nickh's training progress

[nickh]

Off day today, my muscles have loosed up some and I can walk fairly normal now heh. I think I may have gained some weight, will test for sure tomorrow morning. I had exactly the same meals today as I did yesterday. I think it might be fat weight though as it always goes to my gut/face first lol.

tomorrow is day 2, squat(shooting for 115lbs), bench press(shooting for 65lbs), row( lowering to 75), DIPS(never seem to do well with these after the rows)

[nickh]

weigh in this morning at 116.7, up from 115.9, so its only .8!

[nickh]

Too tired to update log last night, slept when I got home right till this morning. Skipped breakfast yesterday and went straight to workout, might not of been a good thing as I did not do so well with my workout. I had eggs and bacon after workout along with a protein shake. Had lunch at like 5pm, same thing as the day before.

Squats: Completed 5x5 at 115(my bodyweight!), I know its not such a great goal since I only weigh that much hehe. I KNOW now that my form is not 100 percent correct and I will try to correct it on next workout. During my last set I noticed I was leaning forward and the weight was on the balls of my feet and I was NOT pushing with my heels and that explains why I don`t feel any soreness in my hamstrings. Also I want to mention that the weight on my shoulders seem to be impacting my other workouts! Quite co-incidentally I met the new strength and conditioning coach when he came in today for a permit and I told him I had just started a program I found only and he said the 5x5 was based on rippetoes and it could be the best program to be on for me. He seemed pretty cool and I asked him about my form on the squat and he pretty much told me exactly what I suspected. Too bad I didn`t get to speak to him for long as we were closing. I told him I started to eat better and drink a whey protein supplement although he hadnt heard of syntha-6. He said it wasn`t necessary to drink it and I just need 1 liter of milk a day. I was shocked, thats alot of milk and im sure that would cost more than the whey jug lol.

Bench Press: Completed 5x5 at 65lbs. Got difficult on the last 2 sets and 1 arm was lifting more than the other and the bar was not going straight up but out and to the side.

Row: Completed 5x5 at 65lbs. This felt much more manageable and was able to complete all sets with ease but my shoulders were burning after this. Shoulders seem to be taking the taking the most beating out of this program so far.

Dips: Failed miserably. 5..1..0. My arms felt like they could not do any more and my shoulders felt really sore. Gave up after only doing 1 on the 2nd set. I don`t know if im going to get better at these but it seems like im getting progressively worse.

[nickh]

Day off today, went to the gym for some cardio, did 2miles in 20min before being kicked off. Will try for 3 again on the weekend. weigh in at 118.5 ! I think I am eating too much lol

[nickh]

Week 2, Day 3

Squats: Stayed on on 115lb and focused on form. Completed 5x5. Will try without shoes on next attempt.

Overhead Press: Accidentally put on 10lb weights at the start and could not finish set one and had to revert back to 5lb weights on remaining sets. Completed 5x5 but could not finish last set, only did 4 reps. This one is hard! Also must pay attention to form.

Deadlift: Went up to 105 from 90lb and I felt a bit of a difference. I know I can add more and I really felt the pull on the hamstrings. I love it! I want to do more sets though, not sure if only 1 set is enough??

Pullups: Did 3x5 with the last set not making it completely over the bar.

this day was extremely active but I ended up eating mostly junky chinese food hehe.

[nickh]

Saturday off. Cereal this morning which turns out according to the forums is processed food and bad for you! Groceries hopefully today and will try the oats thing. Had only a jelly sandwich and protein shake for lunch. In the afternoon I had 1/4 BBQ chicken and rice/potatoes.

[nickh]

Weigh in at 116.9

[nickh]

Week 3, Day 1

Hit the gym early as usual, did not increase weights for any exercises and was able to complete 5x5 of them all save the dips

Squats: Completed 5x5 with 115lbs again. My legs feel noticeably stronger and rested after the weekend off. I will add weight to this exercise on my next workout. Should I had 2.5 to each side or 5lb to each side? hmm. I also took my shoes off to do the squats as my shoes have gel heels and I felt a difference here aswell, I felt a bit more stable on my squats. On my first set of squats I noticed some pain/pulled in my hip area of my legs, not sure what that was but I warmed up on the threadmill before I started. Will keep an eye on this. My shoulders continue to feel sore after the squats, I don't know if im resting it on my shoulders incorrectly but it may just be I have boney shoulders

Bench-Press: Completed 5x5 with 65lb fairly easily, will add weight to this next attempt. Going to go slow on this one as I don't have someone to spot for me and Im paranoid I'll drop the barbell on my chest.

