Stenno's Log

Stenno · **Posted:** Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:53 pm

MaryStella wrote:

soak the dates in a water til the soften up a bit if they are too hard.

Cheers Mary! I'd been pondering that myself, but worried about them freezing if too wet but I shall shake'm out and give it a go!

Hit the gym after work having got in early thus left early, so it was nice and quiet for once. The new flat shoes are a dream, I feel so much more rooted for squats, gave me a buzz. Gonna start raising my squat weights now I feel more comfortable.

Bench Press: 5x5 40,40,45,45,47.5
Squat: 5x5 50, 50, 55, 60, 65
Assisted Pullups (27.5kg): 10,8,8
Reverse Crunch (4kg med ball): 10,10,7
Prone Bridge: 60,60,30secs

Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey

Stenno · **Posted:** Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:22 pm

Yesterday: X-trainer 20mins, Running 20mins, Cycling 20mins.

Today:-

Bench Press: 42.5,42.5,45,47.5,50kg (5,5,5,5,4)
Squat: 50,55,60,65,70kg (x5)
Reverse Crunch (3kg med ball): 12,12,12
Prone Bridge: 60,60,60secs
Dead-Lift: 55,60,65,70,75kg (x5)

Not sure what was happening today but the gym and Tesco's was empty. Really enjoyed my work out today, probably because it was empty and I didn't feel rushed etc.

My form on Squats concerns me. When I go down, looking in the mirror, my arse seems to edge to the left rather than straight down, don't understand why. If I concentrate I can keep it good though, just need to keep aware of it.
Almost failed on the second rep on the last set at 70kg due to bad form but managed to pull it back together and complete all 5. I'm not going to raise the weight until I've addressed all of this.

Anyway, quite buzzed and bought some yummy food. Just had the most discussing smoothie ever though, I'm shocking at making them haha.

chewybaws · **Posted:** Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:05 pm

Hey man

Couple of things - try to avoid doing any ab work before deadlifts, keep them for the end of your workout. You don't want a weak core when you're deadlifting. And with the squats you'd be better trying to get a video of yourself you can review later, rather than looking in the mirror (a lot of people say you shouldn't). Make sure your positioned in the middle of the bar, that your legs are an equal distance apart and your toes are pointing out the same angle. Remember not to dive bomb into the squat, keep it controlled. If you do this I don't see why your butt should be veering off to the side

Stenno · **Posted:** Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:17 pm

Cheers Chewy, yeah sorry I should post my work out in the right order really, I always do abs at the end.

So I read somewhere about keeping a food diary (which I'm gonna struggle to do for now but small steps) but the point made was that, although you make think you're eating a lot, you're probably not! Well blow me down if this isn't true for me...

1894kcal, 57g protein

Mini shredded wheat with soya milk and agave syrup 213kcal 8.9g protein
Boots sandwich: carrot, houmous, salad leaves and alfalfa sprouts on wholemeal bread 278kcal 10.2g protein
60g olives 97kcal 0.78g protein
innocent smoothie 183kcal 1.5g protein
Banana 108kcal 1.4g protein
Jacket potato with beans and small salad 359kcal 14.2 protein
Thrive inspired cereal bar 227kcal 5 protein
Brown whole grain rice with chick peas and side salad 429kcal 15g protein

Now I don't know how accurate my guestimated numbers are for some food items and you can throw in a couple of protein shakes but still. I felt like I ate loads today but I'm not even reaching the 2500 recommended for an adult man

Might explain why I'm quite slim except for a bit of a belly though I guess that is due to eat the wrong kind of foods? I hear that a lot, 'you're eating the wrong types of food' etc, not sure how true this is?

Anyway, did cardio on Sunday.

Wed 24th:

Weighing in at 80kg constantly lately.

Squats: 50,55,60,65,70kg x5
Overhead press: 20,30,30,35,35kg x5
Prone Bridges: 60sec x3
Pullups 27.5kg assisted: 12,10,10
Reverse Crunch 3kg ball: 12,12,12
Crunches, 20,20,20

chewybaws · **Posted:** Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:21 pm

Jeezo! <2000cal? Go to the corner and think about what you've done! :lol:

Haha, anyway that's why keeping food logs is good, even if it's infrequent. Forget about your belly just now and start increasing the calories (with protein rich foods), it could actually be there because you're not eating enough.

Towards the end of the night have your smallest meals, don't have anything massive before bed. After my dinner I try to stick to shakes and stuff.

