Todd's Training Log

[Todd Saunders]

I have just started training with Mac and Gillian Ward. I am excited to see where their coaching can take me. This is where I am starting;

Age - 43
Height - 5'6"
Weight - 185

1 Rep Max
Squat - 360
Dead Lift - 430
Press - 190
Bench Press - 250
Power Clean - 245

My Goals;
Squat - 400
Dead Lift - 500
Press - 200
Bench Press - 300
Power Clean - 275

Compete in my 1st lifting competition.

I work full time, run my own gym on the side and train others it is a joy to be in the hands of Mac and Gillian.

[Todd Saunders]

My first training day. It was great to be back under the bar after a couple of days off. The workout was really good took a little longer because Rhonda and I were making sure to use the form that Mac and Gillian has given us, I also was practicing and coaching Rhonda through the workout. The workout was as follows
Squat: 45 2x5 focused on the set up and points of execution
135x5 felt good getting use to the low bar position
185x5 good set concentrating on points of execution and breathing with a little more weight
225x3 little bit of pain i. Right knee on third Rep
255x2 good and solid set
285 3x5 all three sets felt really good was able to maintain good bar speed on all sets, set 2 bar was positioned a little high and
Out of proper position.
Press: 45 2x5 worked on press 2.0 hip pop
85x5 hip pop felt a little better shoulders felt really good
115x3 performed with strict press did not feel comfortable with hip pop at this weight
135x2 strict press shoulders felt really good
155 3x5 1 set did without weight belt and felt lumbar area hyperextended a little, belted for sets 2 and 3 felt better shoulders felt
strong through all three sets

Deadlift: 135 2x5 worked on proper set up and covering the four steps of the setup and execution of the lift
225x5 concentrated on resetting at the bottom and used hook grip through entire set
275x3 felt good with the lift a still getting use to hook grip at this weight
305x2 solid lifts was able to get both with hook grip
335x5 was heavier than expected maintained hook grip for first two lifts then changed to opposing grip for last three.

Dips 2x8 dips went fairly easy tonight good first night.

Really good workout. Was not use to pushing all three lifts in one night and made the last set of dead lifts a little heavier than expected but I am really excited to work this program and see the gains it will provide.

[Gillian Mounsey]

Welcome Todd. It's a pleasure to be working with you and Rhonda. Looking forward to helping you get really strong!

[Todd Saunders]

Today was an eyes on evaluation workout with Mac. It was great to just lift what you are told to lift and get coached while you are doing it as we'll as immediate critique when you get done. There is so much to be said for a great coach, any way here is how my training day went;


Squat: 45 2x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x2, 290 3x5

Bench: 45 2x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x2, 205 3x5

Deadlift: 135 2x5, 225x5, 275x3, 305x2, 345x5

Chins: 2x8 w/ 10#

All the weights felt good but the key take always from today's training session, 1. Squat - really concentrate on shoving my knees out and pushing up with my hip drive. 2. Dead Lift - first and foremost stay over the bar, straighten my legs ( I have a tendency to want to shove my knee up under the bar)

[Todd Saunders]

Day 3:

Squat: 45 2x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x2, 300 3x5

Press: 45 2x5, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 160 3x5

Deadlift: 135 2x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 355x5

Dips: 10lbs 2x8

Squats - all my sets felt really good, worked on keeping knees out and driving with hips. Felt a lot better with form.

Press - my press felt really strong on these sets, still trying to get better with the timing of snapping my hips on the press 2.0

Dead lift - still trying to wok on my technique and staying over the bar as long as possible. Warm up sets felt pretty good but working set of 355 had to use opposing grip, first three reps went up good then I let my form go on the fourth set and started rounding my back paused for a few seconds and was able to finish last two reps. Felt heavy but was able to pull it.

Dips - 2 sets of dips w/ 10# first set went pretty easy second was a little tougher but was able to get them all unbroken.

[Todd Saunders]

Day 4:

Squat: 45 2x5, 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 305 3x5
Squats felt really good today I believe I am getting better at keeping my knees out and the Bar is feeling better in the low bar position. 275 felt a little heavy but I think I did not have everything as tight as I could have before lifting out of the rack. All of the working set I felt really good and was able to maintain good bar speed on all lifts.

Bench: 45 2x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x2, 215 3x5
All of the bench reps felt really good. The very last rep of the third working set was challenging but I was able to get it up without stalling

Deadlift: 135 2x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 350x5
Really focused on staying over the bar. Moved my hand position out just a little. This was the best Deadlift workout so far the working set felt really good and I was able to get all lifts in un broken. Used hook grip up to 315.

Chins: 10lbs 2x8 - 1 set was good. 2nd set was able to get 7 full range of motion reps, 8th rep was not fully over the bar.

I felt really good through this entire workout. Pace seemed to be really good. Really excited about the Seminar coming up this weekend.

[Todd Saunders]

Day 5
trained at 1930 hrs

Squat: 45 2x5, 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 310 3x5
The Squats felt really good tonight concentrated on the bounce out of the bottom. The last rep of the last set felt like it was starting to get heavy, but all other reps felt really good. Still able to maintain about the same amount of rest in between sets.

Press: 45 2x5, 85x5, 125x3, 145x2, 165 3x5
Presses felt really good until I had a bonehead moment on the first working set. Not paying attention to how much I was putting on the bar and thinking 185 was 165 for the first set. I was able to complete 3 reps then failed on 4, I was extemely upset with myself for braking the set. Durning my rest, while kicking myself, I finally recalculated the bar and realized my mistake. I placed the correct weight on the bar and was able to get all three sets in.

