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Thread: Re-Starting Strength After Living Abroad

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Seattle, Washington
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    69

    Red face Re-Starting Strength After Living Abroad

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    I guess I'm not really a novice anymore, but I'm re-running linear progression. I've been following this website for a while, but I haven't bothered posting any training logs.

    Height: 5'9.5"/176.5 cm
    Weight: 192 lb/87 kg (got slightly plump on vacation)
    Age: 28 years old

    A brief background history... as a kid I wasn't very active. I would occasionally go jogging and lift dumbbells that my cousin used in the garage, but I never progressed in strength. I joined the military for 4.5 years which exposed me to physical activity, but even then I didn't make much strength gains. I met a civilian contractor near the end of my service who introduced me to the beautiful world of barbell weightlifting. He knew of SS, but for some reason he wasn't doing the SS program. However, he did use barbells and tried to convince everyone else at work to do the same.

    I started barbell weightlifting a few month before I moved to Korea on August 2014 as an exchange student. Progression went very slowly because I had to figure out my macros in terms of Korean food, the personal trainers kept giving me bad advice, and folks would keep on getting mad at me for doing deadlifts.

    After my exchange program, I traveled Asia on vacation. Asia in general isn't really into barbell culture which makes me quite sad. It was difficult to find a proper squat rack at a nearby gym where I traveled, and the hotel gyms never had a barbell. It's a shame that the most important piece of equipment is often the last included.

    I decided to reset heavily since I lost some strength during vacation. It also gives me a chance to work on my form. I tried e-mailng the one SS trainer in Korea for a form check, but she only e-mailed me once and never got back to me again. Ah well, I'm sure I can find one in Seattle, WA.

    Anyway, hoping to do the program with less interruptions this time in a better environment! I can't promise anything exciting since my genetics aren't very good (low SVJ), but I'll do my best!
    Last edited by Unfie; 08-10-2015 at 08:22 PM. Reason: added basic info

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Seattle, Washington
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    So here are my first two workouts. Had other plans this weekend so I'm just going to do the next two workouts on the 11th and 13th.

    August 6th
    Squat: 245 lb/111.3 kg, 3x5
    Press: 100 lb/45.4 kg, 3x5
    Deadlift: 285 lb/129.5 kg, 3x5

    August 9th
    Squat: 250 lb/113.6 kg, 3x5
    Bench: 165 lb/75 kg, 3x5
    Power Clean: 135 lb/61.3 kg, 5x3

    The first workout left me gassed, but I wasn't grinding any reps. The second workout felt much better. It was also in a better gym. I am trying out various gyms before I commit to one. I think I really want to continue going to the second gym. It's way smaller than the second one, yet it has 4 squat racks as opposed to the 2 in the other one. They also don't do silly crap like block me off from the area with the bumper weights because there's a class going on even though nobody is using the platform/bumper weights.

    As silly as some U.S. gyms can be, they're way better than the ones in Asia. Looking forward to more gains!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Walled Lake, Michigan
    Posts
    6,681

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    Welcome. I wish you the best. There are other Korean lifters who post on this forum. Some are quite advanced. Maybe they have some insights that will be helpful. Please, add your weight, height, and age.

  4. #4
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    Okay, I updated the original post with my basic info.

    August 11th
    Squat: 255 lb/116 kg, 3x5
    Press: 105 lb/47.7 kg, 3x5
    Deadlift: 290 lb/131.8 kg, 3x5

    Squats still feel easy. Press strangely feels right as far as intensity goes even though I've lifted more than this before. I guess the upper body gains go away quickly on vacation. Maybe I'm just a t-rex. Anyway, deadlift weights were easy, but my grip slipped on the second set so I did hook grip. My thumbs were pissed off at me since I don't normally do that. I just did alternating grip for the third sit. I might just keep the deadlift at 1 set from now on and do pull-ups or something like that for grip work.

    The gym I went to today sucks. It's way bigger than the one I went to last time, but it only has 3 squat racks, two of which don't have adjustable pins.

    Local gym rankings:
    1. Ballard Health Club
    2. Go Total Body Fitness
    3. LA Fitness

  5. #5
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    August 13th
    Squat: 260 lb/118.1 kg, 3x5
    Bench: 170 lb/77.2 kg, 3x5
    Power Clean: 140 lb/63.6 kg, 5x3

    I tried out Mark Bell's Slingshot for the first time today. It felt strange. I ended up going way too narrow when I did my work sets. Should have warmed up with it longer. I ended up doing 3 sets of 5 at 135 lb as an accessory after the workout to get used to it. If you don't force yourself into a normal stance, it'll pull you in...since it's a slingshot for your chesticles. I've also started wearing compression cuffs for my elbows since I'm getting old.

    I'm considering just sticking to Ballard Health Club. LA Fitness is leaving me pretty annoyed, and as much as I want to try the free samples a little longer, I don't want to kill my gains. At least I'm lifting light weight so there's a little bit of wiggle room.

  6. #6
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    August 16th
    Squat: 265 lb/120.4 kg, 3x5
    Press: 110 lb/50 kg, 3x5
    Deadlift: 295 lb/134 kg, 3x5

    I rushed the first two sets of press, and my left shoulder blade started to feel sore. So I waited a long time for the third set and it flew up. For deadlifts, grip wasn't feeling very good so I had trouble doing double overhand even for 295 pounds.

    I decided to make Ballard Health Club my permanent zen garden. As sad as it may sound, it's hard to find another gym with 4 squat racks that isn't overpriced or associated with Crossfit. Right now, I'm experimenting with doing farmer's walks with the deadlift bar that they have for conditioning. I wish they had a sled, but this will do for now.

  7. #7
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    August 18th
    Squat: 270 lb/122.7 kg, 3x5
    Bench: 175 lb/79.5 kg, 3x5
    Power Clean: 145 lb/65.9 kg, 5x3

    Weights flew up, but resting periods were slightly longer than they needed to be (~5 minutes). I was looking up a new phone to buy since my international unlocked phone doesn't support the LTE bands in Seattle. Bummer since I'm content with my S5. Ah well.

    I hope I can keep up this progression through at least part of September. I planned out my workouts through the next month, and I'm on track for some good numbers if this keeps up! Pretty excited!

  8. #8
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    August 20th
    Squat: 275 lb/125 kg, 3x5
    Press: 115 lb/52.2 kg, 3x5
    Deadlift: 300 lb/136.3 kg, 3x5

    Maybe it was the lack of coffee today, but I had to start resting longer between sets. I ended up rushing the 2nd sets of both squats and press and noticed it felt a little more grindy. So I waited longer for the third sets and it felt good. I need to be especially careful with the press if I want to keep on milking linear progression from it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    Anyang, South Korea
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    Nice to finally see your training log on here!

    3 sets of deadlifts sounds absolutely exhausting.

  10. #10
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    Apr 2015
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    Seattle, Washington
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by 알렉산더 View Post
    Nice to finally see your training log on here!

    3 sets of deadlifts sounds absolutely exhausting.
    It's such light intensity to what I've done before, though. To me, this is conditioning and getting used to grip work. Starting next month, I will lower it to 1 set of 5 and make 10-pound jumps for a little bit.

    I think everything else is where it needs to be right now. Bench and power clean are feeling light, but I want to make sure I'm confident on technique before going heavy again.

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