Lifting More at the Shore

[Agilic]

I ramble, so I'll start with the tldr: have done Starting Strength twice in the past, haven’t touched a weight in about 2 years, but invested heavily in a garage set-up so that I can take training seriously for the long-term

I am very excited to join these forums and start a log. I hope to learn from all of you and in turn share any knowledge that I currently have plus any that I acquire, with others.

Background: 26 year old male. 6’0” 195 lbs. I was an athlete for almost my entire life. Played almost every sport at one point or another but my main organized sports ended up being soccer and tennis. I played 1 semester of D1 college tennis before being forced to “retire” due to back issues. I saw multiple PT’s, orthopedic doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc. A lot of things gave minor temporary relief, but all that one of these “experts” needed to say was, “get your damn back stronger”. I resigned myself to the fact that I would be living with back pain for the rest of my life, but a few years later, I came across starting strength. Some squats and deadlifts later, boom, back never hurt again. Also had the option to play collegiate soccer or basketball, so it’s kind of sad to think what I might have been able to do had I known about strength training back then. I was always very skilled, but lacked adequate strength/speed to compete at the highest levels.

I’ve had basically two runs through starting strength (haven’t touched a weight in just over 2 years due to life, etc.) and never really made it past the advanced novice stage. Max sets of 5 to the best of my memory were approximately 330 for DL, 230 for squat, 175 for bench, and 115 for press. I was probably up around 210 lb when I did those. Not impressive, I know. I am convinced that my body never developed properly due to the fact I was a bagel, French fry, pizza kind of vegetarian throughout my entire youth. A few years ago during my 2nd go around with SS was when I finally began eating better, including chicken and fish.

I’ve been itching like crazy to get back under the bar, but haven’t been able to make it work logistically, until I finally wore my wife down to the point of surprising me with a squat rack for my first Father’s Day. It’s one of the Rogue ones that can fold into the wall, so we still have 2 car garage access when I am not training. It’s been installed, and I am just waiting on the rest of my gear to arrive (Rogue Ohio Power Bar, Rogue flat bench, spotter arms, and 375 lb in Troy VTX Olympic Weights, which I found off-color 9% off on adamantbarbell.com including free shipping on orders over $400) and I will begin Starting Strength instantly.

Goals: Get strong, healthy, and functional again. I don’t want my body to hurt, or my back to ache when I get out of bed in the morning. I don’t plan on ever competing in a meet, and I’m not trying to become the biggest or strongest guy on the planet, but I want to have a reasonable amount of strength to the point where if our boat gets stuck on a sandbar (yes, I live at the beach), I can easily hop off and push it off by myself. If I play in another basketball league with coworkers, I want to be the strongest guy on the court. I don’t want my son to feel so heavy when I lift him in the air. I also want to be a good example for him as he grows and possibly gets into athletics.

I think a cool goal for me might be a 1,000 lb big 4 total (shouldn’t be too difficult), or a 500 lb deadlift (400 lb shorter term), or a 185lb (45+25 looks pretty bad-ass overhead) press. Looking at my squat #, you can see that I was always a weak squatter so I hope I can get that figured out and maybe eventually do 3 plates for a set of 5.

But for right now, like I said, I’m just going to run Starting Strength through linear gains and more than likely an advanced novice program and then see where I want to go from there. Maybe keep trying to get stronger, maybe maintain and incorporate HIIT, not really sure at this point.

Right now, I don’t mind if I end up gaining a few lbs as long as I am getting stronger in the process. It’s easy enough to cut at some point if I want to.

Diet/Recovery: Was never really a huge fan of protein powder, so I’m going to try to go without it and see how it goes. I’m planning on cleaning up my diet to the point where it looks something like this:

Breakfast – Double or triple egg and cheese on whole wheat toast + glass of whole milk

Lunch – Wildcard. Might be pizza, might be pierogis, maybe a turkey and cheese sandwich, sometimes a salad loaded with greens, veggies, and some protein. Would like to try to incorporate some veggies into it as much as possible, and possibly another glass of whole milk

Dinner – We have $1 house salads at work for employees (lettuce + cukes + tomato + carrots), so I’m thinking I’ll buy chicken breasts in bulk and grill/bake them, and bring about 1 lb to work with me to eat with the salad. That should be like half my daily value of protein right there. I work late, so I’ll have another glass of whole milk when I get home before I go to bed.

