Jcraig's Training Log

[Jcraig]

My current stats and PR's will always be listed in my signature. I am currently training on the Starting Strength Novice Program detailed here:

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
5x3 Power Cleans

My starting weights in each lift are listed below. The weight increase per workout is currently 5lbs. on the Bench Press/Overhead Press/Squat and 10lbs. on the Deadlift/Power Clean.

Deadlift - 255lbs
Squat - 225lbs
Bench - 175lbs
Overhead Press - 120lbs
Power Clean - 75lbs.

I am eating about 5000 calories a day, eating the following:

1 Gallon of Milk
1lb. of Meat (Beef or Pork)
Lots of Nuts
Lots of Veggies

[Jcraig]

2/3/2009

Workout A

Squat - 225lbs. 5/5/5

Slow bar speed. Probably going to deload in another 20lbs. I will repeat this weight again next exercise before I move on. 2 dudes twice my size were watching me go ATG and whispering amongst themselves.

Bench Press - 175lbs. 5/5/5

Good bar speed. Back was not tight enough on sets 1-2 so I fatigued early but finished my reps. Set 3, back nice and tight, was no worries.

Deadlift - 255lbs. 5

Good bar speed. Need to make sure I keep the glutes tight on the inital lift off.

[DaveT]

Congrats on becoming a moderator and thanks for your useful posts.
You've obviously been lifting for a while (great numbers btw), so I'm interested as to why you don't do any assistance exercises (dips/push ups, pull ups, rev crunches etc) as part of your workouts?

[Jcraig]

2/5/2009

Workout B

Squat - 225lbs. 5/5/5

Good bar speed. A lot easier than Tuesday, although after my sets fatigue set in hard. A bit closer stance seemed to take some stress of my back and helped keep it tight.

Overhead Press - 125lbs. 5/5/5

Slow bar speed. I'm going to have to start using fractionals here soon, probably another 10lbs. before this happens. Squats definitely kicked my energy down and I saw the influence here.

Power Clean - 0lbs. 0/0/0

Every squat rack curler was in the gym and I just went ahead and did 5x5 chin-ups.

Diet

I think I need to up my carb intake by about 150g or so, the gas is starting to run out too fast and I can see this hindering my progress.

DaveT:
Congrats on becoming a moderator and thanks for your useful posts.
You've obviously been lifting for a while (great numbers btw), so I'm interested as to why you don't do any assistance exercises (dips/push ups, pull ups, rev crunches etc) as part of your workouts?

Thanks brother, I look forward to helping provide value to this site.

As my workouts have progressed into the 200lbs+ on the novice program, my energy levels are pretty much sapped by the time I have completed the workout.

Assistance exercises to me are only useful if they help push one of my main exercises forward. For example, when I noticed my lower back was losing tightness on the Squat and Deadlift, I added in Hyperextensions into my routine for a few weeks to "catch up" my lower back. When it comes to ab and core, I feel there is no better ab exercise then keeping 200lbs. from snapping your spine in half, so I don't do any specific core exercises. You should see me come up from heavy squats, my face is red and my eyes are bloodshoot. I think that as my weights start approaching 300lbs. or so, any unnecessary assistance exercises will interfere with recovery and I will see my progress slow down.

[Rocky89]

What's up
how comes your weight on deads is similar to squats?

[Jcraig]

What's up
how comes your weight on deads is similar to squats?

That's just how my progression has put me I guess, your lifts usually go from strongest to weakest like so: Deadlifts, Squats, Bench Press, Overhead Press.

Now if my Bench Press was real close to my Squat THEN I would have some issues.

[eLvarouza]

Dude your press is like ... way too high. I'm jealous. Our stats are similar on bench press; I just hit 3x5x180lbs earlier this week. Want to see who can hit 3x5x200lbs first?

[Jcraig]

Dude your press is like ... way too high. I'm jealous. Our stats are similar on bench press; I just hit 3x5x180lbs earlier this week. Want to see who can hit 3x5x200lbs first?

Let's go! You would be surprised, I was stuck at 135lbs. for an incredibly long time. It wasn't until I started eating like I meant it that my BP and OHP started progessing solid.

[Jcraig]

2/7/2009

Workout A

Squat - 230lbs. 5/5/5

Good bar speed. I need to stretch my hammys more because I had a little too much back pump moving into deadlifts.

Deadlift - 265lbs. 5

Slow bar speed. Form was off, I just wasn't in the zone and I don't think I was using an effective Valsalva. My chest dropped during 2 reps, causing my back to round a bit. Need to clean it up next workout. I still have this pesky scab right under my right knee that I keep on breaking... sigh.

Bench Press - 180lbs. 5/5/5

Good bar speed. Nothing special here, form was on point. My back was still a bit too pumped from Squats/Deadlifts

[bigwhat62]

just saw your diet man, sounds like a lot of food. are you trying to add weight? or is it hard for you to maintain weight? you liking the gallon of milk a day?

[Jcraig]

just saw your diet man, sounds like a lot of food. are you trying to add weight? or is it hard for you to maintain weight? you liking the gallon of milk a day?

It is a decent amount of food, but even then it doesn't seem like enough. GOMAD isn't too bad, I just drink it throughout the day. At this point, I wanted to get to about 185 or so, but with my lifts going up each workout without too much trouble, I may cut back a little bit on the food. I went from 155-175 in about 2 weeks or so of GOMAD.

[amaeland]

Hi JCraig, you got some good-looking numbers here three sets of 255 lbs. deadlift is impressive. That press is pretty crazy too! It's interesting that you are not doing assistance exercises, I find chins and dips especially hard after heavy squats or deads and don't see them as essential. But I guess I don't like them because I'm not good at them, so I want to keep going at least for a while

[Jcraig]

Hi JCraig, you got some good-looking numbers here three sets of 255 lbs. deadlift is impressive. That press is pretty crazy too! It's interesting that you are not doing assistance exercises, I find chins and dips especially hard after heavy squats or deads and don't see them as essential. But I guess I don't like them because I'm not good at them, so I want to keep going at least for a while

I totally just had to fix my logs, I do 1x5 Deadlifts on Workout A, not a 3x5. Thank you for the kind words anyways. One of my major goals is to get up to a plate on the press. I remember a long time ago I saw this huge dude doing Overhead Press with a plate on each side, and I was like man that guys is a beast! Now I am within 10lbs. of it, so I am pretty excited.

[eLvarouza]

Let's go! You would be surprised, I was stuck at 135lbs. for an incredibly long time. It wasn't until I started eating like I meant it that my BP and OHP started progessing solid.

Yea I was stuck around there too on bench press until I started to GOMAD. I'll be eating like a hog the next few weeks trying to sustain 5lb jumps on the bench press

Do you do a strict press or do you use hip movement? I've tried using hip movement and figured I didn't really need it until heavier weights.

[Jcraig]

Let's go! You would be surprised, I was stuck at 135lbs. for an incredibly long time. It wasn't until I started eating like I meant it that my BP and OHP started progessing solid.

Yea I was stuck around there too on bench press until I started to GOMAD. I'll be eating like a hog the next few weeks trying to sustain 5lb jumps on the bench press

Do you do a strict press or do you use hip movement? I've tried using hip movement and figured I didn't really need it until heavier weights.

Good stuff, looking forward to a little challenge. I follow SS:BBT instructions to the T on the press. I don't think I use hip movement other than the back and forth to get under the bar.