John's Starting Strength Log

[cervicornis]

Good progress man. Your log is especially interesting since we are the same age, weight, starting #'s, and background. I'd been doing crossfit-style workouts for a couple of years, with some standard upperbody strength work back in college. Squats and leg strength have always been my weakness.

Today wraps up week 9 of SS and I've gone from 175 lbs. to 202. Squats are by far my toughest exercise and my form was really breaking down at 265. I started at 135. I reset these to 240 and today I did 260 with good form (I think). Have been reaching PR's on everything else every workout, which feels great.

I'm planning to do this for 3 more weeks and then re-evaluate and go from there. This program has been very tough on the body and I don't know that I am committed enough to keep at it. Squats drain me, mentally and physically.

Haven't been doing GOMAD but I'm eating quite a bit and drinking a couple of glasses of whole milk every day. I started out doing 1/2 GOMAD and was gaining so much weight, so quickly, that I freaked out and slowed it down. I'd guess that my 27# of weight gain is about 15/12 muscle/fat.

Anyway, probably more than you asked for but that's my deal. Good luck with your program and keep at it. I'm curious, are you going into this with any particular goals?

[TartanEagle]

Anyway, probably more than you asked for but that's my deal. Good luck with your program and keep at it. I'm curious, are you going into this with any particular goals?

Thanks for the comments. You have made excellent progress yourself, and its good to see where people of similar backgrounds end up. As for goals, they are pretty general at the moment. I really just want to get a lot stronger. I enjoyed the Crossfit strength workouts the most, and I really like seeing workout to workout progress on that front. I tend to get a lot of aches and pains in my shoulders, elbows and I occasionally have lower back problems (more on that in my next log post), so I don't know if I can keep this up to get Powerlifter strong. If I can, maybe I'll enter a PL meet. Either way, I anticipate a return back to some strength and conditioning (CF Football, Wendler 5/3/1 with some CF type metcons) at some point.

[TartanEagle]

January 16, 2010
Situps +25x20
Squats
45x5x2
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x2 (I meant to do 215, but I cannot count. This is troubling, as I am an accountant)
235x5x2
235x3

At the bottom of rep #4 of my third set, shooting pain went through my lower back and the muscle just seized up. I was able to dump the barbell in the rack, and I thought at the time that my spine was crushed and that I would never squat again. Then I realized that while 235# is heavy for me, in absolute terms, its really not that heavy. After I decided that finishing my squats was not going to happen today, I thought about getting my presses in. But as I could not actually stand straight up, I thought this might be unwise.

As I alluded to above, I have had some back trouble in the past. I've never been diagnosed, as it is not that serious, and usually dissipates within a few days. The last time this happened, I was leaning over to tie my sons shoe (really that's all it took). It seems to happen when I let my back get loose and bend over. I must have let my back relax at the bottom of my squat, as I was concerned with hitting my depth today. Once I can start squatting again (I anticipate missing probably my next 2 scheduled days), I will have to get video. I will also stop putting off ordering a belt.

[cervicornis]

Yikes. I hope it was just a weird event that you can get straightened out. Good luck.

I started using a belt at 250# and it definitely helps me stay tight. You don't need anything fancy, I'm using a cheap velcro belt I picked up at Big 5 for $20.
Seems to do the job. I was diagnosed with a disk injury in high school, and my back has plagued me on and off since. SS leaves me feeling stiff and beat up, some days worse than others, but thus far my back has been able to handle it.

Everyone's different, but I find that I feel best when I warm up well and then do all my stretching after the workout.

[TartanEagle]

My back is still a mess. Sitting at my desk for 12-14 hours a day is not doing it any favors. I haven't trained since Saturday, so I have cut my GOMAD down to a half gallon. I'm hoping a few more days rest will help, but until my work schedule slows down (not for a few weeks) I'm worried I will miss a lot of training.

BW is 195.

[TartanEagle]

After 9 days may back is still pretty sore. If I sit for long periods it stiffens up quite a bit. Unfortunately, this is my busiest time all year at work, so I am sitting a lot! I had wanted to wait until the stiffness was less regular to start working out, but when I got home from work my new Inzer belt was waiting for me. So at 11 pm I got back in the rack.

Squats:
45x5x2
75x5
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5x3
I was being fairly cautious. My back held up very well. I stopped at 155 as I was really feeling my adductors work. This is only the 3rd workout in my new shoes and they really have changed my squat. I will just start back with 10 pound jumps from here.

Press:
45x5
75x5
105x3
115x5x3
This was the same weight as my last press workout, but it felt much heavier. My back held up well, despite a little more lean back on my last rep of set 3. I will be microloading press from now on.

Deadlift:
95x5
135x5
165x5
185x2
205x5
I was not planning on doing any deadlifts, but my back was feeling better the more I worked it. I kept the weight conservative, however. The most difficult part was getting used to the belt. I will likely alternate chins and deads for a couple of weeks until I am confident that back can handle Powercleans and back extensions. Then I will be back on the standard Onus Wunsler program.

[Tim Lofton]

FlexAll or Icy Hot (or something similar) work wonders for me for stiff/sore back, especially at bedtime or during the day during periods of desktime; just a thought. BTW, which Inzer belt did you get and where did you purchase? Thanks,

tim

[TartanEagle]

Tim, thanks for the recommendations.

I got an Inzer economy belt, from inzernet.com. Its 4", 10mm and double pronged.

[TartanEagle]

January 28, 2010
Squats
45x10
45x5x2
85x5
115x5
145x2
175x5x3
Still going easy on the squats as I make my way back from the back injury. I am still getting used to the shoes, and I definitely can feel the increased use of my quads. This forced de-load due to my back is probably beneficial in the long run, since I feel very different on the squat now. Back did well. It was very tight when I woke up, but felt pretty good once I warmed up.

Bench Press:
45x5
75x5
95x5
120x3
140x5x3
I was getting some elbow discomfort during the first set. I tightened up my grip and felt much better.

Chins:
BW+25x5x3
I did +45 before I hurt my back, but that was tough and I think I would have stalled almost immediately. I'll add weight from here.

No back extensions for a while. Hopefully in a week or so, I'll be able to do some unweighted.

[TartanEagle]

Friday is weigh-in day for log purposes. This morning was 196. As I was out of commission for 10 days its probably a good thing I did not gain more. I will now really push to get over 200.