My fitness log to a bigger, stronger me!

Blacktie.

So I've done a similar thing to starting strength for about 6 motnhs with some good results but about 4 months ago I had to quit doing it as I had to put all my energy into the marathon training (dublin marathon 4:14 XD). So I finshed that and have been giving this a good try. I want to gain a chunk of weight in terms of muscle as I'd lost alot due to the marathon.

I'm currenly about 160lb's I think. I really got to check that. Pretty skinny guy since finishing the marathon and I don't like the look so I'll be looking to down a few gallons of milk and eat a s*** load of chicken aswell. I have a whey protein shake to take after my workout sessions aswel to help me get in enough. I've gained a bit since I've started but not enough. Think I need to sort something out with my diet. I've been eating everthing I can when I can. not to worried about clean food as I read a thread about bulking saying to just eat all you can on this forum somewere and it was from some pretty knowledagble guys like hanley and kevin AFAIK. Also I've been thinking of upping my protein intake from one scoop after a workout to 3 scoops throughout the day. One whey with breakfast, one after workout and maybe buy some casein at night. Thoughts?

So I have some specific goals I want to aim toward that may take some time to reach but I'll get there.
Goal 1- Bench my bodyweight
Goal 2- Deadlift twice my bodyweight
Goal 3- Squat 1.5 times my bodyweight
Goal 4- Press 60kg
Goal 5- ... New to the power clean so still don't really know what's realistic goal to aim for here. We'll keep this at gettign good power clean form :-D.

So at the moment I've had to reset on my bench press from 57.5 as I just couldn't get the last set out. Only got half way through it and it's really annoying. Also it's really hard to tell if I'm doing the power clean right. It feels sloppy sometimes but seems to be slowly getting better.

Anyway heres how I'm getting on with all my lifts so far-

This is from Sunday.
Squat
2x5x20
1x5x35
1x3x50
1x2x65
3x5x77.5

Press
2x5x15
1x5x20
1x3x25
1x2x30
3x5x35

Power Clean
2x5x20
1x5x25
1x3x27.5
1x2x30
3x5x37.5

And this is from yesterday
Squats
2x5x30
1x5x45
1x3x60
1x2x70
3x5x80

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x3x37.5
1x2x45
2x5x52.5
1x2x52.5

Deadlift
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x70
1x2x80
1x5x90

EDIT: About 3 or 4 weeks into the starting stregth program!

Blacktie.

Realised I was doing the power clean wrong and lowered the weight just to get it right. Also Rippletoe says to do sets of 3 if your not dropping the bar to the floor as in if your lowering it to your thighs and then your legs so that's why there's an adjustment there. Found it alright so will be going back to 37.5 next time. Still need to work on my form though. It's a tough exercise to get right. Here's how I got on Thursday-

Squat
2x5x30
1x5x45
1x3x60
1x2x72.5
3x5x82.5

Press
2x5x20
1x5x25
1x3x30
1x2x32.5
1x5x37.7
1x4x37.7
1x3x37.7

Power Clean
2x5x20
1x5x22.5
1x3x25
1x2x27.5
3x3x30

Blacktie.

Felt pretty good with todays workout. I can feel my grip starting to get strained on the DL so I'll have to watch out for that and maybe switch to a double handed grip (think thats what it's called?). From today-

Squats
2x5x35
1x5x50
1x3x65
1x2x75
3x5x85

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x3x40
1x2x50
3x5x55


Deadlift
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x70
1x2x85
1x5x95

Blacktie.

Squat is starting to get tough. Not happy with my press at all! It dropped a bit from last session which is dissappointing. My power clean form still feels sloppy. Its getting a little better but just feels like I'm all over the place realy. Have to up my calorie intake I think. Think I'll start by adding a little bit to every meal and also getting some casein protein to drink before I go to bed.

Squat
2x5x30
1x5x50
1x3x65
1x2x77.5
3x5x87.5

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x32.5
1x2x35
1x5x37.5
1x3x37.5
1x2x37.5

Power Clean
2x5x22.5
1x5x25
1x3x27.5
1x2x32.5
3x3x35

Blacktie.

Very happy with how today went. Got my DL to the 100 mark XD. Squat's are getting there aswell and I got through the 57.5 mark on my bench press. Good day all in all anyway.

Squats
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x70
1x2x80
3x5x90

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x3x40
1x2x50
3x5x57.5


Deadlift
2x5x55
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
1x5x100

Blacktie.

