Nilan666's Training Journey...

[Nilan666]

Hey guys....i'm new to stronglifts, have started it 6 weeks back. Joined the forum just a few days back.Here i will try to post session wise or weekly updates about my progress.
Hope to get some support and encouragement.

So first things first a little about me...

I'm 5'7'', weigh 62 kgs and am 18 yrs,will turn 19 in November.
Body Fat currently 15%( calculated frm this site http://www.linear-software.com/online.html and used the tape measurement method)
I'm primarily an athlete who has started gym work to become stronger and more explosive.
I do the 100m and Long Jump.
PR in 100m=13.0s( when i was 16)
PR in Long Jump=6.05m(same,16 yrs)
Left practice for 1yr due to pressure of studies and completing final year of school,so performance and all declined terribly.
(100m time had reduced to 15 seconds and Long Jump to 4.8m)
Started with bodyweight and conditioning exercises from last year. But there have been interruptions due to time constraints as well as illness and damn exams! Last i measured( October last year) 100m was 13.4s and Long Jump 5.6m. I know faaar short of my PR and definitely nowhere near competition standards for my age.

So have started with renewed vigour now. Have had 2 months break from college as 1st year ended.
1st month i only did the conditioning exercises as detailed in Complete Speed Training (you can check it out at http://www.completespeedtraining.com and more info on athletics articles on http://www.athletesacceleration.com)
Yes i bought the CompleteSpeed Training package as i desperatly needed solid guidance and was and still am without a coach(We don't get good athletics coaches in India sadly....only for cricket the country invests!)

[Nilan666]

Following are my current strength stats

Push Ups-Maximum-30reps(couldnt possible have done 31)
Simple BodyWeight Squats-60 reps(could'v done a bit more)
Pull Ups-3(started 3weeks back..couldnt do a single one then)
Chin Ups-6(same as above...started 3 weeks back with 5 chin ups)
Dips-3(beyond parallel)(same as above...with 0 dips!)
Vertical Jump-58cm(improved by 3cm since starting with stronglifts)

Back Squat-35kg at 4x4(beyond parallel)
Barbell Row-20kg at 5x5(started with it since last week only)

I'm not doing bench or overhead press because i dont want to bulk up my chest as it would be detrimental to my speed.
But i think i should add overhead press? What do you think?

Deadlifts also i'v just started with since last week. I'm just focussing on technique now with an empty barbell.
In fact i'm practicing Romanian Deadlifts initially just to understand the feel of pushing the shoulders down and back and pushing through the heels.

[Nilan666]

My basic goal is very simple-

To increase my strength to weight ratio
ie increase my strength levels without increasing my weight. This is because extra weight would again be detrimental to speed.

Speed is produced by greater ground forces which comes from the hips,glutes and hamstrings. These are the primary sprinting muscles. If i increase my weight while increasing my force production(read lifting heavier weights), the benefits would be negated because i have more weight to carry also. SO that's why i want to keep the weight gain at an absolute minimum. None might be better but of course that's not possible!hehe

Hence my aim is to increase my squat to 1.5XBW AT LEAST and 2xBW and beyond ideally....
I know it sounds ambitious given the weights i'm lifting at the moment but i'm thinking long term....1yr at least.

Also increase in deadlift max has been shown to relate directly with faster top speeds. So this is also a lift i really need to work upon.

For power, Power Cleans will be good for me but i'm not going to do it until i become a bit more stronger and have mastered less complex variations of it like the deadlift itself, High Pull,Hang Clean etc.


Regarding squats i would like to ask one question to all and sundry. Should i alternate between front squats and back squats every other workout? Because back squats work more of the posterior chain(which IS what i need for sprinting) while as i read on stronglifts.com, the front squats work quadriceps more.

[eury13]

I wouldn't worry too much about bulking up your chest. If you look at the high-caliber sprinters out there they all have really well defined chests, shoulders, and arms as well as powerful legs. Also, while legs provide the power for running, the upper body plays a role too. You're likely to be faster with a strong whole body, not just legs.

