Starting strength and all that...

Arctic89

Decided to start up this log to see what information I can pick up from the knowledgable boardsies here. Also started one on bb.com. Anyway, my background, basically I'm a hurler in a "weaker" county who wants to take it a bit more seriously and gain some strength and weight which would be beneficial, also looking to generally reduce bf % and look and feel better.

I've been doing starting strength since the end the last season, around October/November, however my form was pretty poor and I definitely wasnt eating enough or drinking the required milk. Over Christmas I wasnt able to stick to SS religiously either so I went back at it full throttle, proper form, food and loads of milk in mid january. I deloaded on nearly all my lifts then and I've noticed good increases since.

My diet has been fairly inconsistent of late, too-many take-aways, drinking coke, eating junk, getting dragged out to restaurants by family etc. Its noone's fault but my own so really trying to clean that up at the moment.

Short term goals: Increase bodyweight without increasing bf% too much. Increase strength.

Long term goals: Increase strength. Lower BF% Within 3 years complete a marathon and triathlon.
BW Bench for 3x5, 1.3 BW Squat for 3x5, 1.6 BW deadlift for 3x5 within the next year.

Im currently bulking, planning on doing so until the end of March/start of April. Then I'm planning a serious cut, maybe ketosis or something similar, basically to drop a lot of fat before the serious hurling begins.

Offseason, I do a good bit of cardio, generally two long distance runs a week and one HIIT session if I can get it in with college and what not. Once we're into the hurling season though I'll be training twice a week and generally a match aswell so I just try get my 3 gym sessions in on top of that and one HIIT or long distance run aswell.

My first entry: Sunday, 8th February 2009

Been busy with hurling training and matches all week so hadnt been to the gym since last Monday. Last night, saturday, was my first time drinking in 2 weeks, probably a record for me. Anyway, I went to the gym to continue starting strength.

Squat:

1x5 : 20kg

1x5 : 30kg

1x5 : 40kg

1x5 : 50kg

3x5 : 65kg

Standing Overhead Press

1x5: 20 kg

1x4: 30kg

1x3: 30kg

1x3 : 30kg

Power Clean

3x5 : 40kg

Pull ups:

1x1

1x1

1x1

Felt really bad in the gym today, probably due to the drinking last night, 2 more weeks no drinking (possibly longer) starting today.
My squat form on the last 2 reps in on the third set was pretty dismal, knees almost caving in on me. Standing press I did better than I thought I would as that was my first time with 30kg, which is still pretty poor I know but I'm going to give it time, form felt good on all of them. The power clean has been a big problem for me, I know my form is awful and I need to try to get someone to take a look a it, today is the first time I've even included it in my workout in at least 6 weeks.

Anyway, busy week ahead, have HIIT training pencilled in tomorrow (there's the possibiltiy of a soccer match, which if i have to play I'll leave out the HIIT), gym on tuesday and thursday, hurling sessions on wednesday on friday and possibly a match on saturday, I'll probably take sunday off then to recover a bit.Hopefully a hell of a lot of food in between. I'll post more when I think of what to say. Hopefully get some pics too. All critiques and comments more than welcome. :-)

celestial

Arctic89 wrote: »

Decided to start up this log to see what information I can pick up from the knowledgable boardsies here. Also started one on bb.com. Anyway, my background, basically I'm a hurler in a "weaker" county who wants to take it a bit more seriously and gain some strength and weight which would be beneficial, also looking to generally reduce bf % and look and feel better.

I've been doing starting strength since the end the last season, around October/November, however my form was pretty poor and I definitely wasnt eating enough or drinking the required milk. Over Christmas I wasnt able to stick to SS religiously either so I went back at it full throttle, proper form, food and loads of milk in mid january. I deloaded on nearly all my lifts then and I've noticed good increases since.

My diet has been fairly inconsistent of late, too-many take-aways, drinking coke, eating junk, getting dragged out to restaurants by family etc. Its noone's fault but my own so really trying to clean that up at the moment.

Short term goals: Increase bodyweight without increasing bf% too much. Increase strength.

Long term goals: Increase strength. Lower BF% Within 3 years complete a marathon and triathlon.
BW Bench for 3x5, 1.3 BW Squat for 3x5, 1.6 BW deadlift for 3x5 within the next year.

Im currently bulking, planning on doing so until the end of March/start of April. Then I'm planning a serious cut, maybe ketosis or something similar, basically to drop a lot of fat before the serious hurling begins.

