Adam's SSNLP Log

[Adam Armstrong]

I figured I’d keep track here as well as in the App and in my notes. Feel free to chime in with any advice that you think may help. I like numbers and data so there is a lot here.

Stats

• Male
• 37 years old
• 5’ 10” (177.8 cm)
• 200.8 lbs. (91.08kg)
• Bodyfat: 21% (Jackson/Pollock 3-point caliper test, could be wrong)
• Starting measurements:
• Waist: 39.25 in. (99.7 cm)
• Chest: 44.5 in. (113.03 cm)
• Neck: 15.25 in. (38.38 cm)
• Hips: 41.25 in. (104.78 cm)
• Shoulders (around): 45.75 in. (116.21 cm)
• Bicep
• Right: 14.25 in. (36.2 cm)
• Left: 14.25 in. (36.2 cm)
• Forearm
• Right: 12 in. (30.48 cm)
• Left: 11.75 in. (29.85 cm)
• Upper Thigh
• Right: 24 in. (60.96 cm)
• Left: 24 in. (60.96 cm)
• Mid Thigh
• Right: 22 in. (55.88 cm)
• Left: 22.5 in. (57.15 cm)
• Calf
• Right: 15.25 in. (38.74 cm)
• Left: 15 in. (38.1 cm)

Background: Starting lifting when I was 15 in my parents’ basement, did pretty well. Accidently joined a gym a few years later that focused on strength training (lots of arm wrestling champions worked out there). I made great progress until I left to join a gym that was more bodybuilding focused. A few years were taken off for various reasons before building a home gym and doing variations of bodybuilding type workouts.

From an injury perspective: I have four dislocated disks according to an x-ray and an MRI (I don’t remember which ones as I’ve had them for some time and learned to live with it). I’ve had two inguinal hernias (one on each side) and had mesh repairs on both. The one on the right gives me some pain now and again for no real reason. I have early onset arthritis (doctor’s words, not mine) in my right knee and tendonitis in my right elbow.

Lifts

I hired Walter Palmer as my SSC for a session to get me started. We went over Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench Press. It is about a 3 hour round trip for me to drive down to see Walter, so I had to pick three exercises that I would need the most help getting my form down. After adjusting odds and ends, the first workout, for yesterday or Monday, November 13, 2017, looked like:

• Squats: 95 lbs. (43.09 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 135 lbs. (61.24 kg) X 5 X 1
• Bench Press: 70 lbs. (31.75 kg) X 5 X 3

Notes: Order is a bit off as I learned in importance of lifts. Bench feels light (real light) but it is better to start off too light than too heavy. Overall it was a good experience to learn proper form and the awkwardness that comes with it. Walter was extremely patient with me and explained everything in detail.

Nutrition

For the last four years I’ve been a vegetarian (pescatarian specifically: I still ate fish, eggs, and dairy). I never felt all that strongly about it and travel fairly far to parts of the world where vegetarianism isn’t a thing. So I began eating meat again, at least for the Novice LP. Anyway, I emailed Dr. Feigenbaum and talked a bit on nutrition and his advice was no rapid gains in weight. I tend to easily gain weight (fat mainly) and have a relatively slow metabolism, not that there is something wrong it is just on the low end of the spectrum. 2,300 calories will maintain my 200-pound weight. I’ll start off around there and slowly bring it up over time. My cholesterol is a bit high as well and don’t want to gain a bunch of fat and make that worse (total is only 178mg/dL but my LDL is 120mg/dL).

For Monday, November 13, 2017:

• Total calories: 2,607
• Protein: 236g
• Carbs: 241g
• Sugar: 73.2g
• Fiber: 47.9g
• Fat: 79.3g
• Saturated fat: 29.2g

Supplements

This shouldn’t change much over time, but daily I take 5g of creatine monohydrate (Optimum Nutrition), fish oil 2400mg, Vitamin D3 2,000IU (53.9ng/mL with the supplementation), and protein powder. I take over the counter Prilosec for heartburn, 40mg daily.

Sleep for Monday the 13th was 7 hours and 15 minutes (4:33 in deep sleep).

[Adam Armstrong]

Tuesday November 14, 2017

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,329
• Protein: 236g
• Carbs: 222g
• Sugar: 69.9g
• Fiber: 47.3g
• Fat: 59.4g
• Saturated fat: 20.5g

No training

Sleep: 7 hours 9 minutes, 3:52 deep. Sick 3-year-old woke me up a few times

Wednesday November 15, 2017

Training

• Squats: 105 lbs. (47.63 kg) X 5 X 3
• Press: 45 lbs. (20.41 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 145 lbs. (65.8 kg) X 5 X 1

Notes: Strange gym as I had to shuffle around dealing with the sick kid. The lifts felt better. Awkwardness is still there but I anticipated it this go round. Squats had a slow spot but balance was an issue as I’m focusing on form. Deadlifts felt all around better. Press felt light, but again, better to start too light than too heavy. Woke up Thursday morning with lots of low back pain. I sleep with a pillow between my knees to cut back on back pain and I had kicked it out during the night (or the wife pulled it out and hit me in the back with a tire iron, also a plausible explanation). Feeling sore around my obliques and a spot on my lower right hand side that feels like it is in the love handle.

