Like most of America, I'm resolving to get in better shape this year. Last year was a ****show of injuries and personal issues. One of my first posts in this forum was 12/29/12 in the 2013 resolutions/goals thread, and I made basically no improvement year over year.

I've got a bunch of limitations/excuses all lined up and ready to go, but I'm hoping you guys can help me set up a plan, which (aside from accountability of some sort) is really why I'm here in the first place.

So, current stats:

B 1rm: 130lb
Sq 1rm: 140lb
DL 1rm: 245lb
Weight: 165lb
Height: 5'11"
Age: 32
Build: skinnyfat

The squat is probably a low measurement but it's the highest I've done with proper depth. I had done 135x10x2 prior to failing a bunch of other weights, before getting a good rep in at 140? So who knows.

What I do now:

I belong to a gym near my home which has all you can eat classes, and I used to do 1 class a day when I had my last job and I was trying to get fit-ish before my wedding. Right now, I am going to treadmill interval class on Mondays and Fridays because my cardio game is weak. I do 2 30 minute training sessions that are meh each week.

On Saturdays, I do an hour of lifting with a friend who is a strength coach at a D1 school. An example workout was yesterday's, which was bp, cgbp, ohp, and some accessory work.

I travel for work 2 weeks a month to SF. My intention is to join this gym, which is 3 blocks from my office out there. I took a tour, and while there's not a ton of free weight space, there's some. I feel like it should be sufficient for my purposes?

My current plan is:
Chicago:
- M: either 1 hour kettlebell class or 30 min interval treadmill class
- W: 1 hour alternating powerlifting / oly lifting class
- F: 30 min intervall treadmill class
- Sa: 1 hour powerlifting class

SF:
- Tu/Th/Sa: Some SS style workouts with a coworker? Have not thought this through yet. I might alternate this with or swap in occasionally some form of kettletarding that I can do in my SF apartment due to crazy work hours?

My goals for end of year are I think realistic, but hopefully you guys can tell me:

B: 170lb
Sq: 225lb
DL: 300lb

I'd also like to:
- run an outdoor 7 min mile
- box jump 44" (I think right now I can do 38"?)
- improve aesthetics (have never had visible abs in my life)
- learn to swim with a proper crawl stroke
- do a handstand

Other goals for this year:
- don't injure myself
- sell current home
- either help current startup close large round of funding, or figure out plans for a startup of my own to get going by end of year
- learn some programming

For this month:
- read Starting Strength

All feedback appreciated.

Your plan so far looks fine. Other things you should do imo:

post form check videos

Since you're benching, watch this series and try to learn everything in it: http://articles.elitefts.com/feature...e-series-here/

Tate's bench advice is far better than any other I know of. fwiw, I have read SS. Rip's advice is generally good and he's an interesting writer, but there are details of his that I'd tweak. I think you'd do well skipping the SS bench section and watching and rewatching SYTYCB.

If your shoulders ever bother you back squatting, don't go with the low bar position Rip recommends - high bar is generally easier on the shoulders.

Good luck!

consistency is key. good luck!

— Charles Staley

This.

When you make it part of your routine, eventually you will feel that not going to the gym is weird and unnatural.

glgl!

When I was getting started I'd find that I'd forget to go every now and again. Forgetting 1 day/week is kind of a big deal if you only go 3x/week. Something that worked for me was to do *something* every day but one. So in the morning I'd wake up and think "what do I have to do today" instead of "is there anything I have to do today". One of those days the answer would be "hey, nothing!"

Obviously it wasn't like I was lifting weights every day. So the off days I'd run a half hour or do some stretches, or whatever.

This someone tricks you into enjoying the **** out of your 1 "day off" too.

I agree with everything else posted so far. Good luck! Subscribed.

