Hammer of the Gods - A Novice's Training Log

[Orion73]

Hey

Very new to all this, so bear with me.

Started Stronglifts 5x5 back in November 2011 and made good progress at first (not missing a workout or a rep for the first six weeks), but that's when I really started to struggle, especially with the squat. I felt that my form was terrible and I felt crushed by relatively light weights (got to 62.5kg). At this point, I felt like my body was breaking down, so I took a step back and had a couple of weeks off (apart from daily push ups).

Picked up SS at the start of the year and have now crossed over from SL, and attempted to work my way back. But guess what? I am now hitting the same issue again on Squat and can just about do 3x5 60kg with OK form. Just feeling a bit pathetic and can't seem to fix it - it just doesn't feel right.

I am going to start posting my workouts here in an attempt to motivate myself and maybe get some advice from you lot out there. I also feel that a reset is in order just to get my form right.

Laters

Paul.

[Mr_Rogers]

I am now hitting the same issue again on Squat and can just about do 3x5 60kg with OK form. Just feeling a bit pathetic and can't seem to fix it - it just doesn't feel right.

Have you thought about filming yourself and posting in the technique forum? I've done this and the help has been amazing. I still struggle with critique implementation though. I take all criticism as positive, but for the life of me I can't replicate it in practice. These lifts are very technically demanding.

I also come from SL, but it didn't take long to realize the guy was a snake oil salesman so I quickly jumped ship and haven't looked back.

[D.W.]

Good luck!

Maybe you could post some information about you, like gender, age, bodyweight.

Post a video in the technique section if your squat feels wrong.

[Orion73]

Workout #1a

Ok, so here's some info from my "reset" workout of today.

Gender - Male
Age - 38
BW - 81.6kg

Today was all about finding my working weights for Workout A :

Squat - 1x5 20kg, 1x5 30kg, 1x5 40kg, 3x50kg - Did go for 60kg, but could not complete with acceptable form, so set my starting weight at 50.

Bench - 1x5 20kg, 1x5 30kg, 3x5 40kg - Starting weight 40.

Deadlift - 1x5 40kg, 1x5 50kg, 1x5 60kg, 1x5 70kg - Starting weight 70.

Finished with 3x12 push ups.

Will be going up 2.5kg for all lifts, except the Dead which will be 5kg. I still feel that my squat is my weakest lift in all senses, so will get a video up asap and get some feedback.

Soundtrack for today - "Badmotorfinger" by Soundgarden

[Orion73]

Workout #1b

Today was about finding starting weights for the Press and Clean (workout B) :

Press - 1x5 20kg, 1x5 25kg, 1x5 30kg, 3x5 35kg - Form was failing, so will start at 30kg.

Clean - 1x5 20kg, 3x5 30kg - Did go for a set of 40kg, but struggling with form, so will start at 30kg.

Also did some squats- 1x5 20kg, 1x5 30kg, 1x5 40kg and 3x5 50kg - felt better than yesterday.

All in all, not a bad session. Will have to restudy the technique for the Clean, as felt that it was quite demanding. Finished with 3x12 Press Ups.

[Orion73]

Workout #2

Squat - WARM UP 2x5 20kg/1x5 25kg/1x3 35kg/1x2 40kg. WORK WEIGHT - 3x5x52.5kg

Bench - WARM UP 2x5 20kg/1x3 30kg/1x2 35kg. WORK WEIGHT - 3x5x42.5kg

Dead - WARM UP 2x5 30kg/1x3 45kg/1x2 60kg. WORK WEIGHT - 1x5x75kg

Finished with 3x12 push ups and then went to work.

All good!

[Orion73]

Workout #3

Squat - WARM UP 2x5 20kg/1x5 25kg/1x3 35kg/1x2 45kg. WORK WEIGHT - 3x5x55kg

Press - WARM UP 2x5 20kg/1x3 25kg/1x2 30kg. WORK WEIGHT - 3x5x32.5kg

Clean - WARM UP 2x5 20kg/1x3 25kg/1x2 30kg. WORK WEIGHT - 5x3x32.5kg

Finished with 3x12 push ups.

All good!