The truth!

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout A

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x5
Work - 85x5x5

Bench
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 50x4, 60x2
Work - 70x5, x4x2, x2, x4

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x6, 80x3
Work - 100x5, x4x3, x5

Chin-Ups
x8, x7x2, x5x2


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Pretty happy with my deadlift today - first time trying 100Kgs and got 5 reps, then 3 sets of 4, then 5 to finish! The limiting factor was the grip - my hands were a little sweaty and the bar was just slipping on the last one.

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout B

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x5
Work - 85x3x3

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6
Work - 37.55x5x5, 20x10

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6, 40x6
Work - 45x5x5

Abs workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins


Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout A

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x4
Work - 85x5x5

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x6, 80x4
Work - 100x5x5
Back Off - 60x6

Bench
Warmup - 20x10, 40x6, 50x3, 60x2
Work - 70x5x2, 70x4, 70x3, 70x2
Back Off - 20x20


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Sunday 1st June

Workout B

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x4
Work - 85x3x3

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6
Work - 37.5x5x4, 37.5x2, 20x10

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6, 40x6
Work - 50x5x2, 50x4, 50x5x2

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout A

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x4, 80x2
Work - 90x5x5

Bench
Warmup - 20x10, 40x6, 50x3, 60x2
Work - 70x4x2, x3, x2x2
Back Off - 50x10

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x6, 80x4
Work - 100x5x5


Cycle home from work 20 mins


Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout B

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x3, 80x2
Work - 90x5x5

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x8
Work - 37.5x5x5
Back Off - 20x12

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6
Work - 50x5x5

Abs workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

brianon

Cool log.

I see you moved over to a Starting Strength routine. Did you get the book or just got the workouts from the web ?

joker77

Cheers man - always nice to get a bit of positive feedback!

I bought the book a couple of months ago - do you have it?

Have to say it's great - I was very nervous doing deadlifts before I read the book, but the level of detail it goes into on how to perform the lift properly is excellent - it's my favourite lift now! Of course I'm sure my technique isn't all it should be, but hopefully I'm not making any mistakes that are going to cause injury!

Plus I had to completely change the way I was doing the Press.

I'd never done the Power Clean before, the first couple of times doing it I thought I'd never get it, but I think I'm slowly getting there. I'm going to give it another month or 2 so I can properly get to grips with the lifts, then I'm either going to try get some coaching, or else post up some videos to get some critique of my form.

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags


Cycle home from work 20 mins

brianon

joker77 wrote: »

Cheers man - always nice to get a bit of positive feedback!

I bought the book a couple of months ago - do you have it?

Have to say it's great - I was very nervous doing deadlifts before I read the book, but the level of detail it goes into on how to perform the lift properly is excellent - it's my favourite lift now! Of course I'm sure my technique isn't all it should be, but hopefully I'm not making any mistakes that are going to cause injury!

Plus I had to completely change the way I was doing the Press.

I'd never done the Power Clean before, the first couple of times doing it I thought I'd never get it, but I think I'm slowly getting there. I'm going to give it another month or 2 so I can properly get to grips with the lifts, then I'm either going to try get some coaching, or else post up some videos to get some critique of my form.

Mark Rippetoe has a Q&A forum ands he always gives good responses and will critique vids of lifts for ya
http://www.strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36

joker77

Nice one for the heads up on that brianon, I'll post it up to that site as well

joker77

Workout A

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x4, 80x3
Work - 90x5x5

Bench
Warmup - 20x10, 40x5, 50x3, 60x2
Work - 70x5, x4, x3x3
Back Off - 40x15

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x5, 80x4
Work - 105x5x5

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout B

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 70x4
Work - 92.5x5x5

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x8
Work - 37.5x5x4, 37.5x2
Back Off - 20x12

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 40x5
Work - 50x5x5

Abs workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

brianon

Joker. Is there a reason you are going with 5x5 rather than 3x5 (as Rippetoe recommends) ?

And he recommends 5x3 for P/Clean

joker77

I haven't finished the book - I read the part on programming before I worked out my new regime, but I thought that 5x5 was recommended?

joker77

Last night

Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Decided to see what my 1RM is on the Deadlift:

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x5, 80x4
Work - 100x2, 110x1, 120x1, 130x1, 140x1, 145 (FAIL), 145x1
100x3x3

Seated DB Curls
10x10, 12.5x10x2, x6


Cycle home from work 20 mins

pvt.joker

Hey joker. I've being following your log and have a couple of questions if thats ok?