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,458
• Protein: 251g
• Carbs: 230g
• Sugar: 83g
• Fiber: 43.6g
• Fat: 60.6g
• Saturated fat: 26.3g

Sleep: 7 hours 25 minutes (6:51 deep sleep)

[carson]

That is quite a complete log. Welcome. Keep it up.

[Adam Armstrong]

That is quite a complete log. Welcome. Keep it up.

Thanks, I'm trying to start from the beginning and add as much detail as I can. That way if I have an issue and ask an SSC, I can point to this log to help them figure out what is wrong and how to fix it.

[Adam Armstrong]

Thursday November 16, 2017

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,524
• Protein: 225g
• Carbs: 264g
• Sugar: 65g
• Fiber: 49g
• Fat: 67.5g
• Saturated fat: 25.5g

No training

Sleep: 7 hours 20 minutes (5:42 deep sleep)

Notes: Feeling a bit sore and beat up around the gut. Getting used to the valsalva with weight is most likely the culprit.

Friday November 17, 2017

Training

• Squats: 115 lbs. (52.16 kg) X 5 X 3
• Bench Press: 80 lbs. (36.29kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 155 lbs. (70.31 kg) X 5 X 1

Stats

• Body weight: 200.6 lbs. (90.99kg)
• Waist: 32.125 in. (99.38 cm.)

Notes: I used a foam roller, placing it standing up long ways, in front of my toes as I felt my knees creeping forward on the last workout. I bumped it a few times but by the end was doing much better about sitting back into the squat. The bench still feels super light but I was able to work out most of the bugs by the last work set. I will keep adding weight in 5 lbs. increments. The Deadlifts felt really good, not easy, but good like I was doing everything right. Still sore around the gut. A little nagging pain in the mid back after deadlift, pulled muscle maybe. I weigh myself and take a waist measurement on Fridays: a habit I’ve done for a few years. It is interesting to note that my weight actually went down as did my waist measurement even though I was eating above maintenance and not doing any cardio. Since the soreness is so much I'm bumping my calories up for the day.

Nutrition

• Total calories: 3,185
• Protein: 227g
• Carbs: 333g
• Sugar: 72g
• Fiber: 32g
• Fat: 102g
• Saturated fat: 36.9g

Sleep: 7 hours 55 minutes (4:38 deep sleep)

[Adam Armstrong]

Weekend Roundup
Saturday November 18, 2017
Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,481
• Protein: 225g
• Carbs: 226g
• Sugar: 68.1g
• Fiber: 20g
• Fat: 75g
• Saturated fat: 27.3g

No training
Sleep: 7 hours 43 minutes (5:47 deep sleep)
Notes: Still sore but my mid back feels better. Probably just a tweak. Keeping the calories up again as I'm still overall sore but feeling a bit better.

Sunday November 19, 2017
Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,279
• Protein: 222g
• Carbs: 251g
• Sugar: 60.2g
• Fiber: 43.5g
• Fat: 53.9g
• Saturated fat: 19.9g

No training aside from some light yard work/house cleaning
Sleep: 7 hours 41 minutes (4:30 deep sleep)
Notes: Soreness is down quite a bit today, but still lingering. Rest, eat, and see what tomorrow's workout brings.

[Adam Armstrong]

Monday November 20, 2017

Training

• Squats: 125 lbs. (59.7 kg) X 5 X 3
• Press: 50 lbs. (22.68 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 165 lbs. (74.84 kg) X 5 X 1

Notes: Most of the soreness was gone when I woke up. On the first squat warm up set with weight, the pain in the mid back started to flare up. It is about the size of my fist on my right side. I had the wife feel around for anything swollen or sticking out. She couldn’t find anything, probably muscle pain. On the first work set of squats the bar was under the spine of the scapula and my grip went to hell trying to adjust. Fixed that on the second set and felt that the third set was about 80% of where I want to be form-wise. The press felt light still but I made sure I shrugged at the top (which caused some ringing soreness of the traps today). The penultimate warm up set was off on the deadlift and caused the pain to flare up bad. The weight taught me a great lesson with that lax form I was taking, a lesson I applied for the rest of the workout. For some reason my mind told me I couldn’t get the weight (165lbs.). I was setting up and did the first rep anyway and knew right off that I could finish the set. My grip slipped a little on one rep as my palm was sweaty. A little chalk will help with that. I received a tripod for my phone in the mail, so I should be able to add some videos to this log.

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,685
• Protein: 212g
• Carbs: 310g
• Sugar: 97g
• Fiber: 44g
• Fat: 72g
• Saturated fat: 29.3g

Sleep: 7 hours 29 minutes (5:18 deep sleep)

[Adam Armstrong]

Tuesday November 21, 2017

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,586
• Protein: 224g
• Carbs: 327g
• Sugar: 80g
• Fiber: 61g
• Fat: 49.5g
• Saturated fat: 15.8g

No training

Sleep: 7 hours 29 minutes (5:28 deep sleep)

Notes: That spot may never stop hurting. A bit of stiffness in my lower back and hamstrings. I committed a cardinal sin and stretched them out (I've stretched for years but not as part of a workout, I've never understood why people stretch so much around working out as it has been known for years to hurt lifts not help them). Stretched out and loosened up a bit.

