Gator's training log

[Gator]

Hello all. There are some very inspiring posts in here.

First off, awesome site. I love the way that it is laid out. It has great information, and the presentation of it is not overwhelming. I have done searches and searches over the last week on similar sites, and I kept finding my way back here. I eventually made my way over to the forums, and I am hooked.

History. (trying to keep it short).
I had the typical high school athlete's physique (played football and basketball). After high school, I went to the University of Florida and spent the next 8 years getting my Masters degree in Engineering. While fun, I barely kept up with working out and did not care one bit what I was eating or drinking. Fast food, fried food, and alcohol, oh so good and oh so bad. All in all, I ballooned to 260 pounds. After college, I worked (desk job) at 260 for about a year. Then, after a few doctors visits, I ended up on medication for Hyper-tension (high blood pressure). I was 28 years old at this point. The doctor said that my weight was more than likely the reason for my condition.

Stats (at that point)

Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 260+
Body Fat %: ?? I was wearing 42" waist pants/shorts.

As of now
My first goal was to lose weight. It took a long time to do, and would lose some weight then put some back on. Finally, as of about 4 months ago or so, I hit my goal of 200 lbs. I ultimately achieved that by a mix of cardio workouts and light weight/high rep exercises.

Stats (06/13/2008)

Weight: 202 lb
Body Fat %: 18.1%
Bench Press, 1 rep: 205 lb (first time in my life that I have benched 1x my body weight, achieved that on Wednesday last week)
Squat, 1 rep: ?

Ultimate Goal (the one thing that I want out of training than anything else)

Do everything that I can to get off of blood pressure medicine. I am not sure that it may be possible now that I am on it, but being healthy can't hurt.

Intermediate Goal(s)

Reduce body fat to 10-12% and increase lean muscle weight. I like being in the 200 lb range.
Bench Press 250 lbs.
Squat 300 lbs. (1.5x body weight)

I plan on doing the beginner stonglifts 5x5. I am interested in how some of these movements will work out, as I am not very good at all with them. Specifically dips, pull ups and chin ups. I have never done a standing overhead press or deadlift with that much weight before either, so I plan on starting light with those.

Unfortunately though, I am on travel next week for work. So I will not be able to start the 5x5 until I return on a week from Monday. I am planning on doing some body resistance movements while I am gone though.

[tristan]

First off, welcome to the forum!

What sort of engineer are you? I just graduated with a computer engineering degree. Going back for the master's this fall.

Good luck with your goals. I know it is possible for a person to get off blood pressure medicine if they improve their physical condition.. You're already strong. If you focus on your strength goals, I'm sure everything else will come with time.

[Gator]

Thanks!

My degree is in mechanical engineering, though my work is in aerospace/mechanical. It was tough getting into a routine of heading to the gym while working a desk job.

[Gator]

I am planning on updating my log on a weekly basis rather than daily since I am in the gym pretty much 4 to 5 days a week.

Anyway, today was day one on the beginners 5x5, and everything went pretty well. Kinda light, but didn't want to get ahead of myself.

Squat: 145 lb, 5/5/5/5/5
Bench Press: 145 lb, 5/5/5/5/5
Barbell Row: 75 lb, 5/5/5/5/5
Dips: 8 (2 negatives)/5 (5 negatives)/3 (7 negatives)

This was the first time that I have ever done barbell rows. I had always done them on a cybex machine in the past. Holy crap, I completely underestimated this exercise. All in all, everything felt pretty good. I will probably feel the rows in the morning.

[Gator]

Beginners 5x5, workout B: First time through on some of these.

Squat @ 150 lb, 5/5/5/5/5
Overhead Press @ 85 lb, 5/5/5/5/5
Deadlift @ 95 lb, 5
Pull Ups @ Body Weight, 2.5, 0 (5 Negatives), 0 (5 Negatives)

Phew. Squats felt much better today after watching Video: Rippetoe coaching hip drive on squat. I think my form is still off some, but felt much better than the first workout. I would definately benifit from some more flexability in my shoulders though.

