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Chewy's Strength Log


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Brother, i just started this program last week and am still a week away from taking my progression pics but am starting to notice either a little bit of the gains or at least better posture (which i totally need... its like quasi over here, lol)

-How are you doing on the diet portion. Ben reading up on it and theyre saying things like drink a gallon of milk a day! Im thinking, yeah..... right. Hold the pus please? Could you post what your taking in these days?

 

Looking forward to seeing the buffness. BEHOLD THE BUFFNESS!

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I know! What's that all about?....on the stronglifts website it's like Top 10 things to eat. 1. Meat 2. Dairy ....3. Fish....4. Meat! repeat

 

 

This is what I've been eating since I started stronglifts - keep in mind i was REALLY skinny before and I haven't minded putting on a bit of bodyfat along the way -

I try to eat every 2 hours, from 8am - 10pm

 

8am

Big bowl of porridge, banana, glass of soy milk

 

10am

100g of nuts, piece of fruit

 

12pm

Baked potato, whole pack of tofu (or meat substitute), veg (usually greens)

 

2pm

Clif bar

 

4pm

4 peanut butter sandwiches

 

6pm

Wholemeal pasta, tin of legumes (any kind), veg

 

8pm

100g of nuts, piece of fruit

 

10pm

Oatcakes and peanut butter

 

 

Some days I won't have the clif bar and space my meals out more, but they help when you're on the move or don't have time for a bigger meal.

My nutrition plan is a lot less than perfect just now, but it's doing the job I set out for. When I reach between 175-180lbs (started at 152 on Week 1, currently at 170lbs) I'm gonna change my nutrition plan drastically - not sure exactly what yet, but I'll be reducing the fat and increasing raw foods.

 

 

The stronglifts program is good. If there's one thing I could say is keep an eye on rest periods between sets. A couple of months in I was taking a lot longer rests and my workout increased my a half hour even though I was doing the same exercises and same quantity just about. Been trying to cut rests down again.

 

Don't know if you've started one yet, but start a training log. Do it!

 

If you need more advice talk to the member xCx, he done Stronglifts for a while before switching over to the starting strength program.

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Squats 5@35kg/55kg/65kg, 5x5@75kg

From the first warm up set I knew I was gonna nail the Squats. Took very little rest between sets (just over a minute) compared to normal.

 

YEAH BUDDY! glad your pain free and squatting heavy again!

 

PS. I STILL haven't started any form of cardio. I need to start tomorrow, or I'm giving myself a kicking.

 

Seriously, do barbell complexes! They're "fun" and you don't have to sissy around on a treadmill or elliptical trainer I'll PM you some decent complexes if you get interested

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PS. I STILL haven't started any form of cardio. I need to start tomorrow, or I'm giving myself a kicking.

 

Seriously, do barbell complexes! They're "fun" and you don't have to sissy around on a treadmill or elliptical trainer I'll PM you some decent complexes if you get interested

 

I think I should! I actually did something today. But I'm too embarassed to say what it was (30 mins on Wii Fit - terrible). Yeah PM us the routines. It'll be fun learning new exercises.....I don't know many outside of the stronglifts ones. Plus it'll further justify me buying home equipment if I can use it more

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Workout #26

Wed 5th August 2009

 

Squats 5@40kg/57.5kg/67.5kg, [email protected]

OH Press 5@25kg/30kg, [email protected]

Pull-Ups 3x2, 10 negatives (done some pulls from a standing position inbetween as well)

Prone Bridge 3x60s

 

Woo! Squats over bodyweight now!! That's my first mini goal reached.

Unfortunately everything else sucked horse dong. I'll need to pull the weight back on OH press next workout, try working on technique.

After last Friday's workout, I picked up minor back pain when deadlifting. Today, I set up 70kg for warm-up, the rack pull and lowering it to the ground was fine. But when i went to pick it up from the floor, I couldn't keep a straight back. I done a rep then just racked it, I didn't want to make my back worse. Need to order some 25kg plates, so the bars not ridiculously low.

Prone bridges were so-so. Next week I'm gonna try side planks too.

 

Stoked about the squats, but was soooo tired after them.