Offseason, I do a good bit of cardio, generally two long distance runs a week and one HIIT session if I can get it in with college and what not. Once we're into the hurling season though I'll be training twice a week and generally a match aswell so I just try get my 3 gym sessions in on top of that and one HIIT or long distance run aswell.

My first entry: Sunday, 8th February 2009

Been busy with hurling training and matches all week so hadnt been to the gym since last Monday. Last night, saturday, was my first time drinking in 2 weeks, probably a record for me. Anyway, I went to the gym to continue starting strength.

Squat:

1x5 : 20kg

1x5 : 30kg

1x5 : 40kg

1x5 : 50kg

3x5 : 65kg

Standing Overhead Press

1x5: 20 kg

1x4: 30kg

1x3: 30kg

1x3 : 30kg

Power Clean

3x5 : 40kg

Pull ups:

1x1

1x1

1x1

Felt really bad in the gym today, probably due to the drinking last night, 2 more weeks no drinking (possibly longer) starting today.
My squat form on the last 2 reps in on the third set was pretty dismal, knees almost caving in on me. Standing press I did better than I thought I would as that was my first time with 30kg, which is still pretty poor I know but I'm going to give it time, form felt good on all of them. The power clean has been a big problem for me, I know my form is awful and I need to try to get someone to take a look a it, today is the first time I've even included it in my workout in at least 6 weeks.

Anyway, busy week ahead, have HIIT training pencilled in tomorrow (there's the possibiltiy of a soccer match, which if i have to play I'll leave out the HIIT), gym on tuesday and thursday, hurling sessions on wednesday on friday and possibly a match on saturday, I'll probably take sunday off then to recover a bit.Hopefully a hell of a lot of food in between. I'll post more when I think of what to say. Hopefully get some pics too. All critiques and comments more than welcome. :-)

What is your height/weight/bodyfat % ...?

Arctic89

Should really have mentioned that from the beginning

I'm about 5'11''.
Weighed myself this morning and came in at 11 stone even, though I got a new scales yesterday and on the old ones I had been weighing in around 11 stone 3 or 4 pounds.
As for bodyfat, I got a new scales yesterday which claims to measure bodyfat, this morning it said 18%, but I'm not sure exactly how accurate that is, thugh I cant imagine it being more than 2 or 3% off either way.

Arctic89

Tuesday 10th February: Gym Session

Squats:

1x5x30kg

3x5x62.5kg

Bench

1x5x20kg

1x4x40kg

2x3x40kg

Deadlift

3x5x82.5kg

I usually do dips with this workout but there were no dip stations available and I was in a rush home.

Just as an explanation as to why I there was no warm-ups today in some lifts and why some lifts are smaller than what I can usually do. When I'm in the gym during the week, I use the UCD gym, where I'm in college. It can be extremely hard to find the correct plates at times so (literally could be waiting hours) I just try and get as close as I can witht he plates that are available and sometimes this means sacrificing warm-up sets and sometimes de-loading on some of my lifts. My gym at home (Westgate in Drogheda, cant recommend it highly enough - an excellent gym) always has loads of plates at every weight available so I usually try and get two sessions in at the weekend when I'm home and can warm up properly on each lift and lift to y proper potential.

Anyway, club hurling training tonight, more gym work on Thursday.

Arctic89

Wednesday 11th February

Club hurling training

Warm up with stretches

10x20m sprints with 30 second rest in between each set

3x40m sprints with 1 min rest in between

Various drills for twenty minutes

Warm down

Total - 1 Hour

Thursday 12th February

Gym Session

Squat:

1x5x20kg
1x5x50kg
3x5x65kg

Shoulder Press:

1x5x20kg
1x4x30kg
2x3x30kg

Power Clean:

3x5x42.5kg

On the presses, my back was very sore, probably a combination of training the night before and DOMS from Tuesdays deadlifts. Reckon I had one or two more in me if i was fresher. The power clean was a bit improved, my catch was better but still needs a lot of work.

Friday 13th February

County Training

Warm up and stretches

1 and a half hours of various drills

15 minute practice game

Warm down

Total time 1 hour 45 mins

Saturday 14th February

Challenge match for County U-21s

1 hour, heavy workload.

Back to the gym tomorrow then.

