For now I'm going to follow this version of the novice program from the SS wiki.

Workout A
Squat 3x5
Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating)
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Workout B
Squat 3x5
Press/bench press 3x5 (alternating)
Deadlift 1x5

Workout C
Squat 3x5
Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating)
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 rep

Learning to clean seems like a bit too much hassle for now, Im already concentrating on getting good form for the basic exercises, plus I like doing pullups/chinups.


About me/current fitness level:

26 years old, 182 cm (6'), 81 kg (178 lb), 22% BF (according to scale/bf calculator at gym).

Goals:

Reduce bodyfat, no specific weight goals just to improve my overall athletic conditioning for soccer next season. Ideally I think losing enough fat to reach around 78 kg is a reasonable goal, but Ill be hopefully balancing it out with muscle gains so whatever.

My cardiovascular fitness is at a pretty high level, I play a lot of soccer and just finished a full season playing cf/winger a few months ago. Currently I am playing futsal (indoor soccer) for 40 min on wed nights and training outdoor on thurs, which in the off season is just pickup games for a few hours. Thats about it for cardio activity currently, although now that its summer Im getting to the beach around once a week and get a fair bit of swimming in too.

Despite all the exercise my diet has been pretty bad, way too much junk food and beer, so because of that I have a decent amount of fat I would like to lose. I cleaned it up completely 2 weeks ago, have been eating very well, already feeling and noticing a difference there. I also used to surf a lot - at least 2-3 days a week but due to various factors have really let that slip in the past few years. Surfing used to keep me in really good shape and I had a pretty solid physique without ever setting foot in a gym. Since Im not surfing that has really declined and I really need to put on some muscle mass.

About a week and a half ago I started with a basic SS program, but because of the lack of equipment at the gym was kinda halfassing it - they didnt have squat racks, proper sized weights for the barbells etc so I was doing front squats, BP in a smith machine and stuff like that. Despite that Ive noticed benefits already, and am feeling better than I have in a long time. Anyway I found another gym in the area that has good facilities and did my first proper workout yesterday so this is where the log starts.



Yesterday
8th Dec 2008

Squat

1x5x 20 kg
1x5x 30
1x5x 40
3x5x 55 kg (120 lb)


Bench

1x5x 20
2x5x 30
1x5x 40
3x5x 45 kg (100 lb)


Deadlift

1x5x 40
2x5x 50
1x5x 65 (143 lb)

A few questions:

Which days to work out on during the week? Its a bit difficult because of soccer on consecutive days wed and thurs. Last week I went tue, thu and sat, but thurs sucked because I just did lighter and less reps of squat and more pullups/chinups. Even still, my legs were just dead on thursday night and I couldnt run at all. Friday was a bitch too, I was extremely fatigued all day.

As I already went on monday this week, I was thinking just suck it up and do Squats, OHP and pullups on wed and play soccer that night. Then rest till saturday and do workout C.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Possibly photos to come... it would be nice to have a record of my progress but shirtless pics on the internet, ugh.

you can do it with 2 days rest between workouts since you're doing a bunch of other stuff. That might help. I'd keep the progression going how it's supposed to go though, don't **** with that.

Yeah I wont be changing the progression or anything, last thurs was a one-off. I guess I'll try the normal workout on wednesday and see how I go playing that night, it will probably suck but I should get used to it after a few weeks?

If you just recently started, the DOMS is probably going to be pretty severe. Just keep working out it it goes away quickly especially with such high squatting frequency.

I realized today that I messed up the weight I squatted on monday - I only had two 15kg plates on there but the bar weighs 20 not 25 so monday my work set was 50kg. Pretty sure the others were correct though.

Day 2
Wed 10th Dec 2008


Squat

2x5x20
1x5x30
1x5x45
3x5x55 kg

Press

1x5x20
2x5x25
1x5x30
3x5x35 kg

Pullups/Chinups

Actually did chins, still struggling with full bodyweight pullups
3 sets to failure - 1x4 and 2x3.

