Leot's Training Log

[Leot]

Hi everyong, I have been doing stronglifts 5x5 since Jan 1st, and have found it to be an excellent program so far. I have no prior lifting experience whatsoever although I am moderately active as I cycle daily as my mode of transport.

I have now decided to start a training log!

Age: 25
Height: 187cm
Weight: 73kg
BF%: 10%

I workout at home, previously with just a barbell set, but more recently with a power rack and olympic bar. I perform barbell rows instead of inverted rows (I have the flexibility required for them and inverted rows are very awkward in the space I have).

All my life I have been skinny and tall (this is the heaviest I have been, I spent a lot of time at 66-70kg), so I thought I would try out what being large and strong feels like. I have also found in the past my physical fitness and strength have hampered my ability to train in Muay Thai, which I am not training at present but would like to get back into after I build up my body. My initial weight target is 83kg, I will need to make dietary changes to achieve this (same old skinny story, feel like I eat a lot but obviously I don't). Havn't yet done GOMAD, I would average around 1L of a milk a day at present.

Current Lifts:

Squat: 60kg 5x5
Bench: 45kg 5x5
Press: 37.5kg 5x3
Row: 42.5kg 5x5
Deadlift: 95kg 1x5
Pull-up: 5,3,3
Chin-up: 6,5,4
Pushups: 18,12,10

I have no particular targets in terms of how much weight I manage on each of the lifts, just to constantly improve. I have 127.5kg of weight available (incl. bar) so I will be pretty excited when I need to buy more plates.

The squat is smaller than one would expect for doing 5x5 for this length of time as my old set only went up to around 55kg, and loading/unloading the bar for squatting was getting extremely awkward and tiring even with two of us. All others have been progressing well bar the overhead press, on which I stalled at 30kg, but managed to crack it on my 3rd try. Since then I have been taking longer breaks and progressing well until last fridays awful effort :S. Only managed 5,5,5,4,5 on the barbell row, I am sure I shall get this one tomorrow.

Deadlifts are the most exciting lift for me by far, when I received the new equiptment I decided to see how far I could push my lift, as 55kg had not been very challenging. I was quite easily able to hit 90kg, going up in 10kg increments for 1x5 from 60kg, which I was very pleased with! 95kg was also not terribly hard, but certainly felt heavy and I found my grip beginning to fail so switched to mixed grip on the last 2 reps.

Will be posting up some form check videos soon.

[Mouse]

Good numbers Leot.
Think you're going to have to but some new plates soon

Height: 187cm
Weight: 73kg
BF%: 10%

With those stats you should be eating everything that isn't nailed down.

Good luck

[guru]

Hi Leot,

Thank you for dropping by on my log. Also, congratulations on starting the log.

The figures look pretty ok to me. What with 3x squatting per week, the squat number will climb like spider-man. Also, with the 95 kg deadlift, I think you start making preparations for additional weights. (Damn, Mouse beat me on this.)

The idea of form check videos is great. Better to do that sooner, so you can make corrections while the weights have not gone very high. Lastly, consider GOMAD seriously. You can maybe ramp it up a litre a week. You'll find that you need to do it for a month or six weeks till you reach your target weight. I hope you have read Bluestreak's story - from skinny to happy. If not, read it. It's almost like a gospel for skinny guys. Don't hesitate to ask advice for anything on the forum. People here are more than willing to help.

Wish you good luck with the lifts & the weight gain.

[dylanamus]

Hola compadre! Welcome to public logging. Sharing your achievements and thoughts with a community of like-minded individuals converts exercise into a hobby, only now instead of making lego trebuchets you are making muscles!

Get on the GOMAD train ASAP if you want to gain 10+kg. You could probably GOMAD in the absence of lifting and not put on any noteworthy quantities of extra weight, so like these guys are saying, eat and drink milk like you have an acute eating disorder!

[Leot]

Todays training was not so great - didn't get a good nights rest last night

Workout B Today:

Squat: 62.5kg 5x5
Some reps slow and a sometimes a little too much good morning action, need to focus on keeping knees out.

Overhead Press: 37.5kg 4,3,2,2,1
Awful, felt like a million kg One more try before I deload, need to work on technique.

Deadlift: 100kg 1x5
Felt good, overhand grip used, still got plenty to give on this one.

Pullups: 4,3,3
Didn't take much of a break before or between these so I don't feel too bad about the lower number on the first set.

Bridges: Left 60, Right 60, Prone 40.
The prone at the end was quite hard.

On to the form check videos for squat and deadlift



I am pretty happy with my deadlift - the only issue I can see is that I raise my bum slightly before lifting the weight, I will correct this next time.



My squat I feel I need to lookout for raising the bum before the back again, and work on having a smoother consistant action. I would also like to be more stable in the squat I have quite a lot of wobble here.

lol I didn't realise how much I grimace when doing this.

[guru]

Leot, the deadlift seems good though there's a slight rounding of lower back. Also your hips need to be little lower. Is there any particular reason why you stand up between reps?

Squats are good, except your hips first go back & then down. They should move in a smooth linear motion from top position to bottom. the bum raising is an indication of good hip drive.

A suggestion Leot. Post both these videos in the Weight lifting section. You'll get many more valuable comments.

