Today's workout

Squat: 305 x 5 x 3
Bench: 195 x 5 x 2, 4x1
DL: 345 x 5 x 1

Weight 219.6

Got all of my reps today. I felt like crap going into DLs though. I was super tired and almost didn't do them. I think I spent all of my energy on squats (used a belt this time) and bench. I have a feeling that the lack of sufficient calories is starting to effect my recovery and therefore my workouts. I am going to impose a stall on my lifts and try to maintain what I have until after weigh ins. Once weigh ins are over I will go back to eating normally and take creatine again to reinstate progressive gains. We'll see how that works out.

I'm having my wife take my waist measurements nightly to see how I am coming along with that (how they will measure BF%). Last night I was down to just under 40.5".

Observation: Saw guy doing DLs today as I was warming up. Looked like he worked his way up to 315 x 5 x 1 with pretty good form. That is the 2nd time I have seen him do DLs.

I believe that only missing one rep does not count as a "failed" set and you should continue to up the weight, according to SS.

Personally, I don't move up in weight until I hit all reps, but technically I'm doing it wrong.

If you miss the rep while maintaining proper diet, rest, form, mental status, etc then it can count as a failed set. And it is probably helpful to redo it. If you think one of the extraneous factors was the cause of the failure, and that you will have no problem progressing when you are properly prepared, then by all means go for it.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am not maintaining proper diet nor rest due to the upcoming weigh-ins. I hate them and look forward to getting them over with.

Thank you both for the responses. I decided to re-do the weight today. I will keep that in mind for the future.

Also I should mention this although its pretty obvious, if you fail a set like 5/5/4 or worse, but then you make 5/5/5 the next week on the higher weight, just carry on like nothing ever happened.

Today's workout

65 minutes on treadmill, 4.66 miles walked.

Weight: 217.6

Yeah, I got a little carried away with walking today. Was listening to some podcasts and the music made me want to keep going. Kept increasing speed slowly until I got to 4.5 mph, which felt comfortable to me. I actually feel better now than I did before walking. Probably won't do it this much next week, but what the hell I don't workout again until Monday.

Yeah, my weight is going down but I feel that I am going to lose too much strength. At least it will only be another 1.5 weeks or so until I can get back on track. I miss eating correctly, but at least I am not completely starving myself right now. Guessing my waist is around 40", hoping to get it down to 39" next weekend. If so, I will weigh in on the 5th as planned.

HS: Thank you. I figured I would go back to normal linear progressions if I made the weight. The only reason I am initiating a self imposed stall is that I am not eating nearly enough to do so. I don't want to hurt myself trying.

BRO: If you are reading this I hope you realize that I am doing this for a specific weigh in and not for long term weight loss. I am not being a hypocrite since I know that this isn't an optimal plan for long term loss, which your goals are. I plan on cutting a bunch of weight (down to 210 or less) by the 5th. I know that I will gain this back in a day or so after weigh ins, but my short term goals are to make weigh ins (BF%) without having to use calipers. This is not a good plan for long term weight loss since I am destined to fail (hopefully I can keep at it throughout the next 1.5 weeks). I hate the way my body feels and how tired I am now.

I just wanted to put this disclaimer in my thread just in case he tries to use me as an example of how his plan will work because he has will power. I have will power, but no way could I do this more than a couple weeks.

As for lunch today: piece of Mahi-Mahi and some broccoli. They were leftovers from last night's dinner. I figure I will randomly post my meals when I think of it. No pics of this one though.

Wow, only fell to page 4. Thought it would be higher than that. I stopped SS since my last post because I wasn't getting anywhere. Weighed in today and passed the BF tape measurements. I plan on getting back into SS on next Tuesday since I am heading out of town for a funeral later this week.

After looking back at my log I think I came back with the weights too high, especially while not eating correctly. Plan is to greatly reduce the weights on Tuesday:

Squat: 265 x 5 x 3
Press: 115 x 5 x 3
Row: 135 x 5 x 3

No workout today and will probably do something light tomorrow.

