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Thread: Starting Strength FOR REAL - Journey to 1000 lbs

  1. #1
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    Default Starting Strength FOR REAL - Journey to 1000 lbs

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    Hi everyone.

    I recently found this board and have been trying to integrate myself into the community. From the Q&A to the great coaches to the E&P forum, it's an informative, entertaining, wacky, and sometimes disturbing place!

    Brief background about me... I started getting fit about four years ago when I was out of a job and had nothing else to do. At my worst, I was about 250 lbs of blubber (at 6'3").

    I had no idea where to start, so I grabbed one of those infomercial DVD plans and went at it. At the end, I was down to 230 and feeling much better.

    Fast forward a couple years... I got a new job and had relocated. My diligence in the gym had reduced slightly. I can't remember exactly how I discovered Rip's book, but I absolutely loved it when I read it. I decided it was time for me to start getting under the barbell.

    Despite that, I had some reservations about actually starting The Program. I really wanted to continue cutting the body fat, and I wasn't sure I would be able to. If I could go back, I would have started LP several months ago, but regardless, I've reached my goal weight (210 lbs), so now I'm ready to start packing on the muscle.

    I think if I ever do a power lifting meet, I'm destined to compete at 220. It took me as long to get from 215 lbs to 210 lbs as it did to get from 230 lbs to 215 lbs.

    Anyway, this is purely a hobby for me. So I'm just hoping to have fun getting stronger. I'm planning on doing Starting Strength novice completely by the book (with one exception). So when I hit the gym, I'll be establishing my starting weights for the squat, press, and deadlift. Wednesday I'll do my first LP on the squat, as well as establishing the bench press and power clean. I'm undecided on whether or not I'll incorporate the power clean right away, or stick with the deadlift only for the first two weeks.

    Friday, I'm going to take one day (I know, YNDTP) and establish my 1RM's for each of the core lifts so I have a baseline to be able to look back on. Then starting next Monday, I'm going to head off on my journey to lift 1000 lbs!

    Current stats...

    Age: 28
    Height: 6'3"
    Weight: 211 lbs.
    BF% (estimate): 19%

    Current Lifts:
    Squat: 205x3x5 (1RM: 240 lbs, Feb. 2013)
    Bench: 155x3x5 (1RM: 170 lbs, Feb. 2013)
    Deadlift: 290x3x5 (1RM: 315 lbs, Feb. 2013)
    Press: 110x3x5
    Power Clean: 115x3x5 (just started learning this in May, 2013)

    My 1RM total obviously adds up to 725, and that was in February when I weighed 230 lbs. I'm hoping to at least match that on Friday. I still think I can take advantage of some "newbie" gains going forward. Long term goals are to be lifting 1000 lbs by June 1, 2014.

    Here we go!

  2. #2
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    Back from the gym...

    Established starting values for the squat, press, and deadlift.

    Warmup
    500m on C2 Rower
    Stretching

    Squat
    45x2x5
    95x1x5
    135x1x5
    145x1x5
    155x3x5 (starting weight)

    Press
    45x2x5
    65x1x5
    75x1x5
    80x3x5 (starting weight)

    Deadlift
    135x2x5
    185x1x5
    225x1x5
    245x1x5
    255x1x5 (255 went up a little slower than I wanted it to, so I'm going to consider 245 my "starting weight")
    Last edited by Nick Klemetson; 06-03-2013 at 10:02 AM. Reason: Press numbers were wrong.

  3. #3
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    Good luck, Nick!

    (If you wanted to compete in powerlifting, at 6'3", 275 would be the class. Or higher )

    Edit: If you want to compete for the fun of it, compete. But at 6'3" you could have substantially more weight than 220.

  4. #4
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    I'm glad to see you get going, Nick! I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised and pleased at your results and I have no doubts you'll hit your 1000lb total sooner than you envision.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karl Schudt View Post
    Good luck, Nick!

    (If you wanted to compete in powerlifting, at 6'3", 275 would be the class. Or higher )

    Edit: If you want to compete for the fun of it, compete. But at 6'3" you could have substantially more weight than 220.
    That's good to know. I definitely have a lot of room for potential mass on my shoulders/upper arms/upper back/chest area. My shoulders are only about an inch wider than my hips right now. I've spent the last couple months trying to get rid of all the junk a little further south and now I'm hoping to transplant it back about two feet higher.

    And I have no desire to compete competitively. This is all just a hobby. Who knows though... maybe I'll do my first one, lose by 500 lbs, and it'll light a competitive fire.

    It's all a long way off though. Thanks for checking in!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oldster View Post
    I'm glad to see you get going, Nick! I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised and pleased at your results and I have no doubts you'll hit your 1000lb total sooner than you envision.
    Thanks Oldster. I think you might be right... it all depends on how much more newbie growth I have in me.

