F' It, Let's Do This

Training Logs
1

My name is John.

I’m 20 years old. I dropped out of college last year to pursue a career in sales.

I am 6’3, and I weigh 189. I’m what you would call skinny fat. I look tubby as hell around the midsection, but I really need to gain a lot of muscle.

The last time I had a girlfriend was when I was 17 and a high school senior. I didn’t even get to second base.

I’ve never won a fight. Shit, I like to fight. Correction, love to fight. Maybe even live to fight.

In high school my senior year a friend of mine started a fight club. We fought every weekend, often times two or three fights a night. In nine months, I never won once.

Then I went to college. I was gonna change everything. Got into ok shape freshman year, then sprained my ankle really bad. Since then my training has been incredibly sporadic and completely unfocused.

Finally I’ve decided to say fuck it and make this happen.

I’m doing Rippetoe for two months bare minimum. I’m going to drink my gallon of milk every day, I’m going to eat my 4 to 6 clean meals a day with protein at every meal.

And I’m going to BUST my ass in the gym.

So here’s the brutal facts:
Height: 6’3
Weight: 189
Neck: 16"
Shoulders: 44.5
Upper Chest: 38
Lower Chest: 36.4
Navel: 38
Largest Waist: 39.25
Hips: 37.5
Upper Arm:
Left - 13
Right - 12 7/8
Lower Leg:
Left - 15 1/4
Right - 15
Upper Leg:
Left - 22.5
Right - 23
Ankle:
Left - 10.5
Right - 10.5

Now here’s the pathetic part that I don’t want to bring up. I did my first workout yesterday. I wanted to cry after realizing how fucking weak I am. I’m so embarrassed to even put these numbers up, but it’s even more motivation to bring them up.

10 minute treadmill warmup: 1.2 miles
Back squat 3x5x95
Bench Press 3x5x85
Deadlift 3x5x65

With as weak as I am today, that’s disgusting.

I’ll be adding 10 pounds to each on Wednesday when I do my second workout.

Goals:
Squat: 3x5x300
Bench: 3x5x225
Deadlift: 3x5x300
Press: 3x5x150
Power Clean: 3x5x180

Bodyweight: 215-220

I want to start fighting again, and training martial arts as well. In the next month or two I want to join a martial arts gym and start studying Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Eventually I want to fight at the amateur level in MMA.

2

Don’t miss a single workout on the Rippetoe program in the next 3 months and you’ll have some damn good results. If you haven’t purchased his book do so and study it. I made some pretty good gains on Rippetoe’s program so I can definitely vouch for the effectiveness. But consistency is the secret.

And do not switch to a different program until you have exhausted his methods for breaking through your plateaus. There is nothing simpler than doing the compound lifts 3 times a week and progressing each workout, milk it for all it’s worth. Also, if the milk is making you fatter drop it fast. All the best!

3

I’m gonna keep the milk for at least two weeks, and see where I stand. If I feel I’m gaining more body fat than lean muscle, then I’ll drop it to a half gallon a day.

4

At least you’re getting started man. If you push yourself your numbers will blossom over the coming months. Good luck!

5

Second Workout today. I’ve been looking forward to it ALL day.

Got an armband and new headphones to listen to my iPod while working out. Really helps with the motivation aspect and pushing myself.

To be honest I still had a lot of lactic acid built up in my legs from my last workout and was a little worried it would hinder my performance today. Turns out it didn’t very much.

So, workout today:

Warm up - 10 minutes at 6.9mph on a treadmill (up .2mph from last week) ran 1.1 miles.
Stretched a little.

Squat - 3x5x105. +10 pounds from last workout! Ended up doing six reps on last set because my last rep of my last set went to failure and I couldn’t lift it. My form broke down on a couple of the reps in mid-rep, but I corrected it quickly. I think the only reason was the soreness in my legs still from last workout. Wasn’t too bad.

Press - 3x5x55. First time doing this exercise EVER. Was more focused on having good form. I felt this exercise a lot in my mid-back on the first set because I was trying to press 75. The other 2 sets I did with 55 and I didn’t feel it in my back nearly as much. Is it ok if I feel the workout in my back a little (I’m guessing my back is even weaker than the rest of my body)? Other than that, definitely had some gas left in the tank at the end of the press.

Power Clean - 3x5x55. Similar situation as the Press. Never done this workout before. Just for clarification, where in my body should I be feeling the majority of the work in the Power Clean? I felt it mostly in my legs, a little in my core and a little in my mid back. Still had gas in the tank with this exercise as well.

