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Not really starting but starting strength
I'm 18, 6' 0", 182 pounds and currently still in highschool. No sports, but I'm just looking to get stronger because I can. Better strong than not, right?
I've been bench pressing, curling, and doing pull ups for about 4 years now, but I've been weight training for about 4 months now. My first 3 months I was doing some split I made myself and my deadlift and squat were not increasing so I had to switch it up. I've been on starting strength for a month tomorrow. I've seen fantastic gains so far and crazy progress on my lifts that didn't even start that low to begin with for this program.
My squat before starting a month ago was 235 4x6 very hard, and my squat now has gone up to 280 3x5 today which felt very easy, I had at least 2 more reps left in me for every set. My deadlift is all over the place, was at 335 1x5 but I have dropped the weight to 245 to fix my form.
Here are my workouts I have done last thursday and today
Thursday: 5/1/14
Squat: 275 3x5
Bench press: 225 3x5
Power clean: 160 5x3
Pull ups: 3x10,6,4
Sunday 5/4/14
Squat: 280 3x5
I think my hips shoot up a bit in relation to my shoulders but I'm not sure about that one, other than that my form is clean. For now I'll focus on keeping my back tight on the way up.
Press: 135 3x5
Press felt lighter than 130 and my form feels smooth.
Deadlift: 245 1x5
Still working my way up to fix rounding. Was at 335 lbs 1x5 before I reset the weight.
Dips: 3x15
Ate about 3200-3400 calories today.
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Tuesday: 5/6/14
Squat: 285 3x5
Every workout the weight feels just as smooth and with clean form. Really liking the progress here. I see it as a good sign that I haven't missed a rep at all up to this point yet. Fixed my hips shooting up just by making a point to stay tighter.
Bench press: 230 3x4,4,3
Bench press stalled just like I thought it would. Last week 225 felt heavy as hell. This calls for a change in diet. Probably going to go for 9 hours of sleep before a bench day to make sure I'm rested enough to hit my sets.
Power clean: 165 5x3
Working on my form here. Really trying to build that explosive jump. Missed one rep on 3rd set due to technique fail, but I am going to increase the weight anyway.
pull ups: 11, 8, 7
Increased rest time to 5 mins per set and got a significant increase in numbers.
Changing my diet. My threshold is no longer 3400 calories. I'll count so I make sure I hit this number, but after that I'm eating as much as I can. New diet may be around 4000 calories a day more or less.
Last edited by roundedback; 05-06-2014 at 07:35 PM.
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Admirable progress so far. How much weight have you gained since starting?
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I wish my lifts were like that at 18. Keep at it man, those are some solid numbers IMHO.
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I'm really actually not sure how much weight I have gained since starting. If I had to guess maybe 1 or 2 pounds. Another reason I'm increasing my calories is because I don't think I'm gaining enough weight.
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Thursday: 5/8/14
Squat: 290 3x5
Still feels nice and smooth.
Press: 140 3x5
Felt a bit heavy, but still went up without any issues.
Deadlift: 265 1x5
I'm happy to say that my rounding has pretty much disappeared. I can only hope it stays this way at heavy weights but I think I'm training muscles now that weren't being trained before, as the deadlift feels much heavier with a straight back.
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Sunday: 5/11/14
Squat: 295 3x5
Lost focus on last set, so I barely pushed it out. Other than that it felt pretty easy.
Bench press: 230 3x5
I think I have my form down. Got all my sets and reps from quite a bad stall last week.
Power clean: 170 5x3
I changed my technique a bit and I feel a lot more explosive.
Pull ups: 12, 9, 7
Got a couple more reps than last time
Extra notes:
I have been doing ab pulldowns every workout and incrementally adding weight to 3x12 for a couple weeks now. I see no reason this would harm progress, as my abs are getting stronger with this exercise.
I've added 3x8-12 barbell curls to my routine at the end of this workout. Since I'm doing pull ups instead of chin ups I'd like more direct arm work. I'm going to incrementally add reps and weight to this exercise.
I've cut out dips from my routine for now after last weeks bench press stall.
I've gained 2 and a half pounds this week.
Hope everyone else is making good progress too.
Last edited by roundedback; 05-11-2014 at 11:15 PM.
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nice. you sound like you are making great progress.
on the curls i found a good progression to be 3x5 and add 5lbs session for about 6 sessions (2 weeks). then drop down 15lbs and go to 3x8 then the next session keep the same weight and go 5x8 then add 5lbs and back to 3x8 and so on. just a suggestion.
so it would look like:
3x5 @ 70lbs
3x5 @ 75lbs
3x5 @ 80lbs
3x5 @ 85lbs
3x5 @ 90lbs
3x5 @ 95lbs
then:
3x8 @ 80lbs
5x8 @ 80lbs
3x8 @ 85lbs
5x8 @ 85lbs
3x8 @ 90lbs
5x8 @ 90lbs
3x8 @ 95lbs
5x8 @ 95lbs
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The curls are a bit tricky. I don't want to add them to every workout, but just my bench and power clean days after I do my pull ups. Another option would be to add them after press and deadlift days but that might leave my pull ups weak the following workout. I think I'll go with your progression scheme but every other workout. It will take longer though since I'm not doing the curls every workout but I'm fine with that. I'm not looking for a 225 max curl anyway lol. I'll see if I can keep doing 3x5 but once the weight stops increasing which I know it will as the bicep is a very small muscle I'll drop 15 pounds and do the progression you mentioned.
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play with it and see what works for you. man i wish i started training properly at your age.
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