I had to go out and get a new dress shirt (funeral for wife's grandmother coming up on Friday). I hate dress shirts for a body like mine. I had to get an 18.5" neck. Put it on, fits great around neck and sleeve length was good for my arms, a little long around the waist. The problem I have is that the rest of my body (chest and waist) do not match up with what dress shirt makers feel an 18-18.5" neck should be. I fit my 8 year old daughter in that shirt with me (in the waist/chest area, with it fully buttoned up). Unfortunately I don't have time to get it tailored before the funeral on Friday, so it looks like I will be doing some folding to make it look somewhat right. I have practice with that for my uniform already. At least I will be wearing a suit, but it feels like I am wearing a tent.

Also, found out I will not be getting promoted, so I will be out of the CG the end of June. Looking for a job now. Only 1 more weigh in to go before I am out. Kind of looking forward to this, although the stress levels are high since I have been in the CG since graduating high school.

Today's workout

Squat: 255 x 5 x 3
Press: 115 x 5 x 3
Row: 135 x 5 x 3

Weight: 222.4

I'm glad I dropped the weights down. I didn't workout yesterday due to being sick and I think I wasn't back up to 100% for this workout. It felt weird working out again and the squat seemed off. Weight was fine, but my form felt off until the last set. I think my mind was wandering the first 2. I feel good now and look forward to the next 2 weeks of working out. I will be off the 1st week of November due to hunting, but will come back to lifting when I get back. Next workout is on Friday.

Today's workout

Squat: 265 x 5 x 3
Bench: 165 x 5 x 3
DL: 295 x 5 x 1

Weight 221.8

Today's workout went really well. I am still glad I dropped the weight down. It has allowed me to focus on my form after a short break (about 3 weeks).

Had the workout room manager come by and talk to me while I was setting up the bar for squats after she was finished with her spin class. Said that I was crazy for using so much weight, but am one of the few that actually have good form. Said my depth is good (below parallel) and I seem to know what I am doing. She keeps an eye on the rack, which is located right outside her door to hopefully catch people screwing up before they hurt themselves. Most people she sees have bad butt wink (she didn't use that term, but is what she was talking about) when they go to depth, but few go to below parallel. She also said she sees people have weights slide off the bar during squats about twice a week, sometimes more. She corrects the people who don't use collars for squats since she is worried about the people working out nearby. Kind of wish I was around to see people doing that, but no one usually uses the rack while I'm in there. She also said most people don't use a lot of weight, which makes me wonder why they have such bad butt wink. She is also glad to see me taking days off during the week. Most of the injuries she sees are due to over training (stuff like trying to do crossfit type workouts 5 days a week, etc.). Made me feel good about my form and the SS program in general.

Looking forward to the weekend. Movie night tonight with the kids (at home). Tomorrow my oldest has a soccer game. I am glad to see her and most of the kids improving throughout the season. I think we are doing some type of harvest festival thing on Sunday. Should be a good weekend all around. Hope you all have one too.

Today's workout

Squat: 275 x 5 x 3
Press: 120 x 5 x 3
Row: 145 x 5 x 3

Weight: 224.0

Another good workout today. Guessing I will be back to my earlier highs end of next week, then take another week off for hunting. Weight is up a little, most likely due to not eating all that well this weekend. Not worried about it since being informed about getting out of the CG means I can focus on strength gains and not so much about weight. I think Nov-Jan will be good for strength gains.

Weekend went well. Team won it's first game of the season (now 1w-1l-3t). The team looked really strong out there. The Harvest Festival was fun yesterday. I missed it last year so I made sure we went while I was in town this year. Stayed there all day and the kids had a blast.

Today's workout

Squat: 285 x 5 x 3
Bench: 175 x 5 x 3
DL: 305 x 5 x 1

Weight 223.4

Squats sucked today. I blame it on my playlist being messed up. My wife did something to Itunes yesterday (I believe unchecked some songs she didn't want the kids to hear) prior to me syncing my ipod. I didn't know this until I went to warm up on the squats. Threw me off not having my usual tunes to listen to for squats. Found out they weren't in the regular music section either so I didn't get to listen to my squat music. Got all the reps, but just didn't feel right. Bench and DL went great today though. I think I got over the music issue while doing the squats.

