Welcome! I have a 2 month old and a 3year old. I went to 2 days a week for awhile and that worked pretty well. Just keep moving, and rest when you can
Male, 5`11``, 169lbs, 36
I need to write this down somewhere and the internet seems good. I used to train BJJ pre lockdown and my family had COVID in early March. My cardio health was teeeerrible until June (literally chasing my son around the yard for 15 seconds would put me into a heap, coughing). My strength also took a massive hit (40%+) from where I was at in LP pre-COVID. I wasn't far along, but actively training and way stronger. So here we go, (re)Starting Strength
My kids are 4 and 1.5, and sleep and eating are going to be a big problem. Maybe I'll push through with willpower? Other parents of young children, I'd love any tips you may have.
Wed, Aug 12
(Re)Established starting point
Squat: empty bar, 95, 115, 125, 135, 140
Press: empty bar, 65, 70
Deadlift: empty bar, 135, 185, 205
Fri, Aug 14
Sore... so sore. Lockdown has been unkind
Squat: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, empty bar, 95, 115, 145x5x3
Establish Bench: empty bar, 95, 115, 120 (hard last rep)
No Power Clean (looking into bumper plates still)
Mon, Aug 17
Sore again, but less, excellent!
Squat: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, empty bar, 95, 120, 150x5x3
Press: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, 65, 75x5x3
Deadlift: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, 135, 185, 215x5x1
Wed, Aug 19
No soreness, feeling great
Squat: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, empty bar, 95, 125, 155x5x3
Bench: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, 95, 125x5x3 - was feeling strong so not worried that establishment was hard, went well
No Power Clean
Fri, Aug 21
No soreness
Squat: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, empty bar, 95, 130, 160x5x3
Press: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, 65, 80x5x3
Deadlift: (5s for all warmups) empty bar, 135, 185, 225x5x1
Welcome! I have a 2 month old and a 3year old. I went to 2 days a week for awhile and that worked pretty well. Just keep moving, and rest when you can
Thanks for the tip and the solidarity!
My family moved over the weekend and Monday I was feeling totally dead so I postponed
Tues, Aug 25
Mostly fasted training, a glass of milk and coffee
Squats: empty, empty, 95, 135, 165x5x3
Felt heavy, but recovery was faster than normal between sets (waiting for <100 BPM heart rate)
Bench: empty, empty, 95, 130x5x3
Work set 1 felt extremely heavy, probably cut rest short. Set 2 was fine, heavy last rep. Set 3 also fine, hard last rep.
No Power Cleans. I’ll type this until I’m embarrassed enough to get bumper plates or just pull hang cleans.
I’ll see how tomorrow goes but I’m hoping being so early in LP I will be able to train again tomorrow.
Last edited by Archon3D; 08-27-2020 at 12:19 PM. Reason: Correcting date
Yesterday was a dud. I was quite sore and remain somewhat sore today. I had to stop doing the gallon of milk because BMs were like passing pythons made of rocks. Perhaps that’s making recovery harder.
Picking it up today and will try to train Saturday to keep training 3x a week.
Weight up between 173lbs and 175lbs. Height unchanged
Thur, Aug 27
Somewhat sore, not interfering in workout
Squat: empty, empty, 95, 135, 170x5x3
I felt my low back round a little and had to focus on it. Sets felt good, hard last rep on last set as always
Press: empty, empty, 65, 85x5x3
Need to fix my breathing. Luckily I’m still at low weights so some mistakes don’t make me miss reps.
First set felt hard to finish, but sets 2 & 3 were easy. Held breath through all 5 reps of latter two sets and I suspect hip action was better. Practice makes perfect
Deadlift: empty, 135, 195, 235x5x1
Hard. Had to pause for a few seconds between reps 4&5 on work set. Was able to maintain OH grip. Not totally confident low back was in extension after rep 3. I’m sure I’ll feel tomorrow if it wasn’t.
Last edited by Archon3D; 08-27-2020 at 12:18 PM. Reason: Fix incorrectly encoded characters
Following through on training Saturday as a makeup day. Swapped a pint of cottage cheese for the milk and so far so good. I can scarf it at breakfast with berries.
Nothing noteworthy, but no soreness so I suppose my back was alright after all.
