Entering 40 strong than I was at 20

[Randy Scheingold]

Welcome all. This my first entry in in the forum. As such, I'll provide a little background.

I am 39.5 years old, am happily married to a wonderful woman. We have 3 sons.

I am 5'6" tall and weigh 177 pounds.

While I was active in high school (hockey, football, etc.) I have since spent the past 20 years struggling with my weight and being out of shape the majority of the time. I have a little experience lifting, but mostly just putzing around.

Last July I got serious about my health and began running a lot. However, despite getting up to 6 mile runs, I lost little to no weight.

In November, 2014 I started an 8 week beginner weight lifting program (from bb.com...mostly dumbells and machines). I enjoyed it and wanted more. I read Mike Matthews' Bigger Leaner Stronger and did the program for 8 weeks. Over that 4 months, I lost 40 pounds....needless to say I was hooked. Bigger Leaner Stronger recommended SS, so learn the compound movements. After reading SSBBT and then PPST, I decided I wanted to official try the program. I found an SS coach (Dave Abdemoulaie) and went through a 2 hour session to learn the Squat, OHP, DL, and BP. This log will be my way of sharing progress with my Dave and with anyone else interested. Don't judge Dave by my form! I plan to get some more sessions over the next few months to work on things.

Initial stats:
Initial - from November, 2014 (before the program):
Squat - NA
DL - NA
OHP - 15 pound dumbbell seated press
BP - 25 pound dumbbell chest press

Ending Stats (before officially starting the program):
Squat - 200 3X5 (wasn't sure of form yet)
DL - 225 1x5 (wasn't sure of form yet)
OHP - 105 3x5 (horrible form)
BP - 200 3x3 (decent form)
*Calories about 2200-2500 (was on a mild cut)
*Cardio - 3 to 6 times a week (was trying to lose weight)

Next entry will be my results form the end of week 1 on SS...doing the real program.

[Randy Scheingold]

Ok, here are my stats following my first week (and part of 2nd week) DOING the program.


Week 1 Day 1: (with Dave, who was coaching me)
Squat - 175 3X5 (slight reset to work on form)
OHP - 95 3X5 (slight reset to work on form)
DL - 235 1X5
BP - 195 3X5 (slight reset to make sure form was OK)

Note: Dave was great. I would highly recommend him! He instructed me to get a belt (which I did) and order some shoes (also done).

Week 1 Day 2
Squat - 185 3X5
OHP - 100 3X5
DL - 245 1X5 (didn't lock out knees...repeat next time)
Chins - BW x 8, 8, 6
Standing EZ Bar Curls (I know, I know....but I am vain): 83 1x4, 1x3 (going to lower weight and shoot for 3X10...only on BP days...per Greyshull arm plug in.)

Week 1 Day 3 (belt arrived!)
Squat - 195 3x5 (belt was great help)
BP - 200 3x5 (wore belt, per Dave)
DL - 245 1x5 (locked out knees, ready to move up)
Chins - BW x 9, 8, 6

Week 2 Day 1 (shoes arrived!)
Squat - 205 3x5 (not sure I am going deep enough...need a form check)
OHP - 105 3x5 (not pretty, but getting better...need a form check)
DL - 255 1x4 (very heavy, paused too long before last rep and couldn't get it)....should I repeat next time? (see video of warm up set....phone died before work set)
Chins - BW x 10,8,6

Weight: 177.8
Calories: 3300 to 3600
Cardio: 3 light sessions

Link to form check videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz0...Dbd4tT_oLOlzWA

I'm open to any feedback! can't wait to get back to the gym!

[Randy Scheingold]

duplicate

[Randy Scheingold]

Week 2 - Day 2 stats:

Weight: 177.8
Calories: 3100 (hitting protein macros)
Squat - 205x5X3 (not deep enough last week, so repeated....per Dave....a high rep is a missed rep!) Unfortunately I think I am still a bit high. Take a look below and let me know what you think.
BP - 205x5x3 (New PR!....and only got hard on last rep of each set. not ready to microload yet! 5 min rest between sets)
DL - 255x5 (New PR!....missed last rep last time. See video, I think form is decent...but let me know. Note: phone died on 4th rep)
Standing EZ Bar Curls - 68x6,8,5 (was going for 10....first time I was shooting for 3X10....need to either lower weight or work up to 10)
Pull Ups - BWx4,5,4 (usually get at least 6....but I was completely spent by this point)

Was very tired later in the day and the next day. Feels great to be working so hard, but it is definitely hard work!

Link to videos for form checks:

https://youtu.be/mE5QeECNgj4
https://youtu.be/4pOVs9h-I8c

Question for anyone watching: Should I take 10% off of my squat and focus on depth? Or do I need to just push out my knees more and try adding 5 lb? Note: Getting another training session this Sunday, so that should help as well.

[Ryan Kane]

Great start to the program. I am also new, but did notice one thing on your squat - you are looking too far ahead. It looks to me like your focus is almost horizontal as you descend and your neck cranes to keep looking at that point. Rip was clear in SS that you should look only 4-6ft in front of yourself to keep the neck in a very relaxed position.

It did appear you were a bit high on the squat as well, but it is hard to tell how to fix that (partially because how the hell would I know, I'm just getting started too) due to the camera angle with the rack there. It is hard to tell what your feet/knees are doing as you descend.

I believe I have this same problem as I don't think my flexibility is allowing me to go down as far as I should. I'll be posting some videos later.