Snacks – not going to buy any more junk for the house, I’m thinking my snacks will strictly be low sodium mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, Brazilian, pistachios, etc.) and the occasional peanut butter toast w/ turkey bacon (yum)

I know right now that my sleep may be far from ideal. I work 4 nights a week until midnight or 1am, and often am up with our son at 5 or 6 am. I usually try to grab a nap at some point if this is the case, but it doesn’t always happen, and it’s still not the same as sleeping straight through the night in terms of recovery I don’t think. When my wife goes back to work in September, I will be up minimum M-F at 5:30-6am with him.

Getting stronger will definitely take top priority for right now (at least through linear gains), but if a coworker wants to play tennis, or the wife wants to go paddle boarding, or I hear about a pick-up basketball game, I’m not going to not do those things in the name of recovery.

Plan of action: Get rolling. Soon as I’m all set up, I will post my first workout with initial weights, and will update after each and every one. I have had my form checked in the past, and while I am no expert, I believe I was pretty adequate in all 4 lifts. However, I plan on getting videos posted early and often considering the 2 year layoff will likely have me pretty rusty. I do have videos of all my lifts from about 4 years ago if anyone is interested.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for taking the time, and any and all input/questions/encouragement is appreciated. I am in this for the long-term, and want this strength training journey to keep me going strong for the next 65 years or so.

[carson]

Welcome back. I'll follow your log. Good goals.

[peez]

Hi Agilic,

welcome to this forum! Sounds like you have a very well thought out plan - I would not change a thing (maybe compute actual nutrition macros for a few weeks to see that you are on target). Goals will change over time and be recalibrated to actual progress, so I wouldn't get hung up on any numbers except for near-mid term goals. Having been an athlete & experience with SS will make things much easier this time around.

I hope UPS hurries up so you can get started!

[Mr. Bingley]

We can never have enough folks at the Shore! sounds like you have a great plan...and an even greater wife! congrats!

[Agilic]

Thanks for the encouragement guys....lets me know I did learn something during my limited time lifting and I'm not totally off base with my plan and goals.

Hoping that my weights will arrive early next week so I can get started. In the meantime, I'm going to try to take care of some ailments. The front of my left shoulder has been hurting for the last few years. Never bad enough to where I couldn't lift or do daily activities, but it's always pretty tender to the touch. It feels like the trigger point is just under my clavicle (I think that's the bone, heading to work soon so no time to research) and maybe directly in front of the shoulder joint that would connect to the bone by the bicep (man my anatomy is rusty).

I can look later to give more detail, but my question is basically about SMR protocol for this area. I did pick up a lacrosse ball yesterday, and am curious how aggressive I can be in that area (for how long, how many times per day, etc.). Is there anything I should be wary about damaging, or should I pretty much just go at it hard as long as the pains not getting worse? I can deal with a lot of pain but definitely don't want to hurt it worse or permanently damage anything.

Thanks!

Edit: I'm fairly certain this injury/pain started when playing a ton of golf (5x per week rounds + driving range) about 5 years ago, if this helps any. I am a right handed golfer.

[Agilic]

Weights finally arrived so I got in my first session tonight. Damn, with an extended layoff you forget how taxing these lifts are.....no wonder they get you strong! I like to stay real light starting out to really get comfortable with technique and make sure every part of my body is working properly and ready for the weight. In other words, I feel that making aggressive jumps could easily lead to technique deficiencies. Is it standard to include warm-ups when logging on this forum? I never did in the past because I think it makes it look sloppy. Anyway:

Squat
95x5x3 https://youtu.be/psDhwSdz_VU
Felt more strenuous than you would expect 95 to. Yes, I still suck at squatting. We'll go for at least a few 10lb jumps though.

