Starting Strength In Saudi

[Thin_White_Duke]

Basic Stats:

Male.
32 years-old.
1.9m tall.
75 kg.

History:
Always been extremely thin.
Body fat usually around 8%
Growing up played a bit of soccer, a bit of rugby and a lot of tennis.
Trained in Tae Kwan Do for about 3 years at University.
Started "weight-training" during last 2 years at University - the usual, commercial "Body-building" routines. Gained about 5kg.

Subsequently, joined the military and served in the Infantry, therefore spent 9 years in the running/hiking/long slow distance field.

Now a civilian and intending to actually put some fucking weight on.

Training solo in a compound in Saudi Arabia.
Using the 2nd Edition of Starting Strength.
Starting right from the beginning in order to learn the techniques. Fairly confident that I have developed sufficient maturity to "risk" starting at very low weights and not throw the towel in (reference Rips "Incremental Increases" article.)

[Thin_White_Duke]

BP 44lbs x 5 x 3
PUs BW x 3 x 3
BSQ 44lbs x 5 x 3

-Squat rack was in use when I arrived, so had to put BSQ at end.
- Forgot my Converse shoes at home, so will be using a pair of light hiking trainers for another week.
- Certain that BSQ technique was decent: low-bar position, well below parallel, kept back straight. Obviously this is easy with nothing on the bar.

[Thin_White_Duke]

BSQ 75lbs x 5 x 3.
Press 55lbs x 5 x 3.
DL 85lbs x 5 x 1.

-DL form was below average: Suspect that I am thinking too much about it. Have also previously sustained a fair bit of lower back trauma over the years (occupational hazard in the Infantry).

-Also, disgustingly, my legs were shaking after the BSQ - proper squat depth is obviously an undiscovered country at the moment.

[Thin_White_Duke]

BSQ 85lbs x 5 x 3
BP 65lbs x 5 x 3
Hang PC 45lbs x 5 x 3.

-Put the BP up 10lbs more than I had planned as it was so light that I felt that I was wasting my time. 65lbs is, of course still featherlight but it is giving me a chance to practice the technique.
- Hang Power Cleans instead of PCs as I was just using the bar and wanted to practice the technique.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hello Duke,

may I ask you what are the peculiarities of training in Saudi Arabia, if there are any ? What kind of facilities are available, apart from the ones in the compound you train in ?

Thank you in advance, and good luck with your program.

IPB

[Thin_White_Duke]

Brutto,

There aren't really any peculiarities to training in Saudi that I can think of off the top of my head.
I live in a compound that has a passable gym- by which I mean, it has some barbells, a barely adequate squat rack, and a couple of benches, which is all you need for SS. The rest of the gym (i.e. the other 90% of floor space) is taken up by machines, some of which are for performing exercises that I can't work out.

The other gym users are the other esidents, mostly Lebanese people. The females and older people spend their time on the treadmills and the younger guys are on the world's most popular training programme of: Back, biceps and a bit of shoulders/Chest, triceps and abs.
(Which is exactly what I was doing the last time I was a regular gym-goer)

I had a look on the Internet for gyms before I came here, there seemed to be a couple-mostly of the body-building type, which I haven't visited.
There is a shop in the compound, so GOMAD isn't a problem.
In about 3 months it is going to get very, very hot so I am hoping the a/c in the gym is up to the job.

[Thin_White_Duke]

BSQ 95lbs x 5 x 3
Press 65lbs x 5 x 3
DL 95lbs x 5 x 1

-Weights are still low but I feel that the technique is coming along, which will pay off later.
- Missed breakfast this morning, so need to pack it in at dinner.

[Thin_White_Duke]

BSQ 105lbs x 5 x 3
BP 75lbs x 5 x 3
Hang PC 55lbs x 3 x 3

- Still very light weights but I reckon the technique is coming along. Also, light weights = shorter rest periods = shorter workout = extra time to peruse SS for form tips.
- BSQ went up with no problems.
- BP seems to be more technically demanding than the BSQ (for me). There seems to be more things to think about.
- Hang PCs weren't as good as last time. Landing pretty heavily into the rack. On the upside, I must be keeping the bar quite close as it is tugging my shirt up on the way up.
- Judging by the scale in the gym, I have gained 1-2kgs. However, I doubt that it is a finely tuned apparatus, it is one of those boxing weigh-in style scale-which I am not that familiar with and I am wearing clothes. I must weigh quite a bit less but at least it will give me some idea of if the weight is going up.