From my experience (others may disagree) I think your bench goal will be toughest, followed by squat and DL, but I think they're all doable. Last year I went from untrained at 5'7 ~160#, cut weight about half the year to ~140# and got up to B:3x5x135 (and sometimes 1x5 or 2x5x145, probably 1rm ~155, though I've never tested it), Squat:3x5x185 (with 1x5x205 sometimes and a 1rm of 225), and DL: 1x1x315. Also went from running like 8:30 miles to comfortable slightly under 7:00 miles. I mostly went ~3-4x/week and would warm up with 0.5-1.0 mile run followed by some SS+assistance lifts. Depending on your ultimate cardio vs strength goals, I would definitely consider only dedicating 1 day max to pure cardio.

Good luck!

SO TRUE!! and wake up early for some stretching and running.

I think you should read Starting Strength, do the program (i.e. lift heavy thrice a week), post videos of your form and achieve your weightlifting goals in 3 months. Do some cardio of your choice in the off days. Eat healthy, get lots of sleep. Easy game.

Thanks guys! Personal experience has shown that consistency is the only thing that works for me in the fitness universe. Hopefully bringing consistency to some form of weight training will mean that in 2014 I gain some strength.

I had to bail on my original plan to join the gym on Tuesday and lift Tu/Th/Sa for work reasons. So Tuesday looked like this:

Food: coffee = breakfast, water, (salad, sushi) = lunch, (fat tire, jw black, ravioli, salad) = dinner.

Exercise: none (beyond a couple miles walking).

Wednesday was better:

Food: (coffee, pb granola bar) = breakfast, water, (salad, penne, salmon) = lunch, (chicken ~cacciatore (ok it kind of sucked visually but not taste-wise and I'm embarrassed a bit even if it was prepared with the bull**** pot and bull**** stove I've got in SF), bottle of wine) = dinner

Joined the gym. Got them to give me the real rate ($39/mo, no sign up fee) instead of what they are doing for resolution-ers ($99/mo, $59/mo, or something like this). Coworker who "was going to join with me" politely declined. I'm one of maaaaybe 5 straight guys at this gym. All the gay dudes have identical perfectly trimmed 1/4" long beards. Also, from what I saw in the locker room, brightly colored boxer briefs are where it's at if you're gay and live in SF.

Regardless, the gym isn't that bad. There's not many spots where one could use a barbell, and lots and lots of machines for doing different types of chest presses. I witnessed a pair of dudes (large-ish gay dudes with beards wearing bright tank tops) using some weird Smith machine type device but the bar has some amount of ability to move parallel to the ground) doing an "exercise" where you stand up straight, with the bar behind you at waist level, so you're holding the bar naturally behind your butt, with arms straight, and then basically wrist curl, but aided with a "butt kip" (that being where you use your butt to whack the bar a bit). Also witnessed a short Asian woman in the same device doing "sets" of something kind of like a front squat, where she'd walk up to the bar, hug it, and move it up and down between two adjacent notches on the smith-type machine. /GGO. (OK, fine, some mini GGO. Also witnessed some pretty great PT stuff, including some "supersets" involving step ups into a chin up. This would be kind of bad enough, except instead of doing this anyplace sane-ish like say, a place with a chin up apparatus, PT had dragged a bench over (to step up on to) to the back of a Smith machine so the guy was just awkwardly semi-chinning semi-jumping into the rectangular crossbeam of the Smith machine.)

Whatever.

I had no friends and no spotter, new gym, and wasn't feeling awesome. Have never lifted alone before. So what I did was:

Stretch.

Squat:
45x15x2
65x10
75x10
95x8
115x5x3

Bench:
45x10x2
55x10
65x8
75x5
80x5x3

DL:
95x10
135x1x5
185x1x5

I've never lifted with these wacky octagonal plates before, and the fact that every time I put the weights on the floor they seemed to roll way out of line with my mid foot really pissed me off. So my mild OCD meant that while I was trying to do 5 rep sets and maybe get toward 1rm, things were too slow. Also, my form was pretty ****ty so I didn't really want to go any heavier.

I figure that I'll rapidly get more comfortable lifting alone, and lifting at a crowded gym.

