natew's training log

[natew]

Well, I guess it's that time.

I have been posting a bit for a few months now and I've been reading these forums for much longer. I noticed some obvious benefits in keeping a training log, but I haven't really been motivated enough to start one myself... until now .

My stats:
Male
Age: 25
Height: 5'9"/176cm
Weight: 177lbs/80kg
Bodyfat: haven't measured yet. It is probably around 15% (went up after starting to GOMAD a bit).

Past 1x5 PRs: (These are pre-StrongLifts/various silly bodybuilding routine stats with decent technique.)
Squat: 185lbs
Deadlift: 260lbs
Bench: 185lbs
Press: 120lbs

Current SL 5x5 Stats: (These are what I've worked up to on the SL program thus far after about a month and a half. I didn't start with just the bar.)
Squat 5x5: 145lbs (I've been going back and forth between 125lbs and 145lbs while trying to perfect my technique. Something still isn't right with it.)
Deadlift 1x5: 215lbs
Bench 5x5: 155lbs
Press 5x5: 110lbs
BB Rows 5x5: 110lbs

Injuries/Annoyances:
Left wrist extensor or sometihng. I hurt it recently recently doing OH Press. It feels as if it's right in the middle (of the top) between my wrist and elbow. It becomes painful doing BB Rows, pull-ups but not deadlifts or chin-ups so much for some reason.
Knees still tingle after every squat session and it's such a joke of a weight for me, it's really become annoying. Especially because when my form was wrong pre-SL i'd squat higher weights pain-free.
Lumbar sometimes during squats and deadlifts. It's getting better, hopefully because of form improvements. During deadlifts it comes in the form of small pain right in the very bottom of my tailbone, in the area where it meets around the glutes.

I enjoyed reading all of feedback u guys get from each other and the nice motivation and thought it would be beneficial to join in.

[natew]

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009

Squat: 5x5 145lbs - still some knee discomfort, very annoying.
Bench: 5x5 155lbs - smooth, no probs.
BB Rows: 3x5/4/4 155lbs - started to get difficult + left forearm pain, gonna re-do this weight.
Dips: 6/6/6 @ BW+45lbs

oh, and I made a mistake on my current 5x5 BB rows stats in the first post. My last successful 5x5 with the rows was 150lbs, not 110lbs, if someone could please edit that and delete this line

[Zandar]

I'm with you on the "I used to squat higher weight pain-free with bad form." I'm up to 245 #s for SL 5x5, and it hurts worse than 305 #s when I wasn't going all the way down. I think a lot of it is that you can have strong legs, but weak joints (it's my hips for me).

The "low" weight will build your joints to the point that when you're back to lifting what you used to you'll be doing it deeper and better. A half-squat isn't a real squat, anyway.

[natew]

I agree with what u said, but I used to squat deep. It's just that the form wasn't very "strict". Also, I couldn't have been using much hip-drive, cuz i hadn't even heard of the concept.

[natew]

Friday, Jan. 30, 2009

Squat: 5x5 150lbs - had good strength and finished the sets quickly, but my lower back was buggin' me a bit.
Press: 5x5 115lbs - weights getting heavy
Deadlifts: 1x5 225lbs - felt good. had a partner watch me for these and said my back stayed perfectly rigid.
Pull-ups: 6/6/5 - was very tired for these, plus my left forearm was annoying me.

Roman Chair:
GHRs: 5/4/3
sit-ups: 15/15/20

bodyweight (with clothes on, obviously): 180lbs

[natew]

Monday, Feb. 2, 2009

Squat: 5x5 155lbs
Bench: 5x5 160lbs
BB Rows: 5x5 155lbs
Push-ups: 20/20/15
Reverse crunches (30lb dumb bell): 12/12/7

Squat:
Felt good basically, my form seems to have improved, but i bet there's a long way to go still.
Bench:
Still feeling good, finished the sets fairly easily + felt pretty strong.
Barbell Rows:
That's another story. Again with the left forearm pain but simply didn't feel like all of my reps were necessarily proper form. I think i'll do this weight again for the third time. Is it just me or when you get to heavier weights with BB Rows you cant' really feel your hips helping that much? I'm sure they are helping but I just don't feel it so much anymore.

