Nobody's log

[Geoff Bischoff]

If I'm understanding you right, you came into all this with a lifetime 5RM squat of 80, and just now hit 85? Very nice.

Yeah, 2.5kg jumps are entirely appropriate and recommended now that you're taking new territory.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

If I'm understanding you right, you came into all this with a lifetime 5RM squat of 80, and just now hit 85? Very nice.

Yeah, 2.5kg jumps are entirely appropriate and recommended now that you're taking new territory.

Correct.

I have started this year by the end of May and I've stopped progression at some point to learn the movements, done a first heavy deload as I wasn't sleeping enough with 2 jobs and the volume was hitting me too hard, so I went down and restarted a notch above the old start, done it again, then realised something wasn't working properly and decided to order the Starting Strength book to give a go at this program, I was mostly using SS video anyway to improve my form, so I thought that if I trusted them for that I could trust them for the programming, so far so good, I couldn't be happier.

Here is my progress prior to Starting Strength, the last part is incomplete as I never finished my program and got started here instead, I think I had a week left to go, or something like that, just enough to put me past the previous cycle.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Squat: 90 kg x5x3 (198lb)
20x5x2 40x5 55x3 75x2

Held back progress on the squat.

Press: 37.5 kg x5x3 (83lb)
20x5x2 25x5 30x3 35x2

Same for the press.

Deadlift: 100 kg x5 (220lb)
40x5x2 55x5 70x3 85x2

Taken a video of the deadlift, not sure if my back is rounded or is the camera, might take another video from a different angle the next time, just to make sure. Posting it here for the time being, I want to post it in the appropriate section to have a form check, but will do that after Christmas, leaving town in the morrow and I hate checking forums from my phone, will deal with it after the family shenanigans have been dealt with.


I didn't like that the squat was too close to the deadlift, I've analysed my results and it looks like it was my fault, I should have probably dropped the squat to 2.5kg progress a bit earlier and could have used a couple of 10kg steps in the first week of the deadlift, too late now for that, but after browsing a bit the forum I've found plenty of references of people that have been suggested something similar, so I'm going to go with it. At the same I'll see if I can keep pushing 5kg on the deadlift for another couple of sessions, hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be at a better point.

Same for the press, for the next couple of weeks I want to slow it down and I'll progress 2.5 every other week while I work on my form, need to take a video of the press next to see what needs improving.

Today was also the first day with the PT in the office, paid by the boss, thankfully, went with it through my bench form and gave me some good feedbacks, will go through them the next time.

[Geoff Bischoff]

Merry Christmas and happy travels to you!

Your deadlift video: Great set overall; bar speed is good, path is generally good. This weight is not an issue for you; I'm convinced you've got at least two more 5kg jumps in you, maybe more.

Some unsolicited notes:

1) I don't think your back is rounded. In fact, I think you do a quite passable job setting your back. That said: You can always benefit by doing it *even harder*. Set your back like you're pulling 200kg, if that makes any sense.

2) Hips! Your hip height is inconsistent. On some reps, your hips drop immediately before you pull the weight. A particularly egregious example is at 0:45, rep 3 I think. I self-cue "chest up hips up" for the setting, to remind myself to keep hip-height static upon back-set.

3) Leg press the floor away. The weight is coming up nicely from the floor, but will do so better if your first mental cue is "press floor." This will be easier if you:

4) Stand a little narrower (2 inches total perhaps? Not more than 3?) in the feet. This will make it easier for you to drive knees *out* toward elbows, bringing some adductor involvement to the motion (and thus adding more contractile tissue to the equation).

Keep killing it out there in kilogram country.

[positronbomb]

There is a possibility your back is rounding on returning the bar to the ground.
You're looking at your toes when you return the bar to the ground. Consider looking at a point on the ground 2 to 3 yards in front of you, don't look at your toes.

The lift looks ok, not a great camera angle though.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Merry Christmas and happy travels to you!

Your deadlift video: Great set overall; bar speed is good, path is generally good. This weight is not an issue for you; I'm convinced you've got at least two more 5kg jumps in you, maybe more.

Some unsolicited notes:

1) I don't think your back is rounded. In fact, I think you do a quite passable job setting your back. That said: You can always benefit by doing it *even harder*. Set your back like you're pulling 200kg, if that makes any sense.

2) Hips! Your hip height is inconsistent. On some reps, your hips drop immediately before you pull the weight. A particularly egregious example is at 0:45, rep 3 I think. I self-cue "chest up hips up" for the setting, to remind myself to keep hip-height static upon back-set.

3) Leg press the floor away. The weight is coming up nicely from the floor, but will do so better if your first mental cue is "press floor." This will be easier if you:

4) Stand a little narrower (2 inches total perhaps? Not more than 3?) in the feet. This will make it easier for you to drive knees *out* toward elbows, bringing some adductor involvement to the motion (and thus adding more contractile tissue to the equation).

