Lifting toward 60

[OzDamo]

Good effort man. I can relate to the power clean racking. I found holding the bar down in my fingers instead of grabbing it tight allows me to flick my arms up a lot better and let the bar out of my hands and onto my delts.

Don't be a afraid of making small steady gains. In the long run its much more efficient to be slow and steady rather than constantly resetting.

Also, make sure you are eating your protein. Missing that is the easiest way to stall early. I found eating normally and then adding a nice big steak every day worked great for getting in the protein. Whey and Creatine also help.

cheers
Damo

[David Clark]

Warmup: Rowing 5 minutes

Squats

Warmup
45 lbs x 5 x 2
85 lbs x 5 x 1
115 lbs x 3 x 1
135 lbs x 2 x 1
155 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
170 lbs x 5 x 3

I backed the weight off slightly to make sure I am getting my depth on my squats.

Bench press:

45 lbs x 5 x 2
75 lbs x 5 x 1
95 lbs x 3 x 1
115 lbs x 2 x 1
135 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
145 lbs x 5 x 3


Power Clean

45 lbs x 5 x 2
65 lbs x 5 x 1
85 lbs x 3 x 1
95 lbs x 2 x 1
105 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
115 lbs x 3 x 5

Still struggling with the rack. This is the lift that stalled first in my non-SS workout. I am guessing age may have something to do with it.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I have wrists that are as flexible as bricks. They've been that way since I was a teen and I'm 64 now. Rip and Steve Hill watched me struggle at a seminar and immediately taught me the clean. I can't rack properly worth shit. Nonetheless, I still am doing them (sort of) in my current routine because of the benefits with respect to speed and power and getting a lot of muscles mobilized in a single lift.

Do them if you can.

[David Clark]

Warmup Rowing x 5 minutes

Squats

Warmup:
45 lbs x 5 x 2
85 lbs x 5 x 1
115 lbs x 3 x 1
135 lbs x 2 x 1
155 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets:
172.5 lbs x 5 x 3

Press

Warmup:
45 lbs x 5 x 2
65 lbs x 5 x 1
75 lbs x 3 x 1
85 lbs x 2 x 1

Work sets:
105 lbs x 5 x 3 Didn't mean to make a 10 pound jump but it worked out ok.

Deadlift

Warmup:
95 lbs x 5 x 2
135 lbs x 5 x 1
165 lbs x 3 x 1
185 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets:
205 lbs x 5 x 1

[David Clark]

Well, I listened to the most recent interview with Rip and the one with Andy and decided to drop power cleans. REal life interfered a little with my schedule. I've decided that the work one, rest two was too challenging to work into the rest of my life so I am going to a two workout per week schedule. Bench press and pull downs will be on Tuesday's, Press and deadlift will be on Fridays. (Squats every workout.) This will give me the long rest after my deadlift day. I was taking four mile walks before the weather turned and I'm going to try to work these back in of off days. I plan to enter some powerlifting events. On those weeks I will forego my Friday workout.

I didn't progress on the bench as I had planned. I will stay at this weight and see if I can get my 5 x 3 next week.

Squats

Warmup
45 lbs x 5 x 2
85 lbs x 5 x 1
115 lbs x 3 x 1
135 lbs x 2 x 1
155 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
175 lbs x 5 x 3

Bench press:

45 lbs x 5 x 2
85 lbs x 5 x 1
115 lbs x 3 x 1
135 lbs x 2 x 1
145 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
147.5 lbs x 4 x 1
147.5 lbs x 3 x 2

Pulldowns: I can't chin-up or pull-up my own weight so I am using the lat pulldown machine with palms out.

140 lbs x 5 x 3

[Richard Seaman]

Pulldowns: I can't chin-up or pull-up my own weight so I am using the lat pulldown machine with palms out.

140 lbs x 5 x 3

I can't do chins either, and you're a lot stronger in the upper body than I am. I'm also doing lat pulldowns, but using supine grip (palms in). Also I'm doing 10x3 rather than 5x3. I am under the impression that Rip recommends supine grip and 3 sets of 8-10 reps for lat pull downs. eg. PPST:3 p 231. But, I'm sure there are pros and cons to each approach.

[David Clark]

I can't do chins either, and you're a lot stronger in the upper body than I am. I'm also doing lat pulldowns, but using supine grip (palms in). Also I'm doing 10x3 rather than 5x3. I am under the impression that Rip recommends supine grip and 3 sets of 8-10 reps for lat pull downs. eg. PPST:3 p 231. But, I'm sure there are pros and cons to each approach.

I have to make 10 pound jumps because the gym doesn't have any intermediate weights for the lat pulldown machine. My plan is to work this up to 8-10 reps then increase the weight. My plan is to work in the supine grip as well but it causes wrist discomfort. The most comfortable grip would be a hammer grip where the wrists are in a neutral position but the bar for that was in use and I didn't have time to wait.

[Richard Seaman]

I have to make 10 pound jumps because the gym doesn't have any intermediate weights for the lat pulldown machine.

Yeah, the lat pulldown machine I have has bigger jumps too, though I can go 70, 77.5, 85, 90, 97.5, 105, 110, etc. Odd increments. However the micro weights they have at my gym have magnets on them, and we discovered we can add those to the weights on the lat machine to improvise as little as 1.25 increments. I wonder if you could improvise something with your micro plates. If you wanted to. Your plan probably works fine too.

[David Clark]

Week 7 workout 2, Friday

Warmup Rowing x 5 minutes

Squats

Warmup:
45 lbs x 5 x 2
95 lbs x 5 x 1
125 lbs x 3 x 1
155 lbs x 2 x 1
175 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets:
177.5 lbs x 5 x 3

This is a 27.5 pound increase from where I started

Press

Warmup:
45 lbs x 5 x 2
65 lbs x 5 x 1
85 lbs x 3 x 1
95 lbs x 2 x 1

Work sets:
105 lbs x 5 x 1
105 lbs x 3 x 1

Struggled today with the press even though I managed 5 x 3 with this weight last time. It is a 30 pound increase from where I started.

Deadlift

Warmup:
95 lbs x 5 x 2
135 lbs x 5 x 1
165 lbs x 3 x 1
195 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets:
215 lbs x 5 x 1

This is a 60 pound increase from where I started.

My bench press is progressing more slowly but I was doing a fairly vigorous bench press as part of my prior program but it has increased 12.5 pounds.

[David Clark]

Week 8, Workout 1 - Tuesday

I appear to be regressing on the bench; frustrating. I don't think it is rest or nutrition since I am progressing on squats and deadlifts. Most of the novice effect may have been used up before I started SS.

Squats

Warmup
45 lbs x 5 x 2
95 lbs x 5 x 1
125 lbs x 3 x 1
155 lbs x 2 x 1
175 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
180 lbs x 5 x 3

Bench press:

45 lbs x 5 x 2
85 lbs x 5 x 1
115 lbs x 3 x 1
135 lbs x 2 x 1
145 lbs x 1 x 1

Work sets
147.5 lbs x 4 x 1
147.5 lbs x 2 x 2

Pulldowns: I can't chin-up or pull-up my own weight so I am using the lat pulldown machine with palms in.

140 lbs x 6 x 3