[Leot]

Didn't really think about standing up - I probably do it because it's easier to breathe standing than bent over, I'll post em up in the weightlifting forum as you suggest.

[Leot]

Workout A Today.

Squat: 65kg 3x5
Feeling very heavy here and a few slow reps but nothing too troublesome, hitting the quads a lot harder at the higher weight. Forgot to take my camera so difficult to assess form.

Bench: 47.5kg 3x5
No problems here, a few slower reps at the end of sets, but good explosiveness early on.

Barbell Row: 45kg 3x5
Have a tendency to curl my wrists up to get the last couple of cm.

Switched to 3x5 today as I was on a time budget.

Pushups: 18, 13, 8
Got a weird tingly/rippling feeling on the top of my right forearm while doing this at the end of each set so stopped short in the 2nd and 3rd sets. Might try switching to a kind of pushup that takes pressure off the wrist.

Reverse Crunch 12,12,12.

[guru]

Might try switching to a kind of pushup that takes pressure off the wrist.

Try knuckles.

[dylanamus]

My conclusion is that pushup bars feel much more natural than fist pushups. I haven't had a problem with my wrists since using them. Ebay I hope you did your squats slower than gravity this time

[amaeland]

Cheers for coming by my log. Those deads look very good to me. Interesting to see how the lats engage in this lift, I have read that they do, but not seen it before. With the squat you seem to get rounding of the back at the bottom. Make sure when you warm up that you are flexible enough to get below parallel without this happening. It can take a fair few minutes to get there if you're inflexible like me, but it's well worth it and the stretch of the hams/adductors will help you get out of the hole. This is my typical squat warmup, maybe it can help (use what you like, the squat stretch is most important imo):

-10 mins of brisk walking on treadmill, taking long enough strides to get a slight stretch in the adductors and rectus femoris of the quadriceps
-2-3 mins of rowing (to warm up the arms a bit)
-a couple of slow squat stretches, keeping my lower back arched tightly and not going lower than the point where it would begin to round, staying in this position until I get lower with the arch still intact
-2x5 squats without bar
-leg swings, 10 for each leg
-1x5 squat with just the bar
-another squat stretch
-on to the warmup weights, focusing on form no matter how light the weight is. By the time you get to your working weight you will easily get below parallel without any rounding problems.

[Leot]

Workout B
Doing 3x5 due to time constraints again.

Squat 67.5kg 3x3, Felt really heavy here, but learned how to put the bar down when I've failed at least.

Press 32.5kg 3x5, Felt quite heavy, obviously there is something we didnt know about our old barbell set, as I was able to do 37.5 on that, but certainly not with the new gear. Concentrated on form, I feel it was quite good.

Deadlift 105kg 1x3 pronated grip. Felt grip starting to go on 3rd rep, attempted to switch to mixed grip and the bar wouldnt move , focusing on form here and not letting my ass pop up when I lift, for some reason felt a lot more strain on my back this way than when I was mostly lifting with the back. Will probably deload 15-20kg and work on form.

Chinups: 6,3,4 Short rests on these, I was pretty happy.

Prone bridge 3x30.


I hadn't really had a lot to eat today before lifting, will keep that in mind in future as the weights get heavier. I probably could have nailed the squats if I was moving faster through them but I slowed my action down to work on technique. Tricky to prevent the knees from rocking forward just as you come up and my weight was transferring somewhat towards the front of the foot on some reps.

[dylanamus]

Hey Leots. Same thing happened to me with the deadlifts at 100kg. I think you really need to choose which grip to use and maintain it for all 5 reps. No harm in deloading - probably a wise move, which I ought to follow suit on.

If you drop in sometime this weekend, I'll spot your form (with empty bar or whatever) if you want.

Make the OHP your bitch

[Leot]

Workout A

Squat 67.5kg 5x5
Form wasnt very good here, going to deload to maybe 55 or 60 and work on getting technique better.

Bench 50kg 5,5,5,3,-
Possibly longer breaks will help out there, rep #5 is very slow on all sets.

Barbell Row 47.5kg 3,5,5
Guess I needed a heavier warmup, it was quite hard to hit the the next 2 sets, some very close calls to missed reps. For some reason I often only hit the right side of my torso, will have to get my workout partner to keep an eye on me next time. I get the feeling my right arm is better at pulling and my left at pushing.

[Leot]

Workout B

Squat 50kg 5x5


Deloaded to work on form, which had gone to hell at 67.5kg. 50kg is a cakewalk really, but I think I need to bring my knees back a bit. You will also see my training partner in this video.


Press 35kg 3,5,4
Pressed for time, and I really didn't eat enough today. Did my first set too slowly which really fatigued me, after this my triceps were extremely tired. On the plus side the 2nd set felt good, and I feel form was good, although the last rep was slooooow.

Deadlift 105kg 1x5


Tried to nail the whole lot using overhand grip, dropped the bar on my 5th rep , did the 5th using mixed grip, will definately switch to mixed for 110, but will do 105 again next session. I raise my hips too fast on a couple of reps, and when I am lowering the bar I often level from my hips, instead of bending my knees. I really dragged it up my leg's on this set, but I think I may need to use a might upright stance or balance myself more on the bar to straighten out my lower leg in order to give the bar a straight up down path.

Note to self: eat more food.