Your squats are pretty fast, I would recommend taking a small pause in the top position, take a deep breath and really focus on tightening your core. Your improvements on form in such a short time are pretty impressive though, it took me a lot longer to get a decent squat form, good job.

When it comes to diet, your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is probably somewhere around 2400 kcals so you desperately need to up calorie intake in order to build muscle. I think a daily surplus of 500 kcals is in the high end of what you need. Since you're a beginner, you can expect to be able put on ~2lb of muscle per month and a surplus of 500 kcals would have you adding ~4lb of body weight per month, meaning you'd be putting ~2lb of fat as well. If I were you I'd start tracking calories, make sure to eat 2700-2900 kcal a day and monitor my weight.

Noticed how fast they were in the vid, didn't realize they were so fast at the time.

If I could stop getting sick and passing out at 9pm it'd be easier to get in more calories. Tried drinking a lot of milk to get my calories up but it just cramps my stomach and then I can't eat. So probably sticking to just solid food for now and see if i can get up to ~2700 consistently.

Motorized, adjustable desks are getting more affordable. Ikea just came out with one. For a sedentary job, alternating between standing and sitting is a big improvement over sitting the whole time.

SS is all about strength. Ripp doesn't mince words in his opening.

I think Cressey/Robertson's Assess & Correct is a nice adjunct to SS which focuses on the mobility and proprioception aspects, which tend to be sorely lacking in 1st world individuals. McGill's Ultimate Back Performance & Fitness is a great read for understanding the long term health of your back.

Lifts look quite good for a beginner to me. Your head cranes on the DLs, and changes angle on the squats, which seems to be the case for every beginner, and which I believe suggests insufficient proprioception to safely lift near failure. But, of course you have a long time before you need to lift near failure to continue gaining strength.

Very nice start, good luck!

eating over your TDEE is definitely tough starting out. You're going to want to get up towards 3000/day though.

Glasses of milk throughout the day help, but if it's making you sick could be a challenge (try lactose-free milk though maybe?)

Protein bars/shakes are always a good move

other easy calories are: peanut butter, eggs, almonds, cooking oils etc.

how often are your meals? If you find you are having trouble getting >2400 and you're only eating 3 times a day, you're definitely going to want to start eating 6-7 times a day. During my bulk I wouldn't go more than 3 hours without eating at least 300 calories. My main meals were still 500-800 calories and my in-between snacks would be at least 300. Stuffing your face with protein-heavy snacks before bed is a good idea too.

Just realized I was holding my breath through multiple reps. Going to do a breath per rep next time.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to check out assess and correct. I use pretty un-ergonomic chairs/desks since I move countries every few months and just use whatever table/chair is in the apartment.

I eat a ton of small meals throughout the day. If i go a few hours without eating my blood sugar drops super low. So it's good motivation to eat often haha. I'm going to look for peanut butter the next time I'm at the store.


Sucks to miss a workout when i'm not even two weeks in yet. But I'm still recovering from the fever so have to stay home today. Weighed 65kg/143lb this morning.

Getting up out of your chair every 30-60 minutes for at least a couple minutes to let your hips stretch out is way more important than the type of chair and desk you have, unless you have a standing desk. Sitting for long periods of time without getting up is one of the worst things you can do to your body.

3/24

In the workset of squats I'm really feeling it in my lower back. What am I doing wrong? Not tightening my core enough?
At the end of my deadlifts an older guy I've talked to a few times came up and told me my back is rounded badly and that I'm lifting with my back too early instead of doing legs first then straightening back to complete the lift.

Squat
•2x5 20 kgs
•1x5 30 kgs
•1x3 45 kgs
•1x2 60 kgs
•3x5 76kgs

DB Press
2x5 2.5 kgs
1x5 7.5 kgs
1x2 10 kgs
1x5 15 kgs (too heavy to continue with controlled form)
2x5 12.5kg

Deadlift
•2x5 30 kgs
•1x3 50 kgs
•1x2 66 kgs
•1x5 80 kgs

Squat Video
Deadlift Video

Old guy's probably right. Squats don't look too bad though. Break at the hips first though, and really take your time at the top. Seems like you're anxious to get that next rep over with, but resetting properly is important. Stand fully straight, chest up, deep breath, break at the hips and go down. We should be able to see your chest 'fill with air' before you go down

Thanks, I make sure to get up once an hour but I'm not sure what the best stretches/exercises are to do in the 2-3 minute window I have. It seems optimal for focus to do at least some type of light exercise throughout the day.

