Aze Gallo's SSLP Log

[Aze Gallo]

Early 30's. 5'9"

History:
In 2010 I was a skinny kid that wanted to hit the gym so I Started SSLP.
Ran it for ~2 months. Stopped. Halfheartedly tried to start it a few times between then and now.
My progress went something like this (lbs):
Squat: 85 -> 260, Dead: 135 -> 235, Bench: 95 -> 165, Press: 65 -> 125, Body weight: 145 -> 165+
------

On top of not lifting, in the last 3 years I let myself get fat (193lbs on 10/25).

I started SSLP again on 10/25. So 6 weeks back on the program.
I haven't missed a day - in fact up until last week I was going 4x/week (no 2day breaks).
I was never as motivated as I am right now, and it feels like every day I get even more motivated.

I kick myself thinking of where I could be right now if I had kept up with it in 2010. The only thing that will feel worse is if I have the same regret in the year 2024.
------

My general goals are to be healthy, get relatively strong, and look good (in that order).
Lifting goals will probably always be a moving target, but I right now I'm super excited at the idea of hitting:
Squat/DL 315, Bench 225, Press 160.

[Aze Gallo]

Last two workouts:

[Update: 12/2/2017]
Squat 260 x 5,5,5
Press 110 x 5,5,5
Dead 235 x 5

[Update: 12/5/2017]
Bench 147.5 x 5,5,5
Squat 265 x 5,5,5 (PR)
Deadlift 245 x 5 (PR)

[Squat 265] (set 3)


[Press 110] (set 3)


[Deadlift 245] * (blame first time belt use on bad form. last beltless vid: YouTube)

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/7/2017]
OHP 115 x 5,5,5
Squat 270 x 6,5,5 (PR)

OHP - went for a 5lb jump because I was feeling good. I'm having an issue being strict on not having a lever arm. I also am doing this hybrid of 2.0 and 1.0 because I just get out of gas doing 2.0 the whole time.

Squat - accidentally did 6 reps first set. The entire workout felt so heavy. Definitely had some knees sliding forward at the bottom but not sure how bad it is.
Also, I have mild scoliosis and my body position isn't perfectly straight (left foot wants to be 0.5-1inch behind right, left foot usually not pointed out enough, trunk points slightly to the left of hips, and hips seem to shift left at the bottom). I'm working on all of this but it's taking some toll on mental energy and also energy in trying to set up myself at the beginning of the set.

Press . 3rd set.


Squat 3rd set

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/9/2017]
Bench 150 x 5,5,5
Squat 275 x 5,5,5
Deadlift 255 x 5

Bench - felt too easy.

Squat - felt easier than last set. Need to get some expert input on form.


Dead - not sure if my hips are rising too much at the start, but this pull position feels so much better than the one where my back is more horizontal. Doing 10lb jumps still. TBH today felt easier than I thought it would.


Diet:
I restarted the program around 193lb, let myself get up to 197 (sometimes hitting 199) which is fine, but I have a 39" gut right now. And from reading some of Feigenbaum's advice it seemed like I should make sure to not gain weight and probably lose a small amount (while on LP).
So for the last week or so I've been eating ~2500cal (recomp according to The Beast charts) And last few days learned about macros, now that I'm eating ~200g protein it's actually hard to eat enough. I had to head to ihop and slam a 2x2x2 just to get 1,000+ calories and hit ~carbs. And I'm still 250 calories short for the day. Will slam a whey shake to hit protein and close a few more Cal's.
Very surprised at how filling these high protein meals actually are.

[chadp]

Another novice with similar story to yours except I’m 46 with a bigger gut. I’m certainly no expert. I’ve watched a number of form videos on the coaches forum to see what they advise. Yours look pretty good to me and much better than most. Tom C will give a review if you post in coaches forum (just read the sticky for rules first).

Anyway, will be following. Keep up the good work

Chad

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/12/2017]

OHP 117.5 x 5,5,5
Squat 280 x 5,5,5
Deadlift 265 x 5

OHP - felt good.
Squat - Felt some fuckery in my left knee on the first set. I don't know how to explain it. It just felt a little unstable / wobbly. Back in the day I would have skipped the other sets over something like this. But it felt better on the second set and I don't think it felt weird at all on the 3rd set. And the squat in general felt fairly easy.
Dead - felt great. Thanks to rips advice of putting the belt on at an angle I was finally able to dead with a belt and it felt fine.
I think this is actually the closest my Dead has been to my Squat. And I still think I can make a few 10lb jumps so it might finally get ahead of it. Forgot to try deading in socks. Will probably try that next attempt this week.

