AJ's training log

[ajayj]

Age: 37
Height: 5'8"
Programmer - desk job

Starting stats:
Weight: 193 lbs
Body fat: 23%

Current stats:
Weight: 207 lbs
Body fat: 26%
===================
First workout: Oct 13th 2017
46 workouts so far

Squat:
Starting weight: 70 lbs
Current weight: 250 lbs
Increase of : 180 lbs

OHP:
Starting weight: 50 lbs
Current weight: 98.5 lbs(started microloading after 90lbs)
Increase: 48.5 lbs

Bench:
For a long time I was afraid of starting bench for no particular reason and instead used to do pushups. So not doing the program.
Finally started benchpress about 10 workouts ago.
Starting weight: 85 lbs
Current: 115 lbs
Increase: 30 lbs

Deadlift:
Starting weight: 65 lbs
Current
1RM max: 285 lbs (I did 5 singles for this and decided I needed to deload to really do a 5 rep set)
5 RM max: 250 lbs
Increase: 185 lbs


Some history:
Physical training/exercise wise:
Lots of sports in school - so body movements are ok'ishly co-ordinated - can understand cues and how to feel where body is in space. College waterpolo and swim teams. Got a shoulder subluxation while playing waterpolo and I started to avoid playing contact sports after that.
More recently like 5-6 years ago I started becoming serious about my health after getting to around 195 lbs w/o any muscle.
Went on a few diets - had good success initially with just plain running and eating less(novice effect), but I felt weak and knew needed to do something.
So started doing bodyweight training - specifically "Convict Conditioning" program and made some progress on that. But all the weight came back but didn't look that bad as before due to more muscles.
Finally progress stalled and I started not following the BW program at all.
Convict Conditioning did make me realize though that progression in difficulty was key to making goal progress.
Finally started StrongLifts and hit upon Rip's Youtube videos to perfect my form and have been on some sort of semi-SS(no bench for a while) ever since.

Where do I train:
Company gym which is free has good equipment. I do train at a local UFC gym which has four squat racks with two deadlift platforms - pretty good for SS training.

Will be updating here pretty regularly.

[ajayj]

Wanted to add that I had never done any barbell training before I started this program and had been conditioned to think that barbell training was evil and causes injuries . This is the reason I started off at very low weights. Trust but verify . And so far going below parallel on the squats hasn't done me any wrong.

[carson]

Congratulations on finding a bona fide strength training program. Keep it up.

[ajayj]

Workout #47 18th March 2018

Squat:
250 lbs 3x5
Notes:
Felt and distinctly saw in the mirror(the only one time i looked up) that I was tilting a bit towards my right and making my right side work more.
Either this is because the left side was feeling sore - but it wasn't that much or this is an imbalance that will hopefully go away with time.
That said, was able to get through 3x5 without a lot of issues. This weight was a repeat of my last workout since I felt like focussing on form for today.
Given the tilting I feel I may have made the right decision.

Press:
99lbs 5x3
Notes: Microloading FTW - definitely working for me.

Deadlift:
260lbs 5x1 - in 39 seconds - first 3 reps with overhand grip and last two with alternate grip but once with right underhand and the last one with left underhand.
I am now using a timer to indicate when I am doing a full set vs just singles(=failure). Threshold is 45 seconds for a 5 rep set which seems appropriate.

Diet:
I am feeling that I have maybe let go a bit by overindulging and using the "don't undereat" directive of the program to overeat. I am going to start a Keto for the next couple of weeks but maintain a full calorie intake instead of deficit and see if it makes me feel less fat/bloated.

[ajayj]

Workout #48 24th March 2018
Had a big gap of 5 days since my last workout due to work and also wanted to get some good diet days in with eating to just about maintainence.
24th March started day with a bodyweight of 203 lbs feeling a bit light.

Squats:
205lbs 3x5
I deloaded down to 205 since I needed to correct the form issue of tilting a bit onto the right side.
Noticed that my legs were closer than they should have been whereas if i increased the distance between feet it felt better. This i discovered during the warmup sets.

Benchpress:
Following the struggle at 115 I deloaded down to 105 to correct any form issues.
Discovered that i might have been taking a too wide grip on the bar.
105lbs - 3x5

PowerCleans:
I think i hurt myself doing these by trying to bang myself upto the bar.
Really nothing to report here - 65lbs - 3x5 with bad form.
Next day I had pain around my right chest area and right shoulder and I couldn't breath or move my right arm without feeling a lot of pain.
This led to a gap of a few more days than I expected with the next workout.


Workout #49 28th March 2018
Squats:
215 - 3x5
Since discovering form issues with 250 and deloading back to 205 and correcting the narrow feet distance I felt like increasing by 10lbs was not a bad move.
It worked out. 215 felt easy.

OHP:
95 - 3x5
Deloaded here to correct form. 95 lbs felt good no issues.

Deadlift:
265 1x5 with difficulty and maybe form suffered a bit - going to hit this same weight next time.

Workout #50 31st March 2018
Squats
225 3x5
Bench
110 3x5
Deadlift
265 1x5 with good form

Workout #51 3rd April 2018
Squats
230 3x5
Starting to use 5lb increments again.
OHP
97.5 3x5
Deadlift
270 1x5 with ok form but took too much time between reps to reset grip - so marking this a failure.

Workout #52 7th April 2018
Squats
235 3x5
Struggled a bit since I have been trying to maintain at 203lbs bodyweight.

Bench
115 3x5
Back to max

Deadlift
270 1x5 with good form did not reset grip everytime and finsihed this set in 30 seconds - marking this done

[ajayj]

=======================
|| Workout #53 11th April 2018 ||
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Squats
240 3x5
-------------
OHP
100 3x5
finally got this even though I was not anticipating it.
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Deadlift
275 1x5
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=======================
|| Workout #54 14th April 2018 ||
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Squats
245 3x5
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Bench
120 3x5
-------------
Deadlift
280 1x5
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More break than I wanted because of work pressures and less sleep and busy-ness.

