SS: Novice Routine

18th Workout - 4-17-2008

Squat: 1 X 3 @ 115 kg, 1 X 4 @ 111 kg, 0 @ 111 kg

Standing Press: 3 X 5 @ 63.5 kg

Pullups: 1 X 11, 1 X 8, 1 X 6 @ BW

Weight: 78.2 kg
Waist: 80 cm
Abdomen: 82.5 cm


Squat obviously was a disaster. But there is quite a bit of good news despite the numbers. I finally ordered and received my weightlifting shoes last night, so today was the first time to try them. I really wanted to get the Adidas Adistars, but they are not available in Japan. It took me some searching, but I found ONE Japanese place that sells Do-Wins, so I got a pair. The Do-Wins this guy is selling looks a bit different than those I see on US sites.

http://traumsport.com/shoes/shoes.html

I got the second one down, the white, black, and red ones. Man, what a difference. I love these things. After using them for just one workout session, I can see what all the fuss is about. I do however, think trying them for the first time while trying for a new 5RM was a mistake. But what effected my squats the most today was the long break between workouts and not eating enough Tuesday and Wednesday (although on purpose).

Other good news is, this is the first time in my life that I have ever failed on squats. So now I have been through the experience once. The bar didn't crash on the rack, the bar didn't bend, it didn't hurt, I didn't pull or strain anything. So, now I won't be so afraid of failing on squats anymore.

Last good news is I figured out what I was doing wrong that made my elbows hurt, so that problem is now effectively eliminated.

Will try 112.5 kg next workout.

Standing press was no problem. It wasn't easy, but I did not have to fight for the last rep of each set or anything. I imagine (hope) it will be like this for another 10 kg. Also realized how much my ab strength is improving although I have not yet started doing an ab exercise yet.

Another 3-set total increase of 2 reps for pullups.

But the whole workout felt pretty difficult because of not eating much over the last few days. This is also nice because I am really learning how all these factors really effect me in real time as opposed to just reading about it. This is also good. For the first time in my training history, I really am starting to feel like I know what I am doing and know how to manipulate certain variables for a certain result whenever I feel the need to do so.

I gotta stop missing workouts and having such long gaps between workouts though. I didn't do the metabolic workout as I planned to do. Kinda felt like I had a cold the last few days, but that shouldn't really be a valid excuse.
 
Great that you got your Oly shoes, nipponbiki. They look really smart. I am sure you will own 112.5kg next time. How do you set your rack up for squats? I set my rods one stop lower than my lowest squat depth. That way I never have the bar hit the pins during a set but I can dump it by dropping forwards and it doesn't have far to go.

Get those calories in!
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Yeah, Lol, I do exactly the same thing. I only use the pins when doing squats and bench press. I think this only makes the second time I have ever actually had to use them! Once or maybe twice before on bench press.

It gets hard to stay the course sometimes though. I know if I ate more, things would be going even better than they are. I start asking myself, "Do you want a 130 kg squat or not?"
But I really want to keep from blowing up like I did last year.
 
19th Workout - 4-19-2008

Squat: 3 X 5 @ 112.5 kg New 5RM!

Bench Press: 3 X 5 @ 95 kg

Deadlift: 1 X 4 @ 135 kg


Weight: 77.5 kg
Waist: 79.5 cm
Abdomen: 82.5 cm

Got the squats. The shoes really help. I wouldn't say they would enable more weight, but the stability they provide allowed me to really grind out the last rep of each set. I would not have gotten my reps today in normal shoes. Something about the instant feedback of having a solid base to push on (the sole of the shoe) lets the brain feel comfortable to tell the body "All Systems Go" during the sticking point. New 5RM despite being 1 kg lighter than last week!!!

Bench again easy. Think I will just do 100 kg the next bench workout.

Deads were tough. I got two reps off, then my grip gave out. I also wasn't sure if it is good to do deads in the squat shoes, so I took them off real quick, took a 10 second breather, then got another 2 reps in my socks with an alternate grip. Gotta get some straps.