Barbell-Row: Completed 5x5 with 65lb, will also add weight to this on next attempt.

Dips: Completed at 5/5/2. sigh! And im positive im not doing this with proper form, ie going low enough

Breakfast - 2xeggs, 3x sausage, hashbrown, toast. Protein shake after workout

Lunch - Smoked chicken sandwich, banana, green tea

Dinner - Sardine and crackers with glass of skim milk

It has been very hot lately and I'm more active than usual so I might be losing weight ! But on a side note I feel GREAT! I think the squats have put a spring in my step

[nickh]

Weigh in at 114.7 this morning

[nickh]

Day off today. No protein shake

breakfast: oats + banana
lunch: rice/bbq chicken
dinner: plantains/eggs/sausage

[nickh]

Week 3, Day 2

Squats: Completed 5x5 at 125lb, increase of 10lb. Did not have much problems with the increase though the weight was a bit unstable on my shoulders and had some problems balancing it. Felt some pressure this time as opposed to last time when I left it at 115lb. Again feeling most of the muscle in my quads and not much in my hams even though I think I am performing it better. I need to do some more hamstring exercises as I feel like there is muscle imbalance there.

Dead-lift: Completed 2x5 at 125lb, increase of 10lb. This was a bit harder as I felt most of the pressure on my lower back and my hands keeping the grip. Also I did this in the wrong order, was suppose to do the overhead press first! I don`t know how much more weight I can add to this since I had trouble picking this one up lol. my legs seem ok with it though and I still dont feel much stress in my hamstrings I even did an extra set

Overhead-Press: Completed 5x5 at 55lb save for the last rep of the 5th set. I think this has gotten easier and I will add weight but only 5lb since the last time I tried adding 10lb I wasn`t capable of doing 1 set properly. I notice my torso shaking when I do the overhead press, I think maybe this is because my abs are weak. will start with reverse crunches tomorrow as its offday.

Chinups: Completed 3x5. These almost seemed too easy. and the first 2 sets I had almost perfect form, i think, with my head going completely over the bar. Last set wasn`t as good but still completed all reps. I think next I should shoot for 10 reps in each of the 3 sets but that may be easier said than done heh heh



Breakfast: chicken sandwich and glass of skim milk plus post workout protein shake
Lunch: Chicken roti in kensington market
Dinner: white AND brown rice on my home made chicken stew, first time making brown rice and the rice cooker didnt do it too well, will try it on the pot next time.

I may not be getting enough sleep or calories because after lunch I felt incredibly sleepy ...

[ukdudeinuk]

Why are you only eating 3x a day? Try to get snacks in.

[nickh]

Thursday off, forgot to post as I was watching the lakers/celtics game.

Breakfast - 3x Egg omlet with veggies, 2x bacon strips and glass of skim milk
Lunch - 2x salmon patties, bowl of veggies... mmm
Dinner - Avocado on whole wheat sandwich.

Did not do any crunches unfortunately but did my usual 5k walk.

[nickh]

Week 3, Day 3

Squat - Completed 5x5 at 125lbs. Seemed a bit easier and my form was much better but then again I think I need to video myself sometime soon to make certain. Weights did not wobble and I had good control of it as opposed to last time. Could possibly add another 10lb. I worry about my shoulders being able to support the weight however even though it was better this time.

Bench-Press - Completed 5x5 at 75lb, increase of 10lbs. Noticed a difference lifting this time, felt good. On my last set I had trouble pushing the last few reps and had sporadic breathing, kept thinking I'd lose control and it'd fall on me, scary. Not certain if I should raise any weight here yet, maybe just 5lb next time.

Barbell-Row- Completed 5x5 at 75lb, increase of 10lbs. Noticed a difference here aswell but finished it, with the last rep I was out of breath. Why is it always the last rep? is it all in your head?

Dips - Went 5/4/2. Not really an improvement but I did notice I was tending to lean straight up instead of just forward a bit. I really need to work on this

Hamstring curls - Did this before the dips, Completed 5x5 at 60lbs. I put this in cause I felt my hamstrings were flat and not really getting much work I don't plan to cut anything out but I would like to do this every workout along with the squats. Anyone have a opinion on this? Alternatives or reps?

[nickh]

Fridays meals were

Breakfast - 2x sunnyside eggs, toast, skim milk + Protein shake post workout
9am - Chicken sandwich
Lunch - White rice and curried chicken
Dinner - BBQ chicken and rice/peas

ukdude, I simply don't think I have enough room to eat that much, the last time I tried I felt horrible eating that much. For instance I ate 4 times today and felt 'full' ALL day besides postworkout. Didn't like that feeling.