Training Log from Costa Rica

[ticoguy]

I am a 34 years old male, 6’’ and about 179 pounds, and I am taking the opportunity of this forum to share my experience going through Starting Strength program. Hopefully writing down my progress, how I lift and how I recover and grow will attract more experienced lifters and correct my errors and lead me on the right direction.
Also, reading my own posts will definitely help me I am sure if I ever have doubts going forward.

Background:
My first experience lifting wasn’t with Starting Strength. For about 10 years I used to go to the gym, twice or more per week, and not seeing any result.
I was sweating, sore and tired after each of my sessions, but I wasn’t getting any stronger or bigger. As you can guess, I had no fucking idea of what I was doing, this must sound so familiar to many of us. I wasn’t following any program.

About a year ago, I realized one day I wasn’t strong at all. Not even a little bit! One day at the office a piece of paper fell down and when I got it up, I remember having a sharp pain at my lower back. I picked up a piece of paper and hurt myself! Around that time I started to have knee pains, sometime the pain will be sharp and scary. And when waking up on the morning, my knees will be already in pain … so yeah definitely I wasn’t strong at all, only a skinny guy, with no chest, chicken legs and no ass whatsoever.

One day, surfing the web, I came across the Stronglifts program. I immediately liked the exercises, the spirit and the logic behind the exercises. I went through the program for about 6 months before being forced to stop it (at that time, I quit my job and went travelling for about 6 months).
Two things happened while during the Stronglifts.
First, I gained about 18 pounds and people around me told me I looked bigger and stronger. And I felt better than I ever felt in my life, I was very pleased about my body, especially with my legs and my back.
Second, I was aware I was doing the lefts incorrectly, especially the squat (I was half squatting), and I wasn’t sleeping enough (5 hours in average, sometimes 6) and I wasn’t eating enough. I also hurt my back twice during that period, my upper back once forced me to leave a party after injuring myself that same morning.

And then my project of leaving my job and going travelling in Latin America put a stop to all my training in the gym. During that 6 month travels, I continued to eat a lot while not exercising at all, so I was gaining fat and losing the little bit of strength I had acquired.
I told myself that after these travel plans, I will go back seriously to lift training and become stronger for real … so here we go!

Starting Strength program:
First, I read Mark Rippetoe book and tried to understand the lifts and how to do them safely while maximizing the muscle gains. The only thing I am aware I am not executing as per Starting Strength program is the starting weight of the bar the first day I went back to the gym. I really wanted to start light because I was feeling very out of shape and I wanted to make sure I was doing the lifts correctly to not hurt my back again.


Here are my first day lifts and where I stand today:

Started 12/5/2016

Exercise Pounds Kilos
Squats 44 20
Bench 44 20
Power Clean 44 20
OH Press 44 20
Deadlift 88 40
Chin-ups 0 0

As of 03/27/26:

Exercise Pounds Kilos
Squats 209 95
Bench 154 70
Power Clean 132 60
OH Press 110 50
Deadlift 264 120
Chin-ups 22 10


I also want to share my weight on December 1st 2015 (before I started Stronglifts): 77 kilos
On December 5th 2016, my weight was 85 kilos, when I started Starting Strength program. And today I am weighting 86 kilos, almost 4 months later.

So I gained about 8 kilos or 18 pounds after starting a lifting program in about a little more than a year, with a 6 months interruption in the middle. And since I started Starting Strength, I have gain only one kilo but I got rid of lot of fat and put on some muscles.


The Squat:
My progress has slowed down significantly this last 3 weeks. I am now seeing progress on a weekly basis. For instance, last week I had my first squat a 95 kilos. That first day, I squatted 3 sets of 3 reps (couldnt do more without fucking up form). The next session, I managed to squat 3 sets of 4 reps, with the 4th rep with bad form (I was doing a good morning and I wasn’t pleased about it). And the third session of the week, I squatted the following: 5 reps, 5 reps and 3 reps. So I am deloading and starting back at 85 kilos. Not the first time I am deloading, and being doing the same load/deload strategy since I hit the 80 kilos mark. Right now, I am very motivated to hit the 100 kilos squat weight, and I feel confident I can do it, hopefully by next week!

The Bench:
I hit a wall at 70 kilos, I had deloaded and worked my way up and blocked again at that weight. I was very disappointed first and then I realized I was still adding 5 kilos per session. So I bought smaller plates (1.25 kilo) and lifted 67.5 kilos without any problem last session. Going to try on Wednesday to lift 70 kilos.

Power Clean:
To my opinion, one of the hardest and most taxing lift. And I am probably not doing it correctly but still working on it. I hit a wall at 60 kilos last session, so deloading at 50 kilos and working my way up.

Overhead press:
My most frustrating lift. My gains are slow, and I hit a wall pretty early I think, at 50 kilos. I am following the same strategy than the bench, I deloaded and used the smaller plates to work my way up. Two days ago I realized my form was bad after seeing a video of Rip explaining about the grip. My grip wasn’t narrow enough, and this morning I felt stronger doing my lifts at 47.5 kilos. Hopefully I can pass through the 50 kilos mark the next session.

Deadlift:
I feel I have made a lot of progress on that lift but recently hit a wall at 120 kilos, so I deloaded in today’s session. About a week ago I lifted 120 kilos and on my 4th rep I noticed my upper back rounded a bit, and for about 2 days I had a strange feeling on my back. Not hurt but I wasn’t liking that feeling at all. I was lucky that happened on a Friday so I had the weekend to rest my back and now it feels normal as usual.
But following that bad lift, I decided 3.5 months into the program to add 2 ancillary exercises recommended by Rip’ book, to strengthen my back and help me deal with my deadlift. I am a bit taller than most people, and quite skinny, so I feel my back is really weak, so my plan is to do these ancillary exercises once a week, on Saturday morning to not mess with my recovery.

Rows:
As per Rip’ book, I do 8 reps, with 2 sets to warm up and 3 work sets. This exercise works my back.

LTE:
Same as recommended by Rip, I do 12 reps, with 2 sets to warm up and 3 work sets. This exercise works my triceps but also my lats for my back.

Sleep:
I sleep a lot. A lot. I don’t put an alarm clock to wake up in the morning, so I usually get between 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night. Fucking awesome.
On the days i dont workout, I rest. I occasionally play a bit of basketball but maybe 1 hours every 2 weeks and I know doing extra activities will slow my recovery so
I m careful on that department.

Eat:
I think I eat enough as I have developed a little pouch and some good love handles for a man. I don’t count my calories but I drink 2 liters of milk every day since month 2 of the program, drink 750 ml of yogurt every day as a snack on the afternoon, and eat as much as I can … unless I’m on an off day, and couldn’t force myself to eat more than my appetite (I guess it happens once or twice a week, when I stop instead of taking a second serving).

On the other side, I only gained 1 kilo in almost 4 months. But I consider I got rid of a lot of fat since I started Starting Strength. Also, it seems I have made most of my weight gains under Stronglifts 6 months run, and now doing the Starting Strength program my gains are much slower.
Even if I have gained only one kilo, I know that my body has changed significantly (I didn’t write a lot though) as per my family feedback. Also, my gains in weight are smaller or slower because I am a 34 years old guy, not a 18 years old teenager.
But I have to consider an area of improvement (any other than my lifts, since I guess I will spend a lifetime to improve them), it will be my daily calories and my macros. One of these days I ll need to count the calories for 2 weeks and see where I stand.