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Hi guys, first post.

 

I've been reading along here for some time and really found a lot of useful information. I love reading the training logs, especially Chewy's. Dude, you've inspired me a lot, thank you! I am quite scrawny, always been, but seeing your transformation has made me confident that I can be stronger and bigger. I've been vegan for a year, and a lot of people commented on my size and that vegetarians are all weaklings. I'm going to prove them wrong!!

 

So, I've been doing the Stronglifts 5x5 since October, and already seen some progress. I realize I should have started a log at the beginning, but better late than never I guess. Here are my current lifts:

 

Squat: 77,5 kg

Deadlift: 75 kg

Bench: 45 kg

Overhead: 35 kg

 

I have been trying to follow the program as strict as possible, but I started out very light on deadlifts because I was afraid I was not doing them right. I think I've got it down now though. My bench press seems to be my weakest spot (for me at last), I've been struggling a lot with it, but I've been working on technique today and think I finally got it down.

Overhead press is hard, but I actually like it. I've already stalled on it a couple of times, but it just makes me more eager to improve.

The squat is my best excercise, I think. I've only stalled once, more on that later. I have always done a lot of soccer, running and cycling so I have relatively strong legs compared to the rest of my body. The squat was not very hard for me until I reached 70 kg, up until then I thought it was rather easy. I'm starting to feel it now though!

 

So today's workout was kind of disappointing actually. I workout at my school, and I am therefore unable to work out during the holidays. So after two weeks of only doing cardio and light dumbells at home, I knew it was going to be tough. Despite that, I jumped right into it. Did a warm-up set on 50 kg for the squat, and one on 70 kg. 5 reps each, felt pretty good.

I then went on to 77,5 kg where I left off before the holidays, did 3 sets of 5 reps. Then went on to the 4th set but my legs just gave up. I could barely lift the bar off the rack and so I decided to stop it there. I felt some pain in my lower back, and I still have that right now, something that has not happened before. Never stalled on squats before today, never any back pain. I think the moral is to start light when coming back from a break

 

Did 5x5 of 45 kg bench press which was way more easy than it has been before. Made sure to use good form and focused on technique. Hopefully this means the bench is going to go up now, have not been so satisfied with this lift.

Anyways, I felt exhausted after this and I still had the lower back pain, so I did a quick set of chin-ups and push-ups and called it a day.

 

So yeah, I hope you guys want to read along. I know I can't wait to hit the gym again on Wednesday to nail those squats! Btw, I wonder if I should go for 77,5 kg again or if I should do a deload to get used to it again?

 

Gotta eat!

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Welcome aboard!

 

Vegans are NOT weaklings, lol...and best of all, we do not suffer from animal fat clogged arteries...

 

Certainly not, but my country is one of the most meat consuming countries in the world and the meat and milk industry is keeping almost everyone under "control"..

 

 

And thanks, I look forward to be posting here

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Todays workout:

 

Squat: 50 kg: 1x5, 70 kg: 1x5, 77,5 kg: 1x5, 70 kg: 4x5

OH-press: 20 kg: 1x5, 30 kg: 1x5, 35 kg: 5x5

Deadlift: 70 kg: 1x5, 80 kg: 1x1

Pull-ups: 6,3,2

 

Woke up too late, feeling kind of sick. Threw down some oatmeal and went to the gym (training before class). Warmed up on the squats, still feeling that ache in the lower back. Went for the 77,5 kg and managed the 5 reps, but decided to deload to ease off the stress of my back a bit. Continued with overhead press, feeling pretty good. Managed 5x5 on 35 kg - haven't been able to do that before, so that was definately a personal victory! Felt really tired, but good. Did 5 reps of 70 kg on the deadlift, and went to 80 kg, doing one rep. Also new personal record!

Finished off with 3 sets of pull-ups, managed 6 good ones in the first set, first time ever doing that!

Threw down some rice protein and a couple of dates and went to class. But apparently this workout took up that last energy I had left. Felt completely crushed the rest of the school day, and was not in the mood for eating at all. Forced down two sandwiches at 10 am but I didn't eat my "second lunch" untill 5 pm. I was too damn exhausted to eat! Think I'll be going to bed very early this evening and see how I feel in the morning.

 

For Friday's workout I am considering doing leg press instead of the squats, just to give my back time to rest a bit. I still have the slight pain in it right now, and I don't want to seriously injury it.

 

Well, I'm going to relax with some tea now, try to get a smoothie down after that and then go to bed. Hope you've all had a great day, feeling better than me!

