Go Back   Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum > Members Section > Personal Journals


Justin Roehm's Starting Strength Journal



Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old 09-17-2010, 07:56 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

September 17, 2010:
Squat: 125 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 80 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Deadlift: 155 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set
__________________
For FREE tips on meeting women online go to:


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 09-23-2010, 07:49 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

September 20, 2010:
Squat: 135 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Press: 55 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Power Clean: 65 lbs X 3 reps X 5sets

September 22, 2010:
Squat: 145 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 85 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Deadlift: 175 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 09-29-2010, 07:16 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

September 24, 2010:
Squat: 155 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Press: 60 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Power Clean: 75 lbs X 3 reps X 5 sets

During Friday’s workout the squats felt tough, so I decided to go up only 5 lbs for the next workout. I have really been focusing on keeping a great form while I squat too. I am used to doing high bar squats, so it felt a little weird doing low bar squats but I think I am getting it. I put the bar right below my traps but right above me posterior delts. I keep my head straight and lean forward a bit (while keepin my lumbar natural) while going down. I push my knees out and go just below parallel but not too far. Then I drive my hips upward instead of focus on straightening my back. Even though it felt weird at first, I can see how it is easier to squat more weight.

Also, I keep jumping my powercleans up by 10 lbs because they are still too light (although I am working out the form). Hopefully, they get just enough that I need to jump soon while still maintaining good form. All my other exercises seem on the light side still, but I don’t want to move up too quickly.

I had to push my Monday workout to Tuesday because the gym had a power outage.

September 28, 2010:
Squat: 160 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 90 lbs X 5 reps X 3 reps
Deadlift: 195 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 10-02-2010, 12:42 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

September 30, 2010:
Squat: 165 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Press: 65 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Power Clean: 85 lbs X 3 reps X 5 sets

I am still trying to get the form of these low squats down. I am watching the starting Strength DVD, and saw all of Mark’s Cross Fit training videos. (That is awesome stuff if anyone hasn’t watched those). I am used to high-squats, so it is a challenge to adapt to the different back position. It would help if my forearms weren’t so long and my shoulders were more flexible. But I will stretch them out and do my best. I also think I go to low in the squat (to flex my lumbar a bit and give that butt wink). I think if I cut it off at parallel and bounce back up while driving my hips, then that will allow me to squat higher loads more easily.

On the flip-side power cleans still feel too easy. I haven’t really needed the jump to force the load up (although I do incorporate the jump to get the form down). Hopefully, by next week the weight will just be too heavy for me not to jump. That is what I am shooting for.

The gym being closed turned my workout week into a bi-week instead of a tri-week. Unfortunately, I could find the time to fit in a workout today. No worries. I will continue the tri-week on Monday. 3 days off didn’t hurt my progress before and it should do it now either.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 10-04-2010, 08:54 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

October 4, 2010:
Squat: 170 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 95 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Deadlift: 215 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set

I think I finally found the optimal position for the bar on my back for low-squats. The bear is right under my bone and held tight by my forearms. I cannot really grip the bar with my hands like this so I just hold the bar in place with my forearms and throw my hands over the bar (some guy did this in the Starting Strength DVD). The load felt really heavy today (maybe because I am still getting the mechanics down of the low squat). I hope I can get the form down completely without having to reset.

On the other hand, the bench and deadlifts felt fine. I am making good steady progress on both of these lifts. I finally got my deadlift over 200 and it still feels like I could go much heavier.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 10-06-2010, 01:41 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

October 6, 2010:
Squat: 175 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Press: 70 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Power Clean: 95 lbs X 3 X 5 reps

My power cleans caught up with my bench today. They are starting to feel a little harder. Next time I will most definitely need the jump to rack them onto my shoulders.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 10-10-2010, 04:59 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

October 9, 2010:
Squat: 180 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 100 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Deadlift: 235 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set

