knoted's Training Journal

[knoted]

26 y.o. male
182 cm

Goal Weights (Currently)
by 18 November 2009

Weight - 80kg (76.5)
BF% - 12% (16.5)

Squat - 80kg (62.5)
Deadlift - 120kg (60)
Bench Press - 60kg (47.5)
Overhead Press - 40kg (32.5)

Hi everybody. I'm seven sessions down on the 5x5 beginner program and I'm really enjoying it. I thought I might do my own journal as well, to keep me on track, and posterity. I have a decent level of general fitness to start with from my work, but nothing special at all. I had done some lifting in the past, but nothing structured and it only lasted a few months at a time. Sad to say I was doing leg extensions and bicep curls... But hey, I've learnt a hell of a lot in the last month or so reading up on things a lot more, thanks mainly to this web site.

I found Strong Lifts a little while ago reading the Art of Manliness blog. After reading through the e-book and everything else on the site, it seems the program fits very well with my (limited) understanding of exercise theory. I had just started going back to resistance training after quite a long break due to illness, so I was sub-consciously looking for a bit of structure to what I was doing. I found out personally lifting weights without any goal or program isn't very fun or effective. Strong lifts 5x5 seemed to fit perfectly.

I am quite impressed by the integration of compound exercises to work the whole body. Putting the focus on technique by starting with very low weights and building up from there also appeals to me.

Diet options are fairly limited at the moment due to being on operations overseas. I'm trying to put on weight so I'm eating until I'm slightly overfull, which is a lot more than I usually eat.

Example for a day would be :

0730 - Bowl of (whatever isn't covered in sugar) cereal or porridge, half a grapefruit, yogurt, 3 scrambled or boiled eggs, and a big glass of milk.

1000 - Piece of fruit and a protien shake.

1100 - [arnold] Get massive [/arnold]

1230 - Something meaty (whatever looks the most palletable, could be almost anything depending on the menu), rice / pasta, veggies, yogurt / custard, big glass of milk

1530 - Fruit, junk, protien shake, or nothing, depending on how I feel. I need to sort this one out.

1830 - Same as lunch

2100 - Protien Shake

Generally 2 caffienated and 2 fizzy drinks as well as 3-5 litres of water per day, depending on how much outside work I'm doing.

One question I have is how much muscular endurance will improve on this program. My work puts a lot of emphasis on doing lots of body weight endurance exercises like the push up and heave. Will adding weight on these exercises improve endurance?

Motivation? My first goals coincides with when I get back to the missus from sunny Afghanistan .

[rere]

Welcome mate, enjoy the program.

[knoted]

13/09/09

Good Session.

I decided to do my session at our little gym here at work. Turns out we have nothing smaller than 5 kg that fits on an olympic bar. I couldn't go backwards of course, so I rounded up everywhere! Turns out I hit my Press goal in 7 sessions (just over 2 weeks), yay!

I'm also alternating push ups and dips now for a little bit more coverage. So the fourth exercise is now alternating dips, heaves, push ups, chin ups. I'm adding 2.5 kg for these every time I hit 10 reps on the first set.

Squats
70 kg, 5x5
Press
40 kg, 5x5
Dead Lift
70 kg, 1x5
Dips
0 kg, 10, 9, 6
Prone hold
Moving 2x2.5 kg plates, 30, 30, 30

[knoted]

15 / 09 / 09

Seeing as I don't get weekends anyway, I'm going every second day, rather than three times a week. Should get my lifts up a bit extra before coming home.

Squat
72.5 kg, 5x5
Bench
52.5 kg, 5x5
Clean
45 kg, 5x5
Heaves
(No belt, so I had to try holding a dumbell in my feet. Failed miserably. Next time wait for belt)
8 (2.5), 6 (0), 5 (0)

I'm removing core exercises as well. Workout are getting much longer and I want to focus on the main lifts, that smash my core anyway.

Signed up for an Olympic Weightlifting class on friday nights by the CrossFit dude at the Canadian Gym. Should be fun!

Found out my BMR is around 3100 cal, with a consensus across a few different online calculators and doing it myself. So I started using http://www.fitday.com yesterday to see how I was doing. Not sure how accurate it is, but I managed 5500 calories yesterday, with 420g protien. At least it should be a quick trip to put on the weight I want...

[knoted]

17 Sep 09

Squats
75 kg, 5x5
Press
42.5 kg, 5x5
Deadlift
70 kg, 1x5 (oops, forgot to increase)
Pushups
12.5 kg, 16, 14, 7

Body Weight - 78 kg
Body Fat - 15.1% (new method, I'll stay with this one)

Also, photo taken 12 Aug 09...

And 17 Sep 09...

Appologies for the webcam photos, best I can manage at the moment.

[knoted]

19 Sep 09

Hit my first Bench Press goal today, which was nice.