So was focusing on my power lift today as it was giving me some trouble with the form so kept the weight on it the same as last time. I posted in the forum and got a great response from g'em and tryed implementing it all in my power lift today. It really helped alot I think. the digging the heels in helped me pull the bar straight up but I do have to work on whipping my elbows around quicker. Also it was hard to focus on everything at once but I'm sure it's like driving a car. Just need practice. As for my press I was going to move down if I didn't get it out this week but I only missed it by 1 rep so I'm going to give it another shot or 2 and see how I get on from there

Squat
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x70
1x2x82.5
3x5x92.5

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x32.5
1x2x35
2x5x37.5
1x4x37.5

Power Clean
2x5x20
1x5x25
1x3x30
1x2x32.5
3x3x35

Thanks for the tips g'em.

Blacktie.

Pretty happy with how things are going now. My squat is starting to get alot harder. Form started to sacrifice toward the end which I'm not to happy about. Think I'll be doing 95 again next session to make sure my form is ok. Happy enough with my deadlift although I think my grip may start holding me back soon enough. Very happy with my bench press. Looking forward to trying to pump out 62.5 next session. All in all I've nearly caught up to were I was at a few months ago before I had to start training for the marathon fully. Now I just need to eat my weight in food to power through it all. I think thats the only thing holding me back. No time to eat lol. I'll figure it out anyway.

Squats
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x75
1x2x85
3x5x95

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x35
1x3x45
1x2x55
3x5x60


Deadlift
2x5x55
1x5x75
1x3x85
1x2x95
1x5x105

Blacktie.

Really need to get god at whipping my arms around faster in the power clean but its getting better. Was not happy with the last two reps on sets 2 and 3 of my squat so df. leaving it at 97.5 till I fix this. Very happy with my press. Going to move it up next session.

Squat
2x5x40
1x5x55
1x3x70
1x2x85
3x5x97.5

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x32.5
1x2x35
3x5x37.5


Power Clean
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x32.5
1x2x35
3x3x37.5

Blacktie.

So I had to skip one workout as my back was still pretty tight from the last one but it was ok today. I failed on the last rep on all the exercises but I'm confident I'll get them next time. Grip is starting to really slow me down on the deadlift but I'm sure that will get stronger with time. With the squats I think I could have pushed out the last one but I feel I would have been sacrificing form to do it so it wouldn't really be getting it anyway. Bench press should be fine for next time I think.


Squats
2x5x50
1x5x65
1x3x75
1x2x90
2x5x97.5
1x4x97.5

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x35
1x3x45
1x2x55
2x5x62.5
1x4x62.5

Deadlift
2x5x60
1x5x75
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x4x110

Blacktie.

Had to miss 2 days due to my gym not being open. I hate missing days. Anyway got on ok today. Will be going for 100kg in the squat next session. Was thinking of changing the program to the westside program but havn't really decided yet. Also I'm not happy with how many calories I'm taking in so I'm going to dl fitday and use that to keep track and aim to take in about 4000 calories a day.


Squat
2x5x50
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
3x5x97.5

Press
2x5x27.5
1x5x32.5
1x3x35
1x2x37.5
2x5x40
1x2x40


Power Clean
2x5x30
1x5x32.5
1x3x35
1x2x37.5
3x3x40

Blacktie.

Got my deadlift out anyway. May soon start to increase it by 2.5kg at a tim as it's starting to get pretty hard to keep increasing it by 5kg a session. Bench is looking good aswell but I didn't get my squats out unfortunately. Next time hopefully.

Squats
2x5x60
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
1x5x100
1x4x100
1x3x100

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x35
1x3x45
1x2x55
3x5x62.5

Deadlift
2x5x60
1x5x75
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x5x110

Calories
Yesterday- 2787
Protein-140g
Fat- 95g
Carbs- 340g

Blacktie.

Really annoyed that I havn't been to the gym in a week. Damn snow stopping me from going. Can't drive a bike in that . Guess I'll stay on the same weight as last week for the first workout anyway.

Blacktie.

Went to the BD Fitness gym in the Penny Hill yesterday. It's alot better than I expected. Anyway I forgot I'd done the deadlift and bench the last session so ended up doing it again.


Squats
2x5x60
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
1x5x100
1x3x100
1x2x100

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x35
1x3x45
1x2x55
2x5x65
1x1x65

Deadlift
2x5x60
1x5x75
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x3x110

Blacktie.

So today didn't go so great. Well except for my squats which I got out . Think I'm going to have to shelf the power clean and replace it with pull ups and chin ups as I just can't seem to get it right and even during warm up my quads feel strained the whole time. Also I'm pissed off wityh being the same size all the time. I want to see some big changes in the next 6 months and I know the only thing holding me back is my diet so will be posting that up everyday now aswell. Just wondering should I make a new thread in a food log instead? But since I'm using fitday I think I'll just post up calorie count and fat, protein, carbs count aswell.


Squat
2x5x60
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
3x5x100

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x35
1x2x37.5
1x5x40
1x2x40
1x2x40

Power Clean
2x5x30
1x5x35

Blacktie.

