nickh's training progress

[eLvarouza]

It's generally not the best idea to add other weighted exercises to the 5x5 program, such as hamstring curls. Trust me, your hamstrings will get plenty of work. Make sure you're driving from the hips when you squat. This will involve your glutes and your hamstrings. Make sure you have enough depth on your squats too or you won't involve your hamstrings.

Deadlifts will beat the hell out of your hamstrings as the weight get heavier. Just shove your hips forward as hard as you can as the bar passes your knees: you'll feel it in your hamstrings. Keep increasing the weight progressively and your hamstrings will scream for mercy eventually. '

You've made some good progress, keep it up!

Also, about the eating 6x/day thing, you shouldn't eat 6 full meals per day. You should divide your total calorie intake into 6 smaller meals. So for example, let's say you're trying to gain weight, in which case you want to start with eating your body weight times 18kcal daily. You're about 115, so you want to start with approximately 2000kcal per day, so you'd want about 333 kcal/meal. Dividing up the meals has other benefits (search on the blog for a more in-depth analysis), but it basically allows you to never be hungry throughout the day, and eating six smaller meals as opposed to three larger meals boosts your metabolism more, and ensure you won't have extra carbs and such being added on as fat, as long as you keep a clean diet.

Good luck with your progress!

[nickh]

Saturday Off, definitely not the best way to eat

Breakfast - Oats + banana and cinnamon
Lunch - BBQ, rice/peas
Dinner - BBQ Chiken, steak and pork hotdog + 1 beer

Thanks for the kind words elvarouza, I will pay more attention to driving from the hips, the video was very helpful, and right now im not measuring my foods, that is something I have to work on.

[nickh]

Sunday Off, did nothing but a little swim, did not eat very well either.

Breakfast - 2x sunnyside, 2x bacon, 2x slice of toast, homefries
Lunch - Natures bar.... ..
Dinner - Too much food, spinach salad, potatoe salad, mash potatoes, steak, bbq chicken and 2 brownies ....

Weighed in this morning at 116.5.

[nickh]

WEEK 4, DAY 1

OH MAN! WHAT A ROUGH WORKOUT

Squat - Completed 5x5 at 135lb. Increase of 10lbs. This workout was ALOT harder. I am going to stay at 135lb for the next workout for sure. In addition to the new weight I was driving from the hips which made it seem a bit simpler as I didn't feel my quads pull but I didn't feel it in my hams either, go figure. The weight was difficult to balance on my shoulders, I think next time I will use 2 45lb weights instead of 2 35s and 2 10lbs. I had a couple moments where I thought I wasn't going to be able to bring it up but luckily was able to fight through it. These reps where I am struggling to bring it up are scary! On the plus side I love working my legs and I love the feeling of stronger legs. If only I still played basketball I'd love to see an increased vertical I hadn't planned on increasing it by 10lbs but I'm glad I did since this is the first time it really seemed hard.

Overhead Press - Completed at 3x60, 2x55. Ok not really an increase since I only increased it by 5lb and couldn't do 5x5. It was embarassing, I had to take off those 5lbs to finish the sets. This one was rough I was panting between sets which was also a first for the OP AND SQUAT! On the plus side my upper body feels stronger and looks better, my arms have sprouted a few veins and there is some slight definition in my upperbody

Dead Lift - Completed 1x5 at 135lb. Increase of 10lbs. This was also tougher, not only was it difficult to pick up I had to made my lower back really tight just to lift it. I felt it in my hams for sure but only 1 set doesn't make the old hams sore. This exercise seems to put more strain on my hands and shoulders, since the weight is so heavy. Maybe I am doing it incorrectly. Obviously my upperbody is weaker but not sure how this is going to progress if I need to increase the weight to test the hams but can't pick the weight up off the floor

Pull ups - Completed at 3x5. Ok for some reason these seemed harder, probably because of the workout my arms got from the OP AND DL, but I still completed it. I was however doing some half-reps on the last 2 sets as my muscles felt TIGHT.