Diet

9.30am Ommelette - 3 large eggs, onion, tomato, spinach and cheese. 1 slice wholemeal toast. 1 coffee.

11.30am Protein shake

1.15 pm Post workout lunch - ~250g steak standwich with wholemeal bread, tomato, spinach no dressing and a couple of nectarines.

3.30pm Snack - handful of mixed nuts + some dark chocolate

6 pm Snack - beef jerky, apricots, handful of mixed nuts.

Got a late futsal fame tonight at 9.30 pm so am going to have a light sandwich at 8 with some wholemeal bread, sliced turkey breast and baby spinach.

Well, squatting this morning didnt affect me too much playing soccer tonight, I actually had a really good game and am already noticing im a bit faster and better balanced, probably as much due to my good diet as anything else but a few weeks of working out seems to have had some effect already.

Day 3
Sat 13th Dec 2008


Squat

2x5x30
1x5x40
1x5x50
3x5x60 kg (132 lb)

Bench Press

1x5x30
1x5x35
2x4x40
3x5x50 kg (110 lb)

Deadlift

2x5x40
1x5x50
1x5x60
1x5x70 kg (154 lb)


I really enjoyed this one, the first time the squat really felt heavy so far, the last few reps were hard going. Bench press and DL I probably could have gone a bit heavier, maybe another few kg, so far Ive been progressing at 5 kg a workout.

Day 4
Tue 16th Dec

S
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x5x45
1x3x55
3x5x65 kg

BP
2x5x30
1x5x40
1x5x50
3x5x55

DL
1x5x40
1x5x50
1x5x60
1x2x70
1x5x80 kg

Day 5
Fri 19th Dec

S
3x5x70

OHP
3x5x37.5

Chins/pullups
5-6 sets

Today's workout sucked, I had a bad nights sleep last night and that probably messed with me. Squats were hard, my form got a bit sloppy towards the end so I probably shouldnt count all of the reps. OHP was hard too - I went for 40 kg but only managed 4 reps in my first set so dropped it back to 37.5. Im making good progress with pullups though so its not all bad.

Well I will keep on replying to my own thread Its really for my own records/motivation anyway.

Day 6

Mon 22nd Dec

Squat
2x5x20
1x5x35
1x5x50
1x3x60
1x2x65
3x5x75 kg

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x5x35
1x5x45
1x3x55
3x5x60 kg

Deadlift

1x5x40
1x5x60
1x3x70
1x3x80
1x5x90 kg

Nearly hitting the 100 kg mark! Very satisfying considering a month ago I could only deadlift 40 kg.

Looks like you're doing a ton of warm-ups kind of close in weight to your work set. I'd think this would take away from your ability to complete your work sets down the line, so watch out for that.

I could have done a few too many warmups today, Ill keep it in mind next time.

Workout 7
Wed 24th Dec 08

Squat
2x5x20
1x5x35
1x5x50
1x3x65
3x5x80 kg

Overhead Press
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x3x35
2x5x40
1x4x40

Failed on the last set... **** OHP is hard.

Chins
2x5
1x4
1x3
1x2

ok... well i took time off over christmas, got sick straight after and ended up missing two weeks at the gym. My diet from christmas until about Jan 3rd was quite bad, a bit too much on general junky high-carb food and a lot too much on alcohol.

Whatever, its that time of year and I enjoyed eating and drinking with friends and family so no complaints and I am now back into the healthy swing of things. Hit up the gym today, figured Id go a bit lighter to ease back into it but I dont seem to have lost too much strength.

Squat
2x5x20 kg
1x5x40
1x5x60
1x5x70 I was just going to do 3x5x70 but the first set wasnt too hard so I added on another 2.5 kg
3x5x72.5

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x5x30
1x3x45
3x5x55

Deadlift
1x5x40
1x5x70
1x3x85
1x5x92.5

I said **** it 85 wasnt very hard so just went 2.5kg than last time.