If you're worried about gaining weight, keep track of what you eat. Just be sure to give yourself enough fuel to put the muscles where you want them. You won't gain so much mass that you completely negate the strength gains you've made.

[Nilan666]

heyy thanks eury for reading and replying to my post

so u think it would be good if i do include overhead press and/or bench press in my routine?

And what about the front squats v/s back squats dilemma? Should i alternate between them every other workout or should i stick to back squats since a a stronger posterior chain is what i need?

About my diet..oh yea i'm doing good ....
Using FitDay only, i calculated and it came to an average of 2400 kcal per day..which is just about right for my bodyweight(18xbodyweight in pounds)

[eury13]

I honestly don't know enough to answer your front/back squat question. I'm doing purely back squats, but I'm not training for a particular sport.

I do think that the OHP and bench press will be good for you, because they work your arms and shoulders in addition to your chest. Some great running advice I once got from a marathoning friend was to pump my arms harder to power myself up a hill or through the end of a race when my legs were feeling weak. Since your arms and legs move together when you run, the upper body needs the strength to keep up with the lower body, even though the legs are doing most of the work.

Just my two cents, really. Like Medhi has said, he put this program together after years of trial and error. Since it doesn't sound like you have access to a trainer to guide you, keep asking questions here but also be sure to give things a shot for a little while and see what works and what doesn't.

[Nilan666]

Good point euro....so from today onwards i'v started with the presses
I did the OHP today starting with just the empty barbell, focussing on technique first...
And yes i don't have access to any trainer/coach. Just doing my own research and reading.

In the OHP i actually bumped my chin on pushing the weight up on my very first rep
Paid more attention from 2nd rep onwards..

My workout today
Pull Ups-1x4
Overhead Press- 17kg(empty barbell weight)-5x5
Back Squat-37.5kg-4x4
Romanian Deadlift-12kg(empty barbell)(warmup)-1x7
-5kg-3x7(the weight is in addition to the barbell weight)
-10kg-4x5

Squats felt weird today. Real weird.Especially the first set. Maybe I should have warmed up with a lighter weight first?
I almost got stuck in the 3rd rep of the 1st set. Also i wasnt too happy with the form. Just didnt feel right...
2nd and 3rd sets were equally hard.
So got a bit angry and hit the 4th set with a vengeance...and heck...it went swell!
Not only was i able to lift the weight with ease ..i lifted it with speed too!

Also i'm squatting barefoot,wearing socks, as the only shoes i have are both running shoes and the 3rd pair is spikes.

Regarding pull ups, i wish to know how wide my grip width should be. Should it be a little wider than shoulder width or twice the shoulder width. Because i cannot do it with twice the shoulder width grip

Meanwhile i'll continue doing back squats only till i get more opinions on this matter.
Ciao!

[Nilan666]

And one more thing happened last time i went to the gym.
I did the squats as above...but after 3-4 hrs i started having a dull headache.....
it wasnt intense...very dull but it lasted for hours.
I go to my gym in the evening about 7pm and finish by 8.

When i wen to sleep at about 1130..i started havin this headache...it wudnt go ...and i cudnt sleep till 3-4 in the morning....
I woke up at my usual time,about 530 in the morning..not at all refreshed...and withthe headache more prominent now...
So went back to sleep thinking i might be getting tensed or stressed,so i told myself to relax and let go.
I woke up next at 9am...the headache had subsided but hadnt gone away completely..
In fact full day i had a very dull headache as if someone was lightly pressing my head from above constantly...
It lasted the whole day yesterday and finally disappeared today.

This had happened to me once before too,i thinkit was when i had accidentally put the weight as 32.5kg instead of 27.5kg , that's about 3 sessions back.

Don't know what's going on. I tried looking it up on the net,and i found that there were guys who had headaches after squatting only,but they were lifting much bigger weights(100kg+) and had the pain IMMEDIATELY after finishing their reps and it was very severe

I on the other hand..got it after couple of hours and it was very very dull pain.....

So today what i'm going to do is do some warm up sets of squats. Say 2x5(or 3 sets maybe?) of 20kg with 1-2 min rest. Then when i feel my blood pumping,i'll put on the real weights.

