Cameron's Log

[CameronS]

Started 28/09/2015. I am about to turn 24.

I am biking to and from the gym, 10 minutes, which serves as a perfect warmup. I've weight lifted casually on and off in the past. Read Starting Strength and realize now that I had a lot of problems with my form in my previous weightlifting. Feel like I've been lucky not to get injured in the past, especially in squats.
A few questions popped up during the last little while that I hoped the forum might be able to answer.

09/28/2015 - 213 lbs
Squat: 145 3x5. I felt like I could have done a little higher but did not want to start off too high and plateau.
Press: 90 3x5 Second workset the weight went up a little quicker on the left side. Corrected that.
Deadlift: 175 3x5 Felt really good on these.
Pull ups - could only do 1 legitimate one, did 2 "cheating ones" where I jumped up a little bit to give myself momentum and when I grew weak from that I did 2 where I just jumped up and tried to lower myself as slowly as possible.

09/30/2015 - 214 lbs
Squat: 3x155 I feel really confident in my squats now that I have read the book. Before I had my knees too close together and would sometimes pause at the bottom of a rep trying to work up the strength to get back up. As well, I would breath out as I went up in the rep. Now I take a huge breath which I hold, and feel a lot stronger.
Bench Press: 105 3x5. In the past the most I have bench pressed is 205. I was surprised at how weak I felt in this lift, especially as even recently I've been dumbbell pressing 102 lbs at home (adjustable weight, estimating the bars at 1lb each). I bench pressed in the power rack, setting the safeties so that my neck would be protected.
Deadlift: 185 3x5

09/31/2015

Rest day.
Had to bike to an appointment. 40 minutes each way exerting myself. Question: does this lower the effect of the rest day dramatically?

10/02/2015 -211 lbs
Squat: 3x165
Press: 3x95
Deadlift:205 I meant to go up 15 pounds but I got the weight wrong. It was only afterwards that I realized I had gone up 20 pounds and not 15. I felt really good for this set. The video on the starting strength youtube channel really helped me in terms of setting up prepositionally before the lift. Want to say a big thank you to Rip for putting those videos up.

Chin ups: Still only able to do one real one, did 3 negatives and called it a day. Starting to feel a bit sick.

10/05/2015 Did not weigh myself
Woke up slightly sick. Figured that as long as I washed my hands constantly and did not cough on people, I wouldn't be contagious at the gym.

Squat: 3x175 Form was good but I did not feel strong in this lift. Still managed to get through the sets but it was not as fun as usual.
Bench press: 115 3 x 5 Felt very strong in this lift.
Deadlift: 220 Did not feel strong, but managed to get through it.

10/6/2015

Rest day. Question: Does having a slight cold impact the ability of the body to recover? Does this count as a full rest day?


10/7/2015 - 215 lbs
Slightly sick. Figured it would be OK to go to the gym as long as I washed my hands a lot. When I say slightly sick, I mean slightly sick - I wouldn't go to the gym if I thought I was going to get others infected. I had a really bad cold which finished before I started the starting strenght program, and I think I'm just feeling the after effects of it.
Squat: 205 1x5, 1x2. You might be wondering why I jumped weight so much in this lift. Well, when I got to the gym, I realized that I had lost my workout log. I thought that the week before I was at 195 for 3x5. Now after looking at the log I had saved on my computer I realized that I tried to add 30 pounds to my squat instead of 10. Idiot mistake. The weight felt huge from the first set on, and I couldn't manage. Looking back, I am surprised I managed to get through the first set. Failed in this lift. Not feeling good at this point.
Press: 95 3x5. Not feeling great. Decided to use the same weight as the week before, mostly due to the fact that in my mind I had not been able to progress on the squat (I thought at this point I had failed to add 10lbs to my squat). The form was so much better than this week. I am not dissapointed that I did not add weight to this lift, as the previous time I did press the weight did not go up perfectly. Felt good and decided to add weight to my deadlift.
Deadlift: 230 1x5. Felt great after this weight. Instant slight soreness in back and it even a struggle to put the 45s back! Biked home and felt fine. Question: on my last two reps, I waited about five seconds between them to recover. Is this ok? Or is it much preferable to go up and down without pause? I apologize if the answer is found in the book. I read it but there is a lot of information to cover.

Did not do chin ups. Felt completly wiped by my deadlift set.

Question: In the book it says that one can exclusively deadlift for 2 weeks or so until the deadlift is firmly ahead of the squat. In the art of manliness video with Rip on the power clean, if I understood him correctly, he said it can take as much as two month to get the muscle memory of the squat correct before adding in the power clean. How long should I go before I add the power clean? My gym does not have a specific area for power cleaning, but I believe the rubber floor + mats + not dropping the weights will be ok.

Question: How long should I wait before I can add things to the program? I want to do sprint training for a flag football league, swimming for my overall cardio (I spoke with a cardiologist who reccomended I do additional cardio other than lifting), ab rolls, pushups, and curls. I do not want to impact my gains and have refrained from adding anything other than biking when I needed to. Should I wait until I am a month into the program? Two months? Three? When reading the book, it seemed as if it was assumed that novices might deviate and add in curls regardless of the advice of the book, but I don't want to slow down my progress.

