Chris' SS log

[Alyion]

(stupid bullshit)

What the hell msingh? The guy wants to get stronger and is doing a program catered for his goals. No one here is telling him to drink gallons of milk and gain eye-watering amounts of weight - that would just be stupid. What we are telling him is too lift weights and get strong and keep his head on his shoulders diet-wise.

Would you tell someone who has 20+% bf to just do loads of cardio and not lift? - I sincerly hope not

[cms]

11/25/2009

Squat: 125 x 5 x 3
Press: 70 x 5 x 3
Clean: 70 x 5 x 3

Squats didn't feel hard today, however I think I got a little complacent on the second set and my form broke down. This is not an easy lift to master, I can see why there are so many critique threads.

Presses went up easy, but I noticed my right side going up faster than the left. It created an uneven bar about 3/4 of the way up. I was consiously trying to correct it but without much luck, and now my right shoulder feels like it did more work. I'm right handed, and my entire right side is stronger, so that's probably why. Not sure how to correct the imbalance other than to keep trying.

Cleans were easy, I think. I didn't have to go down really at all to catch the bar, my jump generated enough force to get it up to my shoulders. I guess that means I'll have a lot of quick progression on this lift?

My right knee feels stiff right now, maybe I need to stretch it or maybe I'm unconsciously using it more than the left leg in squats/cleans. Probably the same strength imbalance.

Thanks for all the support guys, time to make my post-workout dinner. Chicken breast with some whole wheat pasta and green beans. And milk.

[cms]

11/27/2009

Squat: 135 x 5 x 3
Bench Press: 115 x 5 x 3
Deadlift: 165 x 5 x 1

I fucked up today and wasn't able to add correctly when doing my squats, because I was focusing so much on form. I ended up doing 3 work sets of 125, which is what I did Wednesday. So, I put on 10 more pounds and did my 3 sets of 135. I did a lot of squats today. Fortunately I ate like 1 lb each of turkey, chicken, and roast beef yesterday so I had a lot of energy.

Form felt better though, still a WIP. Focusing on shoving out my knees. I think I need a wider than normal stance because my hips are so wide. When I do body weight squats with a really wide stance I can feel the adductors working (maybe it's just a stretch?).

Bench press felt easy.

Deadlift was also pretty easy, but I definitely felt my lower back working, maybe from the extra squats? I think I'll have a sore back this weekend.

[cms]

11/30/2009

Squat: 145 x 5 x 3
Press: 75 x 5 x 3
Clean: 75 x 3 x 5

I almost fell asleep on the bus ride home, so I figured I'd be sluggish going into the workout. Squats felt heavy, where on Friday I did 135 no problem. Today I tried harder to get the bar further down my back, right about in line with the crease of my arm. It was really hard to keep my wrists straight when it was there, not sure I did. I have really long forearms... maybe I need to widen my grip some.

2nd set of squats was tough. I took a longer rest, like 5 mins, and really focused on form for the 3rd set, shoving my knees out at the bottom. That one went much easier.

Presses felt good, 75 felt easier than 70 did last week.

Cleans also easy. I hit myself in the face with the bar one rep. That hurt.

[cms]

12/2/09

Squat: 155 x 5 x 3
Bench Press: 120 x 5 x 3
Deadlift: 180 x 5 x 1

Squats were tough. Last set, 5th rep went up real slow. Still, I don't feel like it took everything I had. I'm confident I'll get 165 on Friday, then depending on how that feels maybe it's time to go to 5 lb increments?

Bench was easy. I know I could have jumped 10 lb but I stuck to the program.

Deadlift wasn't too bad either. I need to get chalk, it's getting heavy enough now that I felt my grip slip a little, partially due to sweaty palms I'm sure.

I'm going to weigh in on Friday. Not sure if I'll be happy or freaked if I am over 200 lbs. I can see my gut and ass are a lot bigger now, and I can barely fit into my pants. I might need to shop for fat guy pants this weekend.

[cms]

12/04/2009

I screwed up today. I was thinking about shit at work and I put too much weight on the bar and stalled bad.

Squat: 175 x 5 x 1, 175 x 2 x 1, 175 x 1 x 1
Press: 80 x 5 x 3
Clean: 80 x 5 x 3

Bad stall. My last squat warm up was 165 x 1, which felt pretty good. I should have been doing 165 across.

