Josh's Log

[August West]

Light squat day. Got easy depth and a solid rebound, and worked on some of the elbow and grip suggestions I've read around here. It worked well in the short term, elbow pain didn't kick in until the end of benching.

squats: 275 x 5 x 3
bench: 240 x 5 x 3
back extensions: +20 x 10 x 3
chins: BW x 5 x 3
situps x 10 x 3

Bench felt good, almost easy for the first 2 sets. Last one was tougher but never in doubt.
Switched up the back extensions - instead of a plate to my chest, held a dumbbell behind my head with less weight. It put some strain on the shoulders, but I liked the effect otherwise.
Kept chins in the low-rep range to see how the elbows held up. They were throbbing pretty good and still are now, so we'll see what happens with that.
Threw in the situps just cause I hadn't done em in a while - used the decline board and just went down to parallel with the ground.

[August West]

squats: 345 x 5, 5, 4
press: 157.5 x 3 x 5

Last squat was a slow good-morning type grind on the way up that had me taxed - didn't feel right about going down for another. Did triples on the press again and it worked. Ran out of time for cleans and had to hustle home.

This was my last day on the Starting Strength program - not because of the one missed rep, it's just been a long while since I managed to push the squat up 10 lbs a week the way I should be on the advanced novice schedule. Since I'm consistently getting weekly 5 lb gains, I might as well program for weekly progress.

This program and the book were my intro to barbell training and I am completely hooked. I started the novice program back on November 6, after ramping into it with some 5x5 squat/bench/press work for a week while I was waiting for the book. The gains I got were very satisfying, but nothing unusual for a guy on linear progression for the first time. Probably on the low end, in fact:

squat: 155 --> 345
bench: 185 --> 240
deadlift: 215 --> 385 (going for 395 next week)
press: 110 --> 157.5 (for three)
clean: 135 --> 195

And the navel-gazing stats (avert your eyes):
bodyweight: 205 --> 235
shirt collar: 17 in --> 18 in
pant size: 36 in --> 38 in
gunz: 14.5 in --> 16 in
jacket size: 44L --> 48L

Thanks to the 70s Big crew, I got out there and competed for the first time - posted a total (331-254-380 - LOTS of room for improvement there) and got to hang out with AC and some other great lifters.

I'm planning to run the Texas Method this summer, but first I want to take my last law school exams and get ready for the move to DC. Until that's all wrapped up, I'm going to run 5/3/1 so I can keep the lift days shorter and get back into mountain biking while the weather's good. I'll be taking my log offline while I sort that out. Once in DC, I'm planning to train at Supreme Sports in Rockville and look for another meet to enter this year. The USAPL New Jersey states would be fun, but they're just days after the bar exam and I'm concerned about getting distracted. We'll see how the first few weeks of studying go, and if not that meet I'll do another.

Thanks to all who stopped by and offered encouragement and advice along the way. There are some good folks on this board, and I'll still be checking in until I get a new log up for intermediate training this summer. Like a strong hungry man once said, go eat people.

[Strato]

You've made an awesome run of it, Josh. I haven't kept up my log on here but I feel like I'm also on the tail end of what I can get out of novice programming. I also bought the 5/3/1 program last week and have been thinking of doing a few cycles of that before starting the Texas Method to give my joints a break and myself a bit of a mental break.

Consider doing the USAPL Virginia States (Sept. 11, 2010) in Zion Crossroads, VA for your next meet. I'm pretty sure I'll be competing there and it shouldn't be too far from DC.

Good luck with the move and hope your family is well.