"People do not lack strength, they lack will"

Naos

The above is a quote from Victor Hugo, to remind me when I feel like quitting.

Quick history: I'm 5' 10", 83kg and do JiuJitsu & Judo(currently on a break from this due to work).

I've got some great advice from people and the threads here and received some particularly brilliant guidance from Hanley.

My goal is simple, stoping being lazy, lose fat and gain muscle. I'm starting this off by dumping my old gym routine and cleaning up my diet. This thread will serve as a reminder for me, from where I have come from and where I want to go.

Today was the first day of my Starting Strength programme and this is how it went:

Sets x reps x weight

Squats
1 x 4 x 85kg & 1 x 80kg (My quads nearly gave out at 85, having never done squats).
2 x 5 x 85 kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 80kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 60kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 10 kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 12 x 12.5kg

Weighted Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 10kg

Diet
10:00 - Beans and brown toast
13:00 - 30g Whey + Lucozade sport (After Gym)
13:45 - Broc, carrots, Cauli + chicken.
17:00 - Smoothie and nuts (Am changing smoothie from tomor to whole fruits).
20:00 - Wrap: Chicken, Turkey, Tomato

Malteaser!

Hey, good work on starting the journal!

And well done with the squats too, especially as it was your first time doing them!

(oh and btw, I had you sussed weeks ago!! )

Naos

Hiya Malt, you're a smart lass so I had figured you would

Thanks, this will be the best way to motivate myself and keep track of how I'm doing. I'm not able to edit first post, but theres a mistake in those squats, my second and third set were at 80kg. Can't lie to myself

Squats
3 x 5 x 80kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 40kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 45kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 10kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 15kg

Diet
10:30 - Porridge with Milk & Sesame Seeds, Poached Egg
13:00 - Lucozade Sport 500ml, 25g Whey with Milk
13:40 - Chicken Breast, Pitta bread, Tomatos, Pepper, lettuce
17:00 - Apple, Pear & Nuts
20:00 - Sandwich: Multigrain bread, chicken, turkey, tomato, cucumber & onions

Naos

Yesterdays session:

Squats
3 x 5 x 80kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 80kg

Dead Lift
1 x 5 x 60kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 10kg

Bicep Curls
1 x 10 x 12.5kg
3 x 8 x 15kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 10kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

Diet has been good, pretty much same as posted before. However, Friday night had few beers and the weekends diet is in ruins, "Paddys Weekend" excuse, start up again come monday

rubadub

How did you decide on what weights to use? Are they the max you can lift for those reps? some just seem a bit odd, e.g. you are benching 80kg for 3 sets of 5reps, yet only deadlifting 60kg for 1 set of 5reps. Looking at your other work I would have thought you would be ~100kg on the deadlift. And most people use huge weight for shrugs, though if it was just the first time it is important to get your form right.

Naos

Of the above exercises, the only ones I've ever done were Bench Press, Squat (about 5 times) and bicep curls, so I'm trying to get my form right for the others.

As for deciding on the weight, I start off each lift with an empty bar and do 5 reps, increasing the weight each set, before I get to my real sets. So the weights I'm doing are the max I can do for 5 reps per set whilst keeping a very close eye on my form, no clue what my 1RM is.

Would it be wise to get a weights belt then if I'm going to be increasing on the deadlift?

I'm definitly going to up the weight a lot on the shrugs, and increase everything every week.

Naos

Squats
3 x 5 x 85kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 45kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 50kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 27.5kg

Naos

Squats
3 x 5 x 85kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Dead Lift
3 x 5 x 70kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 12.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Hyper Extension
2 x 10 x 10kg
Few more different ones, had an instructor showing me thing or two.

Naos

Yesterdays session:

Squats
3 x 5 x 85kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Dead Lift
3 x 5 x 70kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 12.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

Diet is going well, I'm just trying to get rid of those damn easter eggs.

Naos

Yesterdays session:

Squats
3 x 5 x 85kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Dead Lift
3 x 5 x 70kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 12.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

I've had a rubbish 2 weeks for training/diet.

I got a new role in work and got my shift swapped (:D) from a 14:30 - 23:00 to a 09:00 - 17:30, which messed up my diet/training routines a bit.

Coupled with this i've been sick the past week, finally got over the worst of it on Wed so got back into training yesterday.

Naos

Yesterdays Session:

Squats
3 x 5 x 85kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Dead Lift
1 x 5 x 80kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 12.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

I'm pretty much starting from Week A again due to the messiness of the last couple of weeks

Malteaser!