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Brother, good choice with foregoing the deads, i did the same thing with inverted rows today at my workout since i hurt my neck on tuesday. I just did some upright cable rows instead and didnt get the pump that i was looking for but know my body thanked me for it.

 

AWESOME on the squats too. I put on ten more lbs myself today. I was a bit worried but i felt so good after and i know you did too. Also, side planks are awesome! Side bends are also really good too if your looking for some more flexion, or an addition to the workout A ab work. Stay strong!

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Workout #27

Fri 7th August 2009

 

Squats 5/8/4@45kg (left leg fail)

Bench Press 5@35kg/42.5kg, [email protected]

Inverted Rows 13, 12, 8

Push-ups 12, 11, 7 (4 knees) - pathetic

Reverse Crunch 3x12 (used a 2.5kg counter)

 

I don't think I'd fully recovered before Squatting again, I'm gonna take a full week off Squats. This may sound stupid but even when I'm doing something standing on just my left leg (eg. putting boxers/trousers on when standing up) my left thigh/knee hurts. At least I'll be able to tell when this goes away.

Bench press I decided just to use the same weight I managed before at 5x5, 50kg seemed way too heavy last workout. Will attempt it again next Wednesday.

Inverted rows - only good thing about this workout.

Push-ups - don't want to go there haha.

Reverse crunch, even though I used more of a counter I was concentrating on form more and got a better burn.

 

 

Week 10

Bodyweight=170lbs

 

Workout #28

Mon 10th August 2009

 

Overhead Press 5@25kg/30kg, 5/5/3/3/[email protected]

Rack Pulls 5@70kg/85kg, 3x5@100kg

Chin-ups 6/4/3 (10 negatives)

Planks 30s normal, 30s side planks each, whole thing x3

 

I don't know whether to keep trying with the overhead presses, or drop down to 35kg again.

My back felt good today, so tried some rack pulls - concentrating on keeping back arched, and my back felt good afterwards =] Looking forward to getting my 25kg plates.

Chin-ups were good today. I would still like to see 7 on that first set, but they're getting easier.

I was sweating so much after the planks....I didn't really take breaks, just the time positioning myself.

 

I want this week over as quickly as possible so I can start squatting again. Will look at technique when I start again, need to take some videos. I have this feeling that as the weights are getting heavier i'm having a tendency to lean forward putting my knees to far forwards

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Workout #29

Wed 12th August 2009

 

Bench Press 5@40kg/45kg, 5/5/5/4/3@50kg

Inverted Rows 15/9/6

Push-ups 18/10/8

Reverse Crunch 3x12 (1.25kg counter weight)

 

My knees are feeling better, gonna stick to plan and wait till Monday though make sure it's definitely fine to start squatting again.

Bench press was good today, I'll hit 50kg next time i'm sure I set the pegs up a notch today and it was a better position for racking the bar, felt more solid.

For push-ups i've always put down 2 pillows and done them on my knuckles (save my wrists), but today during the first set my hand slipped, luckily I was okay, but any more force and could really have done in my wrist. Will be towels put down from now on haha.

Reverse crunches I really need to work on. As I've been using less counter-weight, I feel my techniques getting worse. I'm not that worried because I still get a good burn, but can be better - next time i'll put something to grip between my thighs/calves to ensure good form.

 

PS. My 25kg plates came today =D

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Workout #30

Fri 14th August 2009

 

Overhead Press 5@25kg/30kg, 5/5/5/4/5@35kg

Deadlift 1x5@65kg/75kg/80kg/90kg/100kg

Chin ups 2/2/3 (some negatives....was supposed to be pull-ups today. Between doing a bunch of chins in the house yesterday and the deadlifts on my grip, I couldn't do a single pull-up, and barely any chins as shown)

Prone Bridge (30s normal, 30s side plank each side) x3 (except 2nd set could only hold side planks for 15s cause of bad shoulder position)

 

Looking forward to monday can start Squatting again. I'm not gonna go straight back into work weight, gonna use the whole week to ease myself in, really nail technique.

Overhead press after all the failed attempts at 37.5kg I decided to go back to 35kg - and couldn't do that! Only missed by a rep though...still

Deadlifts were good =] much better with the bigger plates, changed my grip slightly to have the bar closer to fingers, really concentrated on trying to keep an arched back and lifting my chest. Still needs a lot of practice though. I'll get some videos and look at my technique. Hopefully my back will be okay when I wake up tomorrow.

