My Starting Strength log

[Geoff Bischoff]

Way to stick, man.

On the squats: If you're reaching full depth and locking out at the top, with the best form you can manage right now, I think the ticket is to keep moving the weight on the bar up. I think Michael Wolf (think it was him) says to proceed on anything better than a B-grade squat (using a school analogy). The idea is that when your squat at 205 is at a B, your 195 might be A-, your 185 might be A+, but your A+ rated squat keeps coming up. A reset for form should be reserved for B- and below.

Of course, without a video for a coach to grade, you have to make that call yourself, but strength training is a remarkably individual endeavor after all.

[Adam Gottstein]

Some day I'll post a video. I won't lie that I'm currently self-conscience about my size in them. I was thinking something similar as to what you wrote - if I'm doing the best I can given my specific parameters, then I should keep going. That said, I'm going to bump my stand out a bit to see if giving my gut more clearance gets me a bit further forward. It won't be too wide, but a bit outside should width might be a world of difference.

[Adam Gottstein]

Cardio for 11/13/2018: 3 miles @ 58 mins; 3.1 mph.

[Adam Gottstein]

Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Squat: 190x5x3
Press: 95x5x3
Power Clean: 95x3x5

Cardio: 2 miles at 41 minutes

Good training session. Not much to point out other than power cleans were supposed to be 105, but I forgot to add the plates after the last warm-up. I didn't realize until I was taking the weight off, so this was a repeat weight. Will be going up +5 on squat and press, +10 on power clean, as was planned for today at missed on the add.

Cardio was good. Took longer that normal in part because it is dark out and there are no lights. Slowed up just a bit to ensure I wasn't stepping on anything stupid.

[Adam Gottstein]

Friday, November 16, 2018
Squat: 195x5x3
Bench: 120x5x2
Deadlift: 225x5x1

Cardio: 2 miles @ 38 minutes; 3.16 MPH

Overall a good lifting session. Bench is definitely feeling heavier. It's not crazy heavy, but definitely in the progression range (vs. easy early start I did). Deadlift - I think I got a bit greedy here. I did 205 last time, and that was hard, but good. Today the 205 warmup set (1 rep) wasn't too bad, and I think I could have done a full set. 225 was rough. Not all of the reps were good as I just wanted to get the weight up. Again, i think I was greedy. On the other side of things - the most I can get to with the weights I currently have is 300 lbs. I am going to be ordering weights the beginning of the new year (company pitches in $200 annually for health stuff, so I will be using that). If I were to go to 10lbs/session increases, I would be adding 120lbs or so before I have the chance to get more plates in, which obviously exceeds my 300lb limit. Because of this, I'm going to be dropping deads to +5 each session instead of +10.

Cardio was good. 19 minute mile is about as fast as I've gone so far since starting up again in October, so glad to be back there.

[Adam Gottstein]

Cardio for 11/17/2018: 3 @ 59.25 mins; 3.04 mph.

[Adam Gottstein]

Monday, November 19, 2018
Squat: 200x5x3
Press: 100x5x3
Power Clean: 105x3x5

Cardio: 2 miles post-workout; 38.5 minutes, 3.12 mph.

Body Weight: 320.8 (-1.6 lbs)
Waist: 54.5" (-.5")

Squat was surprisingly solid. I had a few reps that were definitely harder, including one where my knee came in slightly on the way up, but overall they were solid. Going to 205 on Wednesday. Press is getting tough. The last rep of the last set didn't get a solid lock out. I'm going to go for 105 next time, and will focus on getting them all locked out fully. Power cleans are getting more challenging, but overall reps went well. Switching this to +5 now, so 110 next time.

Cardio was good. Nothing spectacular, but not bad.

Glad to see the weight still moving down, and more importantly the waist going down. This was especially exciting since the past 4 days saw me eating a couple of fast food burgers (1 burger, 2 occasions), some movie theater popcorn, and my son's birthday cake. I made them work within my macros, but was concerned about extra water retention from them. Diet-wise, my goal was 2500 calories/day, and I averaged 2408. Going forward, I am going to be pushing to have my protein more on target (>= 200g, averaged 189g last week) and my fat on target (<= 80g/day; last week averaged 103/day). Carbs will fill in the rest. I am giving myself a pass on Thanksgiving. We are getting together and eating early afternoon, so I'm going to have a light breakfast and eat whatever I want there (In my case, primarily turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and some birthday cake my Mom is making for me). We'll see on Monday if that is a bad choice or not. (Actually, I'm an obsessive daily weigher, so I'll know the next day or 2. )

[Adam Gottstein]

Cardio for 11/20/2018: 3 miles @ 56.75 mins. 3.17 mph.

[Adam Gottstein]

Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Squat: 205x5x3
Bench: 125x5x3
Deadlift: 230x5x1

Cardio: 2 miles @ 38.25 minutes; 3.14 mph.

Squats were solid. Looking forward to 210 on Friday. Bench is solid as well. I actually did 10 reps of the last set (just to see if I could), so definitely going up on weight. Deadlift was better today than at 225. I'm not entirely surprised as I'm now just increasing by 5lbs, so 230 is really close to 225, and I should have some level of growth and adaptation of the 225, making 230 more solid. I will be going up on all 3 next time.

[Dale Waters]

Looking good! Very impressed with you knowing yourself well enough to get rid of the treadmill etc., and I'm a fan of the power clean.

Re. posting vids, for what it's worth, I've hesitated in the past due to being too big/small/disproportioned, having bad form, not progressing, etc., so I get you, but I would encourage you to at least keep your own visual record. It can be great to see over time, and will help you iron out a bunch of potential form issues. Keep up the good work!