Hilts' Training Log

[Hilts]

Hilts’ Stats:
Male
Age: 50
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 167lbs
Body fat: 16%

Goals: Increase strength and size, reach bodyweight of @185lbs and eventually decrease body fat to @ 10 – 12%.

Start Date: December 3, 2009

Lifting Stats as of January 30, 2010
Squat 5x5 185lbs
BP 5x5 115lbs
OHP 5x5 95lbs
Deadlift 1x5 195lbs
Weighted chinups 3x5 12.5lbs
Pullups 14/10/8 @bodyweight
Inverted Rows 3x5 12.5lbs

After completing 8 weeks of SL its time I started a log. Some background on me. I’m 50 years old, 5’11” body fat of 16%. I’ve lifted semi-regularly for many, many years mostly following hard gainer style routines as well as some periodization routines. I’m your typical long limbed, small jointed, thin ectomorph. . It's always been tremendously difficult for me to put on weight.

Aside from weights, I’m lucky to have a fully equipped gym where I work that costs me nothing to use. But I only use it for aerobic work 2 or 3 times a week mostly 30 minutes on an elliptical machine. The weight room is always busy and since I have a power rack at home I do my lifting there. I used to be a runner but I’ve had both knees scoped within the past 3 years. Had some meniscus cartilage removed from both. Knees are feeling good though and I have no problem squatting. My surgeon advised me to give up running so I stick to the elliptical now.

I’m pretty careful with what I eat. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken and lean beef. I’ve cut back on carbs but still enjoy my wholegrain toast at breakfast and oatmeal. Instead of rice and potatoes I eat a lot of quinoa which has the most protein of any grain. My one weakness is pasta which I probably have once a week. I really do not eat sweets or deserts, preferring instead to eat fruit or yogurt. I drink a lot of milk (1%) every day including a quality protein shake or two. I’m not a fish eater so I do supplement with omega-3 capsules.

As I said at the beginning, I've just completed the 8th week of SL. Back on December 3rd when I started SL, I weighed 157 lbs and body fat was 16%. Since I've lifted semi-regularly for years I didn't start with the empty bar. Starting weights were: Squat 70 lbs, BP 60 lbs, OHP 45 lbs, DL 85 lbs.

Eight weeks later as of January 30th, I weigh 167 lbs (increase of 10 lbs) and body fat is still 16%. My weights as of this week are: Squat 185 lbs, BP 115 lbs, OHP 95 lbs, DL 195 lbs.

I am extremely impressed and excited as a 10 lb increase in bodyweight in 8 weeks for me is astounding. It's always been tremendously difficult for me to put on weight. This program and this site have been unbelievably inspirational and I'm so thankful I found it. I personally want to thank Mehdi. Without his program I would still be toiling away, not making any progress. I wish I had found SL years ago but I know I have many, many years of productive lifting ahead of me now. I am excited every day I work out, I love seeing the poundages going up every week, clothes are starting to feel tighter, I see a difference when I look in the mirror and my wife has seen a noticeable change in my appearance as well. Thanks for reading.

Dave

[guru]

Congrats on the progress again & nice to see you've started a training log.

Happy lifting.

[mpetry]

progress so far looks great. good luck with the log!

[Hilts]

Thanks guru and mpetry! I did 5x5 190lbs in the squat today. Boy its really starting to feel heavy!

[Hilts]

Lifts today

Squat 5x5 195lbs
OHP 5x5 100lbs
Deadlift 1x5 200lbs

The squats felt extremely heavy but I managed all the reps and quite certain I maintained good form. I just sense a stall might be coming so I'll have to toughen up mentally to keep going. Happy to break the 100lb barrier on the OHP. It was hard but again, kept good form and I believe I should be able to get all reps at 105. Also broke the 200lb barrier on the DL. All in all I was happy with my lifts today.

[guru]

Good workout.

[Hilts]

Lifts today

Squat 5x5 200lbs YES!
BP 5x5 125lbs

A milestone for this old guy. Don't know whether it was the extra day of rest or I just really concentrated but I kinda found 200lbs in the squat a little easier than 195lbs. Go figure! It feels really good to crack 200 anyway.

[Hilts]

Lifts yesterday.

squat 5x5 205lbs freaking tough but I did it
OHP 110lbs 4/5/5/5/5 fell short on the first set, may have been I paused too long in the bottom after the 4th rep
DL 1x5 215lbs
weighted chinup 3x5 15lbs

Hopefully on the weekend I can nail the OHP at 110lbs and keep progressing. The squats are getting quite brutal. I've got to try to remember some of the key tips while I'm doing them especially keeping the abs tight. Oh yeah, I've also put on another 3 lbs of bodyweight in the past 2 weeks.

[guru]

Nice work. If you fail on any set other than the last and get all reps on the last, it's probably due to lack of focus. You'll definitely get the OHP next time.

[Hilts]

Nice work. If you fail on any set other than the last and get all reps on the last, it's probably due to lack of focus. You'll definitely get the OHP next time.

Thanks for the encouragement, I think you hit the nail on the head. FOCUS!!!

[grubinski]

Thanks for stopping by my log.

Agree with guru that sets of 5,4,5 are totally a lack of concentration.

It's very interesting to me how close your bench and OHP are. Do you feel they are both equally close to stalling, or is it going to be a while before the bench stalls? From your goals, it looks like you think they're in about the same place.

[Hilts]

I think there will be some time before the bench stalls. I didn't start any of the exercises with an empty bar and when I entered my starting weights in the SL spreadsheet and the numbers were extrapolated across the board, theose goals are what ended up on the final week. Seriously though the goal for OHP seems a bit much for me but aim high I say!

[Hilts]

I've had a feeling all week that my first stall on squats was coming soon because I found 200 and then 205 lbs hard. Well, the stall arrived today at 210lbs. My sets were 5/5/5/3/1. Tough to swallow but I'll suck it up and try again next week. On a positive note, my bench press at 130lbs was not difficult and I did 3x5 17.5lbs on the inverted row.

[guru]

Hey, you got first three sets alright. The first thing to look at now is the rest between sets. Increase the rest upto 5 min. after the third set. That should help.

[Hilts]

Maybe I should have listened to my body today. Got home from work later than usual and was feeling pretty tired but I started my workout anyway. It was a bad/good workout. Bad because I did worse on squats than previous workout. It was my 2nd attempt at 210lbs and I did 5/5/5/2 today. Didn't even attempt a 5th set. Last workout I did 5/5/5/3/1. I was just feeling beat. However, the workout was good because I nailed the OHP for 5x5 at 110lbs which was my 2nd attempt at that weight. Then I did 1x5 at 225 for DL which was good. Also did 15 bodyweight reps on the first set for pullups so now I get to add weight on those too.