Getting started on my first NLP

[niekz]

Friday 08/03 - Missed workout. My mum was admitted to hospital on Thursday morning and I was with her at the hospital till Saturday night late.

Monday 11/03
Squat - 60kg
Bench - 30kg
Deadlift - 92.5kg

Notes:
Rest intervals felt really long today. I need to be more patient. Am currently taking 6 mins between sets since it feels during the set that its really heavy, though by 3 minutes of rest I feel
like I'm just sitting around waiting for paint to dry.

Finally hit my 60kg squat, it feels good, initially I thought I would have to slow down my increments after 60kg on my squat, but it feels like I have more in me, so ill be carrying on with 5kg
for the time being (perhaps end of this week? will see).
Bench still feels light, but at least its still moving. Keeping that increment.
Deadlift, I could feel myself rounding my back today. I went slower, so at least it felt more like consistent pulls, but I need to work on my form a lot.

Good workout, good breakfast, on to Wednesday for my next workout

[niekz]

Random midweek post, but I thought I'd share.

I have already gotten compliments that my posture has improved, and that I carry myself better in day to day conversations with people, and I am only 3 weeks in.
For anyone that has doubt about the quality of life improvements that doing this can bring - I believe you'll find yourself surprised.

On another note - I haven't changed my eating habits in any way other than adding some additional protein on a day to day basis. Eventually once the workouts become
a habit, ill look towards modifying my eating to drop some weight, for the time being, I am enjoying adding more plates with every workout, so I'll keep at it.

I have faced an unfortunate problem.. I keep tearing pants now since my thighs have grown quite considerably from starting the program until now xD

[niekz]

Still going, posting less, since life is getting in the way, and been sick on and off.

I did have one of the scariest experiences in my life yesterday (though from what I hear its not uncommon).

During my squats, heavy set, I went down (what I feel was probably a bit too quick), started going up, and my vision went dark, almost blacked out completely. Scared the shit out of me, just
brings my mind back to being safe during squats and being attentive during sets. I came too fairly quick and was able to push the weight, but I do think it'll make me back off slightly for a session or
two on the weight and get back up to it

[niekz]

Update on the state of my training atm

Between some health issues, landing in hospital, and some other stuff, I had some gaps in my training. I am back at it, currently twice a week,
and I have a friend doing starting strength with me this time around, so that keeps the motivation going a bit better.

Last workout I was at

Squat - 5x20kg (2x for warmups) - 5x70kg (3x working sets)
Overhead press - 5x20kg (2x for warmups) - 5x35kg (3x working sets)
Deadlift - 5x60kg (2x for warmups) - 5x115kg (1x working sets)

Deadlift kicked my butt, managed to pull 4 of the 5 reps, rested a bit and then pulled the last rep.

Thus far my increases have been 5kg per session (for deadlift and squat - half for OHP and bench) since my friend joined (but I did reset back lower than where I left off previously).
I get the feeling I need to start dropping my deadlift increases to 2.5kg and slow down the progress, else ill be failing sets week after week.

Having another person present for cueing my depth on squat has also helped immensely, and he does motivate me to go deeper, which I can tell
has greatly improved my squat overall, which feels fantastic.

All in all, training is going well, hopefully can carry on training together for the foreseeable future

[Alexander Dargatz]

Update on the state of my training atm

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear you're still at it, even though life is throwing curve balls at you. The progress is interesting to read - I know there are weeks in between, but one post you're struggling to deadlift 87.5kg, now you're at 115kg.
Good to have a training partner, too, if he's (at least) as committed as you are.

Are you still deadlifting every training session? Do you have the book?

[niekz]

The progress is interesting to read - I know there are weeks in between, but one post you're struggling to deadlift 87.5kg, now you're at 115kg.

Yeah, I can see the confusion. Perhaps I can break down the workouts since my friend started -

Warmups are all 2x 5x20kg, and 60kg for deadlift

20 May
Squat 3x5 @ 35kg
Bench 3x5 @ 50kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 60kg

27 May
Squat 3x5 @ 40kg
OHP 3x5 @ 27.5kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 70kg

4 June
Squat 3x5 @ 45kg
Bench 3x5 @ 52.5kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 80kg

13 June
Squat 3x5 @ 50kg
OHP 3x5 @ 30kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 87.5kg (this should have been 85, but one side was misloaded - could have been dangerous if this was a heavy squat)

18 June
Squat 3x5 @ 55kg
Bench 3x5 @ 55kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 90kg

20 June
Squat 3x5 @ 60kg
OHP 3x5 @ 32.5kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 95kg

24 June
Squat 3x5 @ 65kg
Bench 3x5 @ 57.5kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 110kg (this should have been 100, but realised after I counted the plates wrong)