Let's see what happens....

[Nilan666]

Ok so i went to the gym, keeping in mind tht i had to do a warm up set for squats and so i did.

I did 1x7 @empty barbell(17kg)
Then 2 min later 1x7@10kg
2 min later 1x7@20kg

After 5 mins i started with the real weights
4x4 @ 37.5kg

Form was still not perfect,that's why i did same weight two days in a row. Also i realised that my elbows werent so drawn back,(they were down and back but not as much as they could've been)hence i was not getting a adequate support earlier.

This is how my workout looked like
24/7/08

Dips 1x4,1x2,1x0
Overhead Press- 17kg(barbell weight) 5x5
Back Squat- 37.5kg 4x4
Romanian Deadlift- 20kg 4x5

Really enjoyed the deadlift,maybe because the form was good at last
Also no more headaches

[Nilan666]

Today's Workout

Chin Ups 1x6,1x4,1x2
Over Head Press 17kg+5kg=22kg 5x5
Back Squat Warm up Sets-17kg+5kg=22kg 1x7
-17kg+10kg=27kg 1x7
-17kg+20kg =37kg 1x7

Real Workout 40kg+17kg=57kg 4x4
Romanian Deadlift 25kg+12kg=37kg 4x4


BIG Blunder i realised today. I didnt know that we were supposed to include the barbell weight
I seriously didnt know that!
So all my previous weights in barbell squat go up by 17kg
and Romanian Deadlifts go up by 12kg( i use the smaller barbell for deadlifts,the bigger 17kg is on the power rack)

So heck, I AM close to my bodyweight squats! WOOHOO!
Just 2 more workouts....

Today's workout went fine mostly. I was really scared to put up the the big bad plates of 20kg(44lbs) on each side of the barbell! But heck...it gave me a wicked satisfaction!!!
And well i was bit nervous when i went under the bar,but in the end it went real well!
I was just doubting my own strength....i guess I still have it in me to go further!

But yes,my experience with the 37.5kg..no wait..54.5kg...taught me to take it a bit easy,take some time do warm up sets,get the tehcnique and form right and then go put on the real weights.
Seems to have worked out today as well

Overhead press is definitely hard,but i can increase weights for a couple of more sessions no problem.

Chin Ups first time i did 3 sets. So not bad i think.

Romanian Deadlifts- Man this suddenly became hard today. I dont know,maybe because i bumped up the weight by 5kg directly? I'm going to go with 2.5kg from next session onwards.
Forearms were feeling strained and well my grip was feeling a bit awkward too. Well I'll take it as a good sign that finally, the body is being pushed in the deadlifts at last!

[Nilan666]

Damn another day another practice session lost. I don't know what wrong with me. Am i too tired of doing the lifts or what!

This is the second week in a row that i decided to skip athletics practice. Maybe the whole thing about getting up at 5:20 in the morining,rushing thru evrything and walking damn 4km to the field doesnt appeal to me anymore??
And now i'm feeling really irritated at myself for being so lazy.

Mon wed fri are my practice days while tue thu sat are my weightlifitng days.
Weightlifting is going fine...but i'm simple not wanting to get up so early in the morning to go for practice anymore.

This wasnt the case when i started hitting the weightroom. But ever since i'v gone beyond 30/35 kg in the squats...i just feel like sleeping the whole of next day. Wat the hell. :

I mean hell...i'm an athlete first..weightlifter second..not the other way around...bu thats what i feel like nowadays.

2 weeks this has been happeing and i knwo for sure my aerobic capacity has gone for a toss again. DAMN damn damn. All the tempo work and circuits i would have to do them again???
Not to mention the speed workouts that i'v missed. But why one earth have i become so tired and lazy!
ugh i hate myself

[eury13]

But why one earth have i become so tired and lazy!
ugh i hate myself

No good will come from hating yourself.

Think about it this way. You're used to doing hard aerobic workouts and now, on top of that, you're adding serious weight training. Your body may need more rest than you're used to.

It may also be that 6 days of serious exercise is too much. You may need to cut back 5x5 to twice a week since your focus is running.

