From nerd to stronger nerd

[Raven]

From nerd to stronger nerd

Hi guys! I have been doing Stronglifts for about one month now. However I’ve been researching and decided I like Mark Rippetoe and his community better than Medhi and his folks. I'm unsure if i should change my program into Starting Strength right away or just continue doing SL until i reach intermediate and then follow Rippetoes philosophy. I practice my power cleans when i do press, and because my best friend and training partner is following my lead without knowing to much about lifting I am wary of suddenly changing the program. Hopefully you guys will give some solid advice :)

About me

I'm a 27 years young Norwegian who enjoys debating, politics, martial arts (novice), science and the occasional party :D I'm highly opinionated, but I pride myself in giving in to evidence and the better argument. I despise endurance training with a passion. My girlfriend is currently very sick and in a hospital, her well being is closely linked to my motivation and mood, hopefully I wont let it halt my training progress to much, even better I try to motivate myself to improve myself for her when she gets better :)

I aim for functional strength and speed (power) in the long run.

My stats

BW: 105 kilos (230lb)
Height: 180 CM (5,10 feet?)


Starting out (5x5)

A
Squat: 40 kilos (hurt like a MF for days)
Bench: 40 kilos (very easy)
Rows: 40 kilos (mod heavy, form was bad)

B
Squat 42,5 kg ( hurt half as much for a few days :)
Press and power cleans: 30 kg (mod heavy, clueless on cleans)
Deadlift: 40 kg (form was bad)

One month later

A
Squat: 60 kilos (mod heavy)
Bench: 52,5 kilos (easy as air)
Rows: 52,5 kilos (heavy, form vastly improved, ty YouTube!)

B
Squat 62,5 kg ( mod heavy :)
Press and power cleans: 42,5 kg (mod heavy, cleans much improved, ty Rippetoe!)
Deadlift: 65 kg (easy but still unsure on form)

I feel better and more alive already!

Other

I'm fat and I wonder what effect this will have on progress? Is it an advantage or a hindrance for strength gains? I'm not planning on losing weight while I improve my strength ( I’ll do that when I got a solid strength foundation). I live a inactive life style other than lifting, I eat when I am hungry (always high protein food, close to 0 added sugar), multi vitamin, multi mineral, omega 3, lots of fat free milk and creatine. Vastly different from my old lifestyle (never took any vitamins, lived on frozen pizzas, sometimes just eating 2 liters of ice cream for dinner :)

I'm lazy and knowing my self I will probably update stats every 2 weeks or every month... Chitchat on the other hand is something I rarely turn down ;)

Raven

[Cambero]

I suggest you buy the book and even the DVD. SS is a novice program, so just switch to it now...it has less volume than SL, so do not worry about adaptation from SS to SL.

[ambivalens]

Velkommen!

Let the lifting be something you do for your mental well being too. When the going gets tough, like it obviously has with your girlfriend, moving some iron around can be a great way to get rid of the worst stress. It's gotten me through several rough patches, both with the wife and with deaths in the family. A heavy deadlift will clear your mind like nothing else

Whereabouts in Norway are you located?

[Raven]

I live in North Norway (Vesterålen), lots of vikings hanging around these forums? Where abouts do you live?

I just came back from training where something weird happend. Me and my training partner was doing our squats first like always while the only other guy in the gym, a 60 kilo teenager, was doing some endless amount of bicep curls. Nothing unusual about that you might say. However when we got to the press, we started power cleaning the barbell into position strugeling to improve our form. Suddenly the guy complimented us on trying to powerclean, not many do that he said, and then he came by and helped us, allowing us to almost completely copy the way Rip teaches. After he promtly went back to his endless bicepcurls....

BTW i would really love to know if I am at a disatvantage or advantage because of my body weight? Maybe it's to insignificant to ponder about?

[Raven]

Aye I'l adapt our program into SS over the next week to not cause to much confusion to my partner. Do you guys reccomend dropping the bent over rows? we do them right after BP, suposedly for some awesome synergy :P ty for response

[Ello]

Lifting for strength is as much as a mental battle as it is a physical one. Don't let laziness permeate into this area. This is holy ground!

[Cambero]

Aye I'l adapt our program into SS over the next week to not cause to much confusion to my partner. Do you guys reccomend dropping the bent over rows? we do them right after BP, suposedly for some awesome synergy :P ty for response

Heavy Deadlitfs are tough on the back, do them right after The Bench. "Synergy" is nice, I have done it...SS is about getting as strong as you can in as an efficient manner, a rested back is important right before Heavy Deadlifts.

Rows are a good back exercise, but SS is about working the main lifts; Power Cleans aid with Deadlits in a manner that Rows cannot, also Power Cleans help you gain power better than rows can ever do. You can add Rows latter on as an assistant exercise, maybe in the intermediate stage or to help a lift that is lagging.

Do not let the complexity of Power Cleans stray you away from them. Again SS the book is invaluable.

[hamburgerfan]

BTW i would really love to know if I am at a disatvantage or advantage because of my body weight? Maybe it's to insignificant to ponder about?

For strength? I would definitely say you're at an advantage as you're already pretty big.

[ambivalens]

BTW i would really love to know if I am at a disatvantage or advantage because of my body weight? Maybe it's to insignificant to ponder about?

I live down south, in Drammen. Perhaps I'm one of those "søringer"? :P

I'm a big, heavy-set fellow too. It has no impact on your lifting, as long as you are flexible enough to reach proper depth on your squats etc. If your stomach is so big that it gets in the way, I imagine that could be a problem, but it's still far fetched. Don't worry about it

[Raven]

Getting some logical shit from you Cambero, thanks!

Ambi: E du en hælvettes søring! :O Hehe :P

I'm born super flexible for some reason and can strech and twist my body in ways no one with my lifestyle should be alowed to and my fat is stored in my ass and tighes :P