Master in Central Florida Novice log

[Mike Powers]

I blew on my last set of OHP,missed 2 reps.You can hv 'em.

[LarryLohkamp]

Week 6 Friday

Whoopee, I gained a pound, now 146.2. Body fat is still holding in there at 16.9. Waist is still 33, so skinny fat is not returning so more food next week.

Squat – 150X5X3.

Press –67X5X3
I got all of the reps in. The last rep was really ugly. The harder I strained, the more I lay back until it was more like a standing incline bench press… but I got it up, and no searing left arm pain. Its 9 hours later now and both of my arms are really sore. It’s a good sore, though. Not the injury kind of sore. I’ve had trouble with the bar getting too far out front when coming down. It helps to visualize hitting myself on the top of the head, then snapping back out of the way at the last moment. I just tilt my head back going up instead of the wiggle Mark does. I try it with the bar only warm ups, but just don’t seem to be coordinated enough in my old age to pull it off.

Lift – 215X5X1Dead
I shot a video of it. I get good lower back extension before the lift, but loose it as I break the bar off the ground. I need to do some studying of the video because I’m doing something wrong. I’m not sure I can get 217.5 on Monday if I don’t figure it out. It feels different than it did at 200, so maybe I’m letting the weight psych me out of my form.

[LarryLohkamp]

Week 7 Monday

The weekend was no particular fun. Something I aet didn’t like me. Fortunately, I don’t lift weights with my gut. I was able to pull off a training session this morning.

Squat – 155X5X3.
I was more than a little shaky, with the bar waving around some, but I got it all done. I seem to be a little on my toes, but I’m not sure how to stop it. I tried opening my back angle a little to shift the weight back, but that messed with my balance. I need to shoot a decent video next time and send it in to the experts.

Bench Press –97.5X5X3
It was supposed to be a 95# day, but I felt really good on the last warm up, so I went up to 97.5. That pretty much puts me back to where I was when greed killed my press. The shoulder seems to be almost healed.

Dead Lift – 217.5X5X1
I shot a video of it. I re-read the set up for the pull and changed the way I was addressing the bar. The lift felt a lot better and I managed to get it locked out with a little to spare. The video shows that my lower back is still not right. It feels like I have it tight, but it is still a little rounded. It may be a mobility issue from decades of desk work. I need to figure out how to fix that.

Chins – 3X3X3
I decided to stay with 3 this week while I build a little more pulling muscle.

[Aaron Ferguson]

Nice work! You're moving right up. I get on my toes too when I squat. My best reps are when as soon as I start to bend over I try to stop my knees. Best of luck to you!

[LarryLohkamp]

Week 7 Wednesday

As of 6:00 this morning, I am now officially 69. I celebrated with a trip to the dentist in the morning. I broke a tooth over the weekend while eating a French fry. It was probably fractured earlier and the French fry just got the blame when it detached. So I had no breakfast and no morning workout. By the time I got home, it was time for lunch, but my mouth was still so numb that food wouldn’t stay in it. What to do while I waited for feeling to return? Why not do the missed strength training? So with no breakfast and missing lunch, I lifted heavy stuff.

Squat – 145X5X3.
This was light squat day. It felt heavy enough, though. I am getting happier with my hip drive and keeping my knees out. I probably have the knee slide they talk about on the facebook page, but I figure that as long as my knees and back like it and the weight keeps going up, it can’t be too bad.

Press –68.5X5X2 + 68.5X4X1
I failed the last rep half way up. The good news is that the shoulder and arm didn’t pain me out of it. The bad is that the bar was way damn heavy. I think I could have made it if I hadn’t screwed up the first work set. I let the bar get to me and let my form fall apart. I almost didn’t get the last rep of the first set up. The second set I locked my knees, squeezed my butt and was able to do an ugly Press V2. It was quite a bit easier than the first set. I really thought that the last set would be good too, but the triceps just ran out of gas on the last rep. If I had saved even a little on better execution of the first set, I would have had it. I am just doing 1.25 pound increments. That is about 60% of my Bench increment. I expect it will work out a lot better than the 5# I was trying to do before the injury.

Dead Lift –220X5X1
That is 2 big plates on each side. Pretty darned cool. Of course I don’t have 4 big plates yet, so it was really a 45, 25 and 2 10s on each side, Maybe for Christmas.

[LarryLohkamp]

Week 7 Friday

Personal Stats:

69 years old
5ftft 10in – 146.6lb – 33in waist
Daily Average Neutrition:
Calories in -2426 Calories out – 2478 (according to fitbit) Protein – 150.2

Squat – 160X5X3.

I need to get my back set better, especially for the Dead Lift, but the Squat, too. I was concentrating on chest up and not paying attention to the rest of the first work set squat. Stupid move! The bar got too far forward and I fell on my face. Thank goodness I am anal about setting the safeties. Once I got the bar unloaded and reset, I went back to paying much more attention to bar path. The rest of the sets came off fine. I now video all of my lifts so that I can see what I’m actually doing. I didn’t notice it while squatting, but my knees were waving back and forth like they really wanted to collapse in, but the subconscious was having none of it. I’d post the video, but I lifted bare foot today and some get weirded out by it. No there isn’t a video of me trying to face plant. I only do the last work set.

