Gamedog's Training Log

[gamedog]

Got two wisdom teeth pulled today so I'm taking the day off. I'll hit the gym tomorrow instead. Normally Saturday and Sunday are days off, but I don't think working out on Saturday and then resuming the regular Mon, Wed and Fri schedule will be a problem.

[Smoke_Eater]

Just gota roll with what life gives you man. My schedule is never mon/weds/fri or tues/thurs/sat week after week becuase of my job. As long as you get your lifts in, thats what matters!

Ill follow your log, seems that Ive have the same sorta issues in the past. Doing the same Novice program as well so itll be cool so see how things progress since were starting at the same time. Cheers.

[gamedog]

Just gota roll with what life gives you man. My schedule is never mon/weds/fri or tues/thurs/sat week after week becuase of my job. As long as you get your lifts in, thats what matters!

Ill follow your log, seems that Ive have the same sorta issues in the past. Doing the same Novice program as well so itll be cool so see how things progress since were starting at the same time. Cheers.

Well you're certainly right about that, "Life (and sometimes shit) does happen" LOL Yeah man, by all means, follow me here and I'll follow you as well! I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym tomorrow, and I'm also looking forward to getting my book in the mail. Got the "The Aasgard company has sent you a package" email yesterday. Should be here shortly. That'll help me TONS, including helping me learn power cleans better.

Anyway, cheers to you as well, and I'll be seeing you around!

[Beltshumeltz]

... some stuff edited out...

skateboarding, I couldn't ollie. Never learned how to. Always thought "I'm too uncoordinated to learn how" and gave up on skating. That sucks. I enjoyed it, but I gave it up because I wasn't learning the trick I wanted to do. Probably could have learned if I tried harder, but I never did...

Come to think of it, I've given up on a lot of other stuff, when shit got "too technical," too. Girlfriends, various activities, jobs... One long string of shit I gave up on.

... some stuff edited out...

Man, I feel the same. I think this program is acting very much as a character builder for me. I have started approaching the bar on the squat telling myself I will either lift this &#$%$ or die under it, as opposed to before when I was too cautious and therefore rarely raised the weight.

I went from 160 to 225 squat at the rate of 5 per workout and to my surprise, it worked and it usually still feels a bit easier than when I did 180, as if I was getting 6-7 pounds of recovery per workout. It was just about having the right mindset.

It's building my confidence as I now realize that I too, can get that strength that I usually just admire on others. No need to settle for less.

I think now I should actually stop worrying about the technical aspects of the power clean and just do it uh? I've actually been doing chin ups and rows as I thought it was too tough to learn. Yet I never actually read the chapter on cleans...

[gamedog]

-STATS-
Weight: 228 lbs.

-TODAY'S WORKOUT-

Squats:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
85 lbs. x 5 x 1
120 lbs. x 5 x 1
155 lbs. x 5 x 1
170 lbs. x 5 x 3

Overhead Press:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
65 lbs. x 5 x 1
85 lbs. x 5 x 1
105 lbs. x 5 x 3

Power Clean:
60 lbs. x 5 x 1

Notes:
I ended up not going to the gym on Saturday, after having my wisdom teeth taken out Friday morning. My wife advised me against it. She seemed to think that it might not be a good idea to be recovering from oral surgery and from lifting at the same time over the weekend. So I took the 4 days and just hung out.

I was half expecting to go in there and kill it today, but to be honest, most of the workout was godawful. I never believed people who said they get joint pain when it's cool, cloudy and rainy outside, but today I was like a box of Rice Krispies, crackling and popping and my knees are sore again.

Bad sore knees on squats and my last set of presses sucked today, they were shaky on the way down once or twice. One good thing though, is that my power cleans were good today. I guess you have to take the good with the bad... One bad workout won't kill me.

Over-all, despite the pain and stuff, I was glad to be back in there, and I'll just do my best to go in strong on Wednesday.

Another good thing, is that my copy of Starting Strength should be delivered today, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

[gamedog]

Man, I feel the same. I think this program is acting very much as a character builder for me.