Diet so far today:

9:30 am Breakfast - 3 egg omelet, 2x wholegrain toast. Multivitamin, zinc+magnesium.
11:30 am Pre workout protein shake
1:00pm Immediately post workout protein shake
2:00pm Lunch - Steak and veggies - sweet potato, cauliflower and onion.

Gonna aim to post a diet log every day for now to keep me on the straight and narrow nutritionally I really should put up some photos too, thats would probably be the most motivating thing.

Took some photos, they arent the best quality but will do the job. Clearly I would like to lose most of that fat...







yesterdays diet log continued:
9:30 am Breakfast - 3 egg omelet, 2x wholegrain toast. Multivitamin, zinc+magnesium.
11:30 am Pre workout protein shake
1:00pm Immediately post workout protein shake
2:00pm Lunch - Steak and veggies - sweet potato, cauliflower and onion.
3:30 Snack - handful of mixed nuts and a nectarine
7:00 pm Dinner - leftover steak and veggies
9:00 pm Bottle of gatorade 1/2 before indoor soccer game, 1/2 at half time
10.30 pm protein shake, just one scoop of WPI.



Pre-season soccer training starts tonight. For now my plan is to continue SS for another 5-6 weeks, then drop back to lifting one day a week and concentrating on plyometrics and HIIT for another 4-5 weeks until the season starts. Anyone have thoughts on that? I dont really want to put on huge amount more in muscle weight I figure my optimal weight for soccer will be around 79 kg, right now I'm ~83.

For my own amusement-

Diet log for yesterday:

9:00am Breakfast - Steak sandwich with wholemeal toast, tomato and cos lettuce. Cappuccino.
11:00am Snack - Small tin of tuna + apple
2:00pm Light lunch - Protein shake, sweet potato
4:45pm Steak + veggies (frozen mix of beans, broccoli and carrots)
6:45pm Small serve of chicken soup/stew with chunks of chicken, onions, green veggies.
7:00pm 1 scoop protein shake (~15-20g?)

Played soccer for 2 hours from 7:30-9:30, just at medium intensity.

10:00pm Light beer... Im trying to cut out all alcohol for a now but its a bit antisocial not to have one when everyone else hits the clubhouse for a beer afterwards. Is 1 low carb beer going to be too harmful after a few hours of exercise?

10:30pm protein shake.


I'm playing an indoor pickup game with mates tomorrow... I need to fit a workout in so its probably better to do that first in the morning, I dont want to try and squat after a few hours of running around.

Had a few different people at training ask if I had been doing sprint training because they noticed me getting to the ball quicker and getting around people easier than I used to. Looks like those squats and deadlifts are helping already

Yesterday:

Squat
3x5x75kg My legs were reallly ****ing tired from the past two days, still quite sore.

OHP
3x5x37.5kg

Pullups
2x5xBW
2x4
1x2
1x1

Making good progress on those at least.

Diet was pretty good, had some chips in the evening but thats it for bad stuff.

12th Jan 09

Squat
2x5x20
1x5x40
1x4x60
3x5x82.5 kg

Bench Press
1x5x20
1x5x30
1x5x40
1x3x50
3x5x62.5 kg

Deadlift
1x5x40
1x5x60
1x3x90
1x5x100 kg

Diet yesterday 11th Jan
10:00 am breakfast - protein shake and 2 pieces of wholemeal toast
1:00pm lunch - chicken, spinach and pinenuts fritter with salad. Cappuccino
3:00pm protein shake
8:00pm Two chicken breasts, tomato, lettuce and onion between wholemeal bread.
6pm-1am 4 low carb beers + a fruit and custard pastry.

Today:
10:00 am breakfast - protein shake and muesli with 99% ff milk
12:00pm Nectarine
1:30pm PWO protein shake
3:00pm Big plate of paella-kind of dish with diced chicken breast, onions, garlic, tin of diced tomatoes, brown rice, and chopped chillies.

