Fit for Purpose

Training Logs
1

Starting Stats:

Height - 6’1
Weight - 178lbs
Age - 25
BF ~10% (I’ve been boxing seriously, within a weightclass. Outline of each row of abs clearly visible)

Measurements:

L&R arm - 14.125"
Chest - 40"
Waist (1" above navel) - 33"
Thigh (mid) - 23.5"
Neck - 15"

Lifts 1RM:

Squat - 220lbs
Deadlift - 300lbs
Press - 110lbs
Bench - 160lbs

Short term goal: Arms 15", Chest 42", Thigh 24.5, Waist 33", Neck 16"

Overall goal, be exceptionally fit, strong pound for pound, and carry a reasonable/easily maintainable level of muscle mass

Background: boxed at light heavyweight, messed around with weights in the past, but never spent the time building a proper foundation.

The intention is to spend the next 3 months doing Stronglifts, and getting my diet dialed in. During this period, I will back off a bit on the conditioning, but I will have to maintain a certain degree of fitness (eg. 1.5 miles in 10:30) and a base level of cardio ability.

The primary goal in the short term is to add a few lbs of muscle, and to hit the measurements given above, without any significant gain in bodyfat, and whilst attaining a basic level of foundational strength.

From there, I will either do 5/3/1 with a more aggressive fitness program as well, or attempt to arrange my training in a similar manner to ‘Alpha’.

I will also try to log my diet here too where possible.

It goes without saying that I would appreciate any criticism or input those of you more experienced may have to offer.

2

Will post this one retrospectively:

First day of Stronglifts:

Squat - starting at 40kg
Bench - starting at 35kg
Row - starting at 35 kg

Hit all of my sets and reps easily. No soreness the next day

3

04/09/14

Squat 42.5kg
Press 22.5kg
Deadlift 70kg

Hit all of my sets and reps very easily, actually felt easier even than the previous session. I am taking this opportunity, essentially starting from scratch, to ingrain technique and good habits. Squats are done arse to grass.

Food:

Breakfast:
1 bowl Museli
3 eggs

Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Large bowl of mince
Large salad with avocado

Dinner 1:
2 x chicken breasts
Green beans

Dinner 2
Burger
Chips

Still quite hungry, so the training must be working. Probably won’t eat again before bed. Trying to build additional food into my diet slowly.

4

[quote]Giltspur wrote:
04/09/14

Squat 42.5kg
Press 22.5kg
Deadlift 70kg

Hit all of my sets and reps very easily, actually felt easier even than the previous session. I am taking this opportunity, essentially starting from scratch, to ingrain technique and good habits. Squats are done arse to grass.

Food:

Breakfast:
1 bowl Museli
3 eggs

Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Large bowl of mince
Large salad with avocado

Dinner 1:
2 x chicken breasts
Green beans

Dinner 2
Burger
Chips

Still quite hungry, so the training must be working. Probably won’t eat again before bed. Trying to build additional food into my diet slowly. [/quote]

If you are wanting to put on more muscle like you say you need more food, particularly protein. Here I count maybe 75 or 80 grams. You need 100 more than that every day. 1 gram per lb of body weight. Also, if you are not sore after working out you are wasting time. Eat huge and lift heavy. You should be lifting to the point where you fail on your last reps to ensure you are exhausting your muscles. Dude your breakfast maybe has 28 grams of protein, lunch zero, dinner 1 40 tops and dinner 2 20 tops. Double that and then some. Consider using a protein powder if you cant eat that much. You should probably throw in an extra meal between breakfast and lunch.

Good luck.

5

[quote]Rockscar wrote:

[quote]Giltspur wrote:
04/09/14

Squat 42.5kg
Press 22.5kg
Deadlift 70kg

Hit all of my sets and reps very easily, actually felt easier even than the previous session. I am taking this opportunity, essentially starting from scratch, to ingrain technique and good habits. Squats are done arse to grass.