I checked my log from last year. My last deadlift workout was 3 X 4 @ 135 kg, and I remember clustering to the point it was more like a 12-rep max stim workout. So I can't really say it was a new 5RM, but I did these deads after getting a new 5RM in squats just 20 minutes earlier. I am also 7.5 kg lighter than I was when I did 135 kg last year. I am also 1 kg lighter than I was just last week! This seems like quite an improvement to me.

During both squat and deads, I realized that I am now able to recruit more of my body's muscle and fire more muscle bundle motors at the same time than I have ever been able to before. This is quite a feeling. I am so happy to be developing this ability that I thought I already had. I was so 'dead' after the deads, but so elated at the same time, even though I didn't get the planned 5 reps.


Lol, quick question for you. Do you do deads with the Oly shoes? I know Rippetoe recommends to do this, but there seems to be a lot of mixed opinion on this.
 
I've noticed I can lift more barefoot with deads than in shoes - up to a point. The 1/2" less height actually seems to give some mechanical advantage (less lift distance) to the exersize, but once over 400lbs. the corrugations in my mats eat into my feet painfully. I also think that the grip of the feet is helping, and loose shoes allow some rotation, which is bad. I can't speak for oly shoes, but worn out sneakers aren't best.
I keep remembering Steve Jones and his ankle accident. Ouch!
 
Congrats on your new 5 rep max. You really have some great strength. I squat and dead barefoot, do you think oly shoes would make any difference or would be beneficial?
 
20th Workout - 4-21-2008

Oh yeah baby

Squats: 3 X 5 @ 115kg 2nd consecutive new 5RM!

Standing Press: 3 X 5 @ 65 kg Previous 5RM

Chinups: 1 x 12, 2 X 10 @ BW


Weight: 78.9 kg
Waist: 80.5 cm
Abdomen: 82.5 cm


Nailed the squats I so miserably failed on just last Thursday, or two workouts ago. (After I got the first 2 sets, I started talking to the bar as if it were my opponent in a boxing match and we were about to start the final round! Haha, you can imagine what that conversation was like!) Form is really coming together. Again, love the new oly shoes. (Think spike lee: It's the shoes...)

Got my previous standing press 5RM quite easily. Of course my form is really different now. I used to have my grip much wider, and when fully locked out, the bar was not where it was supposed to be, it was a little too far forward. Now my form follows SS---grip just outside shoulders, and bar lockout position is where it is supposed to be.

Kinda mixed feelings on chins. 1st set was 2 reps than last time, but the 3-set total is 2 reps more than last time. I also decided to switch the order between chins and pullups. Doing chins on the workout before deads was leaving my arms to fatigued on dead day. So, it has been like 2 weeks since my last chin workout. Still, I have never had such a consistent and high-rep chin workout in my life.

From this point forward, every exercise every workout should be a new 5RM (except bench, gonna be a few more workouts until I hit my previous 5RM) until I get to the point where I can not recover enough between workouts, which is the signal that this program is near its end. It is going to be a bit of a fun game for me to see how many consecutive new PRs I can get and how long I can make this program actually last.

Weight shot back up to 78.9 kg. That is basically from the carb-loading I have been doing since my mammoth workout on Saturday. And I felt strong and ready this morning. So, I am thinking to do something similar to UD2 and do carb and calorie restriction my two days off between weeks. Ramp up calories slowly on Thursday, and carb-load on Friday for Saturday's squat/dead workout. Continue eating a lot Saturday and Sunday, lowering a bit on Monday. Rinse and repeat. Feedback is most welcome.

Tomorrow, I will finally do my first metabolic workout! Gonna practice power cleans too. I plan to make next Saturday my first real power clean workout.
 
Bax,

Thanks for the compliment. But I am just getting started!
tounge.gif


Oly shoes make a huge difference for everything they were designed for, plus a few other exercises. I will never squat again without them.