Rough workout today but I am really looking forward to wednesday. I also noticed a bit of tightness in my tower back, not sure what exercise its from or if its from improper technique. Doesn't hurt but just a bit tight. I may be doing some biking soon since I biked up 2 bikes for 40 dollars recently, probably will fix the other one and sell it

[eLvarouza]

Hey again, congrats on the increase on the squat and deadlift! About the deadlift: grip strength will significantly improve as you progress. Remember you can use a mixed grip (one hand overhand, one hand underhand; just keep the arms locked), which will help. Also, when you grip the bar, squeeze it as hard as you can. This will increase the strength of your grip. Lastly, remember to deload after each rep and reset your grip if needed. This helps tremendously.

For the overhead press, remember you don't want to lower the weight to complete your sets. Even if you can't complete 5x5, you want to keep the weight the same. This forces your body to adapt to the heavier weight. By lowering the weight, you aren't forcing your body to adapt to the heavier weight. Remember if you don't get 5x5 you retry up to three times, then you deload. So your training could look like this:

Workout 10: 5/5/5/4/3
Workout 11: 5/5/5/5/4
Workout 12: 5/5/5/5/5
Workout 13: Add more weight

Or it could look like this:

Workout 10: 5/5/5/4/3
Workout 11: 5/5/5/4/4
Workout 12: 5/5/5/4/4
Workout 13: Deload

Same principle applies to pullups. Remember it's quality, not quantity. By the way, 3x5 is pretty dang impressive for pullups, especially after 4 weeks!

Anyway, your results definitely show good progress. Keep it up!

[nickh]

I should update this when I can cause I don`t remember what I ate yesterday!

Anyway, today was day off but I went to the gym anyway, I feel like I`m slacking on days off

I just did some threadmill today to see if I was still capable since I haven`t done it in awhile, made it to 25 mins on 6 for a total of 2.4 miles. I was cramping in my rib area after I notice that there are veins on my forehead that pop out after running and never weightlifting, weird, must be cardio.

Thanks eLvarouza, I will definitely try what you said. I didn`t think I should just keep the OP at 60 and do what I could finish of the remaining sets. But it makes sense.

Yea I will watch out for form on pullups, I agree with quality over quantity. I feel maybe it is easier for me since I don`t weigh alot, only 115lb ... I must weigh myself tomorrow I haven`t done it in awhile...

How do you progress after 3x5 of pullups, do you add weight or do you go for 3x10.. maybe I will just be sure I am ok with form first on all 3 sets, I feel it really depends on how hard the previous exercises are that determines how your pullup, dips etc go... do you agreeÉ

thanks for the encouraging words eLvarouza

[nickh]

More thought of pullups made me reread the pullup section on SL, and I`m sure Im not doing it properly. Something I will work on since I think I may be cheating. Not sure if it makes a difference but my hands arent that far apart like the ones jesse marunde are doing. I don`t bend my feet at the knees, they tend to just hand down crossed, not sure if that makes it easier or harder. My lower body tends to go forward on reps, I think thats cheating too. Reps are not completely down, as in hanging down with my elbows locked on each rep, that would seem really hard as I think momentum makes it easier

I think my reps look alot like these

[nickh]

Weigh in this morning at 118.5lbs

[nickh]

WEEK 4, DAY 2

NOT ENOUGH, almost identical workout

Squat - Completed 5x5 at 135lb, it wasn`t as hard as last time and felt like I could add a bit more weight. Form broke on a couple reps at the end where my weight shifted to the front of my feet. I read a thread yesterday in the strength training section of SL about the 1first rep being the most difficult. I experienced this for the first time today. Even though I ran for 5 min of the threadmill and did 1 set of squats with just the bar my legs just weren`t ready yet and the weight on the first set seemed really difficult, but on the second set felt manageable. I saw a girl doing squats with the bar at the front, front squats I assume, she had such good form, not sure if I was admiring the form or HER form

Bench Press - Completed 5x5 at 75lbs. Kept weight the same and felt I could add a little more. Still concerned about safety Feel stronger but will take it slow.

Barbell Row - Completed 5x5 at 75lbs. Same weight as I did previously. Didn`t seem easy, or hard. But I kept screwing up my breathing on this one, not sure I have form down for this yet either.

Dips - Completed with 5 4 2, exactly the same as previous dips

I really have the push it harder else these ones wont increase. And I don`t know whats going on with the dips

[nickh]

Wanted to add for the sake of completeness is that I am experiencing a bit of pain in the back right shoulder, didn`t seem to hinder any of my progress today but can`t help wonder if I strained it. I also noticed some extra veins, not protruding on my right shoulder where my my arm connects to the chest, not sure what the name of that muscle is hopefully a bit of rest will make it better.