I couldn't do a pull-up after the deadlifts! Could barely chin either, done a bunch of them throughout the day yesterday.

Prone bridges were okay, still need to get used to the side planks to make sure my shoulder doesn't hurt.

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Week 11

Bodyweight=171.6lbs

 

Workout #31

Mon 17th August 2009

 

Streches (for hip mobility) - Leg swings, side to side leg swings, split squats, lateral squats, rotational squats, reverse lunge with twist, crossover reverse lunge. 1 set of 10 reps of each (for each leg)

Squats 1x15@25kg/35kg/45kg (working on technique)

Bench Press 5@40kg/45kg, 5x5@50kg

Inverted Rows 14/8/5

Push-ups 15/8/8

Reverse Crunch 3x12 (5kg counter weight)

 

Started working on squats again, was concentrating on pushing knees outwards. Technique still needs A LOT of work. Need to make sure I'm driving from the hips at the same time and work on keeping an arched back throughout. There was points today I just felt like I was straightening my legs instead of really driving hips up, and times where my back was rounded when I was coming back up (only a couple of times, but REALLY need to get this sorted).

I was so tired this morning, and when I went to do the bench press I thought I had no chance after the warm-up sets - felt so weak. I managed it though However, I think I spent the rest of my energy which is why the rows/push-ups sucked.

The reason I've marked the reverse crunch as an improvement despite the higher counter weight, is that I gripped something between the back of my legs to ensure my knees were bent as much as possible so I wasn't 'cheating' (my legs would gradually straighten out a bit towards the ends of sets) and holy crap what a difference! The last 4/5 reps of the last set BURNED! Happy with these today.

 

Eating has been terrible since Friday. No food in the house

 

I was at a friends party on Saturday night, and there was a good few people who hadn't seen me in a while. Was cool getting a lot of good comments on my beefing up =] People are seeing a big difference in me which is awesome =] (hell i've put on nearly 20lbs since most of them had seen me...a lot of that's fat but still happy)

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Hey man! Good to see that you're squatting again How are your knees doing now?

 

No pain yet, but it was only really during the heavier Squats I was getting pain before. So I'll be able to tell when I start hitting 60kg+ again.

 

Hopefully be okay =] I hope the hip mobility streches will help with preventing injury on Squats/Deadlift, going to do them every day.

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I hear you, I have really poor hip mobility as well and it holds me back in squatting. Somehow I always find a way to talk myself out of stretching every day though. Reading about it here gave me extra motivation to actually do so.

 

I'm gonna do it every day. Since I'm doing a bit of cardio tues/thurs (maybe saturday if i feel like it), it means I'm doing something every day except sunday. So I can make stretches the start of my workout routine and this will force me to do it every day.

My motivation is I keep getting slight injuries between lower back and knees which could be because poor hip flexibility. It's affecting my progress in squats and deadlifts, which are pretty much the 2 exercises I want to progress the quickest!

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Workout #32

Wed 19th August 2009

 

Stretches (for hip mobility)

Squats 1x8@25kg/35kg/45kg/55kg (working on technique)

Overhead Press 5@25kg, 5x5@35kg

Pull-ups 3, 3, 2 (then 10 negatives)

Push-ups 13, 7, 7 (4 on knees)

Prone bridge 4x30s

 

I woke up with a sore back this morning which I don't understand. I was fine yesterday and was just doing stretches and light cardio for 20 mins. So I gave the deadlifts a miss and made the worst replacement choice - push-ups. My triceps were tired from pull-ups so I could barely do any, and after doing the push-ups I could do fuck all for the prone bridge. I tried side planks for like 10s but was really uncomfortable on my shoulder.

I'm happy I nailed the 35kg on the OHP again, embarassing that it's taken this long to do it again. Pull-ups were good as well, I soooo nearly got 4 reps on the first set, got my nose up to the bar but couldn't get that extra bit further. My form felt smooth today there was minimal wobbling.

 

If my back feels better tomorrow I'll do some light deadlifts (65kg) and get some videos so I can look at my form see what's going on.