Squats: empty, empty, 95, 140, 175x5x3
Last warmup and first work set felt “uneven” on the left side so I’m wondering if I’m having some issue after all. The load is correct but it feels heavier on my left side.
First work set was fine after putting it back in the rack, checking the load and re-starting. Recovered faster than normal (4:00, 80BPM).
Second work set felt fine coming out of the rack but I remained cautious during the set. Felt fine.
Third set went smoothly. Recovered faster than normal again (4:00, 85BPM).
Any back issue may have just been a little kink from the day with kids.
I realized my last warm up on bench wasn’t climbing with my work weight, hence the jump from Tuesday.
Bench: empty, empty, 110, 135x5x3
First work set was hard. I suspect my bench technique needs work.
Second set was also heavy but only last rep slowed considerably. I see this happened last week - will try another warm up set next time.
Third set was hard again, last two reps were slooow and had to take a breath between 4 and 5.
Power Clean: emptyx5x1, 65x5x1, 85x5x1
I don’t feel confident doing these. I’m not explosive at all and I’m not sure I’m doing it right. I did these few sets to try and find a good work weight. Next time I’ll push a little further and be better about rest between sets.
Monday and we are back on track!
I’m wondering if and when I need to change my warm ups to taper. Did anyone else “feel it” when doing 5s for warmups was too fatiguing? I’m waiting until heart rate drops below 100BPM but maybe I need a lower target (my resting heart rate is usually 55BPM). I’m loath to add too many warm up sets because I’m already in my garage for an hour it seems. Any advice here? Just suck it up and do 80 minutes?
Another question for the veteran geniuses here regarding breathing on squats. I do a Valsalva after taking the bar out of the rack, squat 3 reps, breathe out, Valsalva, finish. Is that bad practice? Should I be working towards one breath for the whole set? I know this is premature optimization, but training habits are forming now and I’d like to form them well.
Squats: empty, empty, 95, 145, 180x5x3
Mini milestone - squat has surpassed my body weight. That feels like a little achievement.
Set 1 was rough but I think I psyched myself out a bit. I needed to stop for another breath twice.
Set 2 was better. Felt better out of the rack and only needed one breath between 3&4 which is normal for me. I gave it 6:00 rest just to get my head straight.
Set 3 was also fine. 6:00 rest again, normal breath.
I rewatched the detailed how-to on the press to make sure I wasn’t missing details. I’m glad I did.
Press: empty, empty, 70, 90x5x3
I’m playing with fire here - seems like minimal warm ups because my traps are bugging me a bit. We went for a family bike ride before gym time and I always hunch forward on bike rides. Let’s see what happens...
Set 1 felt heavy coming out of the rack but pressed just dandy.
Set 2 pressed like fresh Play-Doh through the Extrudalizer.
Set 3 felt great.
Deadlift: empty, empty, 135, 200, 245x5x1
Warm ups felt great. I really felt like I was popping 200 off the floor. But now here comes the work set
Good work set. Didn’t have the hiccup as last time, just needed to reset breath between reps. Juuuust started to roll out of double overhand grip on the way down on the fifth rep, but I held on for controlled decent.
Wooo! Ric Flair style; feeling great. I love pressing and deadlifting.
Last edited by Archon3D; 08-31-2020 at 08:27 PM. Reason: Spelling corrections
Hey! I have a few thoughts for you:
1. My kids are 5 and 2. I have to train in the early morning, before anyone else gets up. If I don't get under the bar by 4:15, it's just not going to happen. If I were trying to train in the evenings, an extra whiny bedtime or something would derail it. Crack of dawn is the only way for me to train with consistency, and I think sacrificing a little sleep for consistency is the better answer.
2. I followed the SS Warmups app for every lift with good results. The big exception is the Press - I learned not to warm up too much. When I was doing the full 5-set typical warmup, I was doing so many sets so close to the working weight that it left me fatigued for the work sets. My workouts have been taking 90 minutes or so.
3. You are developing a bad habit with breathing on squats - if I tried to do a work set on one breath, I would pass out. I unrack, set my stance, deep breath, Valsalva, squat, and re-set my breath at the top. I don't think there is any benefit to trying to do multiple reps on one breath. You're just going to limit your ability to work.
