gForce's PP Novice Log

[gForce]

Age 46
Weight 146.0
Height 5' 8"
BF 11.3% by home scale, don't know how accurate that is

Squat
55x5
75x3
95x2
3x125x5

Bench
55x5
80x3
105x2
3x115x5

ChinUps
3xBWx6

Just starting this today so I thought logging would help keep me on track. All weights are in lbs.

[gForce]

Recovery day, though not much to recover from. I may have set my starting weight too low so I may adjust that tomorrow, though I know I'll be progressing soon enough. Today was only walking for about 20 minutes, stretching, then KB swings 8x30:20.

[gForce]

Squat
55x5
80x3
105x2
3x135x5

Press
45x5
55x3
65x2
3x75x5

Deadlift
2x75x5 (I did this as RDLs)
135x3
155x2
185x5

Squatting again after only one day off is new for me but at a lighter weight it felt fine. It was also strange to do the deadlift at the end but the weight was not tough even with the extra fatigue.

[gForce]

Squat
45x5x2, 55x5, 80x3, 115x2
140x5x3

Bench
45x5x2, 60x5, 85x3, 115x2
125x5,5,8

Chin Ups
BWx6x3

Wt 148.0

I have to confess that taking up SS has me looking forward to lifting more than I have in a while. Squats felt light, despite doing them more frequently, though a little more sore than usual. The upper body stuff was solid, and pushed a few extra reps on the last bench set (but not on the chins). Now I'm looking forward to the next one!

Trivial note - my set notation used to be sets x weight x reps. I see it done all sorts of different ways on this board, but hardly anyone does it my way. I see in the SS book it is weight x reps x sets, so I'll do it that way from now on.

[gForce]

Squat
45x5x2, 55x5, 85x3, 115x2
145x5x3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irOzyWOC5c0

Press
45x5x3, 55x3, 65x2
80x5x3

Chin Ups
BWx6x3

Weight - 147.8 lb

Everything felt strong this morning. Focusing on form as much as I can while I remain in sub-PR range, especially squats for depth and chins all the way to a dead hang. Posted a video of my squats for form critiques (sorry about the lighting) - I welcome any comments or suggestions.

[Mr_Rogers]

TomC pointed out that it looks like you're doing a high bar squat. You might want to take a look at this if you're trying to do a low bar squat.

If you're going for a low bar squat you should try to get your knees out over your feet a little quicker as there is quite a bit of knee travel from 1/2 of your decent until you reach the bottom of the hole. I think Mark discusses knee positioning extensively around page 54 in the 3rd Edition.

edit:

Quick question, why aren't you deadlifting frequently?

[gForce]

Thanks for the tip. I thought I was doing pretty good with bar and arm position, creating a platform for the bar to rest on. It really felt "right." I guess I will have to re-read and reasses. Thanks for the tips. I'll have a look at knee position as well. Rats, thought I was doing better than that.

I'm following the Practical Programming Novice schedule which calls for DL's once a week. I thought about doing them every other session to start out, since that what he recommends in SS for new lifters, but since I have been lifting for a few months already I ended up going with the weekly DLs as is.

[Mr_Rogers]

I know what you mean about the squats, I have a bit of a love hate/relationship with them at the moment. The part on TUBOW was useful for me, but I seem to have solved one issue and exposed another (hips not getting back quick enough).

I ordered PPST a few weeks ago, but unfortunately Amazon(.ca) had a 1-2 month ship time on it :-| We started out at a very similar weight (I'm 5'10 and up to 162.5lb), I'm curious why you went with the novice program in PPST over the one in SS. Did anything in particular set it apart?

[gForce]

Actually, I really like squats. That's one of the reasons I decided to go with this program. I am just bummed about the bar position thing, since I have been really working on my depth and hip drive and thought I was doing pretty good overall. My weight was actually in the high 160's about a year ago, and I spent most of last year shedding fat. Now I'm trying to regain lean mass. It is all a work in progress, I guess.

In terms of PP vs SS, they are pretty similar and in the end probably either would have been fine for me. The real reason I ended up going with the PP program is I wanted to work on chinups and pullups, and didn't really think I wanted to do power cleans -- mostly because of my age, my inexperience, and lack of coaching in my basement to help me.

[Mr_Rogers]

I love squats too, I'm just not very good at them and I have a difficult time waiting until my next workout to "correct" issues. I was about 170-180 about a year and a half ago and then went nuts on circuit training and lost any and all strength I had, not to mention a good 30lbs before I started doing the SS lifts.

I train in my basement alone and I know my form is far from perfect but there are quite a few great people here willing to point out flaws and offer advice. I was a little hesitant with power cleans as well, but they're just too fun not to do. As far as I know, chins and pullups are more of an accessory exercise and could be done at the end of every workout if you really wanted. My only disappointment so far is not starting the program sooner. I feel like I've wasted the last 10 years haha

I'll be following your log :-)