I see you're using a starting strength program. Is your goal to gain strength and mass (which seems to me what rippetoe is aiming to teach) or to gain lean mass and muscle?

If it is the former, then are you eating to gain bulk ?

Just interested, as I'm aiming to build lean muscle mass not bulk ( I play football) , and wondering where starting strength fits into that.

Thanks for your time and good luck

joker77

Hey joker - thanks for stopping by!

My aim is to gain functional strength alright, but not necessarily bulk. I'm not aiming to be able to power-lift 3x my bodyweight (although I would like to hit 2x, still a long way off!).

I've been training on and off in gyms for a few years, admittedly a lot of that has been cardio type stuff - punchbags/skipping - boxing type stuff, but over the last couple of years I was trying to focus more on becoming stronger, hence I got more into weight-lifting. I was playing football regularly, and wanted the strength to add to my game. I'm now 30, so my serious football days are kind of behind me I think, but back to the subject.

I was reading a bit on how to gain functional strength, and compound lifts seemed to be the way to go, rather than a lot of isolated stuff which I was doing and to be honest not seeing a whole lot of results with. So I came across the Starting Strength program and decided to give it a go - I'd been doing Squats / Deadlifts once a week anyway but thought I needed to go back to the start and learn the lifts properly. Like most people I'd say - I never got coached on how to perform compound type lifts properly, and you'll know if you've read the book that the level of detail that he goes into on each lift is great, especially for a beginner like myself.

I'm eating a little more than before, but not a huge amount more, because I don't care what anyone on the fitness forum says I don't think it's healthy for your body to drastically pile on weight over a short period of time in order to bulk up and build muscle. So I suppose I fall into the 2nd category there - I'd like to build lean muscle mass. This requires a bit more patience, as it's harder to do.

Anyway, back to watching football here - 1 all in the Czech Vs Portugal game. Hope I've answered your questions - I'm still a beginner so I mightn't be the best person to be asking for advice!

Malteaser!

joker77 wrote: »

Hey joker - thanks for stopping by!

My aim is to gain functional strength alright, but not necessarily bulk. I'm not aiming to be able to power-lift 3x my bodyweight (although I would like to hit 2x, still a long way off!).

How does one powerlift 3x bw?? Like what lift are you talking about??

joker77

Oops - that may have been a mistaken exaggeration on my part. I thought that Elite powerlifters would be above 3x their bodyweight for the deadlift.

Malteaser!

No no, I was just asking what lift you were talking about. The term powerlifting doesn't refer to any one lift, it refers to the sport as a whole so I presumed you meant you wanted a 3x bw deadlift or squat or bench or else a 3x bw total thats to say when you combine your three lifts together you get 3x bw.

joker77

Sorry, bit of confusion, I'm not too up on powerlifting to be honest, but yea I did mean 3x bodyweight for a single lift.

After rereading my original post (the reply to pvt.joker), it was probably a bad example for what I was trying to get across. He asked:

Is your goal to gain strength and mass (which seems to me what rippetoe is aiming to teach) or to gain lean mass and muscle?

I was trying to explain that my goal was somewhere between the two. I want to build functional strength, but with lean muscle mass rather than 'bulking up'.

Malteaser!

joker77 wrote: »

Sorry, bit of confusion, I'm not too up on powerlifting to be honest, but yea I did mean 3x bodyweight for a single lift.

After rereading my original post (the reply to pvt.joker), it was probably a bad example for what I was trying to get across. He asked:
I was trying to explain that my goal was somewhere between the two. I want to build functional strength, but with lean muscle mass rather than 'bulking up'.

haha, that's cool! I was just wondering!!

A 3xbw deadlift would be awesome btw!!

joker77

Yea I kind of now realise it was a bit of a ridiculous example to use, I mean bulking up doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be able to perform a lift like that, and I realise you'd have to put in a serious amount of training to be able to do it. It's something I'm never going to have to worry about anyway, can't see myself getting anywhere near that - I weigh 82Kgs and my 1RM is currently 145Kgs!

Malteaser!

nooooooo, you totally don't get what I was saying. I was talking only about the term 'powerlift', I just wanted to know what lift you were talking about!!

No such thing as a rediculous example, if that's what you want to do then you go for it, you don't need to explain it to anyone. I genuinely was only wondering whether you wanted to squat/deadlift or bench that much!!

joker77

Cheers for the encouragement!

I understand now what you mean, in that powerlifting is a sport - I meant for each individual lift.

3x my bodyweight is not really on my radar at all though.

Malteaser!