Bench Press –100X5X3

My left side is way weaker than the right. I had to concentrate on getting the left arm up or the bar would go up lop sided. That should equalize in the future.

Dead Lift –222.5X5X1

I have very tight hamstrings. No way to get even close to touching my toes. I am blaming part of my soft lumbar on the hams not letting the pelvis rotate forward enough. I have been doing stretches. They may or may not help. I read the book again, several times even, and set up by the numbers. The back felt better. The video did not agree. I set the back nice and tight, but the moment the bar starts to come off the floor, it rounds, just a little, then gets sorta tight again, but it’s not as good as it was unloaded. I used to break the bar with knee extension before opening the hips. I think I was trying to start the bar by opening the hips today. I can fix that but I'll have to wait until Monday. One of the hardest parts of SS is doing the recovery. I get impatient when I think I know how to fix something.

[LarryLohkamp]

Monday Week 8

Squat – 165X5X3
I worked hard on setting the knees early so that they wouldn’t slide at the bottom. This forced me to sit better as a byproduct. I uploaded the last set to the Facebook page for comment. No complaints about knee slide, but I now need to better coordinate the hips and knees. They noticed that my feet were too close together, too. I’m not sure why I started doing that, but they will be farther apart on Wednesday. One other thing brought up on FB was my bar position being more high-bar than low. I couldn’t get the bar off my neck when I started. Lowering the bar has been a struggle. The bar feels like it is going to slide down my back once weight gets on the bar. The bar wants to move up during work sets to a place where if feels like it sits in a groove. I will keep working on lowering the bar and straightening my wrists, but I may have to squat high bar.

Press – 68.5X5X3
I got all three sets, but just barely, and now my left shoulder is hurting again. I get to see a doctor in 2 weeks.

Dead Lift – 225X5X1
It was a real grind to get the last one. I worked on addressing the bar correctly and have a better starting position. My back still collapses a little as I break the bar off the floor. I pulled the rack apart over the weekend and bored 3 lower holes on the front uprights. I can now set an empty or lightly loaded bar on the hooks and do pulls from the same height as when the 45s are loaded. The plan is to do some bar only practice to get the bar moving better.

[LarryLohkamp]

Wednesday Week 8

Squat – 170X5X3
I am still working on getting the bar down. Right now it is sorta between high and low.

Bench Press – 102.5X3X2 + 102.5X2X1
The shoulder problem that is killing my press has now started to affect my bench. The fails were because my left arm failed. The right side would have gone on for full sets of 5.

Dead Lift – 227.5X5X1
I was surprised at how well the last one got locked out. I am setting my back better. I keep dropping my ass a fraction as I take the slack out of the bar. I’d really like to stop doing that.

Chins 3,2

[LarryLohkamp]

Friday Week 8

Some progress is being made on the weight front. Starting weight two months ago was 144 with a 16.9BF. Current weight is 147 with a 17.5BF. In theory that translates into a gain of 2.5# of lean mass and 0.5# of new fat. Girth has increased a quarter inch.

Squat – 175X5X3
I am still working on getting the bar down. I am doing the stretches detailed in one of the ‘On The Platform’ videos. I am having some success. A suggestion was made on the FB page that I try wrapping the thumb. It does help make the bar more secure. I can get the bar pretty much low enough. I now need to get my wrists straight and the grip closer. I am tempted to back off on the 5# increments, but I haven’t actually failed a rep yet. I may try to get another week out before I cut back.

Bench Press – 102.5X5X3
I got this one up, but just barely.
My Press is trashed, so I am going to do bench presses every workout until I get some kind of medical resolution to the press. Since I will be doubling the number of presses, I will cut the increment in half so that the volume will remain the same.

Dead Lift –230X5X1
The bar came off the floor better today.

Workout volume today was 10,207#. That’s a lot of iron for an old man to move, eh.

[LarryLohkamp]

Monday Week 9

Squat – 177.5X5X3
I spent several minutes Saturday and again on Sunday doing the stretches Paul Horn shows in his ‘On The Platform’ video - YouTube. Today I worked on bar position for 5 minutes before squatting and followed that with a 1 minute hang on the chin bar. I still can’t get the bar into the proper position with a thumbless, straight wrist grip. I can get the bar into position with bent wrist and thumb around the bar. I will get there.

I also cut the weight progression back to 2.5# per session. I am still squatting and dead lifting every workout. I still had some soreness even after the weekend with the 5# increment.

Bench Press – 104X5X3
I still have marked weakness in the left side. The last rep was killer, but I got it up and locked. I see the doctor next week.

Dead Lift – 232.5X5X1
My back is tighter and the bar is smoother off the floor. I had some shoulder rounding on the last rep, but locked it. I wish I could get my belt a half notch tighter… I wish I had a 3” belt for dead lifts, too.

Chins - 4X2 2X1