[Unfie]

Welcome to the cool kids club!

I remember reading a thread here about people debating how long you are allowed to wait between reps before it becomes a separate set. Don't crank out your set without pausing at work weight. That's pretty risky. If you're really pushing yourself, you will want to take in some air and re-tighten your core between reps.

As far as adding power cleans in, I don't remember how long I waited, but you probably don't have to wait more than 2 weeks. It might be hard for you to resist adding accessories as a novice, but I wouldn't bother until at least advanced novice where you start to justify putting in a light day in the middle of the week. If you absolutely need to add accessories, do it very gradually.

I think a little bit of conditioning is important for intermediate and advanced lifters. Does your cardiologist have experience with weightlifting? A heavy set of squats will have you breathing hard with your heart racing.

[CameronS]

Thanks for the welcome. Excited to be starting the journey correctly this time.

Hmm. Let me know if you find the thread - I tried to use the search functions but it's not working out great for me. I was resetting my form, taking a big breath, and getting mentally focused to crank out the last couple.

I'll add power cleans in at the start of my third week then. My only hesitation is that I have never seen anyone else doing them at my gym and there is no specific place to do them. Luckily there are some large pads for deadlifting that I will stack up and try to let the weight fall gently down on them in a controlled motion. I think that will be safe for the gym floor, especially since I doubt I will be cleaning any big weight for some time.

It's tempting to add accessories. Even more tempting is to add swimming. I really don't want to do anything to get into the way of my novice gains though. I'll just stick with the program until I am not making constant gains and then get the next book (Practical Programming I believe) and hope that it has a section on adding accessories and cardio to the mix. I doubt I can keep up the gains I have been making for more than a month or two before I start to stall, but I am cautiously optimistic.

I don't think my cardiologist has particular training in weightlifting. From what I understand the study of weightlifting is lacking at a medical/scientific level. I've personally gone to a seminar on the heart and athletes, and they did show some worrisome thickness of hearts in powerlifters. However, I have my reservations on trusting the studies as they do not account for PEDs which could negatively affect the heart. I'm not knowledgeable enough to do anything but defer to the expert's opinion - I trust my doctors for medical advice. I find my heart is racing after a workout and I am sweating like crazy, but I am not certain if that gives the same cardiovascular benefit (heavy strain for short periods) as swimming would. I'm not educated enough to do anything but trust the doc at this point.

[CameronS]

Was going to edit my first post to add my next 4 workouts, but I think you can only edit for a certain period of time.

Finished up my second week of working out

10/9/2015 did not weigh myself

Squat 180 3x5 (Just pretended last weeks messup didn't happen.)
Bench press: 120 3x5
Power clean: First time power cleaning. Did it with 95lbs. 3x5 Felt very unnatural. Did not go well.

3rd week

10/12/2015 216lb

Squat 185 3x5
Press: 100 3x5
Deadlift: 235 1x5

10/14/2015 220 lbs
Squat 190 3x5
Bench 125 3x5
Power clean: 100 3x5 I still don't have it perfect, but my form vastly improved from my first try.

10/16/2015 218.6lbs
Squat 195 Reread the squat section of starting strength. I was not pushing my knees out enough. Squats were good today.
Press 105 (little bit shaky on first work set)
Deadlift 240

I'm eating too much. Might have gained as much as 7lbs in 3 weeks. I'm not sure how much muscle it's possible to gain in a month. Like 2 pounds maybe? So that means I've already gained a bunch of fat, and it's not like I am a skinny guy anyways. 220 at 6'1-6'2 isn't exactly lean. I might see about getting a food scale soon. I'm worried about not eating enough and missing out on progress, so I want to work out exactly how much to eat to gain 3-4lbs a month (since a good part of that would be muscle). Just adding 5lbs to my lifts, even though I could probably get away with adding 10lbs at a time on deadlifts and squats. I want to do this slow and steady for the long haul, not mess around with stalling and figuring out how to get past the wall myself.

Pretty fun to see the numbers of my lifts now compared with day one. This is a really great program. Excited to see constant progress, much more than I ever thought possible when I started. In three weeks I have added 50lbs to my squat and 65lbs to my deadlift.

I know the program doesn't say to eat in a big surplus if you are already heavy, but I do wonder: what kind of a caloric surplus is recommended for me to maximize my novice gains? Would I gain as much strength eating at maintenance since I am already a bit fat? When I cut the weight will I lose a big part of my strength? I might be forgetting the section in starting strength that talks about these things.

[CameronS]

First month finished.

Oct 19: Squat 200 3x5 Bench 130 3x5 Power Clean 115 3x5. Power clean finally felt better when I really focused on locking out my elbows. The movement felt much more natural.
Oct 21: (221lbs) Squat 205 3x5 Press 110 1x5 1x3 1x5 Deadlift 245 1x5. Had my first real missed set of starting strength of the Press. I believe it was because I did not rest enough between the first and second set. That makes sense as I was able to complete the third set.
Oct 23: (222lbs) Squat 210 3x5 Bench 135 3x5 Power Clean 120 3x5.