Today, I finally pulled my body weight with my deadlifts. I felt it too. The bar was hard to pull so I will start to use the alternate grip. Also, I have a little soreness in my lats and traps, so I guess they are feeling the stress now too. I am going to go down to 10 lbs added a workout now, which will keep it 55 lbs above squats for a while. It seems my ratios are pretty good. My squats are around 75% the weight of my deadlifts, and the bench is slightly under 50% of the deadlifts. I just cannot weight until I can bench my bodyweight, squat 150% of my bodyweight, and deadlift twice my bodyweight. Hopefully I can do it by years end or the end of January at the latest.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 10-11-2010, 08:54 AM
iron_worker's Avatar
iron_worker iron_worker is offline
Rank: Light Heavyweight
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Saskatoon, Sk, Canada
Posts: 3,272
Send a message via MSN to iron_worker
Default

I would keep using the double pronated grip as long as you possibly can. It's a good way to train your grip which is important.

Good luck with your goals.

IW
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 10-11-2010, 04:18 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by iron_worker View Post
I would keep using the double pronated grip as long as you possibly can. It's a good way to train your grip which is important.

Good luck with your goals.

IW
That's good advice. I will do that. Also, I will probably use assistance exercises eventually to make sure my grip stays strong even after a double pronated grip is not useful for standard deadlifting anymore. I'm thinking of shrugs, rack pulls and other lifts. That might be more of a necessity once I get back into intermediate lifting though.

October 11, 2010:
Squat: Up to 1 set of 135 lbs X 5 reps
Press: Up to 3 sets of 65 lbs X 3 reps
Power Clean: Practiced form on bar for few minutes

You may notice my lack of performance in my workout today. My back felt like shit. I guess what happened is that I pulled an upper back muscle from the last workout. My theory is that I didn’t warm up enough during my deadlifts and pulled a cold muscle. I feel it right on top of my right shoulder blade. Also, when I woke up this morning I seemed to have irritated or pulled a lower back muscle. In other words, my whole back felt irritated and too sore for a normal workout.

I figured I could either pussy out at home or go for a light workout, so I chose the latter. I warmed up really well on the elliptical and did a decent amount of light sets before doing any lifts. The squat weight was light so it didn’t irritate my back any more, but when I was doing my presses I couldn’t use my back to effectively stabilize myself to allow me to lift as well as I could last week. I just practiced power clean form with the bar, as I didn’t want to pull another muscle from an “explosive power movement.”

As I am writing this my back feels a little less stiff and sore now. Hopefully, by Wednesday it feels good enough to continue regular lifting. I’ll be making sure to do much more warm up sets for my deadlift from now on (I think I only did 2 last time. Duh!)

Also, after much consideration, I think I am going to raise my bench press up by 10 lbs for the next 2 or 3 workouts (or until it feels “heavy”). Right now, all of my other lifts feel “heavy” or “slower” but my bench feels really light. I moved my squats and deadlifts up to Rip’s highest recommended raise (10 lbs/workout for squats and 20 lbs/workout for deads), but kept my bench from progressing as quickly (only 5 lbs instead of 10 lbs). I figure once my bench is at about 50% of my deadlift, then it will probably feel about right. Right now, my bench is 100 lbs where 115-120 lbs would seem closer to where it should be. I’ll just raise it 10 lbs per workout until it feels “heavy” or “slow” like the other lifts, and then I will take it back to the 5 lb jump. I may need to buy fractional plates soon, so I can progress my presses and power clean when I cannot do 5 lb jumps anymore.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 10-18-2010, 03:17 PM
Justin_Roehm Justin_Roehm is offline
Rank: New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 24
Default

October 15, 2010:
Squat: 185 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Bench Press: 110 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Deadlift: 245 lbs X 5 reps X 1 set

October 18, 2010:
Squat: 190 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Press: 75 lbs X 5 reps X 3 sets
Power Clean: 105 lbs X 3 reps X 5 sets

I didn’t workout on the 13th because my back seemed to get sorer from that Monday’s light workout. I just rested up and continued my workout where I left off last Friday. The power clean seems like it is where it needs to be right now. Hopefully, I can jump my bench to where it needs to be pretty soon. It still didn’t feel “slow” enough last workout. Everything else is progressing smoothly, and I am making sure to warm up plenty before the first work set of each exercise.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum > Members Section > Personal Journals


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes



 



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 09:18 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.