Short, skinny, and no idea what I'm doing

I tuckered myself out pretty bad last night on day one of moving and woke up sore as shit. As such I took it easy on squats today. I know, I'm a wimp, but I have to continue moving tonight and clean the old place tomorrow.

Squats: 225 3x5
Bench Press: 145
Back Extensions: 10lbs 10/10/10
Pull ups: 4/4/4

Bench press felt good today. I mean it was hard but I had more in the tank. I think sometimes I psych myself out on the bench since my gym doesn't have a proper rack and so I bench without safeties. There's typically someone else in the gym, so if I had issues I could just yell for help. But I just stopped worrying about it and figured that as long as I didn't drop the bar, I wouldn't be permanently injured.

Moving had an effect on my training this morning, but I conquered the 280lb squat!

Squat: 280
Press: 105 4/4/1
Power Clean: 75 1/3/3/3/3

I dunno if it was lack of focus that or going too hard on my warmups that screwed up the first set of power cleans. But it got better. Presses were especially tough because my right shoulder and elbow are hurting from the move. But it's over, so I should be back on track Wednesday.

Given your numbers I'm guessing that you look something like this guy. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...E1CF8EC2EA34C6

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Originally Posted by carson

Given your numbers I'm guessing that you look something like this guy. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...E1CF8EC2EA34C6

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My wife would probably like me more if I looked closer to that. Maybe I'll cut once I hit 4/3/2/1 but for now I'd rather be a little fat and strong than 8% BF or whatever that dude has! Thanks for the kind words, though. :)

Today was light squats. I started weighted back extensions as well.

Squat: 225
Bench Press: 147.5
Back Extensions: 10/10/10 @10
Chins: 5/5/5

Bench press was very difficult, I had to grind out the last rep of every set, but I got the bastard up and elbows locked so I am good to go.

Today sucked. I slept like shit last night and I was in a bad mood.

Squat: 285 5/4/2
Press: 105 2/4/4
Deadlift: 305

I waited a solid 8 minutes between squat sets, and the first one was tough but not the toughest squat set I've ever done. I'm not sure why I was unable to get the next set, and then I'm fairly certain my mood contributed to only 2 reps on the final set.

The first set of presses was completely the fault of bad form. I was still frustrated from squats by the time I got to my work sets and I just forgot to squeeze my ass and shoot my hips forward. The next two sets were due to fatigue, I guess. I got about halfway up on the last rep both times.

At least there was some progress today. The last two reps of my deadlift were pretty ugly, lots of shaking, but I was determined to get something out of training.

Moving forward, I'm going to begin doing 2.5lb increases on the squat. I realized my original thought of "5 pounds a week of progress is pretty slow" only holds up if I'm actually increasing by 5lbs each heavy squat session. Obviously I'm not doing that any more, so I'm getting a 5 pounds a week increase anyway. And in turn I'm going to go to 5lb increases on deadlifts. I was hoping to get to 315 before doing that, but I'd prefer slower progress to a full on deload, especially given how infrequently I deadlift these days.

This shit is getting hard, but looking at my numbers, I can't help but feel proud. I've come a long way, but I have a long way to go.

Also I neglected to mention I'll be on a business trip next week, so it's possible the only training day I'll have is Friday. I'd like to find a good place to squat while I'm out. If anyone knows of a good gym that accepts drop ins around 5th and Mission in San Fran, let me know.

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Originally Posted by TheMageling

This shit is getting hard, but looking at my numbers, I can't help but feel proud. I've come a long way, but I have a long way to go.

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you should feel proud, great stuff!

Check out SF Iron. It is a few blocks from where you will be. I do not know if they accept drop ins but they have strong affiliations with Starting Strength. Niki is an SSC and the owner Bram was at the Seattle Seminar. Are you in North Carolina?

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Originally Posted by Mr. Bingley

you should feel proud, great stuff!

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Thanks. :)

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Originally Posted by salvilla

Check out SF Iron. It is a few blocks from where you will be. I do not know if they accept drop ins but they have strong affiliations with Starting Strength. Niki is an SSC and the owner Bram was at the Seattle Seminar. Are you in North Carolina?

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Yeah, I live in NC. And I just checked the address of SF Iron and it is indeed close to the hotel, and even closer to the office. Thanks for the recommendation!