Keep killing it out there in kilogram country.

Thanks for your feedback Geoff.

1. I think the problem with my back was mostly camera angle, I've discussed it at length with several people and they were all under the same impression, looks like I just need to remember to take the video from the side.

2. Indeed, my problem there is that I'm trying to adjust arms and shoulders and while I do that I'm messing a bit all around, Ill try the cue to see if it helps fix the issue.

3/4 Will try a narrower stance, even though I feel comfortable with mine, but still, worth a try.

There is a possibility your back is rounding on returning the bar to the ground.
You're looking at your toes when you return the bar to the ground. Consider looking at a point on the ground 2 to 3 yards in front of you, don't look at your toes.

The lift looks ok, not a great camera angle though.

Thanks mate!

Now, I did go to the gym on Monday, I just didn't post as I was away, here the results:

Squat: 90 kg x5x3 (198lb)
20x5x2 40x5 55x3 75x2

As mentioned, holding back progress on the squat to let the Deadlift go a bit ahead. In all fairness, actually considered slowing everything now now that weights are challenging, could be a chance to polish my act before moving on to harder stuff, don't know, I'll think about it.


Bench Press: 45 kg x5x3 (99lb)
20x5x2 30x5 35x3 40x2


Deadlift: 105 kg x5 (231lb)
40x5x2 60x5 75x3 95x2

105 started to feel a bit of a strain, but having caught some mistakes in the last video gave me some extra motivation and I've decided to do another 5kg jump and see how it feels.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Catching up, this was Wednesday, haven't been today yet, will go after work and probably post tomorrow.

Squat: 92.5 kg x5x3 (204 lb)
20x5x2 40x5 60x3 75x2


Press: 40 kg x5x3 (88lb)
20x5x2 25x5 30x3 35x2


Deadlift: 110 kg x5 (243lb)
40x5x2 60x5 75x3 95x2

Good that I'm switching to Power Cleans, because deadlifts are killing me, most definitely no more 5kg jumps for me.


A month in I'm loving the program, but apart from a day for giving blood I haven't had a break in months, tempted to give myself a cheat day to try something different, not sure if it's a good idea or just me lacking the required resilience to keep going... don't know, I'll think about it.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Squat: 92.5 kg x5x3 (204 lb)
20x5x2 40x5 60x3 75x2

I was just done with the first work set when it hit me, fair play to trying to balance things and all of that, but in the end I need to keep this pleasurable or I'll grow tired of it, I'm not a massive fan of deadlifts whereas I truly enjoy squats, so why hold back the squats for any reason?

With the first work set done I didn't want to add weight to the second set, I'm still a bit OCD, but from the next session I'm back to growing 2.5kg per session and if my deadlifts or anything else don't progress for that, who cares, squats first, I like them.


Bench Press: 47.5 kg x5x3 (105 lb)
20x5x2 30x5 35x3 45x2


Power Clean: 20 kg x3x5 (44 lb)
20x3x3

I've got lucky, or so I thought, there was a chap training Olympic lifts and he was willing to give me a few tips in his rest periods, so I've got some interesting instructions that helped me a lot lift the wrong way, he was emphasising a lot bringing up the arms in a pull, his exact instruction was "bring up the arms, like a scarecrow".

I believe the above is exactly what Rip warns about in his video, just watched it again now, maybe I should have another look at the video at the gym right before I get started to have it fresh in mind.

What felt wrong there is that I remember watching the video and it was a very fast movement, whereas all that arm pulling shenanigan was slowing me down, I've taken a video as I wanted to understand what I was doing, have a laugh.



Next time I'll stick to the empty barbell and practice again the form, I'll put on some weight only after I'm happy to have understood the whole thing.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Skipped Monday's training, it was New Year's Eve, I had to work and I've ended up running errand for missus, there was no time left for training, unless I wanted to show up at the party after midnight...

Squat: 95 kg x5x3 (209 lb)
20x5x2 40x5 60x3 80x2


Press: 42.5 kg x5x3 (42.5 lb)
20x5x2 30x5 35x3 40x2


Deadlift: 112.5 kg x5 (248 lb)
40x5x2 60x5 80x3 95x2


It was tough today, New Year's Eve celebration took a toll on me... hopefully by Friday I'll be a bit more rested.

[Lorenzo de Gregori]

Squat: 97.5 kg x5x3 (215 lb)
20x5x2 40x5 60x3 80x2


Bench Press: 50 kg x5x3 (110 lb)
20x5x2 30x5 35x3 45x2


Power Clean: 20 kg x3x5 (44 lb)
20x3x3

My Power Clean was still bad, but at least I'm starting to get an idea of the movement and it was definitely better than last time, was thinking about adding 5kg the next time just to get the barbell off the floor.

The workout was overall a lot better than Wednesday, I'd say I've recovered good.