Food:

Breakfast:
1 bowl Museli
3 eggs

Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Large bowl of mince
Large salad with avocado

Dinner 1:
2 x chicken breasts
Green beans

Dinner 2
Burger
Chips

Still quite hungry, so the training must be working. Probably won’t eat again before bed. Trying to build additional food into my diet slowly. [/quote]

If you are wanting to put on more muscle like you say you need more food, particularly protein. Here I count maybe 75 or 80 grams. You need 100 more than that every day. 1 gram per lb of body weight. Also, if you are not sore after working out you are wasting time. Eat huge and lift heavy. You should be lifting to the point where you fail on your last reps to ensure you are exhausting your muscles. Dude your breakfast maybe has 28 grams of protein, lunch zero, dinner 1 40 tops and dinner 2 20 tops. Double that and then some. Consider using a protein powder if you cant eat that much. You should probably throw in an extra meal between breakfast and lunch.

Good luck.[/quote]

Thanks for stopping by mate.

I am planning to increase my calories & protein steadily, as I’ve screwed up previously by not training hard enough and over eating at the same time.

I think I’m only not sore at the moment because stronglifts has you start very light, as you’re adding 7.5/5kg to each lift every week, so the weights go up quite quickly. That said, although I’m not sore, my appetite has gone through the roof, so I’m going to throw in a couple of shakes a day to the diet above.

Thanks again for your input, I hope you’ll continue to drop in and share your wisdom as my training progresses

6

5/9/14

Training - 6 mile running tracks with my dogs, some decent hills, in boots, in just under 45 minutes

Eating:

Breakfast:
1 bowl Museli
3 eggs

Lunch:
2 x corn on the cob with butter
Cheese
6 x chicken wings (according to the packet, 40g protein)

Snack:
Protein shake - 1 scoop + water

Dinner:
Roast beef (6 large slices)
Potatoes
Courgettes
2 slices bread with butter
Gravy

Snack:
Will have shake before bed, as above.

7

06/9/14

Training:

5x5, 90s rest between sets - applies to all exercises

Squat - 45kg
Bench - 37.5kg
Row - 37.5kg

Notes - Still very easy, but my appetite is increasing exponentially, so I suspect it is working. May be psychological, but I already feel more snug in some of my smaller tshirts.

Food:

Breakfast:
2 slices Soda bread
3 eggs

Lunch:
6 x chicken wings (50g pro according to packet)
2 slices soda bread with butter and relish
A few plums

Snack:
Protein shake, 1 scoop, 1 pint whole milk

Dinner:
Lamb
Potatoes
Carrots and peas

8

09/09/14

Training:

Squat 47.5kg
OHP 25kg
Deadlift: 75kg
Chins 3 x 5 bw

All 5x5 with 90s rest. All fairly easy, although I can feel that I’ve trained today. I’m excited to see what happens with this program over the next few months. I like that it sticks to 6 lifts, and forces you to progress each session. It’s already helped me with my mindset, and helped me to identify where I’ve failed before. In my previous attempts at gaining strength and mass, I’ve been mislead by more advanced techniques, like feeling the muscle, and getting more out of lighter reps. I’m not suggesting these are bad techniques, simply that they are not appropriate for me given my current stage of development. It’s something I’d obviously read about on here in various posts, but it is hard to recognise in yourself until you get on a program like SL 5x5 that opens your eyes.

Eating:

Breakfast:
Museli whole milk
3 eggs

Lunch:
Veg soup (homemade, with chicken stock)
Salad with 2x smoked mackrel fillets

Snack:
Large fistful peanuts
protein shake with water

Dinner:
Cod
New potatoes
Courgettes

Snack:
Peanuts
Protein shake whole milk.

9

10/09/14

Weighed in this morning (post crap/pre food). Current weight: 80.8kg. Approximate weight gain of .8 of a kg in the last 9 days.

Now I’ve settled into the program, I’ve set some more concrete goals for myself. I will do SL until the first of December, and then reevaluate (either continuing if I’m still making linear gains, or changing a few things if progress has slowed right down).

I’ve set some overall goals for the next 3 months, and some that I want to see in the next few weeks.