Overhead press was interesting. Only time I have ever done those standing was with light dumbells (10 to 20 lb) and a lot of reps. Felt pretty good.

Deadlift felt good, but I think I need to jump 10 lb on this one next time instead of 5, seemed relatively easy at that weight.

Pull Ups. Ha. I have always sucked at those. Frankly, I was happy that I got one, and then amazed that I got 2.

[EasyRider]

Gator where in North Atlanta are you. I just started the program in Buckhead. 5'10" wt. 190lbs. squat 155lb, bench 165lb, row 145lb and dips 15,9,7. That was for today and I did not think I was going to get it all. Started last week: squat 135, bench 155, row 135, dips 14-9-7, press 95, deadlift 185, pull-up/chin-up 12-7-6. Looking forward to what will happen with this program. The weight is getting heavy fast, but with the instruction on deloading I plan on being on this routine for a few months.

[Gator]

Missed my update last week, mostly due to the July 4th weekend, and a vacation for my son's first birthday.

Anyway, the week's workout that I completed last went very well. I only got in 2 days of lifting though.

Monday June 30th: workout A
Squat - 155 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Bench - 150 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Row - 80 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Dips - Body Weight: 5 (5 negative) (ran out of time on workout)

Tuesday, July 1st: Cardio

Wednesday July 2nd: Workout B
Squat - 160 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Overhead Press - 90 lb: 5/5/5/5/5
Deadlift - 100 lb: 5
Chin-ups - Body Weight: 2 (8 negative), 1.75 (8 negative), 0.5 (9 negative)

Thursday, July 3rd: Cardio fitness competition: Timed 1.5 mile run, 400 meter row, 6.2 mile ride (indoor equipment). 30 minutes 24 seconds. This was for a competition that my gym is holding. The row was a lot more than I had expected. In the end of it, I honestly couldn't have gone any faster.

I had a great week. I had a retest for some competition at my gym that I am participating in. Bench Press 1 rep max went up to 215. Vertical leap went up another inch (25 inches now). Body fat went down to 16.9%. On top of some good retest results, my blood pressure has been fantastic and my doctor has cut my medication in half. If my blood pressure remains good over the next month, my doctor is going to try and take me off completely!

[KIB]

On top of some good retest results, my blood pressure has been fantastic and my doctor has cut my medication in half. If my blood pressure remains good over the next month, my doctor is going to try and take me off completely!

Congrats, Gator. That is great news!

[danmarmu]

Gator,

I too live in Atlanta. Between you, Easyrider, and myself we can do a little stronglifts workout. I assume you live over on the northwest due to your working in the aerospace industry.

Good results so far. I am impressed with your weight loss. I too am just like you. Keep it up.

[Gator]

Congrats, Gator. That is great news!

Thanks . So far so good. I have had 1 of 3 required BP readings by my doctor so far, and that one was great (108/70). Two more like that and I am off the medicine. Also to note, I have been at half dose of my medicine for 3 weeks now, and my BP hasn't increased. My next two readings are today and tomorrow.

Gator,

I too live in Atlanta. Between you, Easyrider, and myself we can do a little stronglifts workout. I assume you live over on the northwest due to your working in the aerospace industry.

Good results so far. I am impressed with your weight loss. I too am just like you. Keep it up.

Nice. I am suprised that with what seems like a diverse crowd that posts here, 3 of us are from the same general area. Very cool. And, yes. I live in on the NW side of Atlanta.

Thanks for the kind words. That is very motivating. I'll tell you, the hardest thing was actually learning to eat properly (or better anyway). By far the hardest thing that I have ever done (and continue to battle to this day).

[Gator]

Late update from the previous week this time. I had left my workout book at work over the weekend.

