Ringer3's Log

[Ringer3]

Hey guys and gals,

Thanks for stopping in! This journal is going to be all about my quest to simultaneously get stronger and overcome my host of medical issues. For the past 5 years, I've been battling chronic fatigue, IBS, a right knee injury, sleep depravation, depression, and other silliness. Basically, I've turned into walking human sludge. I'm hoping to use the Starting Strength methodology as well a Paleo-ish diet to win back my life. I'm tired of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself. Here are my lifts and all the other obligatory info:

Squat: 170 x 5

Deadlift: 170 x 5

Bench: 170 x 5 (did some bro benching back in the day, so my pressing is better in comparison to my other lifts)

Press: 110 x 5

PC: Still Learning

Male
Age 29
5'8" 172 lbs.

The Program

I won't be running the original Starting Strength program, but rather something that Andy Baker came up with in the programming forums. It looks a little something like this:

Sunday - Squat, Deadlift

Mon- Off

Tues- Bench/Press (alternating), Curls/Chins (alternating)

Wed- Squat

Thurs- Bench/ Press, Curls/Chins

Fri- Off

Sat- Bench/Press, Curls/Chins

This leaves squatting twice per week instead of the usual 3 and deadlifting once per week. If I can take make any progress with my chronic fatigue problem, then I might switch to squatting 3x per week. We'll see how it goes. Since my bench press is significantly stronger than the rest of my lifts, I will most likely use intermediate programming (HLM Madcow style) to facilitate progress with my pressing.

[carson]

Your bench is as strong as as your squat and deadlift? That's amazing? I don't believe I've ever seen that before.

[Ringer3]

Your bench is as strong as as your squat and deadlift? That's amazing? I don't believe I've ever seen that before.

Hey carson, thanks for stopping by. It's sad but true. Hopefully that will all change by the end of next week though!

[Ringer3]

11/07/2013

Press - Ramped up to a heavy set of 112.5 x 5. Currently only 2.5 pounds off from a PR on this lift that I set when I was 22 years old. Pretty excited!

Chin-ups - 3, 2, plus some negatives before stopping due to elbow pain.

[Simon Rest]

good luck with the programming. I hope you find as I did that there is nothing as satisfying and self assuring as putting 130kg on your back and squatting it - then doing it 14 more times as part of 3 sets.

actually scratch that - there is nothing more self assuring than the thunk that 150kg makes after you've deadlifted it.

good luck and keep going

[Ringer3]

good luck with the programming. I hope you find as I did that there is nothing as satisfying and self assuring as putting 130kg on your back and squatting it - then doing it 14 more times as part of 3 sets.

actually scratch that - there is nothing more self assuring than the thunk that 150kg makes after you've deadlifted it.

good luck and keep going

Thanks for checking out my log Rugby. Hopefully they're will be lots of thunks here in the near future!

[Ringer3]

11/09/2013

Bench Press

45 x 5

85 x 5

105 5

125 x 5

150 x 5

172.5 x 3

125 x 8

Bicept Currrlllzzzz

- Single arm dumbell curls just for fun

My nutrition has been absolute garbage the past two or three days, so of course I felt flat in the gym today. I still got the heavy triple with room to spare on bench, so I'll shoot for 5 reps on the next try. Squats and Deads tomorrow. Oh my!

[Ringer3]

11/10/2013

Squat

Warmup

175 x 3 x 5

Deadlift

Warmup

185 x 5

I am now belong to an elite group of people that actually squat more than they bench, and deadlift more than they squat. I am amazing.

Lots of work to do on deadlifts. Gonna need to post a form check soon.

[carson]

I'm relatively new to Strength training and I'm 66. That last fact may help to explain my comment. I find the deadlift by far the most satisfying lift. To me it is clean and elegant. I'm learning to enjoy the Squat and tolerate the bench and press but give me the DL everytime. I love the thunk but heck I even love it when I fail. It's just a new challenge that I know I'll eventually conquer. As for the other lifts I figure someday I'll wind up hurting myself but I trudge on.

[Ringer3]

11/12/2013

1) Bench Press

Warmups:
45 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 5

Worksets:
172.5 x 5


- Also fulled around with some chins. Was still able to get 3, even though my bodyweight has gone up about 5 pounds. So I suppose that's a good thing.

Also, I'm thinking about switching back to the traditional 3 days per week Starting Strength schedule. This whole lifting 5x per week is just a little too time consuming. We'll see... I know you guys are waiting with bated breath.