Masochistic Cannibal - Overweight 40M Novice LP

[masochistic_cannibal]

Hi all.

I joined the gym in June on my 40th birthday pretty much.
I initially started with SL5x5 as I had done it before for a couple of months around 6 years ago. My daughter was born at this time and I quit the gym and hadn't been back since.

This time I did initially restart SL5x5 but I found the Starting Strength book soon after so of course abandoned SL and switched to SS. I was gradually reading it while working out so I messed up the starting weights a bit as I had already started at that point.

right now I am about 12 weeks in so below is an abbreviated catch up of my workout logs, I will post new workouts as I do them though.

over the 12 weeks I have gone from 90kg bodyweight to 93.5kg, waist is about the same and body fat is 27% right now, although I didn't measure at the start. I have lost fat from my upper body though.
I am eating 230g protein a day. roughly 2700 calories as a comment from an SSC was that protein was the most important for an overweight older guy.

I am clearly not doing the program perfectly as I have been really struggling with the two presses
At first I realised it may be not enough rest so upped to the full 8 minutes between sets
Also my sleep wasn't ideal, I have improved somewhat and am getting better sleep now (not quite perfect but close)
Still I have been failing presses so now I think maybe I should be eating 3500 calories and gaining more weight is the answer despite already being 200lbs

I'm doing chinups and back ext instead of cleans (not sure how ok this is)

I am about to hit 3 plates on the squat which is very exciting but the failing presses are a little disheartening.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Logs
Age: 40
Sex: M
Height: 178cm (5'10")
Weight: 90 - 93kg (205lbs)

weights are in KILOGRAMS
failures in Red

DATE	SQ 3x5	DL 1x5	BP 3x5	PR 3x5	ROW 3x5	CHINS	BACKEXT
2017-06-08	40		20		20
2017-06-10	45		35		35
2017-06-13	47.5	45		25
2017-06-15	50		40		40
2017-06-17	55	55		30
2017-06-20	65		55		50
2017-06-22	67.5	65		32.5
2017-06-24	70		60		50
2017-06-27	70	65	60
2017-06-29	75	70		32.5
2017-07-01	80	75	62.5
2017-07-04	85	80		35
2017-07-06	90	85	65
2017-07-08	92.5	90		37.5
2017-07-11	95	95	67.5
2017-07-13	97.5			40	60
2017-07-15	100	100	70
2017-07-18	102.5			42.5	62.5
2017-07-20	105	105	72.5
2017-07-22	107.5			45	65
2017-07-25	110	110	75
2017-07-27	112.5			47.5	67.5
2017-07-29	115	115	77.5
2017-08-01	117.5			47.5		3,2,2
2017-08-03	120	120	80
2017-08-05	122.5			50		4,3,2	8,8,8
2017-08-08	125	125	82.5
2017-08-10	127.5			50		4,3,2	8,8,8
2017-08-12	missed
2017-08-14	130	130	85
2017-08-17	115			50		4,3,3	8,8,8
2017-08-19	132.5	132.5	85
2017-08-22	135			51		3,3,2	8,8,8
2017-08-24	117.5	135	87.5
2017-08-26	missed
2017-08-29	137.5			52.5		4,3,2	8,8,8
2017-08-31	120	137.5	87.5
2017-09-02

[peez]

Hi all.

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you are on the right track.

Us older-ish guys don't have to do cleans. Feel free to skip them until the end of times, or try them out if you ever get bored. Back extensions, chins and dips, and rows are all good ancillary exercises.

The press teaches us to be humble, it tends to be the lift where LP fails the earliest. Mircoloading tends to be the best strategy to keep it moving, eating and dips help, too. Keep banging away at it.

As for eating I would adjust calories that you have a slight surplus (i.e. gain weight, but slowly - 1-2lb a month?). In caloric surplus you make the best gains. You can always cut later.

[masochistic_cannibal]

todays workout

warmups were as per the app recomendations
worksets -
squat - 140kg x 5 x 3
press - 53.5kg x 5 x 3
backex - 8 x 3
chins - 3, 2, 3

happy to get the 3 plate squat. the last rep of each set was quite grindy.

press microloading seems to be working

chins never seem to get better. the squat and press were pretty knackering today though.

[masochistic_cannibal]

Thanks Peez,

I will increase the food somewhat, start microloading bench too, and see how it goes.

[masochistic_cannibal]

2017-09-05

squat - 142.5kg - 5,4,0 -
bench - 82.5kg x 5 x 3
deadlift - 140kg x 5 x 1

I abandoned squat today. form felt off and I've been pushing weight up a lot having never had a form check.
I did injure my back a year ago or so and it still feels a little off - like it is threatening to 'go'. today in particular.

I go to see an SSC this Saturday so I'll wait and see how that goes, although I predict a deload

bench - I decided to deload, I was not going to complete 87.5, it feels brutally heavy to even unrack it. I'll take another run to it, maybe start microloading too.

deadlift was tough too , but I completed it. My grip feels pretty poor even with mixed grip