4/15
Squat
WU + 3x5x105
Felt good, really concentrated on leading with my butt, shoving my knees out, and staying back on my heels. Should be progressing to 115 on Monday.

OHP
WU + 3x5x85
Felt good, but it gave me a little bit of a burn. Not sure if I'm going to move up to 90 or 95 next time, will probably just play it safe and do 90

DL
WU + 1x5x155
Felt pretty easy, although I have a form question. Today I deadlifted with the bar perpendicular to the mirror so I could check out my form -- everything looked good for my first rep, but I noticed a little rounding in my upper back on subsequent reps. Should I be concentrating on pinning my shoulders back during the entirety of the lift in order to assist in keeping my chest up? I'll try and have my workout parther record me next time, since I know that would be easier.

4/18
Squat
wu + 3x5x115
Tightening up my lower back helped a lot, will be moving up to 125 on Wednesday.

Bench
wu + 3x5x175
Getting harder, but got 3 sets of 5 smooth reps so I'll increase to 185 next time.

DL
wu + 1x5x175
Felt pretty good, although the area of my body that gets the most fatigued is my lower back (which hopefully just denotes a weak point and not a major form problem). I need to get some videos up to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. Will be trying 195 on Wednesday.

Looking in the mirror while deadlifting is a pretty useless (your form will almost certainly be different when your head is twisted 90 deg to the side) and probably dangerous (lifting heavy things with a twisted spine). Take a video instead.

That said, yes, you should be "pinning" your shoulders back throughout the lift.

What you are really doing is contracting your back (similar to what you should be doing in the squat).

Thanks for the advice. I didn't mean to say that my neck was twisted during the whole lift, just that I did a quick sideways glace to check my alignment/setup before each rep.

I tried to really contract my back muscles throughout the whole lift today, and I wasn't quite sure if I managed to do it (my lower back is mostly what feels fatigued now, although not tremendously so). I'll have to start making videos.

Pretty standard for the lower back to deteriorate on subsequent reps for novices. Just concentrate on tightening your lower back and keeping chest high as much as possible. Takes some practice. Vids are pretty clutch.

4/20
Squat: wu + 3x5x125
Was a little harder than last time, but I'm going to try 135 on Friday

OHP: wu + 3x5x90
This is definitely the toughest exercise for me, but I feel pretty comfortable going to 95.

DL
wu+ 1x5x195
The weight went up fine, but I am still having trouble with lowering the weight. The first thing I end up doing is rounding my upper back to get the weight down past my knees; I need to work on maintaining my lower back arch and shoving my butt out to trigger the bar going down. I'll get videos up next week when my workout partner comes back.

This is standard for everyone. Don't be surprised when it stalls long before your squat progress. Also don't be afraid to begin microloading early.

HS --

I figured that would be the case -- in my previous bro lifting days I actually did this quite a bit; I don't recall exactly how high I managed to get, but I think it was in the 115 range. I'd like to eventually make it to doing 135 for reps but I recognize that is, at best, a long way off.

Eh, you might not be as far off as you think. I started off back in January at the same 3x5x75 on the press, and I've made it up to 3x4x127.5 since then (although admittedly, that next 7.5 pounds seems fairly daunting atm, and it's been two failed workouts at that weight without hitting 3x5). It's probably going to be harder for you since I'm both fatter and shorter, so I probably have a leverage advantage, but it's not like you're years away.

fwiw, after the point when my press first stalled on SS, i only put on ~17% more weight to my set of 5 (175 to 205) even after "finishing" SS gains and moving to TM for a while.
/humblebrag

maybe others could share their experiences and we'd get some kind of general number, but i think something like 50% is ridiculously high. so, for instance, someone who stalls at around 100 pretty much has no chance of 150. obv this is barring probably common circumstances like
a) you are 6' tall and still weigh 165
b) you just don't get it

Very interesting thought md, I guess I can be a case study. I feel pretty confident getting into the 105 to 115 range (everything's been smooth so far, with good bar speed), but after that I suspect I'll need to microload as everyone suggests.

By the way, 205 is ridiculous -- congratulations!

My tight hamstrings have always been a problem, so I am going to try to GTG with hamstring stretches at work today -- maybe ~15-20 seconds every hour or so. Hopefully the improved flexibility will help my lifts.

4/22
Squat
wu+3x5x135

Bench
wu + 3x5x185

DL
wu + 3x215

215 didn't feel that heavy, I just have some coordination problem that prevents me from lowering the weight correctly (instead of bending at the hips my back collapses below the scapula until the weight gets below my knees). I'm deloading way down in weight and I'm really going to try to get the form down before I increase the weight.

4/25
Squat
wu + 3x5x145

Presss
wu + 3x5x95

DL
1x5x135
1x5x185

Form on the deadlift is still not there, my back is still collapsing on the way down. I'm going to keep practicing at this low weight until I get it right.

Squat
wu+ 3x5x155
My lower back collapsed a bit on the last two reps of the last set and I good morning'd the weight up a bit -- I'm going to stay at 155 on Friday and try to firm up the reps before I add any weight.

Bench
wu + 3x5x195
Still pretty smooth, I haven't decided if I'm going to go to 200 or 205 on Monday.

DL
wu + 1x5x185
I feel like my form is getting better; still rounding a bit on the way down in the upper back, but not nearly as much as before. I may stay at 185 for another workout or two before I move up just to make sure.