=======================
|| Workout #55 19th April 2018 ||
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Squats
250 3x5
-------------
OHP (Fail)
102.5 1x4,
101.5 1x4,
101 1x4
Started with 102.5 but kept failing to reach 5
For the second set I went down to 101.5 but even then it was only 4 reps
Finally I went down to 101 and for that too I managed 4.
-------------
Deadlift
285 1x5
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=======================
|| Workout #56 21st April 2018 ||
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Squats
255 3x5
-------------
Bench
125 3x5
-------------
Deadlift
290 1x0
Could not even get the weight off the floor. I think it is time to try and insert power-cleans again into the mix to give deadlifts a break.
-------------


=======================
|| Workout #57 25th April 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
260 3x5
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OHP
101.5 5,4,4
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Deadlift
290 1x5
Got this done
-------------

Retrying power-cleans from here on bench-press days alternating with deadlifts on OHP days
=======================
|| Workout #58 28th April 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
265 3x5
-------------
Bench
130 wouldn't come off the rack. Microloaded down to 127.
127 3x5
-------------
Power-Cleans
65 3x5
Need to clean up form much more - I might be letting the bar come up not in vertical path, and also might have been letting it come up before finishing the jump.
Also need to do 5x3 instead of 3x5.
But in general form here was much better than a previous attempt I had made a few weeks back to add PC into the mix.
-------------

=======================
|| Workout #59 30th April 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
270 3x5
-------------
OHP
102 3x5
I think I had a form breakthrough here a bit. I noticed that I was keeping my knees a bit soft which was not giving me enough momentum to go past the sticking point.
While I was not using my knees to give me any jerk-up, the hip forward was not doing anything for me. Locking out my knees gave me the momentum as it should.
Another thing was keeping my elbows ahead of my hands. This reduced the moment arm between where the bar ended up above and my shoulders since I was driving
up above the shoulders. Earlier I was driving a wee bit ahead of myself.
-------------
Deadlift
295 1x5
Definitely a struggle here. Took me over a minute to get it done, but I did not let go of the bar to rest so I consider this a pass. I had to grind which took time.
-------------

[ajayj]

=======================
|| Workout #60 2nd May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
275 3x5
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BP
129 3x5
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PowerCleans
70 5x3
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=======================
|| Workout #61 6th May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
280 3x5
Definitely felt form creep here, my back angle must not be constant, because i feel stress on the lower back coming out of the hole.
-------------
OHP
Failure
104 3x4
Not enough left in the tank each set for the 5th rep. I have ordered a belt. Hopefully that helps when it comes through.
-------------
DL
302.5 1x5
A mental barrier (300) has been crossed - this was definitely the highlight.
-------------

Because of long hours at office due to a work emergency could not hit the gym for the entire week
Because of the long layoff and some form creep I noticed, decided to reset all the lifts.
=======================
|| Workout #62 13th May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
245 3x5
-------------
BP
115 3x5
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PowerClean
65 5x3
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Unexpectedly the long hours at office continued and are going to continue for another week after. But something is better than nothing. I could only get workouts in on Sundays.

=======================
|| Workout #63 20th May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
Reset since took a whole week off
235 3x5
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OHP
90 3x5
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DL
255 1x5
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Starting here back to regular programming or so is the hope now that office is back to normal.
=======================
|| Workout #64 26th May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
Did not feel like resetting. 250 was strong and maintained back angle - no low back stress/soreness.
250 3x5
-------------
BP
120 3x5
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DL
265 1x5
-------------

[ajayj]

=======================
|| Workout #65 28th May 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
260 3x5
-------------
OHP
100 3x5
-------------
DL
280 1x5
Video - YouTube
-------------

=======================
|| Workout #66 31st May 2018 ||
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Squats
265 3x5
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BP
125 3x5
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DL
295 1x5
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=======================
|| Workout #67 2nd Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
270 3x5
-------------
OHP
105 3x5
-------------
Back to PowerCleans
65 5x3
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Chin-up - started with Assisted chin-up - listing balance weight
100 1x10
120 1x10
100 1x10
-------------

[ajayj]

=======================
|| Workout #68 5th Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
275 3x5
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BP
130 3x5
-------------
PowerCleans
75 5x3
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Assisted chin-up - started programming for 3x8 for progression as per an old thread from SSC Wolf
80 3x8
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=======================
|| Workout #69 7th Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
280 3x5
-------------
OHP(stalled - because I did a 5lb jump)
110 5,4,2
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Deadlift
302.5 1x5
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=======================
|| Workout #70 9th Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats
285 3x5
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BP
135 3x5
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Assisted chin-ups (3x8 for going up) - balance weight
60 8,7,6
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=======================
|| Workout #71 15th Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats (with belt first time)
290 3x5
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OHP (still stalled and will need to reduce)
110 5,3,2
-------------
Felt shitty enough that I did not do anything else - long day at work.
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=======================
|| Workout #72 17th Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats (belt has been making things easier)
295 3x5
-------------
BP
140 3x5
-------------
Deadlift
310 1x5 (in under 50 seconds)
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=======================
|| Workout #73 22nd Jun 2018 ||
=======================
Squats (belt has been making things easier)
300 3x5 - feels good to get the 3 zero zero psychological number
-------------
OHP - Reduced with microloading to 105 + 1x0.625 washer plate each side
106.2 3x5
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Assisted chin-ups
60 3x8
-------------

[ajayj]

Fun graph of progress on various lifts. Started tracking bodyweight just few weeks back - not sure why that doesn't show up at the right dates.
graphs.jpg