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Stayed home yesterday, was feeling really sick and and my head hurt like crazy. Felt a lot better when I woke up today, but still decided to skip school. I have band practice later though, so if I feel okay later I might be going and if I don't feel pain in my back I might also go and do some bench press, pull-ups and inverted rows. No squatting today though, that's for sure!

 

Ate almost nothing yesterday, just slept the whole day away almost. But I feel like I have a lot more appetite today, so I will try to eat some more when I have finished writing this. Had a soy yoghurt and a cup of green tea when I woke up, and I think I might have a smoothie now

 

Have a nice day everyone!

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Hey man hope all is well, I've enjoyed reading your posts. First of all there's no rush - don't worry about weak lifts, and you don't lose strength if you don't go in trying to hit a max every time. If you feel pain like your back, depending on how bad it is take 20kg or more off, or just take a day off squatting - it's no big deal. Your gained strength/mass doesn't fizz away in a few days (even a couple of weeks), and more often it just gives you a chance to recover more! What will cause your strength/mass to nosedive is if you fuck your back and you're out for weeks, months or worse.

 

How much bodyweight have you gained in your 2-3 months? I've always stalled in what I thought were "weak" exercises when I haven't been gaining weight. It's the key to good strength gains. It doesn't matter how much you *think* you're eating, let the scale be your guide!

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When I started on October 1st, I weighed about 59-60 kg. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 63 kg, so thats 1 kg pr. month.

Yes, you are definately right, it's better to take a day off. I went to band practice some hours ago, and I had half an hour before the others were there so I went down to the fitness room and put some weight on the bench. Did a couple of sets with 47,5 kg but I just got so dizzy from it so I decided to stop before I passed out but it was cool to feel like I could have easily done 5x5 if I hadn't been sick.

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Bench: 47,5 kg 5x5

Pull-ups: 4,4,3

 

Just a 20 minute workout today. Did two sets on the bench to warm up, then did 5 sets of work weight. Felt good and I'm ready to hit 50 next time.

Three quick sets of pull-ups and that was it. Light workout to get back at it and then I'll be ready to hit squats, press and deadlifts on Wednesday!

 

I know I need to up my eating now so I can keep the progress up, I have been under 3000 calories the last days. Would like to get up to 3500 or more, but it's hard sometimes.

 

Hope everyone is having a great time

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Squats: 50 kg 1x5, 62,5 kg: 5x5

OH-press: 20 kg 1x5, 30 kg 1x5, 37,5 kg 5,5,5,4,1

Deadlift: 75 kg: 1x5

Pull-ups: 5,3,3

 

Okay, so I deloaded on the squats and they were easy and I didn't have problems with my back. Gonna work my way nice and easy back to the 80 kg.

Overhead Press was killer! By the 5th rep of third set I thought I was gonna pass out, got really dizzy. Couldn't make the 4th set and I was in a bit of a hurry (trained just before class) so by the 5th set I was so crushed I could barely do one rep without cheating a bit - phew Hopefully I will make 5x5 next time!

Deadlift, I felt it pretty hard in my back, not sure if I'm just weak or if I'm doing it wrong. Definately not bending my back, but it might be that I need to come up in a different way. Might do a video of these next time to look at my form.

Finished off with three sets of pull-ups and some crunches, well not much to say, these are fine and I can feel I'm getting stronger at them. When I can do three strict sets of 5 I'm going to start adding some weight.

 

Finally got the calories up to 4000 yesterday, today I'm gonna hit about 3500 - I will have some bulgur with lentils in a moment. Happy lifting everyone

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Squat: 50 kg 1x5, 65 kg: 5x5

Bench: 40 kg 1x5, 50 kg: 5,4,4,4,3

Inverted rows: Just fucked around

Pull-ups: 5,4,3

 

Getting good at the squats again, no problems today. Can't really say that benching was easy, I failed pretty well and I will have to keep eating and hopefully I will do it next time. But it was my first time ever benching 50 kg, so things are progressing slowly

For rows I did a few sets without really counting, then I did some dumbbell rows and some pull-ups. I would like to do barbell rows, but I'm just afraid of hurting my back. Will have to work on that.

 

That's about it, I have a kind of busy weekend ahead of me so hopefully I won't be to exhausted to nail some overhead pressing monday

Cheers!

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Just start light with the barbell rows and load it 2.5kg, will avoid any problems with form/injury. Do the one armed rows afterwards if you want, not a big deal. It's definitely an exercise worth getting good at (barbell rows).

