Dan's Mathematician to Firefighter SS Log

[Dan W]

Hi Everyone,

To start off, here are my current stats:

Age: 30
Body Weight: 173 lbs
Squat: 240 * 3 * 5
Bench: 150 * 3 * 5
Deadlift: 250 * 3 * 5
Press: 115 * 3 * 5
Pendlay Row: 145 * 3 * 5

My current goals are to continue to progress as far as I can with Starting Strength, and to bulk to around 190-200 before cutting back a bit on my diet (GOMAD and all that) to be in better overall cardio and strength shape. For my career I want to end up doing quite a bit of good cardio/HIIT along with weights, but right now I am focusing just on weights because it is already very difficult for me to gain strength and size as it is.

Four years ago I weighed 135 and had never really done any sort of weight training. I decided I wanted to get stronger and ended up doing Starting Strength for about three months at my university gym. I started with a squat of 95 lbs, bench 100, and dead 100, and ended up weighing 145 lbs with squat 165, bench 125, dead 175. I really liked it, but once I left the school I couldn't work out there any more and I stopped lifting.

Last year I became a firefighter, and through a lot of hard work in recruit academy I came out at 165 lbs and in good shape over all, but still not having done any real weight lifting in a long time.

In May I finally picked up SS again and have been loving it. I'll put the log of my previous workouts in the next post, but in general I started low to make sure my form was OK and have been making pretty steady progress since then. The weights are now getting pretty hard, and I've actually stalled a bit on deadlifts and overhead press. I would also like to start doing PCs instead of rows, but I want to get with a good coach for this to make sure I get the technique right.

I wanted to join the forums to increase my accountability and motivation, and also to thank everyone here for all the help and encouragement I've received just by looking around this site for the past few months. Thank you!

[Dan W]

Here's the backlog, if anyone is interested. Just working weights, all 3 sets of 5 reps (only 1 set for deads) unless noted otherwise. Sorry for the wall of text!

5/20/13
Squat 115
Bench 85
Row 70

5/22/13
Squat 135
Press 65
Dead 135

5/24/13
(couldn't squat at station with no rack, did some pistol squats instead)
Bench 95
Row 95

5/26/13
Squat 145
Press 75
Dead 155

5/28/13
Squat 155
Bench 105
Row 105

5/30/13
(pistol squats again)
Press 85
Dead 175

6/1/13
Squat 165
Bench 110
Row 110

6/3/13
Squat 175
Press 90
Dead 195

6/5/13
Squat 185
Bench 120
Row 120

6/7/13
Squat 195
Press 95
Dead 215

6/21/13 (back from vacation)
Squat 205
Press 105
Dead 225

6/23/13
Squat 210
Bench 130
Row 130

6/26/13
Squat 215 x 5/3/5
Press 110 not happy with form
Dead 235 x 1 rep

6/29/13
Squat 215
Bench 135
Row 135

7/1/13
Squat 220
Press 110
Dead 235

7/4/13
Squat 225
Bench 140
Row 140

7/6/13
Squat 230 x 5/3/4
Press 115 x 4/3/2
Dead 245

7/9/13
Squat 230
Bench 145
Dead 250

7/12/13
Squat 235
Press 115
Row 145 not happy with form

7/15/13
Squat 240
Bench 150
Dead 255 x 1 rep

[Nick Klemetson]

Good luck!

How tall are you?

[Dan W]

Thanks!

I'm 5'9".

[Nick Klemetson]

Looks like you're right on track for some good gains! Obviously being a firefighter is an extremely strenuous, stressful job. How do you plan on balancing your job with the Program?

[Dan W]

The main problem I have had so far is just not getting enough sleep, making recovery difficult. My workouts also sometimes have to be off by a day or two depending on my schedule, but I am just trying to be as consistent as possible. Since I started up the program I haven't had any really big physically strenuous days on the job, although one of the workouts (on 6/26) that I was not very happy with was at the station after a busy morning.

For the most part I'm trying to not worry too much or make excuses, and just be consistent. There have been days that I have gotten home after a busy shift and felt exhausted, but went to the gym anyway and ended up having great workouts. Hopefully I can keep going that way! If I need to take a little rest time at some point to fully recover then I imagine I would just try a couple light days or an extra day off.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[spiderman]

Nice work so far.

Do you have 1.25 lb plates handy for presses? Five pound jumps may get hard any time.

[Kazzin]

Do you have a phd?

[Nick Klemetson]

For the most part I'm trying to not worry too much or make excuses, and just be consistent. There have been days that I have gotten home after a busy shift and felt exhausted, but went to the gym anyway and ended up having great workouts. Hopefully I can keep going that way!

Unfortunately, as the weights continue to grow, even more attention will need to be paid to nutrition and recovery. I work a (comparably) low stress job to yours, and recovery is starting to become a real issue.

You could possibly consider a 2x per week model, doing A-B on Mon-Thurs, Tue-Fri, etc... That would give you more flexibility in your schedule and allow for more recovery, while still letting you get stronger to save lives.

[Dan W]

I don't have any 1.25 lb plates at the moment, but that's good point. Maybe I'll order some to bring to the gym (and hope they either don't notice or they're cool with it).

I have a master's in math, and was working on a PhD in differential geometry when I decided to make the career change. I taught math for a couple years while going through paramedic school.

Yeah, recovery is my biggest problem right now. I work a 24 hours on/48 hours off schedule (plus any overtime days), so depending on how the days fall and whether the station I'm at has a rack I have either 2 or 3 days between workouts. Last night was a little busy, but I got a nap this morning and am looking forward to my workout later today!