Did not eat enough yesterday! I need to add at least a litre of milk to this and some more chicken I think. I'm going to start eating everything I can and never refuse food offered to me. This should help I think.

Calories
Yesterday- 2688
Protein-197g
Fat- 83g
Carbs- 292g

gavney

good to see this log dude!

As someone who is a bit skinny at times, I'm always trying to keep weight on.

Sometimes I feel like taking a couple of months off the weights and just running, but I hate being really skinny.

So, encouraging to see you have the ability to switch between marathon training and then focusing on weight training.

Looks like you're doing well - from 52.5 to 65 on the bench press in such a short time is good progress imo

best of luck

Blacktie.

Yeah I know what you mean like you want to run for a while to see the muscle alot more defined but then if you do that you lose some muscle which just isn't an option right now as I need to put on alot more before I even start thinking about that. I done it before and got my bench up t about 72.5kg so am hoping to get beyond that this time around by eating as much as I can.

Today I just felt so full all the time! A litre of milk along with your lunch is tough especially when you do it twice when you arn't even hungry. I think that should be about 500 calories more below though as fitday says full fat milk has 490 calories when the carton says it has 670. Big difference! Should probably put that in as a custom food or something.


Calories
Yesterday- 3257
Protein-217g
Fat- 127g
Carbs- 317g

Current weight 73kg

Blacktie.

Gym went grand today. Nice early morning start feels good. Pretty happy with everythin I did and am confident I'll get the bench and squat out next session. I might start increasing my deadlifts in incremts of 2.5kg now but I'll try the 115's and see how I get on anyway.

Squats
2x5x60
1x5x72.5
1x3x82.5
1x2x92.5
2x5x102.5
1x4x102.5

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x37.5
1x3x50
1x2x57.5
2x5x65
1x4x65

Deadlift
2x5x70
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x5x110

Blacktie.

Had a pizza for dinner today! Not the cleanest diet in the world but the extra calories always help I guess...

Calories
Yesterday- 4093
Protein-246g
Fat- 168g
Carbs- 399g

Blacktie.

Didn't realise I never updated this last week my bad! Anyway heres the update! Think I'll have to drop the weight on the press. Also today i had to warm up on the Smith machine for my squats as the squat rack was taken. I've also decided to not bother posting my calorie intake as its just unnecessary bulk.

Squats
2x5x60
1x5x72.5
1x3x82.5
1x2x92.5
1x5x102.5
1x3x102.5
1x2x102.5

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x37.5
1x3x50
1x2x57.5
3x5x65

Deadlift
2x5x70
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x5x110

Squat
2x5x70 (Smith)
1x5x80 (Smith)
1x3x90 (Smith)
1x2x100 (Smith)
3x5x102.5 PR

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x35
1x2x37.5
1x4x40
1x2x40
1x2x37.5
1x2x40

Chin Ups
5
2
1

Blacktie.

Ok so now that my exams are more or less finished I can start focusing on getting strong again. Been drinking lots of milk and trying to eat more so hopefully this will all add up. Squats were ok could really feel it being tough and I'm not to happy with my last rep form wise but happy enough to move up I think. Bench was tough but I'll get there soon enough. Deadlift form really started to suffer at rep 3 when my grip started seriously weakening so on my last rep I tryed the under over grip and it was much strong although my form was still bad due to the previous 2 reps so I gotta fix this. Anyway heres how I got on-

Squats
2x5x70 (Smith machine)
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
3x5x105 PR

Bench Press
2x5x25
1x5x37.5
1x3x50
1x2x60
2x5x67.5
1x2x67.5

Deadlift
2x5x70
1x5x85
1x3x100
1x2x110
1x5x115

Blacktie.

Still had some DOMS in my legs so squats didn't go to great today. Didn't go in with the right mindset at all. Press was good going to go back up to 40kg next session and stay there a while. Pull ups felt real awkward and had some strain on my wrists from them. Maybe cause I was doing wide arm pull ups idk sure I'll keep them up anyway.

Squat
2x5x70
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x4x107.5
1x2x107.5

Press
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x32.5
1x2x35
3x5x37.5

Pull Ups
4
2
1

Weight 75kg

Improved but not enough. Need more food!!!

Blacktie.

So I found out today I was taking double the amount of whey protein I thought I was. Really should have payed attention to the size of the scooper thing! Anyway I got whey impact protein from myprotein.co.uk and casein protein for night time from the same place so hopefully that'll help taking it twice a day and the casein at night.

Squats-
Felt heavy today again but did better than the last session so I'm getting somewere on them.