I saw two other people DL while I was there. One dude was pretty legit, and using the only thing approaching a platform. Sadly that platform is attached to the best rack for squatting in, so he was DL 4' behind a dude who was squatting. Just weird. The only other DL person was a chick who was DL between Smith machines using a bar she'd pilfered from one of the benches. Weird. A few other dudes I witnessed were in the same strength range as me (weak) but doing the ~right things (sq, ohp, pc, etc), so who knows, maybe I'll make a skinnyfatbro friend and then I'll have a spotter.

I also did 5 minutes of 20 curls/min, 10lb bs, non-hammer curl. Idk, I liked this when a friend and I did it a while ago, left my arms feeling dead, so I'd like to progress over time even if lolcurls.

The free weights area of this gym is totally weird to me. I will try to take a picture so you guys can tell me what's what. Unlike the machines area, this area has no more than 1 of any setup, and I have no idea what to do with each thing (aside from avoiding the various machines where the barbell is part of the machine), or why they exist as differentiated objects.

Also, weirdly lots of people bring their dogs to this gym? But it's not like they bring them to the gym floor, they just leave their leashes tied up to the hand rail near the front desk. 2 different golden retrievers being trained to be help dogs tied up today. Really cute.

Good job finding a gym!

You just might find the love of your life, too.

It can happen, after all.

Run Starting Strength and watch those lifts progress nicely. Don't sacrifice form for more weight. Solid form is essential.

glgl

The step up/chins superset is legit, and chins in the Smith machine are one of the few legit uses for a Smith machine.

DLs. Ugh. Hex plates suck. Reset your feet after each rep and make sure the bar is over the center of your feet before each pull.

cha -

I can see step up/chins being a legit superset. I don't think I did a good job of explaining this because it can't be that what this guy was doing was legit. He was basically one leg jumping face first into the structure of the machine from behind.

I did reset each rep, just slowed me down a ton. On the plus side, I guess, once you get the bar to exactly where you want it (obv aligned to the padded tile floor), it doesn't go anywhere while you set up?

aura -

It can happen, but I'm pretty sure my wife would be pissed!

Woops. Carry on, bro.

1/10: SS workout B.

Workout B days are going to be way faster, it looks like, since I have basically never done OHP or PC before ever, and am super weak.

Squat:
Air x 20
45x10x2
75x10
95x5
115x5
130x5x3

I probably should have stretched more before squatting? Even on like the 95 set instead of my butt going straight back and down it sort of like waggled its way backwards. I'm sure that can't be good for anything.

OHP:
I think I've gone OHP as opposed to push presses 1 other time in my life, so a bit of an adventure.
45x10
55x5x3

I have long term left shoulder issues, so, unsurprisingly, my shoulder was pretty sore (but in a good way) at the end of these. I think I could have done at least 60x5x3 today, but I didn't think that was going to be the truth on the first set of 5.

PC:
I've done these a couple times but certainly not enough to think I have a clue what I'm doing. Due to aforementioned shoulder, I basically wasn't able to rack the weight at the top on that side on any rep at the right speed. So how these went was like, get to the top, then slowly rotate the left arm into racked position, continue. Definitely could have done more weight on these, as nowhere near exploding/jumping motion happened. Oh, and I did 5x3 instead of 3x5. Oops.
75x5x3

This weekend I'm gonna spend a bunch of time at bars drinking beer and reading SS. I'll probably try to do something cardio-ish tomorrow, and lift Sun/Tues/Thurs. Lesson learned today: Friday at 7:30pm is a very good time to go to the gym if you like empty gyms.

I'm not sure that learning OHPs and PCs with no direct coaching and your shoulder issue is a good idea.

squat: does it feel like your heels want to come up as you get lower?

cha,

Re: shoulder - Yeah, I hear that. Shoulder issue is a 15 year old partially torn labrum. I've done PT for it twice, surgery 0 times. Any time I do consistent exercise with it, it is sorer than the right, but the net effect has always been positive. I'm obviously open to suggestions of how to alter my workout plan, especially given my previous injuries and the fact that for now I'm working alone.

Re: squatting - a little bit, perhaps, but not really? I've always had issues with pitching my upper body forward, and in general trying to let squats be a quad dominant exercise. I've never been any good at posterior chain engagement, or pushing through my heels. Is this butt waggle motion easily diagnosed or fixed?