It might be better for form checks to post the videos in the Technique Forum as I think many of the experts check that and don't weed through logs that often.

[Randy Scheingold]

Hey Ryan,

Thanks for the shout out. Glad to see I'm not the only brand newbie to the program. thanks for the tips, I did watch my videos again and then focused on my depth (knees out) and keeping my head down. I decided to bite the bullet and spring for a 6 pack of sessions with my SS coach. Luckily I live in downtown Chicago, so its pretty convenient.

Side note, I checked out your profile and it seems we have a few things in common. new to SS. both have 3 kids. Similar age. And...I happen to be an SAP director at a CGP company. small world!

I'll be on the look out for your videos...not that I have much advice to give yet...

Randy

[Randy Scheingold]

Week 2 - Day 3 stats:

Height: 5’6”
Weight: 178
Calories: 3600 (hitting protein macros)….some days I just pig out. Goddamn you ben & jerry’s froyo….

Squat - 210x5x3 (videotaped it and noticed I get parallel on most reps. But need constant diligence to make sure I get it on every rep. Also, I realized I look like a 90 year old man walking out/back from the rack. I’m assuming it is just lack of confidence. I did get some vicious right elbow pain today though. I know there are threads on this, which I plan to read up on. It was f-ing brutal though. But went away in about 2 hours. On a bright now, I hit a new 5RM PR. And my legs did not feel like the limiting factor.)

DL – 265xFAILURE (last warm up at 225 went fine. But I think I was a) not fully rested from my last DLs…2 days ago b) got in my head about not having enough rest….and c) probably need to start introducing the power clean). Good lesson learned on staying out of your head though. I have a training sessions with my SSC this Sunday, so I will be getting an intro to the PC. Then will starting doing DLs every other work out. Happy I made it to 255 before having to alternate though.

OHP – 110x5x3 (new PR! Focused a lot on form here. Fixing my wrist (too much movement arm) and working on the bounce as per press 2.0. Starting to get the hang out it during warm up sets, but the bounce is not very pronounced at all during the work sets. Need to keep working it. However, before I stated the program I could barely get 100 lb up. So this is still good progress. It’s really exciting to watch the program working.

Chin Ups- BWx10,10,7 (not too bad, shooting to get to 15,15, 15 and then will start weighting them)

Looking forward to starting week 3 and learning the PC!

[Randy Scheingold]

Week 3 – Day 1 stats:

Weight: 179.8
Calories: 3300 to 3400

Note: I had my 2nd training session with my SSC (dave). It went well. I had to reset squat due to lack of depth, but that is OK. Dave did help me fix my set up for the squat (I was putting the bar too low on my back). Thankfully that corrected my elbow pain. I also got much more confident at the overhead press and hit a new PR. I started to learn the power clean….that was a bit of a humbling experience. But I’m excited to keep practicing it.

Squat: 185x5x3 (10% reset, due to lack of depth. Was able to hit depth, but have to focus on going down faster and getting deep enough)
OHP: 115x5x3 (new PR!!! Was hard on last reps, but overall not impossible…can’t wait to try 120x5x3 on Thursday)
PC: 45x1xmany, 55x1xmany, 65x1xmany (first day learning the PC….need to practice a lot, but was fun. Excited to get it right and into my repertoire)

Traveling for work next week, luckily there is a very nice (globo….) gym at the hotel. 2 squat racks and 4 benches. No bumper plates or anything but way better than some treadmills and dumbbells.

[Randy Scheingold]

Week 3 – Day 2 Stats:

Weight: ??? (out of town, no scale)
Calories: 3000 (a little lower than has been)

Squat: 190x5x3 (depth was good. Keeping legs narrower & toes not as pointed out. Better set up, but some slight elbow pain still. Not too hard, but not too easy either. Good weight, keeping with the 5lb increments for 3x a week for now)

BP: 210x4, 210x1, 185x5x2 (Failed to get 210x5x3. Almost got 5 on the first set. Then got in my head and couldn’t more than 1 on next set. Did 185x5x2 as back off sets to get my volume in….those weren’t too difficult (maybe 6 out of 10 on difficulty) Have a question into my SSC to figure out my programming for bench going forward….options below if anyone has an opinion.)

DL: 265x5 (first 3 reps went great, last 2 were very hard, but I did them. Going to attempt to stay with 10 lb increments for a few more weeks, as I am only doing DLs every other work out now. )

Standing EZ Bar curls – 50x10, 60x10, 60x8 (lowered weight to get more reps)

Note on Bench: Prior to doing the program, I stalled at 190x5x3. It took about 2 weeks to get past it. But I was doing a bunch of other crap in my routine and was on a calorie deficit. So not sure if that counts as my first plateau or not. I’ve also been consistently training bench with linear progression at least once a week (starting with 2 months of dumbbell presses) for 6 months. So I may be getting closer to advance novice here. None of my other lifts were done consistently enough to be considered advanced novice yet.

My options for programming bench going forward (next attempt is in 5 days….on Sunday).
a) Do a slight reset to 190 and work up again?
b) Attempt 210x5x3 again?
c) Attempt 210x3x3?
d) Microload to 207.5x5x3?
e) Or do 210x5x1 and then 2 back off sets of 185 or 190x5?
f) Something else?

Thoughts???

Thx all!

[ud2o]

I'd go with C.

Then again, my bench kind of sucks, so...

Good luck and good health.