 

If you eat big you can still squeeze a good couple of months out of stronglifts, aiming for 1x5x100kg dead, 5x5x57.5kg bench, 5x5x85kg squat and 5x5x42.5kg OHP within 8 weeks.

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Thanks chewy, I am definately aiming for something like that.

 

Squat: 50 kg 1x5, 67,5 kg: 5x5

OH-press: 30 kg 1x5, 37,5 kg: 5,5,5,2,5

Deadlift: 70 kg 1x5, 80 kg 1x5

Pull-ups: 7,5,4

 

Squats were still relatively easy, definately getting back on those.

OH-press was going okay till 4th set were I failed completely, and then for some reason I managed 5 reps in the last set. I must have not rested long enough before 4th set, so that was a fail which kind of pissed me off. But then I know for sure that I will nail it on Friday!

Deadlift went well today, a friend of mine who has been training for a long time gave me some advice on it, and it suddenly felt better. I wouldn't exactly say that 80 kg were easy, but I didn't feel any unwanted pain in the back afterwards so I see that as a definite plus.

I marked pull-ups green cause I think that is definately a progress! It might have been that I took longer rest before I started (about 5 minutes after deadlift, ca. 3 minutes between sets), but it still felt good. But I have changed my mind about adding weight, I think I will still wait til it has become a little easier, cause it's definately still hard!

Finished off with 3 sets of crunches with a 10 kg plate behind. Felt good!

 

Hope everybody had a great day and I will see you again Wednesday

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Squat: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 5x5

Bench: 40 kg 1x5, 50 kg 5,5,5,4,3

 

Was in a hurry, I am working as a roadie the next days so I just took a quick workout. Squats were done in 15 minutes, not so hard.

Bench was tough and I did not make it which disappointed me a lot. I will just have to keep eating and then I AM gonna make it Monday!

Finished off with three sets of crunches with 10 kg, some pull-ups and chin-ups.

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Squat: 50 kg 1x5, 72,5 kg 5x5

OHP: 30 kg 1x5, 37,5 kg 5x5

Dead: 70 kg 1x5, 85 kg 1x2 50 kg 2x5

 

 

Starting to feel the squats again, but it's not really burning yet. Bet it will come soon though

Overhead Press was tough, but I finally made it. Shoulders were a bit sore which made it harder, but hopefully I can get enough rest during the weekend.

70 kg deadlift felt okay, but 85 kg was too hard. I deloaded and practiced some. Think I will try 85 kg again Wednesday, but I definately still have to practice this lift.

Finished off with pull-ups.

 

Just finished a big bowl of pasta with oil and tomatoes, now I might go for some fruit - have a great day, everybody

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Squat: 50 kg 1x5, 80 kg 3x5, 75 kg 2x5

Bench: 40 kg 1x5, 50 kg 5x5

BB-rows: 30 kg 3x10

Dumbbell rows 20 kg 1x10 pr. hand

Crunches, pull-ups

 

 

Squats were feeling hard today, but then I noticed that I had put 5 kg plates on instead of 2.5 kg so that was kind of the explanation for that Took 5 kg off and did the last two sets. This is not exactly easy anymore, but I think I can still go on a week or two before I fail.

Bench is still not easy, but it was better today. Had a friend help me out with technique which helped a bit, but it's mainly just hard work.

Did barbell rows, just light weight to start off with. Will do them heavier with less reps next time, but I just needed to get used to it. Finished off with one set of DB-rows pr. hand and some crunches and pull-ups.

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Squats: 50 kg 1x5, 60 kg 1x5 77,5 kg 5x5

OHP: 30 kg 1x5, 40 kg 5,3,2 30 kg 2x5

Deadlift: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 1x5, 85 1x1

 

So I'm now back at where left off with squats some weeks ago. It felt good! It was tough but I still have a good feeling about them. 80 kg next time!

Press was really hard! Gave up after three sets and did the last two sets with 75%. Think I will deload next time or the time after that, cause I don't see the point of injuring my shoulders by just blasting ahead - I'm not in a hurry

Deadlift technique is getting better I think, but 85 kg is hard. Not much else to do than just work on it.

Finished with some pull-ups and some planks and crunches.

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Thanks, Robert

 

 

Todays workout:

 

Squats: 50 kg 1x5, 60 kg 1x5, 70 kg 1x3, 80 kg 5x5

Bench:

40 kg 1x5,

52,5 kg 1x0

40 kg 1x10,

42,5 kg 1x7,

45 kg 1x5

Barbell Rows: 40 kg 3x10

 

Squats were hard, not so much for the legs, but I had some problems balancing the bar. It had some tendencies to try and roll down, but most of the time it was fine.

