OldDog's novice log

[OldDog]

OK, jumping in for accountability and the occasional question.

Male, 53 yo, 5'7", 184 lbs

I'll be aiming for Tue, Fri sessions but won't get there until week of 7/14 due to work/home/gym schedule.

Completed Sully's Intro to Barbells class (I enthusiastically recommend it) last week with:

Squat 65x3x3
Press 45x3x3
DeadLift 125x5x1


6/26

Squat 45x5x3 55x5x1 65x5x1 75x5x3

Press 45x5x2 50x5x2 55x5x3

Deadlift 115x5x2



6/30

Squat 45x5x3 55x5 65x5 75x5 80x5x3

Press 45x5 50x5 55x5 60x5x3

DL 95x5 105x5 115x5 125x5


A couple of questions I have already.

Is it possible to be too conservative in adding weight? I've never lifted before so I'm thinking I'd rather add 5lbs and complete the workset than add 10 and fail.

Do warmups look OK, too few, too many?

[carson]

Old Dog,

I hope we meet soon. Sully is our coach as well. I've been with him for about 18 months and my wife joined us about 6 months ago. On the Squats it's always best to do what Sully says. However, in my experience Deads are best advanced by 10 lbs for a few sessions, then when that starts to begin to plateau move to 5 lbs. I look forward to the twice a week sessions as one of the best and most enjoyable things I've ever done.

BTW at 53 you are just a young whipper snapper to me.

Carson Lauffer (Here Comes Hercules)

[Oldman]

Welcome to the forum, Old Dog! Slower often means a longer linear progression. If you work it out on paper, hurrying the added weights won't get you a whole lot further than taking it conservatively. There is also the fact that it is easier to avoid stalling on LP, than it is to get unstuck: I can attest to that firsthand. Carson's right that you can progress the DL with higher jumps for a longer time: that's because it uses so much muscle mass. Eventually, though, you end up doing DLs once a week until, or unless, you develop your recovery abilities in your intermediate phase. With this stuff, there's no hurry: the iron game is an ultramarathon. BTW, I'm an old Detroiter, too, replanted to the South after wandering around a bit.

[OldDog]

Thanks for the welcome, Carson and Oldman. I appreciate the tips.

Carson, I'm not a regular at Sully's but hope to see you there sometime.

[carson]

If you do become a regular you will be pleased with the care and professionalism that Sully offers. He does swear sometimes but it does help us to learn technique and keeps us safe. (He really doesn't curse as much as he thinks he does.) You will be quite pleased with the results. We are.

[OldDog]

Felt cruddy this AM w/ only 6 hrs sleep and a headache. Had coffee, milk, 3 eggs, bacon and ibuprofen for breakfast. Session took about 1.75 hours from warmups on a row machine to completion of the chin ups.

Is that too much time? I'm not sure how long I should be resting between sets.

Squat

45x5x3
60x5x2
70x5
80x5
85x5x3


OP

45x5x2
55x5
60x5
65x5x3


DL

105x5
115x5
135x5


Chins / BW

4,3,3

[carson]

The older one is the longer the rest. At your youthful age Deads may require 4-5 minutes on Worksets. Little rest is required during warm ups. My rests were 5-6 minutes on worksets. The other lifts may require slightly less time. But then each person is a bit different. Some take a little longer. Some less.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Warmups should take as much rest as it takes to load the bar. A late, heavy warmup set may benefit from brief rest.

Blast through warmups and take plenty of rest between work sets.

Got your email today. Will respond tomorrow. Of course we can set something up for later in the month. Looking forward to it.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Also: Carson is a good guy and you should look at his log.

Ditto Oldman.

[Oldman]

You've got some great advice. The warm ups don't take that much time to get through, but the worksets should get as much rest as you need to get the reps. You're in good hands with Sully and Carson; listen to what they have to teach you. The whole thing is to take it slowly and to be consistent over time: then, the gains you'll make will surprise you.