Great! I'm prob a couple weeks away from buying mine.

Please update feel, fit, etc. when you use 'em.

So tomorrow I get to train with an elite fts coach. Julia ladewski and her husband own a parisi speed shop about thirty minutes away. They are training bench tomorrow. It will either be awesome or I'll be laughed out of the gym. Still pumped.

GL sir, I expect a detailed trip report.

Man that was an interesting experience. I went to train with julia and matt ladewski today. She runs a parisi speed school inside a local health mega complex. It had everything! Bumper plates, oly platforms, tons of dumbells, ghr, just tons of stuff. They were both very cool. It was her, her husband and an older lady and me. We started just foam rolling and stretching. I was told we were going to do bench and we all know how bad I am at benching, so I was a bit nervous. They made me feel really comfortable. We all started with the bar, and we all took turns. They tweaked a few things at first. They slapped on 95lbs and gave some more pointers. But the real help came at around 135-155lbs. Matt helped me get my shoulders flat on the bench and helped with bar placement. I still only got 155 up a few times, but at least I know where to fix things. Then Matt had me do db bench with 35lbs. I will mix these in. I told him that I'm doing starting strength and he thinks I should progress to 5/3/1. I will read the book all the way through tonight or tomorrow and then decide. After I was done benching they started adding some real weight. First of all they are both monsters. She is tiny and put up 225 like it was the bar. He's big and was doing a four board with 405-415.

After that it was kinda like do whatever you want. So I normally deadlift so I thought I'd go for three plates. Warmed up with 135, then 185, then 225. I put on three plates and felt really good about it. Had matt watch me and I got all five reps. He said that I should put my feet closer together and really work on having my abs tight.

After that I did some kroc rows with 70lbs. Then he suggested I do some shrugs, which I thought was weird but I did them and they are not that easy! Did two sets of 15. Then I finished with some tricep extensions. After that I was spent.

All in all it was a really awesome experience and they train pretty much every sunday, so I will definitely be back very soon, and hopefully the wife will come with.

bench - bunch of random benching
deadlift 1x5x315 *pr!!!!*
kroc rows 1x10x45 each side, 1x15x70 each side
shrugs 2x15x135
tricep extensions 3x10x70

Glad to hear your bench got a little tuneup, and nice work on the DL! I've got some work to do to catch up to you there, that's for sure.

Good job on the pr! Keep eating, sleeping, etc.
I'm looking forward to watching more progress from you.

Got my shoes! How bout you?

Just got em!!! They're tight as hell but I love em! Can't wait till tomorrow!

Now you're really going to smoke me lol.

she is tiny and tossed up 225lb with np? if true jesus i feel like less of a man after reading that.

She destroys almost all of us on this board. Total beast.

Apparently weightlifting shoes don't help if you're a pussy. Anyway I was feeling tired (only ~5 hours of sleep), but I really wanted to try out my new shoes, so I went anyway. Warmups actually felt awesome so I slapped on 280, I got three good reps, struggled a bit on the the third. Looking back, if I would have just rested (with the bar on my back) and took a good breath I probably could have wimmed out a fourth rep and maybe just maybe a fifth, but instead I put the bar on the pins. Then I did 265 for two sets of three. Just wasn't having it today. The shoes are a huge help with feeling stable thats for sure.

Moved on to ohp, I went to 105 today. Warmups felt good and the work sets were easy with minimal rest. I did an amrap of 9 on my last set, which the last two were really tough and I really had a lot of wim to get them up.

squats 1x3x280, 2x3x265
ohp 2x5x105, 1x9x105

I don't know what is up with my squats lately but I am at a standstill/regression. Tried 275 got the first set pretty easy except for last rep. Maybe I didn't take enough rest between sets but I failed on the last rep of the second set. I'm not talking I gave up right away, I grinded as hard as I could and I could not get the bar up. Anyway, I was tilted before I got to the gym and that didn't help.


I have been really excited to bench on my own after benching with Matt and Julia. I decided I should bench exclusively in the power rack because I hate asking for spotters especially at my gym and especially with 145 on the bar. Set the pins and the hooks and off I went. Really focused on keeping my shoulders flat and tight and gripping the **** out of the bar. Honestly I have hope that my bench will get better now.

The thing that confuses me about my squat progress or lack thereof, is that my Deadlift is moving along perfectly. Did some warm ups and banged out 320 for five reps.

Squats 1x5x275, 1x4x275
Bench 3x5x145
Deadlift 1x5x320 ****PR!****

You might be just be ready for an intermediate program. Or maybe just do a reset GSLP-style.

A form check wouldn't hurt either.

I surely don't know. Gonna try 275 on Sunday when I train with Matt again and see if he has any pointers, and see how I do. I'll try and video tape them to make sure somethings not wrong with my form.

In my head I don't think I'm ready for an intermediate program, but everytime I squat I certainly feel like it.

Well any doubts I had in my squat or continuing on SS were kinda solidified today. I didn't get much sleep before going to train with matt and julia, so that's not good. We did benching again, starting with mini bands. Man those things are difficult. Worked up to 135 with the bands, then we did regular bench, and then board presses. We did 3 reps with a 3 board, 4 reps with a 4 board and then 5 reps with a 5 board. Really cool to do board presses but I was honestly getting outbenched by a 40 year old woman who trains with us.

Tried to do my normal SS workset of squats and I failed the third rep of the first set. After that I'm convinced I need new programming for squats and probably deadlift. But my upper body lifts still feel like they have a lot of progression left. Could I do like a hybrid of 5/3/1 for squats and dead and SS for bench and press?

After that I did tricep extensions and dumbell bench.

Benching
Squats 1x3x275
Tricep Extension 3x10x70lbs
Dumbell Benchpress 3x12x35lbs

Like Thremp suggested, a TM rather than 5/3/1 progression may see more progression. However, it does revolve around the entire week (or at least the first and last days) as getting both the volume and intensity sets in is important. This may not suit your schedule, and is something to be aware of.

No reason not to keep linear progression going on other lifts for as long as possible.

Theres also PPAN before TM, or did you even 10% reset squats yet?

In all honesty, you're an older guy with family obligations who doesn't always get good rest or to the gym on a consistent schedule (time of day).

Progress is going to be tough, I think your upper body lifts are grossly under developed compared to your squat/DL but that doesn't necessarily mean you have a lot of room for linear progression in them.

Didn't mean to crush your soul there, I think you need to get more creative that just 3x5 sets across on the upper stuff, your program obviously lacked upper back work before that last workout with Kroc rows and some random barbell row stuff.

I'd do upper back work after your press/bp sets and you'll need to toy with the squat programming to figure out what works.

I haven't looked into this as an option, what's the difference? I haven't reset my squats yet and was going to try that this week before finally deciding what to do.

Soul has been crushed a long time ago. I have to admit I'm not a spring chicken anymore. One thing I have noticed is that on Sundays when I train with them, I make sure I'm awake *actually setting an alarm*. On days when I would train by myself I never set an alarm, and never set a set time to go to the gym. A lot of times the day seems to slip away from me and before I know it I have to get ready for work.

What do you suggest for more back work? Obv keep the different rows, just add more weight and reps?

Afaik your supposed to reset 3 times before finishing SS, especially if your other lifts (DL) are still going up

Yeah you're right. I'll reset to 250 tomorrow or wednesday. Honestly I sort of assumed my DL should stop progressing but it hasn't. The allure of new programming is so tempting. I feel like busto or jonfon.