Just remember, you said at the beginning that you wanted to get stronger to support your speed. If that's still the case, then your speed won't improve if you can't muster the will to go to practice.

Figure out what works best for you and then make sure you stick with it. Better to go to practice groggy and tired than spend the rest of the day miserable that you missed it.

[Nilan666]

yea..ur right eury....
i definitely might need more rest and maybe i need to adjust track workout as well.
Methinks i'll cut it to twice a week. One day speed workout and the 2nd for conditioning.
And learning from the fact i felt miserable missing practice,i'm definitely getting up tomorrow for some speed workout.

Regarding today's workout it was as under:
Dips 3,4,4
Bench Press 17kg(barbell) 1x10
17kg+10kg= 27kg 5x7
Back Squat 27kg 1x7
37kg 1x7

59.5 kg 4x4
Romanian Deadlift 42kg 4x5

Comments

Dips Well first set felt rather hard and could hardly go down. Second set was better and i could go down to about 45-50 degrees. Still lot of work to do as hitting parallel and below is difficult.

Bench My first ever experience with bench. Felt too light and easy. So i lost count of reps as i kept on doing and doing lol.

Squats Hmm defintly was hard. I felt a bit dizzy after the 2nd set, not the first dont know why. Also the weight is starting to kill my upper back. Lot of pressure, not only from squeezing the bar but also the heavy weight was really hitting my back today....

Romanian Deadlifts Well i messed up the form and technique today as i realised only on returning home that i forgot to push my shoulders down and back. Also i think my hips are going too far back. Will check on form on next session.

Had still some time left today,so thought of taking some baby steps towards learning the Power Cleans. SO i did 2x10 of High Pulls and 2x10 of Hang Cleans with empty barbell(the smaller one weighing 12kg).

Defintely lot to learn. New thing i guess, i'll focus more and try and do it better next time.

Oh and i'm going to restart front squats. Will do it evry alternate workout, not only because it will build the core more,but also because i'll be needing the front squat technique of holding the bar while doing the Power Cleans. I just couldnt punch my elbows out and keep upeer arms parallel to the ground today whle performing Hang Cleans.

Ciao!

[Nilan666]

Today's workout(31/7)

Pull Ups 1x3,1x2,1x0.5
Overhead Press 27kg 5x5
Front Squat 17kg 1x7
27kg 1x7
47kg 4x4
Barbell Row 42kg 1x3
37kg 5x5
Power Shrug 17kg 1x5
27kg 3x5
High Pull 27kg 3x5


Comments:
Pull Ups Tried to do for the first time without gloves. Man it's tough. Don't seem to be making any progress at all

Overhead Press Oh man twas hard...I definitely cannot increase at the rate i was going. So from now on 2.5 kgs only. My right shoulder and triceps almost got cramped in the 4th set....and frankly i don't remember whether i actually did the 5th set i ermm lost count of sets

Front Squat I tried front squat for two reasons today. One i have to increase my flexibilty in the wrist for Power Cleans. And two, i wanted to give my lower back some rest.
And well putting on 30kg weights is definitely hard. Definitely harder than back squats. Also on 4th set,3rd rep,right knee badly buckled in. Damn.
My wrist was also hurting,right one felt as if it had dislocated. So i finally put on the gloves.

Now i don't know should i do front squat or back squat in my next session,cuz next session i'll reach my bodyweight squats on back squat(62kg)....well i might do that only, would definitely give me a kick to achieve one important milestone


Barbell Row Tried with 30kg weights initially..but damn i cudnt hit the xiphoid process. SO i unfortunately had to lower the weight and put on 25kg weights for a total of 37kg. I could control this weight. No problem. Wrist were feeling fine now,so i removed the gloves again.

Power Shrug Learning it. Put on 5kg initially. Too easy. Then put on 10kg. THis was ok.

High Pull Again learning it only. All of this is for Power Cleans.

[Young Athlete]

What routine are you following?
I
'm lost as to why you are doing power shrugs, Not really a muscle necessary to isolate.

Try adding in more power cleans if you know how to do them?

Your my height