Bench was terrible! It might have been lack of prober warm-up (only did 1 set), but when I lifted the bar up it got stuck on my chest and I couldn't do 1 single rep! I sat up and lifted the bar off, doing 3 sets of lower weight/higher reps, but it pissed me off a bit. Nothing to do but keep practicing and warm up better next time!

Barbell rows went okay.

 

Was in a hurry suddenly, so I didn't get to do pull-ups and crunches, but I am gonna do some push-ups and planks/crunches before I go to bed tonight.

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Squats: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 2x5, 82,5 kg 5x5

OHP: 25 kg 1x5, 30 kg 5x5

Deadlift: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 1x5, 85 kg 1x5

Pull-ups: 5,5,4

 

Squats were tough, but not killing. I think I will make it through this week!

Deloaded on OHP, but switched to a bigger bar. So far I've been using a shorter one which might be weighing a kilo or two less, but I have now switched to a longer one which is the same that I use for all my other lifts. Gonna practice with this and hopefully I will be back on 40 kg again soon.

Deadlift went good! My technique is not perfect yet, but I had a good feel for it and I think I'm gonna attempt 90 kg on Friday.

Pull-ups were hard, I was really worn out after squats/deadlifts but I did three sets as well as three sets of crunches with a 10 kg plate.

 

Wednesday I'm gonna do a better bench press than last time and I am gonna focus on good technique on the squats and BB-rows as well. Have a nice day everyone!

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Just got up, I was in the gym for almost 2 hours yesterday, here's yesterday's workout:

 

Squats: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 1x5, 80 kg 1x3, 85 kg 5x5

Bench: 30 kg 1x10, 40 kg 1x5, 45 kg 1x5, 52,5 kg 1x2, 45 kg 5x5

Barbell rows: 40 kg 3x10

Crunches +10 kg 3xF

Pull-ups: 5x5

Push-ups + 6 kg 5x5

Dips 5x5

 

So the squats were hard, but I'm still positive for Friday. I have to make it!

Bench was shit once again, so I deloaded and I will try to work my way up again.

Barbell rows, well not much to say. Gonna put on some more weight next time.

Pull-ups were killer! I did 5x5 for the first time ever. I think it was because I took my time and had about 3 minutes between sets that I was able to do it, normally when I get to pull-ups I am in a hurry and just end up doing three sets to fail.

Push-ups, not much to say.

Tried dips for the first time, I like it. So yeah.

 

Well, I'm a pretty tired now, today I will try to rest as much as possible and then I'll be ready to hit 90 kg deadlift tomorrow!

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Squats: 50 kg 1x10, 70 kg 1x5, 80 kg 1x3, 87,5 kg 5x5

OHP: 20 kg 1x10, 32,5 kg 5x5

Deadlift: 50 kg 1x5, 70 kg 1x5, 90 kg 1x2

 

New PB on both squats and deadlift. Squats I think were hard, but I am still postive for 90 kg on Monday. After the next week I'm gonna have a week long break from heavy weights because of the school being closed, so I am gonna try extra hard the next week to get some high numbers so I can just deload 5 or 10% after the break and then I am aiming for 100 kg on both squat and deadlifts - can't wait

 

Overhead Press was hard on the last few reps, but that was to be expected when switching to the longer (and possibly a bit heavier) bar. I'm going to make 35 kg Wednesday and then after the break it's back to the hard work!

 

I did some quick pull-ups after deadlifts and went to band practice. When we finished I had a little spare time so I went down to the training room again and deadlifted 90 kg for one rep because the bar was still lying on the floor. So that was without any warm-up about 1½ hour after finishing the workout and the lift was actually not that tough. I don't think I have a long way to break 100 kg. I then did pull-ups and crunches, drank my shake and went to work.

 

 

Anyways, I had a killer workout today, hope everyone is doing good! Cheers!

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Thank you. Well, yes I thought about it. The thing is I am horribly scared of injuring myself by blasting ahead too fast. I am gonna see how squats come along during next week and if I feel good about it next Friday (where technically I'm supposed to hit 95 kg 5x5) I am gonna go for one 100 kg rep. Same with deads I think. It sure would be a mental boost to break those numbers, but I have also been told all the time to be patient, so yeah. If I feel for it, I'll do it!

 

Bodyweight is still about 63 kg, was 63,5 this morning. But that was with 0.3% lower bodyfat compared to last time so it's a little gain. I don't think too much of bodyweight as long as I progress on my lifts. My main goal right now is to build strenght, and then hopefully mass will follow. But of course I need to gain weight

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