I was wondering what had happened to ya, hope you feeling better now anyway!!

Once you get back into a routine again, you''ll be sorted!!

Naos

Gah!

Felt a twinge in my left shoulder as I left the gym 09.04.08. Woke up the next day it was hurting me a lot. I've gotten pains like this in Jiujitsu/Judo before so am used to them and always found that resting them was the best way, for me, forward towards repair. So I stopped Gym & Jiujitsu, kept playing rugby for cardio with wee bro though.

Yesterdays Session:

Squats
3 x 5 x 80kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 80kg

Dead Lift
3 x 5 x 70kg

Weighted Dips
3 x 8 x 12.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Today:

Swam for 40mins at 75% without break. Felt like an anchor considering I had done weights 14 hours previously. Used to be able to swim a lot more, going to build this back up.

Naos

Thursday:

Squats
3 x 5 x 80kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 50kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 50kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 12.5kg

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 30kg

I think thats the weight I did on Military Press, will be doing Workout B tomorrow, so will edit if needs be.

Sunday:

Squats
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 80kg

Dead Lift
1 x 5 x 90kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 15kg

Bicep Curls
2 x 8 x 17.5kg
1 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 12 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 15kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg

Naos

Tuesday:

Squats
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 50kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 50kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 15kg

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 30kg

Naos

Thursday:

Squats
3 x 5 x 82.5kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 80kg

Dead Lift
1 x 5 x 100kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 15kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 12 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 17.5kg

Naos

Yesterday

Squats
3 x 5 x 90kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 100kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 17.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 10 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 17.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg
3 x 10 : sides

Naos

Yesterday:

Squats
3 x 5 x 90kg

Standing Military Press
2 x 5 x 55kg
1 x 5 x 50kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 55kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 17.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg (Both sides and front)

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 30kg

Fatloss08

well done keep it up

just a quickie , im thinking of doing same gym routine

u notice much weight loss ?

Naos

Thanks, feedback is nice

To be honest, I've not been doing it regularly enough with a clean diet to say. However, I've noticed I am toning up and getting a bit bigger. Lifts are getting a lot better. Before this programme, I'd hovered on benching around 75kg for months and months. Now I'm at 85kg for 3 x 5.

Overall, I've noticed improvements, particularly in the triceps.

I started this week doing it properly so I'll let you know in six weeks time

Monday

15/20 min jog - Totally wrecked, need to improve cardio big time
JiuJitsu

Tuesday

Squats
3 x 5 x 90kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 100kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 7 x 15kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 15kg
1 x 12 x 12.5kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 17.5kg

Hyper Extension
3 x 10 x 10kg (Sides & Front)

Today

15/20 min jog - Again, cardio is embrarrassing.

Naos

Today

Squats
3 x 5 x 90kg

Standing Military Press
1 x 5 x 55kg
2 x 5 x 50kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 55kg

Chin ups
3 x 8

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 20kg

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 30kg

Note to Fatloss08: Just to let you know, when I'm doing the following exercises: Squat, Deadlift, Benchpress, Military Press and Barbell Row - I work from an empty bar and load the weight up one set at a time until I reach my sets.

Example (The loading up can vary):

Benchpress
1 x 5 x Empty Bar(20kg)
1 x 5 x 40kg (Includes Bar)
1 x 5 x 60kg
3 x 5 x 85kg

Naos

Squats
3 x 5 x 95kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 110kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 17.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 17.5kg

Heading to the gym in the morning now, figure I'll have to get up earlier as hadn't time to do incline abs & hypers(Could've done the abs, but someone decided to use up two benches at a time and wouldn't let me jump in between sets when they weren't using a bench)

Will be hitting JiuJitsu tonight as well - will be sore tomorrow...

Naos

Squats
3 x 5 x 95kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 55kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 55kg

Chin ups
2 x 8
1 x 8 (After Shrugs & Situps)

Shoulder Shrugs
3 x 8 x 30kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 20kg

Naos

Friday

Squats
3 x 5 x 90kg

Bench Press
3 x 5 x 85kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 110kg

Weighted Dips
2 x 8 x 17.5kg

Bicep Curls
3 x 8 x 17.5kg

Ab Inclines
3 x 10 x 20kg

Today

Squats
3 x 5 x 95kg

Standing Military Press
3 x 5 x 55kg

Barbell row
1 x 5 x 50kg
2 x 5 x 55kg

Chin ups
1 x 5 (Pull ups)
2 x 8

Shoulder Shrugs
1 x 8 x 70kg
2 x 8 x 80kg

Incline Abs
3 x 10 x 20kg