 

I was 173lbs when I weighed myself this morning. This picture's about a week old, but think I weighed the same then (lost weight over weekend and put it back on)

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/chewybaws/DSC01056.jpg

The plan was always to get upto 175-180lbs whatever way, then lose fat/replace with muscle and stay in that range. Been reading the thrive diet, and think I'm gonna switch over to a diet similar to that. There's a few reasons I'm getting tempted because of the shape I'm in just now -

1) It doesn't look good

I know it's strength training and not BBing, but I'm talking about excess fat here, not muscle proportion or whatever. I've gained a bigger belly than I want. There's no definition whatsoever.

2) Bodyweight exercises

This is a minor point, but I'd be progressing quicker in bodyweight exercises if I didn't have all the extra fat.

3) The amount I'm eating at the moment

I aim for 3500-4000kcal a day, and a lot of the food I eat takes a lot of energy to digest. I feel boggy more than I like.

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God damn chewy! you got big FAST, haha! No wonder your friends commented on your physique.

 

Haha cheers man. Picked up so much fat though. I miss veins!

 

Cardio

Thu 20th August 2009

Stetches (for hip mobility)

40mins cardio

Messed about on chin up bar (2x6)

Done some abs. Was supposed to do crunches/bicycles/leg raises with out rest, but couldn't hold myself up long enough to do leg raises, so just done crunches/bicycles (as many as I could), took a minute rest and then repeated another 2 times. The bicycles burned! Damn! First time doing them properly.

 

Workout #33

Fri 21st August 2009

Stretches (for hip mobility)

Squats 1x8@30kg/40kg/50kg/60kg (still working on technique)

Bench Press [email protected]/47.5kg, 5/5/4/3/[email protected]

Inverted Rows 16/9/7

Push-ups 17/10/9

Reverse Crunch 3x12 (5kg counter weight)

 

Quite happy with today actually. Bench press was a new weight so think I done okay. Hopefully I'll nail it or get really close next time.

I fucking suck at push-ups it's embarassing. I wish I'd never went to weighted ones so quickly, then today i'd at least be able to do 20 in a row haha.

Because I done abs last night I went easy on the reverse crunch and stuck with the same counterweight. Man did it burn!

 

My back's felt pretty good yesterday and today, so should be set for deadlifts again on monday Need to be REAL careful this time though. I'm sick of this cycle of thinking my back's better then going straight back to heavy weights and making a mistake and hurting it again - then waiting a 10 days or so before I can deadlift again.

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Week 12

Bodyweight=173.6lbs

 

Workout #34

Mon 24th August 2009

 

Stretches (for hip mobility)

Squats 1x8@25kg/35kg/45kg/55kg, 3x8@65kg (working on technique)

Overhead Press [email protected], [email protected]

Deadlift 2x5@65kg, 1x5@75kg (working on technique)

Chin-ups 7/5/4 (10 negatives)

Prone Bridge 3x60s

 

Today was pretty good. Done more Squats, FINALLY got the overhead [email protected] (first attempted this weight FOUR weeks ago). Technique is getting better, there were a handful of reps that it felt like the bar went up in a straight line effortlessly. Need to get all reps like that.

I kept my back straight through the deadlifts, and concentrated on keeping form on the way down as well. Didn't do too many sets or use serious weight because wanted to see how my back does tomorrow morning. Bar ripped my shin apart!

I'd bought chalk a few days ago and forgot to use it for the deadlifts. Dick! I used it for the chins though and was great! Hands weren't gradually sliding like they usually are and my callouses didn't blow up to double size like usual. Managed to get 7 reps on the first set for the first time But then again I didn't get any more chins overall (16...got that before 6/5/5). Still, my forms getting more solid.

Prone bridge just done it normal for a minute each. Been getting lazy with them before so getting back on track.

 

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j287/chewybaws/DSC01076.jpg

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Cardio

Tues 25th August 2009

Stetches for hip mobility - aggravated my foot, and even my knee a bit....which is weird I'm getting into heavy squats again which aren't bugging my knee at all, but some of these stretches are really annoying.

