What a Gwaan's Training Log

[WhatAGwaan]

"What A Gwaan?" Jamaican Patois for "What's going on?" It has nothing to do with Starting Strength. Also, I am not Jamaican.

Age: 22 years old
Sex: Female
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 160lbs
Other athletic hobbies: Figure skated since I was 8 years old, starting boxing 2 years ago, started training for Muay Thai 1 year ago, several years of sports-specific weight training for figure skating, swimming for time (I absolutely despise steady-state cardio), dancing
Goal: Powerlifting meet
Program: Original SS after doing SL5x5 for a while.

7/5/2013 on 3 hours of sleep:
Squat: Form compromised, sets were crazy, not paying attention to rest time @ 145lbs
OH Press: 3 sets of 5 @ 76 lbs
Power Cleans: 1 set of 3 @ 115lbs, 4 sets of 1 @ 115lbs, 1 set of 1 @ 120lbs (unnecessary, I know, but I just wanted something to be proud of for that day)

7/7/2013
Squat: 3 sets of 5 @ 145lbs
Bench Press: 3 sets of 5 @ 103lbs
Deadlift: 1 set of 3 @ 195lbs, 1 set of 2 @ 195lbs

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I lol'd at the reason for editing.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

I'm Jamaican and you made me look. Waaa gwaan my gyal.

[WhatAGwaan]

How yuh stay!!

7/10/2013
Squat: 3 sets of 5 @ 150lbs
Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 @ 78lbs
Power Cleans: 4 sets of 3 and 3 sets of 1 @ 115lbs

The squats did not feel too bad on the first two sets, but the third set required everything in my system. By rep 3 in the third set, I was not happy with how difficult it felt to keep everything tight to maintain the back angle and knees out so I punished myself by going extra low on rep 5 of set 3. I definitely need to work on the breathing too. OHP was not a problem at all. I was really hoping to successfully complete all of my power cleans and it just did not happen. I had no motivation to fully activate my legs by the end of it.

The things I hear at my gym... oh my goodness. Tell me I need to be doing sets of ten again, please. And that I need to be doing abs everyday. I dare you.

[cph]

The things I hear at my gym... oh my goodness. Tell me I need to be doing sets of ten again, please. And that I need to be doing abs everyday. I dare you.

I completely sympathize with this.

[WhatAGwaan]

7/12/13
Squat: 2 sets of 5, 2 sets of 1, and 1 set of 3 @ 155lbs. Yes. I tried. So hard. I did not want to let go and move on. I convinced myself I just needed a different song playing on my mp3 player.
Bench: 1 set of 5, 1 set of 2, and 1 set of 1 @ 105lbs. I think I will get it next time.
Deadlift: 1 set of 5 @ 195lbs. This felt so easy, I think I could have done another 3 or 4.

On the night of the 12th I had to attend a pajama party for work and was up late. Now, I love pajama parties. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun. However my recovery suffered because I was also up late the night of the 13th. In addition to all this, my stomach has been aching horribly everytime I eat. Needless to say, I have not been eating as much as I usually do. My lifts yesterday were disgusting. Hideous. Wretched, if you will. Oh, body weight is up from 161lbs to 163lbs.

7/14/13
Squat: 1 set of 2, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 0 @ 155lbs.
OHP: 1 set of 4, 1 set of 2, and 1 set of 1 @ 80lbs. OK, 81lbs counting the clamps.
PC: 1 set of 1 @ 115lbs, 1 set of 0 @ 115lbs, 1 set of put the weights away and go home and go to bed.

I have watched Rip's video on the low-bar back squat bar position MULTIPLE times and I still have issues with the bar. It does not want to stay put. It does not feel comfortable. I now know my scapulae like the back of my hand, but something isn't right. It rolls as I try to move the bar in a straight line with the weight over my heels. Any lower and it would roll more. Any higher and I would get pounced on for squatting "high-bar." I'll surf through the forum for some answers or post a video in coach's forum. I will be seeing a doctor about these stomach pains too. I can only live on Kefir for so long.

[WhatAGwaan]

7/17/13
Squat: 155 felt so unbelievably heavy, I decided to just call it and deload to 140lbs and did 3 sets of 5. When all that was done, my buddy came buy with his lifting belt, and I thought, "Oh, I want to try squatting with the belt," so I put on that belt and did another set of 5 at 140 lbs and a set of 4 at 155 lbs. Why? Because I hate deloading.
Bench: @ 105lbs - 5, 3, & 2
Deadlift: @ 200lbs - 1 set of 3

Macronutrients were fine. Took my BCAA's. Did not sleep very well, maybe 4-5 hours the night of the 17th and the 18th.

7/19/13
Hips were so unbelievably stiff and sore.
Squat: @ 145lbs, 5, 5, and 3
Overhead Press: @ 80lbs (81lbs), 5, 5, and 5 finally.
Power Clean: 1 set of 1 @115 lbs. This was very frustrating, as on the 10th I was 3, 3, 3, 3, 1.

Part of me just wants to switch to TM now vs. waiting. The trouble is that I can't identify if I am stalling on the program because of the program itself, because I'm a selective microloader, or because I am not even getting 6 hours let alone 8-10 hours of solid sleep a night. If I switch to TM and still don't sleep, I'll still be whining. And whining gets you nowhere.

[Kazzin]

Recovery is definitely becoming an issue for you. If I were you I'd deload everything a week or two's worth of progress, introduce a light squat day per advanced novice programming, and sleep more.

[Gwyn Brookes]

Recovery is definitely becoming an issue for you. If I were you I'd deload everything a week or two's worth of progress, introduce a light squat day per advanced novice programming, and sleep more.

This and get a belt. :-)

[WhatAGwaan]

Kazzin - When you say deload everything a week or two's worth of progress, what exactly do you mean by that? I.E. Deload every other week? For the entire week? What would that schedule look like?

Gwynn - Thank you. I will be getting a belt from bestbelts.net within the next two weeks!