Boris's Novice Logs

[Boris Vucenic]

It won't hurt to keep track of everything here. I might need some help along the way.

I am Boris, 26 yo male and my current height are 180cm, weight is 75kg with 18%-22% body fat (my guess).

Six months ago I cleared my died, added much-needed protein and started with bodyweight exercises at home. That included pull-ups, push up and squats. Later I bought a 16kg kettlebell and I added some swings and goblet squats.
Since I didn't have weights, I tried to focus on form which proved to be very good.

That all got me from 81kg to 74kg. Not the best way to get strong but hey, live and learn.

Current Weight: 75.5kg
Daily Calories: around 3000, more on workout days, less on off days
Macros: 170ish protein, 100ish fats, 350ish

Workout 1.1

Squat: 80kg*5*3
OHP: 40kg*5*3
DL: 100kg*5
Chinups: Bodyweight*10*3

Still, need to figure out increases. I've bought 1.25kg plates for press and rest I have in the gym.

I was doing high bar squats so low bar ones need time to get used to, so focusing on that now. My tailbone hurt last week because I was leaning back. Fixed that today and it was good.
Next workout is on Wednesday, I'm looking forward to it and I will update then.

[Espen Lund]

Hi Boris. 2.5 kg increase works well on all the lifts in the beginning. But first on the press, and afterwards the bench, you will need lower increments, like 1 kg. So get your hands on 0.5 kg micro plates. Increasing less than 1 kg on the upper body lifts and 2.5 kg on the lower body lifts is a waste of time for a 26 year old male, and at that time, it is better to change programming to weekly increases. Hope this gave you some help on the weight increases.

[Boris Vucenic]

Hi Boris. 2.5 kg increase works well on all the lifts in the beginning. But first on the press, and afterwards the bench, you will need lower increments, like 1 kg. So get your hands on 0.5 kg micro plates. Increasing less than 1 kg on the upper body lifts and 2.5 kg on the lower body lifts is a waste of time for a 26 year old male, and at that time, it is better to change programming to weekly increases. Hope this gave you some help on the weight increases.

I will order those too then.
Hope I don't need them too soon.

Thanks!

[carson]

Welcome. Keep eating at 3000 cal. and you should slowly gain though 4000 is even better. Keep at it and you will get strong. Do you have a gym near you? Can you afford online training?

[Boris Vucenic]

Welcome. Keep eating at 3000 cal. and you should slowly gain though 4000 is even better. Keep at it and you will get strong. Do you have a gym near you? Can you afford online training?

Thanks!
Yeah, I forgot to mention that I started going to the gym 3 weeks ago. It started being too hot in the house and 16kg squats became boring

As for online coaching, I didn't think about it really and I have no idea how much it costs.

[carson]

Check it out. Starting Strength Online Coaching

[Boris Vucenic]

Check it out. Starting Strength Online Coaching

It's a bit steep for me at the moment.
But at some point it will be cheaper than flying from Croatia to see a SSC.

[Boris Vucenic]

Workout 1.2

Squat: 85kg*5*3
BP: 60kg*5*3
DL: 105kg*5
Chinups: 5kg*5*3

I still need to work on my squat form, here is today's last set video: YouTube
Any comment is appreciated. I was doing high bar squats earlier so I am still getting used to these.

It wasn't my best set and my 1.25kg plates weren't here so I increased 5kg.
It felt harder but I am sure I have enough strength for it. I have no clue what happens to my form but I will work on it while increasing 2.5kg.

Bench press didn't feel that hard but I prefer going slower with it as well with OHP.

Deadlift feels good, I like it and I will increase it 5kg on Friday. I have regular(smaller) 10 and 15kg and warming up with them is hard because the bar is low so I want to work up to 60kg warmup.

I will continue adding 2.5kg to chin-ups and maybe do them in sets of 5.

[Espen Lund]

Boris, I would suggest you post form videos on the coaches C&A forum to get your form dialled in as quickly as possible on the novice LP. But they do look pretty good, I would assume they would only come with minor comments, one of them probably being to set your knees eariler in the descent.

[Boris Vucenic]

Boris, I would suggest you post form videos on the coaches C&A forum to get your form dialled in as quickly as possible on the novice LP. But they do look pretty good, I would assume they would only come with minor comments, one of them probably being to set your knees eariler in the descent.

I will do that today because I had to wait for verification. But I hope you are right and that it isn't much wrong.