Quick bio/background:

-5'9-130 lbs., 23 yrs. old
-Been working out for ~2 months 3-4 x per week. (Cardio/standard iso lifts)
-Prior to 2 months ago hadn't lifted at all in ~4 years. (Lost 30 lbs. and whatever muscle I had in that time)
-Played multiple sports in H.S., played baseball in college for a short time.

Came across this forum and realized SS was the way to go. I plan on following the Original SS Program. However I have limited experience w/cleans and deads and no experience w/presses. My form will suck in the beginning, I'm sure. (Will be watching youtube vids before my first workout tomorrow.)

Let me start by saying that my main goal is health and general well being. I like where my diet is right now so I probably won't be changing that. Some people will say I need to gain weight and mass. I'm not opposed to that although not my main goal. Getting big muscles and looking cut would be a pleasant side effect though, no doubt. I plan on doing cardio (HIIT) on rest days. Have been doing HIIT for a couple weeks already. Will this be too taxing on my body combined w/SS?

I'm mostly starting this log to have somewhere to chart my progress, keep myself accountable, etc. Any tips/thoughts/flames are encouraged. Wish me luck!

If you have not purchased the book yet, I highly recommend that you do so.

Which one? Isn't there 2 or 3 different ones?

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren...dp/0976805421/

The Starting Strength Book is what you need. It goes over all the lifts in great detail.

done. Should I wait for the book or just dive right in without it?

You can get started, but don't get too set in your ways with regard to form. You will likely make a lot of changes when you read the book. It is very, very detailed.

First Day: It seemed almost like a didn't get a good workout in. I wasn't sure how hard to push myself since SS says its better to have too light than too heavy a weight on the first day.

squat: 3x5x95 (seems about right)
bench: 3x5x95 (possibly too heavy, I did all reps but I struggled a bit last set)
deadlift: 1x5x155 (I should have stopped at 145, I think)

My form on the deadlift is pretty awful. My lower back is already sore, probably because I didn't arch my back on the way down? I'm not quite sure how to set the weight down yet.

The two bolded parts are in direct opposition, since you probably eat very little considering your height and weight. If you want to gain any non-trivial amounts of muscle mass, you have to start eating. You will also stall pretty faster if you don't eat at a surplus.

Doing HIIT on rest days will probably work at first, and not work as the lifts get heavier. You should eat more to account for the extra work anyway.

I also highly recommend getting the SS DVD. Faster to learn from than the book, and seeing the lifts performed correctly helps a ton as well.

Definitely don't start with too heavy weights on the deadlift. The book says to start with the bar (bar + smallest weights for the DL) and add 10-20 lbs (10 for you I'd say) for sets of 5. Once bar speed slows noticeably, stop there and call it a day.

I have no idea how you could play college baseball at 130 lbs. I also can't imagine going up to a girl and hitting on her when you're about the same weight.

Yeah it's not unusual for the first DL workout to give serious soreness. Just be real careful about increasing weight and try to record the lift ASAP. gl.

Eat. Then eat more. When you're full, try to eat more. Seriously, if you want muscle, you need to eat at a decently large surplus since you're so slim.

So you're saying start the deadlift at 55 lbs.?

I was 165 at the time.

Well if you have 5 lbs bumper plates...

If you're lucky, you have 20 lbs bumper plates available. So start with 85 lbs if possible. If you only have 45s, 135 for warm-up sets is just too much if your workset is 145. If so I'd try to use the rack with 25s, find something stable to put the bar + 25s on or whatever else you need to do.

The point is that the bar needs to be as far above the ground as it is with typical 45 lbs plates.

lol ok I was confused. 135 was for sure too much to warm up with. I only have access to 45s, so I guess I'll try to prop the bar up somehow.

Warm-up calculator here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...thkey=CPfCneMN

Just adjust the bottom cell of each exercise to 45 lbs (or 95 for DL) since the '20' is in kgs.

I thought there were some good discussion/demostrations by Rip here: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Power . I know it is from the crossfit site, but I got some stuff out of it when starting out. I just looked at the Rip videos though.

Day 2:

Decided to go with the program the has pull ups instead of power clean because I read somewhere you probably shouldn't start power clean until you've gotten the DL form down, which I obv haven't. (is this true?) Plus, I hate power clean

Squat: 3x5x105 (no problems)
Press: 3x5x60 (first time ever to do this lift, I actually really like it)
Pull up sets of: 5, 4, and 3.5 (pretty awful I know, esp. at my weight)

plus did 3 sets of ab bicycles for good measure

Also, trying to eat more, meat in particular. Videos coming soon.

After looking at a couple press vids, I may be gripping the bar too narrow? Is this possible/bad? The object is to keep forearms perpendicular to the floor, no?

Search youtube for mark rippetoe and you can find him instructing all the lifts you will be doing.

3/7

Squat: 3x5x115 (+10)

Bench: 3x5x100 (+5)

DL: 1x5x145 (feel like I have a big ceiling here)

Squat was tough so I may only go up 5 lbs next time. Bench was fairly easy so I'll probably go up 10. DL I'll go up 10 as well.

goal before next workout: Read SS

I was randomly thinking today that for someone like yourself, deadlifting every day of SS and PC'ing every other day might be a good idea for the first few weeks of the program.

i.e. one day will be squat/bench/dead other day will be squat/press/pc/dead or maybe pc/squat/press/dead.

You will be going super light at the start, so fatigue shouldn't be a problem, and this will help you get the form down for both lifts.

You should probably be doing your PCs as hang PCs for the first few weeks anyway, and as you are totally new to the lift, this will be more like skill training anyway.

Thoughts from the pros around here?

3/9

squat: 3x5x120 (+5)

Press: 3x5x65 (+5)

pull ups: 6/6/5

3x30 bicycle crunches

I really don't want to PC if I can avoid it and I want to do pull ups.

So you think I should DL every session? Anybody have an opinion on this?

3/13

Squat: 3x5x125 (+5)

Bench: 3x5x105 (+5)

DL: 1x5x155 (+10)

Only going up 5 lbs. on squat and bench so I don't stall before I gain some weight. If I gain some weight.

Going on vacation at the end of next week for 6 days. Hopefully missing 2-3 workouts doesn't set me back too much.

A vacation is a solid opportunity to gain some weight IMO