Rippetoe's, number 3's a charm.
 

So here we go. 3rd time I'm starting this goddam program. Hope to see some gains on it.

right now NO ACCESSORY WORK, I will ease into that in two weeks or so.

just the standard A workout 3x5 squat, bench, and 1x5 deadlift

then B workout 3x5 squat, 3x5 press, 3x5 row.

Tuesday:

3x5 SQUAT - 190 .. pretty good form. Knees kept going inward, had to fight to keep them outside. But when I did this I would lean forward and feel it in my midback pushing up out of the hole and not in my legs. Going to try to work on this today.

3x5 BENCH - tried 115, war right at failurre on 5th rep of first set. I decided to drop the weight to 110, and I completed 2x5. will bump up to 115 next workout.

1x5 deadlift @ 275. I guessed the weight I should start at here. I arched my back and pulled up hard, my back seemed to round out near the top of the lift, might all be in my head but I'm pretty sure form was good here.

Welp, about to hit the gym (it's thursday)

let's hope I get some damn muscle in these scrawny arms!

EDIT: and oh yeah! I'm going to get videos up of my form on the big three I'm doing today, please feel free to comment.

Firstly my diet today.

Breakfast 6:30 am. Eat 3 egg + egg white cheese egg omelette. + 1 apple butter spread wheat toast, 1 cup of 1% milk, water, multivitamin, 1 cup of oatmeal.

next meal, 9:40 AM. Chicken sandwich. (lettuce, BBQ sauce [low sugar] cheese, ~8oz chicken breast + lettuce)


at 10:15 AM I consumed an apple.

11:15 AM - peanut butter sandwich

1PM - 1 packet of oatmeal, 1 cup brown rice, 1 8oz chicken breast, broccoli.

2:45 PM - drink 1 scoop of whey, hit gym at 3pm.

come home at 4:20 PM, take 1 serving of whey.. forgot to go get gas, get home at 5:00 PM, eat dinner.. 1 ~8oz steak, brocolli, half a tomato, 2 pieces of buttered garlic wheat bread, 1 cup of mash potatoes, 1 cup of 1% milk

I'm still not done eating, it's 5:47 right now. I'll probably eat some yogurt, peanut butter crackers, and turkey and a banana later, with some more milk and flaxseed oil, a whey serving.. and then go to bed.

diet good?



I GOT VIDEOS!!! WOO!!! =]]

please critique my form on these 'b workout exercises'

Thursday:

3x5 Squats - 190 ( I wanted to make sure my form was good before progressing here)

3x5 Press @ 80

Row = .... I tried 135 on the first two sets and had some shitty form (check videos) so I lowered it to 115 on the last set ... I hope form was better?, check videos please.

THE VIDEO...

Whole workout all mashed together, each set. different angles. it's chronoligical, so first set you see is the first set I did, last set = the last set of the exercise, etc etc.

guys, I really don't know what I'm doing wrong here. maybe I'm not yanking my elbows up far enough when I row? maybe I'm leaning forward and pushing up with my midback during the squat? maybe when I military press my body wobbles and I compensate-push up with my abs instead of shoulders? who knows..


EDIT: dunno wtf that "we're sorry" crap is, click the link it should work on the actual site.

again, I thank you all for taking the time to help me here. :biglaugh:

The weight for the rows is too much. You have a sense of the form and how it should be done, but the bar was too heavy. This is especially important since you're just starting the program.

Loading the bar to aggressively, sacrificing form for reps, etc. is a sure fire way to fail any sort of linear progression scheme. You should take a step back and say 'I don't give a fuck about how heavy my bar looks' ,drop the weight down to something you can do comfortably and go from there. It's tough to do, but in the end it will be worth it.

I'm going to have to agree with Kane. Judging by your weights and what you said you were doing before... they're much too high. I said it in the training forum and I'll say it again. Start Light! You need to practice your form.