Arctic89

Monday 16th February

Gym Session

Squat:

1x5x20kg
1x5x30kg
1x5x40kg
1x5x50kg
3x5x65kg

Bench

1x5x20kg
1x5x30kg
1x5x37.5kg
1x4x37.5kg
1x5x37.5kg

Deadlift

1x5x60kg
1x5x70kg
3x5x87.5kg

Overall I was happy enough with this workout, given that I had had a fairly busy week the week before and was still sore from Saturdays's game. I reckon I could have had the 3x5x37.5kg on the bench but I didnt wait long enough between the first and second set so only pushed out 4.
The last 1 or 2 of each set of the squats were pretty hard, wont be adding any weight there for the next time. Deadlifts felt really good, can definitely add weight to them next time.

Tuesday 17th February
Rest

Game Wednesday so taking today off to be 100% for it

Wednesday 18th February
Club game (Challenge match)

Played midfield for the full 60 mins, was lacking in energy, much more tired than usual.

I'm considering scaling back the weight days to 2 a week and throwing in a long distance run to get a bit of fitness back. Im also considering starting my cut earlier than planned, either this week or next week, just to get cardio fitness back up for playing competitive matched which start in 2 or 3 weeks.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on this, I'd be happy to hear them.

Arctic89

Thursday 19th February

Gym Session

Squats:

1x5x20kg
1x5x50kg
1x5x65kg

Shoulder Press:

1x5x20kg
3x5x30kg

Power Clean

1x5x45kg

Squats were good, I'll give 65 one more go before I move up in weight though. Have kind of gotten scared to move up too much in weigh lately in case I fail a rep as I dont have a spotter with me and have a bad feeling of breaking my neck.
Delighted with the shoulder press, first time I've successfully done 30kg for 3x5 since i started SS. I'll move to 32.5 next time.
Power clean catch was still poor enough, I'll keep working on it, had to have 2 goes at my final rep, final set but got it in the end.

Following on from yesterday,I'm considering following the Precision Nutrition programme (well what I can pick up for free) starting next week or the week after, and adding in more cardio to hopefully get below 10% bf by the summer.

DM-BM

You might find the squats easier, if your warm up sets weren't all for 5 reps, the way i did it was:

Bar (20kg) x 5
40%x5
60%x3
80%x2
Work sets x3x5

The percentages are of your work sets.

Also, you migh find 2.5kg too much of a jump on the press, if it took a while to get 3x5, you may be better off going up in smaller increments, time will tell.

Arctic89

Thanks DM-BM, i'll give that warm up for squats a go next time I'm in the gym, which should be tomorrow.
I know I should be using 1kg increments for the Shoulder Press but 1.25kg is the smallest oly weight disc in either of the gyms i train in, so 2.5kg is the minimum i can increase the lifts by each time. I'm fairly busy with college and training at the moment so I wont be able to make my own .5kg weight bags.I'll try them over the college midterm, which is coming up in two weeks time. Presume all I'll need for them are sand, a digital scales and some little bags and twine to tie them to the bar with.

Friday 20th February
Run

5 miles (exactly, have miled one lap before and it came out as 1.00 mile, so 5x1 mile laps)

Time taken : 37.55
Average Heart Rate : 175
Max Heart Rate : 185

Definitely feel I can up my time on that run over the next few weeks, should slash a few minutes off it before April. I probably would have been able for more today but didnt go flat out as it's my first day doing a longish run in about a month.

Arctic89

Sunday 22nd Februrary

County Under 21s Challenge Game

Full forward for an hour, not as good a run out as usual, should really have went for an extra run this evening but there was good hurling matches on the telly.

Arctic89

Monday 23rd February

Afternoon

5 a side football

Wasnt exactly a great pace, and wasnt going at 100% either, still a decent run out though.

Evening

Gym Session

Squats:

1x5x20kg
1x4x30kg
1x3x40kg
1x2x55kg
3x5x65kg

Bench Press

1x5x20kg
1x5x30kg
3x5x37.5kg

Deadlift

1x5x60kg
1x5x70kg
3x5x90kg

Really happy with that workout, going to add weight to all lifts the next time. I reckon I'm able for a lot more on the DL but I'm finding it hard to lock the lift at the top because the callouses on my hand are about to tear. Might buy some liquid chalk for next time.

Took Tuesday as a rest day but I'll be flat out everyday until next Tuesday.

Wednesday 25th

Afternoon

Free Taking Practice

Absolutely dismal, was scoring less than 50% with the wind at my back, which i'm going to put down to erratic shot preparation and not having practiced much in the last 6 weeks. Also the fact that I was on a synthetic pitch, where i always struggle with my pick-up. Have a fair bit to do in the next few weeks to get up to about 80% score rate by mid March.

Heading to the gym in the next hour.