Otherwise good. Felt good today.

[natew]

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009

Squat: 5x5 160lbs
Press: 5x5 120lbs
Deadlift: (1x5 145lbs, 1x3 225lbs) 1x5 235lbs (regular grip)
Chin-ups: 5/5/4/3 @BW+25lbs /5 @BW
Prone bridges: 45sec/30sec/40sec

Squat:
Squats went well. My form is improving- I have less pain in knees and lumbar + my hamstrings are sore a bit the next day from utilizing them properly (i think).
Press:
Brutal. First 3 sets were o.k. but still very hard. On the last rep of the final 2 sets it was just ridiculous. I was holding the bar + struggling for like 5 seconds using every last ounce of strength to get it up, but I DID!
Deadlift:
The deadlift went great, as it has been lately. It's starting to get a bit difficult, but I feel I still have a decent amount of weight to conquer before it starts getting REALLY difficult. Still get a bit of a tickle in my tailbone (or something) closer to the left side, but it was really minimal today. Also, I see that a lot of people have trouble using normal grip when getting up higher in the weights? Mine feels great... When I used to deadlift at similar weights I'd use the mixed grip, but not because I had to, because I thought that was the proper way to do it. I much prefer the normal grip now.
Chins:
These went surprisingly well, considering how tired I was by this point. I had more strength than I'd predicted. I tried the +25 for fun and didn't think I'd be able to do but 2 of them, was wrong .

The workouts are starting to get quite difficult as all of the weights go up. I can only imagine how much more difficult they'll get once I get my squat up there, hehe.

[natew]

Seeing whether my signature works or not. I thought once I created a signature it would automatically be added to all of my posts...?

[natew]

Friday, Feb. 6, 2009

Squat: 5x5 165lbs
Bench: 5x5 165lbs
BB Rows: 5x5 155lbs
Dips: 6/6/6 @BW+45lbs
GHR: 2/2/3
Roman chair situps: 20/15/15

Squat:
Went decent but on the last set my form slipped a bit, everything was too loose + knees felt a bit worn. I seem to have the strength no problem for these but it's like my breath is giving out!
Bench:
Bench went well, didn't really struggle yet. On the last set I forgot to keep my back tight though and I pushed up too high with the bar + irritated left shoulder a bit.
BB Rows:
Finally got a solid 5x5 at this weight. My left forearm is still annoying me, but it's less and I just ignored the pain as much as possible and added another minute or so to my break in-between sets(3-4mins).

This workout took me too long, close to 2 hours, was being lazy. Somethin' I'm gonna need to definitely work on.

[natew]

Monday, Feb. 16, 2009

Squat: 3x5 170lbs
Bench: 3x5 170lbs
Dips: 3x8 BW



Crappy workout. I had the flu all last week and barely moved. This workout (esp. Squats) felt difficult as hell. I didn't do glute activation before the workout, and after such a long break i know how important it would've been. I was weak. I was sweating my ass off. I was instantly super tired. I think some of this sickness is still with me + I wasn't in such good shape from barely moving for 9 days.

[natew]

Wed. Feb. 18, 2009

Squat: 5x5 170lbs
Press: 5/5/4/4/3 125lbs FAIL
Deadlift: (1x5 135lbs, 1x5 225lbs) 1x5 245lbs
Pull-ups: 4/4 @BW + 10lbs, 6/5/4 @ BW
BB Shrugs: 6/7/8 185lbs

Squat:
Still not sure about this guy. I tweaked a few things around, mostly I stopped caring as much and it felt easier. Very little knee pain, nothing to really even think about (i think it was normal wear and tear).

