Over the years, it's been necessary to substitute exercises I get from books and websites with those I can actually do with what's available in the gym. I looked around the net for something to replace the Kneeling cable external rotation and found Eric Cressey himself suggesting the Elbow supported external rotation to a guy trying out Maximum Strength. Unfortunately, that guy didn't link to the video Cressey shared, and he wrote a very ambiguous description of what to do, and so I looked around some more and came across the Elbow on knee dumbbell external rotation, which was what I did this morning.
Speaking of this morning, I thought I'd save myself a trip to my regular gym to a branch that was closer to where I live, but when I got there, there were some ongoing renovations, and the showers weren't available. If I didn't have somewhere to be right after my workout, that would've been all right, but since I didn't want to show up smelling like a sweat-soaked sponge and didn't want to postpone my workout till the afternoon, I just went to my regular gym anyway.
Spent an inordinate amount of time working on my Front squats since I was going back and forth between what I was reading in Starting Strength and what I was seeing in the mirror. So far my biggest problem is setting up and keeping the bar in the rack position, which I already had issues way way back and as recently as with the Power cleans. I kept the weights fairly light so I could concentrate on my form.
Also took my time with the Rack pull (deadlift) thanks once again to trying to follow the instructions in the same book. I ended up having to elevate myself off the floor by using stacked plates so I can get the bar 3-4 inches below my knees. I was kinda weirded out by my grip complaining at only 224lbs.
It's been over a half a year since I had any exercises that involved dumbbells, and it'll take me at least one more day to get used to them again (especially with this new grip I never tried before), but I've gone a long way from 2 guys having to help me set up for a DB incline.
Gonna have to throw out all my Box squat numbers since the exercise--as described in the book anyway--specifically calls for sitting down on the box, pausing at the bottom of each rep before explosively getting up. Ah well, there's always next week.
Last Friday I did this workout (nicknamed "Packing Day" in the book) though I wasn't sure it should've counted since I didn't really work out and just got my 1RMs. Today, however, I changed my mind after I saw that "Moving Day", the opposite end of "Packing Day", was part of the program.
Body weight
192lbs.
Broad jump
81"
Box sSquat1
414lbs.
Bench press
254lbs.
Deadlift
364lbs.
Three-rep max chin-up
20lbs.
1. After checking the book, I found out what I did wasn't a real Box squat. I didn't pause at the bottom of the rep.
Thoughts
The next time I'll do Broad jumps, I'll have to bring a tape measure longer than 60" and some masking tape to mark the gym floor with.
Going for my heaviest and deepest Squat (with the correct form) wiped me out for the Bench press (couldn't officially repeat 274lbs.) and Deadlift (didn't feel up to going 374lbs.), but it was worth it.
To do Weighted chin-ups, I borrowed one of the trainers' belts he jury-rigged* to dangle weights from, which worked well enough, but I ought to bring my weight dip belt tomorrow just to see if I can use it for this purpose.
For the next 16 weeks, most of these entries won't have any lifting stats again since these will reveal the program from the book.I did the same for NRoL and 10/10 before anyway, and even though I'll end up with really boring or even unintelligible posts, I won't be depriving the authors of their income.
It's a good thing I opted not to start today since I misinterpreted one of the program notes, and thanks to a scheduling conflict in "real life", my workouts start on Tuesday now followed by Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (there goes my weekends). * Huh, didn't know it was spelled that way; always thought it was "gerry" or "jerry". Shame on me.
Did a round of 30DWW in my workout after work (I wanted to check out
what the crowd was like), and I got really exhausted halfway through. I
forgot how taxing Split squat jumps and Mountain climbers were on my
legs. Also, number of pull-ups didn't change much from before, but I
was using dead hangs this time. Not sure if I wanna do this again on
Friday.
Guess this week wasn't quite the deload week I had in mind, and so I'll be taking it easy next week.
Exercise
A
B
C
D
E
Squats (low bar)
294/5
314/5
339/5
364/5
384/3
Bench presses
224/5
224/5
224/5
224/5
224/5
Hang cleans
144/5
144/5
144/5
144/5
144/5
Turkish get-ups
15/5
30/5
50/3+2
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
Went for the Box squat again, and I can do 364lbs. with the correct depth consistently.
Doing 4 plates for reps is an okay Bench press baseline that I won't second-guess myself with in the future. My big goal is 6-plates for reps, not just a 1RM.
Since I still couldn't get the bar to touch my lower thighs before the jump in the Power cleans, I opted to do most of the reps starting from there. At least my elbows are starting to point higher at the end of each rep.
Yesterday I went to the gym with my copy of Maximum Strength in hand to try out some of the new exercises (like Barbell floor presses and Natural glute-ham raises) and revisit some of the old exercises (like my favorites, Bulgarian split squats and Step-ups, oh joy). There's an entire section in the book devoted to warm-ups (a few of the examples seem to be based on yoga techniques), but I won't be able to start on soft tissue work until I can buy a foam roller. I have no idea if anyone sells that here locally (Googling didn't help), and it's a bitch to pay for it with an international credit card from the recommended site (luckily, I do know someone who can help me out in this regard).
Exercise
A
B
C
D
E
Squats (low bar)
314/5
314/5
314/5
314/5
314/5
Overhead presses
154/5
154/5
154/5
154/5
154/5
Deadlifts (straps)
314/5
314/4
314/5
314/5
314/5
Pull-ups
BW/5
BW/5
BW/5
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
Went light on the Squats, but turned it into Box squats with the lowest elevation I've done with 3 aerobic steps stacked up. I had one of the trainers confirm yesterday I was actually going below parallel at that level.
Because I started so late with Power cleans, they're a lot weaker than what they ought to be compared to my Presses, and I still haven't gotten down the form right (though the bar is starting the touch my thighs more often before the jump).
Looks like my max number of Deadlift reps over 300lbs. without the straps is 9. The pathetic grip™ strikes again.
One of the best things I've picked up so far from the book is the reason why I've been "shrinking" since I started StrongLifts. Because its workouts aren't geared towards gaining size but increasing strength, I've been getting "denser" (as if I wasn't dense enough to begin with ), which may explain why I haven't been losing that much weight (although someone in the gym this morning did point out that I have). Basically, being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being stronger, and though it'd be great to be both, I'm at that point where it's better for my body type if I concentrate on just one or the other.
Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be deloading this week, but I just needed to see how I'd fare compared to before I deloaded a month ago. Going back to 5x5 wasn't easy.
Exercise
A
B
C
D
E
Squats (low bar)
354/5
354/5
354/5
354/5
354/5
Bench presses
194/5
214/5
224/5
239/3+2
254/3
Power cleans
134/5
139/5
144/5
149/5
154/5
Weighted dips
25/5
50/5
75/3
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
Things started off nicely with the Squats, but making every rep count ate up more energy than I wanted, energy I could've used in the Bench presses.
Gee, why were my forearms so tired from the Power cleans? I already took off 20lbs.
Dunno what I'm doing differently with the Weighted dips from when I started. Haven't been able to get my breathing right.
I was wondering over the weekend what I'd be doing after StrongLifts, and although I still have the programs in Starting Strength to look at, I came across a book that has been on my Amazon shopping cart for months, Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength. Needless to say I picked it up immediately and will be reading up on it in the days to come.
Two days ago I said, "Wouldn't have liked having a crappy performance this last week of SLA." Well, dang it. I just gone and jinxed myself.
Exercise
A
B
C
Squats (low bar)
324/3
364/3
404/3
Bench presses
254/3
254/2
254/1
Hang cleans
134/3
134/3
134/3
Turkish get-ups
25/3
40/3
60/3
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
The Squats went OK, and though I didn't go as deep as I wanted in the last set, I know my core and lower back can handle the weight, which for me is more important.
Guess my Bench presses shouldn't have gone up by 10lbs. Better luck next time.
I was just too flustered to do Power cleans properly so I switched to Hang cleans at a lighter weight to work on my form.
Today's workout was much better than last Wednesday's, thank goodness. Wouldn't have liked having a crappy performance this last week of SLA.
Exercise
A
B
C
Push presses (belt)
184/3
184/3
184/3
Deadlifts (straps)
364/3
364/3
364/3
Weighted pull-ups
12.5/3
12.5/3
15/4
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
Cleaning 184lbs. off the floor two days ago really helped my Overhead Push presses get off the ground, literally and figuratively.
Though I wore straps for all 3 Deadlift sets, I did get in beforehand a new 1RM record at 364lbs. sans straps. I need to start using chalk as soon as possible to counteract my sweaty palms.
As much as I hated dead hangs for pull-ups before, I've been seeing their benefit despite only having to do 3 reps at a time. Of course I can help myself even more if I lose a whole lotta fat.
Taking the train is a typically bland part of my life, but once in a blue moon, I get treated to a serving of eye candy. This morning's dessert was a thinnish hairy bald-headed bodybuilder who exuded an oblivious sexay-ness. It was easy to take non-obvious visual nibbles with him sitting right across me in the train car. Only sour part of the experience was seeing that he worked out at another gym (which I have to admit has better-looking clients than the one I go to ).
This is my last week of SLA, and IMHO, the entire StrongLifts program has agreed with me. Even I could see the difference from when I started in July. What I'll be doing next is still up in the air.
Exercise
A
B
C
Squats (low bar)
384/3
384/3
384/3
Bench presses
214/3
239/3
264/3
Power cleans
144/3
164/3
184/1+1
Weighted dips (belt)
40/3
65/3
95/1
Legend: (Weight/Reps)
Thoughts
After my Bench presses, I did one extra set of a single rep at 274lbs. and redeemed myself over my last missed attempt. Probably could've done one more, but that would've been pushing my luck.
My goal for my last set of Power cleans was to do only 1 rep since I've been struggling with a mental block I've had over that 184lbs. "milestone". The fact I even called it a milestone made things harder than they actually were.
That last Weighted dip set was something else. I felt slightly dizzy from the blood draining from my head into my arms and chest as I pushed my body back up.
I came across this vid that showed how to properly measure body parts. Unfortunately, it didn't show how one can do it alone, so I managed the best I could. There were a lot of negative movements in the stats, but if it means I'll be more consistent from now on, then it's fine.
Height
5'3"
Oct 08
Weight
192.5 lbs.
-2.5 lbs.
Chest
43"
-1"
Neck
16"
no change
Upper Arms (unflexed)
15.375"/15.25"
-0.125"/-0.125"
Upper Arms (flexed)
16"/15.875"
-0.125"/no change
Forearms
12"/11.875"
-0.125"/-0.125"
Waist at navel
38"
-0.25"
Hips
43.5"
no change
Thighs
25.5"/25.5"
-1.5"/-1.5"
Calves
15.875"/15.875"
-0.125"/-0.125"
My biggest gripe is my chest is now smaller than my butt again. The rest I'm OK with, even the arms.
เครื่องมือ 
), which may explain why I haven't been losing that much weight (although someone in the gym this morning did point out that I have). Basically, being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being stronger, and though it'd be great to be both, I'm at that point where it's better for my body type if I concentrate on just one or the other. 
