25/m, 5’10”, 164lbs, 10% BF

Going on my senior year in college for Math. Took a couple of years off to play poker, and learned I hate poker. I didn’t do any physical activity for years, mostly sitting on the comp all day. Last September I started fencing and going to the gym, got reasonably fit and lost a few pounds. I only read SS for the form, but didn’t follow its program, and mostly just did everything 10x3. Now that it’s summer and nobody in my club comes to practice, I figured I’ll take the next two months to follow a strength program to develop a strength base to then add plyo and sport-specific stuff.

Goals: In the next 2 months, I’d like to add numbers to all the basic exercises. When September hits, I’ll have to work on power+agility in my legs, and speed+muscle endurance in my arms (the weapons weigh only 1 lb, so no need to have huge arms). I’m not looking to gain a lot of muscle mass or bulk up, since I feel like that’s going to hurt my speed/flexibility for fencing. I read that 160-170 is the optimal weight range to be.

My diet’s mostly fine, I don’t have cravings for junk food very often and rarely drink despite being in college. I plan to take in around 2500 calories for now, roughly 30/30/40 split. I drink whey protein shakes from GNC to get enough protein, but don’t take any other supplements.

Getting enough sleep is the biggest problem; I always sucked at keeping a sleep schedule. Plus, I’m taking summer classes, so sometimes I have to stay up late to finish the work.

The plan: I’m basically going to follow the Wichita Falls Novice Program with some core exercises to start and 10x3 Wrist Curls / Reverse Wrist Curls at the end of each day. I’m also modifying it to Friday, Sunday, Tuesday because of work/classes.

I guess I should mention that my gym doesn't have bumper plates, so I can't drop weights and this is also why I've never done the snatch.

All comments/advice appreciated. I'll put up some form videos once I stop being lazy and get some chucks (currently lifting in gel-sole running shoes)

First day of the program today.

Started off with a 3 minute treadmill run to warm up, then stretches, followed by 20x2 incline situps, 10x2 incline twist situps, and 2x incline leg raises.

Squats
45x5x2
70x5
110x3
145x2
185x5x3

My 5rm is 225, but the program advises to start low enough to hit my current 5rm in 4 weeks, so today was pretty easy.

Bench Press
45x5x2
50x5
70x3
90x2
110x5x3

I was doing dumbbell presses before, so this felt easier by comparison, but I'll have to watch SS again for proper wrist positions.

Chin-ups: 10, 8, 5
Wrist Curls: 30x8x3
Reverse Wrist Curls: 15x11x3
1x incline situps, incline twist situps, and incline leg raises
stretches

Wasn't too sweaty when I left, but I think that's because I'm starting low.

I got some low-top chucks, not sure what it does on the Squat, but it should be noticeable on the power cleans next week.

Warmup 20x incline situps, 10x incline twist situps, 12x incline leg raises

Squats: 190x5x3 work sets

Press: 80x3, 75x5x2 work sets
- Couldn't complete 80

Deadlift: 225x5 work sets

Another set of 20x incline situps, 10x incline twist situps, 12x incline leg raises

Wrist Curls: 30x9x3
Reverse Wrist Curls: 15x11x3

Final set of 20x incline situps, 10x incline twist situps, 12x incline leg raises

Week 1 Day 3:

I decided to work out early today instead of my usual midnight workouts. I figured everyone would be at work by 11am, so the gym should be empty. I didn't account for all the other college kids on break, so the gym was packed with frat guys when I came in. After some dude finally finished doing curls in the power rack, I got my turn.

Squat: 195x5x3
- someone commented on my form and told me my knees shouldn't be going past my toes. I tried doing that, but I felt like I'd either fall over or would have to stop before I got to horizontal. I checked SS and Figure 2-9 on page 14 explicitly states "knees should be just slightly in front of the toes", maybe mine go way too far out.

- I know I'm not balancing on my toes because I can lift them up if I want, but I'm definitely using heels+ball of my foot. I'm not sure if when people say "use your heels" they literally mean "balance on your heels".

I really have to post form check vids, but today there wasn't any room for a camera.

Bench Press: 105x5x3

Pull-ups: 7, 6, 5

Dumbbell Rows: 70x7, 75x4, 70x5

And some sit-ups, stretches pre and post.

Yes, you want the weight on the heels. Get some vids up of the lifts so we can see if you are doing anything wrong.

Got some Form Chex today!

Week 2 Day 1:

I originally picked my program because it included some pulling exercises (chin-ups and pullups), but I don't really like that it only alternates power cleans and deadlifts once a week. From now on I'll do standard SS and just add pullups on day A and chin-ups on day B.

I'm not really sure why SS lists power cleans as last, I thought power and plyometrics should be done before everything else.

Chin-ups 11, 7, 5
- wanted to leave for last, but racks were taken

Power Cleans: 95x5x3

Squats: 200x5x3 video: Set 3
- the gym cleared up on set 3
- I notice my depth is barely parallel, my elbows are kinda high, and I may be driving with my chest at the top

Press: 80x5x3 videos: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3
- I notice my elbows aren't out and once the bar gets past my head it seems to move back.
- the bar's resting on my wrists in Sets 2 and 3.