Hopefully I'll get a chance to do some video next week so you all can see hard evidence of my puny lifts.

Is the pain right in the joint? If so, you really shouldn't do anything that causes that. Does benching cause that pain?

I'm thinking I'd blow up your whole program and make the changes based on how you answer those questions.

SS is not the best program for someone with the issues you have right now. It might be possible to get to the point where you can do pressing stuff and cleans safely, but I doubt you're there now.

yeah, I suspected you had weak/inactive hamstrings. There is a lot of stuff you can do for that. Pull throughs, swings, DLs & RDLs (with good form), etc. are all very good.

Activation exercises pre-workout, or between sets, will help. Stuff like supine bridges, side lying hip extensions, clam shells and walking spidermans will do wonders for this.

Do you have access to a box that would put the crease of your hips ~1" below the top of your knees? Low box squats done properly are the best thing to fix your issue imo. Replace regular squats with box squats until your posterior chain is strong.

When you do low box squats, sit down very slow, like you're sitting on egg shells that you don't want to break. When you sit onto the box, keep everything super tight, especially your back. Stay on the box for a count of two (this will seem like a long time, but for most people, a two count is really about a second). Try to focus on firing your glutes and hamstrings to get you started off the box. Fire them hard. Stand up fast, keeping your knees out and your back tight. Use a much lighter weight for these, especially in the beginning, than you would for regular back squats. Starting with a KB or DB held in front, rather than a barbell on your back, will help you learn best.

Shoulder pain is, afaict, like 80% likely to be muscular, 20% other. If partially torn labrum is something that continues to limit me from being even adequate strength and active, I sort of kind of hope that I can injure it enough to make it make sense to have the surgery, which would be covered by insurance and is relatively quick and quick recovery.

I don't get this pain when I bench. Actually, thinking about it more, I think I probably started getting this pain toward the end of squatting yesterday?

I have access to trainers/coaches I trust when I am in Chicago. Would you recommend putting off at least PC until I train with them? Today is "sit in a bar and read SS day" so I was kind of excited to do that and then try to put what I learn into practice next week.

I believe gym here has boxes somewhere. I saw one, at least. I have noticed that both my squats and DLs I'm much happier with and they feel much more like the right muscles have been used when I warm up with KB swings. My brain-muscle connection for "activate hamstrings and glutes" is just not very good. I try to work on this even around the office by standing up from chairs/couches by pressing through my heels, but obviously there's a big gap between that and "now do it with a lot of weight on your back." They do, at least, have a near infinite array of DBs at this gym, so if I can find the right boxes, should I work on DB goblet box squats next week instead of BB squat?

I have to admit I'm saddened by the idea that I might have to figure out something more complex than SS beginner workout stuff. It's very attractive to just have the three things, go to the gym, do them, and make progress for a while. I will try to take video tomorrow at least of squat and dl.

The shoulder is a complicated joint. The thing about shoulder pain is that if you have muscle imbalances, they lead to joint dysfunction. Joint dysfunction lead to wearing out soft tissues like tendons. There are about a dozen small muscles that affect the joint. In many people, some are short and tight while opposing muscles are stretched out and weak. In many cases, there are adhesions that affect these muscles.

A good SMR & mobility/rehab program can fix & strengthen most of what's wrong. I've had a shoulder surgery. I would recommend exhausting all other options before having surgery. Given what I know now, I wish I would have never had that surgery. It was extremely painful, lasting and now I know it was unnecessary.

Read Yugo's SMR thread and start doing some of the lacrosse ball stuff on your chest, shoulders and upper back. Regularly roll and stretch your thoracic spine. I recommend this as a rehab program: http://www.optimumclinic.ca/moveo/wp...2Exercises.pdf

Your pain from squatting was probably because you are not externally rotating your shoulder properly. Try to pull your shoulder blades down towards your back pockets before you put the bar on your back and put your hands up to grab it. It will feel like you can get your hands farther back, more comfortably if you do it right.