No workout this Friday. Was supposed to have tomorrow off, but now have a meeting I must attend. Day off is moved to Friday. I plan on going to the range to sight in my gun for the upcoming hunting trip to Maine. I may do a little shopping as well to get some items I am missing. Head to Maine on the 30th for a week. Plan on lifting next week on a normal schedule, take the week off to hunt, and then come back into a normal lifting schedule when I get back.

Today's workout

Squat: 295 x 5 x 3
Press: 125 x 5 x 3
Row: 150 x 5 x 3

Weight: 223.8

Workout went well today. Weights felt heavy, but not unmanageable. 2 more workouts before I leave for a week of hunting. Hopefully get a deer this year, will be a good source of protein for me.

Obesrvations: Saw a guy (usually bro workout) I have mentioned before doing some pullups today. Had a 45 lb plate strapped to him and doing full range pullups. Only thing I thought was "bad" form was he paused at the bottom before going back up. He ended up doing 3 sets of 6 like that. Pretty impressive. Also saw a different guy setup the smith machine with 1 plate while I was warming up in the rack for squats. I had a plate a side as well and he did a head nod like we were brothers in arms. Finished that and kept adding weight. Finished putting on the 295 and he shook his head in dissapointment (hopefully in himself since he was doing 1/2 squats, in the smith machine, 1 plate, and had a belt on). I laughed inside as he slinked away to continue his bro workout.

Thoughts: This past weekend was great. I definitely needed that after the past few weeks/months we have had in our house. Went down to the Meadows and saw G4S compete on Saturday. Thank you G4S for answering our questions and being an all around great guy. I recommend going to see the games to anyone who lives near one of his events.

I have a few things to me remember and to suggest to those who may go:
1. Don't wear a white shirt, especially if you help move the cabers during the event. My white shirt ended up a different color on my right shoulder/side.
2. Remember a camera, you may see something you whish you had photo evidence of. You won't get details out of me since I don't have evidence and I don't need G4S trying to find me.
3. Go both days, especially if you have kids. We went 1 day this year. If we get to go to another one we plan on going both days. Wife and I only during the Pro comp day. Then go the second day with the kids so we don't miss any of the games and they don't get too antsy.

Today's workout

Squat: 300 x 5 x 3
Bench: 185 x 5 x 3
DL: 325 x 5 x 1 + 1

Weight 224.6

Workout went well today. Felt really tired going into the gym, but seemed to fade as I squatted. I went into the gym planning on DL 315. As I fiinished my last warmup I felt 325 would be better so I went with it. Wasn't too bad.

The +1 DL was a screwup. I usually walk the last DL into the rack to make it easier to remove the weights. On my last DL today I put the weight onto the ground and went over to wipe off with my towel. I looked back at the rack I noticed the weight on the ground. Thought to myself: "You dumb bastard, now you have to DL it again and set it in the rack." So I did. Hopefully I won't do this when the weights go up to where I was before because that would suck. I would probably just figure out another way to get the weights off at that point.

Planning on one more workout before leaving Saturday afternoon for a week of hunting.

Observations: I did see a dude doing tricep pulldowns things. He was standing up, bent at the waist (almost like a DL), and pulling down the bar like a pulldown. Thing that struck me is that he had a plate resting on his toes. I have never done this movement before but the plate struck me as odd. One good thing about always using the rack is that people tend to move away from that area of the gym when I get there. I don't think it is a coincidence that they are finished with doing curls, as well as other nonesense, in or around the rack while checking themselves out in the mirror. Those that use the area tend to move away once I get up from the bike (I prefer the bike for warmups). I am hoping that they realize they can use other areas of the gym for that stuff while I can't. In reality it probably is just a coincidence, but I don't want to recognize it as such.

Was my pleasure, really.



Hahahahaha, that's the kind of stuff that usually ends up in the newspaper. I got lucky

Where, in the obituary section (mine)? Guess I am glad I didn't have my camera!