4. Eating is a challenge for me too, man. I try to eat a snack of fried eggs and toast before bed and snack on peanut butter crackers at work. I've gained 15 pounds in 14 weeks without needing to cram a lot of extra beef or whatever into the grocery budget.
Good luck! Coming back from the disease must be tough. Take a look at my log or ajlindahl's log to see how the rest of us 30-something dads are training.
Thanks Harpoon! I’ll respond separately to the points therein - for now, capturing workout notes
Wednesday, Sept 2
Starting Friday I’m going to try using the app, though I need to confirm which app it actually is so these warmups are all 5s but hereafter likely won’t be. Is it this one Starting Strength Warmups on the App Store ?
Squats
Warmups (5s): empty, empty, 95, 150
Work: 185x5x3
Hamstrings a bit sore but didn’t bother me for warm ups.
Set 1 wasn’t bad but feeling it a bit in my low back. I psyched myself out again thinking about breathing.
Set 2 went fine. Breathed between reps as Harpoon suggested so I didn’t have to think about it.
Set 3 also went well. Breathed between again. It feels weird not to bang out 3, but I think I like it better to reset my low back.
Trying an app for warm ups since bench has been sucky every time.
Bench
Warmups: 45x5, 45x5, 65x5, 80x3, 115x2
Work: 140x5x2, 140x4x1
Warm ups went fine. Let’s see if work sets feel any better.
Set 1... I dunno, that last rep really didn’t want to go up. I think I’ll pop a question on one of the Q&A fora
Set 2 was about the same. Last rep was a struggle.
Set 3 I failed the 5th rep. Definitely time to ask for help.
I feel totally wiped so I’m calling it. A sad day in Mudville for mighty Casey has struck out.
Last edited by Archon3D; 09-03-2020 at 06:23 AM. Reason: spelling correction
Great! It seemed like it must be as the numbers looked right and... well who would make a fake one?
I used to train that early with a couple of buddies, but these days evenings just work better. I can usually get through a whiny bedtime and lift juuuust before the first late night wake up/nightmare/water request If it becomes an issue I'll reset to early mornings again. I'm lucky in that my sleep has proven quite flexible over the years (and children).1. My kids are 5 and 2. I have to train in the early morning, before anyone else gets up. If I don't get under the bar by 4:15, it's just not going to happen. If I were trying to train in the evenings, an extra whiny bedtime or something would derail it. Crack of dawn is the only way for me to train with consistency, and I think sacrificing a little sleep for consistency is the better answer.
As noted - I'll swap to this starting on Friday. I haven't had any issue doing 5s across for 4ish warmup sets but I'm not special so I'll just use the calculator2. I followed the SS Warmups app for every lift with good results. The big exception is the Press - I learned not to warm up too much. When I was doing the full 5-set typical warmup, I was doing so many sets so close to the working weight that it left me fatigued for the work sets. My workouts have been taking 90 minutes or so.
So this might be a total confabulation, but I thought I remembered the advice being to try to do all sets on 1 breath because you'll set your best Valsalva at the start of the set. Resetting it intraset is not going to be as strong because you're already under load. Again, could be a total confabulation. I had success on this latest set of squats but my lifts aren't that big so maybe it makes no difference yet3. You are developing a bad habit with breathing on squats - if I tried to do a work set on one breath, I would pass out. I unrack, set my stance, deep breath, Valsalva, squat, and re-set my breath at the top. I don't think there is any benefit to trying to do multiple reps on one breath. You're just going to limit your ability to work.
For eating, I'm working on it without breaking the bank. I think my biggest hurdle is that I was doing intermittent fasting as well at first. I came across Leangains in 2011, lost a ton of weight and some of the habits just stuck, like IF. If you can stand it, canned sardines are great but beware fish breath before bed4. Eating is a challenge for me too, man. I try to eat a snack of fried eggs and toast before bed and snack on peanut butter crackers at work. I've gained 15 pounds in 14 weeks without needing to cram a lot of extra beef or whatever into the grocery budget.
Good luck! Coming back from the disease must be tough. Take a look at my log or ajlindahl's log to see how the rest of us 30-something dads are training.
I'll definitely go through yours and Ajlindahl's logs and learn what I can learn TravisRatzloff seems to be in a similar boat also.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts!