sasper's Strength Training Log

by **sasper** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:33 pm

I am going to start trying to do weighted chin-ups, but maybe with very light weight (5-10lbs). Chin-ups are definitely the most difficult part of my workout. Before a couple months ago, I have never in my entire life been able to do even 1 chin-up or pull-up. But since I'm now able to do a decent number of them, adding weight should be good to get the gains that I'm looking for more quickly.

I was never able to do dips before last summer, when I started losing weight, lifting and exercising more regularly. Started gradually with someone helping me, then moved on to sets of 3, then 5, then 10, and now I'm on sets of 5-10 with 30+ lbs attached to me. It's great seeing those kind of gains and very motivating.

Thanks for the article on lower back health. I really enjoyed it, and have already sent it to a few friends. Did you submit it to Digg yet?

by **Mehdi** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:07 pm

Great progress on both chins & dips.
Feel free to digg anything you want to digg sasper. I don't want to spam you guys to much by sending more than one request a week to digg.

by **sasper** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:01 am

10/13

Squat - 5x5 @ 215
Overhead Press - 5x5 @ 125
Rows - 5x5 @ 125
Dips - 4x5 @ 35
Turkish Get-ups - 2x10 @ 40

Spinal decompression and glute activation exercises for supplementals. I also tried Turkish get-ups for the first time. Boy they were tough, but a great workout! I'll continue to do them.

by **bentzurm** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:46 am

Great workouts Sasper. it's motivating for us lightweights to see how far you can go on the these programs.

by **Mehdi** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:35 pm

sasper:10/13 Squat - 5x5 @ 215 Overhead Press - 5x5 @ 125 Rows - 5x5 @ 125 Dips - 4x5 @ 35 Turkish Get-ups - 2x10 @ 40 Spinal decompression and glute activation exercises for supplementals. I also tried Turkish get-ups for the first time. Boy they were tough, but a great workout! I'll continue to do them.

Good work Sasper. Back seems to be ok again, great.

by **sasper** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:11 am

Thanks for the comments guys! Keeping me motivated for sure

10/15
Squats - 5x5 @ 225 -- felt great today. Steady and strong
Bench - 5x5 @ 185 -- tough, but got them all and felt great
Deadlift - 4x5 @ 265 -- I was feeling really strong on my DL today, so I kept doing sets until I was exhausted. I'm probably going to bump the weight up 10-15lbs next set.
Chinups - 5x3x2x3x1x1x2x2 @ 5lbs -- These were tough today, but I managed to get all my reps in. I ended up doing the last 2 sets of 2 in between other exercises later in my workout.
Incline DB Press - 5x5 @ 140 -- chest was feeling strong, so I did some more chest work
Preacher curls - 5x5 @ 75 -- did these between my Incline DB press sets
Turkish Get-ups - 2x5 @ 35 -- lots of fun; very tiring.

by **Mehdi** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:04 pm

Sounds like a good day Sasper :-)

by **sasper** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:53 am

10/18

Another good day.
Front Squat - 5x5 @ 175
Clean & Press (overhead) - 5x5 @ 135
Overhead DB Press - 5x5x5x5x4 @ 120
Barbell Rows - 5x5 @ 125
Dips - 3x5 @ 40

I had some extra time and was feeling good, so I did some solid sets of Clean and Press with a decent weight. I was definitely exhausted by the end of my workout... feeling great!

by **Mehdi** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:57 am

Great workout Sasper!

by **sasper** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:34 pm

My traps are sore today from the clean & press + overhead db press. Such a good feeling!

Ugh, and my lower bike is tight and uncomfortable, probably from a combination of basketball, squats, and deadlifts. Gotta do some decompressions!

by **sasper** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:27 am

10/22
Squat - 5x5 @ 235 -- felt great. It was challenging but I was at no point straining to complete my sets.
Bench - 5x5 @ 185 -- felt good, but I did not bump the weight up like I should have (to 195). I was able to get all 5 sets, but struggled on the 4th set
Deadlift - 3x5 @ 275 -- felt VERY STRONG on my deadlift today. I was tempted to put 315 on and see if I could do a set of 3, but maybe next time
Pullups - 5/5/5/4/1/3/2 @ 0 -- no weight today. They felt great but were difficult
Incline DB Press - 5x5 @ 70 each
Zottman DB curls - 5x5 @ 30 each -- great forearm workout!
Took a long weekend for a short trip and came back feeling good. The workout routine is going very well. I am making progress towards my goals (see first post) except for the weight loss, which I haven't really even checked. I have not been hardcore into a diet at all. I need some motivation to get into it, and a start date and timeline. Anyone want to help me out?

by **Mehdi** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:22 am

You're numbers are going strong Sasper. Continue the good work.
Fat loss: check this post: stronglifts.com/7-ways-to-lose-fat-fast/
There's another post coming this Thursday with example meals ect, you'll see

by **sasper** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:08 pm

I've read the post before and am reading it again. The thing is, Mehdi, that I don't think I could lose weight eating that many calories (235*18 = 4230 - 500 = 3730). Last summer I lost 50lbs (280 to 230) in 3 months and was eating 1200 calories a day, working out 6 days a week and doing cardio daily (running, swimming, biking or a combo of all). While I know that was not the most healthy weight loss (I did lose some strength, but not much since I was weight lifting daily), I felt great, looked great, and was motivated the entire time.
I am happy with the strength training right now though. I am staying the same weight while increasing strength, so I know that I am losing fat. I need to consciously limit my carb intake, which I have not tried doing, and get back on the running bandwagon. I may sign up for a half-marathon in the Spring to get me motivated to start running again, but that would probably start cutting into my strength training. I will see...

by **Mehdi** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:24 pm

sasper:
I've read the post before and am reading it again. The thing is, Mehdi, that I don't think I could lose weight eating that many calories (235*18 = 4230 - 500 = 3730). Last summer I lost 50lbs (280 to 230) in 3 months and was eating 1200 calories a day, working out 6 days a week and doing cardio daily (running, swimming, biking or a combo of all). While I know that was not the most healthy weight loss (I did lose some strength, but not much since I was weight lifting daily), I felt great, looked great, and was motivated the entire time.
I am happy with the strength training right now though. I am staying the same weight while increasing strength, so I know that I am losing fat. I need to consciously limit my carb intake, which I have not tried doing, and get back on the running bandwagon. I may sign up for a half-marathon in the Spring to get me motivated to start running again, but that would probably start cutting into my strength training. I will see...

You won't lose weight indeed eating 3730lbs, you need to decrease calories. Decrease 500, check balance: not losing weight, decrease another 500kcal, etc until you lose weight. It takes longer because it's a progressive weigh of cutting, but it avoids cutting too much calories & ending up losing muscle vs fat.

by **sasper** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:43 am

10/24
Front Squat - 5x5 @ 185 -- felt heavy, but got through all my sets
Clean & Overhead Press -- 5x5 @ 135 -- felt strong
Barbell Rows - 5x5 @ 135
Dips - 3x5 @ 45
I was very busy so I was not able to do any supplemental exercises, but I definitely hit all the major areas.

Who is online