Wednesday November 22, 2017

Training

• Squats: 135 lbs. (61.24 kg) X 5 X 3
• Bench Press: 85 lbs. (38.56 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 175 lbs. (79.38 kg) X 5 X 1

Video: Everything is edited down to just the work sets, just shy of six minutes. I know the angles are bad, but not terrible for the first attempt. Feel free to point out anything seen that is wrong. YouTube

Notes: Squats felt better and I needed the foam roller/crutch less (early warm up only). Still having some knee slide. Bench was super easy still. I would love to toss a bunch of weight on it but I plan on keeping it to 5 pounds and reinforcing good form. Deadlift felt really heavy for the first time. I thought I was dropping my hips but looking at the video I don't really see it. I may be coming to the end of adding ten pounds each time, though the lifts still seemed fast.

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,845
• Protein: 220g
• Carbs: 307g
• Sugar: 76.9g
• Fiber: 55g
• Fat: 72g
• Saturated fat: 28.3g

Sleep: Forgot to turn on the sleep tracker but was in bed for 8 hours and 6 minutes, asleep for 99% of the time.

[Adam Armstrong]

Thursday November 23, 2017

Nutrition (a bit off due to it being Thanksgiving)

• Total calories: 3,291
• Protein: 246g
• Carbs: 328g
• Sugar: 154g
• Fiber: 24.3g
• Fat: 71.9g
• Saturated fat: 37.8g

No training

Sleep: 7 hours 50 minutes (4:45 deep sleep)

Notes: Diet wasn't great due to Thanksgiving, but I don't plan on making a habit out of it. Still some back pain/soreness.

Friday November 24, 2017

Training

• Squats: 145 lbs. (65.77 kg) X 5 X 3
• Press: 55 lbs. (24.95 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 185 lbs. (83.91 kg) X 5 X 1

Stats

• Body weight: 203.8 lbs. (92.44kg)
• Waist: 32.75 in. (100.97 cm.)

Video: Everything is edited down to just the work sets, just over of six minutes. I think the angles are better but there is only so much moving around I can do in the gym without getting in the way of the girls taking pictures of their butts for Instagram. Feel free to comment here or on the video.

Notes: For Squats I am really focused on good form and keeping the knee slide from happening too much. There were a few reps where I didn't hit parallel, see above video. I had a terrible time getting a grip with my left hand. The Press still feels super easy but I want to work out any form issues so I'll let the weight slowly creep up. The deadlift felt heavy but no heavier than last time (it was up 10 pounds). The last rep looked like form suffered a bit. I was letting my breath out at top as well. I plan on adding 10 pounds to the squat and deadlift at least one more time.

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,869
• Protein: 268g
• Carbs: 316g
• Sugar: 62g
• Fiber: 44.6g
• Fat: 60.7g
• Saturated fat: 27.4g

Sleep: 7 hours 33 minutes (5:38 deep sleep)

[Adam Armstrong]

Weekend Roundup

Saturday November 25, 2017

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,817
• Protein: 255g
• Carbs: 239g
• Sugar: 78.4g
• Fiber: 27.6g
• Fat: 86.1g
• Saturated fat: 26.3g

No training

Sleep: 7 hours 25 minutes (4:25 deep sleep)

Notes: Some soreness in the mid back still. Eating is getting back on track.

Sunday November 26, 2017

Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,393
• Protein: 206g
• Carbs: 246g
• Sugar: 90g
• Fiber: 27.7g
• Fat: 68.7g
• Saturated fat: 30.8g

No training aside from some light yard work/house cleaning

Sleep: 7 hours 32 minutes (4:39 deep sleep)

Notes: Soreness seems to go away on Sundays.

Monday November 27, 2017

Training

• Squats: 155 lbs. (70.31 kg) X 5 X 3
• Bench Press: 90 lbs. (40.82 kg) X 5 X 3
• Deadlifts: 195 lbs. (88.45 kg) X 5 X 1

Notes: Most of the soreness was gone when I woke up. On the first squat warm up set with weight, the pain in the mid back started to flare up; it feels like a joint that needs to be popped. Struggled with the grip on the left hand side (you can see in the video). And felt pain in the upper right hand side of my abdominal wall, just below my chest. I swear squats are trying to kill me. Bench press went well. I feel that I have form down on these. Deadlifts felt heavy, real heavy. There was a moment of fear before lifting that I was either going to miss or hurt myself. Neither happened. And though it felt heavy, I’m going to try to add 10 pounds to both my squat and deadlift on Wednesday. Looking at the video, the bar seems to be moving at a good speed.

Video: Again, work sets only. Edited down to about five and a half minutes. Feel free to comment.


Nutrition

• Total calories: 2,955
• Protein: 229g
• Carbs: 307g
• Sugar: 58.8g
• Fiber: 39g
• Fat: 84.5g
• Saturated fat: 23.9g

Sleep: 7 hours 16 minutes (4:06 deep sleep)