Wasn't sure what he was talking about when watching the videos until i got to my last reps, those look pretty rounded.
It made me realize I should be really careful giving unsolicited advice about anything in the future. Even though I like this guy and I genuinely appreciate him helping me, it was still grating to be lectured when I wasn't expecting it.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm going to focus on that in tomorrow's squats. I'm not sure if the lower back soreness I get from the workouts is good or not. Definitely don't think I'm supposed to be feeling it in my back when squatting so I want to get this form correct.

Your back doesn't look badly rounded to me. A bit rounded in the last few reps like you noticed.

Squat: Looks good, though I agree about Stuck's point about breaking at the hips. It seems to me that you might be hyper-extending your back during the ascent which I guess could cause lower back problems. That's an uneducated guess.

DB press: One good thing with doing OHP instead of DB press is that you can add weight in smaller increments. Now you're trying to go from 25kg to 30kg which is a big jump.

That's true, I may just start using a barbell outside of the rack. Now that I think of that it's not a big deal at all.

Yea that's why I don't give advice to people at the gym either. I mean I'm no expert, but I'm far from beginner, and I see guys butchering squats all the time. Like they'll do 250lbs and think they're beast but they're literally only doing a 25% squat, like basically a calf workout. But I know if I tell people how to do it properly I'll just make them feel like ****. If they want help they'll seek it.

Your deadlifts look OK for just starting out. Can you lift without shoes at your gym? would probably help the little bit of back rounding that you have.

This whole article is very good, but to answer your specific question, scroll down to "Posture Improvements in Daily Life" and read that section.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...that_hunchback

All this^^

I'll add a couple things:

You're not quite locking out at the top. Squeeze your butt cheeks together as hard as you can at the top while standing tall (not back). This will help lock your hips. Lock your knees at the top too.

Try to have zero low back movement during the lift. You accomplish this by getting your core as solid as a rock and hinging at the hips. You're not doing bad, as Weasel says, but when the weight gets heavy, this is something you will need to do to avoid hurting your back.

Deadlift Vids
Squat Vids

Had my first "oh **** this is heavy" moment when starting the last set of deadlifts today. I loaded the bar with the small weights on the inside, and 71kg went up very easily so I went to 91kg instead of 86 to make it easier instead of unloading/reloading the entire bar.
In the first squat workset i felt it in my back again but after focusing on keeping my core tight it went away.
My warmup DL sets felt very good. Tried to focus on having no slack in the bar, no back movement and locking out. But during the heavy set it was hard to think of form, was just focused on keeping my grip. Is this form ok enough to stay at this weight or should I go down for my next deadlifts?

10 min treadmill WU
Squats
2x5 20 kgs
1x5 30 kgs
1x3 46 kgs
1x2 66 kgs
3x5 81 kgs
Bench
2x5 20 kgs
1x5 25 kgs
1x3 35 kgs
1x2 45 kgs
3x5 50 kgs
Deadlift
2x5 36 kgs
1x3 51 kgs
1x2 71 kgs
1x5 91 kgs (definitely not going up next workout)

Giving strangers advice on anything is a pretty weird spot.

It's usually dead when I go in so I could probably get away with it. Do you find a big difference between barefoot and converse?

Thanks, started doing that today!

Focused on this today, not sure if I executed it correctly during heavier weights.


I really appreciate everyone who's taken the time to watch my vids and give feedback, thanks again.

squats look better. Looks like and I can hear that you've got the Valsalva down pat. Depth is not quite there, could go an inch or two lower.

Your knees are shooting forward in the hole when you squat, at least in the last set. Disagree with Stuck on depth, it's perfectly fine. DL looks OK too, nothing to worry about imo.

pfft

u guys were all up on me when my depth was like that

Depth is fine.

Stuck,

Your depth was not at all like that when i was saying you were high

Depth looks fine.

Looks like S&F welcomes a new stalwart to its ranks. Kid likes to megabulk and is a squat depth nazi. Congrats stuckinarutt. Welcome, please enjoy access to the LC thread from now on.

not sure if that was sarcasm or not.

either way I'm just trying to pass on knowledge that was passed to me. Just commenting that it looked like, at least to me, that he could go a wee bit lower

No I was being serious. I will make an introduction post about you in the LC thread. I just need some time but should be done by tomorrow.