27 June
Squat 3x5 @ 70kg
OHP 3x5 @ 35kg
Deadlift 1x5 @ 115kg

So as you can see, the first couple weren't twice a week, but we've been picking up the pace.
As for struggling with deadlift a ways back and being able to hit it now, I can't say its just an increase in strength, I get the feeling it
is a combination of being more brave to push through the lift (i.e. more confidence), as well as just my form improving. Below 80kg
the deadlifts always felt.. awkward? idk how else to put it. So far its been going good. The 110kg day this week did do some damage
unfortunately with something in my back taking a beating, but its been recovering well, and I still managed the 115kg later this week,
so I'm just taking it session by session.

Are you still deadlifting every training session?

Yes - it seems I can still progress a bit on deadlifts before they really stall out, so my intention is to keep at it for as long as I can before
adding any form of modification. P.S. I am still a giant fat guy, and my mobility sucks, so I am terrified of power cleans, and will most likely
have to do some form of rows unless I see a trainer eventually to work on cleans.

Do you have the book?

I have a PDF of the book, yes, though I imagine you're going in the direction of me not following the program to a T (frequency, weight increases etc)

[Maybach]

There really isn't anything to be afraid of with cleans. "Mobility" isn't really a consideration. It's nothing that can't be fixed with a little stretching beforehand.

The best cleans in history have almost all been done by giant fat guys. Being a giant fat guy is not one of the criteria that exempts you from doing them.

[niekz]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll eventually clean whether they terrify me or not. I had the same fear putting the bar on my back for squats and now it's one of my most enjoyed lifts (and my most hated is OHP haha)

[niekz]

Oh, I almost forgot. I got rid of the plates under my heels and now squat in oly shoes. Best decision of my life, feels way more stable

[niekz]

Update - and this might be an odd one again.

I went and re-read the book. 3 reasons.

1 - I like to reread material every so often, chances are you miss stuff the first time through.
2 - I had a feeling that I wasn't following the program as I should have (as pointed out before in this thread, so I wanted more context, and I figured re-reading the book might give me more context before I ask stupid questions)
3 ( and this was the trigger for me ) - I hurt my back for the third time in a row doing heavy deadlifts, so I wanted to give that section specifically a more deep read.

So.. I changed a couple of things. First major thing - warmups are now different. It's not quite what is depicted in the book, but rather from an example I found on this forum (though I don't have the link handy).

Warmups - Bar x 5 (x2), 40% x 5, 60% x 3, 80% x 2
Working sets - whatever the weight is x 5 (for 3 sets, 1 for deadlift)

Second - I dropped the weight down for my deadlifts, and I am working hard on improving my form (as well as taking 2.5kg increments instead of 5kg increments as before. I definitely jumped the gun in terms of time under
the bar, so I think the slower ramp back up will help (I am now at 82.5kg for yesterday's workout, 85kg for thursday's workout).

I had 2 issues with the deadlift thus far.

1 - I don't feel my legs working, ever, during deadlift. It's only ever my back.
2 - I overly round my upper back, especially towards the bottom third of the deadlift.

I noticed 2 things during my warmup last night. First, I struggled keeping my knees on the inside of my arms at the bottom of the deadlift. Second, I tend to have the bar far forward at the bottom (away from the shins). So
as the warmups went on, I tried narrowing my stance, as well as pointing my feet more "forward" instead of out. This seems to have helped with keeping my knees between my elbows at the bottom. I am still working on fixing the
"bar to shins" portion of the lift, but at least I felt leg involvement (not quite as much as I'd like though) during the lift. Definitely needs work.

So, last nights session went as follows (with the newly adjusted warmup routine) - (I took a minimum of 60kg on deadlift since 40% would be below a single plate on each side and idk how id do the movement with less weight at the right height.

Squat 20x5 20x5 30x5 42.5x3 57.5x2 | 72.5x5 72.5x5 72.5x5
Bench 20x5 20x5 25x5 35x3 47.5x2 | 60x5 60x5 60x5
Deadlift 60x5 60x5 60x5 60x3 65x2 | 82.5x5

The "ramping" warmups definitely felt like it added a more smooth transition to the working weights. Didn't feel like as much of a shock as previously going from 20kg on squats to 70kg for working weight was, so I felt more confident going into the working sets.

Any comments would be appreciated (and if there is a specific section I missed about anything in the book, please do point it out, I am trying my best to go back and re-read each section before each workout earlier in the day to pick up on cues).