It is for both of us homey. It is for both of us ;-)

[gamedog]

-TODAY'S WORKOUT-

Squats:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
85 lbs. x 5 x 1
125 lbs. x 3 x 1
165 lbs. x 1 x 1
175 lbs. x 5 x 3

Bench Press:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
85 lbs. x 5 x 1
125 lbs. x 3 x 1
155 lbs. x 5 x 3

Dead Lift:
160 lbs. x 5 x 1

Notes:

Today felt great for several reasons. Firstly, because I went into the gym with a good attitude. I thought to myself "Sure, last time wasn't so great, but I'm here today, despite how bad it hurt last time, I've been studying my SSBBT book, I've eaten a lot of good food and I'm well-rested, and I have the raw power of Iggy and the Stooges cued up on my iPod. Today's workout will be a good one."

I mention Rip's book (Starting Strength BBT 2nd Edition) because it arrived in the mail on Monday afternoon. I read the chapter about The Squat, and then re-read it. I am pleased because I understand "hip drive" better now. I also understand now why the shoulder-width stance is the best one for the low-bar squat -I was keeping my feet far wider before. Coming up out of the hole I imagined that I was pushing up on a piston with the top part of where my ass connects with my lower back. Rising it straight up. My glutes and hamstrings were firing aces and I felt NO undue pressure on my knees at all. My knees weren't hurting a bit.

Beforehand I had made an effort to put more into warming up, too. I did 5 hard minutes on the rowing machine, followed by a moderate 10 minutes on the stationary bike. Followed that up with leg kicks, hip rotations, body-weight good mornings and then Rip's squat stretch.

That helped a lot, as well.

The only pain encountered was mild lower-back discomfort. I can fix this by "looking down" more, as opposed to looking straight into the mirror and MAKING SURE I keep my chest big and shoulders drawn together tight in the back. I basically just need to focus some energy on making sure my back stays tight, with a big chest the way described in the book. I can do this.

Bench Presses were great, save for a little slop on my last two or three reps of my last set... I got a little over-zealous because there was this HOT cougar-type broad doing plyos nearby...

Heh, hot plyo cougar stopped to towel off as I was starting my dead lifts. I brought up that bar like it was little more than a broomhandle, and she watched me the entire time. I chuckled to myself, because 160 isn't an impressive weight at all. Heh, maybe she was thinking "He's just warming up, I can't wait to see him get the HUGE weight on there! Perhaps, if he can break 500 I'll follow him into the showers!" ... and then she thought, as I unloaded the bar and put the weights back "Well THAT certainly was anti-climactic. I wonder what those nice CrossFit boys are doing..." LOL

I'll be reading the chapter on Power Cleans tonight, and tomorrow to prepare for Friday. Rip writes a good book. Glad I had "She Who Must Be Obeyed" buy it for me. OH! As a surprise, she also bought me new shoes. We can't afford the nice, weight lifting kind, but she did get me a pair of World Industries shoes. They're made for skate boarding, BUT, they have a flat sole that's hard as HELL, they're comfortable, and they work a lot better than my Chucks.

Today was a good day.

[gamedog]

-TODAY'S WORKOUT-

Squats:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
90 lbs. x 5 x 1
135 lbs. x 3 x 1
180 lbs. x 5 x 3

Overhead Press:
45 lbs. x 5 x 2
80 lbs. x 5 x 1
110 lbs. x 5 x 3

Power Clean:
65 lbs. x 5 x 1

Notes:

I'm never going to the gym on 5 hours of sleep again. I did all my lifts, honest-to-God with good form, but I wasn't 100% today. And my left biceps is killing me after the presses.

When I was on the StrongLifts 5x5 program I was doing a lot of "assistance" work along with the compound lifts. I ditched all of them when I scrapped that program and starting doing Rippetoes' instead. Anyway, I'd been doing the pull-ups a while back and got a sharp pain at the bottom of my left biceps, near the ditch. It cleared up, but came back today. Blows.

Other than that, things were okay. Doing my power-cleans by-the-book now, took SSBBT into the gym with me so the info was handy any time I needed to flip to it, and that was that.

[Smoke_Eater]

Good to see you got the book man. If you read it and thuroughly digest the info it will make a world of difference on your lifts. Hip drive is a wonderfull thing with squatting and once you get it youll notice your knees will never really hurt. I wish I had of read the book and done this program properly in my late to early teens but such is life.

Look into Defracos agile 8 for a warmup. I do it religiously along with a good hard row before my workouts and I usually feel pretty primed for the workout.

[gamedog]

It was a wise investment. I don't think I've ever seen so much information about weight lifting in one book before. The detail Rip and Lon go into is astonishing. I'm glad I bought it too.

I'll check out the Agile 8 as well. Whatever I can do to promote longevity, you know?