Jonathan's journey for strength.

[BowerTowerUK]

Hello all, I was always slim at school and I was not in a school team. From 18 years old and on I've always sat i around 11 stone.
23/11/1989 5ft 10

As a few years went by I realised I wanted to be bigger, and that was my initial goal. From August 2016 to August 2017 my weight changed from;
11 st 3lb - 12st 11lb.
The body change is from eating and going to the gym, my overall strength didn't change much, u didn't know what I was doing.
As I explored the internet for information I came across Starting strength, and my goals changed. I decided that I should follow your novice progression with strength as my goal. I've been specifically running this programme since 31 August 2017.

My current general body stats;
5ft10.4
13st 4lb

My lifts as of last successful 5 or 3 rep set;
Squat. 95.5k
Deadlift 117.5k
Press 38k
Bench 58k
Power clean 52.5k

I had to stop all pressing very early on in the linear progression because I injured my right tricep which made it painful. I could'nt bench, press or clean but I could dip. I'm just building up to the point I started with on the presses. (40k and 60k respectively)

I have been keeping track using going keep and some videos up until now. I also post my keep notes on insta. If you wanted to follow me insta; BowerTowerUK. I'll probably post the same things in here, i.e. training logs.

I hope some one finds this interesting.

[carson]

Good start. Keep eating.

[BowerTowerUK]

Cheers Carson.
Training log from Tuesday 10th Oct;

Squat. Bar 5. 40k 5. 60k. 5
67.5. 3 sets of 5.///

Here's a link to the video logs;

Tue 10 Oct Gym - Google Photos

Edit; to add video logs.

Bench press. Bar 5. 30k 5. 40k 5.
58k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Power clean. Warm up. Jumping position. 5. Hang to shin to jumping position. 2 sets of 3 reps

52.5k. 5 sets 3. /////

[BowerTowerUK]

Gym Thurs 12 Oct

Squat. Bar 5. 40k 5. 60k. 5
96.5 1 set of 5. 2 sets of 4

Press bar 2 sets of 5. 29k 5.
39. 3 sets of 5. ///

Dead lift. 60k 5. 80k 5
120k. 4

Notes, eat more.
Video log.
Gym 12 Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

Squat. Bar. 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5.
97.5. 2 sets of 5. 1 sets of 4. ///

Bench. Bar 2 sets of 5. 30k 5. 40k 5.
59k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Power clean warm up.
60k. 2 sets of 3. - ran out of time, gym closed. //

Notes; squat first set didn't make depth. 5 mins rest between sets up 30 secs from last time. Still too fatigued to make last rep.
Bench press; I was a little distracted, bar path poor.
Power clean, elbow discomfort afterwards probably because mobility and improper rack.

Video log
Gym 15 Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

17 Oct gym
Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 65k 2.
70k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Overhead press bar 2 sets of 5. 30k 5. 35k 2.
40k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Deadlift. 60k. 2 sets of 5. 80k 5. 100k 2.
120k. 1.

‎notes; squats I was attempting to teach a friend how to squat. So busy taking and not filming my sets.
Press; pushed forward and not up on some reps.
Dead lifts; these really show my low confidence. After 1 rep I gave up. I've been getting stuck on dead lifts on the past few increments. My plan from this point on is to increase the mass in 1k increments and only stop if my form is really bad. So next dead lifts will be 121k.
Injuries; lower back muscle pain and discomfort, medium pain over the past few weeks.
In my left glut someone's feel discomfort from a muscle or something I pulled when I started this linear progression. Usually feel it when I Squat my working weight, and then I'll feel tight when I walk for a few days.
My Response to the initial injury in August was to pull in my stance a little bit and keeping squatting.
Small abdominal discomfort, I noticed it first when trying to sleep a couple of weeks ago. Never noticed it during training. First time hurt after training on Thursday. Majority of pain had subsided by next training day, constant low discomfort now.

Video log; Gym 17 Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

General stats on 19 Oct

Height: 5' 10.4"
Weight: 13st 10lb
BMI: 27.6
Body Fat: 18.8%
Blood Pressure: 124/85
Heart Rate: 104
QRISK2: 0.1%

Gym 19th Oct

Squat bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 80k 2.
98.5k. 3 Sets of 5. ///

Bench press bar 2 sets of 5. 30k 5. 40k 5. 55k 2.
60.5k 3 sets of 5 ///

Power clean
61.5k 3. 1. 1. 0

Notes;
Squat; hard day final rep shows what usually happens when I get tired. I go too low which exacerbates how tired I am and really increases the difficulty of the rep.
Bench press; safeties too high for first set, accidently bounced on last rep.
Power clean, I was shattered by the time I got to these, could barely lift my arms to catch or my legs to jump.

Video logs
Gym 19 Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

Gym 22nd Oct,
a lighter day because I predicted that work would interfere with training and recovery this week.

Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 65k 2.
71k 3 sets of 5. ///

Overhead press. Bar 2 sets of 5. 25k. 5. 30k 5. 35k 2.
41k 2 sets of 5

Dead lift. 60k 5. 80k 5. 100k 2.
110k 5
Video log
Gym 22 Oct - Google Photos
‎
‎Going to stop dead lifts for a while as it aggravating one of my rips.
Gym 24th Oct missed training because work caused me to miss a day's sleep.

Gym 26th Oct

Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 80k 2.
99.5k. 2 sets of 5. 1 set of 3. Lost confidence in myself.

Press. Bar 2 sets of 5. 25k. 30k. 35k
42k. 2 sets of 4. 1 set of 3. Felt very hard probably because if poor sleep this week.
Video log
Gym 26 Oct - Google Photos


Gym 29th Oct

Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 80k 2.
100.5k 3 sets of 5. ///. Not all were proper depth.

Bench press bar 2 sets of 5. 32.5k 5. 45k 5. 55k 2.
61.5k 3 sets of 5. ///

Video log
Gym 29th Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 65k 2. 72k 3 sets of 5. ///

Overhead press. Warm up with press 2.0. Bar 2 sets of 5. 25k 5. 30k 5. 35k 2.
Working set in Press 1.0. 42.5k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Notes, lost almost a whole nights sleep again because of work. Light squat day. Changed a couple things up for the press, because if the difficulty I had with it in Sunday. Use press 1.0 for my working sets, and used a smaller increment increase. I usually find I can't get any drive from the hips after a couple of reps at my working weight. It's definitely something I need coaching on. Oh well I'll stick with press with 1.0 for now.

Video log
Gym 31 st Oct - Google Photos

[BowerTowerUK]

Squat. Bar 2 sets of 5. 40k 5. 60k 5. 80k 2.
101.5k. 3 sets of 5. ///

Bench press. Bar 2 sets of 5. 42.5k 5. 49k 5. 56k 5.
62.5k 3 sets of 5. ///

Dead lift. 60k 5. 80k 5. 100k 2.
115k. 5. /

Gym 2 Nov - Google Photos


Everything felt heavy today. Walking the weight out of the squat rack and squating especially.

Made later jumps, then I wanted, by accident on bench warm ups.

Dead lift, need chalk. Sweat caused my hook grip to slip. From now on I might reset my foot position reach rep, I'm not confident that I start each rep in the safe position as I started. Last rep came forward a little. Chest discomfort is about a .5 afterwards. I shall see if it increases over the next two days. If becomes painful then I'll wait a little longer to dead lift regularly.