14th Jan 09

Today was a funny one, I am having problems with the squat, details below.
Squat
2x5x20kg
1x5x40
1x3x60
1x2x70
1x4x85
3x5x77.5 kg

Overhead press
1x5x20kg
1x3x30
1x2x35
3x5x40 kg

Did less warmups for this and it was much easier.

Chinups
3x5xBW
1x4
1x3
1x2
And a few singles.

So I was squatting 85 kg and was struggling to come up on the last rep of my first set and this dude comes over from nearby to help me stand up and rack it... thanks I guess but I really dont appreciate someone rushing in when I already had it, I mean this **** is supposed to be hard work. Guy is middle aged and kinda fat around the middle but otherwise in good shape and starts chatting to me about squat form, apparently I was rounding my back on the last rep and looked like I was in trouble.

Anyway I dont really want to hear his advice because I saw him quarter squatting last week with only just over 100kg anyway, literally quarter squatting, he had the safety bars in the cage up over his waist. He said I noticed you are squatting deep, be careful, knees blah blah. Anyway I smiled and made some small talk, told him the low bar squat is slightly different, its part of a strength program I am following etc but the whole thing put me off my workout.

Anyway despite his misguided advice my form was definitely breaking down trying to lift the heavier weight and I hadnt realized I was rounding my back at the time, so I went back to 50kg and really concentrated on form, did a few sets of 3-4 and felt really good. Loaded 85 on again and just couldnt maintain a good arch, had my hips coming up before my upper body was putting a lot of pressure on my back. I dropped back to 75 kg and finished 3 sets with (i think) solid form.

So whats going on, I shouldnt be stalling at 85 kg already, but I definitely felt like I couldnt lift that weight today without breaking down into incorrect form. I know...post some videos but that really is a major hassle. Fwiw I believe I have really had pretty solid form lately after concentrating on it, the hip flexor pain stopped being a problem the last 3-4 times I have been to the gym.


Diet

All good

*shrug* what kind of input are you looking for? Thats a little low for a beginner's stall imo but what can you do? When things started to get very heavy for me on the squat I started front squatting wednesdays and it seemed my progression leveled off a bit more. I dunno, keep trying. Do 82.5 next time, do 85 time after that, you'll get it.

Fair enough, just looking for any kind of advice on progressing if a particular weight seems too hard. I think a lot of it is form, I still need to work on a few things but I have an idea of what they are after doing some more reading.

The last week or so I have been very active too, playing soccer, golf, swimming, helping someone move house, so its possible I havent had quite enough rest and recovery time.

Sat Jan 17th 09

Squat

2x5x20
1x5x40
1x3x60
1x2x75
3x5x82.5 kg

Bench Press

2x5x20
1x5x35
1x3x50
3x5x65 kg

Deadlift

1x5x40
1x5x70
1x2x90
1x5x105 kg

Deadlifts were the hardest today, took about 10 seconds breather before the last rep but finished the set.

Mon 19th Jan 09

Squat
2x5x20
1x5x40
1x3x60
1x2x70
3x5x85 kg

woo squatting more than my bodyweight.

Overhead Press
1x5x20
1x4x30
1x2x35
2x5x42.5
1x4x42.5 kg

Failed on my last rep, racked the bar for 10 seconds then tried again but my arms were gone.

Chinups

2x5xBW
2x4
2x3
Then some singles.

Just for laughs, I actually saw about 3 people doing deadlifts today, first time Ive ever seen anyone else do them in this gym. They all did low weights 60-70kg and pretty ugly form. One dude had horrible arch in his back the whole time, another wasnt setting the weights down between reps but just kinda letting it drop, catching it at shin height then jerking it back up again... looked like it was putting a whole lot of strain on his lower back.

Wed 21st Jan 09

Squat
2x5x20
1x5x40
1x3x60
1x2x72.5
3x5x87.5 kg (193 lb)

Bench Press
2x5x20
1x3x35
1x3x52.5
3x5x67.5 kg (149 lb)

Deadlift
1x5x50
1x3x65
1x3x80
1x2x95
1x5x110kg (242 lb)

Sticking to a good, clean diet, feeling good.