In one month of starting strength my lifts went from

Squat 145 - 210
Bench 105 - 135
Power Clean 95 -120
Deadlift 175 - 245
Press 90 - 110

My weight went from 213 - 220ish.

Physically I don't feel as healthy though. It's not because of SS, it's because I have not been eating clean. Going to maybe add swimming twice a week as a test to see if I am still able to progress, and fix my diet.

[CameronS]

Well, unfortunately I got an injury.

Oct 26

Squat 215. 3x5 Was the toughest day yet. Had to grind through it.
Press 115: 1x5, 1x2, 1x2. Failure.
Deadlift 250: 1x2. On my third rep, I felt a pop in my lower right rib. Went down to see if I could do a fourth rep, and felt pain and stopped exercising. It's a bit sore. Went to see a Dr. who said to take a couple weeks off of heavy lifting, but that the pain would be my guide. If something is painful, it's best not to do it.

I don't think I'll be hitting the gym tomorrow, maybe just do some running or something. See how I feel on Friday, might be able to do a light workout or something.

[carson]

Welcome. Rest is always good. Whether or not you need 2 weeks off from heavy lifting is between you and the Dr. In this program it is quite normal to make gains regularly. When that stops, and it will, there are other programs that will help you make gains more slowly.

Thankfully your injury isn't major and one rarely gets any major injuries from this. You may find that you will need to repeat or deload once you get started on the DL again. Don't deload excessively if you do at all. 10-15% is enough and then work you way slowly back up.

I'll address a couple of your questions now and maybe more later.

1. Biking 40 minutes strenuously may in fact bother your work out. On those days why not lift a bit lighter.
2. A slight cold should not bother your lifting. Obviously that depends on whether you do your lifting in the gym or in your own area.
3. Timing between lifts. I wouldn't do it often. In any event if resting for 5 seconds between heavy lifts in the same set is done keep your hands on the bar. Do not stand up.

As time permits I'll take a stab at some of your other questions. I'm not a coach but if you can get to a coach at least occasionally you should do so. He can check your technique and correct it far better than we can on the forum. Also, if possible, post some videos especially on the technique section.

[CameronS]

Thanks for the answers. I'm guilty of standing up between the reps on deadlift, especially on the last 2. Going to make sure I don't do that anymore.

Injury is already feeling better (it seems minor) but I don't want to aggravate it and instead of having 1-2 weeks off have it get worse and really mess up my progress.

[brkriete]

There are no hard and fast rules on when to call something say, two doubles and a single instead of a set of 5. I agree with carson that standing up is usually where I call it a new set for DLs. I know for heavy sets of deadlifts and squats I have to take a second between reps and reset my grip (for DLs) and take a deep breath and lock out my core (for both).

As for your injury, did you get an actual diagnosis? I probably wouldn't change anything for slight soreness. If you feel significant ongoing pain and/or weakness that might be a sign you hurt something and need to fix it but "taking a couple weeks off" sucks. Try 3x8 with 95 or 135 or for a week or something and see how it feels.

One of the things you will see quite a bit of on this board is an (in my opinion, healthy) skepticism of doctors both in terms of exercise recommendations and rehab. For example, I found my cardio capability increased pretty dramatically my first couple months of lifting. Doing 3x5 heavy squats is VERY taxing systemically, it's NOTHING like 8 reps of curls and leg extensions on a machine. Similarly, "not training for a couple weeks" is a good way to make things stop hurting. It's not really a great way to heal them and get stronger.

One of the other things you will see a lot of is - try it and see. Most people suggest HIIT for conditioning either on an Airdyne or rowing machine. Some people do hill sprints as HIIT on non-lifting days. I do a lot of walking (2 - 6 miles a day pushing a stroller with two heavy babies in it), I don't think it hurts my lifting and it actually helps me feel good by getting blood flowing through my legs and back so they stiffen up less. When I haven't been able to do it for a week or two, I notice my recovery between sets is harder so there's probably some conditioning effect there. Swimming might do the same for you. If you find yourself really sore all the time and missing your scheduled increases, it probably means whatever you're doing is impacting your recovery so either figure out how to recover better (sleep / eat more and better) or change it up (less volume and frequency). It's not like you're going to go running one time and totally break your novice progression for good (unless you get hit by a car).

[CameronS]

I didn't get a specific diagnosis. I tested it out with some pushups today, and the area feels weak. I know it says in Starting Strength that there are some injuries that can be trained through - but I don't feel like I know enough about what is going to heal me and what is going to make it worse.

Basically I was told I can do anything that doesn't hurt, and the safe thing would be to stick to legs for a couple weeks. I think on Monday I'll go through the exercises with lighter weights, see how I am feeling. If it feels fine, right back to the program. I just really don't want to do anything to set myself back months instead of weeks.

I heard exercising with babies is great because they take care of the progressive overloading for you.