Third Time's a Charm: The Quest of Consistency

[JohnnyPockets]

Alright, here goes.
I'm starting this training log with the intent of tracking my progress and I'll be soliciting advice along the way. My medium term goal is CONSISTENCY. My long term goal is to get strong enough to have a reason to test myself in a powerlifting competition at some point the future.

I have done SS twice in the past. Both times were pretty successful, but life just seemed to get in the way. The first time was in 2011. I did it for about 6 months and was happy with my progress but eventually stopped due to distractions from BJJ and my graduate studies. About a year ago I ran the program a second time for about 6 months. I ended up stopping when I switched jobs. There was a few months where I could not afford the gym fees or cost to feeding myself. Consistency is my number one goal right now because it has always been my undoing. I have had at least 10 addresses in the past 8 years. My career as a wildlife biologist has meant lots of job changes and relocations. However, I recently moved to Guam and I plan on staying here for the next two years so I don't foresee any major life changes anytime soon.


All weight in pounds. lifts are sets x reps

I started the program on 4/10/2014:

Weight: 146 lbs.
Height: 5' 10 or 11"
Sqt: 175
Bench: 135
Dead: 225
Press: 95
Power Clean: 95
note: these are my workout numbers, not 1RM's

Most recent workout: 5/4 and 5/6/2014
Bodyweight: 153 lbs

Sqt: 225
Bench: 160
Dead: 265
Press: 95 (recently reset from 105 due to form problems)
Power Clean: 125

Current thoughts

Squat: The last few workouts these have been very tough with most reps being real grinders. I am going to drop the weight a bit next workout and focus on speed and power. I think I probably should have started sqts at a lower weight.

Bench: These are going ok. I am not going to increase weight on the next workout so that I can focus on speed. I have been working on making these a full body workout and have been trying to keep everything tighter throughout the lift.

Dead: I love these. They make me feel like a man! I know from experience that the weak grip of my small hands will soon be the limiting factor on these so I have been doing occasional rope climbs as accessory work after my B workouts. My hands are usually fried after a couple climbs.

Press: I recently found a pdf from the press section of SS 3rd edition online. I read that and realized I had been doing these wrong. It was much more clear in this edition than the earlier one I own. I have been setting up wrong. I have had my elbows too far forward during the setup instead of only slightly in front of the bars with the forearms pretty much vertical. Unfortunately, I have long forearms relative to my upper arms and setting up this way does not allow me to rest the bar on my delts. This is just something I am going to have to get used to.

Power Cleans: I really like these. They make my workouts exciting and break up the monotony for me. I like the intensity of the explosive movement. I haven't really done them before because of a lack of bumper plates but my new gym has them. My form doesn't feel bad, but I'll probably post a video of these soon.

Thanks and welcome to my log,

Johnny

[Curtzilla]

@150lbs, if you eat right for this program, you're gonna grow and grow. Get ready to buy some bigger shirts! (or just bulge out your smaller ones).

Congrats on getting started (again), you got this! ;-)

[carson]

Welcome. Age?

[JohnnyPockets]

Carson and Cutzilla: Thanks for the welcome.

Age:28

5/8/2014

I woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn't fall asleep. Then I spent the day working outside in the tropical heat and got sunburned. I knew this was going to be a hard workout going into it.

Squat: 3x5 215 (dropped down from 225 and still felt heavy)
Bench: 3x5 160
Dead 1x5 275, backoff set 135 1x5 with long pauses at the top(trying to strengthen my grip)
Dips: haven't done them due to persistent shoulder pain the past month

This is a video of the second set of squats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB443wDhO1s
comments and critiques welcome

These look pretty sloppy to me. 2 things I noticed:
1. It looks like I am attacking the hole a bit too aggressively and not staying as tight as I should be.
2. The bar path on a couple of those reps was going forward on the ascent.

During the 3rd set I tried to descend with more control and during the ascent I was giving myself the mental cue to keep the bar path over mid foot. This made things feel a bit better.

Bench: I was not able to pause at the bottom for the last few reps and had to touch-n-go instead.

Dead: These were hard. I think that will be my last 10 lb jump and from now on it will be 5 each workout. There is no chalk allowed in my joke of a gym and it felt like the bar was going to slip out of my hands. I did a backoff set of 135 to try and strengthen my grip.

[JohnnyPockets]

5/14/2014

Morning workout
body weight: 154 lbs

sqt: 220 - felt solid
press: 100 - the form changes seem to be helping.
PC: 130 - missed the third rep of the third set. I probably wasn't taking long enough breaks the first couple sets. Ill post a form check video of these soon.
Rope climbs x2
Good workout, especially since I don't usually workout this early.

[JohnnyPockets]

5/13/2014

No workout today.

Man Flu: Women just don't get it

[Lion Heart]

I worked out yesterday with aforementioned man flu and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I actually felt better getting a sweat on.

High dose on vitamin C tabs and you'll be fighting fit again.

[JohnnyPockets]

5/17/2014

Still sick, but popped some Tylenol and headed to the gym for a squat-n-go session right before they closed.

Squat: 225 x 4, 220 x 3, 220 x 2

The focus and intensity were there, but I just couldn't find the strength.
Next workout I'll probably do a mini reset.

[JohnnyPockets]

5/20/2014

Finally well enough to workout.

Squat: 215 3x5
Bench: 155 3x5
Dead: 275 x 5

[JohnnyPockets]

5/22/2014

Squat: 220 3x5
Press: 100 3x5
Power Clean: 130 5x3

Had more shoulder pain during my workout than usual. Typically it has been fine during the workout and flairs up later.
Next workout should put me back to where I was before getting sick.