Arctic89

Wednesday 25th February
Evening

Gym Session

Squats:

1x5x20kg
3x5x67.5kg

Shoulder Press:

1x5x20kg
1x4x32.5kg
2x3x32.5kg

Was in a rush to go to a friends birthday party so didnt get a chance for powercleans, as I would have been waiting the best part of 30 mins for an area to do them and I hadnt got that amount of time.
The increase in the squat weight didnt feel as bad as I thought, though I'm starting to feel the weights in UCD gym dont weigh the correct amount, as it always feels harder in my gym in Drogheda, where the plates are new and all the rubber is still on them.
As for the press, I was hoping to get 4 reps on each of the three working sets, but only managed 3 on the last 2, should see an increase by next time i press, which should be Monday.

Arctic89

Thursday 26th February

Running Session

3 sets of 10x20 metre sprints, with about 10 secs rest in between in each sprint and 2-3 mins of jogging in between each set.

5x40 metre sprints with about 20 seconds rest between each sprint.

4 laps of UCD pitches complex, probably a little bit short of 4 miles.

Time: 29:57
Average HR: 167
Max HR: 178

Friday 27th February

Gym Session

Squats:

1x5x20kg
1x4x30kg
1x3x40kg
1x2x55kg
3x5x67.5kg

Bench:

1x5x20kg
1x5x30kg
3x3x40kg

Left out Deadlifts because I've a match today and always find it hard to sprint the day after Deadlifts. Last squats in each set were tough, the bench, as I was moving up in weight, is as I expected.

Arctic89

Saturday 28th February

Rest

Was supposed to have a game with the county U-21s today, but it got called off because of some player burnout issue:mad: So i decided to watch the rugger instead.

Sunday 1st March

Run

5 miles

Time: 36:28

Average HR: 175
Max Hr: 183

Also threw in about 30 mins free taking practice while I was at the pitch, was hitting about 80% of them over, can still improve on that.

Was happy with the run, one and a half minutes quicker than the last time I ran it, which was only last friday, still reckon I can knock more time off that next time.

Arctic89

Monday 2nd March
Gym Session

Squat:
1x5x20kg
1x4x30kg
1x3x40kg
1x2x55kg
3x5x67.5kg

Press:
1x5x20kg
1x5x32.5kg
1x4x32.5kg
1x2x32.5kg

Power Clean:
1x4x45kg
2x5x45kg

Pull Ups:
2x2

Took a rest Tuesday and Wednesday, had an exam on the Thursday which I had to study for, so didnt get a chance to go to the gym.

Thursday 4th March
Sprint Session

1 lap warm up, about 1 mile
-3 sets of 10 x 20 metre sprints with 10 seconds rest between each sprint and 2 mins rest between each set.
-2 sets of 5 x 40 metre sprints with 20 second rest between each sprint and 2 minutes between sets.

1 lap warm down, about one mile.

Friday 6th March

Gym session

Squat:
1x5x20kg
1x4x30kg
1x3x40kg
1x2x55kg
3x5x67.5kg

Bench:

1x5x20kg
1x5x30kg
1x5x40kg
1x4x40kg
1x3x40kg

Deadlift:

1x5x60kg
1x5x80kg
1x5x92.5kg

Saturday 7th March
Challenge match for County U21s

Played about 35-40 minutes, really bad conditions- rain and wind throughout, did a good bit of sprinting and took a fair amount of knocks as the opposition were unbelievably physical.

Sunday 8th March

Challenge Match for club

Played the full 60 minutes in midfield, got a decent bit of running in but probably didnt put in as much effort as I could have.

Monday 9th March

Took a rest as I've 6 straight days of hurling coming up, cuminating in a leauge match on Sunday, dont think I'll get a chance to go to the gym this week with all the training I'll be doing but should get back on track with SS after that.

bigstar

you might be better off warming up for your bench and press the same as your squats. i found it really hard warming up with the bar for the press so started with a 10kgx5 bar up to 20kgx2 for warm ups and then i found it had less impact on the work set. if your doing 5 reps before your work set it will affect you. do the same for your deadlift it should help too. also if i cant add 2.5 kg i just go with the same weight til im not slowed down too much.
how do you find the power cleans, i keep hitting my throat with the bar.

Arctic89

Just as an update, havent been doing starting strength since my last post, I've been absolutely flat out with hurling (loads of matches with club and county and lots of training) so havent had a chance. It'll be 2 or 3 more weeks till i get back to them aswell as I have exams coming up and I'm just focusing on them. I'll post up as soon as I'm back doing some weight training.