Record your squats from behind you or at around a 45* angle. Can't tell for sure from that angle but it looks like your stance is too narrow, the bar is too high on your back, and your knees are too far inward. None of them hit parallel.

The bar path on the press is pretty curved. It is going too far behind you and usually starts too far in front of you. On some of the reps you are leaning back when you start which you should not do.

imo you should just deadlift instead of PC for the first 2-3 weeks. There's really no point in doing PCs if your DL form is not solid since the PC basically starts off as a DL.

Make sure to record video on Sunday. GL!

Squat- not deep enough but I'm watching from my phone.

Press- biggest mistake is not keeping the bar directly over your wrist/elbows. Keep your elbows more forward on the bottom. The press will be a lot easier once your fix that. Also just push straight up. Looks like u are trying to avoid your face.

I put my phone on a smith machine, which resulted in the weird camera angle. Hopefully you can use the vertical poles of the power rack to see which way is up. I'll definitely look for a horizontal ground for it next time.

I'll record squats from a better angle on Sunday.

I’ve been weighing myself every Sunday upon waking up, so I think I’ll start posting it here for completeness. Today I was at 162lbs, unchanged from last week.

I also had a weird dream that I was fat realizing I didn’t want to be fat anymore. I’ve never been obese in my life, so this is either anorexia (I did get 2% instead of whole milk this weekend) or I’m spending too much time reading the starter SS logs here.

Squats: 205x5x3 Set 1, Set 2, Set 3
- I see some knee buckling, but I have consciously kept my knees apart. It seems like when I squat down, they go too far apart, and once I flex them on the way up they get into a specific position.

Bench: 110x5x3 Set 1, Set 2, Set 3
- Felt like I was really exaggerating the chest raise the whole time, but in the videos it doesn’t look like it. Not sure if the safety bar blocks the view. I kept my ass on the bench the whole time.
- Set 3 seems to have the best angle

Deadlifts: 235x5 Warmup Set 1
- I notice my back rounds on the work set. Looks like I should lean back more, but the bar path looks vertical to me.
- Posted the last warmup set because I don't think the back rounds as much there. Probably standard since warmup is ez, but maybe this is indicative of something.
- need to take less time between reps

Pullups: 10, 7, 4+3 decline pullups

Some incline sit-ups, twists, incline leg raises and stretching to warm up and at the end.

In addition to critiquing form, let me know if I should repeat Squats or if I can keep moving up 5lbs. Also let me know if I should repeat DLs on Tuesday or if I can do Power Cleans. I'd like to do cleans since my fencing coach told me I need to lunge faster, which is a power issue. But if the dl form's really lacking, I'd prefer to get that down.

Also critique my camera angles. I know the angle on Set 1 of the Bench was really bad.

squats-- stance looks really wide. your knees also cave in a little and depth is questionable. you probably make depth, but it looks like you're struggling for it. only watched set 3, btw.

those were 5 cluster single DLs, set of 5 should take maybe 30 seconds total

Week 2 Day 3

Today felt really hard. It was probably a combination of skipping sleep on Sunday and working out early morning as opposed to late night.

Power Cleans: 100x3x5 Videos: Set 4, Set 5
- I failed rep 2 on set 5 because someone wanted to use the bench I had my camera on, so I was rushing a bit
- I need to learn to rack faster

Press: 85x3, 85x4, 80x4, 80x4 Video: Set 4
- Fail I think I’ll try 85 again next time, hopefully this was just lack of sleep

Squats: 210x5x3 Videos: Set 2, Set 3
- The last set felt inconsistent. Reps 2 and 4 were tough, but rep 5 felt easy. I think it's because I stayed on my heels on the last rep, but went forward too much on 2 and 4.
- need to stay on my heels more

Chin-ups: 9, 7, 5+3 decline chin-ups

Only did one set of sit-ups, twists, and leg raises to warm up, felt too tired/lazy to do more at the end.

Week 3 Day 1

****ty sleep schedule the past 3 days, averaged 5 hours spread as 3, 8, 4.

Squats: 215x5x3 Videos: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3
- Felt relatively easy compared to last workout, but my 5rm when starting was 225 so I haven’t hit anything new yet. I feel like I’m getting used to low bar, which is why I don’t get stuck at the bottom as I did last time.

BP: 115x5x3 Videos: Set 2, Set 3
- Ended up miscounting warmup weights and did 1 rep of 120 as “warmup”
- Second set felt the hardest, I think because I had a lot of lateral movement. Set 3 felt alright, but I still notice some lateral movement in the last two reps.

Deadlifts: 245x5 Videos: Warmup, Work Set
- DLs felt superhard today, I don’t think I can move up by 10s anymore. I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to know when to move up slower though, since I don’t see how you can really fail a deadlift unless you pass out or break your back.
- I know, I need to shorten the work set time down to at least 1 minute instead of 1.5

Pullups: 9, 5, 4+3 pulldowns
- Not sure why I didn’t break 10 on the first set today.

As I was finishing my Deadlifts, I saw someone doing the Snatch and Deadlift. I didn’t say anything though because I’m antisocial and can’t initiate conversations.