Monday, July 14th: Workout A
Squat: 165 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Bench: 155 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Row: 85 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Dips: BW - 7 (3 negative)/5 (5 neg)/3 (7 neg)

Tuesday, July 15th: Cardio

Wednesday, July 16th: Workout B
Squat: 170 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
OH Press: 95 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Deadlift: 105 lb - 5
Pull-ups: 2 (8 neg)/1 (4 neg)/ 0.75 (4 neg)

Thursday, July 17th: Cardio

Friday, July 18th: Workout A
Squat: 175 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Bench: 160 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Row: 90 lb - 5/5/5/5/5
Dips: 9/4/4

Notes/thoughts from the week:
I think that the OH press is my favorite move right now.
Squats are getting up there, a couple more weeks and I will be at 1x BW for 5x5.
OH press is getting pretty difficult to complete the 5x5.
Bench is starting to feel heavy on the last set, not as difficult as the OH press though.
I continue to suck at pull-ups/chin-ups.

[Gator]

Wow, a lot can change.

Update after reading through some of this stuff.

First and foremost.. I love hitting goals.. My ULTIMATE GOAL from post 1 (has been a goal since originally diagnosed in 2003), getting off of blood pressure medicine. SUCCESS! I was taken off of my meds in roughly October of 2008. I monitor my BP often, and am happy to say that it is still below normal (120/80).

Second. I continued SL5x5 for a while after my last post here. I don't remember EXACTLY why I quit doing it, but I did. Life and work just got in the way for a few months. From the time I stopped doing SL5x5, I have continued to be active in the gym doing other activities and/or routines, just not doing SL5x5.

Lately, I have felt "blah" in spite of me being active at the gym. My body fat is up to 17.4%, though I have maintained my weight with in 5% of what it was (current weight is 206). My clothes still fit, though the way they fit is noticably different from what they felt like at the end of 2008. I have gone back and looked at the sporratic training logs that I have for the last few years (and going off of memory).. and the "best" feeling that I can remember was when I was doing SL5x5 religiously. Ironically enough, that was the time when I had the best "numbers"... weight was just over 200 lb, body fat was just under 14%. I really remember feeling great too. Since that time, I have worked down to lower weight doing other activities (minimum weight was in 2009, at 196 lb)... though my body fat was at 15%... and physically I didn't feel quite as good at that point.

All in all, I have decided to go back to SL5x5. When I was doing that was the best that I physically felt and looked since I was playing football and basketball in high school (15 years ago). In making this decision... I have discovered that my form on squats has gone completely out of the window. In the time of doing limited/no squats, apparently I have lost a good amount of hip flexibility. I have read about the stretch suggested here, and I am working on that.. though it is so bad that I have difficulty holding my balance in that stretch position. bleh.

From here.. Goals.

Ultimate Goal.
10-11% body fat.
300+ lb squat.
250+ lb bench press.
30+ inch vertical leap - I know, not a weight lifting goal. However, I do all of this working out to support other athletic activites. I love to play basketball, jumping/leaping ability is important to me.

Interim Goal -- I am in a "competition" at my gym. I have 3 months to:
Drop 3% body fat
Increase vertical by 3 inches

Current stats:
Body Fat: 17.4%
Vertical: 25 to 26 inches (my starting point test is Monday, this is what I am expecting)
Bench Press: unknown
Squat: 0 lb with proper form.

[Gator]

Day 1 back to it. Stupid 12 hour work days get in the way of things.

SL: A
Squat: 45 lb (bar only), 5x5.
Bench Press: 135 lb, 5x5.
Inverted Row: 8/6/5
Push Ups: 12/10/8
Reverse Crunches: 3x12

Vertical Leap practice, 4 jumps: 22.5, 24.5, 24.5, 23.5.

Notes:
Don't feel that I am getting all the way down with correct form on squats.
Vertical leaps felt discontinuous, unnatural, goofy.

[jflynn]

Keep it up man! I'll be following your log. We're about the same level - check out mine in the sig

[Tuplad]

Good luck!