In terms of diet, today:

Breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal in water with handful of blueberries.
Mid-afternoon - 1 orange
Afternoon - Chipotle burrito bol (I know, caloric overload here, but tried to keep the carbs down with not getting the tortilla).
All day - Gallon of 2% milk.
Work out from 8:15 to 9:30.
Dinner - 2 cups spinach with a couple tablespoons feta cheese and fat free italian dressing, as well as 2 110 gram chicken breasts.

Excited to go running tomorrow and work off the soreness in prep for workout #3 on Thursday.

6

Workout #3

Well, just got done with workout #3.

Loving it! I can’t wait to go to the gym each day, and just love the way I feel afterwards.

Today:
1 mile warm-up (8:27)

Squat 3x5x115 (+10 more pounds) So first two sets were really sloppy, and then I realized I’ve been holding the bar waaaaay to far down my back, almost at the bottom of my shoulder blades. Corrected this and the last set was a piece of cake. On a side note, I’m having trouble keeping my wrists straight, any suggestions on how to correct this?

Bench 3x5x95 (+10 pounds) This was by far the easiest exercise I did today. Still had gas left, probably could have gone up to 105.

Deadlift 3x5x95 (+30 pounds biatch) Last time I was just learning the technique. I’m still working on it, I’m having a little trouble with getting around my knees when I’m standing up, do I just need to lean forward farther and not bend my knees as much?

Getting through a gallon of whole milk everyday has been… interesting. Keeps the cravings off so I don’t have really any desire to eat any snack foods.

Yesterday I ran a mile. To be honest, my quads are still sore from my first workout on Sunday, but its very minor. I’m going to go soak in a hot tub today for a while to see if that will help relieve the soreness.

7

Ran 3 miles today. Thinking I might go to 2% milk rather than whole milk. Work 13 hours tomorrow, it’ll be interesting finding time to work out.

8

Weight: 193.6 (+4.6 lbs)
Neck: 16"
Shoulders: 44.5
Upper Chest: 40" (+2)
Lower Chest: 37.6 (+1.2")
Navel: 38
Largest Waist: 39.75 (+.5)
Hips: 38" (+.5")
Upper Arm:
Left - 13
Right - 13" (+1/8")
Lower Leg:
Left - 15 1/2" (+1/4")
Right - 15
Upper Leg:
Left - 23" (+1/2")
Right - 23 1/4" (+1/4")
Ankle:
Left - 9.5" (-1")
Right - 9" (-1.5")

9

Hang with it man. I’m 6’3" as well and started off at 170lbs and with weights quite similar to yours. After 6 weeks I’m up 18 lbs body weight with noticable muscle size (comparativly) in all the right places.

Keep working away on it. The gains happen fast and as the plates start to pile on the motivation to continue it only builds.

10

Ran another 3 miles today. I’m beat. Worked a home show this weekend. 18 hours in an icebox (45 degrees all weekend, they decided it would be a good idea to hold the show in a building with no indoor heating… (-_-).

Missed my third Rippetoe workout this weekend because of work, I was too beat last night (10 hours on my feet) and I got home today after my gym closed. (Gym closes at 8 pm. Wtf?) Will do my workout tomorrow morning though.

11

Missing workouts already? Meh.

12

Fit 'em in when you can. Life happens. If lifting isnt your life (and it certainly isnt for me) you just do the best you can as often as you can.

13

how did you structure your fightclub i was interested in doing something similar over the summer as i have alot of anger and just love wrestling/punching it out with ppl

14

[quote]goochadamg wrote:
Missing workouts already? Meh.[/quote]

Alright douche. You try and find time to consistently workout when you’re working 70 hours a week. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I did the best I could with what I had. Couldn’t work out yesterday either because I only got 5 hours of sleep the night before and then worked from 6:30 AM to 10:30 PM. Today I’m going to workout after I get home from work.

And for the record, I’m not trying to make excuses for missing my workout. I know I should have gone to the gym and just sacked up. Even with my ridiculous work schedule I haven’t f’ed up my diet at all and stuck to that, which is huge, as I’ve had a lot of trouble with keeping to clean foods in the past.

So, go fuck yourself.

As to the fight club, there wasn’t much “structure” to it. Those that wanted to fight would, and you could fight as many times as you wanted. If you came, you had to fight. The two fighters had to decide whether or not there would be headshots (some of us in the sales industry still had to look presentable during the day). It was a lot of fun.

15

Do everything you can to stick with it and don’t be embarrassed posting numbers. Make it a priority. There are plenty of us here who work full time jobs, raise a family and find time to train and compete in this sport.

If it is important to you, you’ll make time to do it. This isn’t to say that lifting is the be all and end all. It’s certainly very high on my list but maybe something else is for you.

btw, I love power cleans and incorporate them regularly. I feel them in my traps. There are a few components to it but to me it is almost a high velocity shrug once the bar is accelerated off the floor.

Good luck.

16

[quote]
As to the fight club, there wasn’t much “structure” to it. Those that wanted to fight would, and you could fight as many times as you wanted. If you came, you had to fight. The two fighters had to decide whether or not there would be headshots (some of us in the sales industry still had to look presentable during the day). It was a lot of fun.[/quote]

thats sweet man, did u guys just wrestle/box? and where did you hold it, no one wants to fight me though which is annoying cuz im 6’5 and 240 :frowning:

17

[quote]bignate wrote:

As to the fight club, there wasn’t much “structure” to it. Those that wanted to fight would, and you could fight as many times as you wanted. If you came, you had to fight. The two fighters had to decide whether or not there would be headshots (some of us in the sales industry still had to look presentable during the day). It was a lot of fun.

thats sweet man, did u guys just wrestle/box? and where did you hold it, no one wants to fight me though which is annoying cuz im 6’5 and 240 :([/quote]

We wore some cotton hand wraps, but that was it. Anything goes as long as your not using outside implements (bashing someone’s head against the floor/wall, chairs, etc. You get the idea) - kicking, punching, knees, elbows, submission holds, whatever you need to do to make someone tap out.

I would be careful about using it as an outlet for anger. I used it as a stress outlet from school or work, but never for anger, just because that’s when someone gets hurt.

As for not getting anyone to fight you, get your friends together for a fight night and just sit out. Once they get a couple fights under their belt someone will inevitably challenge you. Or at least that’s how it worked with my friend who was similarly huge.

Anyway, as regards to working out, I’ll be heading to the gym here in about 20 minutes for my workout. Can’t wait!

18

Guess I hit a nerve.

19

Workout tonight was fun and very frustrating.

Ran a half mile today at 7 mph, then did some foam rolling and stretching on my legs.

Squat - 3x5x115 I decided to keep the weight the same on this seeing as I took a couple days off and I didn’t exactly have the best success last time. Failed on the last rep of the last two sets. This time I completed all of my reps with a lot more ease.

Press - 3x5x65 (+10 pounds) Piece o’ cake.

Power Clean - This exercise is a bitch. I’m not going to put any specific weight/rep scheme because after spending some time reading into the Power Clean and watching videos, I realized I had the form all wrong last workout. So I spent a majority of the evening practicing hang cleans. I did 3 sets, the first two with 10 lb plates (I really need to improve my grip strength). The last set I did between 10 and 20 reps, didn’t really keep track, with an empty bar, trying to get the movement down. I’ve watched the videos, so I don’t think another video will help, I need someone to actually be there and help me with it. Too bad the PT i talked to at the gym didn’t know how to do power cleans…

So, on to why this workout was so frustrating. I realized on the Squat and power clean that I have some serious issues with form that need to be corrected. With the Power clean, it’s just because I’ve never done it before and I need someone to teach me what the fuck to do. With the squat though, I’m very frustrated. When I come up out of the actual squat, I have to bring my right knee in to push up out of the squat, using my right leg almost entirely for the movement. I noticed for the first time today that I don’t hardly use my left leg during the squat at all - the majority of the pushing comes out of my right leg. I know this is a serious form issue that needs to be corrected immediately, any help? I was thinking about getting a band and doing some side to side walking with the band around my quads as suggested in one of the articles on the site for squatting.

Should I continue with the squat and clean even with less than perfect form as I’m not repping very high weights, or should I stop until the form issues have been corrected?

PS- Got my first Biotest supplement this week, some Grow! Whey Protein and ordered some Creatine today. I am stoked. Next on the list is Surge Recovery then Surge Workout Fuel. Then Flameout!

20

When I started the SS program 6 weeks ago I swapped out the power cleans for BB rows for the same reasons that your having. It is a pretty complex and explosive move and I didnt feel comftorable doing it with out having someone show me proper form.

I got a big full size mirror from a reno job that I did and put it in front of my squat rack in the basement so I could watch my self workout and make sure that my form was good. My knees used to cave at the beginning too but I just kept the weights down and really focused on getting the form right before the piling on the iron and causing some serious damage later on.

Proper form is your insurance against injury.