Welcome! Look forward to seeing you and your son get strong!
I am a 49 year old overweight desk jockey who is moving from SL5x5 to SS (still reading the book). My vague goal for SS is to help enjoy life more by feeling better, moving better, and as a side effect maybe looking better. A more specific goal is to bench press my weight, which will probably mean dropping from 280 to 225 or under. The last time I was that weight I felt pretty good and was probably benching 250ish. My PR bench is 325 from 25 years ago. I have never really done squats or deadlifts due mostly to ignorance and laziness. I used to be 6'1" although back surgery 18 years ago might have shrunk me a bit.
My 13.5 year old son is my training partner. He is trying to prepare himself for high school sports and the required lifting programs. I want him to learn the proper technique before he is thrown into the under-supervised weight room. Working out with him presents some challenges. I am a foot taller which makes squats awkward since we need the hooks set at different heights. There is only 1 power cage and 1 monolift in the gym. Power cleans are also a dilemma since a lot of people my age don't do them. We will have to decide whether or not to do them together, find an alternative for both of us, or find an alternative for me and let him do the power cleans. We need to clean up his deadlifts before we worry about power cleans.
I struggle with getting depth on squats. I have poor mobility/flexibility. It feels like my adductors put the brakes on the descent and prevent me from reaching depth, even on body weight squats. I work on this daily and have improved, but have a way to go.
Yesterday was the first day of SS after a month of SL5x5.
Bodyweight: 280
Squat:115 555
Press:65 555 (I reset from 80 to 65 to clean up my form a bit).
Deadlift: 145 5
Chinups, assisted: 888 (Since we are not doing power cleans yet, we added chin-ups, not sure how to handle going forward.
edit- something happened to half my post. I had to retype it and probably left out all the good stuff.
Last edited by The Flush; 12-29-2016 at 10:27 AM. Reason: Stupid Internet Explorer
Welcome! Look forward to seeing you and your son get strong!
I didn't want my second post to my log to be so lame, but I didn't follow the program last night. Plan called for squats, bench press, and deadlift. Squats felt good, but no video to check to see if it actually was good. Need to do that next time. I am using the SS app to track my progress and follow the warm up progressions for each lift. After squats I followed the warm up progression for bench press and when I got to the last warm up set, I did 5 reps instead of 2. Then I went ahead with the first working set which I handled with no problem. Then I though to myself, this seems like a big jump from the last day that I benched (95 to 125). And then I noticed that I was following the squat warm ups and working set weights. Since I handled the weight well, I went ahead and did another set at that weight and then stopped since the last warm up set was higher than the weight I was supposed to do. So there was my first deviation from plan.
While we were doing BP, a group of the heavy lifters came into the gym to do deadlifts. They were using both the platform and the power cage. We were already pressed for time and decided to skip DL and do back extensions instead. We probably should have taken the bar off the bench and found another place in the gym to go ahead and DL. So there is the second deviation from plan. Will get back on track tomorrow.
12/29/2016
Squat
45x5x2
65x5
85x3
105x2
125x5x3
Bench
45x5x2
65x5
85x3
115x5
125x5x2
Back Extension
BWx5x3
So now my squat and bench press are essentially equal. My BP should already have been higher, but because I was following SL5x5, I did not progress as fast as I should have. I am not sure what BP weight I should lift next time since I did 1 set of 115 and 2 of 125. Either 125 or 130 I guess. I know I can handle either one.
I have the raw strength to squat more, but I still need to work on technique before the weight gets much heavier. I think I have a fear of falling on my ass, so I don't let my hips go back enough and sometimes let the bar move forward of my mid-foot a bit. I've got to take advantage of the warm-up sets to get this nailed down.
I can definitely feel the back extensions as this was the first time I have applied that particular stress to my body.
I will also occasionally comment on my son's progress. He has been squatting the same amount as me (blame it on SL5x5). He made all his reps last night, but I can tell it is getting harder for him. He is now lifting his bodyweight, whereas I am lifting less than half of mine. I think we might need to pause the progression to work on form a little bit. Initially his form looked better than mine because he is much more flexible than me. He struggles to get into a low bar position. But as the weight as gone up, it looks like he is not getting his hips back and is letting the bar get too far forward. Proper shoes would probably help us both, but for now he is using his futsal shoes and I am using Chucks.
I think we also ran into some recovery issues last night. He got all 5 reps on his first BP, but only 3 on the next 2. I am assuming that by making the first and then missing it is mostly a recovery issue. He is working closer to is max right now and needs more recovery than me, so maybe I will start doing 2 sets between his sets to give him more time. He is staying up late during winter break, so that probably doesn't help either, plus he had a headache when we left for the gym last night. He might not be ready hormonally to handle a rapid progression. He might not be eating enough, although we ate before lifting last night. At 5'1" and 125 pounds, he is not all skin and bones, but he is not overweight either. I might buy some fractional plates (gym doesn't have any) to help him maintain some progress.
I'm glad I never had to do the start up of this program alone. I'm sure I would have made more slip ups than you have. I suspect that it's a joy for you to be able to work with your son. Be cautious about pushing your 13 year old too hard. I believe there are certified Starting Strength coaches in Ohio. It would be worth it for both of you to go visit him/her from time to time. I think one could have all of the Apps and read all of the SS books in existence and still make some mistakes. Find a certified SS coach within 200 miles and have a consultation with him or her the sooner the better.
I agree with all your points. I am letting my son push himself. We both know his progression might be slow and uneven. This is more about fun and learning to do it the right way. When baseball starts up he will have to figure out what type of program, if any, to follow because there might not be enough time (for workouts and recovery) for school, baseball, and weight training. I plan to try to stay with the program even if he can't.
I also agree about the SSC. Nearest one is 75 miles away. January is a bad time for me because work is busy and I am have possible federal jury duty the entire month. I am also concerned about cost. Any idea what a typical rate is?
I have a standing desk at work and have been working on body weight squats lately by doing touch and go box squats on my office trash can. I think it helps me on depth and keeping my hips back. I took that concept to the gym today and did my warmup sets as touch and go box squats. I tried to concentrate on shoving my knees out. I think it helped and I will keep doing it. I am not sure if it was low enough and I don't think I go deep enough on my work sets and I know I wasn't stable enough in my core at the bottom. I know I need a SSC, but am not sure when I can do it.
12/31/2016
Squat: 135x5x3
Press: 70x5x3
Deadlift: 155x5
Chin-ups: 5x3, with less assistance than last time.
I think each coach sets his own rates. I think it would be worth almost any price. Few of the clients at Greysteel are wealthy. Perhaps none of them are. Some come for a consultation every few months. Others show up twice per week. Check it out.
1/3/2017
Squat 145x5x3
Bench Press 130x5x3
Deadlift 165x5
Chin-ups 5x3 with less assistance than last time.
Squats felt good, but I also felt like there some reps were a 2 step move. I need to get nipples to the floor and knees shoved out at the same time.
My new years rant is not about the resolutioners, but about some of the regulars. One person had the DL platform tied up for the entire time that we did squats and bench press and then some. She spent 10+ minutes between sets chatting with her bro-friends who were doing some type of half DL in the squat rack. Of course she is lifting more than me (for now). Son and I ended up doing chin-ups while waiting and still had to wait more. Doing the lifts out of order didn't affect my DL, but I think it contributed to my son missing his.