  7. #7
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    Friday, I'm going to take one day (I know, YNDTP) and establish my 1RM's for each of the core lifts so I have a baseline to be able to look back on.
    Hey man, I think this is a great idea. I remember having a "bench competition" with my brother early on in my training, so when I was benching that much weight for sets of 5 three months later I could feel proud of hitting that goal.

    Good luck.

  8. #8
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    Day #2... continuing the squat LP, and establishing the starting weights for the bench press and power clean.

    Warmup
    Lateral Elliptical: 5 minutes
    Stretching

    Squat
    45x2x5
    75x1x5
    105x1x3
    135x1x2
    165x3x5

    Went up really easy. Right where I should be, I think.

    Bench Press
    45x2x5
    95x1x5
    115x1x5
    125x1x5 (5th rep slowed down just a hair, so I guess that's the starting point)
    125x2x5

    I feel like a gigantic pussy starting that low, but I keep trying to put that out of my mind and think that 10 BP workouts from now, I'll hopefully be doing my 1RM for 3x5.

    Power Clean (build-up)
    Hang Shrug: 45x1x5
    Hang Clean: 45x1x5
    Hang Shrug: 65x1x5
    Hang Clean: 65x1x5
    Hang Clean: 85x1x5
    Power Clean: 85x1x5, 85x3x3

    Again... trying to ignore the bad feelings that I'm starting that low. Had a bit of a teaching moment though. I've struggled with the rack position while learning this lift, and a cue that I gave myself that really helped was intentionally keeping the bar as close to my chest as I could. I remember the advice in the book that it should be brushing your shirt on the way up, and when I focused on that, I realized just how far out in front I was getting without even realizing it.

    Since I'm starting this low, should power cleans progress by 5's or 10's? I'm leaning towards 5's right now, but if those who know have another opinion, I'd happily reconsider.

    Also, should I have deadlifted today? As I said in my initial post, I want to do Starting Strength by the book, which means I shouldn't power clean for the first two weeks. But it seems like the book has a completely novice lifter in mind (ie. never touched a barbell), and I am not that inexperienced. Also, my deadlift is well ahead of my squat, which is another thing the book says should be accomplished in the first two weeks by deadlifting every workout. So unless someone strongly advises against it, I'm going to go ahead with power cleans right away.

    So, Friday I'll do a fake powerlifting meet and establish my new 1RM's going forward, and then on Monday, I'll start with this split straight from SS:BBT ed. 3:

    Workout A
    Squat
    Press
    Deadlift

    Workout B
    Squat
    Bench Press
    Power Clean

    Sound right?

  9. #9
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    Today was my 1RM test day. I basically set it up like a fake powerlifting meet. The only difference was that rather than doing it all day, I did it over about 90 minutes.

    Squat Warmup
    45x2x5
    95x1x5
    135x1x3
    185x1x2
    205x1x1
    225x1x1

    Attempt 1
    240 lbs O

    Went up really fast

    Attempt 2
    255 lbs O

    Attempt 3
    275 lbs O

    May not have gotten as low as I usually do, but it still felt pretty good.

    Bench Press Warmup
    45x2x5
    95x1x5
    135x1x3
    150x1x2
    160x1x1

    1st Attempt
    175 lbs O

    This was surprisingly shaky. My right side went up a lot faster than my left.

    2nd Attempt
    185 lbs O

    Went up evenly this time, but the first half of the ascent was painfully slow. Once I got past the wall, it went up fine.

    3rd attempt
    190 lbs X

    Fail. I lost it on the descent because I let it come down too fast. Had to do the roll of shame since I didn't have a spotter.

    Deadlift Warmups
    135x2x5
    185x1x5
    225x1x3
    275x1x2
    300x1x1

    1st Attempt
    315 lbs O

    No problem.

    2nd Attempt
    330 lbs O

    Went up pretty slowly, plus I was getting exhausted. But then I crunched some numbers and realized I was only 10 lbs away from an 800 lb total, so I went for it.

    3rd attempt
    340 lbs O

    This was close. Bar went up smoothly and my knees were locked out, but my shoulders were still a little slouched. Probably would have gotten 1 red light, but I'm still counting it.

    Squat- 275
    Bench- 185
    Deadlift- 340

    800 TOTAL!!

    Felt great!! On my way to 1000!!!

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Nice work, you'll be repping those in no time. You were asking about power cleans this early in the program. It's totally fine to be getting into them at this point. Take 5 pound jumps unless the bar is flying so high that you can't get the timing right. Just my opinion.

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