If I did have a pic I'm not sure I would send it in to the paper, but it would definitely be on here. I would probably try to find some of the other guys competing and get it to them, so I think my comment above would probably be true.

Wasn't planning on doing anything today, but was bored in the office and got talked into playing ultimate frisbee. Man, I am out of conditioning for running that much (only an hour game). It was fun and may play more often.

My ankle felt/feels great right now, which is a little surprising. It usually hurts after running like that. I had been considering tyring to play soccer 1 or 2 times a week, but my ankle kept me away. This may be better in the long run since I don't have to kick a ball around.

Today's workout
Squat: 295 x 5 x 3
Press: 125 x 5 x 3
Row: 155 x 5 x 3

Weight: 222.3

Didn't get in my last planned workout since I didn't get into work on that Friday.

After taking a little more than a week off I decided to go back and do the workout from 25 OCT 10, but my math was again off during my row. I realized I had 155 on the bar and not 150 prior to starting my rows, but said f-it and went with 155. Weights felt good and am looking forward to getting the lifts up where they should be for my weight.

Observations: Noticed another new curl variation. A new dude (haven't seen him lifting before) was doing a lunge/push-curl thing. It will be hard to explain for your visualization, but I will try. Stand (facing the mirror obviously) with left leg forward and right leg back, almost like you were going to do a lunge, but in the 1/4 squat type of way. He stayed in the 1/4 lunge position the whole time. Then do a push-curl (but coming down to the 1/4 position before completing the lift) with dumbbells going back and forth between right and left arms. Not really sure what I was seeing, but that is the best I can explain it.

Thoughts: The week of hunting was good and bad. Didn't get anything, but had a good time doing it. It sucked that my Dad, who had planned this whole thing back in May, couldn't make it until the last hunting day. He is a medically-retired police officer (for about 10-12 years now) and finally got cleared to go back to work (he didn't want to stop). As of October 17th he is now attending the police academy (at 56 yrs old) again as required by law. Good thing for him is he only has to sit through the class stuff and doesn't have to do the PT. He had to pass a bunch of fitness tests prior to getting accepted, but doesn't participate throughout the academy. So he wasn't able to come up during the week, which sucked. Spent the week with a retired police officer and the departments current chief (half the week). Got to hear some good stories from them.

Played ultimate again today. Had a couple buddies come out and play as well, which was cool. Still not that good and my ankle decided to hurt. Not sure why it did, but I'm not too worried. It wasn't as bad as before and feel that it will be short lived. We have Thursday off, so will plan on playing again next week.

Goals. This is the first time I actually looked at the calendar for the month and planned out my workouts. Looks like I have 8 workouts left this month (missing the 19th, due to time off). So here are my end of month goals for my working set weights:

DL: 345 (+10 each workout, shouldn't be too hard)
Bench: 200 (+5 each workout, I hate my bench but should make it)
Rows: 175 (+5 each workout, have no idea on these since they are fairly new)
Press: 145 (+5 each workout, sucks worse than my bench, so we'll see)
Squat: 335 (+5 each workout, we'll see on that)

Today's workout
Squat: 300 x 5 x 3
Bench: 185 x 5 x 3
DL: 325 x 5 x 1

Weight 222.8

Another good day. Forgot to use the wrist wraps on the first set of Bench. Wrist feels sore now, but at least I remembered it for the last 2 sets. Have until Monday to workout again, so should be back to normal by then.

Thoughts: Thinking about getting a belt, but not 100% sure yet. Mostly just to use during working set in squats. May need to play around with what they have at the gym to figure out if I want one or not. Granted, I think they only have a velcro one that isn't tapered, but it will at least give me a starting point. I think I have used it before, but I don't remember if it felt any different. Will try it out on Monday.

Wife told me about something I need to be around home for this Friday, which is why I don't like posting goals. It seems something is always coming up that makes me miss a workout. Time to look around for a local gym to workout in for those days I miss. Luckily I screwed up the starting weight for my DLs when I calculated the goal, so it will stay the same. Goals for Bench and Squat are now down to 195 and 330. Should be able to make those weights. Bench I have done before, but I have only gotten up to 315 x 5 x 3 in squats in the past. Hopefully I eat enought to make it happen.

