Q's Quest For Strongman Status

[quilaho]

... unless I'm just too old.

I'm a 44 year old, overweight male (stats below). I started weightlifting in April of 2014. I was tired of the up / down cardio rollercoaster. I searched up beginning weightlifting, found the Strong Lifts 5x5 program and started with it. I learned about Starting Strength a couple months later but was already on the road with SL5x5 so I stuck with it. Over time, I've come to appreciate that there is higher quality information surrounding SS. Last December I checked the book out from the library and then received it as a Christmas gift. So, now I'm working through it with the intention of swapping out the differences in SL5x5 with SS.

Where I'm At
I've been on a novice program for 2 eyars. I've had several periods where I lost focus for weeks or months at at a time since April of 2014. Therefore, I am not as far along as I could be.

This is where my lifts currently stand ...
Squat - 260
Press - 105
Deadlift - 180
Bench press - 145
Barbell row - 145

Not bad. Could be better. Will be better.

I'm still progressing linearly. Although, some of the lifts (i.e. press) are kicking my ass lately.

Nutrition
I've recently started absorbing whatever information I can on nutrition. I was doing it all wrong. Not all the bad information from the cardio rollercoaster had been washed out.

Up until the first of the year I was at about 1600 calories. I had read enough by then to realize I needed to get that up. So, I went to 2000. Yeah ... I know ... still not enough. I recently read the "To be a beast, you have to eat like a beast" article and realized how much. At this point I'm at 2500 - 2700. I know I still need to go higher but I feel the need to ease into it.

I'm actively tracking calories / macros using MyFitnessPal and then taking those numbers each day and putting them in a spreadsheet.

Stats
I'm also taking measurements. My wife will be taking them for me each Sunday. I used to take them myself but I think I'll get more consistent numbers having her do it. We'll see.

Here is how they stand as of last Sunday ...
Height - 5' 6"
Weight - 269
Neck - 19.375
Waist - 50.5
Hips - 48.25 (may quit taking this one)
Chest - 48.25
Shoulders - 56.5 (may quit taking this one, too)
Body Fat - 38 (DoD equation)

Yeah ... I'm fat.

I don't do arms and legs as I'm really concentrated on BF right now.

Where I'm going
I really do not care about looking ripped. I mean, yeah, I wanna lose half the fat but if I settled in at 20% BF, I'd be OK with that.

I guess the strongman physique is the one I would be aiming for if there is a physique I'm aiming for. I want to be strong and healthy as I enter into the second half of my life. I have 2 sons (12 and 8) and I want to be able to teach them to be strong. Real strength.

Ok ... that's it. I'll use the next couple posts to put in the information from this week.

--
Quintin

[quilaho]

Copy / pasted from another forum ...

Posted 01 February 2016 - 09:23 AM
Today's workout
SL5x5 workout A this morning ...
SQ 5x5 @ 255#
BP 5x5 @ 140#
ROW 5x5 @ 140#
That is now the highest I've ever been on squat. It's really work'n me but I can tell I still have a ways to go before I start to miss reps. I'm hopeful that the new nutrition focus will help that be at least till out to 300#.

Yesterday's nutrition
Day 1 of 2500 calorie intake ...
Calories 2671
Carbs 212 40%
Fat 120 23%
Protein 200 38%
So, a bit above the 2500 mark but that's fine.

[carson]

If you are 6' or taller you may not be fat. Why on earth are your deads so low? Then again I read your measurements and you may be fat. How tall are you?

Go see a Certified SS coach. Go to StartingStrength.org. You should be further along after two years and you are young. I did not start until I was 66.

Now, go find a certified SS coach. Do not waste your time with some trainer at a Planet Fitness. Just don't.

[quilaho]

Copy / pasted from another forum. Post date of 2/2/2016.

Today's Workout
Today I started to experiment with conditioning on the off days from lifting. The following article has been my guide ...
NinjaFirewall: 403 Forbidden

I used an app on my phone called Impetus to do a workout "HIIT Light" on the row machine. It is a 30 second work, 90 second workout with a duration of 14.35 minutes. I wore my heart rate monitor for it but, when I got back to the locker room I found one side of the sensor had come unbuttoned from the belt. The graph showed that at times it was connected and at other times it was not (or I died for 30 - 90 second). It was a fairly useless graph so I wont include it here.