Goals:

By 1st October:

BW 82kgs

Squat 72.5 5x5 90s rest
Deadlift 100kg 1x5
Press 37.5kg 5 x 5 90s rest
Row 50kg 5x5 90s rest
Bench 50kg 5x5 90s rest

By 1st December

BW 85kg
Bench & Row 85kg 5x5
Press 70kg 5x5
Deadlift 170kg 1x5
Squat 140kg 5 x 5

Some of those goals may be unrealistic for 10 weeks time, but we’ll soon see. I think I’ll need to eat more!

10

10/09/14

Training:

Running hills/tracks - circa 5 miles
Pressups every half mile or so. Total 100 pressups

Eating:

Breakfast:
3 slices toast
3 eggs
1 bowl Museli

Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Salad with Mozarella
2 chicken thighs (44g protein according to the pack)

Dinner:
2 chicken thighs (44g protein)
Roasted veg&potatoes

Snack:
Peanuts
Protein shake (whole milk)

11

11/09/14

Training:

Squat 50kg 5x5
Bench 40kg 5x5
Row 40kg 5x5

90s rest for each exercise. Still pretty easy, although I’m starting to feel the muscles being worked.

Food:

Breakfast:
3 slices sourdough
3 eggs

Lunch:
Salmon
Salad
Cheese
1 large Cracker

Snack:
2 x chicken thighs

Dinner:
Pork stirfry
1 large cup (before cooking) rice (white)

Snack:
Protein shake (whole milk)
Peanuts

Holy shit I’m getting hungry a lot. Definitely have the appetite to up the calories, but trying to be sensible whilst the weights are still fairly light. Plus, I’m still eating considerably more than I was to maintain 80kg, so hopefully that’ll produce some results for another week or two before I up calories again.

12

13/9/14

Squat 52.5kg
Military Press 27.5kg
Deadlift 80kg

All 5 x 5, 90s rest

Also did 3x5 bw chins, and 3x 1 arm deadlift per side @70kg

Hit all of it easily.

Food:

Breakfast:
Museli
Bacon Sandwich

Lunch:
Bread

13

15/9/14

Training:

Squat 55kg
Bench 42.5kg
Row 42.5kg

5x5, 1 minute rest, I was in a rush.

I feel like I am getting stronger quicker than the weights are getting heavier, which can only be a good thing. I’m consistently 0.5-1kg heavier than I was since I started the program 2 weeks ago.

Food:

Breakfast
3 eggs
3 slices soda bread

Lunch
5 rye crackers
4 large slices ham
cheese

Dinner
Salmon
Potatoes
Runner beans

Snack 1
Protein shake (whole milk)

Snack 2
3 fistfulls of peanuts

Edit:
Had two pieces of toast, last thing. So damn hungry.

14

17/9/14

Training:

Squat 57.5kg
OHP 30kg
Deadlift 87.5kg (couldn’t find a smaller plate, decided just to get on with it)

90s rest for all sets. Feel good. And Hungry.

One arm deadlift 3 x 1/side 70kg
3x5 bw chins 30s rest between sets

Food:

Breakfast:
3 eggs
3 slices soda bread

Lunch:
Homemade veg soup
Salmon
1 Avocado
Beetroot
6 rice crackers

Snack:
Fistful peanuts

Dinner:
3 Chicken thighs
7 new potatoes
1 courgette

Snack:
Protein shake (whole milk)

15

18/09/14

First proper weigh in & measurements this morning.

Weight: 180.4lbs - increase of 2.4lbs

L&R arm - 14.25" - increase of 1/8 of an inch
Chest - 40.75" - increase of 3/4 of an inch
Waist - 32.9 - decrease of .1 of an inch (maybe, obviously a fine margin of change, but I was pretty unforgiving with the measurement, so it is at least an accurate reflection)
Thigh - 24" - increase of 1/2 an inch
Neck - 15.25" - increase of 1/4 of an inch.

Great progress for about 2.5 weeks. Very motivating.