Starting Up with Starting Strength

[Geoff Bischoff]

Crushed it! Triple PR day. Man those are rewarding.

[m.z.mac]

Crushed it! Triple PR day. Man those are rewarding.

As always, thank you very much Geoff! Sorry that I didn't reply to this sooner, but 50,000 words?! That is some serious and deep thought on why you believe what you believe. Although, I'm sure you've given plenty of thought to it before and during the entire ordination process.

Wed 6 Feb.

Relient K The Birds and the Bee Sides
For my low stress day, I thought I could go with some fun listening. This pseudo-Christian alternative band used to be one of my favorites and this album is pure fun.

Squat- 2x5x20, 5x70, 3x85, 2x100, 3x5x114 KG (251 lbs)
Good practice day here. After the ugliness of Monday's squats, I really tired to dial in my form here. It would seem that my last few heavy days have had a lack of "pop" because I'm cutting depth just a smudge higher than allows me to get a good bounce. I've been hitting consistent, below-parallel depth, just not quite low enough for my specific squat mechanics. This should help on Friday.

Bench- 2x5x20, 5x40, 3x60, 2x80, 5x3x96 KG (211 lbs)
After transitioning press to triples to grab some late game progress, he same approach was adopted here. These felt good. Fingers crossed that I grab 225 lbs soon and finally have two wheels.

Power Clean- 2x3x20, 3x40, 3x50, 3x60, 5x3x75 KG (165 lbs)
These were UGLY. I had gotten really hungry by this point, so I foolishly started to rush myself. Missed the very last rep 3 times before I finally calmed down and did it correctly. It seems that I sometimes focus too hard on dragging and staying over the bar long enough and holding all the way to the launch point...and forget that this movement requires a HARD jump. Either way, having these for a light pull on the same day as my light squats is a lot of fun.

Chins- 3x9xBW

Also, in the last post with regard to the home gym situation, it escaped my memory that this tax season! After filing them, my wife and I will have enough to take care of a few responsible adult things and still have plenty left over to put together the home gym (and some left over after that too)! I'm gonna steal it from you for today Geoff: All glory to God!

[m.z.mac]

Sat 9 Feb.

Was really dreading training today. Got about 4&1/2 hours of sleep (had caffeine too late in the evening), so I was pretty sure that today wouldn't go well. Boy, do I love it when I'm wrong.

Squat- 2x5x20 KG, 5x60, 3x85, 2x100, 1x130, 3x5x145 KG (319 lbs)
Went to the gym with the intention of working up to 1x5x145 and then getting out of there. BUT once I had done set 1, I thought "One more set and then I'm gone." Next thing I knew, I had finished the whole session. Going slightly deeper really helped my bounce and these felt better than they have in a while.

Press- 2x5x20, 5x40, 3x50, 1x60, 3,3,3,2,3x66 KG (145 lbs)
Lost the last rep of set 4 when I fired the bar too far out in front. Besides that, these went well.

Deadlift- 5x70, 3x100, 1x120, 1x150, 5x167 KG (368 lbs)
Accidentally forgot my 3" belt, so I pulled in the 4". It felt fine, but I will definitely not forget the 3" on my deadlift days again. I did have the pleasure of pulling these with a 20 KG Eleiko WL bar. Seriously, it was nice. They do have some intense knurling, but it is definitely what you would want for a serious competition. Also, as I mentioned a few posts ago, the most that I had ever pulled before today was 365x1. And that was 4 years ago. So, I am now officially and quantifiably the strongest I have EVER been in my life. It's a great feeling, as I'm sure many of you know.

Chins-3x9xBW
Will up it to 3x10 next week.

[m.z.mac]

Tue 12 Feb.

Squat- 2x5x20, 5x60, 3x85, 2x100, 1x130, 3x147 KG (324 lbs), 3x140 KG
This was the first time that I failed a squat workout. Even 60 KG felt off. After the 3rd rep at 147, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stand up a 4th time. Generally just felt sickly, swimmy or what not. Backed off to 140 and only got 3 there before my knees were coming way in and full good morning was in affect. Decided to call it for today, because it would seem that my Saturday session on 4 hours of sleep may have wrecked me. I’ll hit the normal mid-week, low stress session on Thursday and then on to coaching from Josh Wells on Saturday.