Yesterday's Macros
Calories 2744
Carbs 198 (35%)
Fat 115 (21%)
Protein 245 (44%)
So, still over the 2500 and I'm still ok with it. I'm really starting to think of the 2500 as a minimum instead of a maximum.

[carson]

What is your height?

[quilaho]

Copy / pasted from another forum. Post date of 2/3/2019

Today's Workout
SL 5x5 Workout B

SQ 5x5 @ 260#
OHP 4x5 @ 105#
1x4 @ 105#
DL 1x5 @ 180#
So, I'm back to missing reps on the OHP, dammit. I deloaded 30% once at 110# already. It looks like I'm heading there again. I just don't get it.

On a happier note, I'm still refining my squat form. Lately I'm concentrated on hand position in order to get a good shelf for the bar and on what's going on with my knees.

The hand position went well today after a recommendation from a Starting Strength Coach over on their forums. He recommended hands under the bar with wrist wraps. I don't have wraps, yet, so I just went with hands under the bar as close as I could get them. The shelf created itself as it should. My wrists hurt afterwords so I now had wraps on order.

I realized my knees are jutting out at the endin order to get that last bit to parallel. It should be my butt jutting back. So, I focused on that today and made good progress. It was hard and my but and hips feel it now but, that's what's supposed to happen, right?

Yesterday's Macros
Cals 2661
Carbs 278 46%
Fat 85 14%
Protein 245 40%

[quilaho]

If you are 6' or taller you may not be fat. Why on earth are your deads so low? Then again I read your measurements and you may be fat. How tall are you?

Go see a Certified SS coach. Go to StartingStrength.org. You should be further along after two years and you are young. I did not start until I was 66.

Now, go find a certified SS coach. Do not waste your time with some trainer at a Planet Fitness. Just don't.

I updated my stats. I'm 5' 6".

My deads are low because the SL program starts at 0 (well, except for deadlift as the bar has to be off the ground) and says add 5# per workout and only 5# per workout. When the app sees you have been out for a while it recommends anywhere from a 30% - 50% deload which I've done a couple times and then started working back up 5# at a time. SS is more flexible in how you work up. As a newbie, I just followed the directions and did my best to concentrate on form.

I work out at a Y and I would not waste my time with one of their trainers. I've seen them in action. I just won't. However, there are not any SS coaches here in the Minneapolis area. Well, there are not any listed on the SS site. I would certainly like to but I'm going to have to settle for what I can get out of this site for now. I did see one in IA that indicated he did some work up here but I'm having a hard time believing that is going to be consistent.
--
Quintin

[carson]

It wouldn't be consistent but you may not need to see a coach every session. I suggest one major consult followed by a monthly or even quarterly coaching session. Given your height you are overweight. Look at the nutrition section of this forum for advice on how to gain strength while losing weight.

I think the additional weight for DL is 10lbs not 5lbs for novices. There's something odd going on when you DL is so much less than your squat weights. Again, if you must travel 200-300 miles go find a certified Starting Strength coach.

In the meantime post some videos if you are able.

[Scotch-Wegian]

Welcome! I grew up in MN, miss it a lot.

You could easily add 10lbs, your legs are strong. We both deadlifted 180lbs today, but my squat is HALF of yours. (yes i am weak)

The guy in IOWA is only 3.5 hours away

[quilaho]

2/4/2016 Workout
Today was conditioning day. It's the second time I've done this. I did the HIIT light routine of 30 second work, 90 second rest for 8 iterations.

2/3/2016 Macros
Cals - 2661
Carbs 163 (24%)
Fat - 115 (39%)
Protein - 247 (37%)

After reading a response from Jordan in the nutrition section, I started calculating percentage as a percent of calories consumed. I used the carb & protein = 4 cals / gram and fat = 9 cals / gram numbers that Googling for the information indicated. Oddly enough, using those numbers to calculate total calories from the grams reported by MFP does not equal the total calories reported by MFP. I don't know what to do with that yet (I'm sure some tidbit will come to me in time) but, for now, the % uses the calculated calories in orde to keep them adding up to 100.