John's kick ass training log

[mtwtfm]

i'm pretty excited today. it's sunday, i have nothing to do, and all i did was lift, go grocery shopping, clean my fridge (thank God) and EAT!

first day at the gym today!!! what a f*cking rush! i've never really lifted weights before (a little in high school track, but not really). holy crap do squats kick my ass. and hurt my groin. i had no idea how tough they would be. i lifted all my exercises with just the bar today (45lbs) and man was it tough. bench pressing was a total breeze, but squatting was, well, really tough! i video recorded myself on sets 2 thru 5 and posted it on youtube. if anyone would be so kind to check it out and critique my form, i'd REALLY appreciate it. i want to make sure i've got my squats squared away at these low weights.

here's it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un_DWtdZ4AY
(how do you post vids in the forum threads? i tried the youtube button up there, but can't figure it out)

one thing i noticed...my knees are getting well out beyond my toes. problem is, if i scoot my knees back any further, it feels like i'm going to fall over backwards, which i actually did do during my warm up (no weight). is it because i'm tall? because i'm weak in that area? feet too close together?

so today was workout A from the downloadable pdf. here's how i did:

squats 5x5 @ 45lbs
bench 5x5 @ 45lbs
inverted rows (feet on floor) 3 sets to failure: 9x6x3
pushups 3 sets to failure: 20x9x2
reverse crunches 3x12 w/ 12lb dumbbell for assistance

it was great! i am going to love this. eating a lot was pretty cool, too. i'm on a 3,500 min diet, and i'm finding that it's not incredibly difficult to eat that much. i mean, a big handful of nuts is like 700 cal!! (please abstain from the gratuitous "that's what she said" quip. i realize i set you up pretty well for one of those!) i'm finding that if i'm just simply aware of what i'm eating, it gets pretty easy to hit the goal. we'll see how it goes on work days, though. my job is not very accommodating to the 5x5 lifestyle, but i'm working it out with them.

i have a question about spaghetti noodles that i will post in the nutrition forum. check it out and let me know what you think if you'd be so kind.

finally, stats for today:
6'3", 167lbs
measurements (in inches)
Neck Arms L/R Chest Waist Butt Thighs L/R
14.75 10.5/10.25 36.25 32.5 37.5 22.25/21.75

THAT'S ALL! until next time, keep eating and getting stronger!

[Austy]

Great to see mate Today is day 1 of week 4 for me, so I won't offer any advice other than this - get yourself a copy of Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength, and read it cover to cover a couple of times. Put his name into YouTube too - there's a bunch of vid's worth checking out.

Keep it up!

Cheers,

Aaron.

[grubinski]

A quick look at the vid and I'd say you need to move your feet further apart, and point the feet out at an angle. That will help you reach back with your butt and keep your shins more vertical. It would *really* help you to buy a copy of "Starting Strength". That one purchase will make all of the time you put in at the gym MUCH more effective.

Just noticed your sig line ... awesome.

[mtwtfm]

looks like i will have to check out Starting Strength.

squatting was much better today. the recommendations helped, so thanks a lot guys. i kept me feet a little farther apart, and stuck my butt out a lot more. after watching the video of myself from today (day 2 of my 5x5 program), it looked like much better form. i could see my knees staying back behind my toes. i could also see that i have a pretty nice arse for a skinny guy. that's right.

holy crap guys. yesterday was the longest day of my life! i couldn't wait to get back into the gym! today went really well. i did workout B for the first time. don't go too bad at all:

squat 5x5 @ 45lbs (much better form than sunday)
OH press 5x5 @ 45lbs (i didn't think i'd be able to do it, but i did! no prob)
dead lift 1x5 @ 45lbs (tough to say if i'm doing this right since i only get one set of it. i recorded myself and it looked pretty decent.)
chin ups 3 sets to fail-- 4x1x0 (no arm strength!!! hahaha! quite a ways to go until the one-armed chin up for this guy!)
prone bridges 3x30sec (no prob, will probably add moving 2.5lb weights next time. i've got pretty good abs)

just to be sure--if i have an A workout, then a B workout, i don't add 5lbs until the next A workout, correct? so it's not adding 5lbs EVERY WORKOUT, it's 5lbs each time you do a particular workout. yes?

grubinski, glad you like the signature line. it's a great practice for every area of life. i would love nothing more than for the whole world to stop suffering.

thanks for the input, guys! i can't wait to see where i'll be in 3 months. cheers from snowy minneapolis!