Question: Is it a good idea to start accessory exercises, specifically chins and dips? Thinking would be chins with one workout and dips with the other, after all lifts are complete. Maybe do something like a 5 x 3, but probably can't do that many chins yet. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Friday's workout
Squat: 305 x 5 x 3
Press: 135 x 5 x 3
Row: 160 x 5 x 3


Yeah, I posted that I wasn't going to workout on Friday. On Wednesday evening I was talking to the wife about being bummed missing workouts when I didn't head in to work. She said she wanted to start doing something (not SS yet), so we went and checked out a local gym. Thursday we signed up and I got to lift on Friday. Gym is ok, has a squat rack and allows DLs. Chalk is frowned upon, but all of the people who work there that I got to talk to said if I keep it cleaned up I could use it. So now I have a place to workout when I miss one. I worked out at 0900 and not a lot of people in there. Hopefully that is the norm since that is when I will go there (right after the kids go to school).

The squat rack there is right in front of a mirror. This was my first experience squatting in front of a mirror and it just felt weird. I did get to see that the bar was bending at 305 though. Hopefully I won't bend it for good and they don't let me squat anymore (or DL for that matter). Went in planning on pressing 130, but the warmups were going so well I put on 135 and it felt great. We'll see how 140 goes on Wednesday. The rows were done using a fat bar and I liked the feel of a fat bar for these. I may end up using the fat bar for DLs there as well.

Are fat bars supposed to make it easier or harder to grip? I thought my grip was a lot better with the fat bar, but it was only 160.

Observations: Got to see the bench press while in a squat position move there. I also saw a guy on the decline bench, using 45lb dumbbells, arms locked out, and moving only his shoulders up and down. He kept his elbows locked the whole time and got a bout 1" of movement. Haven't seen that before.

Today's workout
Squat: 310 x 5 x 3
Bench: 190 x 5 x 3
DL: 335 x 5 x 1

Back at the work gym. All weight sets felt good. I think my days of walking the weight into the rack on DLs are over. I almost dropped the bar today and got a couple blood blister type things on my hands. Guess I will need to find a different way to unload the bar. Squats will be back to my last PR on Wednesday. Used a velcro belt on squats (I know, I will look into a good belt soon) and I liked how it felt. I will probably get a cheap belt for the local gym until I can get a good belt in the mail.

Today's workout
Squat: 315 x 5 x 3
Press: 140 x 5 x 3
Row: 165 x 5 x 3

Workout went well, except I forgot to put on my wrist wraps again for the first set. They weren't too happy about half way through the set. I finished the set and promptly got them ready for the next set.

I am happy with the progress getting back to my previous PR's. Looks like from here on out my Rows, Squats and Presses will be new PR's, as the program is supposed to go. Should be getting into the PR range for DL's next week (previous was 355, should hit that on Wednesday) and sometime the week after for Bench (previous was 205, should hit that on the 29th).

Probably going to get ridiculed as I have in the past, but my squats are still high bar. I still get pain in my elbow trying to do low bar, no matter how much stretching I do. The pain stops me from doing bench and press, so I figure I should just stick it out with high bar for now. I am also using a crappy velcro belt that the gym has for my worksets. I like it and will be asking for a real belt for Christmas from the wife.

I plan on playing Ultimate tomorrow, depending on how long my yearly phisical takes. I am home on Friday so I plan on working out in the local gym that day. We'll see how they actually take to heavy DLs there. I did see some type of class doing them (all females, low weights) last week, so hopefully they don't have any issues.

Question, repeated from last Friday's workout: Are fat bars supposed to make it easier or harder to grip? I thought my grip was a lot better with the fat bar, but it was only 160 (for rows). I will be doing DLs on Friday, should I use the fat bar or the regular bar? I will have access to both, so please make a recommendation.

Why would you rather low bar squat than high bar squat?

Fat bar = harder. Fat bar is something to mix in everywhere imo, but on max DLs, it will make grip your limiting factor which isn't ideal.