A SoCal Surfer's Journey to the Hallowed Land of Gainnzzz

[arichmond]

What's up all! I've been following the Starting Strength Program for a few months now so figured it would be beneficial to log the progress here.

Little background about me:
Male, 31 yrs old, living the dream in sunny San Diego California. Been an athlete all my life, after varsity sports in high school (and a solid career in the drinking sports in college) moved on to various endeavors including competitive racquetball, cycling, and most recently crossfit and surfing. All of which kept me lean and skinny but not all that strong. Doing crossfit for the last ~3 yrs exposed me to barbell training for the first time, and after moving to a new neighborhood found myself with a membership to the local avg. Joe's gym and for the first time responsible for training and programming myself. I dicked around with random programs I came across online, knowing that barbells needed to be at the core but not really sure where to start. Finally a colleague turned me on to Starting Strength last Fall, and it all made perfect sense. Soon after I went to visit the Legend Paul Horn up in LA for some form checks and coaching, and here I am today, plugging away at my novice progression.

I started the program in mid-November '15, with the following stats:
BW: 168
Squat: 155x5
Press:75x5
Bench Press: 115x5
Deadlift:185x5

Today I am at:
BW: 203
Squat: 295x5
Press: 133x5
Bench Press: 170x5
Deadlift: 335x5

The program I follow is:
Workout A: Squat/Press/Deadlift
Workout B: Squat/Bench/Chins

Eventually I'd like to add cleans but right now just not possible based on space/equipment limitations where I train.

Looking forward to how the rest of this year plays out!http://startingstrength.com/resource...cons/icon6.png

-Andrew

[arichmond]

3/12/16

SQ: 3x5x295
BP: N/A (could not complete, see below)
P: 133x4, 125x5, 125x5
Chins: N/A

Been dealing with some bicep/tricep/golfer's elbow? for about six weeks now. I'm fairly positive it originated while paddling out to surf about 6 weeks ago (when I felt a distinct tweak), and not from training, and has been annoying ever since. Managing through it fairly fine with variations of high rep chins, compression, NSAIDs, etc etc, but bench press is far and away the most impacted when it flares up. Squat is hit or miss. Today was the first time it was bugging me so much i did not even proceed with the work sets on bench. I scrapped bench and just pressed instead (pressing does not seem to be impacted by this injury). Will keep working it :/

[arichmond]

3/23

Back at it. After about 10 day layoff from various life happenings, in to squat. Will avoid if at all possible taking such a long layoff again. Felt very awkward and weak in the gym today. Backed off of everything to get back in the groove.

BW: 199.8
SQ: 3x5x265
BP: 3x5x145
Chins: 7,6,3

Then did some curls and tricep pushdowns to start working this weird bicep/tricep pain I've had for some time. What I initially believed to be tendonitis but doing the pin firing chins method for a few weeks did not seem to help. I'm now thinking it's a muscle belly strain that never healed right. Who knows. Mainly manifests itself in the squat rack position and in bench press. Will switch to just pressing for a while if bench keeps bothering. But otherwise good to be back!

[Jimmer]

Glad to see you found the right program! Good luck with the arm thing. When I first started out, I assumed it was just macho posturing when people said lifting made their aches and pains get better, but it really does seem to be true.

By the way, we have San Diego, cycling, and being coached by Paul in common. I don't live in SD any more, but still consider it my home town.

[arichmond]

3/26

Continuing to ease back in after the layoff last week. Bicep still bugging me on low bar so switched to high bar. Starting off light while I figure out form. Also lost a bit more than I thought on the press and missed reps.
Squat (high bar): 185x5, 185x5, 185x5
Press: 133x3, 130x4, 130x4
Deadlift (OH grip): 300x5

[arichmond]

4/1

Still a little dialed back and testing BP again after a week off (business trip). Good news was no major pain in the bi/tricep afterwards.
SQ: 245x5x3
BP:155x5x3
Chins:8,6,4

4/3
SQ: 255x5x3
Press: 125x4, 120x5, 120x5
Deadlift: 315x5 (overhand grip)