squat 180 lbs
Bench 140
Deadlift 245

6/29
Squat 185
Press 105
Clean- Still working

7/1
Squat 190
Bench 145
Deadlift 255

I wish I had a better idea of what my form looks like but my gym doesn't allow cameras. I also haven't seen anybody in when I'm there thats doing anywhere to proper squats for me to ask for feedback. If anyone on here is from the Northeast side of Houston or knows someone that may be able to help please let me know.

[fire.captain]

Back in the gym on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

7/5

Squat 195 3x5
Press 110 3x5

Still working on the clean, I am normally a very coordinated person but seem to have great difficulty with this no matter the weight. I have found someone who has offered to help this Saturday so I will see how this goes.

[Ron_Hendrix]

Hey a fellow Texan, I was raised in New Caney, Humble and Kingwood are my old stomping grounds. We just moved out from Porter to Cypress. I'm the same age as you, started out with 195 in January, my work sets in about an hour will be 325 for 3 sets of 5 reps. I've had experience with SS b efore and the best advice I can give is take a video and post it, between Rippetoe and other forum members they will set you straight. Before you do that though look at it yourself and see if you can find what you're doing wrong and research how to fix it, a little effort on your part will go a long way towards shoring up technique faults. Stick to the program!

Also, I'm an aspiring firefighter, do you work for the Humble FD, HFD, or Atascocita?

[fire.captain]

Thank you for the comments. In regards to my powerclean I think that it is getting better, just don't have the confidence with this lift as I do the others. I would like to be able to video of it and post on this page but the gym I'm at is pretty strict about no cameras or video.

Im with the Atascocita Fire Department, been with them for a little over 10 years.

[fire.captain]

7/7/11

Squat 200 3x5
Bench 150 3x5
Deadlift 265 3x5

Everything felt very light last night, which was nice for a change. Hopefully I continue to make gains everytime.

[Ron_Hendrix]

What gym are you going to? I've never heard of a gym not allowing cameras on the gym floor, they just don't want you to have them in the locker room, for obvious reasons.

And I thought about volunteering at AFD, but I lived in Porter and figured by the time I got a page it'd be too late, I need to look into volunteering at Cy Fair VFD. Had an interview with Baytown FD, but I haven't heard anything back...guess they didn't like me.