STRENGTHQUEST!

Starting Strength - Week 9
Pretty good week. I didn’t go up as heavy since I was using weird metric units in the UK during Week 8, plus only got one workout in during Week 8 due to my travel/work schedule. I didn’t hit all my goals this week.

Monday - 27 July 09 - Workout A
Squat: 330
Bench: 255
Deadlift: 350

First set of bench was very slow. Second set I got motivated and it was pretty easy. Third set was very tough.

Wednesday - 29 July 09 - Workout B
Squat: 335
Press: 145
Clean: 195

Good workout. All lifts good. Press is getting harder. My shoulder joints just can’t take a lot of weight. I think I rounded my back some on the press.

Friday - 31 July 09 - Workout A
Squat: 340
Bench: 255
Deadlift: 355 (x)

Squat was good. Got a form check from someone that actually knew what they were talking about and realized I had been going to low and bringing my knees forward during the motion. Worked on correcting form and was good by the end.

Bench was hard. I started at 260 (normal 5 lbs progression) but crapped out and barely got 5 reps in. So I backed it down to 255 and struggled with that too. I realized my feet position were real out of line and causing my left shoulder to compensate for my left foot being so far behind my right (Thanks Ashley!). So I am working on correcting that.

I could only pull 3 reps on deadlift. Not sure why. I took a quick break and did one more rep and that was all I could manage. I worked out in the early afternoon, as opposed to my normal evening workouts and I think that could have affected it some. I am used to have 5 complete meals before working out and only got in one + preworkout Surge this day. Hopefully this will improve next week.

Ok that’s all for now. New pics coming soon. I also bought a myotape, bodyfat calipers, and heart rate monitor so I should have some fun new data to analyze soon (sorry, engineer, obviously).

Peace

Are you rounding or arching your back? I can’t see anyone doing much rounding while doing shoulder presses. That’d be quite difficult!

I’d also be pretty wary about the squatting advice. People really never have problems squatting too low. If there’s a mirror next to the squat rack, take a look at where the top of your thighs are at the bottom position. They should be at or slightly below parallel.

And re: your knee position, ideally you’d like to keep your shins perpendicular to the floor, but everyone’s body is different. For me, my knees go forward a little bit, but since the rest of my form seems to be pretty spot on, I’m not too worried about it. I would, however, pay attention to your back angle. Sometimes if you’re leaning forward too much (as if you’re doing a good morning), your knees might also go forward. Make sure you sit back, and you should be good to go.

Hope that helps.

Joe man…thanks for coming by…I haven’t been looking at this thing much lately cause I’ve been on travel.

[quote]jo3 wrote:
Are you rounding or arching your back? I can’t see anyone doing much rounding while doing shoulder presses. That’d be quite difficult![/quote]
Yup, you caught me in a brain fart!

[quote]jo3 wrote:
I’d also be pretty wary about the squatting advice. People really never have problems squatting too low. If there’s a mirror next to the squat rack, take a look at where the top of your thighs are at the bottom position. They should be at or slightly below parallel.[/quote]
What I meant by squatting too low was expending too much effort needlessly. I shortened up how far I drop (still parallel) and it felt a lot better. I wish I had a mirror near the rack, that would make it a lot easier. Having a workout partner sometimes helps a lot when you’re used to working out by yourself; definitely keeps your form from going to complete shit.

[quote]jo3 wrote:
And re: your knee position, ideally you’d like to keep your shins perpendicular to the floor, but everyone’s body is different. For me, my knees go forward a little bit, but since the rest of my form seems to be pretty spot on, I’m not too worried about it. I would, however, pay attention to your back angle. Sometimes if you’re leaning forward too much (as if you’re doing a good morning), your knees might also go forward. Make sure you sit back, and you should be good to go.

Hope that helps.[/quote]

I was reading up on this and it seems that the knees going forward is a sign of poor hamstring flexibility. This kind of makes sense, but Rippetoe states pretty explicitly he doesn’t feel extra stretching is necessary while on Starting Strength. I’m not too sure I agree with him. I’m definitely going to start working on my flexibility a bit.

Thanks for the advice man! Much appreciated. Hope all is well for you.

Starting Strength - Week 10
Tuesday - 4 August 2009 - Workout B
Squat: 345
Press: 150
Clean: 200
Ab Machine: 80

Squat was good. I missed one rep on my last set of press. Cleans were good. Abs were good. Not much to speak of here.

Thursday - 6 August 2009 - Workout A
Squat: 350
Bench: 265
Deadlift: 355

Squat and deads were good. I missed the last rep on my last set of bench. Second set of bench was VERY tough.

Sunday - 9 August 2009 - Workout B
Squat: 355
Press: 155
Clean: 205

Good workout. Hit all my lifts for the day.

Overall, Week 10 was a good week.

Starting Strength - Week 11
Wednesday - 12 August 2009 - Workout A
Squat: 360
Bench: 265
Deadlift: 360

Squat was good. Felt like my form was on point. I stuck with the same weight that I missed for one rep last week and blasted through it. Deadlift was awesome; the weight felt very light and I think I could have done a lot more.

Friday - 14 August 2009 - Workout B
Squat: 365
Press: 155

I went to the gym ready to train and felt completely shitty after squats. I missed the press bad and just didn’t feel like continuing this night. Not sure what was going on, but I just didn’t have it in me.

After I got home, I started evaluating my progress so far and decided that I am happy with what I’ve accomplished, but I think its time for a change. I’m getting bored on this program and would like to start a program that will allow me to do a little more energy systems work as I feel like I’ve put a little bit more fat on than I should have. Squatting 3 days a week is starting to take its toll on the way I feel, and its very difficult to convince myself to do energy systems work with 3 squat days.

Plus I have been wanting to give 5-3-1 a go for a while, so I think this is a good time to transition over.

So there it is. 11 Weeks on Starting Strength, with some better than others, but overall I’m pleased with my gains. I’ve added about 15 lbs of mass and gotten my lifts up to ~respectable levels. Hopefully the gains will continue on 5-3-1 (I’m sure they will).

I think I will probably continue posting on this log, just to keep from having a whole bunch of different ones. Pics and final measurements coming soon.

-nate

Final Front Pic

Final Side Pic

Shitty quality of both. Oh well, I took them in a hotel room last month and just now found them. Made some good gains on Starting Strength, moved on to 5-3-1. That log is here if anyone cares: