Geezeling Art finally gives SS a try, after injury and a lot of fuckarounditis

[artwebb]

Well I've been on the forum of and on, but never made a log cause I wasn't doing SS

back when I was a teen / twenty something I actualy gat sorta strong, but 20+ years of not training left me fat and weak

A few years ago I started SL 5x5, and got to body weight squats (225 at the time) before going to madcow and not doing well with it, then going to 531 and not doing well with that either
then I injured my back setting down a DL and was off for 6 months dealing with that
since then I've program hopped a lot and finally asked myself 'why not SS dumbass?'

I'm not doing the program exactly as laid out, as I added chins on Bench days and Inverted rows on Press day (I share some of Rip's reservationd re BBRs and I know I use too much back extension in them)

I also took a bit of extra time finding my weights for the exercises

all the weights I'm using are still pretty low compared to my actual 1RMs, but those 1RMs are ugly, and I want to stay with using good form

this is where I'm at so far

first session:
today, dynamic stretching

Squats, trying to find the right starting weights: 45x2x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x5, 70x5, 75x5 stopped here though bar speed was still goo, because I refuse to do more than 8 sets, will pick it up from here next time

Bench, also seeking the right weight: up to 75lb in 5lb jumps, just like squats. I had my hands just inside the power rings, instead of my usual close grip, and it was easier to keep my back tight that way, also felt it more in da chesticles haha

DL: 135x2x5, 145x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5 at this weight, the DL tried to become a 2 part lift, so I styaed at 175 for 2 more sets, then remembered, it's only suppossed to be 1 work set, oops also used a wider grip here, to get more room for my legs, and it felt solid

I just can't take a chance on losing chin up ability so 3x3 chin ups. Last rep on last set was slow, so I guess that was about right
Of course these should probaly be on Press day

over an hour, with warmup, and I was actualy ok with that, didn't feel like I was wasting time
maybe me and this SS derived program will get along

session 2
dynamic stretching

Squat: 45x2x5, 50x5, 60x3, 70x2, 80x5, 90x5, 95x5 think I found my starting weight for squats

Press: 45x2x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x2x5 again tried a bit wider grip than I've been using, seemed to be better, shoulder could rotate more freely, shrugging at the top was better, we'll see how this goes

Powercleans (from the hang) 45x2x3, 50x3, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3, 70x3, 75x3 think I still have some room on these

Inverted rows: 5, 4, 4 I thought I'd get more of these, but oh well, gotta start somewhere
I do prefer them, to BBRs, as they are more strict and don't stress the back, tho I can see a possibility of them being limited with respect to loading

session 3

dynamic stretching

Squats: 45x2x5, 60x5, 75x3, 85x2, 100x3x5 Rattling plates still

Bench: 45x2x5, 55x5, 60x3, 70x2, 75x5, 80x5, 85x5 think this is my proper starting weight for this

DL: 135x2x5, 145x5, 155x3, 170x2, 185x5

chins: 2, 2, 2 part of the blame for this was trying out a different (wider) grip for chins, and part was having done pullup retractions 3x15 yesterday for my shoulder rehab
Oh well, maybe next time it'll be better


I do mobility work and prehab / rehab stuff on non lifting days

I'm 46 and have low test, and my initial goals are pretty low

225 bench

315 squat

395 DL

during my injured period I cut from 225 - 170lb,and reversed my type 2 diabetes, though I've since regained 20lb of mostly fat,
I want to get back to 170-180lb

once I get these lifts I'll look to bring in conditioning, then work on maintaining / progressing my level of 'fitness'

[carson]

Welcome to the forum and to SS. I have a couple of questions: 1. What is your height? If you are over 6' 225 is not a bad weight but 170 is probably not enough weight. 2. I'm not quite sure why your warm up weights were 5' and 10' advances. But you did find your starting point which is very good. Each day that you lift during the novice stage should show an increase. But your warm up weights need not be limited to 5 or 10. I'm probably not fully understanding what you wrote and if I've missed the point just ignore my observation.

Keep on the path. Slow and steady.

[artwebb]

Thanks Carson, I'm right at 6' tall, and I agree 170 would be too low for a final desired weight, but right now I don't have a lot of lean body mass, and in my case increasing BF = increasing viscereal fat, which interferes with my BG control
I am currently controling my blood sugar without resorting to meds, and would like to keep it that way, so while actual weight isn't that important, composition is
at 225 I was a blob of fat that couldn't even do a chin up
I went up with 5lb weights because I'm still wary of my back, and I wanted to find the right starting weight, note that my third session warmups on squats were 10-15lbs, rather than 5
I'm using Rips recomendation from SS to do 2x45, then split the increases as evenly as possible over 3 more sets, before reaching working weights
I'm working from v2 of SS, have these recomendations changed?

[Mark E. Hurling]

Well at least you did your homework and characterized yourself properly as a geezling in your 40's. Always good to seem more old guys here. I wouldn't call your initial goals pretty low. They are good ones. I think you'll find that once you have your form nailed down for squats and deadlifts your back problems will remain in your rear view mirror.

[artwebb]

Thanks Mark, I only say they're pretty low compared to what the average SS forum member considers 'decent strength' (200 Press 300 Bench, etc)
the 'Geezer taxonomy' (did I spell that right?) was one of the first threads I read on SS forum, back when I first discovered it

tonights session

simple six

limber 11

2m diesel shoulder warmup

Diesel shoulder rehab circuit 4

1m couch stretch

3m doorway hamstring stretch

[artwebb]

Tonights session:

Squats: 45x2x5, 60x5, 75x3, 90x2, 105x3x5

Press: 45x2x5, 55x5, 60x3, 65x2, 70x3x5

PCs: 45x2x5, 55x5, 60x3, 70x2, 80x5x3 trouble here was building the rack as the weight travelled up, shoulders didn'r want to hit the right position
last rep I bruiseed my collarbone a bit

Inverted Rows: 5, 5, 5

1m couch stretch

1m ham stretch

[artwebb]

tonight's session

simple six

limber 11

diesel shoulder warmup

diesel shoulder rehab circuit 5

1m couch stretch

3m doorway hamstring stretch

[artwebb]

tonight's session

dynamic stretching

Squats: 45x2x5, 65x5, 80x3, 95x2, 110x3x5

Bench: 45x2x5, 60x5, 70x3, 80x2, 90x3x5

DL: 135x2x5, 155x5, 165x3, 185x2, 195x5 theses were sort of 2 partish, should I repeat?

Chinups: 3, 3, 2 maybe more rest between sets, nah, just suck it up

[carson]

tonight's session


DL: 135x2x5, 155x5, 165x3, 185x2, 195x5 theses were sort of 2 partish, should I repeat?

"2 partish?" Do you mean you did 2 or 3 lifts and then rested before you did the last 2 or 3? If so you probably should repeat at that weight.

[artwebb]

No, Carson, I mean my hips went up first, rather than hips and back together
might be I'm starting with hips too low, too, my hamstrings are pretty tight, so I may be dropping the hips too low in order to get the back flat

Tonight's session

simple six

limber 11

diesel shoulder warmup

diesel shoulder rehab circuit 1

1m couch stretch

3m doorway ham stretch