Bench Press-
Again getting better. Also not sure if I did 5 or 6 on my second working set. Pretty happy with my form throughout this. Think I'd be able to push myself that little bit more if I got a spotter. Well I'll head with a mate next time.

Deadlift-
Tryed the over under grip properly for the first time today. It's grand. No problems with the bar slipping just need to get used to it a bit as I was more focusing on that then proper form. Even with that I'm still alot happier with my form today than last time. Going to move to 117.5kg next time.

Squats
2x5x70
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x5x107.5
1x3x107.5
1x1x107.5

Bench Press
2x5x30
1x5x45
1x3x55
1x2x62.5
2x5/6x67.5
1x2x67.5

Deadlift
2x5x75
1x5x90
1x3x100
1x2x110
1x5x115

Blacktie.

Diets going pretty well. Pretty consistently getting in between 3200-3500 calories with alot of proteins and fats in there (the good kind ). Not to happy with my consistency over the last month tbh. I've had exams and all but if I really want to gain some weight and get big that's no excuse so I'm committing to the next 5 months of pure consistency. I don't care if I'm hanging hungover or whatever I'm going to the gym when I'm scheduled to! It's only 5 months cause then I got to America . And I'll have to find a new gym over there for 4 months.

Squat
Everytime I do this I feel I've plateaued but I keep getting closer and closer to getting it so I'm not sure. I'll post in the main forum asking. Also on my work sets I nearly failed on one rep each set but a guy at the gym was there to help me out and gave me some tips on my stance and feet position and this definitley made a difference for my last set. Thanks guy!
2x5x70
1x5x80
1x3x90
1x2x100
1x5x107.5
2x4x107.5

Press
Going well but still v hard to get these 40s out! Didn't have the power rack to do them in today so was pulled from the floor so that may have made a difference
2x5x20
1x5x25
1x3x30
1x3x30
1x5x40
1x4x40
FAIL

Chin Ups
Finding these tough to get even a few out!
5
3
1

Weight- 76kg
Getting there slowly but surely hopefully! 80 will be a milestone for me .

Sangre

Ever think of dropping the weight 10% if you're plateauing a bit? Great way to reboost your confidence and work on form/strength.

I found the worst thing about SS was a plateau where you struggled to have the confidence to hit a weight you've already missed once or twice.

Blacktie.

Yeah thats what I was thinking of doing. Maybe drop back to 100 or something but everytime go back to do it I get a little bit closer. I think I'll give it one more shot anyway and then drop if I can't get it.

Thanks for reminding me to post that thread btw!

Sangre

Best of luck. Remember not to compromise form when trying to hit it. Its very tempting!

Thread?

Blacktie.

Yeah the one about plateus :-) Thread. Yeah thats a good point. My form really did suffer toward the end of the sets but I think this was a result of my stance tbh. I'll see next I go and if my form is off and I'm still not getting them out I'm going to reset.

Thanks for reading

Blacktie.

Squats
Decided to reset on the squats this week to really work on my form. I'll work back up through 107.5 again soon hopefully.
2x5x60
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
3x5x97.5

Bench Press
I just barely failed on the last rep of this! I was about 1cm away from racking the dam bar! Think I'll move up next session to test them out at the 70 mark anyway.
2x5x25
1x5x40
1x3x52.5
1x2x62.5
2x5x67.5
1x4x67.5

Deadlift
Fairly happy with my deadlift. Form got tricky on the last rep but I got it out anyway. Getting better at holding my chest up.
2x5x70
1x5x85
1x3x100
1x2x110
1x5x117.5

Blacktie.

Squats
Need to focus on putting the pressure on my heels rather than it being pushed to my toes.
2x5x60
1x5x70
1x3x80
1x2x90
3x5x100

Press
Was very happy to get these out this session. Will be putting it up to 42.5 next session.
2x5x25
1x5x30
1x3x35
1x2x37.5
3x5x40

Pul ups
Slightly narrower grip. Still finding these tough but that's what makes them fun.
8
4
3

Blacktie.

Squats
Still going fine since the reset
2x5x60
1x5x75
1x3x85
1x2x95
3x5x102.5

Bench Press
Pretty happy with this. Got the first 2 sets out handy enough. Don't know what happened on the last one but I'll give it a shot again next session.
2x5x30
1x5x42.5
1x3x55
1x2x65
2x5x70
1x2x70

Deadlift
Back was fairly tight today. Don't know if it's cause of a new memory foam thing on my bed and I'm just getting used to it or what but these took it out of me at the end. Had to sit down for a minute before I could walk t the changing room! Also doesn't help that I got a cold coming on the last few days!
2x5x70
1x5x85
1x3x100
1x2x110
1x2x120

Weight 76kg
Well just above 76 anyway. I'll b taking some advice I got form the bulking thread I made and hopefully this will go up soon enough!