Deadlift: 135 2x5, 225x5, 275x3, 305x2, 355x5
Deadlifts went well again tonight, the best thing about the deadlifts is there is only one set of 5 working reps. I was happy with my pulls tonight they felt good the last rep was getting heavy stalled a little but did not stop and I was able to pull it.

Dips: 2x8 w/ 10# All my dips felt really strong tonight was able to get both sets at a pretty constant speed.

This was my last workout before the Starting Strength Seminar this weekend at Crystal Coast Strength and Conditioning. I am really excited about the weekend, looking forward to learning and experience lifitng with some really great lifters.

[Todd Saunders]

Day 6
Starting Strength Seminar

1st the seminar was great, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be a better lifter or a better coach.
During the seminar these are the numbers I did;
Squat - worked up to 315 x 5 all reps felt really good no slowing down on the bar even after doing all the warm up sets of five. Mac was my platform coach here and really helped me feel the right back angle I needed.
Dead lift - 350 x 5- pulled all five easy - Josh worked with me on squeezing my chest up and finishing without shrugging.
Press - 165 x 5 - was able to get all reps with the 2.0 style and was able to really feel the hip snap, the biggest correction i needed was not going to fast forward was able to work with Jordan. He had me push forward slowly then snap back fast, really made the lifts better.


Day 7
Starting Strength Seminar
Second Day of the seminar, this was three long days but it was filled every minute with information that I feel made me better, even the breaks being able to talk with the other attendees was educational and a lot of the time entertaining. This was the results of the seond day of training at the seminar;

Power Clean - 205 x 3, Steph was a really awesome coach on this lift. I was able to straighten out a couple of little problems I was doing like being timid on my jump with lighter weights and my eye gaze. I was also not being really aggressive about taking my shoulder to the bar when going to the rack position. I did not fully straighten this problem out in our session but it has been identified and I am aware of where I need to work.

Bench - 225 x 5, Finished off with Mac again and he helped me identify that I had a tendency to want to let my hand position creep in so that when I was in the bottom portion of the ROM my forearms were not vertical, this was an easy enough fix and I was able to do all the other reps with a good hand position.

We then finished up the weekend Seminar. It was very informative and helped tie all the publications together. After reading the books, then when I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the seminar i went back and studied the books, this was definitely a plus because then at the seminar Rip puts all the information together. If you are serious about becoming a better lifter and understanding what's going on when you lift, do not miss a chance to go to a Starting Strength Seminar.

[Todd Saunders]

Day 8
1930 hrs
(Mac actually gave Rhonda and I the choice since we just completed the seminar to either lift Tues, Thur, and Sat this week or just do Wed and Friday due to the seminar, would could not stand it, we wanted to put what we learned at the seminar in to play as soon as we could, so we are going Tues, Thurs and Sat. this week)

Squats - 325 3x5 - all three set felt great, no slowing of the bar at all.

Bench - 225 3x5 - Felt really good on all these sets also, especially the last, don't know if it was because it was the last and I wanted to make it a really good set but it felt the tightest. I kept thinking about Mac telling me when he gets off the bench his back is almost i cramps because of squeezing it so tight and that's what I tried to do and the last set really felt like the best set.

Dead Lift - 360 x 5 , All the pulls felt awesome, the seminar really helped. I was a little fast on the 1st to 2nd rep but slowed and made deliberate resets between all the other reps.

Chin Ups - 2 x 8 w/ 10# - was able to get all reps, last 2 on second set were slow but I was able to get both with full range of motion.

I know the seminar, more importantly the great coaching I received this weekend helped, I am also sure that I was really pumped because right before I went to the gym to workout I received my email telling me I past the platform evaluation, so now I get to opportunity to take the written test for Starting Strength Coach. (is that a good thing?) no just kidding. It is a great thing, because it is a win - win situation, if I past i receive the certification as a Starting Strength Coach. However if I come up short and don't pass I get to keep studying, training, learning, and then I get to go to another seminar and take another shot at becoming a Starting Strength Coach. I really must thank all the great coaches that were at the seminar for all their help.

[Todd Saunders]

Day 9
1930 Hrs

Squats - 330 3x5, Squats are still going pretty easy. On the 1st rep of the last set i let the bar drift forward and let the weight go up on my toes, it got extremely heavy, but I was able to recover and all the other reps were good.

Press - 170 3x5, all three working sets felt really good. No slowing of the bar speed until the 4th and 5th reps of the final set. They were not grinding reps but the bar did slow a little.

Power Clean - 205 5x3, 1st workout with power cleans, they were not to bad the weight actually felt pretty light. On the first rep of the first set I was trying to get my elbows under the bar fast and actually went down premature and struck the middle of my chest with the bar, I missed that lift. I recomposed and completed the three in that set. The remainder of the sets were frustrating because I was still pulling the bar back to me instead of meeting the bar with my shoulder. After a little coaching from Rhonda and watching the video we realized I was throwing my head back to far, my final set I really focused on maintaing my eye gaze forward and down this seem to really improve my cleans on that final set. which was great because I was able to finish the lifts on a positive note and felt really good.

Chins - 2x8 w/10# Chins are about the same first set comes fairly easy then the second set is easy until the last rep or so then I have to grind those reps out, but am able to get them.