Check the height of those boxes. I use a 14" box, which is perfect height for me. I think we're close to the same height, so that's probably the right height box for you. If you use a box that's too high, you wont be using your glutes and hamstrings.

Start with DBs or KBs and if you feel good about how those are going, go ahead and try box squatting with a barbell. If they feel tough, stick with the DBs or KBs for a while.

A different program doesnt have to be all that complicated. You can still squat and DL and bench. I'd add in some pulling like cable and/or DB rows, and maybe cable pulldowns.

Have you watched the Tate bench press videos yet?

1/12 - SS Workout A

Squat:
Spent a lot of time stretching just sitting at the bottom with no weights and my elbows pressing out on my knees. Then:
Air x 20
45x10x2
65x5
85x5
115x5
140x3 (I wanted to get 140x5x3 today, but it just felt heavy so I stopped at 3 and dropped 5lbs)
135x5x3

So as far as I know, I'm going at least deep enough. Is there any downside to going deeper, aside from it meaning my numbers will be lower? Should I not go that low if it means I have the pelvic tilting at the bottom? It also looks like by rep 3, my back starts to round a bit. On the 135 sets, things moved a lot slower and I probably started good morning-ing the weights a little bit, but depth was the same. For future reference, is this a viable/worthwhile angle for videos? This was easy to do by just propping up my phone on piled up shirt.

Bench:
45x10
65x10
85x5
90x4x3

Still not comfortable benching solo. Did not get good arch or keep my shoulders retracted.

DL:
95x10
165x5
200x5

Still not super close to my 1rm, but today I didn't do a great job keeping shoulders back here, just like on the bench. These were still fairly easy, though.

Cha - I have watched Tate's series. Will watch again. Still exploring this gym for equipment. Today I saw 1 box, but it was in use. Located reasonable place to stretch so I don't have to stretch where other people are benching or curling or whatever it is they're doing. Please don't think that bc I continued to do SS workout I'm ignoring your advice. I did spend 15 min pre workout today lacrosse balling areas around my shoulders and chest, which was great. While I'm not trying to hurt myself, I honestly don't have the time yet to figure out other programming, let alone how to use things like cable machines. No pains from the last few workouts have lingered, which is nice.

You look at least 3 inches taller than the last time I saw you in person, nice progress! You must be on the Assani Fisher program.

One thing I noticed on your squats is that your low back is for sure bending on each rep a decent amount. You likely are going significantly deeper than parallel - probably more than you need to or potentially should.

I am of the Cha-camp opinion that eradicating as much low back bending/rounding from all lifts is definitely a worthwhile goal. Perhaps one of the next times you take video you could try to have it from the side but more level rather than from below? Obv this generally requires someone to assist but that will show squat technique pretty optimally.

As Yugo mentioned, buttwink on the squats is a bad thing. You should not go so deep that your back moves.

Keeping your shoulder blades pulled down is super important for safe benching. Arching your back is not important, and doing so is only good if you have strong glutes and abs that stay super tight throughout every set so that you dont over-arch. Keeping glutes and abs tight during bench sets is important, but its hard to do for beginners & intermediates.

You want your shoulders to be loose/forward when you pull a DL. That shortens your ROM considerably and it is safe.

Thanks! I blame camera angle, and maybe posture/shoes. Haven't legit changed height in a while.

So, when I squat tomorrow, I should:

1. continue working on hip flexibility/stretching well before lifting
2. not go deeper than I can without buttwink
3. not increase weights if doing so makes back round

?

All interesting. Along with never having benched solo before this week, I've never really done benching with more than warm up weights for anything close to reps. Obviously that is bad. I'll continue working on keeping the shoulder blades in place through the sets. I do wish the bench set ups at this gym had some form of safeties. It'd make me way less nervous.

I have to admit I'm not entirely understanding this quote from a stronglifts page on DL:

"Lift your chest but don't squeeze your shoulder-blades like on Squats. Just put your shoulders back & down, head inline with rest of your spine." Can you help clarify difference between "shoulders back & down" and "squeeze your shoulder blades"?

Also, how much $ do we have to put together to get an official Cha "So you think you can Deadlift" video series made?