Press:
Grrrr, this made me angry. I knew it was going to be hard because the last one was brutally hard, just barely got the 5x5. Nothing special to note here, but I did notice that something I do during Press always really tires out my grip, which SUCKS since the lift right after it is the Deadlift!

Deadlift:
This was difficult, mostly because of my poor grip. I felt the bar turning in my hands but I just wouldn't let go. Does that mean my grip was weak? Or does it mean I used a bunk barbell?

[natew]

Friday, Feb. 20, 2009

Squat: 5x5 175lbs
Bench: 5/5/5/5/4 170lbs FAIL
Inv. Rows: 10/8/8 (feet up on bench)
Dips: 6/6/4 @ BW+45lbs

I tried some GHRs but had horrible cramps in my calves and a bit in my hamstrings after the first one. had to stop.

Squat:
Felt good. I definitely felt some proper hip/hamstring involvement for a majority of reps this time around. It's all coming together now!

Bench:
I CAN'T BELIEVE I failed in this. All I needed was one bloody rep. Next time I'll make sure I wait the full 5 minutes in-between sets.

[rere]

As the weight gets heavy its advisable to rest that little longer to get 5x5. I know the feeling Natew when you just missed reps, but that's why the journey builds character and persistence.

Peace.

[natew]

Yup, cool words rere.

Monday, Feb. 23, 2009

Squat: 5x5 180lbs
Press: 5/5/4/4/4 125lbs FAIL
Deadlift: (1x5 135lbs, 1x3 225lbs) 1x5 255lbs
Chins: 7/5/5/5 BW and 4 BW+25lbs

Squat:
O M G. I finally figured out hip drive properly!!! I was getting seriously pissed off the last few weeks because I couldn't seem to figure it out for some reason and my Squats sucked and were too difficult, etc. Hip drive today worked like a charm. I know it's always right when you're about to give up that something magical can happen, but when you're so frustrated that you're about to give up, it's not always the easiest thing to see clearly Really looking forward to proper squats from now on.

Press:
fuck. the press is bloody difficult. I seriously feel more tired after the press than I do after squats(maybe cuz my squats aren't that heavy yet, but still, you get the point). Failed again at this weight, gonna give it one more shot before deloading. I did get one more rep than last time though but my form probably kinda sucked.

Deadlift:
I had to take a 10 minute break after the Press before I could do deadlifts because my grip/forearms were so tired. I didn't wait long enough last deadlift workout and my grip was almost giving way. After stretching the forearms a bit and waiting the 10 minutes, the Deadlift workout felt much more impressive, although I think my form was a bit goofy and I wasn't using my glutes enough. Overall pretty decent tho. A friend said my back stayed nice and rigid and even went as far as saying my back actually bent too much (but I think he was describing the normal lumbar curve, knowing him).

[natew]

Wednesday Feb. 25, 2009

Squat: 5x5 185lbs
Bench: 5x5 170lbs

Did a few sets of BB rows at 160lbs but I was tired and they felt super heavy (haven't done them in a few weeks). Also some BW dips, again, too tired for anything.

Squat:
Obviously this was going to happen after the great breakthrough I had last squat session. My knees were fucked this time. They hurt a fair deal. Lower back too. I didn't stretch enough today and I think my hamstrings were tight which is what caused the lower back pain. As for the knees, I have no idea, because last week when I got hip drive properly and stuff, they felt great. Oh well, gotta take the ups with the downs I guess. Can tight hamstrings cause knee pain as well? On a positive note, I did finish the 5x5, and I've updated my avatar to that effect, but I won't be going up in weight next workout. This pain was pretty bad. Gotta get this weight in the proper form.

Bench:
Waited bit longer during sets and nailed this. To be honest, I had some annoying pains even on this, bit throughout my arm/forearm. Sometimes I have these days where my body just seems to hurt and feels weak. Anybody else have these? I don't seem to change anything substantial, but stuff that felt absolutely great the previous workout just seems to hurt a bit for no particular reason the next time around. Let me know if you also get this pls