Boondock

We as an update everything is going well with my starting strength training. Two weeks have passed and im now at:

A.
Bench press - (170 from 155)
Squat - 165 (up from 135)
Dead lift - 180 (up from 155)

B.
Standing Military Press - 85 (up from 75)
Squat - 165 (up from 135)
Barbell Row - 155 (up from 145)

The weight increases are still pretty easy exept for the military press. Thats a difficult lift for me and the squats are getting tough 3 times a week.... But the biggest achievement is that im now at 211lbs. (up from 203). Ive been eating like crazy im sure some of it is fat but even if its 50/50 thats 4lbs. muscle in about 2 weeks!!!

Boondock

How come i cant edit my posts . . . ?

HSfootball16

you need 50 posts in order to do that, sorry. and good going on the lifts, although im still waiting for your squat to overtake your bench, lol. keep up the good work.

HSfootball16's Sig:

age: 17
height: 5'9"
weight: 205bs
bench 1RM: N/A
parallel squat 1RM: N/A
deadlift 1RM: N/A
hang clean 1RM: N/A

i wish i could live on crack and protien shakes...

hunt0r

Boondock,
We are close to the same body type as I am 6'3 220lbs and similar BF. How old are you btw? I went into this workout with similar caution in squats and deadlifts. Are you still seeing good gains in all your lifts? Having any lower back pain? Im trying to avoid that...have you read the book by Rippetoe? I just started it.

hunt0r's Sig:

"You can succeed if nobody else believes it, but you will never succeed if you don't believe in yourself."
-William J.H. Boetcker

22 yrs old
6'3 220lbs
Goals: Add lean mass and cut body fat.

Boondock

Im 29.

Im currently at:

A.
Bench press - 180 (from 155) Getting difficult
Squat - 180 (up from 135)
Dead lift - 195 (up from 155)

B.
Standing Military Press - 90 (up from 75) Difficult
Squat - 180 (up from 135)
Barbell Row - 170 (up from 145)


As for the lower back pain: Yes, but I believe its more of your typical post workout muscle soreness from deadlifts being new to me.

I've been eating like crazy while on this routine weight gainer shakes b4 and after workouts have been giving me the carbs I need. I think i went to high on my calorie intake...Its been somewhere over 4000/day. I've managed to add 13lbs but I just found out that my BF has also jumped 1% so i think its time to ramp down my cals. Ive also cut my cardio down to twice a week and stopped taking the thermogenic supplement ive been taking in order to bulk up. I plan to start cutting some fat in June but for now im amazed with the strength and weight gains ive been getting so I might as well keep it up.

hunt0r

Well benchpress is my strongest lift and I have strong shoulders too, I just have back issues because im tall and kinda neglected legs and back in my past workouts. Hopefully my back and leg strength will catch up with my upperbody strength. Sounds to me like you are making some great gains on this workout and I hope I have the same success.

hunt0r's Sig:

"You can succeed if nobody else believes it, but you will never succeed if you don't believe in yourself."
-William J.H. Boetcker

22 yrs old
6'3 220lbs
Goals: Add lean mass and cut body fat.

Boondock

Unfortunately I fell off the wagon with my training for the past 12 days due to traveling and a rigorous work schedule. I'm a little disapointed with myself. When I left off i was at:

Bench Press 185 Lbs. and getting pretty difficult to increase.

Squat 185 Lbs. . . Also starting to become difficult to increase.

Dead lift 195 Lbs . . . Since the begining the dead lifts have felt great. there were a few days that they felt so good I jump 10 lbs instead of 5.

BB Rows 175 Lbs . . Not to difficult but I notice theat im getting sloppy with my form.

Standing Millitary Press 90 lbs. . This lift has been my achiles heel since the begining I cant seam to pull any strength gains here. I partially tore my rotator cuff 3 years ago and sometimes have shoulder pain in the gym. Thats not even the case here for some reason I cant seem to get stronger at this lift. Does anybody have and suggestions to help me on this???

I also jumped from 3x5 to 4x5 two weeks before I stopped. . .

That being said I think I am going to drop all the excersizes back down 10lbs and go at it again to see if I can break through where I was begining to hit a wall.

EricT

4x5 is not a good idea for this. Keep it at three.

I do have a suggestion on the military press. I suggest you try a little bit different way of progressing. It will be a little slower in terms of loading the bar but it may work much better for you.

I suggest you switch to 2x5 on the MP's. But then add reps to it for the next workout or two until you can get 2x7 (or even 8)

Once you can do that add go back to 5 reps but add the third set. All of this will be done at the same weight. Once you do 3x5 at this same weight then you load the bar and repeat the process.

EricT's Sig:

I'm tired of the myth that bb'rs aren't flexible. As a group, they are extremely flexible. They have an amazing ability to bend over, place their heads between their legs, and blow smoke up their own asses.

Books and Resources

Scorcher2005

For the military presses, how do you do them? Do you slighty lean back and push the bar up where its in front of you or do you stand straight and push the bar straight overhead? I see a lot of people do them the first way which is wrong and possibly why you cant progress anymore.