[eLvarouza]

How do you progress after 3x5 of pullups, do you add weight or do you go for 3x10.. maybe I will just be sure I am ok with form first on all 3 sets, I feel it really depends on how hard the previous exercises are that determines how your pullup, dips etc go... do you agreeÉ

Start adding weight, 2.5lbs each time, and do 3x5.

Having good form and a full Range of Motion (ROM) on pullups and chinups is important. Remember: partial ROM = partial development. Full ROM = full development. This is true for any exercise, be it squats, bench press, pullups, etc. There's this dude who's often in the gym at my university who can do 20 "pullups" but his ROM is no greater than 3 inches (no joke!). Personally, I've found the sticking point on pullups to be at the very bottom of the movement; if I can pull myself up about halfway I can generally squeeze out one more rep. You should always try to work through your sticking points.

The grip width isn't that big of a deal, as pullups will still hit your upper back even if your grip is narrower. I think wide grip hits the lats more, but I wouldn't swear to it. I just go with about 2x shoulder width. What you do with your legs doesn't really matter, as long as you don't use them to create momentum (kipping).

Your body position under the bar isn't that big of a deal either. In my experience, body position is dependent on which muscles you use most in the movement. For example, I've noticed that if I get under the bar more on chinups my biceps will be recruited a lot more, but if I stay in front of the bar my back will be worked a lot more. I prefer to work my back as much as possible on chinups and pullups so I stay in front of the bar the entire time. As long as you get your chest up to the bar either way works.

Dang just realized you're squatting a lot considering you weight 118lbs . I bet you can hit at least one 1.5xBW squat by the end of the summer. Speaking of, you definitely want to add weight each workout (unless you didn't complete 5x5 the previous workout) even if it doesn't 'feel like you should'. It's all about forcing the body to adapt.

Finally about the pain in the shoulder it could be from going too deep on dips, but I'm just blindly guessing. I messed up my shoulder on Saturday doing dips, and I can't do presses for awhile. Make sure you're comfortable on all your exercises and stop if you feel any discomfort.

Good luck with progress!

[nickh]

WEEK 4, DAY 3

MY LEGS!

Squats - Completed 5x5 at 145lb. Increase of 10lbs. Ok this is the first time since I started the program that my legs feel SORE. It was much tougher with the extra weight. I felt like I wasn't going to make up back up on many reps and was moving in slow motion, having to push extremely hard to make it back up. I notice as I increase weight with any exercise and its tougher my breathing getting really out of sync, big time with the squats. I also felt like it was harder to squat lower with the extra weight. not sure if it was because i was scared or what I have to pay attention now to how low I am going and since I can't see myself from the side I should really video myself to make sure I am going down low enough.

Overhead Press - Completed at 5/5/4/4/2 with 60lbs. I am still not proud of this because of the last 3 sets I had to cheat and 'throw' the weight up and then push it up. I really loved it though and I think I pushed myself really hard today on this.

Dead Lift - Completed 1x5 at 135lbs. No increase. I think I can increase this one now, the only thing is I have to take the plates off on the floor because it is just too heavy to lift back onto the rack taking plates off on the ground isn't easy, does anyone have tips for this?

Chinups - Completed at 5/5/4 This seemed harder as I was focusing on form, letting my arms go right down before I pulled back up. I was still able to complete it, sides the last rep.

All in all a really good workout, I just can't believe this weeks workout is finished already, I feel like I should really make more progress and add more days on to the workout. Anyways I really need to work on my abs since I have been ignoring them. I forgot my gloves today for the first time and got some blisters

[nickh]

Also wanted to add that I hear my knees/toes 'cracking/popping' when I walk now, that hasn't happened since I used to play basketball long ago. Is this good/BAD? any reason for it?

[nickh]

Weigh in this morning at 117.2lbs. Seems to be fluctuating but not steadily going up. Should really start counting calories

[ukdudeinuk]

You really need to quit experimenting and start adding 5 pounds or 2.5 kgs every workout. The program works on the principle of progressive loading. I would describe it, but it's already been stated by many others far better than I can.