I'll eat up and rest up this weekend and go back to 155 on Monday, and go back to 10 lb increments. Gotta focus in the gym!!

I also realized I have some pretty bad butt wink at the bottom of my squats, which is probably why I can't seem to find my hip drive every rep. I need to seriously stretch my hamstrings.

Not happy with today. Oh well, onward.

Also, I weighed in before leaving. 200 lbs on the dot. That's 15 lbs in 2 weeks.

[misspelledgeoff]

good work cms.

yeah you fell into the trap all of us do--feeling strong so you get a bit greedy on the weight increase. we've all done it. just keep in mind that 10 pounds per workout is 30 pounds per week which is 275 exactly one month from now! no need to rush it as the gains will come big and soon.

[cms]

12/07/2009

Squat: 165 x 5 x 3
Bench Press: 125 x 5 x 3
Deadlift: 195 x 5 x 1

Still working on my squat form. First work set felt hard but I got through. Second one felt easier, I think I really found my hip drive on that one. Third set was fucking hard, the 4th rep took everything I had to get up. Then I went back down for one more and hit that too. Hell yes. Worried about 175 on Wednesday... gonna eat as much as I possibly can.

Bench press went up easy, but it's starting to feel heavy. Deadlift was hard but I kept my focus and they all came up well.

I'm going to stretch my hamstrings each night before bed now. I really think that's the source of my squat difficulties. I don't have the ability to film myself squatting but when I go down with no bar and keep my hand on my back I feel it start to lose its arch about 2/3rd of the way down.

[cms]

12/09/2009

Squat: 175: 5, 5, 3 (stalled)
Press: 85 x 5 x 3
Clean: 85 x 5 x 3

I had to train at Globo-Gym today (boston sports club) for unimportant reasons. I went at the slowest time of the day and I still had to swap sets with a guy on their only squat rack.

I took the opportunity to ask him how my depth was after the first set. He said it looked good, but then said I don't need to go so deep, my feet are too wide and should point straight ahead. Nice enough guy but I totally ignored the rest of the advice he kept offering me. I also have no idea now how my depth was, becuase his narrow stance high bar half squats were not at all what I was trying to do.

2nd set of squats felt strong, but I really had to dig for that 5th rep. 3rd set, rep 3 went up fine, I went down for rep 4 and lost my hip drive. I dunno why, maybe I went down too fast. Honestly 175 felt fucking heavy on my back. I know that's nothing to most of the guys here but hey, before this program the most I ever squatted was 135. And that was a half squat.

Presses went up well but are also feeling heavy. Cleans were fine.

I'm going to search around for the proper procedure to deal with a stall, but I think I may have hit my limits with the 10 lb increases on the squat.

[stronger]

12/09/2009

Squat: 175: 5, 5, 3 (stalled)
Press: 85 x 5 x 3
Clean: 85 x 5 x 3

I had to train at Globo-Gym today (boston sports club) for unimportant reasons. I went at the slowest time of the day and I still had to swap sets with a guy on their only squat rack.

I took the opportunity to ask him how my depth was after the first set. He said it looked good, but then said I don't need to go so deep, my feet are too wide and should point straight ahead. Nice enough guy but I totally ignored the rest of the advice he kept offering me. I also have no idea now how my depth was, becuase his narrow stance high bar half squats were not at all what I was trying to do.

2nd set of squats felt strong, but I really had to dig for that 5th rep. 3rd set, rep 3 went up fine, I went down for rep 4 and lost my hip drive. I dunno why, maybe I went down too fast. Honestly 175 felt fucking heavy on my back. I know that's nothing to most of the guys here but hey, before this program the most I ever squatted was 135. And that was a half squat.

Presses went up well but are also feeling heavy. Cleans were fine.

I'm going to search around for the proper procedure to deal with a stall, but I think I may have hit my limits with the 10 lb increases on the squat.

happens to the best of us. Do you own Practical Programming 2? It will tell you how to reset so that you can make the push to a 200lb squat

5lb jumps are here it seems

also, if you have questions on form, post a video for the gang to check (if you haven't already)