Press
65x5x3 Back under the bar 65 lb press - YouTube
Left shoulder was on fire in the rack position. Not sure if I was doing something anatomically incorrect or if it's just my body getting used to this again. This is my first time doing the press 2.0 (watched a lot of video and read a lot on it but not sure if I did it correctly at all), and I always used to rack the bar on my shoulders. I did aggressive rolling on it with a lacrosse ball for about 5 days straight prior to today and had the shoulder nearly pain free, which was surprising given that it hurt for about 5 years. Wish I had done SMR on it long time ago. Can only imagine how badly it would have hurt tonight if I didn't work on it.

Deadlift
175x5 https://youtu.be/1sNWazEWdmU
Deadlifts felt the easiest of everything, could definitely have gone higher without much strain but there's plenty of time for that. These felt as awesome as I remember. I could get away with more, but I don't see any point in going higher than 10 lb jumps because 30lb/week increase on the deadlift seems like plenty and will have me pulling around 300 in a month if it doesn't slow down.

The session took me about 90 minutes because I was videoing every set including warm ups to watch and play with technique. I would greatly appreciate some early feedback while bad habits are still easy to fix. BONUS to watching my videos is seeing my awesome garage setup! Everything just arrived so I hadn't put all the plates on the plate tree until after the workout.

Also, to those regulars of the forum, would it be frowned upon posting form check videos to the technique forum this early in the game?

Bring on the crippling DOMS!

[Agilic]

25 minute walk with a 20lb weighted vest (my 4 month old).

Just a little bit sore today, especially on stairs, but overall nothing like I was anticipating. Very strange. Maybe tomorrow the DOMS hits?

Also, has anyone gotten a chance to look at my lifts? Want to make sure there is nothing major to be wary of before tomorrow's squats and pulls.

[Agilic]

DOMS definitely hit me worse today.....still not crippling though

I did my first lifting session at night and today's early AM, so about a 34 hour turnaround......good thing these weights are feathery right now. Double egg and cheese on multigrain toast + coffee pre-workout, 12oz whole milk post.

Squat
+10 105x5x3 https://youtu.be/RaC85VQt4ns
SS coach in technique forum advised to lower bar position on my back, which I believe I did. These felt great, definitely easier than 95 was.

Bench
95x5x3
Meh. Bench press is like that average looking girl. You do it just because but it really doesn't do much for you. Standing up and shoving weight over your head is just so much more athletic and badass. I would definitely press 3x per week if it wouldn't lead to a massive shoulder imbalance. Anyway, was debating going to 105 for work sets but decided to make sure technique is sound. A 10lb jump is in order.

Deadlift
+10 185x5 https://youtu.be/gINeUTxLL-M
Same SS coach advised that bar was not over mid foot. Looked at it from the top this time before grabbing the bar and he was definitely correct. Really easy but grip was ever so slightly loosening up last couple reps. Not sure if it was my sweaty hands or weak grip but chalk may be in order soon. Another 10lb jump for sure next time. Already, my back feels stronger than it has in years.

Two off and we'll get back at her Monday AM.

[Agilic]

Went at it today instead of Monday....now I'll take my 2 off and go again on Weds.

Squat
+10 115x5x3 https://youtu.be/ypX5LrCIkGM
Felt good.....looking at video I may have been losing some lumbar tightness at the bottom (going too deep?), especially compared to last squat at 105. Tried to cut if off and maintain on third set and while it felt good, not sure it looks good. Second opinions por favor?

Press
+5 70x5x3
Surprisingly had to work for the last few. Form inconsistent....filmed third set but missed it slightly high and couldn't see hips so didn't bother uploading. Really worked to try to get elbows out in front and while it definitely felt like they were, it didn't look much like it. Hip action felt good on some reps, okay on others, and non existent on a few. Also have to make sure the bar is even at lockout (have a tendency to sometimes have left side further back than right). I'll get my 75lb press uploaded.

Deadlift
+10 195x5
All DOH, no chalk. Easy.

[Agilic]

Squat
+10 125x5x3
Solid. Best feeling squats yet.

Bench
+10 105x5x3
First set was the toughest. Could probably get away with another 10 lb jump, but for technique's sake, I may not.

Deadlift
+10 205x5
Reps were easy, grip was a little shaky last couple reps so will definitely chalk it for 215.