Diet:
Have been doing well getting <2500 cal and getting ~200g protein/carbs. Except for Sunday. Sunday was a baaaaad day (in a good way ). split a mexican pizza + chicken nachos, had way too many drinks including some margaritas (which apparently have infinity calories). I woke up saturday at 195.2lbs (good), and on Sunday for the first time in my life I got on the scale and it read 200lbs
But today I got back to the diet. I actually had to hit ihop again because I was only at 1,100 calories at the end of the day (with 3 decent sized meals). Even after I slam this (double!) whey shake I'm only going to be at 2,080 calories. Undecided if I'm going to eat anything after that to try and get closer to 2,300 or so.

Videos:

Squat 280 set 3


Dead 265

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/14/2017]

Bench 150 x 5,5,5
Squat 285 x 5,5,5
Chin 1,1,1,1,1

Bench notes:
I felt good so I jumped 5lbs. Felt great. Nice controlled descent.

Squat notes:
These squats are too damn heavy.
I wasn't quite worried about failing any of the reps -- but a bunch of them were semi-grinders. I definitely let the weight get on my toes in my 3rd set first rep. But the rest of them I'm sure were passable. I'm sure calories are partially to blame here, but more on that below.
I hurt my left shoulder on the first set. I think it's from cranking elbows up out of the hole, which is an old flaw I (mostly) fixed. Apparently this was heavy enough to bring out the old bad habit. I'll try to be more mindful of the cue to keep my humerus aligned with my trunk.
Back in the day this pain would have freaked me out and I would have scrapped the session and probably skipped a few gym days to let it heal. But thanks to the folks are barbell medicine I calmed myself down, assessed the situation, and decided to give the next set a try - and things felt better. A few hours later everything felt fine.
These felt heavy enough that I think I may add in a light squat day in the middle of the week.

Diet:
Soooooo... It turns out I incorrectly measured my waist. I was under the impression that I was supposed to be measuring with a fully relaxed gut (which I actually have to focus to do). But I found a thread where Jordan said not to do that. Upon further reading, it seems you're supposed to stand tall, and take a breath out (not sucking the gut in at all). I re-measured and I was 36.5". So I think I'm going to titrate up my calories. Probably will go with a slightly lower number than the TBAB muscle gain numbers.
I find it hard to get anywhere near enough fiber. So until I get better at cooking, I'm going to rely on extra bowls of Raisin Bran (which is awesome) and metamucil.

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/16/2017]

OHP 120 x 5,5,5
Squat 290 x 5,5,5
Deadlift 275 x 5

OHP:
Easy enough. I'm not doing a great job of using hips/bounce a la 2.0. Not sure if it's a problem but I also get the feeling I need to focus more on staying tight (in all lifts, tbh)

Squat:
So, uhhhh, after all that complaining last update, these squats felt pretty easy. Like first rep of first set I was pretty sure I'd nail all 3 sets. For sure had 2-3 in the tank on very last rep.

Deadlift:
Made another 10lb jump. This time it felt heavy enough that I think I'll 5lb from here on out.
I attempted my work set and got 1/5th a rep, but it felt too heavy or something felt wrong so I dropped it.
I used to just give up if this happened in the past. Afraid that I was going to hurt myself. This is why my deadlift has always been so weak and far behind my squat. Deadlifting is just the easiest lift to quit on, imo.
But this time I took 30 seconds, pumped myself up, told myself I needed to get this lift, and went out and lifted that motherfucker. And my form looked better than I've ever seen.
Feels good.

Diet:
Right at 3k Cal's. And hit macros. Even got to sip on some Angel's Envy.

[carson]

Don't kick yourself. You are a young fellow. I was 66 before I started the first time. 193 is about right for 5'9" if it's muscle and not fat. I'm 5'10" at 220. That's where I started almost 5 years ago and I'm still at that weight. Keep up the good work.

I'm always curious when I find someone who has a squat stronger than a deadlift. It is probably not an issue. But if you are concerned go check with a certified SS coach.

[Aze Gallo]

[Update: 12/19/2017]

Bench 155 x 5,5,5
Squat 295 x 5,5,5
Chins x 1,1,1,1,1

Bench:
Made another 5lb jump. Felt WAY too easy. Will do another 5lb at end of week.

Squat:
The weight was actually relatively easy. Was sure I had all reps at the first rep first set again.
I tried to adjust some things after getting some feedback in the SS Coaches QA forum. But I'm not sure I did such a great job improving on them.
- Cranking head on ascent. Eyes looking at the right spot, but they have to look down to do it. So I need to focus on keeping chin tucked.
- Knees likely aren't pushing out enough. Mostly the left knee -- mild scoliosis and hip shifts a bit to the left.
He also mentioned lifting chest early, which I tried to improve but I just don't have a good enough eye for this to be sure what good and bad look like.

Here's a video of my Squat 295lb 3rd set - compared to a 4x squat from Austin Baraki that's a close enough angle.
Besides his knee being out more, and head position being better, I can't really tell (because I don't know what to look for) what important things are different.