[mtwtfm]

ps--for anyone wanting to start lifting in minneapolis, Bally's allows dead lifting while all the other fruity clubs i checked do not. Bally's is $30/month. all of their locations are EAST of Hwy 100, so keep that in mind. i dig it!

[mtwtfm]

i'm a jackass--i just answered my own question. basically you add 5lbs every time you perform an exercise! so squatting every workout add 5, but....yeah....i get it now. i screwed up today! good to notice it early. on the spreadsheet from now on...

[ulbonado]

Yup, you got it, add 5lbs every time you do the exercise, so your presses go up only every other workout, but squats every time. Note also that the program calls for upping deadlifts by 10lbs each time you do them, so that effectively is 5lbs per workout, even counting the A days when you don't do deads.

[mtwtfm]

ugh. going to workout today--looking forward to it. but boy is my stomach turning over right now. i could barely eat anything yesterday, and am feeling kinda queazy today. basically what i've been eating is as follows:

breakfast: 2-3 eggs w/ spinach OR 1/2 cup oatmeal, maybe toast for some fiber. one orange

4oz mixed nuts throughout the day, 32oz milk w/ whey

6oz spaghetti w/ ground beef and sauce. one apple.

can of tuna, 32 oz milk w/ whey

turkey sandwich, 4oz baby carrots

32 oz milk, 2 scoops flax seed

seems like i'm low on fiber? perhaps? any other ideas you have would be great to hear about. thanks.

[ltbs]

Good log you started, loads of enthusiasm here, keep it up

[mtwtfm]

oh jeez. now i'm really in the program. not such a good day, but not bad enough to make me consider letting up at all. but a bit frustrating, none the less. here's what happened:

Squat: 50lbs 5x5
Bench: 50lbs 5x5
Inverted rows: 6x5x4---which is not as good as i did on sunday. but i think this is mostly due to counting reps with bad form on sunday. so sunday was like my practice round, and today was like the first legit day. we'll see how it goes in the next couple weeks....
Push Ups: ugh...11x8x3---what the hell happened here? the only thing i can think of is that i lifted 5 more lbs on my bench and that was enough to affect my pushups that much. (last time was 20x9x2) anybody else run up against this? so a little bit of a bummer, but i'm still learning how my body is going to react to all of this.
Reverse Crunches: 3x12 no prob

so that's the deal! oh, and i measured my body fat with one of those electro gizmos they have at the gym that you hold in both hands. never seen that before, but seemed cool. it measured 11.7% body fat and a BMI of 20.9. apparently i'm normal! but now i have body fat totals that i can track from here on out.

cool. thanks for your guys' support! it is really helping out and making a difference for me as i get the ball rolling here. thanks.

[grubinski]

oh, and i measured my body fat with one of those electro gizmos they have at the gym that you hold in both hands. never seen that before, but seemed cool. it measured 11.7% body fat and a BMI of 20.9. apparently i'm normal! but now i have body fat totals that i can track from here on out.

Not really. Those are famously inaccurate. The mirror is your best gauge of fitness.

[ltbs]

Don't get too down about the push-up numbers, if you're bench is going up it will affect push-ups somewhat, they are using fairly similar muscles, and push-ups are hard in their own right, still good numbers you got there. Once you have been in the routine for a while you will understand more how you react to the exercises like you say.

[mtwtfm]

cool. thanks man.

today was workout B. still learning how the lifts work. my left groin is REALLY sore afterwords. how can you tell if it's an injury, just tightness, or just a charlie horse?

squat 5x5 @ 55lbs
OH press 5x5 @ 55lbs
Dead lift 1x5 @ 100lbs
Pull ups to fail--3x2x0
Prone bridges 3x30 sec w/ weights

still in the beginning stages...

[GreenStar]

congrats on pushing forward on everything. Definitely motivating to me since I'll be starting tomorrow.

For the push ups, yeah, the benching will cause your pushups to be a bit off, plus your muscles will be a bit sorer in the beginning workouts since your body is getting used to everything - once you get into the program for 2-3 weeks you'll start to see things become a bit easier every time.

[ulbonado]

your muscles will be a bit sorer in the beginning workouts since your body is getting used to everything - once you get into the program for 2-3 weeks you'll start to see things become a bit easier every time.

I agree with greenstar, the soreness eases after a while. When I first started lifting back in about March '09, it was, at age 40, the first time I had lifted weights in my life. My upper back and shoulders took the brunt of the soreness-- I could barely turn my head, and that was using only a pair of 8lb dumbbells

I took it slowly at first, taking two or occasionally even three days off after a workout until the soreness eased, and then going at it again. After a few weeks, I was able to settle into the every other day system, and I don't get that kind of soreness anymore.