The dilemma is with deadlifts. The shoe gives the great support and solid base to push on, which is a good, no, very good thing. The controversy is with the raised heel, as it artificially increases the range of motion. Other possibilities include barefoot, wrestling shoes, converse chucks, deadlifting shoes (similar to oly shoes, but without the heel), and deadlifting socks (I no longer consider typical 'athletic' shoes of any kind a valid option for weight training). So I am still deciding how to do my deadlifts, which is why I asked Lol how he does it.
 
Were it not for the corrugations in my mats, I'd be barefoot for the whole range of deads. I thought it was really funny looking at the PL meet seeing this enormous guy with a giant belt, unitard, heavy metal music blasting...wearing those little blue slippers.
 
1st Metabolic Workout - 4-22-2008

Well, I did the crossfit workout called 'Cindy'.


5 chinups (or pullups)
As many rounds of 10 pushups in 20 minutes
15 body squats

I got 10 rounds.

After it was over, I decided it was best not to try and move too much for about an hour. I still have that lack-of-oxygen-to-the-brain headache. During the workout, muscle fatigue never became a problem, and only had a little burning in the legs the last few reps of squats after the 5th round. But I have absolutely no metabolic conditioning---my lungs were on fire, I was so out of breath, I felt light headed and a little nauseous, and I rested too much between rounds after the 5th round. The first 30-60 seconds after finishing the 7th, 8th, and 9th rounds were painful.

No clean practice now. I will do it later today or probably tomorrow.

As I didn't really have any muscular fatigue, I think I can do these types of workouts even during the week without effecting my weight training recovery. For now, I will do it only once week on my 'Saturday', which is Tuesday for me. I got a lot of catching up to do in this department.
 
Yesterday's metabolic workout really kicked my a$$. I did it fairly early in the day, yet all I wanted to do was sleep afterwards. I dragged my a$$ around for some time, but I went to sleep 3 hours earlier than usual and slept nearly 12 hours. My intercostals and abs are really sore. Other than that, no muscular soreness, but my body just feels 'beat up'.
 
Cardio does that to me. We're proud of ya tho. Congrats on the squatting; new toys make bigger boys.
Thinking about it, my inventor's brain came up with a simple solution for your deads. Put down thin plywood for your shoes, ahead of the heel to level them out. You could even spray some hair spray on it for grip. (that's an old skater's trick for slippery wheels) Or coat them with rubber glue. You'd also be lifting from a little higher, giving more ROM.
Oh, here's a motivational present for you < don't be offended, Chinese was the best I had:
ChineseBBers.jpg
 
Hey nipponbiki, firstly congrats on your squat PRs. It's great that you are getting on so well with your Oly shoes.

I have been wearing mine for deads (got my recent max wearing them) although I recognise that the lift is made slightly more difficult by doing so because of the raised heel. However, it's not much of a difference and seeing that I also use the shoes for cleans, I'm trying to get as used to using them as possible. I really like the support and stability the shoes offer so I'm going to keep using them for deads for now. I might get some Converse Chuck Taylors just for deads once I have seen what kind of arch support they offer. Whilst I could go barefoot for a slightly improved mechanical advantage I don't want to chance any foot roll. Ankle injuries really suck.
 
<div>
(nipponbiki @ Apr. 21 2008,4:17)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Squats:  3 X 5 @ 115kg  2nd consecutive new 5RM!</div>
Dag! I miss a day, and see what happens!

I was gonna congratulate your for your 112.5 lift, but you've beaten it already!

Good going!
 
TunnelRat, Dan worry 'bow'tit man, 'cause dat how it gaan' be fa 'wiale
biggrin.gif
, which leads me to....

21st Workout - 4-24-2008

Here it comes....

Squats: 3 X 5 @ 117.5 kg 3rd consecutive 5RM PR - and in 1 week's time

Bench: 3 X 5 @ 100 kg Nice 5 kg jump.