Get big bowls of porage in there for breakfast, 100g dry =D (355kcal, 11g) protein then add your soy milk (or have it separate) and agave syrup.
I find rice and beans is an easy meal to increase the portions in because I find it quite quick and easy to eat. If you eat 100g brown rice (measured when dry) and get a full tin of chickpeas (240g drained) that's 634kcal and 25.2g protein.
For the smoothie you could make a large one yourself, get the banana in there and a scoop of protein.
Your potato meal make sure you get a nice big whole tin of any bean in there.
Nuts are good to accompany any other small meal.

If you eat 6 meals averaging at 450kcal you'll be at 2700kcal for a good start. And you don't even have to be eating that frequently, every 3 hours or so. You shouldn't feel full at all leaving that long inbetween. I'm eating between 3200-3800kcal at the moment and I'm not feeling full for any longer than an a half-hour after a meal.

Consistency is the key. Eat big everyday and don't miss workouts =]

Stenno · **Posted:** Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:32 pm

Cheers Chewy, tis shocking isn't it! I'm really quite suprised! I think I will try and do at least one food log a week to start and come up with some good easy meals such as the rice and beans you suggested. I really need to start taking food to work rather than trying to buy it as the options are limited!

Hope you're well!

coroho · **Posted:** Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:46 pm

Yeah, damn, how are you at 80kg eating like me when I was 60kg?

Food logs are cool and all and make people read your journal lol but for saving time consider using a site like fitday or program like cron-o-meter to track your cals. You just have to find or create your foods once then you can just check them off and add them to the next day. Food suggestions: I find you can eat more lentils in weight than beans and they're a bit higher in protein. Also rice is about the lowest in protein and most boring, throw in some quinoa or bulgar or whatever. Soy is nice, 2-3 servings a day can be very helpful. Bread's not the best but peanut butter sandwiches are awesome for calories/protein (get good bread). Ditto for pasta. Also I don't see any nuts! 100g nuts => 600 calories. I ate like a bird for the first couple months of my training too, you'll be amazed what eating enough food will do.

Stenno · **Posted:** Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:57 am

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it!

Stenno · **Posted:** Sat Mar 27, 2010 5:27 pm

Bought some new bathroom scales today AND kitchen scales. Digital ones this time, old ones were cheap and analogue and hard to read accurately. The bathroom scales even calculate muscle mass, body water and body fat so it'll be interesting to monitor those too.
Also putting together an excel spreadsheet to track my weight training and calorie intake.

Squats: 55,60,65,70,75kg x5
Bench Press: 42.5,45,45,45,47.5 x5
Inverted Rows: 12,12,12
Push Ups: 20,20,17
Reverse Crunch 3kg ball: 12,12,12
Crunches, 20,20,20

Stenno · **Posted:** Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:20 pm

Squats: 55,60,65,70,75kg x5
Bench Press: 40,42.5,45,47.5kg x5 & 47.5kg x4
Overhead Press: 30,32.5,35,35,35kg x5
Deadlift: 55,60,65,70,70kg x5
Chin ups 27kg assist: 20,15,15
Prone Bridge: 60secs x3
Reverse Crunch 3kg ball: 12,12,12
Crunches, 20,20,20

Stenno · **Posted:** Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:08 pm

Bench Press: 40,42.5,45,47.5,47.5kg x5 & 50kg x4
Squats: 55,60,65,70,75kg x5
Overhead Press: 30,30,32.5kg x5 & 35,32.5kg x4

Short work out today. Not sure what happened. Managed to progress with the bench press but then the shoulder press sucked ass. I just seemed to lack energy and I've felt tired all day stranegly.

Made red lentil and kidney bean soup tonight, was yummy!

medman · **Posted:** Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:00 pm

Hey man, just wanted to offer some encouragement as someone who started stronglifts around the same time as you (started the 1st of february).

I was wondering...why are you increasing weight with each set rather than warming up and then doing your 5x5 at a constant weight?

I looooove red lentils by the way, I bet that soup kicked ass!

Stenno · **Posted:** Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:31 am

Hey, erm... I've no answer for that really other than it's what I've always done! I've just read the strong lifts page and you're completely right! I'll change what I do next time, thanks for questioning

And yep, the soup was delicious! Luckily I made enough for a bowl today too!

Stenno · **Posted:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:27 pm

So after Medman's comment and reading the Stonglifts beginner page again quickly, I've changed what I'm doing to better reflect the advice given. Although in doing so I've had to deload a bit to test the boundaries. All except deadlift that is which has gone up a bit now that I'm not doing 5 sets! haha

Squats: 65kg 5x5
Overhead Press: 32.5kg 5x5
Bench Press: 45kg 5x4, 47.5kg 5x1, 50kg 3x1
Deadlift: 80kg 5x1
Pullups (13.75kg assisted): 12x3
Prone Bridges: 60sec x3
Reverse Crunch (4kg ball): 12x3

Stenno · **Posted:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:39 pm

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