Bad news: Started tracking my calories/macros (which I should have done a long time ago, just to be sure) and I’m riding the line on getting enough protein (which is completely my own fault). Might be why my upper body gains have been slow and today went poorly.

Good news: Ordered SS bar from Texas Power Bars today and the FB-5000 bench plus s few more 45 lb plates from Rep Fitness, today. Have a squat rack and all of the rest of the plates that I’ll need from some online second hand hunting. As soon as those orders come in, I’ll have a functioning home gym.

[m.z.mac]

On Saturday, I got up, ate some Waffle house, and made the trek to the Outer Banks to get some coaching from Josh Wells and Shelley Hancock. The two of them are utterly professional and personable, and did an awesome job of fixing some errors in my form and giving some cues that really helped lock in the movements. They gave me right around 3 hours and we went through all 5 of the big lifts outlined in SS:BBT3 (and talked and laughed alot). It was great to get coaching and just as cool to be around 2 people who grew up in WFAC around Rip, Glenn Pendlay, Dr. Kilgore and tons of other incredible people. I’m already trying to find time to get back out there and get some coaching the the Weightlifting movements from Josh. Time and money WELL spent.

Tue, 19 Feb.

Squat- 3x5x245
Josh suggested that I take a reset on my lifts (and gave some suggested weights) with the fixed technique and take big jumps back up IOT blast through my previous numbers and hopefully add some time to LP. On squats, we cut the depth, widened the grip and narrowed the stance. He and Shelley really helped me get the squats to feel tight and get the good bounce at proper depth. Looking forward to not doing Good Mornings as I work back up.

Press- 3x5x115
Wasn’t really getting the hips into these correctly before and was relying wayyy too heavily on the layback. Also, while the grip was in the correct place, I had misunderstood the role and postion of the elbows at the bottom. After the fixes, these are popping like jerks.

Deadlift- 5x370
This is the one and only lift where Josh said that my form was pretty good. Needed to get a frog’s hair closer to the bar, but he said to just keep these moving while squats catch up.

Last, but not least, today was my first time lifting in my home gym. I’ll post a photo next time that I post from the computer, but it’s 60 square feet of pain and glory. It’s in a brick storage building? shed? behind the house and it has a couple of issues but you can’t beat the convenience.

[Geoff Bischoff]

New Form, New Gym, New Me

Indeed!

You're primed for some killer gainz now. I look forward to seeing how it shakes down.

[m.z.mac]

Thurs, 21 Feb.

Squat- 3x5x255
These felt strong and fast. Nothing to report.

Bench- 3x5x185
Still working on the cues that I got from Josh Wells. My elbows were not only tucked too close, but the right one was asymmetric as well. These feel easier, but stranger.

Power Clean- 5x3x135
Worked on the teaching progression in my warm-ups. Really helped these pop.

[m.z.mac]

Sat, 23 Feb.

Squat- 3x5x265
Still on and popping.

Press- 3x5x120
Still working on throwing the hips without just relying on a big layback.

Deadlift- 5x375
These moved fast. The knurling on the SS bar feels really good in the hands, and the 28.5 mm diameter makes the hook grip toight like a toiger.

[Geoff Bischoff]

Your commitment to hook grip humbles me. I ain't man enough.

Now that you've got a stable rig, you need to start posting vids. You know that, right?

[m.z.mac]

Haha thanks, Geoff. Honestly, I really only stay dedicated to the hook grip because I have aspirations to participate in some Weightlifting meets in the future. In fact, I’m going back to see Josh Wells in 3 weeks for instruction on the Olympic lifts.

On the subject of videos, I have been thinking about it. I just need to figure out where best to put the camera, as the dungeon is 6’x10’. So no matter where it goes, it’ll be pretty close to my body. I’ll start experimenting with the placement this week.

On the subject of you: How will your final Ordination board go on 19 March? Will the panel just grill you, or are you expected to prepare a sermon of some kind? Last thing, I watched that video of your mom pulling 115, and it was honestly wayyy too easy! When she’s ready to pull those 45s, it’ll be there.