Pullups: 1 X 10, 2 X 7 @ BW


Weight: 78.9 kg
Waist: 79.5 cm
Abdomen: 82.5 cm


The coolest thing about today's workout is I really felt like crap when I woke up. Still not fully recovered from the metcon workout, I felt lethargic, half-asleep throughout the entire workout, a little nauseous, kinda like a hangover. I had no energy and before each set I told myself, 'well, you are not gonna get the reps, so just do what you can, it can't be helped 'cause of Tuesday.' Then I just cranked out the reps, and didn't feel so much fatigue and out of breath as I usually do, so I didn't need to take as much rest between sets.

Oh, and Quad, I cannot go through the whole set of squats without breathing anymore. Can only get 3 reps between each breath now. Last set, I took a tiny breath after the first rep, then took a full breath after the 2nd and 4th reps.

Bench wasn't easy, but very doable. But, absolutely no more 5 kg jumps.

3-set total reps for pullup was one less than last week, but after Tuesday's death and just coming back to life Wednesday evening, I am just happy there were so consistent. Win some, lose some.

Also did some power clean practice in between sets during pullups. Finished off with some back extensions.
 
22nd Workout - 4-26-2008

Squats: 1 X 4, 2 X 3 @ 120 kg? New 5RM? Kinda, but not really

Standing Press: 1 X5, 1 X 4, 1 X 3 @ 67.5 kg

Deadlift: 0 @ 140 kg what better way to top off a bad workout


Weight: 78.9 kg
Waist: 80 cm
Abdomen: 82 cm


The 120 kg squats felt HEAVY, like 15 pounds heavier than 117.5 kg I did on Thursday. And my sense was dam near correct! I have a 205 kg weight set that includes 2-25 kg, 2-20 kg, 2-15 kg, and 2-10 kg plates. For ease of changing weights during warmups, I have not been using the 25s, but I will have to start using them for weights over 120 kg. So I tried using them today. After the 2nd set, where I failed on the 4th rep, I decided to weigh the plates. The 25 kg plates are actually 25.7 kg, and the 15 and 10 plates together are 24.4 kg, making for a total increase of 2.6 kg by using the 25s. So instead of the planned 2.5 kg increase, I actually had a 5.1 kg increase. I switched back to using the 15 and 10 plates for the last set, but I was already quite fried by that time. And I could tell I was not going to have a good workout for the other exercises as well. Not eating enough yesterday is also partially to blame.

I am confident that I would have been able to just barely get my reps had I used the 15s and 10s as before. But I need to switch to using the 25s, so I will just try the same 120 with the 25s on Monday.

Presses were hard, obviously. I do think that the reason I didn't get the reps was not because of the weight, but because of lack of calories yesterday and being so beaten by squats.

Deads, well, I might as well have tried to lift 200 kg---the bar just didn't move.

I am going to slightly increase calories over the week, and I am really going to increase the calories the day before dead day.

I am going to overeat today and tomorrow, and take another challenge at deads on Monday at the same 140 kg.
 
I am also going to start doing power cleans next week. I asked Mark Rippetoe about the programming issue of alternating deads with power cleans. As a result, I will change my program to the following, which will start next Thursday:

A B

Squat Squat
Bench/Press Bench/Press
Power Cleans Chinups/Deads

With this A/B, I will do power cleans every other workout and alternate between chins and deads, which means deads will be done once every 9 days. I may also add some kind of assistance exercise after power cleans to help with deads.
 
<div>
(nipponbiki @ Apr. 26 2008,4:14)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Deads, well, I might as well have tried to lift 200 kg---the bar just didn't move.

I am going to slightly increase calories over the week, and I am really going to increase the calories the day before dead day.</div>
Maybe you set the bar down in a puddle of super glue (I've done that...).

Pace yourself a bit. Try a bit of honey and perhaps some of Lol's &quot;choccy&quot;. That bar will come up!
 
nipponbiki, i have 7 months training experience. since u do rippetoe's workout which do u think i should do as a novice, SS, bill starr's 5x5, stronglifts 5x5? and should i squat every workout or can i alternate squats with deads?
 
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