Posted on another forum, longtime reader here, new poster, figure a journal should start things off.
Some background info on me to get this log rolling. All my life I have been athletic, but on the small side. Short 5’7’'ish, lean, id define myself as an ecto. Played baseball and football for a longtime, 3 knee operations led to 2 years off basically all athletics, then I picked up lacrosse goalie and had a blast.
Lifted off and on for a few months here and a few months there over 3 years roughly ages 16-18. Would be consistent for a few months but sports would come up and lifting took a back seat, although I always made great gains when I did lift, noobie gains every time u start are a real confidence boost. College came, drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of pizza, got out of shape and was 150lbs skinny fat and weak, and that was in 1 semester! Binge drinking 5 nights a week, no training, and eating horrible food can take its toll on the body quickly.
Any who, picked up boxing and really enjoyed it, did so from January 08 until 3 weeks ago. Had my first fight in the Gloves and won! Yet I also cracked a rib which sucked a whole lot. So I had to withdraw from the remainder of the tournament, rib is starting to heal somewhat, only thing that seems to bother it is intense rotational exercising or sneezing of all things.
So now I am getting back into lifting, this time hopefully for more than a few months. My diet is pretty solid, mostly because of boxing I eat healthy. Id say 80% of my calories come from Chicken, Eggs, Pork, Milk, Pasta, Oatmeal, Rice, Peanut Butter, Almonds, and peanuts. I eat a good amount of fruits and veggies, mostly cucumbers, green peppers, broccoli, olives, carrots, apples, bananas, melon, and plums. I don’t go nuts over eating, if i feel like a greasy slice of pizza and a burger I’ll have it, but I enjoy eating the healthy foods I do eat.
Wow that all took a lot longer than expected, and heres my workout routine. I’m going to be doing full body 3x per week, intially consisting of just 4 exercises. Deadlift 5x5, Front Squat 3x8, T-bar 3x8, and DB shoulder press 3x8. This comes from the line of thinking of each whole body workout should consist of Deadlift variant, Squat variant,a Push, and a Pull. Normally I would do Bench or Military Press for my push, and weighted chins for my pull but my rib still seems to be a bit uncomfortable doing all of those, so DB shoulder press and T-bar rows will suffice for now.
As stated earlier, my knee injuries really killed my squats earlier in my lifting campaign (basically I was a pussy and told myself I shouldn’t squat because of my knee). So starting squats will be my weak point. Didn’t weigh myself this morning, will post next time. When I post numbers I will only post what I consider work sets, although each exercise I do warm up sets, just to get the motion down, and my body ready to go.
Anyway here are the numbers for today:
Deadlift :225x5,245x5,245x3,245x3,245x3
Front Sqaut: 95x8, 95x8, 115x8
T-bar: 95x8, 95x8, 95x8
DB Press: 35x8, 35x6,35x5
As you can see I’m starting squats real light, getting my form down, not trying to overdue it. As for deadlifts, I will probably hear I started too heavy. Honestly my back and hamstrings felt fine, I was having serious grip issues. I am used to using chalk, and no chalk was a big difference. I may look into straps, but once summer arrives I will be able to use chalk again so that should help.
Anyways this is my journal, any thoughts are appreciated, and hope this can entertain some people as I make my journey.