Cervicornis Learns to Squat

[cervicornis]

Workout 22 - Jan. 4, 2009
Squat 260 x 5 x 3
Press 145 x 5 x 3
Clean 155 x 3 x 3

Need to reset the squat, I think. Only a couple of your reps got to parallel. Too much weight, your form is totally fucked up.

Workout 23 - Jan. 6, 2009
Squat 235 x 5 x 3
Bench 215 x 5 x 3
Deadlift 340 x 5 x 1

Reset the squat to 235, which unfortunately still feels very heavy, but at least your form seems to be good. Good depth. Hit the deadlift with enthusiasm and crushed it today.

Workout 24 - Jan. 8, 2009
Squat 240 x 5 x 3
Press 147.5 x 4, 147.5 x 5 x 2
Clean 160 x 3 x 5

Squats are feeling better. Good form.
Lost your focus on your press today. The weight is right near your limit. Came back and nailed the second and third sets, good job.

[cervicornis]

Workout 25 - Jan. 11, 2009
Squat 245 x 5 x 3
Bench 220 x 5 x 3
Deadlift 345 x 5 x 1

Squats are heavy but good form. Getting excited about bench, will attempt a milestone next time. Deadlift is very heavy.

Workout 26 - Jan 13, 2009
Squat 250 x 5 x 3
Press 150 x 5 x 3
Clean 0 x 0 x 0

Accident today, Cy missed the rack at the end of his press and threw the bar, which landed on the bench and got bent. Guess we need a new bar. No bar = no cleans.

Workout 27 - Jan 15, 2009
Squat 255 x 5 x 3
Bench 225 x 5 x 2, 225 x 4 x 1
Deadlift 350 x 5 x 1

First day with your new bar. Feels a bit different. The new bar played Jedi mind tricks and you lost your focus, missed your attempt at repping 225 on the bench. Next time you will nail it. Squats were very heavy but with good form.

[Sami]

lol

[Bloodninja666]

Nice progress. Quite a bit greater than my own in a similar timeframe. I guess thats the power of actually gaining weight.

[cervicornis]

Thanks. I love to eat.

[cervicornis]

Workout 28 - Jan. 18, 2010
Squat 260 x 5 x 3
Press 157.5 x 4, 152.5 x 5, 152.5 x 4
Clean 165 x 3 x 5

The squat felt pretty good, but I made a mistake loading the plates on the press and accidentally increased the weight by 7.5 lbs. instead of 2.5. That screwed everything up. Cleans went well, maintained decent form on all reps.

[cervicornis]

Workout 29 - Jan. 20, 2010
Squat 265 x 5 x 3
Bench 225 x 5 x 3
Deadlift 355 x 5 x 1

Felt pretty good on the squats, nice depth, but something weird happened on the last rep of the 3rd set and I just barely made it up. Felt like that last rep took about 20 minutes. Bench was right at the limit but I nailed it. Felt good on the deadlift.

[cervicornis]

Workout 30 - Jan. 22, 2010
Squat 270 x 2, 270 x 5 x 2
Press 255 x 2

Today is both good and bad. Fridays are always tough, and it didn't help that one of my workout partners bailed. My other buddy has a wrist injury so he was restricted to squatting. Suffice to say that overall motivation was very low.

The squat felt super heavy and I barely got 2 reps in the first set. Without any spotters, my mental game fell apart and I dumped the bar on the third rep. I sort of gave up at that point, and decided to just take it one rep at a time in the second set. Somehow I made it through all 5. And then I did it again for the third set. Definitely the toughest squatting session I have experienced so far, but it leaves me feeling good.

My shoulder has been bothering me just a little this last week, and I feel like I am right at the limit on bench and press. After the squats, I had nothing left for the press, though to be truthful I think I just gave up. Weak, and I already regret it. Ironically, today's squat taught me perseverance, and then I gave up.

[cervicornis]

Workout 31 - Jan. 27, 2010
Squat 270 x 2, 225 x 5, 215 x 15
Bench 225 x 5 x 3
Deadlift 360 x 5 x 1

I think I'm at the limit on everything right now. Went backpacking last weekend which was the first non-SS exercise I've done in 10 weeks. Missed Monday's workout as a result (first missed workout) and had an epic fail today on the squats. Screwed around and did the 215 x 15 just to see what it would feel like. Did the same weight on bench and progressed on the deadlift. One more week planned for this initial phase of SS, will need to evaluate my goals and do some soul searching. Workout partners are losing motivation and dealing with injuries, which doesn't help at all.

Current weight is 202, more or less unchanged since 10 days ago. Clearly I'm not eating enough.

[cervicornis]

Workout 32-37, Jan. 29 - Feb. 14, 2010

This will be my last post to this log. I followed the SS program with no missed workouts for precisely 10 weeks. I started at a body weight of 175 lbs. and finished at 205 lbs. (34 years old and 5'10") I suspect I gained about about 10 lbs. of muscle and 15 lbs. of fat. Some of that weight at the end is water/food in my belly, which came off immediately.

My starting and ending weights, sets across:

Squat: 130 - 270
Bench: 140 - 227.5
Deadlift: 140 - 370 (5 x 1)
Press: 90 - 152.5
Clean: 110 - 160

I hit my bench and deadlift goals - I wanted to rep 225 and pull 400 for 1 rep, which I am now able to do. I didn't quite make my squat goal, which was 275 for reps. I'm disappointed in my clean but happy with my press. Other than my deadlift, I haven't tested any 1RM.

I gained a lot of fat on this program. A LOT. I walked around at ~200 for several years and then spent a hard year dieting and crossfitting to get down to 175. I gained it all back in 10 weeks, much to my dismay. But it was fun and I feel strong. I've already dropped 10 of those lbs. since the end of January and I suspect I will be back to my previous fat level in another month or two. Like Rip says, the hard part is gaining the muscle. I am finding that the fat is coming off pretty quick.

That being said, holy shit I am surprised at how bad my cardio has suffered. Running a mile just wipes me out. I find it difficult to do 30 pushups in a row. I am curious to see how long it takes to return to pre-SS condition.

I fucking loved this program. I think I was nearing the limit of my novice progression, and I intend to diet and concentrate on metcon for a couple of months while doing strength work 2 days/week to maintain as much strength as possible. Once I shed some fat, I want to start another round and gain some more strength. I'll probably eat less - I gained way more fat than I expected or would have liked. It's all good though, it was fun. I'd love to rep 315 on the squat and pull 450 on the deadlift. One day...