You said you were doing 165-170lbs on squat last time in your other journal so why would you start at 190lbs here?

*edit* I watched your vid. The squat form looks pretty good. Back is tight all the way down and you have great depth.

As for press, I grip alot wider then that. I dont' know if that makes a difference but thats what I see most people doing. I'll let someone else comment on this.

Rows was way too heavy. Your last few reps weren't making it to the chest and you're starting to stand up.

IronWorker

i think your squat stance is WAY too narrow...keep it shoulder width atleast.

i agree with everyone. try to get your hands a little bit more seperated on the bar when you squat. it shoudl feel a little more comfortable. i agree with wolf about the width of yoru squat. when you get heavier that stance can hinder you IMO. and i agree with everyone and the rows

With the squats I'd definately go with a wider stance, and as you descend shove those knees out to the sides as hard as you can,that should stop the little bit of forward knee drift you have at the bottom.Overall squats not bad, just a few minor errors.

Press, get those elbows in front of the bar!.Rows were a bit heavy!.Hope this helps.

Everyone pretty much hit everything I was going to say, but do not be afraid to lighten the weight on the rows to perfect the form because it will pay huge dividends in the long term. Squats look alright (I would widen the stance a bit) and plug your diet into fitday to see where you are at.

Good luck :th_th7_12_6:

I think everyone hit everything right on.

On the squats I don't see anything blaringly wrong. Nice extended back. Great depth. You do have quite a bit of external rotation at the elbows so you may want to widen your grip a little...not to a very wide grip like a powerlifter. Just a little more. It actually impedes you, imo, when your elbows extend far behind your back because that just pushes the upper torso foward and you have to fight against that. Try to see if you can grip the bar with a little less palm and get it so your elbows aren't extened so far behind you like that.

You are using a fairly low bar squat. That is more responsible for your perception of how forward you torso goes. But the mechanics seem on target to me. If you want to have a more upright squat it may help to get a more neutral bar position.

Plus the points the others made.

Like Hits, said, get the elbows in front of the bar when your press. Your elbows are flared out too much. Prob need a slighlty wider grip, I think.

On the rows I'll just go by the comment you made as I think it is very telling:

You don't need to think about your elbows when your row. The question makes me think that your are rowing "through" your elbows. So basically that is glorified curl. Big no no. The row is all in the upper back. Keep the elbows tucked in and elbow position at the end will follow. How far you elbows go back is a function of the scapular retraction (pulling your shoulder blades together) and the thoracic extension at the end of the movement.

I've written a lot of row form and there is a good article posted up by Mike Roberstson.

But like the others said...go much lighter!

The only other general thing that I'm not sure about is your breathing. I get the feeling you are breathing into you chest. If that is so...we NEVER breath into our chest. Breathe through the belly or "diaphragm" and perform the same valsalva maneuvor for everything, including when your do the military press.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I will put all these tips into action. Elbows out on presses = not sure which direction they should be in? my wrists curl then when pushing up?

Ok well, my diet today I missed a meal because I fell asleep when I got home from school eek..[crashed on my bed around noon]

anywho so far:

Breakfast 6am: 3 egg + quarter cup egg whites, + ham, cheese. 1 piece wheat toast with apple butter spread. water. about a cup of mash potatoes.

meal 2 ~9:40 AM = peanut butter sandwich, orange, water, banana.

meal 3 ~11:30 AM = BBQ 8oz chicken sandwich with lettuce, an apple.

got home around 12:20, fell asleep.. had some cool dreams, woke up at 3:20 where I exclaimed "crap! I gotta eat!"

ran to kitchen, not much in refrigerator.. ate some mashpotatoes, an 8oz steak, some spinach leaves, a cup of milk and some plain yogurt.

next meal around 5pm. dinner. I'll whip something up, so I keep eating and eating? asny suggestions on what other foods I can be eating and at what times?

how's my diet today, poor? it's 4pm right now