30mins jogging spot/some jumping jacks - i really need to go outside if I'm running

 

Workout #35

Wed 26th August 2009

 

Stretches for hip mobility (only done half today, some were aggravating my foot)

Squats 1x8@30kg/40kg/50kg/60kg, 3x8@70kg (working on technique)

Bench Press 5@45kg, [email protected]

Inverted Rows 15/7/4

Push-ups 15/8/7

Reverse Crunch 3x12 (5kg counter weight)

 

Need to concentrate on keeping my back straight at the bottom of the Squats. Need to take a video so I can see what I'm doing.

Bench press was awesome =]

Was really tired after that and so rows/push-ups sucked really bad. Stuck with the same weight for reverse crunch, got major burn as usual which is good.

 

My mate came over earlier and we were messing about doing overhead presses/bench press for ages/chin-ups/some inverted rows. I'm shattered now haha. Was good fun though. He hadn't done any weight lifting before, think he enjoyed it, especially the benching.

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Cardio

Thu 27th August 2009

 

All exercises are 8 sets of 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest. 1 min rest between exercises. (20 mins total)

1) I don't actually know the name of this exercise. Basically put your hands beside your feet and step one leg back as far as you can go then step back to beside your hands.

2) Push-ups

3) Arm raises/reverse lunge (with dumbbells)

4) Bicycles

5) Side lunge/bicep curl (with dumbbells)

 

A lot of it is muscle workouts but it got me sweating. But don't think I'll do it again Tuesday. My right foot's hurting when I'm doing lunges, when I'm stretching the foot. So need to avoid lunges for a couple of weeks. Luckily it's not affecting other exercises.

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Workout #36

Fri 28th August 2009

 

Stretches for hip mobility (without lunges - foot hurts when stretched)

Squats 1x8@35kg/45kg/55kg/65kg, 3x8@75kg

Overhead Press 5@25kg, [email protected], 3/2/3/3/1@40kg

Deadlift 1x5@65kg/75kg/85kg

Pull-ups 2/1/0 (5 from standing position instead of locked elbows, then 5 negatives)

Prone bridge 1m/40s/43s

 

Everything was ass after the Squats. Gonna drop the weight back down to 37.5kg next time for OHP. Deadlift technique was ass. I started cheating my just touching the plates off the ground inbetween reps instead of setting it down. The 85kg seemed really heavy for some reason =/

I was tired and grip had gone to fuck by this point so pull-ups were terrible. And I felt really weak during the prone bridges.

 

 

Week 13

Bodyweight=173.6lbs

 

Workout #37

Mon 31st Augst 2009

 

Bench Press 5@45kg/50kg, 5/5/5/3/3@55kg

Inverted Rows 16/10/6

Push-ups 14/9/6

Reverse Crunch 7/8/12 (5kg counter)

 

There's not much to say about this workout, I was working 11-8 so didn't have time for a full workout when I got home. I've somehow managed to fuck my left knee again so I missed out the Squats (and hip stretches - there's 3 bodyweight squat exercises in there), which I needed to anyway to save time. Last time I done weighted Squats I was pushing my knees out, they didn't buckle so I don't know what I've done.

 

Anyway, bench press and inverted rows were really decent. Was my first time attempting 5x5 at 55kg, and only fell short on the last couple of sets.

I'm putting push-ups down to being tired from bench press and also me sucking at them.

Reverse crunch my abs were killing me when I started! Dunno if it was the bicycles last thursday or something but fucking hell. It seemed as they warmed up I could get more reps in.

 

 

 

Recently been getting loads of good comments from people on the change in size of my body. My arms seem a bit thicker over the last couple of weeks which is good.

I'm going to start implementing parts of the Thrive Diet into my diet gradually over time, so pull in a meal a week or something like that - there's way too many new foods in it that aren't readily available from supermarkets or health food shops in my town (we only have 1, chain health food store in kilmarnock lol), so it's gonna take a lot of looking about online to get stuff. Next week I'm gonna bring in the recovery smoothies and energy bars probably, and that'll save me buying Clif bars - which are absolutely ruining my teeth. I can only ever get my hands on chocolate chip flavor, everywhere's always out of stock of the other flavours. I only have 1 a day, and the only other sweet stuff I eat is fruit (which has never bothered my teeth), but these bars are stripping my teeth down and making them super-sensitive when chewing.

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