Watched a few videos on how to correct good mornings while doing squats. Started with just the bar like usual to see how I'd go, my back was still quite sore from thursday. So I made sure I did a thorough Squat warm up...

5x20 kg
5x30 kg
5x40 kg
5x50 kg
5x55 kg
5x60 kg
5x65 kg
5x67.5 kg
3x70 kg
3x72.5 kg
3x75 kg

Squats
5x5, 77.5 kg - A smidgen off body weight, I'll get there next time
Bench
5x5, 60 kg - First Goal
Clean
1x5 20 kg, 1x5 30 kg, 2x5 40 kg - I won't be increasing the weight in these much for a while
Chin Up
2.5 kg, 11, 7, 6

I'm actually feeling better now than before, even after all the squats. Active recovery ftw!

I'll do some flexibility training tomorrow (Inside / Out and Magnificent Mobility style) plus some static stretches to get better at squating (hamstrings, arse, etc).

[knoted]

21 Sep 2009

I got told to put my shoes back on today while doing squats.

Somehow, I don't think runners are going to help if I drop 80 kg on my foot. Last year I broke my big toe in two places by dropping a single 25 kg plate on it!

Anyways, got past body weight on squats today, so that was exciting, 1.5 BW next.

Squat
80 kg, 5x5
Press
45 kg, 5x5
Deadlift
80 kg, 5x5
Dips
2.5 kg, 14, 11, 6

[knoted]

Got myself a damn cold didn't I. Trained anyway, and felt much better after a few sets of squats.

Squats
82.5 kg, 5x5
Bench
62.5 kg, 5x5
Power Clean
50 kg, 5x5
Heaves
2.5 kg, 10, 6, 5

I had got a bit of coaching on my power cleans today too, which was really helpful. My main problem is just getting my timing right. I usually bend my elbows before I've finished pulling with my hips, losing power. Something to work on...

[knoted]

25 Sep 2009

My cold has mostly cleared up now. Measurement day today, yay for proper cameras!

Body Weight - 77.7 kg
Body Fat - 13.4 %

Squats
85 kg, 5x5
Press
47.5 kg, 5x5
Deadlift
85 kg, 1x5
Dips
5 kg, 15, 11, 7

Pictures of Front, Side, Back

[knoted]

I did something different yesterday. We started a 1RM leader board for our little group, so I did some 1RM attempts...

Clean and Jerk
70 kg - I feel so unco on these, need a lot more practice

Squat
100 kg

Overhead Press
60 kg

I was pretty happy with the results, especially the OHP. I'm still quite a way lower than that on my training sets. Body weight over head is the next goal, which doesn't seem too far away now.

28 Sep 2009

Running late, so only did 3 sets.

Squat
87.5 kg, 3x5
Bench
65 kg, 3x5
Power Clean
55 kg, 3x5
Weighted Chin Ups (undergrasp)
5 kg, 10, 6, 5

[knoted]

30 September 2009

Squats
90 kg, 5x5
Press
50 kg, 5x5
Deadlift
90 kg, 1x5
Dips
7.5 kg, 12, 12, 11
Prone Hold (plank)
60 seconds, 30 seconds Right Arm Left Leg, 30 seconds Left Arm Right Leg

[Mouse]

Good progress Knoted - it's evident in your pics.
Keep it up.

[knoted]

Thanks for the encouragement Mouse.

02 Oct 09

Squat
92.5 kg, 5x5

Bench
67.5 kg, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5 - Stall 1. I think it was a matter of not being locked in enough with my legs, and not gripping hard enough.

Power Clean
57.5 kg, 3x5 - 3rd set was fugly so I stopped. I still can't seem to get my timing right, I'm not keeping my arms straight until after straightening my hips. Losing lots of power because of bent arms. I'm going to deload to 50 kg and work on technique. I'm wondering if I should be doing them at the start of the session as they are a technical move.

Heaves
5 kg, 8, 6, 4

Prone Hold
90 Seconds

Just for fun also did 3xF with no weight 3/4 Chin Ups, to work on teh gunz bro. I'll see how they feel in two days time, I'm considering doing them at the end of every session, as it only takes 5 minutes.

[knoted]

04 October 2009

Squat
95 kg, 5x5
Press
52.5 kg, 5x5
Deadlift
100 kg, 1x5 - I upped this a bit more than the schedule, I don't feel I'm pushing it anywhere near as hard as the other exercises going at the same rate as squats
Push Ups
12.5 kg, 21, 15, 10
Prone Hold
1A1L 30 s each side
Chin Ups
10, 8 , 6

[knoted]

6 Oct 09

Power Clean technique drills
20 minutes, mainly empty bar, some at 40 kg
Squat
97.5 kg, 5x5
Bench
67.5 kg, 5x5
Dips
Max reps for the leader board, bad form reps not counted - 22