Tbh, when I started lifting I thought that a double bw deadlift was a million miles away, now I'm only a few weeks away from making it a reality, similarly, with my squat...I could barely imagine myself squatting bw, now I can do 5kg over it to the floor!!

I really do believe that if somebody wants something bad enough then they can do it, they just need to be prepared to put in the hours! I know it sounds really cheesy but I really believe it!

Don't write yourself off by saying you'll never be able to do it, just put it in the long-term goal box!!

joker77

Malteaser! wrote: »

Don't write yourself off by saying you'll never be able to do it, just put it in the long-term goal box!!

ha ha - I like it, ok you win - it goes in my long-term goal box!

btw congratulations on what you've achieved - keep up the good work!

Malteaser!

joker77 wrote: »

ha ha - I like it, ok you win - it goes in my long-term goal box!

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout B

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 60x4
Work - 92.5x4, x3x2 (all I could manage, effects of yesterdays DL 1RM prob)

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6
Work - 37.5x4 (Left shoulder is just not right. Will rest it over the weekend and if no improvement I'll see the physio)

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 40x6, 50x5
Work - 55x5x5

Chins
x8x3, x6x2

Abs workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout A

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 50x5, 80x2
Work - 92.5x5x4

Bench
Warmup - 20x10, 40x5, 50x2
Work - 60x6x3 (left shoulder still sore)

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x5, 90x3
Work - 110x5x4

Abs Workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

Transform

Put in some rotator cuff work into every session you do and some seated rows instead of chins on one of the days so you can sort the left shoulder out.

Also stretch the chest lots and do dumbbell bench press in a parallel grip (elbows will go in to ribs a bit) not normal elbows out position.

joker77

Thanks, I've been doing a little rotator cuff stuff, but I think I probably need to do more. I might rest the bench now for a couple of weeks and as you say, do those kind of exercises every session.

joker77

I came across this before - I'm going to start using these kind of exercises - have you any opinion?

Transform

Yes those are exactly what you should have in each program

Do one or two rotator exercises at the start of any weights session and include parallel bar dips into the program as a replacement for any type of bench press in every other session. Your bench will improve as will shoulder problems

joker77

Again thanks for the tips.

Are you saying do parallel bar dips instead of bench on every other sessions - just till the shoulder improves?

Transform

Yes as they can be kinder to the shoulders and will encourage you to keep the elbows pulled in to the sides.

Barbell benching is quite over rated for chest imo and i find leads to more shoulder problems when its the only chest exercise done. Now close grip bench press is much better

joker77

Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags / ab workout

Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 40x5, 50x3
Work - 55x3x2, 50x5x5

Dips
x8, x10, x8x2, x6

L-Lateral Raise
2.5x8x8

Side Raise
2.5x10, x12x2

Chins
x10, x8, x5, x6x2


Abs Workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

Decided to leave the Squats - feeling a little bit of DOMS today from the Squats / Deadlift on Monday and then Football last night. Plus I got a couple of knocks playing football so legs were just too drained today. Also going to rest the Bench / Press completely for a couple of weeks, and try to do those shoulder exercises to see if the rotator cuff improves. While doing the L-Lateral Raises though I noticed that my left shoulder doesn't really move the same way as my right. I think something is a little amiss with it, it's time to go see the physio.

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags


Cycle home from work 20 mins


Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Yesterday:
Cycle to/from work 20 mins


Today: Gym
1 hour cardio + stretching - skipping / punch bags

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Workout B

Power Clean
Warmup - 20x8, 40x5
Work - 50x5x5

Squat
Warmup - 20x8, 40x5, 60x4
Work - 90x2, 80x2

Press
Warmup - 20x8, 30x6
Work - 35x4


Abs workout


Cycle home from work 20 mins

joker77

Cycle into work 20 mins


Cycle home from work 20 mins


Football - 1 hour evening astro game

joker77

Couldn't face the cycle into work today - the DOMS in my quads are fairly bad after the Squats on Monday then playing football on them yesterday. Drove into work instead.

Went round to the gym there, looked in my bag and I'd left half my gear behind. That's probably only the 2nd time it's happened to me in all my years training. Took it as a sign though, the DOMS being what they were, and just left it.

I feel a good bit better today physically though than I have in a couple of weeks, ok the DOMS are there but it's a good feeling in a way. I'm getting back into the routine after a fortnight's lapse, which feels good.

joker77

Workout A

(although left Squats because of DOMS and substituted Dips for Bench on account of shoulder)

Deadlift
Warmup - 20x8, 50x5, 90x5
Work - 110x5x4

Dips
x10x2, x8, x6, x8

Side Lateral Raise
2.5x12x5